After promising for ages, then delaying it and killing it off on other phones like the One S, HTC’s finally come through with an Android 4.2.2 update for the much-loved HTC One. What a cracking point update it is too, because HTC’s finally fixed one of the One’s biggest gripes.
The free update is available now OTA, although you might have to download a small bug fix first that actually allows you to, you know, update (I shan’t ask).
First up, HTC’s given you an option to nuke that ugly, screen-real-estate-killing menu bar at the bottom of the screen (as you can see in the screenshot of Twitter below), allowing you to build its functionality into the Home button (hold for options, basically). That’s released Google Now into a home and swipe up gesture, which is basically how you get to it on every other Android phone anyway.
HTC’s also thrown in a quick settings panel under the pull-down notifications drawer, which is essentially the same as the Nexus 4 and Galaxy S4 have enjoyed for ages. It makes turning on or off Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, screen rotate, etc, etc, a lot quicker, so it’s a nice addition. HTC’s awesome Zoe camera app got a boost too, with a proper file format that no longer spams your camera roll with oodles of the same photo — handy if you ever automatically upload pictures anywhere like G+ or Dropbox.
Overall the phone actually feels faster, and battery life seems to have been improved a smidgen too, but that could be my imagination. On the whole it’s a solid update, and while it would have been nice to not have to wait so damn long for it, it’s definitely worth jumping two feet into.
So far the update has hit unlocked phones, and it should be rolling out to all HTC Ones bought on contract across the UK too. Now, HTC, about that Google Edition ROM you promised us.
For those of you who haven’t seen it yet, here’s the pre-install changelog.
