HTC response to where is ICS for TB

[natehoy]

The wait for ICS is making us crazy.
lol

It is frustrating, but recall what we went through on the wait for Gingerbread. If history holds, it will be next year, and not first quarter mind you!, before we get any Ice Cream Sammy lovin'. And by then the majority of Tboltians are going to have bolted for the latest thing on their two-year renewals, except maybe the few unlimited plan holdouts who don't want to shell out $600 for a shinier shiny.

Meanwhile, ICS will have some nice improvements but the Gingerbread build gave me what I thought I was buying in this phone. Video chat, a fairly stable phone with few real issues, and still fast enough to do anything I'm likely to do on its small screen. I got the big brick extended battery and the phone is now all-day strong.

Verizon has tossed in 4G where I work (though sadly still not where I live fewer than 15 miles away!), and this phone is stylin'.

Yeah, there are some nice improvements in ICS. Aftermarket tethering over WiFi would be sweet. Chrome? Maybe, but Firefox syncs everything for me, so I'm kind of invested in that browser architecture anyway. Maybe a little better battery life. But most of what I'd want would require hardware upgrades.

I'd much prefer Big Red focus on the huge gaping holes in even 1xRTT coverage here in Maine, and maybe spread the 4G love around a little more.

I'd like to have ICS, but there ain't nothin' in in worth getting all het up over.

 

[armeddroid]

It is frustrating, but recall what we went through on the wait for Gingerbread. If history holds, it will be next year, and not first quarter mind you!, before we get any Ice Cream Sammy lovin'. And by then the majority of Tboltians are going to have bolted for the latest thing on their two-year renewals, except maybe the few unlimited plan holdouts who don't want to shell out $600 for a shinier shiny.

Meanwhile, ICS will have some nice improvements but the Gingerbread build gave me what I thought I was buying in this phone. Video chat, a fairly stable phone with few real issues, and still fast enough to do anything I'm likely to do on its small screen. I got the big brick extended battery and the phone is now all-day strong.

Verizon has tossed in 4G where I work (though sadly still not where I live fewer than 15 miles away!), and this phone is stylin'.

Yeah, there are some nice improvements in ICS. Aftermarket tethering over WiFi would be sweet. Chrome? Maybe, but Firefox syncs everything for me, so I'm kind of invested in that browser architecture anyway. Maybe a little better battery life. But most of what I'd want would require hardware upgrades.

I'd much prefer Big Red focus on the huge gaping holes in even 1xRTT coverage here in Maine, and maybe spread the 4G love around a little more.

I'd like to have ICS, but there ain't nothin' in in worth getting all het up over.

Agreed.
It will get here when it does.
I had the OG droid when the whole 2.2 debacle went down and every thread was bashing one another over leaks, official builds, etc.

I have LTE everywhere i need to be at. So i am good on that. But now that i have the Nexus 7 and going back to my phone is somewhat frustrating. Feel me?
I am ready for the ICS update but I am in no rush, yet, I am getting antsy for this OTA. lol
Just something to hold onto the phone for a lil longer so i can prep for what my next phone will be.
I never had any of the original issues with the Tbolt aside from the lack of the GPS locking but aside from that, i love the Tbolt.
Great phone IMO.
I know that others had a bad experiment with it but its the nature of the beast.
On all devices.
So..i will wait, i was expecting the OTA in early September anyway.
But this is getting a bit old.

 

[natehoy]

But now that i have the Nexus 7 and going back to my phone is somewhat frustrating. Feel me?

I do. My Tbolt is a company issue so I can't exactly go hacking and whacking on it, since MobileIron would probably go all freakazoid on me and my company's security team would have a wiggy.

So I have a Nexus for all my playing needs at home. That's reduced the urgency for ICS on my work device somewhat. But since the phone does everything I need and most of the things I want, I'm not all that anxious anyway.

