Yes, folks, there is still hope for the DROID Incredible 2. After missing a self-imposed deadline to update the device to Ice Cream Sandwich, HTC has been semi-quiet on whether or not an update was still in the works. We were assuming at this point that it and the Thunderbolt were never going to be updated, as it has been almost 3 months without word. Well, until last night.

One of our readers poked at HTC on Twitter, asking if they had forgotten about the Incredible 2. HTC responded, saying that they are still working on the update, but are having connectivity issues with the software. Once they figure those out, they plan to share information with the world.

I don’t know about you guys, but rarely do we get this kind of openness from an OEM on an update. I know they didn’t pinpoint a date to release it, but when was the last time any of them gave a progress report on an update that included technical details? Very interesting.

Again, there is hope!

Via:  @HTC

Cheers Chris!

HTC Gives Hope to Incredible 2 Owners Waiting for Ice Cream Sandwich is a post from: Droid Life

This shouldn’t surprise you reading after HTC’s acknowledgement that they had missed their own deadline for releasing Ice Cream Sandwich to the Thunderbolt, but we wanted to make sure Incredible 2 owners were also kept in the loop. And for those few Inc 2 readers that have yet to upgrade to the next big thing, you will be waiting longer for Android 4.0. On Friday, HTC also made it known that they are actively working with Verizon to get ICS out to the Incredible 2. They will notify us as soon as they are nearing completion.

Via:  Facebook

Cheers Nikolas!

HTC Also Acknowledges That ICS for the Incredible 2 is Late is a post from: Droid Life

Remember the HTC DROID Incredible 2? No, not the Incredible 4G LTE, I get them confused as well. Good news for the owners of the Inc 2, a leaked RUU of an Ice Cream Sandwich build has leaked and is available for flashing now if you want to check it out. The update brings the phone to Android 4.0.4, but unfortunately only upgrades Sense to 3.6.

The ROM is mostly stock except for pre-loaded root and busybox, removal of HTC spyware and removal of HTC linkify which was the cause of Apple’s lawsuit against HTC. Instructions and the download are at the source link below if you are dying to get started, just promise us you will make a backup beforehand.

If you’re waiting anxiously for our Incredible 4G LTE review, it should be revealed sometime tomorrow!

Via: XDA

HTC Incredible 2 Receives Leaked ICS RUU, Could the Official OTA Be Sometime Soon? is a post from: Droid Life

An update for the DROID Incredible 2 has been approved as build 6.01.605.05 710RD. It’s about as minor as it gets and is definitely not Ice Cream Sandwich. It takes care of a picture downloading issue through social networks and enables the wireless alerting system. See, very minor.

Still no word on when or if the device will see Android 4.0. HTC is still keeping this device as “on the fence.”

It’s a whoppin’ 32MB in size. More info.

DROID Incredible 2 Update 6.01.605.05 is on the Way is a post from: Droid Life

HTC posted a timeline for Ice Cream Sandwich rollouts some time over the last few days on their support pages and it includes more details than we have seen to date. The HTC Rezound and Rhyme will see Android 4.0 in either June or July, Thunderbolt in July or August, and the Incredible 2 is now up-in-the-air as to whether or not it will see it. Previously, the Incredible 2 was listed as a device on the upgrade list, so this is a new development. If you own one of HTC’s tablets, you are stuck on Honeycomb. 

In this new support page, HTC mentions that all of these devices will see Sense 3.6 with Android 4.0.3 rather than the newly released Sense 4.0 that comes loaded on the HTC One Series. They claim that Sense 4.0 needs specific dedicated hardware which none of these older devices contains. They expect to finish rolling out ICS updates by the end of August.

Via:  HTC

Cheers Steve and Eric!

HTC Rezound to Receive Ice Cream Sandwich in June-July, Thunderbolt in July-August, Incredible 2 Status Up in the Air is a post from: Droid Life

Last night, while making the rounds in New Orleans, I had a chance to spend a few minutes with the newly announced DROID Incredible 4G LTE. This will be Verizon’s next major LTE release and has easily been the topic of the week here at CTIA. The phone in hand, feels great. It only carries a 4″ display, so it really is like a 2012 version of last year’s Incredible 2. The size is almost identical, but the build materials and internals make it quite the upgrade.

One thing to note is that this does not have HTC’s ImageChip (we were told that was reserved for One Series phones) which means that some features of the camera will be slightly different than on the One X or One S. In our short time with it, I wouldn’t say that it seemed worse off, but features like burst mode did not appear to be included. It should still be the same high-end 8MP shooter from the One Series, but with slightly different software.

