[Update] HTC Thunderbolt Ice Cream Sandwich update starting to roll out
It’s been a long time coming, folks, but Verizon’s eldest 4G LTE phone is finally receiving a healthy helping of Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. Signs of the update’s arrival have graced several corners of the interwebz for months in the form of leaked ROMs, but without word from Verizon or HTC we were beginning to worry that the upgrade might have been abandoned.
Verizon surprised us last week when it published details about the upgrade on its support site, though. It’s not Jelly Bean or HTC Sense 4, but users will get a more modern Android experience than the one Android 2.3 Gingerbread provides. For starters, all of those Holo-themed apps will now be available for download in the Google Play Store. Beyond that, some Ice Cream Sandwich-specific features — like the new apps switcher or the ability to access notifications on the lock-screen — will be along for the ride.
A couple of reports from AndroidForums.com suggest this thing is beginning to roll out, though, so if you still have a Thunderbolt handy be sure to give it a whirl and check it out for yourself. We’d be surprised if most of you haven’t already used your bi-annual upgrades to ditch the phone, but we know not everyone has given up on the device just yet. Head to the settings menu and check for it under About Phone to see if you can finally step into the new age of Android.
[Update]: Verizon has released official word regarding the rollout, letting us know that it is indeed going out today and that the process will be staggered (meaning not everyone will see it right away, so don’t panic if you’re not able to pull it down). Happy updating!