It’s clear that HTC tried very hard to get Android 4.0.3 to market on its One series of devices as quickly as it could, going so far as to build elements of the operating system that weren’t available to them when they started. The result was a clear market lead, ahead of Samsung, LG and its other rivals, in the war of the update.
Now that many of these OEMs have caught up, releasing devices with ICS (Samsung’s Galaxy S III ships with the even-newer Android 4.0.4), HTC is attempting to secure an update to Jelly Bean for its One Series devices before anyone else.
According to an update on the Telstra website, one of Australia’s leading mobile carriers, “HTC is preparing an update but is yet to confirm the date it will be submitted for… testing.” OEMs usually have updates ready well in advance of their carrier release, as they have to be tweaked and updated for specific locales. While this doesn’t give us an indicication as to when HTC will bring Jelly Bean to the masses, we know that the jump from 4.0 to 4.1 is not nearly as difficult (or labour-intensive) as it was from 2.3 to 4.0. The underlying framework is roughly the same, and OEMs have already toiled to bring ICS to their newest crop of devices.
The HTC One X and One S are two of the best phones released this year, and we’re very interested to see the speed increases brought from the update to Jelly Bean. More on this when we know it.