I also know that my company doesn't exactly "renew every two", so when I got the Thunderbolt it was the biggest, baddest, meanest kid on the block that was on our "approved" list. I knew from carrying the same BlackBerry for 3+ years that I'm in with this phone for the long haul. So I'd really like the ICS upgrade to come and be behind us so the phone is at a stable state for the remainder of the time I'll be carrying it, which will probably be for some time.

But I do likes me some good drama, too.

 

[oberkc]

There are probably only 12 (OK, maybe 13...) people left using the T-Bolt anyway at this point.

Funny. I suspect there are still LOTS of folks still using it. More likely, twelve (or thirteen) refers to the number of thunderbold users who care about ICS.

This impatience for ICS predates, even, the introduction of gingerbread. Count me among those who are happy with the phone in its current state and don't really care about ICS. Perhaps I simply don't understand what benefit it will bring to my trusty phone.

I use ICS on a tablet. The only thing I see is a slight difference in user interface. Some of the differences I do not like. Perhaps ICS would be better on a phone? Is it simply the "latest and greatest" that folks are after, or is there some tangible benefit expected (battery life? faster reboot? more consistent 4G?)

 

[anon(394005)]

Funny. I suspect there are still LOTS of folks still using it. More likely, twelve (or thirteen) refers to the number of thunderbold users who care about ICS.

This impatience for ICS predates, even, the introduction of gingerbread. Count me among those who are happy with the phone in its current state and don't really care about ICS. Perhaps I simply don't understand what benefit it will bring to my trusty phone.

I use ICS on a tablet. The only thing I see is a slight difference in user interface. Some of the differences I do not like. Perhaps ICS would be better on a phone? Is it simply the "latest and greatest" that folks are after, or is there some tangible benefit expected (battery life? faster reboot? more consistent 4G?)

That about sums up my thoughts as well! I picked up a Nexus 7 recently and while Jelly Bean does have some cool features (many that ICS shares), I just don't see a real benefit to any of it to risk how well the Thunderbolt currently works on Gingerbread and Sense 2.1, especially considering its older hardware. I could however see the value of ICS for custom ROM's, especially de-Sensed ones. But from a stock perspective, IMO, I don't think ICS/Sense 3.6 is going to yield anything better than the existing software setup. At best it may be on par, but more than likely it'll be a bit worse even if there are no bugs. One thing that stands out and many have stated why they want ICS; is the ability to use Chrome. But from my experience, it gets a bit laggy even on vanilla Jelly Bean and the beefier hardware of the Nexus 7. So I can't possibly see how it's going to run very well on the Thunderbolt.

 

[natehoy]

Perhaps I simply don't understand what benefit it will bring to my trusty phone.

On a Nexus device, the list would be huge. On a Sense device, not so much since a lot of the improvements are masked by Sense (though we are supposedly getting an upgraded version of Sense as well). If you use a custom launcher (I use GoLauncher, for example) a lot of the features won't matter to you anyway.

- Callscreen/Lockscreen improvements (doesn't matter, HTC/Vz overlays these)
- Drag-to-create-folder: Drag two icons together and badda-bing-badda-boom you have a folder with the two icons in it. But Sense may or may not bring that to the table.
- Visual improvements to the Contacts (now called "people") app.
- Refinements to apps and widgets, ways they are added to the desktop, etc.
- Image previews in some notifications (nice, not earth-shattering, but nice).
- Updated keyboard (I use Swype anyway)
- "Recent Apps" pulldown to re-launch a recently-used app. I have this in Jelly Bean on my Nexus. It's nice, but I rarely use it.
- MUCH nicer Gmail app. I do like this improvement.
- Slightly better Calendar app.
- New Gallery/Album interface (I use QuickPic anyway, it's faster, but I might go back to the native Gallery).
- Better browser with a more convenient way to ask for the desktop version of a site (with the capability of installing Chrome).
- Tweaks to the music player.
- Much better settings app with the ability to measure data usage by app. THIS is the biggest thing for me in ICS. This is the feature that knocks my socks off and makes me want me some Ice Keem Sammy NOW!
- Changes to menuing system (menus indicated by a triple-dot, some common features on the app itself): To be honest, I don't think this is going to translate well back to the Thunderbolt's screen, but we'll see. I have enough trouble hitting those !@#$@#$ three little dots on my 7" Nexus.

