New HTC Advantage Initiative Unveiled for the HTC One Family of Devices

HTC has unveiled a new program this morning that is aimed at reaffirming HTC’s commitment to quick Android OS updates and additional storage, along with keeping the owners of the HTC One family of devices even more ecstatic to own and purchase one.

“We recognize that people spend good money to buy smartphones. Creating premium products that offer customers the best and latest has always been the HTC way, and now we’re carrying that commitment beyond the handset purchase to ensure customers remain satisfied beyond day one,” said Jason Mackenzie, president of HTC Americas. “In line with our history of firsts, we want to be the first to protect the investment customers make in our premium devices, and have created a new position of vice president of customer experience to oversee this commitment as well as the launch and evolution of HTC Advantage.”

The new HTC Advantage Initiative offers a few pretty cool things.

• Free Cracked-Screen Replacements – If your shiny new HTC One happens to have a cracked screen in the first six months of ownership, HTC will take care of you and replace it. This only applies to U.S. owners and you can only have ONE cracked screen replaced. If you have a habit of breaking your screen every month, you will be out of luck. (Only for devices purchased after 2-18-2014)
• Additional Google Drive Storage – The HTC One Max is eligible for 50GB of Google Drive storage for 2-years. When the HTC Sense 5+ becomes available on certain 2013 HTC devices, you will gain 25GBs of Google Drive storage also for 2-years. There is an exception though, HTC One developer editions are not eligible for any extra Drive storage due to the unlocked bootloader. (That’s some garbage right there.) Full details at Google Drive Support.

Along with the obviously amazing perks, HTC also recommits to timely Android OS updates on their U.S. models of devices.

 HTC Americas is rectifying the issue and aspires to lead the industry in Android update delivery for the HTC One smartphone, evident by the speedy delivery of the latest version of Android (KitKat 4.4.2) and HTC’s latest innovation in HTC Sense 5.5 across numerous carriers in North America.  HTC was the first in the United States and Canada, outside of Google-owned companies and Google Play editions of devices, to begin delivering KitKat to its customers.

HTC is also making great strides in keeping the public and consumers in the know about the status of updates. This is pretty apparent from the various tweets we have seen over the last month or so from HTC specifying where the update was in terms of its approval and expected deployment. You can also always go to the HTC Software Updates page to see where various devices are at in the update process.

HTC is doing some pretty big things lately. They were the first, besides the Google Play edition devices and Nexus line, manufacturer to start KitKat updates on devices in the states. Adding in the addition cloud storage for 2-year, the free screen replacement in the first six months and keeping updates and their timelines as transparent as possible is a great move in my opinion. None of us like to wait for an update to be launched, but what I know I hate more, is not knowing if one is ever even going to come.

More details can be be found at the HTC Advantage webpage. Be sure to check into it if you have plan to purchase a HTC One, HTC One Max or HTC One mini. The fine print dictates that the device must be purchased AFTER 2-18-2014. Always something. You should still be able to get your hands on the storage space though.