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HTC EVO 4G LTE owners on Sprint haven’t had it easy. Essentially an HTC One X with a kickstand, EVO 4G LTE owners have had to sit and watch as the HTC One X recently found itself updated to Android 4.2.2, with the prospect of Android 4.4 KitKat in its future. Ouch.
Other than its flashy red kickstand, it looks like there’s another area that sets the EVO 4G LTE apart from its One X cousin: the partition size. Apparently, this is the reason HTC/Sprint have been having so much trouble updating the device to Android 4.3 Jelly Bean (promised in back October, but later delayed until mid-February). That being said, do you guys want the good news or the bad news first?
The Bad News
It’s been decided that because of the memory constraints with the EVO 4G LTE’s partition, this device will not be seeing Android 4.3 rolling out over-the-air. Boo.
The Good News
HTC has already begun developing a new process that will allow more “technical” EVO 4G LTE customers the option of updating their devices manually. Awesome.
This actually sounds like the perfect compromised and shows HTC’s commitment to providing updates to those that really want them (technical users), while leaving customers who couldn’t care less about Jelly Beans or updates the opportunity to live out their lives in blissful ignorance. The best part? HTC is considering ways to streamline the update process by providing customers with ways direct apply updates themselves. No details were provided on what they might have up their sleeves, but HTC asks us to stay tuned.
Those looking to get a head start on updating their HTC EVO 4G LTEs to Android 4.3 can sign up for the new trial by emailing HTC at: [email protected] (wont go live until later tonight).
Now, HTC, about Android 4.4 KitKat…
[HTC]
Why would the partition size be different?
I think it’s the size required that is different. My guess is that HTC’s Android 4.3/Sense 5.5 requires a larger memory partition than is currently on the phone. I remember fooling around with repartioning my HTC Hero. It’s possible to do, so they are probably coming up with an idiot proof method so no one bricks their device.
That email address provided did not work for htc
Sorry, HTC mentioned that it wouldn’t go live until later tonight. Try again then, or tomorrow in the AM. Cheers.
Your message can’t be delivered because delivery to this address is restricted.
thanks man i just noticed that
So they can’t send 4.3 over the air.
Was release in July 2013…..I can’t imagine the lame team they put on this project….that 6 months later they’re just getting around to letting us know they can’t figure it out…
Do you think you could find out if there would be any reason they could not just upgrade to Sense 5…?
Bet sense 5 is the reason they don’t have room for the update.
That and the fact that the Storage on the phone is separated form “internal storage” and “phone storage”
I hope they fix the partition sizes – the app space is too small!
They just need to do some small update to fix the partition size problem first to be bigger instead of the crap 6 gb of app space or not have that issue at all. Mine is like 2 gb apps and 4 gb other (cache from apps etc)
The “other” is the OS. Problem was they should of put a 16gb in one partition. But instead they did 6gb for apps and OS, and 10gb for pictures and stuff. Because the OS/apps partition is so small, they can’t do it as an ota. Only way to fix partitions is to wipe. So that’s what the ruu does, wipes the phone and fixes the partition and installs the update
They did something similar years ago with the sprint htc hero. To go from Android 1.6 to 2.1 you had to wipe with an ruu
You have your numbers wrong. The original /system partition is 1 GB and unlike user partitions, is read-only unless rooted. And that is why no one will ever make all storage as just one partition.
I’m looking at my wife’s phone. Its 6gb for OS(4gb) and apps(2gb) I’m curious where you got the 1gb from?
I’ve published the original partition table at http://androidforums.com/htc-evo-4g-lte/690781-sense-5-0-android-4-2-2-4-3-discussion-2.html#post6446406
And Captain Throwback followed up with the new one.
Watch out for rounding in my table. It’s true that internal storage was 9.9 GB and and the /data partition (for apps and app data) was just over 2 GB. So, 4 GB is left for “other” but only 1.2 GB was for the /system partition itself – and it’s that partition that had to nearly double for this upgrade. (According to HTC – note there’s a lot of free space in the new /system.)
