Owners HTC One finally waited for the much-desired major update that brought with it Android 4.3 Jelly Bean and HTC Sense 5.5. This is the third version change operating system on HTC flagship this year, released with Android 4.1 on board, in addition, the package contains a slightly modified and more customizable version of the proprietary shell for the needs of the smartphone owner.

Back in August of this year, HTC President Jason Mackenzie promised a major update to the system software for the flagship, giving the end of September as an approximate date. A little later, from leaks, it became known that a modified version of Sense 5 was being prepared. Due to unforeseen circumstances, the One update was delayed by a couple of weeks for several American versions of the smartphone and by a month for the global one.

First, the well-known member of the LlabTooFeR developer community, and then the Russian representative office of HTC announced on Twitter just a couple of hours ago the launch of a European update to Android 4.3 and Sense 5.5. It has a number 3.62.401.1 and brings with it a large set of changes that HTC was not too lazy to reflect in the notification.

Updating the operating system to:
- Android 4.3 with HTC Sense 5.5 shell
Improvement for "ZOE Video Clips":
- updated application interface;
- You can use arbitrary music as background music.
Improvements for BlinkFeed:
- mode of automatic selection of news channels on the topics discussed by you in in social networks;
- added global sources of information;
- saving news for delayed reading offline;
- creating your own news feeds from Twitter, YouTube and RSS channels.
Music player improvements:
- updated interface;
- new visualizations for the "music channel" mode.
Improvements for the HTC TV app:
- updated interface;
- added a page of the most interesting programs.

The list is impressive, but there are no surprises in it - thanks to leaks, we knew about all the improvements in advance. By the way, the update procedure began with the installation of the latest version (1.3.670597) of the proprietary software responsible for it (614 KB). But the package itself with the new OS and shell “weighs” as much as 675.48 MB, so it’s better to use the nearest free Wi-Fi hotspot to download it. However, tariff owners with unlimited traffic Those located in the LTE coverage area can also use the operator’s network.

Despite the significant delay, we can give HTC a solid “A” for this update, because the company was able to reduce the time between the announcement new version Android and the emergence of a highly customized software package up to three months(Android 4.3 was introduced just on July 24)! But during this time it was necessary not only to write code and develop a design, but also to pass a huge number of certifications.

If you have an international HTC One with official firmware in your hands, but the notification about the availability of update 3.62.401.1 does not appear on its screen, then we recommend going to the smartphone settings, select “About phone”, go to “Software update” and click “Check now” .

Do everything carefully!

Only you are responsible for all actions!

The battery lasts a full day with WiFi and 3G turned on.

The first unofficial firmware that simply surprised me with its quality.

Official firmware

Update Recovery:

2. Sound down key + Power

3. Bootloader will load

4. The system will detect the file and offer an update. We agree

5. When finished Power to reboot

Install the Kernel with S-OFF:

Unofficial firmware firmware

Install the Kernel with S-OFF:
(for without S-OFF)
1. We need to download the kernel. Can

2. Sound down key + Power
3. Bootloader will load
4. Select Recovery. The new 4EXT Recovery Touch will boot up
5.Install from sdcard
6. Select the Kernel file on the card

Installing official firmware:
1. Download unofficial firmware
2. Copy it to the SD card
3. Sound down + Power key
4. In Recovery, select installation from SD card
5. Find the file on the card and install

From experience - I have not come across any firmware that is more reliable than the official firmware.

HTC Sensation can automatically check for and notify the user when new Android operating system updates become available. You can download updates over Wi-Fi or your carrier's packet data service.

Instructions

The update usually occurs in two stages: first, a small service update is installed, and then, after rebooting the device, the main firmware 3.62.401.1 is installed, about 675 megabytes in size.

If your phone doesn't automatically find the update, check whether new software is available manually: Settings > About phone > Software updates > Check now.

What's included in the new firmware

Official description of the update from HTC:

Comments and FAQs on Android 4.3 and Sense 5.5 for One

The new firmware brings a number of improvements and pleasant innovations. Most of them are described in.

The N icon appeared in the notification line (status bar)

After the update, some automatically turn on the NFC module, and a corresponding icon similar to N or Z appears in the notification area between the Wi-Fi and Bluetooth icons. NFC is disabled in the "Settings" menu - "more..." - enable NFC - uncheck it.

How to disable BlinkFeed

You can disable the news feed in two simple steps: pinch on the main screen and click on the disable button at the top left.

How to Add RSS Feeds to BlinkFeed

To add an RSS feed, you need to open it through a browser and click the “+” icon at the top. The subscribed channel will only be accessible from the menu, but there will be no messages from the channel in the general BlinkFeed feed.

Speaker volume and sound quality

After the previous One update to Android 4.2.2, the sound output from the speakers became quieter in some smartphones. In firmware 3.62.401.1, HTC “unscrewed” the sound volume to the previous volume.

