The official Android 6.0 Marshmallow has finally been rolled out by Sprint for the HTC One M9 via an OTA update. The updates will continue to roll until all Sprint HTC One M9 devices have received it. At the same time, the release for AT&T, Verizon, US Cellular and T-Mobile are coming soon as well; ready to be released this month.
It was already announced on Twitter last month that One M9 for Sprint would start receiving the update and just a week later, it began. The update is expected come in the next few days or weeks to One M9 units of other carriers. Canadian carriers took the first pilot release for the Android 6.0 update for One M9 devices.
Two major improvements in Android Run Time and flex storage have been introduced with other notable features and added improvements. Ever since its debut in Android v4.4.4 KitKat, the Android Run Time feature has seen prominent improvements.
It was still an optional feature back then. In order to advance performance and help in the management of RAM usage, Android RT revolved with a default setting instead of Dalvik cache with Lollipop release.
With Marshmallow, the feature will further improve the performance of the device and at the same time, help in controlling the battery consumption as well. During the first maintenance release of Marshmallow, the feature is expected to bring further improvements as well.
Flex storage is actually a combined storage feature for both internal and external space. Therefore, this makes it applicable only to devices with a microSD card.
The external memory can be formatted with Marshmallow. After that, it can be pooled to internal storage and this makes users utilize in order to install apps and app data. Keep in mind that slower memory card may also trigger a low-speed warning.
The release of Android 6.0 Marshmallow for HTC One M9 started on 5th February for the owners having subscribed to Sprint services in the US. The rollout actually commenced on 5th February and it will reach M9 users in phases.
The HTC One M9 has been dubbed as the twin of iPhone 6 and it is also the first HTC to receive the Marshmallow update. The new update will be suggested through an automatic notification and it will bring the M9’s firmware version to 3.41.651.3. In case you do not receive the update, you can also check for it manually.
In order to do that, you need to go to settings> System Updates> HTC Software Update >Check now. If the device states that the software update is up to date, you need to be patient as the update would seed in the next few days.
If the update is available, you can select the option. However, you have to make sure that you have enough storage space for the download. Before this, only the unlocked One M9 units in the US were seeded for the update in December 2015.
At the same time, some Canadian variants also reported about receiving the update for the One M9. Meanwhile, the successor to the One M9, the HTC One M10 has been dubbed as the HTC Perfume and it is expected to debut in March this year. It will come with Android 6.0 Marshmallow pre-installed.
Keep in mind that HTC probably doesn’t have the same advertising budget as that of Apple and Samsung but even then, they have managed to sell a lot of HTC One devices, thanks to their flat out quality.