HTC Abandons One S Users, No More Updates
I was just explaining to someone the other day one of the reasons I prefer the Samsung Galaxy S4 over the HTC One. I explained that, though the HTC phone has a more premium feel to it and has some interesting software features, they will not sell nearly as well as the Galaxy S4. Because of this fact, among several other reasons, don’t expect software updates as often and as long as the S4 gets them. I then added that HTC will pretty much abandon the phone by this time next year and you will have to rely on the Android developer community for software updates.
Well, today I was unfortunate enough to be proven right. You see, I’m an HTC One S owner and since purchasing the phone over the Galaxy S3 last year (which I thought felt sluggish by comparison at the time), I have only received one major software update. I had to resort to rooting my phone and running a custom ROM in order to experience Jelly Bean (4.1), because it took HTC well over a year to officially release an already out-of-date OS for my phone (4.1 when 4.2 was out). Bear in mind, Samsung released their update around the same time in the states, but HTC had no excuse – the international HTC One S is running nearly identical hardware to the US model (with the exception to those running S3 chips). I am fully aware that carriers in the states traditionally hold up Android updates while they modify the software and add in bloatware.
As an HTC One S owner, this hits home more than anything else, but they have officially abandoned development for the HTC One S. This means that that a phone with hardware very similar to the Galaxy S3 is abandoned, while Samsung continues to update their Galaxy S2, which came out 8 months prior to the One S in the states.
“We can confirm that the HTC One S will not receive further Android OS updates and will remain on the current version of Android and HTC Sense. We realize this news will be met with disappointment by some, but our customers should feel confident that we have designed the HTC One S to be optimized with our amazing camera and audio experiences.”
Source:
http://www.engadget.com/2013/07/02/htc-confirms-one-s-will-no-longer-receive-android-updates/
