HTC One M8 owners in Europe, with unlocked devices, have started receiving the Android KitKat OS 4.4.3 update.
The news has come from smartphone site GSMArena which says the firmware update takes the M8’s internal software version to 2.22.401.4, and is a hefty 613MB over-the-air (OTA) download.
News of the forthcoming update was also recently tweeted by HTC Vice President Mo Versi, who explained that an OTA 4.4.3 update was due very shortly, and followed it up with another tweet about the security updates HTC was delivering. Android 4.4.3 provides updates for cellular networking, Wi-Fi and improves Bluetooth performance, as well as delivering all the security updates that the even newer Android KitKat 4.4.4 offers.
Including 4.4.4 security updates in 4.4.3 has also led to speculation that HTC will be skipping the Android KitKat 4.4.4 update entirely, and may offer an update to the as-yet unreleased Android “L” update, which will presumably either be Android OS 4.5 or perhaps Android OS 5.
HTC has also sees various features enhanced, such as its “extreme power saving mode”, Boomsound, Motion Launch, the Quick Setting Menu, the native Camera app, the native Image Gallery app and HTC’s Sync Manager.
Available for unlocked HTC One M8 models in Europe only, carrier-locked HTC One M8 owners will have to wait until carrier tests are complete, after which various carriers worldwide will start releasing official 4.4.3 updates.
This means carrier-locked Australian HTC One M8 owners will also have to wait until later this year before they too join the update party.
Other HTC One M8 news includes two new colours being launched in the UK, one in red, exclusive to UK carrier O2, and the other in pink, exclusive to UK phone seller Carphone Warehouse.
Meanwhile, an update to HTC’s “DotView” case app, which displays weather, the time and various notifications like incoming calls and messages through holes in the DotView case, delivers new features.
Calls can be answered or declined by swiping the case, so you don’t even need to open the case up first to take specific actions.
You can customise the DotView “wallpaper”, there are other new settings, with two noteworthy ones being and a new “redial” mode lets you see the last three callers by swiping upwards, and the ability to swipe left or right to go through new notifications for emails, text messages, voice mails and missed calls, all from the DotView interface. We previously covered the HTC One M8’s Australian launch here and here, looked at HTC’s extensive and shopping mall street advertising campaign, and discussed the forthcoming version of the One M8 running Windows Phone 8.1 here.
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