HTC has announced that the planned Android Jelly Bean 4.2.2 update for the HTC One S will no longer be coming to the French variant of the older Android smartphone. This may be the first of many regional announcements about the latest OS not arriving on the One S, or it could just be a one off French anomaly.
The HTC One S was part of the new line of HTC handsets with its larger One X brother last year. When HTC announced its latest Android updates with the HTC Sense 5 user interface it was confirmed by HTC that the One S and X would eventually be getting the update.
However, we think it’s odd that customers in France will be omitted from this list alone and are going to assume that HTC will be confirming the lack of Jelly Bean updates for the One S around the world.
The news comes from the HTC France official Facebook page where a customer called Phillipe asked: “My One and s sad he expects his last day as a 4.2.2, but when …?” (loose translation) with HTC France responding with:
“Hello Philippe, we inform you that the HTC One S no longer has access to updates for future versions of Android and HTC Sense. We are aware that this information will disappoint some, but our customers can be confident that we have designed for the One S that offers video and audio experience of the highest quality. Thank you.”
The update to 4.2.2 is awaited by owners of the HTC One S as the smartphone is still a very capable device and the update would include the new Sense 5 UI. Sense 5 is one of the best iterations of HTC Sense software and it brings a host of new visual changes as well as streamlining the overall look.
As we stated, so far the update has only been canned in France, so hopefully HTC won’t cancel it for other regions. However, things don’t look to great for One S owners hoping to update.
Until that time it would seem that the year-old HTC One S will remain on Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, which isn’t the worst place in the world to be if we’re honest.
***UPDATE***
Well now its been confirmed, a statement released to the press by HTC has confirmed that the HTC One S will not be getting any further updates (including 4.2.2) and the software will remain on 4.1.1 Jelly Bean.
“We can confirm that the HTC One S will not receive further Android OS updates and will remain on the current version of Android and HTC Sense. We realize this news will be met with disappointment by some, but our customers should feel confident that we have designed the HTC One S to be optimized with our amazing camera and audio experiences.”