The HTC Droid DNA showed up on the market last November and has since been discontinued by Verizon Wireless, but that does not mean that it will not be in line for software updates like the Android 4.4 KitKat. In fact, there was an announcement this week regarding just that. That Droid DNA was initially going to be getting updated by the end of March, but as you can see by the timeline, that is not going to be happening. In the meantime, while users of the older smartphone are waiting HTC is going to try and explain why the update is late.
HTC is busy enough with trying to get all of the details in order for the new HTC One (M8), but the good news is coming for those that still have the Droid DNA on the Verizon Wireless network. The HTC product manager took to Twitter to let everyone know that the Android 4.4 KitKat software has been approved for release this month. HTC did learn a lesson or two by missing a couple of the update releases last year, but with the Droid DNA being an older, discontinued device, delays have been frequent.
HTC setup a website that has all of the devices currently on the market and it is there that a user notice the Android 4.4 KitKat update has passed through the certification process. That means that there are very few steps moving forward and the update should be rolling out to users sooner than later. HTC’s product manager found on Twitter as @moversi, replied to the user saying, “target second week of April approval. Thanks.” Being only a target date, that also means that things can certainly change before then, but at least the company is acknowledging the update.
The Droid DNA has the hardware to handle the update, so even though it has been discontinued by Verizon Wireless, it should not be left behind for the next couple updates. The smartphone is not even one year old and that is not that bad considering the typical life cycle of a smartphone is at least 12 months. As of right now, the Droid DNA is stuck with the Android 4.2 Jelly Bean software and according to HTC it will skip right to Android 4.4 KitKat once the update is ready to go. More details will be posted online as the release date gets closer.
April 7, 2014 at 8:10 pm
The HTC Droid DNA was released November 21, 2012. It is close to a year and a half old at this point.