HTC Thunderbolt owners can’t catch a break. After months and months of waiting for Verizon to push out the official Android 2.3 Gingerbread update, customers were all set to get their new software yesterday. Unfortunately, it seems like over half a year wasn’t long enough, and Verizon has halted the upgrades to work out a few more bugs.
Users reported a variety of new and annoying issues, including voicemail playback bugs, camera glitches, issues with the HTC Sense interface layer and the phone locking up. Both HTC and Verizon are working to resolve the voicemail issue (though a Verizon representative made no mention of other complaints) and intend to resume with a revised software update “soon”. Customers will be notified of availability through Android’s native OTA update system. The possibility that Ice Cream Sandwich might be out by the time Thunderbolt users get a stable version of Gingerbread is regrettably not out of the question.
The latest in a long line of delays highlights one of the flaws in the current Android ecosystem: the software relationship between Google, manufacturers and carriers. When Google releases a major Android update, manufacturers have to get it working with their hardware, then add any customized software that they want (in HTC’s case, Sense UI) and then send add in any software the carrier wants (in Verizon’s case, quite a lot). This makes getting timely software updates to customers a headache for all involved – and a major incentive to investigate rumors of a Google-supported Verizon Nexus Prime.
[device id=65]
I did the OTA upgrade two dates ago and … knock on wood…have had no issues at all that others seem to be plagued with.
I got the update on day one of release. My phone likes to shut down all by itself now.
Everything else seems much better.
I have an HTC thunderbolt but I have been many issues which are problems with my phone,like for example when I am browsing it does load pages, it forecloses a lot, and oh Yeah for no reason my phone automatically restarts, which I am thinking that there is definitely something wrong with my cell but the thing that really sucks is that when they sent you another thunderbolt they send you a refurbished which sucks cause your paying monthly for the insurance every month bury anyway I really love HTC but there is so many problems, and pretty sure that I am not the only one huh?