HttpUrlConnection disconnect issue on HTC (Froyo and below)

HttpTestActivity.java

package org.wamped.playground;

import java.io.BufferedReader;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.InputStreamReader;
import java.io.UnsupportedEncodingException;
import java.net.HttpURLConnection;
import java.net.URL;
import java.net.URLEncoder;

import android.app.Activity;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.os.Handler;
import android.util.Log;
import android.widget.TextView;

public class HttpTestActivity extends Activity {

	private static final String TAG = "HTTP test";
	private static final String testURL = "http://naugye.notnoise.org/ping.php";
	protected static final int gracePeriod = 10 * 1000;
	private static PollThread pollThread;

	private TextView tv;

	@Override
	public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
		super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
		setContentView(R.layout.soap_test);

		tv = (TextView) findViewById(R.id.soapview_main);

		pollThread = new PollThread(1, 5);
		pollThread.start();
		Log.d(TAG, "pollThread started");
		tv.append("pollThread started");

		new Handler().postDelayed(new Runnable() {
			@Override
			public void run() {
				pollThread.cancelRequest();
				Log.d(TAG, "pollThread presumably cancelled");
				tv.append("pollThread presumably cancelled");
			}
		}, 1000);

	}

	private class PollThread extends Thread {

		private int attempts;
		private int responseTimeout;

		private HttpURLConnection connection;

		private static final String TAG = "PollThread";
		private String msg;

		public PollThread(int attempts, int responseTimeout) {
			super();
			this.attempts = attempts;
			this.responseTimeout = responseTimeout;
		}

		@Override
		public void run() {
			Log.d("PollThread", "run() called");

			long stopWatch = 0;
			int attemptCount = 0;
			BufferedReader reader = null;

			while (attemptCount++ < attempts) {

				try {
					stopWatch = System.currentTimeMillis();
					Log.d(TAG, "Initiating new request with " + String.valueOf((gracePeriod / 1000) + responseTimeout) + " seconds timeout.");

					String requestURL = prepareRequestURL(attemptCount);
					Log.d(TAG, "Request URL is " + requestURL);
					URL url = new URL(requestURL);

					connection = (HttpURLConnection) url.openConnection();
					connection.setRequestProperty("Accept-Charset", "UTF-8");
					connection.setConnectTimeout(5 * 1000);
					connection.setReadTimeout((responseTimeout * 1000) + gracePeriod);
					connection.setRequestMethod("GET");

					// read the output from the server
					reader = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(connection.getInputStream()));
					StringBuilder stringBuilder = new StringBuilder();

					String line = null;
					while ((line = reader.readLine()) != null) {
						stringBuilder.append(line + "\n");
					}

					Log.d(TAG, "Received response after " + String.valueOf((System.currentTimeMillis() - stopWatch) / 1000) + " seconds");
					msg = "Response: " + stringBuilder;
					Log.d(TAG, msg);

					/*
					runOnUiThread(new Runnable() {
						public void run() {
							tv.append(msg);
						}
					});
					*/

				} catch (IOException ioe) {

					msg = "IOException after " + String.valueOf((System.currentTimeMillis() - stopWatch) / 1000) + " seconds, " + ioe;
					Log.e(TAG, msg);
					/*
					runOnUiThread(new Runnable() {
						public void run() {
							tv.append(msg);
						}
					});
					*/

				} finally {

					if (reader != null) {
						try {
							reader.close();
						} catch (IOException ioe) {
							ioe.printStackTrace();
						}
					}
				}
			}

			Log.d(TAG, "Exiting poll thread.");
		}

		public void cancelRequest() {
			if (connection != null) {
				connection.disconnect();
			}
		}

		private String prepareRequestURL(int attemptCount) {
			String requestURL = testURL;
			String charset = "UTF-8";
			try {
				requestURL = requestURL
						+ "?"
						+ String.format("timeout=%s&message_id=%s", URLEncoder.encode(String.valueOf(responseTimeout), charset),
								URLEncoder.encode(String.valueOf(attemptCount), charset));
			} catch (UnsupportedEncodingException e) {
				Log.e("TAG", "prepareRequest() " + e);
			}

			return requestURL;
		}
	}
}