HTC posts Android 4.1 Jelly Bean FAQ, One V and Desire C will not get Jelly Bean

We have bad news for people who have a Desire C or One V and were looking forward to an upgrade to Jelly Bean. It looks like HTC will be making 512MB of RAM the cutoff for minimum specs to run Jelly Bean. This of course isn't a Google enforced limit as the older Nexus S run Jelly Bean quite nicely on it's 512MB of RAM. This isn't totally a surprise as in both our review of the One V and Desire C we suspected that an upgrade to Jelly Bean would be a surprise given their respective hardware.

As expected, HTC reiterated that the One X and One S will get Jelly Bean with Sense 4+. Check out the full statement below.

Updates on Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean) and Frequently Asked Questions

We're looking forward to providing our HTC One X and HTC One S customers with Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean) along with our latest version of HTC Sense. As with any software upgrade, we work closely with our carrier partners to ensure we deliver the best experience possible on our devices.

After internal testing, we test the software on live networks in order to confirm the experience matches our expectations, and carrier expectations, for performance, connectivity and platform stability. While testing takes time, we're working quickly with our carrier partners to rollout these updates. We'll provide information on availability once the software is ready for release.

When will additional devices receive Android 4.1?

In addition to the HTC One X and HTC One S, we are actively reviewing our product portfolio to identify candidates to receive Jelly Bean. Our goal is to prioritize review for devices launched in 2012 with our numerous carrier partners across multiple regions and then consider our ability to provide updates to products from 2011.

What is the overall timeline of Android 4.1 updates?

There are many aspects to the software development process that make it difficult for us to give specifics on upgrade timing. As a global company, we work with a number of carrier partners in various regions to ensure a great user experience with every upgrade. Each region and carrier partner has unique requirements that necessitate customized testing. Only after HTC and its partners have successfully completed the final testing will the software be released.

What devices will not get Android 4.1?

We work hard to ensure each of our products has the optimal user experience and therefore some products will remain at their current version of Android. In general, devices with 512MB RAM or less will not be upgraded to Android 4.1. At present, these devices include the HTC One V and the HTC Desire C. As we identify other devices that will not be upgraded, we'll provide updated information.

It should be noted that upgrades are not the same thing as ongoing support. Devices not being upgraded to Android 4.1 will still get software improvements, security fixes, and technical support.

What about a development version of Android 4.1?

For our developer community, we plan to make generic development ROMs of Jelly Bean available for both the HTC One X and HTC One S. As soon as the ROMs are ready, they will be posted to our HTCdev site (www.htcdev.com). We strongly recommend customers take the time to understand the limitations of the development software along with the terms and conditions on the site before downloading to their device.

My phone hasn't gotten the Android 4.1 update, while others with the same device have. Why?

Our devices are available on a wide variety of carriers and across many countries, due to localization, testing, and partner approvals, updates do not roll out to all devices with the same name at the same time.

Even once a software update begins to roll out from HTC or a carrier partner, the update can take up to 45 days from the initial push to reach each person with that device on a given network.

If your phone has not received the update after the 45-day period, navigate to Settings > About > Software Updates to have your device manually check for updates. If your device still does not show an update, please contact customer support

Why does it take so long to release an update?

Our goal is to make sure that an upgrade provides an improved customer experience and that means a high standard of quality for hardware compatibility, adapting device or carrier specific customizations, testing by HTC and partners, addressing device hardware constraints, and many other factors.

What version of HTC Sense will come with the Android 4.1 update?

The upgrade to Android 4.1 will include HTC Sense 4+.

Source: HTC