Widgets on lock screens

You can now scroll through the lock screen and arrange widgets on it: scroll the lock screen from right to left and tap “+”.

New “emoticons” in the keyboard

An expanded set of emoticons is an innovation in Android 4.3.

Turning on the flash in the dark

In the dark, the flash turns on before shooting so that the camera can focus on the subjects.

Integration with Google Drive

One owners can store data in Google Drive thanks to HTC's new alliance with the American search giant. Only those users who create an account in Google Drive for the first time will be able to expand the storage size.

Disabling the Promotions program

You can now disable the Stocks program in Android app settings.

Disadvantages of the new firmware

Traditionally, there were some negative aspects. Some users have noticed issues that we hope HTC will fix with future system updates:

• There is no way to completely disable the lock screen.
• The ABC keyboard has been removed.
• were never eliminated. In some cases, dark shooting conditions may result in worse pictures than before. Lilac tones appear in photographs.
• The Dual Shot mode, which is available in the camera program for .

The reason for the appearance of this small material is not that I suddenly decided to update my HTC Sensation XL to the latest firmware (I had it lying around for now), but because several of my friends did so. The result is that every owner of a smartphone from among his acquaintances and friends began to wonder about rolling back the firmware or looking for an alternative among custom ones, because it is almost impossible to use a device with the official firmware on Android 4.0: “everything is wrong, ugly and generally wrong.”

So I decided to take out my Sensation XL, dust it off, and update it to tell you about my impressions of the new firmware, what good and bad I found in it. The smartphone “sees” the update almost immediately after turning it on and offers to download it; the installation process can be postponed or started immediately after the download of the software update is completed.

Downloading (via Wi-Fi) and installing the new firmware takes about ten minutes, depending on the speed of the network connection, of course, after which the lucky owner of the Sensation XL will first see a window for setting up installed programs in the familiar Android 4.0 interface, and then a window with congratulations that a new update has been installed on the phone. And it begins.

Smartphone with Android 4.0 without factory reset

If you are updating your HTC Sensation XL to new firmware and don't want to reset it to factory settings after the update, you need to prepare for the hardest part. On the one hand, resetting the settings is certainly evil, because you lose all installed programs, you will have to install them again, you lose all your neatly arranged program icons, respectively, and everything else, the device becomes clean. On the other hand, the official firmware up to Android 4.0 ICS for the HTC Sensation XCL smartphone is such that it becomes almost impossible to use the device after the update and without returning to factory settings. Here are some reasons for this "impossible":

• Delays when scrolling through desktop screens and working with program menus
• Slow browser operation, freezes, Flash pages on the updated smartphone barely move
• Serious drawback random access memory(when running heavy programs like Skype, the smartphone starts to work even slower, until applications crash)

To describe these problems briefly, you can use the phrase “space brakes”; it most succinctly reflects what the owner of an HTC Sensation XL will encounter, who has updated his device to the official firmware with the “four”, but did not want to return to factory settings or, in other words, a hard reset. But if you do hard reset, the user will get a pretty good device, albeit with a number of reservations.

Of course, by and large, these are all nitpicks, and those who read this text without being the owner of the device may not understand them. But try to put yourself in the shoes of a person who bought a smartphone for a lot of money, updated it and received the not-so-pretty and neatly glued interface of Android 4.0 and Sense 3.6. This mainly concerns pop-up context menus, which are represented here by simple black rectangles of incomprehensible width, the discrepancy of some buttons and settings items with what they had before the update, and differences in the color design of some areas of the interface.

But there are also advantages if you consider having Android 4.0 as an advantage. The fact is that HTC Sense 3.6, even taking into account the fact that outwardly it is not in the best possible way Compatible with Android 4.0, functionally better than Sense 4.0. Therefore, HTC Sensation XL with latest version Android has a control tab wireless interfaces in the system line, for example, or screens scrolling around (in Sense 4.0 they scroll to the edge and cannot go further).

Conclusion

On the one hand, it is commendable that HTC does not forget to release updates to Android 4.0 for at least some of its devices, on the other hand, questions remain as to how exactly this is done. Yes, there are no problems with the update process itself, but after it is completed, difficulties begin. Before updating the HTC Sensation XL smartphone specifically, no one will warn you about the need to do a hard reboot, because without it the device will turn into a snail and it will become almost impossible to use it, this is not a fatal flaw, but it is unpleasant. No one warns that the interface will change after the update and become less pleasant and friendly, even if only in details.

I understand that this HTC update can still be called successful against the backdrop of the recent official firmware for Samsung Galaxy Note, for example, where the problems turned out to be much more global. But for users of HTC Sensation XL, who updated immediately after the release of the firmware and encountered the problems listed above, this does not make it any easier, and it seems to me that these people, when choosing their next device, will think about which smartphone manufacturer to take. For HTC, this is not the best development of events; in my opinion, the manufacturer should release updates, but it is worth paying more attention to what comes from the company’s pen and is called an “official smartphone software update.”

Artem Lutfullin ()