HTC Sense 5 coming to some existing phones, maybe the HTC EVO 4G LTE?
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!
