HTC promised an Android 6.0 Marshmallow update to owners of the One M8 Google Play Edition by the time October ends. October has come and gone, but no update for the phone is in sight.
HTC Vice President of Product Management, Mo Versi, tweeted that the company has come across a slight delay and thus must re-spin the software update, says Techno Buffalo. HTC users will remember that it was the VP for Product himself who announced a month ago that Android 6.0 Marshmallow will be coming to One M8 by October.
According to Uber Gizmo, Google no longer partners with OEMs on Google Play Edition (GPE) devices and the common belief was that owners of GPEs will stop seeing more updates from Android. HTC's announcement for One M8 could might as well be a sliver of hope for those owners of the special edition to get updated software.
The good news is that Versi also tweeted that he is expecting technical approval in the next few days, which hopefully won't be too long for HTC users. Reports imply that HTC could very well be releasing an update anytime this week if all goes well.
The One M8 is HTC's latest flagship, and is considered 'one of the best Android phones' by EN Gadget. The GPE version sports a 5-inch 1080p display, 2,600mAh battery, BoomSound speakers, rear UltraPixel camera and 5MP front-facing camera, much like the non-GPE version. The handset has a quad-band HSPA+ 21 Mbps (850/AWS/1900/2100) and quad-band GSM/EDGE.
One of the major downsides the the GPE version is that Motion Launch is not as complete as the non-GPE one. Users can still double tap to wake or pick up the phone to unlock, but the ability to swipe in different directions to perform various commands (such as swiping down to call) is no longer there.
The beauty of the Google Play Edition is that it removes the manufacturer's skin and all carrier bloatware, leaving the stock Android version in its bear form.
HTC One M8 Google Play Edition sells for $699 in the market and was released just last March.
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