Even with rounding, the partition table shown by df won’t show the full 16 GB built-in to the phone. Below the operating system, you have the bootloader, recovery, and some additional firmware that can’t be shown at that level.
You can verify the numbers for yourself by getting Terminal Emulator and issuing the command –
df
…to see the named partitions. To see the actual hardware mapping, issue the command –
cat /proc/partitions
mmcblk0 is the full storage shown in 1k blocks, all mmcblkX entries below that will show the partitions taken from that, whether for the OS or below that. You can then use the Linux mount command to work out what mounted to what hardware partitions.
But an easier approximation (due to rounding) is found by just going with the df command.
I’m still rocking my launch-day Evo 4G LTE. :)
So, you can say that the total of 4 GB was used for the phone OS (including firmware) but it’s the size of the /system partition that required the big change to make this update to Sense 5/Android 4.3 possible.
Data and internal storage (mapped via emulation) are now the same thing at 11.8 GB and that’s a big plus as well.
Hope this clarifies!
PS – Sorry for the 1 vs 1.2 GB error for the /system partition size in my earlier comment – I was going by memory, no excuse.
Has anyone gotten anymore information on this? Their support doesn’t say anything about this. Plus the email is still not up.
Is the email up yet?
This is why Android sucks!!
I know I shouldn’t ask, but why are you saying Android sucks?
Based on what you wrote, you’re condeming an entire operating system, because of a Sprint issue. Why not say HTC or Sprint suck?!
Not a Sprint issue, but an HTC issue.
Could be both. The EVO LTE is simply a One X with separate parations. the normal one x does not have that
All Android devices have partitioned storage.
To see yours, get Terminal Emulator, and issue the df command.
I don’t need to download a silly app. I can see it right from the storage screen under settings.
Correct, you don’t have to do anything, including learning how your settings display doesn’t tell you the whole story. Anyway, every One X is partitioned similarly to the EVO 4G LTE. Your idea that the One X does not have separate partitions is simply incorrect.
Visit our forums, linked at the end of the article, I’ve posted the partitions
I’m already running the trial update. I emailed [email protected] asking to join the trial and had a response within a day with a link to download the ~800MB RUU update file. It has to be flashed from a computer via usb and it wipes the phone when applied but 4.3 and sense 5 is worth it. It works great, only problem so far is one of the live wallpapers crashes when loaded.
Could you share that URL for the rest of us?
You need to email him. Some one else will reply back with a link to a partially created sharefile account on HTC’s website. Your email address ends up being the account log in name. After you finish setting up the account you’ll be able to download the file.
Would you be so kind as to share that link? We would like to try the update as well.
So it wipes the phone huh?
I wonder why it doesn’t just “update it”
Yes, it wipes the phone similar to a factory reset with wipe personal data. I suggest copying pictures to sd card or anything else you dont want to lose. I’m not sure why it doesn’t update, but wiping the phone isn’t as bad as it seems. It took about 15 minutes to set the phone back up, and seems to have given a new lease on life for my EVO. Apps downloaded from the play store will be automatically re-downloaded when you sign back into Google. Most settings will be preserved as well, though some will require you to re enter log in information and such.
my photos are already on the SD card. most everything else is on Dropbox.
Wouldnt settings need to be renabled if its a “fresh install”
As long as you have the setting checked, many things are backed up to googles servers and are restored when you sign back in. You will need to reconfigure some apps afterward though. For example Chase no longer recognized my phone and I needed to get an authorization code to log back in.
Because the update requires a different partition layout than what the EVO 4G LTE has. It repartitions the internal memory to the new Android standard layout, which necessarily wipes the existing data. With Titanium Backup or Google Play backup options, this shouldn’t be a big problem for anybody.
Doesn’t Titanium Backup requre root? I havn’t used that since early 2011 when I last rooted my orgnail EVO 4G/
Also I have a mac. I heard this only works with windows 7…. is that the case?
Sorry for the million questions…
I emailed HTC and got the RUU from them and everything goes swell until my phone reboots and I get a USB connection error. What drivers were you using on your computer? Which version of windows were you running? Do you have the SDK installed on your computer ? Any help would be great.
