On Friday it was reported that the T-Mobile variant of the HTC One M8 was due to get its update to Android 6.0 Marshmallow today, March 7. Following on from this, the update is now available for all to download and enjoy. HTC One M8 users should now have the update available via their device’s software update setting as an over the air update, if the notification hasn’t already come through. If after checking the settings, the update cannot seemed to be pulled, then you should receive the notification in due course. The update looks to be about 1.14 gigabytes in size and should, of course, be taken on a full battery and especially with an update of this size.
The update brings Android 6.0 Marshmallow and Sense 7, along with all the trappings thereof. Doze power management, Google Now On Tap and app permission management are all on board, among other features. HTC’s Sense 7 interface, meanwhile, brings new features like navbar and quick settings customization and new widgets, along with various tweaks and fixes throughout. The update brings a slightly improved visual style in comparison to the days of Android 5.0 Lollipop, packing richer animations, more material design and the native System UI Tweaker. A number of backend and under the hood fixes are on board as well, bringing stability for the update higher than previous versions and fixing a number of issues.
The update was announced as available via an over the air download, but users wishing to upgrade via desktop may be able to use HTC’s Sync Manager software. Availability through Sync Manager was not officially announced by HTC, and T-Mobile’s website still lists the phone as being on Android version 5.0.1 Lollipop, meaning it’s a bit of a shot in the dark, but worth a try for those in weak signal areas or not around Wi-Fi. As is always advisable with updates like this, the update should be taken after backing up important data, if possible. Although the update is officially sanctioned, as with any changes to your phone’s internal software, things can always go wrong and it is always better to be prepared than not.