There's no question – HTC's latest flagship, the One X, is a fantastic device. One major gripe that users have had from day one however (besides broken multitasking) was the pesky menu bar that served to replace its missing capacitive counterpart. Any time users opened an app that wasn't optimized with the Ice Cream Sandwich-style "action overflow" button, the large black bar would appear.

All that is changing for owners of the AT&T-connected One X today though, as a 270MB OTA update (carrying software build 2.20.502.7 and bringing the handset up to ICS 4.0.4) eliminates the bar, instead giving users options to remap the device's multitask key to follow one of three sets of behavior: Always open recent apps, press for menu and long press for recent apps, or press for recent apps and long press for menu.

Screenshots 2-4: AC Forums

At the moment, no one is sure just what else may be contained in the update (besides 4.0.4's usual fixes and enhancements), as HTC has not divulged its full change log. It is important to note, however, that users at XDA indicate that the update may close all existing root loopholes, meaning un-rooted users (who want to root) should steer clear of the update for now.

Update: HTC posted the changelog and the full RUU for this release. The RUU can be downloaded from here, and the changelog follows.

New features:

  • NFC Capabilities
  • Additional content added to HTC Hub
  • Third party music applications accessible from the Car application.

Fixes/Updates:

  • Wi-Fi connectivity fixes
  • Improved Bluetooth automobile compatibility
  • 3G/4G connectivity improvements
  • HTC Sense fixes
  • Contacts synchronization fix
  • Network time fix (clock displays 30 minutes off)

Thanks, John!