The HTC One M8 has yet to receive Android 5.0 Lollipop on all U.S. carrier versions, but the update may arrive on Verizon in the first week of March.
HTC initially pledged a few months ago to deliver the Android 5.0 Lollipop update within 90 days of the source code availability, and made significant efforts in this regards. It pushed the update to some versions of its One M8 and One M7 smartphones, but hasn't managed to cover all variants. More recently, the company admitted that it was missing that 90-day deadline, but it was still working on delivering the update as soon as possible.
Many HTC One M8 owners abroad have already received the update to Android 5.0 Lollipop, but the update has yet to reach most carrier versions of the smartphone in the U.S. So far, T-Mobile and Sprint are the only U.S. carriers to roll out Android 5.0 Lollipop to the HTC One M8, but other carriers are expected to follow shortly. Sprint has also started to update its HTC One M7 to Lollipop.
It now seems that Verizon Wireless might be the next carrier to update its HTC One M8, according to HTC's Mo Versi. In response to a question regarding the Verizon HTC One M8 Lollipop update, Versi replied that the update is currently in the lab and is expected to receive approval in the first week of March. In response to another question regarding the HTC One M7 Lollipop update on Verizon, Versi replied with "same timeframe," which means the older model should receive the update in the first week of March as well.
No other information is available at this point regarding the progress of the Android 5.0 Lollipop update for the HTC One M8 on other U.S. carriers, but HTC should provide more details shortly.
Android 5.0 Lollipop brings a number of neat changes and improvements to the table, as it comes as a major update for the platform. On the other hand, some HTC One M8 owners who already upgraded their device to Lollipop have reported a drop in battery performance, despite Lollipop's battery life optimizations collectively called Project Volta. Some battery life tests confirmed a decrease in battery performance in some areas.
Nevertheless, the latest version of the OS is still as a neat improvement, and a wider rollout is expected shortly. HTC's software updates page, which allows users to track the update process, lists Android 5.0 Lollipop as complete for the T-Mobile and Sprint versions of the One M8, the Verizon version appears in the certification stage, while the AT&T version still in the integration stage. This means that Verizon is next, and AT&T is the last in line to deliver Android 5.0 Lollipop to the One M8. We'll keep you in the loop as soon as more information becomes available, so stay tuned.
