applying updates to no name Androids (Homtom HT20 in this case) I have barely managed to get into the recovery environment. The phone has everything stock. 

The attempt to adb sideload [update_file].zip has failed with a timeout exception. The device has developer options enabled I a am able to freely use adb on it (in normal mode, not recovery)

The attmept to apply the update file from SD card also fails like this: I first click to apply update from SD card, select the file, then I get the resting robot with "No command." text. If I leave it like this, it will stay here for afew minutes then reboot all by itself - checked the ROM version and it looks like still the old one. If I try to get exit this screen with "power" + "vol up" it goes into a menu screen made out of "reboot now" or "continue with the update" - none of which are of any help. 

Any chance for this pretty broken phone to get its update ?
Based on @beeshyams comment i have dug deeper only to find out that the Chinese phones have their own way of updating the ROM. Namely through the "Sp Flash Tool". More on the process at http://4pda.ru/forum/index.php?showtopic=469340 (in English - https://translate.google.ro/translate?hl=ro&amp;sl=ru&amp;tl=en&amp;u=http%3A%2F%2F4pda.ru%2Fforum%2Findex.php%3Fshowtopic%3D469340)
I might try to root it as well depending on how much of a fix this update made for my flaky internet connection problem.