When nothing works, jump on the blockchain bandwagon! In a nutshell, this is the present condition of HTC. I can’t help myself, so here is the popular photoshopped version of a Dilbert strip:

dilbert_boss_blockchain
Umm.. is Dilbert an employee of HTC?

Kidding apart, the Taiwanese OEM did release a bunch of bugfix updates at the end of November, so technically they are not dead yet. However, the management has gone haywire, as they came up with yet another blockchain phone after the original HTC Exodus.

Dubbed as Exodus 1s, the phone is surprisingly outdated right from the beginning. A mediocre Snapdragon 435 SoC, 64 GB storage (you will need at least a 400 GB microSD card to utilize the Bitcoin ledger storage feature anyway, microUSB port and Android Oreo!

htc_exodus_front_back
Original HTC Exodus also comes with Android Oreo out of the box

The first-gen HTC Exodus does have a superior Snapdragon 845 SoC, but a dated version of Android is not at all justifiable with the cutting-edge cryptophone. HTC even failed to push regular monthly security updates for this phone.

Well, we have a silver lining at last. The company is finally rolling out the stable Android Pie (yes, not Android 10) update for the Exodus 1. The OTA (software version 2.37.709.3) comes as a whopping 1.2 GB package and brings Bitcoin full node support for the integrated Zion vault.

htc_exodus_pie_ota_prompt

The complete changelog is as follows (translated from Chinese):

1. OS upgrade to Android 9 Pie
2. Support Bitcoin full nodes
3. Android October security update
4. Remove the removed products from Blinkfeed the Google+
5. The removable card of the Google case the Map Dayton
6. Update the automatic adjustment function of battery usage, to optimize battery life
7. Update the adaptive brightness, the root system environment in which automatically adjusts screen brightness
8. Other system performance enhancement

As you can see, the update also bundles the October security patch for the phone. Wireless casting might be broken in this build, and the company is aware of that.

The update went live in Taiwan around two weeks ago, but the broadscale rollout has been started recently. We hope global variant of HTC Exodus will soon pick up the Pie update as well.

htc_exodus_pie_2.37.709.3_about

Have you received the OTA on your HTC Exodus? Comment below.

PiunikaWeb started as purely an investigative tech journalism website with main focus on ‘breaking’ or ‘exclusive’ news. In no time, our stories got picked up by the likes of Forbes, Foxnews, Gizmodo, TechCrunch, Engadget, The Verge, Macrumors, and many others. Want to know more about us? Head here.

Kingshuk De
896 Posts

I came from a mixed background of Statistics and Computer Science. My research domains included embedded computer systems, mobile computing and delay tolerant networks in post-disaster scenarios. Apart from tinkering with gadgets or building hackintosh, I like to hop on various subreddits and forums like MyDigitalLife and XDA.

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