Droid X2 confirmed to not receive ICS

posted by Scott H.

Mar 13, 2012, 12:05 PM

The Motorola Droid X2 comes with a hefty dual-core Tegra2 chipset and debuted less than a year ago, but we can now confirm that it will not be getting an upgrade to Ice Cream Sandwich. The phone had never appeared on any of Motorola’s ICS upgrade lists, but since it was listed as “in evaluation and planning” on Motorola's website some users held out hope that it would eventually get the update.

A response sent to a customer who made a Better Business Bureau complaint shows that the DX2 will indeed be staying on Gingerbread. The message is reprinted here in its entirety:

Dear Ivan,

I am responding to the complaint you filed with Better Business Bureau regarding our Droid X2 model phone. I reviewed your recent case notes and it is noted that you received information from Motorola regarding Bootloader unlock and Ice Cream Sandwich.

We are working to balance the operator requirement for security to the end user, while supporting the developer communities desire to use these products as a development platform. It is our intention to enable the unlockable/relockable bootloader currently found on Motorola XOOM on other devices, where carrier and operators will allow it. This process is requiring a good deal of consideration and technical infrastructure and we have no announcements to make at this time for unlocking any devices.

Droid X2 is not on our list of devices that are slated to get Ice Cream Sandwich, but that does not mean it is not continuing to get support. Though it will remain on Gingerbread it is eligible for software updates if it’s determined that any are needed.

Thank You,
Dorothy Hodges
Corporate Consumer Advocacy Office

We think this is pretty disappointing – the hardware is clearly capable of supporting Android 4.0, so it seems pretty harsh that the phone won’t get to see a major software revision that shipped six months after the phone. We imagine that perhaps the Droid X2 simply wasn’t a hot enough seller to justify the development time, but that’s still a bitter pill to swallow for those of you who picked one up. It also is a pointed example of how locking the bootloader hurts consumers - not only has Motorola and Verizon decided to not upgrade the X2, but they've done everything in their power to make sure you can't upgrade it either.

Do you have a Droid X2? Was the ICS update important to you, or are you content on Gingerbread? Let us know in the comments below.

source: Droid-Life

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89 Comments

68. ngo2dd

Posts: 896; Member since: Jul 08, 2011

the HTC One V has 512mb of ram is coming with ICS and sense so it is not the ram.

posted on Mar 14, 2012, 10:44 AM 0

84. thelegend6657 unregistered

No it's not , just lazy engineers from Motorola

posted on Mar 15, 2012, 5:36 AM 0

52. antmiu2

Posts: 552; Member since: Jun 19, 2011

just get people 512mb of ram = no ICS

posted on Mar 13, 2012, 10:19 PM 0

83. thelegend6657 unregistered

Dude HTC one V ? Nexus s ?

posted on Mar 15, 2012, 5:35 AM 0

51. thelegend6657 unregistered

android manufactures are sick ! They dont deliver updates even to their ol flagship !

posted on Mar 13, 2012, 9:57 PM 1

65. Sniggly

Posts: 7305; Member since: Dec 05, 2009

The X2 was never a flagship. It was aimed at the mid range crowd from the start.

posted on Mar 14, 2012, 5:07 AM 0

82. thelegend6657 unregistered

It should have been updated as it has a dual core CPU . + the nexus s is also rocking 512mb ram

posted on Mar 15, 2012, 5:35 AM 0

87. CM_Punk

Posts: 173; Member since: Mar 13, 2012

Now we know who thumbed his comment down. Can you stop being bitter for once over people hating Motorola?

posted on Mar 15, 2012, 12:26 PM 1

70. snowgator

Posts: 3629; Member since: Jan 19, 2011

You are confusing the X2 with the original X, which was the Flagship Moto device when it was released. The X2 was a real dissapointment, though not a bad device. Just not worthy of the original.

posted on Mar 14, 2012, 11:10 AM 1

81. thelegend6657 unregistered

Oh thanks for the info . But samsung wasn't doing any better with the galaxy s1 . Kudos to HTC for putting incredible s and desire hd to the upgrade list

posted on Mar 15, 2012, 5:34 AM 0

49. mercorp

Posts: 1045; Member since: Jan 28, 2012

f*** you moto

posted on Mar 13, 2012, 9:36 PM 0

48. KingKurogiii

Posts: 5713; Member since: Oct 23, 2011

what this phone needs is some V6 Supercharger loving from it's owners.

