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HTC ThunderBolt Ice Cream Sandwich Update Roll Out Odds Are Slim

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We’ve been extremely skeptical about the prospects of an HTC ThunderBolt roll out ever since the HTC Desire HD, a device similar to the ThunderBolt, was denied its Ice Cream Sandwich update after HTC had originally promised owners that it would roll out. Unfortunately, those fears don’t appear to be too far off.

We have heard from a source that the HTC ThunderBolt Ice Cream Sandwich update is definitely in danger of not rolling out. That source says that there is currently a 95% chance that the update won’t roll out, odds that HTC ThunderBolt owners were not looking for.

There is a little bit of good news to take from this as it doesn’t appear that the idea of an HTC ThunderBolt Ice Cream Sandwich update has been shut down completely which should give owners a little bit of hope, even if the odds of a roll out are apparently thin.

We’ve heard that the HTC ThunderBolt ICS update is in trouble.

The decision is apparently in the hands of HTC at this point and we assume that means that the software is currently in testing. It was the testing of ICS on the HTC Desire HD that led to the device’s Ice Cream Sandwich getting cancelled and it’s possible that HTC will deem to software unfit for the ThunderBolt as well.

This is certainly possible considering both device share similar hardware – including 768MB of RAM and a single-core processor – something that originally led us to believe that the ThunderBolt update was in danger of not rolling out at all.

Read: HTC ThunderBolt Ice Cream Sandwich Update Officially In Trouble.

Hopefully, HTC will come right out and either announce or cancel the Ice Cream Sandwich and not give ThunderBolt owners the same runaround that it gave HTC Desire HD owners when it flip flopped on whether the update would ever roll out.

So, while nothing is set in stone, it appears that the ThunderBolt’s update is definitely in trouble and while there appears to be a little hope to cling on to, owners should start preparing to either root their device or endure a permanent life on Android 2.3 Gingerbread.

21 Comments

21 Comments

  1. Alex

    07/25/2012 at 2:43 pm

    HTC shouldn’t be making promise they are unable to keep! No wonder people leaving HTC and going to the iphone. I don’t think the problem here is they can’t do it, the problem here is about money. If they start updating all these ohones ti ICS and Jelly bean, then no one will but their upcoming phones.

    • keddren

      07/26/2012 at 7:30 am

      Yeah, because people won’t buy better hardware to get better performance. Idiot.

      • PO'D

        07/31/2012 at 11:43 am

        I don’t know about you but, my TB is only a year old and I’m certainly not buying a new phone every year… I will almost certainly remember loyalty though, when it comes to my next purchase and my personal recommendations.

  2. jack

    07/25/2012 at 3:25 pm

    They might as well say the same thing about the rezound FU htc and Verizon its been this long and still no official realease that shameful and sad my next phone is a nexus unlocked unless htc makes it than the iPhone 5 and I hated the Apple but at least they know how to handle updates and just for that i give them respect. I hope the next nexus is not an htc device

  3. Tyrrell

    07/25/2012 at 3:40 pm

    I will never consider buying an HTC phone again if this update is not released. I have had so many issues with my Thunderbolt that make it practically unusable, and Verizon refuses to provide me a new device. Perhaps I am foolishly optimistic that Ice Cream Sandwich will change anything.

    Here’s a list of my HTC Thunderbolt issues, any one of which I feel should constitute a breach of contract with Verizon.

    -The bloatware from Verizon cripples the phone to the point where I frequently can’t type a text message faster than one letter per 3 seconds because the phone is so slow to respond.
    -For some reason my phone waits until I turn on the screen to run syncs, which takes up all the processing power for several minutes (see above). This means whenever I want to use my phone, a bunch of should-be background processes run, and I have to wait and try again in 5-10 minutes. If I wait a little too long, more syncs run and I have to wait again.
    -Inexplicably, some areas of the screen stop responding to touch. The only resolution offered by Verizon is to take my phone out of its case, pop the back cover, pull and replace the battery, and reboot. This process takes about 15 minutes (mostly due to the painfully slow reboot) and is required almost daily.
    -Rarely does my phone maintain a 4G connection. Either I get no mobile network or a 3G signal at best. My city has full 4G coverage and other 4G phones get the signal fine.
    -My Thunderbolt’s battery died in under a year, luckily just within the free warranty replacement period. But even the new battery life is a joke–I can’t go more than 8 hours of nominal usage without charging.

    I don’t know how many of these issues would be helped by ICS, but surely it cannot get much worse.

    The broken promises of ICS on the Thunderbolt have been infuriating. To summarize:
    February 2012: HTC confirms ICS on Thunderbolt.
    May 2012: HTC says ICS on Thunderbolt is coming soon in July or August
    July 2012: 95% chance ICS won’t come to Thunderbolt.

    I bought the Thunderbolt with the knowledge of it being Verizon’s flagship 4G device, even listening to the Verizon rep calling it a great Android alternative to the iPhone. If HTC leaves the Thunderbolt and its users behind, I will do the same to them.

    Goodbye, HTC.

    • ColinB

      07/30/2012 at 5:28 am

      Yep, just about the same problems here. So frustrated with HTC.

