Owners of ‘selected’ 2013 model HTC One devices will be getting another nice surprise when their device is upgraded to Sense 5.5 – up to 50GB of Google Drive storage.
In a move away from Dropbox, which saw users of HTC devices running Sense 3.5 and 3.6 getting 3 GB for one year and HTC Sense 4.0, Sense 4+, and Sense 5.0 getting up to 25GB a year, HTC has partnered up with Google to offer up to 50GB of Drive space depending on your device. It seems that the HTC One Max will be eligible for the full 50GB of space that’s valid for up to two years, while the rest of the family like the HTC One when upgraded to HTC Sense 5+ will get an additional 25GB for two years, this of course leaves only the HTC One Mini, which has not been listed in the Google Support Page outlining the offer.
There’s two ways you will be offered the update – obviously only available once you update your HTC One to Sense 5.5 when it arrives – Firstly is through the Google Drive App :
- Launch the preloaded Google Drive application on your device
- Press Redeem when presented with this screen
- Follow the screen prompts to complete redemption
Secondly, you will be also offered the free space through Blinkfeed – that is, if you haven’t turned it off when you receive the Sense 5.5 update :
The offer is only valid for one redemption per device – no adding multiple accounts and claiming – and must be claimed before January 1, 2016. This also means if you purchase a used device, you may not be able to claim it. Also, if your boot loader is unlocked Google/HTC says No :
The offer is only available to original buyer of a device over its lifetime. Users who unlock the bootloader on their device are not eligible to receive this offer.
It may be worth trying to re-lock your bootloader, claiming and then unlocking again, but there doesn’t seem to be anyone who has tried this yet.
After two years your files on the additional storage you claim will not just disappear, but you won’t be able to add to them.
Not a bad offer overall, it seems Google is trying to take the fight to Dropbox, which seems to still be the real powerhouse when it comes to cloud storage.
Have you got a HTC One running Sense 5.5? Did you re-lock your bootloader and claim the extra storage?
Others on XDA reporting you have to relock your bootloader AND return to original firmware if you updated it at some point. I considered it, but too much effort at the moment.