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HTC has been diligent in getting out Android 5.0 Lollipop to the HTC One M8 and original M7 in before their self-imposed 90-day deadline (end of this January). Although we figured this deadline only applied to the HTC One M8 and HTC One Developer/unlocked (international) versions of the device — which actually received Android 5.0.2 a few weeks back — apparently this also meant carrier versions as well.
Rather than keep their customers guessing, they’ve issued an official statement admitting to missing the deadline, while also putting some of the blame on a buggy Lollipop release. Here’s a snippet of their statement issued by HTC’s vice president of product management, Mo Versi.
“We’ve been working hard in the labs with Google and our carrier partners ever since the code release and are making great progress so far, but if you’ve been following the progress of this rollout you will know that Google has had to address several issues with this release.
We’ve been diligently working to fix some of them on our end and incorporating Google’s fixes as quickly as possible, but despite everyone’s best efforts some carrier versions of the HTC One (M8) and HTC One (M7) will not meet our 90 day goal, which is February 1st.”
We suppose this is just the nature of attempting to provide users with ETAs, especially when unforeseen issues can delay things further. Add in the usual carrier testing delays and buggy Android code, and were surprised HTC even got Lollipop out on time for their international devices. In any case, we’re not too surprised, and delays happen. We applaud HTC for their continued efforts at transparency.
HTC was way too ambitious in the first place.
It could have been done if Android 5.0 didn’t have all those weird issues it did. I mean, Lollipop rollout wasn’t exactly a smooth process even for Nexus devices.
No, it’s fine because it shows they’re striving to a standard. Google didn’t help with rushing bad code. Rushing seems to be on the rise even more. Apple did the same with iOS 8.
This definitely helps HTC in my consideration of the M9 when I decide to upgrade this Q1.
Last HTC device I owned was mytouch slide and it had too many bugs they continuously had to address because they rushed. Glad to see they are taking their time with the software updates.
come on back home…
They’re right. Lollipop wasn’t close to ready in November. It’s still not ready.
(N5 and N7 owner speaking from personal experience.)
No problems with it on my Nexus 6. I wonder if they are just having trouble with it on the other devices?
I have 5.0.1 running on Shield Tablet with no issues. The material design makes a significant improvement in UX and performance appears even faster than on KitKat.
Still love HTC, they do right by us most of the time.
I can wait. Still the best os of all phones I’ve tried not actually sure how much better lollipop will be
The UI isn’t a big a change, but the lollipop do a lot of me, have some apps updated for lollipop and it’s awesome! Numix calculator have never been as fun.
Meh, I don’t even care. I love my M8, I love the OS how it is, so much I haven’t even used a launcher which i always did for my Galaxy phones. And there’s no guarantee the new OS will be an improvement, from the pics of Lollipop I’m not positive I’m gonna enjoy adjusting to the changes, such as the new notifications.
The new recent apps is the worst. HTC had one of the best menus of all. It was a true multi tasking experience.
Only the G3 got a similar menu.
HTC is so greatful, that if you don’t like the new Lollipop recent apps, the have settings to change back to the old one :D
Good move on HTC’s part. IMO, it’s better to wait until you get it stable. Plus, they actually communicate with users on its progress.
That’s the important part to really appreciate about these folks. Sure, some other companies would rather not speculate about release ETA but like you said they’re actually attempting to communicate with their loyal consumers. Ten points for the effort HTC.
meh still better than samsung
What’s the bet on HTC miraculously having lollipop ready after the M9 is released?
80%
But the Android code is buggy, they are right. Google released 5.0.2 yesterday to fix some more bugs found in the 5.0.0 and 5.0.1.
I’d rather to wait for a stable version than have a buggy version right now.
The Lollipop version I got is pretty stable. I heard that people got problems with update-progress doing update from OTA, but my one works pretty smooth, and still a great battery life at all. I have the 4.16.401.10 version
They’re absolutely right; it IS buggy. Even my Nexus 7 FHD is a little twitchy on 5.0.2. Basically, I feel Google asked everyone to delta-test their OS this time. Not a smooth move. Not at all. This is definitely not on HTC.
very true…
If my One m7 I just got is still on the software it shipped with, can I get ota directly to Lollipop once its out or it has to go through KK first?
That’s a good question. You may need to go over the Kitkat update before updating directly to Lollipop. But the Lollipop update should be able when the Kitkat update is done.
I think you can go directly to Lollipop if you update your phone from the computer instead OTA, I will do that if you want to skip Kitkat.
Thx for the info guys. Would updating it this way wipe the device? (From the PC)
If you don’t reinstall the phone, I don’t think so. But I would always recommend you to do a backup before updating, if anything should go wrong. :)
I would go through KitKat first. During the root process, if you weren’t on 4.4.4, then you’d have to flash certain firmwares or certain things wouldn’t work.
In other words, it was safer to take each step rather than jumping ahead.
I said two weeks ago they were going to miss their deadline when I complained about AT&T M8s still being on 4.4.2 and delaying 4.4.4, and Chris Chavez pooh-poohed me and said that carrier devices didn’t count