We should have the opportunity to dive deep into the phone within the next couple of hours, once the show floor opens, so stay with us. Enjoy the pics for now and let us know what you think about a 4″ screen – too small for 2012? 

Quick Hands-on With the DROID Incredible 4G LTE is a post from: Droid Life

Yesterday we reported that the HTC Incredible 2 had hit “out of stock” status in Verizon’s store, but one of our readers noticed today that the device is gone completely. If you search for it, you won’t find a sales page and are instead left with support and device over sections. We know that the Incredible 4G is essentially ready for prime time (pictures of it), so this move by Big Red is not all that surprising. The last release date we saw for the Inc 4G was April 26, which is next Thursday – be sure to keep it close as we may finally see a new phone on Verizon that is worth talking about.

If you need something to compare it to, check out our HTC One S review. The Incredible 4G should be that phone, but with LTE, an NFC chip, and expandable storage – three things we knocked the One S for not having.

Cheers Brent!

Scratch That, Incredible 2 Has Now Been Removed From Verizon’s Store is a post from: Droid Life

The Incredible 2 is now listed as “out of stock” at Verizon’s online store. While it does say “temporarily,” the device has been out for a year now and as we all know, has a successor on the way. Is this a sign that the Incredible 4G will be here any minute? We are sort of expecting it to drop at any time now that the device, in a finalized looking state has surfaced thanks to one of our tipsters (more pics here). Previously seen targeted dates had it pegged for an April 26 launch, which would be next week, but here we are on the 19th without a peep from Big Red or HTC. As we all know by now thanks to Bionic and Galaxy Nexus drama sagas, these “unofficial” dates, even if from within Verizon walls mean almost nothing until the press release arrives.

The Incredible 4G is expected to be the “DROID” version (LTE, NFC, and expandable storage) of the HTC One S which we reviewed yesterday. It should be a solid device for those in the market for an upgrade this Spring.

Cheers CG!

Incredible 2 is Out of Stock at Verizon, Incredible 4G Incoming? is a post from: Droid Life

Verizon has a trade-in program of their own, but the prices they are willing to offer on some phones are anything but high. For those that did not know, Amazon has a similar program. While some of their prices are laughable even when compared to Big Red’s, a couple of phones in particular are going for almost double what anyone else is willing to give you. The Incredible 2 and DROID X, a pair of devices that are far past their prime, can be traded in for $156 and $59 respectively. For comparison sake, Verizon will give you just $78 and $33 for these two.

If you are in need of some extra cash (Amazon gift card in this case) as we approach the end of tax season, this might be worth a look.

Via:  Amazon

Cheers Jigga_Z!

Old DROID X or Incredible 2 to Trade in? Amazon Will Give You Double Verizon’s Offer is a post from: Droid Life

Verizon has been silent for the most part when it comes to Ice Cream Sandwich updates for their lineup of Android devices. Many of the OEMs that they deal with have informed us in one way or another, but we were waiting for Big Red to make some things official since they sign off on final software. Their list is now public and is as follows.

For HTC devices, we will see Android 4.0 on the Thunderbolt, Incredible 2, Rhyme and Rezound. Sorry original Incredible owners. For Motorola devices we will see it on the XOOM, Bionic, RAZR, RAZR MAXX, DROID 4 and XYBOARD tablets. Sorry DROID X, DROID X2, and DROID 3 owners. For Samsung devices it looks like only the Galaxy Tab 10.1 and 7.7 will see it. No DROID Charge. From LG, only the Spectrum will receive ICS.

Sooo, quite a few devices missing including a couple that should have more than enough power under the hood to run Android 4.0.

Update:  Yes, I see that it says “4G LTE devices currently scheduled” in the press release which has led many to believe that this is simply a 4G LTE only list and that some 3G devices were specifically left out. I’m having a hard time following that logic since the Incredible 2 and Rhyme were also listed and are 3G-only phones. Also, the DROID Charge which is 4G LTE, is left off. This is an assumption of course, but I would tend to lean towards this list being pretty complete.

No dates were given.

Ice Cream Sandwich Coming to Many Verizon Wireless Smartphones

03/06/2012

Verizon Wireless will deliver a tasty treat to many smartphone and tablet customers this year – Android™ 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS).