A BIG non-UI-related change would be exposure to a more recent set of underlying libraries, making it so FoxFi, for example, can tether over WiFi. This is similar to the Gingerbread upgrade that exposed the more recent camera libraries, finally giving the Thunderbolt native front-facing-camera support in Skype and Google Talk. The FroYo libraries only officially supported a rear-facing camera, forcing app developers to write a device-specific hack or support the rear-facing camera only. So with ICS, there may be support for additional access to the hardware for developers, or at least more consistent access.

The camera app (which has been backported and I'm currently running it unrooted) has a decent panoramic mode and a lot of little improvements. Updated kernel which should have had some speed/memory/battery improvements made over the intervening year, updated radio firmware, etc.

 

[recDNA]

Specifically, in what way is gmail better?

 

[shelby57]

Hey my thunderbolt works great also. I don't mind waiting a little longer for a less buggy update. I'm not loosing any sleep as my Moto Zoom WiFi is running JB. Patience is a virtue. Just hope the big red garbage doesn't make the update a total disaster again. Just glad my zoom isn't attached to that big red color. JB update was flawless and runs like a charm.

Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk 2

 

[natehoy]

Specifically, in what way is gmail better?

Cleaner interface with more of the controls directly on-screen. Just seems so much easier to navigate.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Android Central Forums

 

[armeddroid]

That about sums up my thoughts as well! I picked up a Nexus 7 recently and while Jelly Bean does have some cool features (many that ICS shares), I just don't see a real benefit to any of it to risk how well the Thunderbolt currently works on Gingerbread and Sense 2.1, especially considering its older hardware. I could however see the value of ICS for custom ROM's, especially de-Sensed ones. But from a stock perspective, IMO, I don't think ICS/Sense 3.6 is going to yield anything better than the existing software setup. At best it may be on par, but more than likely it'll be a bit worse even if there are no bugs. One thing that stands out and many have stated why they want ICS; is the ability to use Chrome. But from my experience, it gets a bit laggy even on vanilla Jelly Bean and the beefier hardware of the Nexus 7. So I can't possibly see how it's going to run very well on the Thunderbolt.

I am not exp'ing any lag on my N7 on Chrome.
One main reason why i want ICS, is Google Now and the new widgets that come with it. I could care less for Chrome. I think the UI on it leaves alot to be desired. Personally i like Dolphin vs any other browser since all the settings and features are right there in front of you.
And lets not forget, the Thunderbolt is not getting a full build of ICS. Its only a partial build and that is what is making me a bit ill with this OTA in particular. I can understand if it was ICS in full but thas not the case with the Tbolt.

 

[anon(394005)]

I am not exp'ing any lag on my N7 on Chrome.
One main reason why i want ICS, is Google Now and the new widgets that come with it. I could care less for Chrome. I think the UI on it leaves alot to be desired. Personally i like Dolphin vs any other browser since all the settings and features are right there in front of you.
And lets not forget, the Thunderbolt is not getting a full build of ICS. Its only a partial build and that is what is making me a bit ill with this OTA in particular. I can understand if it was ICS in full but thas not the case with the Tbolt.

I've always preferred the stock browser, wish it were still an option in Jelly Bean. I read somewhere you can side load the ICS browser; have to look into that further. I find Google Now kind of creepy in the personal information (location and web search history) it needs to do its thing. I've always limited or disabled those types of things for privacy reasons (adjusting tin foil hat :-[).

What do you mean by not getting a full build of ICS? Because it has Sense over it?

