HTC performs a u-turn, says ‘actively exploring’ Android 4.4 KitKat update for One X

HTC on Friday hosted an AMAA (Ask Me Almost Anything) on Reddit with its North America product management team. While the team did not answer questions of upcoming products and service issues, it did shed light on the software update process for some of its older phones.
We have seen that HTC hasn’t had the best track record when it comes to updating flagship devices in a timely manner and during the Q&A session, the company admitted as much and made a promise to fasten its device update process.

HTC’s product management said on Reddit, “We don’t have a perfect track record regarding updates along with almost every phone manufacturer, but we’re dedicated to bring more transparency to the process and doing our best to deliver updates as quickly as we can.”

The company also said it was a lack of support from NVIDIA that caused them to drop support for future updates for HTC One X and HTC One X+ which runs on the NVIDIA Tegra 3 chipset.

But now it appears that the company has taken a U-turn as during the AMAA session, the company’s product manager confirmed that HTC is “actively exploring” the possibility of Android 4.4 KitKat for the HTC One X.

HTC further announced that it will support all future flagship devices with major updates for two years after their release.

“Today we are making a commitment to support all new North America flagship devices going forward with all major Android updates for 2 years after their release date,” HTC’s team added.

If you are a HTC 8X user, there’s good news for you as well. HTC confirmed that the company is working with Microsoft to provide the Windows Phone 8.1 update to the smartphone later this year.

HTC has been talking about updates quite a bit recently, having recently published a complicated infographic and software updates page that details how the company updates the software on their phones. The page share timeline and other details about forthcoming software updates.

5.5-inch HTC Desire 8 leaks on eve of Mobile World Congress

HTC may soon introduce a new member of the Desire family, perhaps as soon as Mobile World Congress. A leaked image and basic hardware specifications have surfaced online, indicating that HTC is readying another sizable smartphone.According to a “reliable” Engadget source, the Desire 8 is a mid-range experience with a large, 5.5-inch display. Presumably powered by Android 4.4, the details could include a 13-megapixel rear camera, front-facing 5-megapixel shooter, dual speakers, and dual-SIM support. So far, that sounds fairly high end to us. The rumor also suggests a plastic body in multiple color options (like red, orange, yellow, and cyan blue), and on-screen navigation buttons.

If you look closely at the screenshot, you’ll see a March 18 date and Beijing location, a hint that HTC could hold a press event on said Tuesday rather than use Mobile World Congress. The latter is a much larger world stage and takes place in late February, though HTC may decide to aim its product at Asia first with a more localized reveal.