Leaked HTC update roadmap gives insight to plans for Android 4.4.4, Android L
It’s not uncommon for OEMs to begin talking about their plans to upgrade phones to the latest versions of Android soon after they’re unveiled. Unfortunately many OEMs are not yet ready to go public with their plans, but HTC’s have leaked courtesy of the handiwork of one XDA member. So what’s their roadmap looking like?
Starting with the most exciting — Android L — it appears they have intentions to offer it for most of their top smartphones from the past two years as they have all been marked with the “evaluation” stamp. Their tentative timeline for the upgrade to be available is between October and December. Why so late? Well, Android L is only in developer preview status right now.
The images you see being flashed to a couple of Nexus devices (see our Android L hands-on) aren’t meant to be stable or ready for prime time. We don’t expect to see a full release of Android L until this fall, and HTC’s expected timeline falls right within our expectations of seeing the update no later than a few months after being available.
Of course, evaluation means just that — they’re not ready to hard commit to plans to bringing Android L to all of these devices, though we’re sure top dogs like the HTC One M8, HTC One M7 and HTC One Max have a high chance of receiving the goods.
Moving on to the Android 4.4.4 front, HTC has confirmed plans to bring it to the HTC One M8 and M7 between July and August. Those devices were also on Android 4.4.3’s radar, but HTC might be skipping it to go straight to 4.4.4. As for the dual-SIM HTC One M8 variant, the HTC One Mini 2, and the HTC One E8? We should be expecting 4.4.4 for those between August and September. Enlarge the image above for the full roadmap if you’re interested.