I used windows 7, and the drivers included with HTC sync manager. I’ve read that the drivers won’t work if you are running windows 8.1. I did not have the SDK installed.
Gotcha. I’m currently on windows 8.1. I’ll get my hands on a windows 7 system and give er a shot! Thank you
How long did he take to reply? i wont have access to a computer for a few days, I want to install it today.
About a day. I emailed him Sunday morning and had my reply Monday around 3pm ET.
ugh, thank you so much. I’ll have to do my best to have my computer for tomorrow. appreciate your help.
I remember reading somewhere that the reason the one X wasn’t getting 4.3/4.4 was because of the tegra 3 chip which I think is rubbish. Look at the first generation nexus 7 it has a tegra 3 and also has 4.4.2
I don’tunderstand
Different Chipset.
why didn’t they do this for the Desire HD?
I tried to email [email protected] and got this for a response right away.
Your message can’t be delivered because delivery to this address is restricted.
HTC just plain rocks. I would have kept my EVO 4G LTE longer had it not had terrible LTE radios.
Still not able to send the mail on email id shared above!
Well it seems good that I will get updated version of Android 4.3 but don’t
know how much time it will take as the initial step of sending email is not able
to happening till yet.
Here’s the address they sent me.
Haven’t had time to try it yet.
https://htc.sharefile.com/d/caed908fd6f5455d?a=9a6e53efa15cf8bb
what is the email and password for this, I really want to get it as soon as possible, I won’t have access to a computer for a few days so i want to try and do it today.
Sounds like new tools may be coming our way soon. X-Devs rejoice!
lame, they all suck lol wow my original I guess didn’t make it on here huh. I had a lot to say about all of this nonsense so they decided to censor me yay!@!!
make a vid of It post it on youtube for those with youtube accounts, I think some of us want to see how lame it looks. Since it’s been so long awaiting such fictitious update. I think I need to get rid of both companies altogether spent too much money on HTC and sprint altogether. We are killing ourselves begging for nonsense, wake up I think it is sunny outside go enjoy the weather rather than this worthless piece of garbage in your hands.
news flash expect the actual ota to never make it to the light of day. M8 is right around the corner they’ll stall things so you can sheep your way on to getting the HM8 but wait after 8 months of loving the M8, M9+ will make its way into your subconscious so you’ll want to buy that as well. Spend your money well folks. GO HTC & SPRINT man watch their stocks go back up after this scam!!!!!
HTC is becoming the EA of phone manufacturers lol
Just got done chatting with an HTC rep. They said the email above was not supposed to have gone out so they have disabled it. They have no date at this point where the update will be available, they just said to “standby” and there should be some more information rolling out sometime this week. They said it was IMPOSSIBLE for anyone to have already received the update even though I mentioned comments below. Sounds like more stalling to me…
Wow, if the s5 turns out good then I’m definitely switching to samsung. It would have been better for HTC to have never mentioned a release of 4.3 at all instead of stringing along for the past 3-4 months.
My
Uncle Gabriel got a stunning blue Dodge Charger SRT8 from only workin part time
on a home pc… hop over to here CashDuties.ℂom
I have been working on getting the correct information for the update and FINALLY got someone to respond with it. I clicked on the following link directly from the email I received, but I entered it into the web address bar and it seems to download that way as well. if you copy it into the address bar you should be set. Make sure to backup your phone as this RUU file will COMPLETELY reformat your phone wiping everything clean with the exception of your SD contents. I backed those up just to be safe as well. Here is the link for the RUU file with the new Android 4.3 Sense 5 update:
http://dl3.htc.com/application/RUU_JEWEL_CL_JB43_SENSE50_MR_Sprint_WWE_4.13.651.3_Radio_1.13.11.1105_NV_3.02_003_PRL25007_release_353492_signed_one_step.exe
The agent gave me these instructions for the update: “In order to install the SW, double click (*COPY AND PASTE THE ABOVE LINK*) the RUU file with your device connected to the PC. The upgrade process will take approximately 20 minutes. Please do not unplug the device from the PC.”
Enjoy!