posted on Mar 13, 2012, 8:48 PM 0

30. DigitalMD

Posts: 226; Member since: Feb 17, 2010

Another example of Verizon and Apple making misery for the smartphone world

posted on Mar 13, 2012, 3:44 PM 0

35. biophone

Posts: 1994; Member since: Jun 15, 2011

Yes becuase of apple the dx2 isn't get ics that is a very valid point you got there.

posted on Mar 13, 2012, 5:11 PM 1

29. RORYREVOLUTION

Posts: 3131; Member since: Jan 12, 2010

I hate to say it bot the DX2 was a mistake from the start anyway. 1. It launched with 2.2 with horrible lag depsite it having a dual core processor. 2. It only has 512MBs of RAM, sorry but 1GB or no deal. 3. the Droid Bionic and RAZR were both a far superior upgrade and both deserve the attention and time of getting ICS over this mistake of a device.

posted on Mar 13, 2012, 3:33 PM 3

43. GENRAL.LEVY

Posts: 59; Member since: Mar 13, 2012

True rryrvltion ive got an experia arc s sexiest stylish modern phone to till date with 512 ram running 30 plus application the phone starts to lag due to low ram is it was it asking to much for 1gb ram how stupid enginers or else

posted on Mar 13, 2012, 6:57 PM 0

44. RORYREVOLUTION

Posts: 3131; Member since: Jan 12, 2010

Sadly with Android it needs more RAM than anything. You can overclock the thing all the way up to 1.5ghz but without more RAM it's still going to start lagging eventually.

posted on Mar 13, 2012, 7:18 PM 0

17. JC557

Posts: 1927; Member since: Dec 07, 2011

That sucks. Even the Thunderbolt and Droid Incredible 2 are getting ICS. Granted they have 768MB RAM but they're also single core. I'm sure 512MB RAM would suffice as other devices with that amount seem to be getting ICS. If phones with 512MB RAM is a no go, just think of all the pissed off Droid Charge users... Of course Gingerbread is still quite good...

posted on Mar 13, 2012, 1:35 PM 0

20. KingKurogiii

Posts: 5713; Member since: Oct 23, 2011

yeah, my mom with a Droid Charge will be getting a Galaxy Nexus on the 23rd. xD

posted on Mar 13, 2012, 1:46 PM 0

16. KingKurogiii

Posts: 5713; Member since: Oct 23, 2011

no doubt this is because of it's 512MB of RAM. i've said it all along. the X2 was a mistake and was only an answer to the delay of the Bionic. i have a friend that has an X2 (she's a 19 year old girl so i don't really bust her chops about it.) she's not going to be happy that her phone won't be supported, especially after coming from prompt updates to her Motorola Droid.

posted on Mar 13, 2012, 1:25 PM 0

14. theBankRobber

Posts: 682; Member since: Sep 22, 2011

Well the Droid x2 does have only 512mb of ram memory. Even though other oem's said that other phones or devices with 512mb of ram could be updated but really, do any of us really know how true they will stick there word? Gingerbread was just BAD once it got on my Evo 4g, made it stable but sense ALWAYS crashed. It should be only dual core phones wth 1gb of ram here on out. Look at the sensation getting a half version of ICS and that has only 768mb of ram. Now THIS IS WHERE IT WILL BE TIME TO ROOT. of the updates won't come from the OEM's then let the faithful devs over at xda cook one up. :)

posted on Mar 13, 2012, 1:11 PM 1

11. squallz506

Posts: 1075; Member since: Oct 19, 2011

and they say lg is bad with updates... my g2x is a month older than the droid x2, with the same processor but im getting ics

posted on Mar 13, 2012, 1:07 PM 1

15. KingKurogiii

Posts: 5713; Member since: Oct 23, 2011

the G2x has twice as much RAM. :P

posted on Mar 13, 2012, 1:22 PM 0

23. squallz506

Posts: 1075; Member since: Oct 19, 2011

fail! they both have 512mb

posted on Mar 13, 2012, 2:03 PM 2

24. KingKurogiii

Posts: 5713; Member since: Oct 23, 2011

no 1GB? everything coming out with Tegra IIs at that time had 1GB so that's what i went with. wow, that's a pretty bad phone now... :P

posted on Mar 13, 2012, 2:13 PM 0

27. snowgator

Posts: 3629; Member since: Jan 19, 2011

Okay, I have to admit I am a little surprised. I thought both the X2 and the Droid 3 would get ICS. While the jury may still be out on the D3, this probably doesn't look good for them. But, this is not a crushing blow to those owners. I bet most of them are very happy with the performance of their devices, or they will already be making plans for something else regardless of the ICS update. Moto has said they intend to slow down on the production of separate models, and this may be part of the reason. It is just to hard to support all your models. I expect Motorola to be much improved on this in the future.

