It's been a little over a month since the HTC began rolling out the latest Android 5.0 Lollipop update to One (M7); now out of the blue, the company has announced that the 2013 flagship smartphone won't be getting further updates in the future.
Mo Versi, HTC's Vice President (Product Management) confirmed the news on his official Twitter page that only Google Play Edition (similar to Nexus devices) of HTC One (M7) will get v5.1 update and the software for original model will be discontinued.
A HTC fan, going by the moniker, @kennymaclean (Kenny Maclean) asked whether the HTC One (M7) will get the latest Android MR (Maintaince Release) 1 aka v5.1 Lollipop; to that, Versi replied – "@kennymaclean Only the GPE version of M7 will receive 5.1. Our target is early April. Thanks."
The Mo Versi's response peeved off many fans who argued that Android 5.1 Lollipop, which is a major stability update to fix bugs found in the earlier versions of Lollipop OS must be released to One (M7). Some questioned the company's 'HTC Advantage' program that guaranteed minimum two years of firmware update service for its marquee devices.
In response to that, Mo Versi said, "@funky_1975 @kennymaclean Hi Sven, we've updated the M7 for up to 2 years from an OS standpoint."
[Normally Android OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturers) partners have a statuary 18 months contract with Google to deliver software update services to their flagship smartphones; HTC offers additional 6 months service.]
Well, to sum it up, HTC is done with the responsibility of regular release of updates to One (M7) and now whoever wishes to keep using the device, will have to look towards porting custom ROM.
HTC One (M7) being an Android phone, owners will have no difficulty finding one that suits them. There are numerous after-market mobile software providers in the market, to name a few: CyanogenMod, OmniROM, Paranoid Android, crDroid, SkyDragon and others. Or people can just a take virtual stroll on the XDA Developers Forum website, it's a goldmine for tech-savvy smartphone users to find custom ROMs.
