HTC slaps Ice Cream Sandwich on 16 handsets

HTC has started updating its devices with the next wave of Android - version 4.0 aka Ice Cream Sandwich - but only sixteen devices are in line for the upgrade. As listed on the manufacturer's website, they include the HTC Droid Incredible 2, the Desire S and Desire HD, two EVO phones and four Sensation phones. Devices that don …

[Anonymous Coward]

Very disappointed the Desire Z didn't make the cut, it was released with the Desire HD, yet has been abandoned at the grand old age of 15 months.

I'm not sure if this speaks badly of HTC's support (which from personal experience is pretty dire) or badly of HTC's design department cutting too many corners and only giving the phone enough RAM to just about manage the Android release at the time.

Oh well, guess I'll wait to see what CM manage to do with 9, although I'm still waiting for CM7 to properly support the Desire Z and allow me to type the £ symbol printed on the keyboard.

[Charles 9]

I had low expectations and had a feeling it wouldn't make the cut. I have the T-Mobile USA version, the G2, and while it eventually was upgraded to Gingerbread, I had a feeling that ICS would be a stretch. Most ICS-capable devices are less than a year old, and this one's somewhat over the mark. Even in Froyo and Gingerbread, things get a bit clunky over time unless you get one of those memory optimizers (even without root-level access, it helps).

[laurentlbm]

I have the Bell version, which is essentially the same as the G2. I had rooted it a while ago and recently, I installed an ICS rom (without Sense). It runs much smoother than Gingerbread.

You can find ROMs at http://forum.xda-developers.com/forumdisplay.php?f=758

I use Andromadus Alpha v13, it's built on top of the source of CM9.

[Charles 9]

Interesting thought, but I hear it still has some teething issues (especially around the camera). Plus my phone's still insured, so I'm not so inclined to root it, in case it breaks (again, I'm on my first insured replacement).

[Cliff]

petition for Desire Z...

http://www.change.org/petitions/htc-release-an-android-4-0-update-for-the-htc-desire-z#share

[Sir Sham Cad]

Given that my Desire Z struggles a bit with Gingerbread and I'm not suffering for lack of RAM I'm not surprised that HTC have given it a miss on Ice Cream Sarnie. I just don't think the 800Mhz CPU is up to the job, especially as they'll stick a fatter version of Sense UI on it as well (now if I could get an upgrade of SenseUI to v3 I'd be very happy. It's lovely).

I agree with your point, though, about having a premium price point phone engineered only for the here and now. With just a tweak to a 1Ghz CPU I suspect my Gingerbread experience would be bang on and we'd be looking at a reasonable ICS update, too.

[Anonymous Coward]

£ symbol works just fine on my CM7.1 with the Desire Z... look, I just typed it!

Anyway though, did you change the keymap? Because by default, CM uses the US layout. Just change that and you'll be fine.

[NinjasFTW]

last time i'm buying a HTC product

Well annoyed that the Z is not getting updated.

Paid a premium for the device and support has been abysmal. Several long standing bugs such as sense constantly crashing and sms app playing up when you change to landscape mode. Several emails to them have gone unanswered.

Performance is not that great either, although I suspect that it is mainly due the Sense overlay rather than the hardware.

Will have to find some time to CM7 it i guess.

[Captain Scarlet]

Re: last time i'm buying a HTC product

Could be your carrier, Orange took forever to release 2.3.2 when everyone else on other networks had it for 1-2 months.

[MuppetHater]

Re: last time i'm buying a HTC product

I hear you. After my 2 month long run-in with their abysmal support team I would rather use a Nokia 3310 than buy another of their phones. Recently changed to a Samsung Galaxy Nexus. Couldn't be happier now. Great device.

[dajames]

Re: last time i'm buying a HTC product

"Well annoyed that the Z is not getting updated"

... or at least that there is no replacement for the Z in the pipeline that might be released with ICS as standard. A real shame that HTC now don't make any Android phone with a keyboard.

[AdamW]

There is a fix for the £ symbol, it works on mine now :)

[Paul Crawford]

Wildfire dissapointment

Sad to see no sign of any update for my HTC Wildfire. It sucks so much donkey b*lls that I'm considering rooting it to put something else on it in the vain hope it helps (sluggish display, crashed in areas of poor reception, time keeping pants, I could go on but need to take my dried frog pills now...).

[W.O.Frobozz]

Hm, I'm surprised...

...surprised that my Desire HD is actually on the list. Not that it matters much to me, I've long since moved to Cyanogen (which gave me a big boost on battery life). I'll just wait for CM9..

[Christopher Rogers]

There have been reviews of Sense 3.6

And frankly it is ICS shoehorned into Sense 3.0. Once I get a play with this long overdue update, I will go hunting for the XDA Developer's Sense 4 version of the ROM

[Gordon 10]

Flyer

Anyone who bought a flyer at or near it original rrp has yet another reason to be choking on their own rage right now.

[dssf]

Too bad my EVO 4G didn't make the cut...

Guess I'll be going for a Samsung model next time... Besides, I'm envious of those bigger screens, and Sammy's selling them...

[PaulR79]

ICS on older devices = Sense 3.6

As has been mentioned earlier the Android 4 released will be using Sense 3.6 which is a bit of a mixture of what was seen on the HTC One series and the older Sense 3. They claim that's to keep familiarity and from looking at some early tests it performs a lot better so it may be worth it. I don't remember where I read it but I'm sure HTC said that only new devices such as the One series will be getting Sense 4 ICS.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: ICS on older devices = Sense 3.6

I'm pretty certain Sense 4+ICS combo will get ripped and shoehorned into older devices pretty soon. And from what I've heard, Sense 4 is actually quite lighter than its elders.