 

[anon(94115)]

I am not exp'ing any lag on my N7 on Chrome.
One main reason why i want ICS, is Google Now and the new widgets that come with it. I could care less for Chrome. I think the UI on it leaves alot to be desired. Personally i like Dolphin vs any other browser since all the settings and features are right there in front of you.
And lets not forget, the Thunderbolt is not getting a full build of ICS. Its only a partial build and that is what is making me a bit ill with this OTA in particular. I can understand if it was ICS in full but thas not the case with the Tbolt.

Your getting a full build of ICS, just not a full sense upgrade. Instead of sense 4 it will be 3.6

Sent from my thumbs with no brain censorship

 

[motoroid7]

So I've been patiently waiting for ICS to hit, until then I've loaded my TB up with the ICS from Liquid and [SP]Jester (1x build... remember it does have 3G/4G speeds, just no icons) and been running great actually compared to the desensed or Leak from TeamBAMF. I might not get to experience it however when it official launches as I'll be leaving Verizon and my Thunderbolt most likely for a more economical price on StraightTalk with their Galaxy Proclaim. Mostly because I can no longer afford the $230 bill every month compared to only paying $90/mo for 2 phones on StraightTalk. :'(

Hows everyone doing holding on for the release other wise? I won't switch until probably the 23rd of this month.

 

[oberkc]

OK. So the update to ICS may or may not provide some marginal improvements to some folks ,may make things marginally worse for others, and may or may not allow developers to develop better apps. I am still failing to understand this attitude that my phone is somehow obsolete and that HTC and/or Verizon is a miserable failure if they fail to provide the update by a certain date, or at all.

I have already spent a lot of time learning, upgrading, configuring, and troubleshooting. I just want to enjoy a stable device for a while. I guess I must conclude that the excitement of the latest and greatest has left me, and simply having a nice phone that works well and does what I want has become more important.

Now...I must be off and waste some time on my home automation system.

 

[armeddroid]

Your getting a full build of ICS, just not a full sense upgrade. Instead of sense 4 it will be 3.6

Sent from my thumbs with no brain censorship

Are you sure?
I could have sworn that Sense will be up to 3.6 and ICS will only have a partial build.
I can't remember now.
:/

 

[natehoy]

Are you sure?
I could have sworn that Sense will be up to 3.6 and ICS will only have a partial build.
I can't remember now.
:/

I guess you'll have to help me understand what you mean by a "partial build".

In "Android OS" terms, a "partial build" would not boot, so I know you don't mean that.

In "vanilla Google experience" terms, everything but a Nexus device is a "partial build" on stock firmware since the default launcher, lockscreen, and in some cases other components are removed, disabled, or concealed, with tons of juicy bloatware added and made part of the base install so it cannot be removed.

If you're talking about a "partial ICS build" as in someone is backporting parts of ICS onto a Gingerbread build sufficient for it to be considered an ICS lookalike, or promoting Gingerbread components into an ICS build, dear Zeus that would be a nightmare.

However, the third-party ICS build that was made up based on the leaked build is a "partial build" in that not all the functionality is perfect. The connection indicator always shows 1X even when in 3G and 4G, for example, and other features don't work perfectly on the Tbolt's oddball hardware (remember, for example, that we and the Rezound are the only radios on Verizon that can do simultaneous talk and data on Verizon's 3G - normally CDMA does not allow this until you reach LTE/4G). Maybe you're thinking of that firmware?

 

[anon(94115)]

Positive. You will get the same thing as the Rezound got. Also, as the previous poster more or less said, you cannot have half of an os or a kang and think it is gonna work

Sent from my thumbs with no brain censorship

 

[armeddroid]

I cant recall where I read that but if thas the case, then thas better then I was personally expecting.

-NX-7-

 

[obidos]

any updates on HTC's Facebook page?

 

[obidos]

relevant:

Why you'll never have the latest version of Android | Android Central