HTC is currently hosting an AMA (Ask Me Anything) on Reddit, completely focused on nothing but Android updates. As Android users might be aware, HTC for the most part hasn’t had the best track record when it comes to updating flagship devices in a timely manner, but they have given it their best since the launch of the One.
When Google released Kit Kat last year, HTC announced that in 90 days, all US variants of the device would be running Android 4.4+. As it turned out, they didn’t quite meet their own timeframe, but you have to give them credit due to the company’s complete transparency on social media as to why devices weren’t being updated. Now in February, all One devices should be running Kit Kat.
So, with all of that said, HTC announced today during the AMA that moving forward, all flagship devices will be updated to the newest versions of Android for two years following their releases. With that, you can now rest assured that if you buy the HTC One successor, codenamed M8, that it will receive updates for two full years after it launches.
As it is, that is a major commitment HTC is throwing out for buyers of their brand.
Given the immense resource requirements for updates we can’t solve all our past issues, but today we are making a commitment to support all new flagship devices going forward with all major Android updates for 2 years after their release date.
You may recall HTC announced last month that the One X and One X+ in America would not be receiving a Kit Kat update, thanks to lack of support from NVIDIA on the Tegra 3 chip which powers the One X+. While the One X does utilize a Snapdragon processor, HTC thought that it wouldn’t be a good idea to only update one device and then leave One X+ buyers out in the cold.
Without the support of our chip manufacturer Nvidia, it made a global update of One X and X+ devices impossible. However, in US the One X uses the Qualcomm chip and an upgrade would be possible, but we didn’t think it would be a good experience for our customer base to update the X, but not the X+. This update caused a huge stir amongst owners and we’ve heard you loud and clear, so we’re now actively exploring how we can make the jump to 4.4.
As of today, HTC also announced that they are now actively exploring ways to update both devices to Android 4.4+. Although, please keep in mind, exploring possibilities is a long ways from confirming that an update is in fact coming. HTC will more than likely need to talk to NVIDIA about how they plan on updating a device with the unsupported Tegra 3 chip with LTE modem inside.
This is pretty big news from HTC today, and should have fans of the manufacturer smiling from ear to ear.
Update: HTC reached out and wanted us to make sure to point out that the two year timeframe is only for the US flagships, and not International models.
Via: Reddit
This post was last modified on March 26, 2014 8:58 am