Given that the One X+ was intended to be the mid-life update to the One X, it's fair to assume the older One X and One S should also be feeling comfortable on the firmware they're currently sitting on. As much as this is going to pain the One X and S owners out there, I somewhat understand why HTC have made this decision, at least for these two.
The One X and S are nearing their two year grace period where HTC and OEMs alike should be honouring updates for devices. Yes, while that period does not end at least for a couple of months, and what might be considered more than enough time for the OEM to churn out an additional update for this last generation of Ones, along with liasing with carriers throughout the world, it isn't. HTC are committed to their current crop of devices, and to an extent, they should be. While they could've worked to see the One X and S receive their final hurrah so-to-speak, there's no thought that their efforts could ultimately turn out an update laden with bugs resulting from insufficient testing, and requiring additional work beyond this period to flatten them.
If anything, the worst part of all this is that the newer, upgraded One X+ which was released much later in the year, and still far from its two year release will absolutely not receive anything at all. This is a complete cop-out on HTC's part, and it shows where their true priorities lie.
As much as it pains me, I have to commend Samsung for going out of their way to see to it that the Galaxy SIII (which also happened to be released around the time of the One X and S), receives its dose of KitKat, amidst its heavily skinned Touchwiz, that should also see a refresher of its own.
We're not talking a mid-range or budget handset here, the One X+ should be more than capable of handling whatever additions KitKat and Sense 5.5/6 have to throw at it. There's nothing owners of devices hate more than seeing a handset they purchased when it was at the cutting edge, being abandoned well before it should be. Motorola owners for long were victims of this, often lucky to receive one major update for the life of their phone. Droid Bionic owners are a prime example of how a community of owners will maintain their anger towards an OEM for failing to honour updates for a device they perceived as being top of the range at the time. Eventually, the backlash Motorola received from this community spurred the delayed release of 4.0.4, and 4.1.2 later on. From then on, Motorola have improved on their valuing of customers through updates, and now with Google at the reigns, they've been well on track in keeping their Moto X and G up-to-date with the Nexi family.
Motorola have even gone so far as to announce plans to update the previous generation DROID line from 4.1.2 to KitKat. As an owner of a DROID RAZR HD, I'm elated that the new Motorola have even bothered with devices they were left to deal with from the old Motorola, and even considered a jump from 4.1 to 4.4 at all.
There's not much stopping any disgruntled owner from rooting and flashing a custom ROM to their liking if a device isn't seeing the updates it deserves. But they shouldn't need to, and more often than not, they may find significant performance degradation over time if a ROM truly isn't stable for that device. It was something I personally found with my DROID, up to the point I recently surrendered and moved back to Moto's relatively blur-less 4.1.2.
Samsung realise the value in wanting to keep users happy, and for that it's no wonder why they're doing so well for themselves. HTC on the other hand, don't, and it's a shame when given their financial position, they could do with all the satisfied folks they can have, and continue to have, when it comes time for them to upgrade.
No comments:
Post a Comment