  4. Drake

    07/25/2012 at 6:50 pm

    If HTC bails on ICS for the Thunderbolt, I’m going to be extremely disappointed. I’ve been one of the patient customers – the ones who don’t go on every single forum and trash talk HTC – and this will probably be my last HTC phone. I’m going to wait until my next upgrade, and by then the new Nexus phone should be out. Won’t have to deal with waiting for updates anymore.

    • jack

      07/25/2012 at 7:22 pm

      Im no forum nerd until htc treated the rezound and htc EVO 3d so bad they should have a lawsuit they promised the rezound to have it by early 2012 and EVO 3d co name crash a lot they were on the list and the vivid didn’t get it early 2012 but got it way before the rezound and EVO all because a bribe I forgave HTC long enough they need to go down and I was a G1 and hero owner. I don’t use facebook because of bad experiences with my wife so forums are all I got to get my word across and my hate towards Facebook is different at least they keep thier users up to date so dont judge me I just want htc to go out of business in my opinion and I’m not even a revengful person

  5. pablodius

    07/25/2012 at 9:30 pm

    While the author resembles Jesse Pinkman, he should not write these articles without word from Verizon or HTC. They say it is going to be released in August, so why shouldn’t it?

    HTC could have just as easily crossed the Thunderbolt off of the upgrade list on their blog the same day that they announced that the (insert name of other HTC phone mentioned) was no longer getting the update.

    Lame article… I’ll buy into it once the carrier or HTC announces the cancelled update.

  6. Chris

    07/26/2012 at 5:01 am

    Adam Mills,
    What is your source. A tester, an HTC employee, a Verizon employee?
    More details would be helpful.

  7. Glenn

    07/26/2012 at 11:10 am

    I don’t much care but I feel bad for the people who have been wanting it and deserve it. I am due for an upgrade in November, I know for a fact I won’t be buying another HTC phone.

  8. Woods

    07/30/2012 at 7:22 pm

    Ive had the thunderbolt since it rolled out and had a mirad of problems with it. The best bet is to root it. It preforms better and u can get access to your wifi hotspot again.

  9. PO'D

    07/31/2012 at 10:52 am

    If they bail on this, I will personally make it my mission in life to trash talk them every chance I get. Be warned HTC, nerds don’t like broken promises.

  10. A guy onlin

    08/01/2012 at 6:08 am

    If developers are making this work on the thunderbolt minus data. Why is HTC having such a hard time? Just leak the RIL and let the developers do it. We would have ICS in less than a week . Never buying HTC products again.

  11. Nick

    08/01/2012 at 2:20 pm

    I just got off the phone with HTC about the ICS update for the Thunderbolt. They must be getting a lot of calls about it because the (extremely polite and down to earth) representative immediately got to assuring me that HTC has not forgotten about its Thunderbolt owners and the update is still very much scheduled for rollout before the end of summer. She also mentioned the Desire and Inspire are the only phones thus far that had to be cancelled and despite the rumors this has no bearing on the Thunderbolt release.

    Overall I was very pleased with what I heard and the only negative aspect was that she admitted the rollouts are taking a bit longer than expected. This makes me feel much more confident about my phone seeing the update :)

    • Alex

      08/01/2012 at 2:36 pm

      She lied to you to make you feel better! I bet if you call back the number has been changed!!!

      • Nick

        08/01/2012 at 4:11 pm

        I had called the official customer service line. Wtf are you smoking man.

  12. TW

    08/06/2012 at 8:17 am

    HTC sucks! So many issues. Will never buy another product from them. WTF…got one software update since I had the phone and it’s barely over a year old. Great product support!!

  13. SteveA

    08/08/2012 at 10:04 am

    Verizon gets us T-Bolt owners to buy their fancy new LTE device and offers unlimited data plans along with it.

    Now I have a crappy out of date phone that’s nearing a year and a half old. At least I can upgrade to a shiny new ICS phone… oh wait.. no, instead Verizon rolls out their crappy new shared data plans so unless I want to see a $70 increase on my monthly bill for 2 gigs of shared data, I’ll have to shell out about $600 for a new phone.

  14. eorourke

    08/18/2012 at 5:27 pm

    The wait is finally over – We finally have ICS for the HTC Thunderbolt with working data! Find out more here: https://bit.ly/MDA48P

  15. AAMCSYSTEMS

    02/08/2013 at 2:44 pm

    DONT DOWNLOAD ICS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Its even buggier than gingerbread was. Can barely make calls, i dial, it will connect FIFTEEN MINUTES later!! I keep kicking myself for not sticking with gingerbread. Figured ICS works great on tablet, this would be same, shoulda known better. These are the same people that sent update that caused resets.

    Also, with ICS u have LESS memory now. Right now i have about 560 or so max. Before i had 7 hundred and something memory. When i installed ICS, the phone was so slow it barely worked at first. I had to uninstall almost 500mb of apps before it would work. And Go launcher barely works with 500mb of memory.

    I think its a plot to force Thunderbolt owners to upgrade and get off unlimited data, how else could 5 months of “testing” result in a phone this buggy.

    Its like Apple and Motorola have moles working for HTC to ensure my next phone is not from HTC (congrats guys, your diabolical plan worked) I’ll never trust an update from verizon again, guess ill get an iphone, and use my tablet for my android needs.

    Sorry had to get that off my chest, bottom line, ICS on the Thunderbolt is a little prettier, but not worth the upgrade!!!!!

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