It’s a frozen snack that many in the Android community have been eager to try since ICS launched in December 2011 on the Galaxy™ Nexus™ by Samsung. The redesigned user interface includes many cool enhancements, including upgraded multitasking capabilities, notifications and Web browsing.

Wondering if your device will receive Ice Cream Sandwich? Here’s a list of Verizon Wireless 4G LTE devices currently scheduled to be upgraded.

HTC:

• HTC ThunderBolt™
• DROID Incredible 2 by HTC
• HTC Rhyme™
• HTC Rezound™

Motorola:

• Motorola XOOM
• DROID BIONIC™
• DROID RAZR™
• DROID RAZR™ MAXX™ DROID 4 DROID XYBOARD 8.2
• DROID XYBOARD 10.1

Samsung:

• Samsung Galaxy Tab™ 10.1
• Samsung Galaxy Tab™ 7.7

LG:

• Spectrum™ by LG

We will continue to update this list as additional details become available throughout the year. Also, follow @VZWNews on Twitter for additional upgrade announcements.

Verizon Releases List of Phones to Get Ice Cream Sandwich Updates is a post from: Droid Life

Oh you thought HTC was going to leave you out Thunderbolt owners? OK truthfully, we did too. But that has all changed! According to their official Facebook page, not only will the Thunderbolt see Ice Cream Sandwich, but so will the Rhyme and Incredible 2. Yessir, HTC doin’ big thangs.

No timeframe for release was given, but they have confirmed that upgrades “are planned.” 

Via:  Facebook

Cheers Ryan!

HTC: Thunderbolt, Incredible 2 and Rhyme Will All Receive Ice Cream Sandwich is a post from: Droid Life

It’s a day full of deals. Now that CES is over with and MWC is approaching, Verizon is doing their best to thin out inventory on older devices. Within the last week we have seen deals on the DROID 3, Thunderbolt, Rezound, and now the Incredible 2. How does $9.99 sound?

Buy.

Cheers Chris!

DROID Incredible 2 Drops to $9.99 on Contract at Verizon is a post from: Droid Life

HTC, after announcing that all of their phones released after September of this year would have unlockable bootloaders, has updated their dev site to reflect that statement. Oh but wait, they went even deeper than that and even included the Thunderbolt and Incredible 2, two devices released long before September. Talk about making a statement to both the developer crowd and other manufacturers in the game.

We were led to believe that this was all up to the carriers, but HTC seems to have either found a way around that, doesn’t care what the carrier’s think, or produced a carrier accepted bootloader unlocking tool that everyone is willing to accept. No matter what, we are loving it.

I think all that’s left to be said now is, ”Doesn’t Motorola owe us an explanation?” A solution? Something?

And go get yourself unlocked if you haven’t already at HTCDev.com.

Cheers to everyone who sent this in!

HTC Thunderbolt and Incredible 2 Receive the Bootloader Unlock Treatment From HTCDev.com is a post from: Droid Life

A surprise DROID Incredible 2 update has popped up over at Verizon’s support document section as version 5.10.605.9. A handful of security bugs have been addressed, as well as the ability to play local videos while in airplane mode. You will also notice improvements in the clock and alarm apps, plus better signal strength representation.

To check for the update, head into Settings>System updates>Check new.

The update is 29.35MB in size.

More info.

Cheers Eddie!

DROID Incredible 2 Update 5.10.605.9 Rolling Out – Security Enhancements, New Clock Features, and Airplane Video Playback Included is a post from: Droid Life

Any brave souls wishing to have Ice Cream Sandwich on their DROID Incredible 2 are now able to make it so. ProTekk over at RootzWiki has released a beta version of Google’s newest OS and claims that it is most definitely worth the flash.  It is by no means 100%, but he is continually working on bugs.  With 3G data and calls, WiFi, SMS, and overall phone itself working, then go ahead and have some fun with it.  Just make sure to create a backup. 

Here is the list straight from the forum of working and non-working features.  Feel like giving it a go on your DInc2?  Then follow the via link down below.

What works:

Booting
Wi-Fi
SMS
Calls
Audio
Sensors
Capacitive keys
SU
SDCard
EGL
Rotation
3G

What doesn’t work:

Headsets (logcat claims that the kernel doesn’t support it)
Gallery
Live Wallpapers
Camera
GPS
Bluetooth

This is a video from RootzWiki user TouchPro that has made his own mods to the ROM and has created a video of it performing down below.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Via: RootzWiki

Cheers Matt!

Beta Ice Cream Sandwich ROM Now Available For The DROID Incredible 2 is a post from: Droid Life