HTC One Google Play Edition KitKat update starts rolling out

Owners of a Google Play Edition HTC One can now head to the software update section of their device and start hitting “Check Now” repeatedly. The Android 4.4 update for the smartphone started rolling out this morning, just over a week since HTC informed us they had sent the code to Google for distribution.

Owners of the Sense based version of the device will have to wait until at least January to see the 4.4 update land on their devices, but in the whole scheme of things, we are finally starting to see Android device manufacturers push updates out at a much faster pace. Now if we could only get the Networks to stop slowing things down!

The 4.4 update is one of the most important for some time, not so much for the features it brings, but for the change that Google is trying to bring about in the update process. While we will still see version updates, Google has pulled a lot of the core features out of this update process and into an application type update format with further components being updated via Google Play services. This is aimed at bringing the latest features of Android to everyone over the air rather than having to wait for networks to push out updates.

The update comes in at around 300MBs in size. If you are updating your device it is always a great idea to back up your content and perform a full factory reset before you install it.  You should have far fewer issues with new updates if you always follow those steps first.