I do have a Sense 3.5 ROM running pretty briskly on my Desire (the original granddaddy desire).

So if Sense intended for Sensation can run on Desire..

[Stuart Halliday]

Hmmm...I wonder how much RAM I'll have left after my 1GB HTC Desire HD boots up with ICS? With Android 2.3.3 I've got 730MB free at start.

However at this precise moment I have 92MB free as I type this.

Some of us have lots of apps in our phones. More RAM means less reloading from SSD which is power intensive.

Roll on 2GB Android devices...

[PaulR79]

RAM != storage

I'm sorry but you're a bit confused. The Desire HD has 768MB RAM, not 1GB. It has around 1.5GB internal storage and any extra you add with an SD card but it most definitely does not have 1GB RAM.

[Jonas Taylor]

I hope T-Mobile doesn't f*** with this update as well

It took T-Mobile UK months to provide the previous update and they didn't even bother with Android 2.3.5 or 2.3.6 (already tried the check for update functionality). The only reason they even delay updates is so they can add in all their crapware, like the wonderful internet censor that blocks innocent websites unless I jump through hoops and text them my details.

I just fear that by the time they actually get around to providing the update my phone will already be obsolete and I'll be looking to upgrade. It would be much better if they simply made their app optional and made it worthwhile to actually use - instead they mandate its inclusion and use it to flog overpriced services aimed at teens, while delaying or simply not providing Android OS updates. Not only would it be easier for them to not do that but it would provide a better service to customers.

Why is it that T-Mobile thinks that antagonising customers is a good business strategy?

[ChrisC]

Re: I hope T-Mobile doesn't f*** with this update as well

"...and they didn't even bother with Android 2.3.5 or 2.3.6..."

Perhaps not for whichever un-named handset you got from them, but they have supplied at least one of those updates (2.3.5) for at least one of the HTC devices (Desire S) they've supplied...

And when you refer to an internet censor, do you just mean the content blocking feature of all TMobile contracts? I'm fairly certain this has nothing to do with the firmware on your phone, given that, when I was using a completely unencumbered by TMobile crapware phone up until about a year ago, content blocking would still work if enabled in my account settings...

[Anonymous Coward]

Nothing for the HTC Hero then!

... or an ICS update for my iPaq

[Steve 16]

Not for Desire after all.

Headline says “..Desire to get upgrade...” which surprised me as HTC said it didn’t even have enough memory for Gingerbread.

Then came back down to earth as the article states it’s actually only the newer “S” and “HD” models.

[Oliver 7]

Re: Not for Desire after all.

Happy (smug) Desire S owner here. Sorry! However all we've been told is that it will be available this year and I wonder how long Orange will need to play around with it. Will probably only be six months off a new contract by the time it arrives! Just as well Gingerbread is so good!

[phuzz]

Re: Not for Desire after all.

There is a version of CM9 for the Desire, but right now it's still not at a usable state (I've gone back to CM7). It's sluggish, occasionally crashes, and the camera doesn't work.

Possibly the modders will be able to get the hardware drivers they need from the ICS release for other devices (eg Desire S), or maybe I should just wait until I can upgrade...

[phlashbios]

Re: Not for Desire after all.

There are some excellent Gingerbread ROM's for the Desire while we are waiting for a fully functional ICS port from the XDA developers.

My personal favourite is MIUI (runs on Gingerbread Android 2.3.7) It's as smooth as silk, very stable and a vast improvement over the Froyo ROM's.

Fifteen minutes of your time will see the Desire rooted and ready to flash using the automated tools available. The standard Desire is quite probably the simplest of all of HTC's phones to root and flash with something new and interesting.

[NoDosh]

N1 owner in mild disappointment moment

But what the hell, it works and isn't the size of my xoom.

[RAMChYLD]

Don't feel bad

My awkwardly-named HTC ChaCha didn't get the cut too, and it's was only out for less than a year!

Terminator. Because there's always hope for an unofficial ICS ROM.

[Slabfondler]

That's all good and fine, but...

what about the phone I have which says Google on the back? No frozen dairy love for the Nexus S as yet.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: That's all good and fine, but...

If you like that soft of dessert you can always downgrade to Froyo?

<joke>

[Avatar of They]

Yay, the desire HD is on there, Boooo HTC could (and will) be rolling it out with Sense.

Lets be honest ICS is by the article on "What is new on android ICS", all about looks and navigation. Most of which will be buried behind the HTC sense spinny wheel thingy. And that is beyond the power of us normal people to remove. (Those not wanting to root)

I have ICS on my asus transformer prime and it is slick, the new folder creation and general movement between screen and menus is much better. And little tweaks make it worth while. (Though still lose massive power and RAM with google maps and google+ running all the time in the background which you can't remove.)

All of the prettiness and features will be removed in favour of the god awful HTC sense 3.0x overlay or whatever they come up with next because that is what they think we need and want.

I mourn the loss of my backgrounds being different on each screen, and being able to just swpie to get in. Instead of waiting for it to finish a pretty little spinning dance AND then let me do something. It all worked prior to sense 3.0 and it works on ICS. So here is to HTC cocking it all up with their UI.