Either HTC's Twitter account is drunk and spouting off random timeframes, or HTC and Sprint are really in no rush for to update their HTC 8XT, a custom phone that looks like a cross between the HTC 8s and HTC 8x.
Asked about the Windows Phone 8.1 update, and presumably not the capital 'U' version aka 8.1.1, and HTC responded to Aaron B. on Twitter with the succinct "You can expect the Windows 8.1 update to roll out to Sprint's HTC 8X in November." Note not by November, but in November.
This follows on the earlier news about Verizon's HTC 8X not getting the update until "late October", which is barely better.
We suppose HTC's Twitter account could be wrong, even if they sounded confident in the response. Indeed, when asked about T-Mobile's 8X they gave a more familiar "We don't have any info to share on that right now. Stay tuned for future announcements."
One alternative interpretation of this news is the Sprint, and HTC are skipping 8.1 and going for 8.1.1 aka Update 1. A November timeframe for that release makes sense.
Updates are something that require carrier approval and Sprint is never leading the pack on those, nor Windows Phone devices in general. In the past, we have advocated people just drop Sprint as a carrier if they want a better Windows Phone experience. This late 8.1 update, if proven accurate, only solidifies our argument (it also does not make HTC look good).
By comparison, a good percentage of Lumia phones have received Lumia Cyan and 8.1 already. The one holdup appears to be for those on the Preview for Developers, but even they make up technically a small minority of users.
HTC, meanwhile, has had issues taking the 8.1 update, even through the Preview for Developers program, which has been blocked since August. Current devices enrolled do not get the latest 8.1.1 version, as there is a deeper issue that HTC needs to solve for hardware. Microsoft did change a lot in 8.1, for the better, but some of it are broad changes like a standard Bluetooth stack (Bluetooth SMART), aspects of the camera, and other underlying memory functions. Presumably, HTC is having a rough time at getting it to work.
Source: Twitter; Thanks, @Supergamer65, for the tip!
