In response to a fan’s question on Facebook, HTC stated that Sense 5 will indeed be coming to some of its existing devices that were released before the HTC One. Specifically:
HTC will be offering upgrades to some of its existing devices in the next few months, including global variants of HTC One X, One X+, One S and the HTC Butterfly. Also, note that some features enabled by the new HTC One hardware will not be available in the software updates.
Following this Facebook update, HTC confirmed to Android Police that these devices would indeed be getting a version of Sense 5, albeit slightly different than the version which will ship on the HTC One.
However, the key distinction here is “global variants,” which probably means international, unlocked versions of these devices. From this statement alone, it’s not clear whether or not Sense 5 will make it to carrier-branded versions of the One X on AT&T or the One S on T-Mobile, for example. It’s possible that carriers might want to block these updates, so that their sales of the new HTC One won’t be negatively affected.
Still, at the same time, carrier-branded versions of smartphones usually get the same updates as their international counterparts, in probably 99% of cases. It usually just takes a bit longer. And if the AT&T One X gets Sense 5, it will be highly likely that the EVO 4G LTE on Sprint will get it, too.
Even though the EVO 4G LTE wasn’t mentioned by name here, keep in mind that HTC never mentioned officially that it would be getting the Jelly Bean update, either. And just when most people had lost all hope for the EVO, the update suddenly appeared.
In any case, we’ll definitely keep our eyes on this story for more developments.
[Facebook via Android Police] Thanks, Jason!
EVO 4G LTE will be the last phone to get such an update.
We were the first to get JB lol… Why do people act like were so deprived?
I will say that Sprint and HTC have usually done a better job at updating their flagships over the other variants on different carriers. I am pretty sure that we Evo 4g Lte owners will receive Sense 5.
Especially with the EVO 3D. That ICS update came super quick and definitely not many weeks after the Virgin Mobile version had it out of the box.
Yeah, yeah, sarcasm. Oh well.
The original HTC EVO 4G will most likely have it… most things are possible with root
But the og EVO hasn’t even gotten 4+ yet have they? I mean even through root.
Nope. It probably never will.
HTC changed the way they do their Sense overlay integration for Sense 4.0 and up. It makes it really tough to port it to older handsets. There may be partially working ROMs out there. I don’t think it will ever fully function like backports of Sense 3.x.
I so want the Evo LTE to get get upgraded. The interface of Sense 5 is so nice and clean. The Blinkfeed is also really amazing. Manufacturers should keep devices updated for at least two years, in my opinion. I can’t wait for it to get updated!
Hhmmm, I’m on the fence about this one.
i hope we get it!!
Hoping for Sense update, and cheering HTC on. Hope htc flourishes