Good news for HTC fans! The Taiwanese phone manufacturer has started rolling out an update to HTC One X smartphones, bringing the highly-anticipated Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, as well as a tweaked version of its Sense user interface. A spokesman for the company confirmed the rollout started Friday, Aug. 10, in the UK, but timings for other regions may vary. HTC expects to complete the rollout to ICS by the end of the month.

"The primary update will include an upgrade to Android version 4.0.4 (Ice Cream Sandwich), in addition to an improved Sense experience which will enable the ability to map menu functions to the 'recent app' key - improving visual presentation in non-ICS apps like Facebook - and improve tab management in the browser with a dedicated tab-switching button," HTC said in a statement.

Other notable improvements coming to the HTC One X include refined white balance, continuous auto-focus mode for the camera, as well as a single sign-on for Facebook across various Web sites and apps. HTC also touted some improvements to the Beats Audio software, but did not provide additional details of the tweaks.

While this rollout comes with an upgrade to Android ICS, a spokesman for HTC confirmed that the update to Android 4.1 Jelly Bean is still planned for the handset. "At this point in time, we can confirm that we have plans to upgrade our HTC One X, HTC One XL and HTC One S to Jelly Bean," said the company. "While our goal is to bring the latest software updates to as many of our recent devices as possible, we are committed to maintaining every phone's performance and usability first."

HTC also answered questions on its Facebook page and said it is still working on completing the updates, and expects to issue them by the end of the month for all devices that have previously been announced to get the upgrade.

Other handsets still awaiting the Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich update include the Droid Incredible 2, the HTC Desire S, Desire HD, HTC EVO 4G+, Incredible S, Sensation, Sensation XE, Sensation XL, Thunderbolt, and Velocity.

Meanwhile, the $79.99 Verizon Wireless HTC Rezound, EVO 3D, and EVO Design 4G got the update earlier this month. In response to other questions on Facebook, HTC said both the Desire S and Thunderbolt handsets will receive the ICS update before by the end of August.

According to stats Google released earlier this month, roughly 16 percent of Android devices now run some version of Android 4.0 ICS, while the latest version, Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, is currently available on just 0.8 percent of devices. Android 3.0 Gingerbread remains the most popular version of the mobile operating system, with 60.6 percent of the Android market.