It was the phone with the design which has led to what many have described as the best looking smartphone on the market. But two years have passed since the HTC One M7 launched and HTC are looking to end updates for the phone, at least according to HTC VP, Product Management Mo Versi.
Responding to an announcement of Android 5.1 for the Google Play Edition (GPE) version of the HTC One M7, Mo Versi advised that ‘Only the GPE version of M7 will receive 5.1. Our target is early April. Thanks’. A followup question asking ‘what about “Updates for at least 2 years”?’ led to the answer: ‘we’ve updated the M7 for up to 2 years from an OS standpoint’.
The full exchange can be seen on Twitter:
@kennymaclean Only the GPE version of M7 will receive 5.1. Our target is early April. Thanks.
— Mo Versi (@moversi) March 18, 2015
While some manufacturers supply updates to their phones for longer (or shorter) periods, Google’s general unspoken rule of thumb has actually been 18 months for updates. Indeed they have actually kept the Nexus 4 going a lot longer with the Android 5.1 update due to come out soon.
HTC has kept the One M7 going for two years now and Android 5.0 is a good place to stop. HTC will most likely remain active killing any bugs for a while, but active development on an Android 5.1 update for a phone now two years old is probably not in their best fiscal interest.
Will this affect your perception of HTC? Is it a good decision to stop updates here?
HTC don’t have a great record with updates. Gingerbread update for the Desire, Jelly Bean 4.3 update for the One XL and now this.
HTC were previously poor with updates, but it’s been great since the M7. Updates within 90 days for two years for two flagships is excellent. LG is hopeless with communication and still hasn’t delivered 5.0 to the G2 in most markets. I don’t believe Samsung has updated the S4. Sony looks after older flagships but is incredibly slow. HTC is about the best now.
Google’s 18 month rule is listed in a support page. I can provide a link if required
The M7 is a beast on GPE, just convert it makes the most “sense”
I still don’t have the 5.0 update on my M7 well past their promised timeframe. Sorry HTC, I’ve been a supporter for a long time but my next phone will be the Samsung.
Lollipop for the M7 was released several weeks ago. It’s your provider’s firmware that’s preventing you from receiving the update.
haha samsung are no better (are worse) in the update department. Go and see what the Sammy S3 or even S4 android version is, which was released around about the same level as your M7
Well thats pretty poor HTC…. A great place to leave the M7 would have been on Android 5.1. 5.0 was a bit of a dog of a release, leaky as hell and laggy as hell. You have the drivers etc, so do a release!!
Not HTC’s fault Google released buggy 5.0 software.
Lollipop IMO is one of the worst Android releases. Just makes it slow, janky and buggy.
Correct its not HTC fault that google released buggy 5.0, it is however HTC fault for leaving a phone on 5.0 when 5.1 will work perfectly on it!
5.1 fixes most of 5.0 slow, janky and buggy issues as you put it.
I guess that the costs in building 5.1, testing, sending to telcos and testing done more Indy worth the investment to them.
Of course it would be nice if all of their phones were update to the latest software, but the M7 is approaching 2 years old so maybe they figure they’re better off putting their resources elsewhere.
Then skip sending 5.0 out! Its only just started to rollout and go straight to 5.1!
Seriously though, all costs for ‘updates’ should be factored into this phone. Its not some low end $29 android phone. It was a $700+ flagship phone that was still being sold in Dec 2014 brand new! (well not for $700 in dec 2014, but still)
Calm down kid.
and I care about what you say for what reason?
Kek.
Oh look. HTC seems to say 5.1 is going to be released now…. YAY