HTC Thunderbolt users, it’s your lucky day. Verizon has officially announced that the Android Gingerbread update is set to hit its first LTE device and you can check and see if you have it waiting for you now! While it’s anything but he expected “end of June” date we heard a while back, we’re glad to finally see the update rolling out.
Since the handset itself is running the Sense UI, you likely won’t notice too much of the actual OS update, as HTC drowns Android with its skin. Still, that doesn’t mean it’s not there! You’ll find several enhancements within the core operating system and some handset-specific tweaks and fixes to go along with it.
The update will include the following:
Enhancements:
- Download Manager App: New App to manage all of your downloads from web browsing, email attachments and other apps.
- App and Power Management Details: Under Manage Applications, a new “Running” tab displays a list of active applications and the storage and memory being used by each. Power efficiency mode option has also been added under Settings > Power.
- New Desktop User Interface: New widgets, icons and screens with refreshed colors.
- Dock Icons: Static Phone, App Launcher and Contacts icons are replaced within a customizable dock. Three swappable icons and the App Launcher icon are fixed to the Dock at the bottom of all home screen panels for easy and instant access.
Additional device features:
- Alarm notifications will no longer appear while in Emergency Mode.
- Improved data connectivity.
- Improved audio quality while using Bluetooth®.
- Decreased wait time when saving audio attachments.
- V CAST Tones now comes preloaded.
- New Google Books app.
- Enhanced UI for data roaming.
- SMS messages send to correct recipient.
- Reduced Force Close errors while using TuneWiki.
- Reduced Force Close errors when using the front camera.
- Audio on BT Car Kit no longer reroutes to phone when receiving a SMS message.
If you want to see if the update is currently available for your Thunderbolt, go to: Settings>About Phone, and check to see if you have any Gingerbread waiting for you! These rollouts can take time so if you’re not seeing anything available for your handset, you have two options. You can either wait it out and check back later or you can keep checking for the update every five minutes, which is what I expect a majority of you to do.