posted on Mar 13, 2012, 3:11 PM 0

53. KingKurogiii

Posts: 5713; Member since: Oct 23, 2011

yeah, even after owning the Razr for roughly two months now i liked using the Droid 3 more. i'm very happy with my Razr and it does a good deal more but the Droid 3 was just so much more...satasfying if you know what i mean. oh and snow, i got a HTC Trophy. i have some legit opinions on WP7.5 now. o:

posted on Mar 13, 2012, 10:34 PM 1

69. snowgator

Posts: 3629; Member since: Jan 19, 2011

King, I am not surprised you went with thr Razr over the Droid 4. I saw them side by side the other day, and while I liked the performance of the D4 fine, boy the screen on the Razr really looks so much better. And I would never - EVER- doubt your opinions. But, how is the Trophy treating you??? It still is a very well liked device among the Verizon crowd. How does WP compare to a top flight Android experience in your world? Us suckers have to know....

posted on Mar 14, 2012, 11:04 AM 1

77. KingKurogiii

Posts: 5713; Member since: Oct 23, 2011

yeah, it really is. the Razr just feels so much more solid too which is one of my favorite things about a good Motorola phone. haha, well first off i love love LOVE the cleaner, simpler interface. live tiles are fantastic, you can get rid of most everything that you don't want and the OS itself is extremely fluid. i also think the Contact, Facebook & Hotmail integration is done pretty great as well and i'm a big Spotify user so that was one of the things i was glad to be able to find on the Marketplace, it's a nice, quality app like most of the apps i've gotten from the Marketplace and it's integration into the Zune Player is almost perfect and i also like that i can control any form of mp3 playback from the lock screen. i'm also signed into my Xbox LIVE and i love that i can do that, i haven't gotten to play around with it a whole lot yet though. the browser performs well, on par with my Razr except for kinetic scrolling which the Trophy excels a little more in. it's always in the back of my mind that there's no Flash though and i do use my Flash content from time to time. now for things i don't like...like i originally feared even though the OS is extremely Fluid the hardware is just not doing it. there's plenty of instances of lag and apps take forever to load, even the Avatar Animation from the Xbox LIVE application skips frames and when i'm listening to music from Spotify (btw this is all on Wi-Fi because i haven't activated this phone) and i open another app the music will become all choppy. i'm also not a big fan of how inefficiently the landscape screen real estate is used, they cramp the keyboard up until it's only as big as the portrait keyboard on my Droid Razr with it's 4.3" display. another little thing that got to me is the search key, it's always a portal to Bing, it might as well be a dedicated Bing key. i'm used to being able to press the search key when i want to search in anything that is presently open. when i was in the Marketplace and i tried it for the first time it didn't even do anything right off so assumed it just didn't work in the Marketplace so i pressed the on-screen search button and went along with my app hunting when like a minute later the screen finally presents me with the Bing homepage...from a keypress i made roughly a minute ago. SHAME Trophy! oh and i'm not really happy with app availability and pricing either. there's not even an official Youtube Client and the Games all cost money and i like my money. so far i'd say this phone could do me for something like a day at the Gym thanks to it's simplistic, fluid nature and it's great music listening experience but nothing beyond that so far i'm afraid. i want to like WP so much more because just using it makes me all giddy inside and it's just sooo nice but i definitely would need an Apollo device and i definitely would want to see more apps become available before i use a WP as my primary.

posted on Mar 14, 2012, 12:19 PM 1

85. snowgator

Posts: 3629; Member since: Jan 19, 2011

Every criticism of the Trophy and the WP 7.5 OS is legit, buddy. Of the WP 1st Gen devices, I have heard the Quantum and the Trophy both have a little lag and spotty performance since the Mango upgrade. That is strange, because the Arrive and the HD7 both have performed well. I understand the cramped keyboard. Had we moved off of AT&T and gone to Verizon, I would have been a Moto owner right now. I just can't deal with a smaller than 4.0" screen as an all touch. Not enough room. Apollo will have many improvements, and I am truly excited that it will have cross platform performance. I use Word and the work tools a ton. But, to be truthful, it may take another year for the Marketplace to catch the selection for Android Apps. But, I do lime the performance and layout of the apps I have got. It is just a small complaint, but I am also annoyed by the screens not working in landscape. (main screen, XBOX Live, Office, ECT). Just irritating.

posted on Mar 15, 2012, 11:51 AM 1

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