AT&T and T-Mobile customers can breathe a sigh of relief as they get to upgrade to the latest Android operating system, the Jelly Bean, as Verizon and Sprint are not allowing their devices to upgrade.
The device in question is the Galaxy Nexus which were planned to receive the upgrade to the Jelly Bean first.
According to Verizon, the decision to not allow the upgrade is to allow more time to test the latest Android OS on their devices.
TechnoBloom stated, "What is even more frustrating about the situation is they are locked in a contract. So they can't just leave the network until it is over. Sure, there are custom ROMs and ports of the Jelly Bean firmware on the web that can be installed in these devices, but that would entail losing your warranty and any support from the carrier for the device."
According to CNET's Marguerite Reardon, Verizon takes "rigorous" testing of new products.
"For example, not only does Verizon test the new software on devices on its network, but it also tests how the updates are pushed to the phones," wrote Reardon.
She notes that this isn't the first time Verizon customers have waited a long time for an update, such as the five-month wait for a bug fix update after the Nexus was launched last year. Reardon goes as far to recommend Android smartphone customers to not purchase an Android device from Verizon due to the long wait for updates compared to other carriers.
As Latinos Post previously reported, "Jelly Bean makes it easier to share media, with a new photo app that streamlines the process with swiping, and Android Beam - a feature in Jelly Bean that allows for wireless data sharing through NFC-enabled phones such as the Samsung Galaxy Nexus."
No word yet if the delay for Sprint and Verizon customers will affect Samsung's Galaxy S3 device which is expected to receive the updated Android OS in the upcoming month.
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