HTC Google Play Edition devices to get Lollipop from next week

It’s Android updates season, and this year, it’s an especially jolly season, as OEMs are literally competing to put Lollipop on their devices as soon as possible.

HTC has already announced it would release a Lollipop ROM (with Sense) for its flagship One devices within 90 days. Now Mo Versi, a company executive in charge with product management, revealed on Twitter that Google Play edition devices would get Lollipop (stock) from early next week.

It’s not the first time Mr. Versi reveals advance details about HTC devices and software, so we have no reason to doubt his words. However, the exec did not answer queries about which GPe device he was referring to – One (M7) or One (M8). We presume both devices will join the Lollipop club at about the same time, but that’s just a guess for now.

It looks that, if everything goes to plan, users of the pure Android M7 and M8 versions would get their treats very fast. Over at XDA however, impatient people can’t even wait a few days: user Holy Angel has already put out a homemade Lollipop ROM for the One (M8) based on the stock images currently available.

With Lollipop hitting devices from LG, Motorola, Sony AOSP, and of course Google, and HTC, Nvidia, and others in the pipeline, it looks like Google’s decision to release Android 5.0 as a preview has paid off. That and the pressure from customers demanding fast updates seem to have finally shifted the manufacturers’ focus, which is great news. Now if only everybody would keep up…