14 DAY TRIAL // Last week several AT&T customers who own the HTC Vivid reported they had successfully updated their smartphones to Android 4.0.3 Ice Cream Sandwich, OTA (over the air). However, they had to use a dialer trick that forced the push of the update.
Today, major carrier AT&T officially announced the immediate availability of Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich for HTC Vivid.
The update can be downloaded over Wi-Fi by visiting HTC Vivid dedicated site. In addition, AT&T customers can also download the update on their PCs and then install it through sideload.
Those who do not manually download the update will receive an SMS notification about the availability of the update starting March 23.
Aside from bringing the phone's software version to Android 4.0.3, the update brings optimized audio experience of Beats by Dr. Dre Audio, along with an enhanced HTC Sense experience.
Unfortunately, the update offered for HTC Vivid users will only upgrade HTC Sense UI to version 3.6, not 4.0, but this information was already known since last week.
With the new feature Face Unlock, users will be able to unlock their devices by simply using face recognition. This is done via the smartphone's secondary front-facing camera and the innovative facial recognition technology that comes within the update.
Users are required to keep their HTC Vivid units in front of their face to unlock the phone, or use the usual PIN or pattern as backup.
Android 4.0 for HTC Vivid also brings improved email features which will make it easier for users to send, read and manage emails through recipient auto-completion and stored text. It is also worth mentioning that the email app now supports EAS v14, along with EAS certificate authentication.
Other UI Improvements includes the option to access the notification bar on the lock screen, or the possibility to drag apps and shortcuts on top of one another to create folders. There's also a new completely customizable Launch Bar. Widgets are now resizable.