Yesterday we saw the HTC One Developer Edition officially receive its Android 4.3 update. While this all good n’ dandy for those that paid full price for the One (ie, yours truly), it goes without saying the vast majority of HTC One owners purchased theirs through their carrier (AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, etc). It’s those customers who are wondering when they can expect Android 4.3 to arrive on their Ones and according to HTC… soon.
As a recap, talk of the One receiving Android 4.3 kicked off back towards the end of August when HTC’s President of US revealed their plans to update carrier US/Canadian Ones and the HTC Droid DNA to 4.3 before the end of September. With barely 3 days left in the month, John Mackenzie is back again with a quick status update.
In a tweet, Mackenzie mans up to HTC missing their original target release date — slightly — but reassures HTC One owners in the states and Canada that it wont be long before Android 4.3 gets pushed out via their network, and onto their devices. He also mentions they haven’t forgotten about the HTC Droid DNA, which is still very much included in HTC’s Android 4.3 update plans.
While Android 4.3 was never technically promised before the end of September (remember, HTC only said they were working hard to deliver it by then), we understand delays like this can be disheartening, but HTC’s transparency makes it a little easier to swallow. “Delayed updates” is kind of an ongoing theme in Android, but let’s not forget Android 4.3 Jelly Bean was barely made official at the end of July. Sounds like a pretty darn good turn over time if you ask us.
Seems HTC could be scrambling to update their flagship before rival Samsung who we learned just earlier today might also be targeting October/November for Android 4.3 on their line of devices. The race is on.
[Twitter]