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Ice Cream Sandwich for the HTC Thunderbolt "Will Be Here Soon"

Pictured: Alexander Maxham
By Alexander Maxham
December 19, 2012
Featured image for Ice Cream Sandwich for the HTC Thunderbolt

Well haven’t we heard that before regarding the Android 4.0 update for the HTC Thunderbolt? I’ve honestly lost count of the number of delays and missed dates the update for the Thunderbolt has had now. Yes, it’s been that many. In fact the last known release date for ICS was the end of August. Well obviously that didn’t happen and it’s now almost 4 months later. So will the HTC Thunderbolt ever get Android 4.0? I’m starting to think that it will remain on Gingerbread, but hopefully I’m wrong.

Some reports have even stated that Verizon canceled the update because Android 4.0 seemed to sluggish on the Thunderbolt. And that customers would be “more satisfied with the Android 2.3 experience on the HTC Thunderbolt”. Well who knows if that’s true or not. But I do know that many people left the Thunderbolt for another device within the past few months. So by now, it might not even be worth doing an OTA. How many people still use the Thunderbolt as their daily driver?

Well on December 17th, HTC was able to put some hope in those Thunderbolts owners:

@louie_397: @htcusa ok whats the deal with ics for thunderbolt
@htcuse: @louie_397 ICS will be here soon. Thanks for your continued patience!

So it’s coming “soon”. How long is soon in a manufacturers eyes? That could still be months away from an update. The HTC Thunderbolt was announced at CES on January 6, 2011. It’s had a pretty rough life as well. Being one of the first LTE devices on Verizon, joining the Samsung Droid Charge, it had terrible battery life. I’ve heard users saying anywhere from 3-5 hours of use before the battery died. And now you’re hearing all these other devices getting these Jelly Bean updates and yet HTC can’t even seem to get Ice Cream Sandwich (which is over a year old now) onto the HTC Thunderbolt which is over a year and a half old now. I know if I were a Thunderbolt owner, I would never buy a HTC device again. But I do feel Thunderbolt owners pain as I used to be a Droid Bionic owner.

There you have it. Not much but at least it looks like the Thunderbolt will get Android 4.0 eventually. How upset are you with HTC over this update to the Thunderbolt? Let us know in the comments below.