when am i gonna see an upgrade for android 2.3 for the htc desire hd, im on vodafone?

also will it just come to my phone as an update?

Its been mentioned it will be this month sometime but, if yours is locked to Vodafone it may be a few weeks after by the time they customise it.

If its unlocked and unbranded like mine, it should be this month.

What about using Cyanogen mod?
That's based on 2.3.3

Yup, can always do this.

Personally i use RCmix HD based on 2.3.3. Runs beautifully and the dev is spot on with support of any kind.

Details here:- http://forum.xda-developers.com/forumdisplay.php?f=765

does 2.3.3 have any effect on battery life?

Yeah, its much better but you will still need to charge it daily like any other smart phone.

cheers for that. I know when I had my desire I used the 'opendesire' rom on that and got fantastic battery life. I'd get 2 days of solid use out of it on average.

I am currently using MIUI rom on my DHD...I like it, alot. This rom is based on Android 2.3.

This rom contains a kernal fix for the battery....in standby mode, syncing data every half hour, I can get around 1 - 2% battery loss per hour.

Most custom roms will give you better battery life than the stick HTC Sense rom.

still in 2 minds about MIUI, tried it on the nexus, on one hand i think it's fast and stable, very stylish too, on the other hand, it's a tad too iPhone clone for me!

This rom may give you an insight into GB on DHD

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=984045

Indeed but this one is better http://forum.xda-developers.com/forumdisplay.php?f=765

Running 2.3.3 base. Also supports OTA updates.

the only thing that puts me off the DHD is the sheer size of the handset. I hadn't seen one up close until a few days ago and it's ruddy huge!

Fantastic piece of kit though, my mate was up from newcastle the other week and he has one, very slick!

Great phone. Can't imagine needing anything different apart from full HD video and better battery which is being addressed in the newer handsets.
Everyone I've spoken to with an i-phone 4 wishes they had got the HTC instead.