Motorola explains why it won't update the Motorola DROID 3 and the Motorola DROID X2 to Android 4.0

posted by Alan F. / May 19, 2012, 12:07 PM

Motorola explains why it won't update the Motorola DROID 3 and the Motorola DROID X2 to Android 4.0

The Motorola DROID X2 was launched exactly one year ago Saturday. The Motrorola DROID 3 was launched even later. Despite both of these models being a year old or less, Motorola's updated Android 4.0 update schedule infers that both of these handsets will not be receiving Ice Cream Sandwich. Some have theorized that the 512MB of RAM in each unit was the reason for the omission, but the manufacturer has a different explanation. In a statement, Motorola says that if Android 4.0 can't make a specific Motorola device better, it is unable to update that device.

"You may be wondering why all devices aren’t being upgraded to Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich). Here’s the deal. We work very closely with Google and cell phone carriers for every software update. And, obviously we want the new release to improve our devices. If we determine that can’t be done—well then, we’re not able to upgrade that particular device."-Motorola

Launched one year ago today, the Motorola DROID X2

Of course, that statement won't really placate owners of either phone. And despite the statement from Motorola, if a phone doesn't improve with the latest OS update, it probably means that there is something in the specs that just doesn't cut it. In this case, the common denominator appears to be the lack of 1GB of RAM on both phones. And that is a shame considering the young age of both handsets.

source: Motorola via AndroidCentral

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65 Comments

1. hoevito

Posts: 11; Member since: Apr 18, 2012

If the Htc Sensation can get it with 768mb of RAM, a bloated overlay in Sense 3.6, AND a generally inferior processor in the S3, then I call Motorola's BS...

posted on May 19, 2012, 12:10 PM 7

10. jellytime

Posts: 135; Member since: Dec 05, 2011

Don't forget that sony also is updating their all their devices which has 512 mb ram. Hell my xperia play has 87 mb of ram and only 4 programs are running on the background :Advanced task killer pro :Swiftkey x :Soundcloud :Music

posted on May 19, 2012, 1:04 PM 7

33. mio15

Posts: 38; Member since: Mar 21, 2011

no offens but... Android System is designed to run apps in "backround". to simplify things here. task killer is contra productive to this system of managing app/runtimes. http://lifehacker.com/5650894/android-task-killers-explained-what-they-do-and-why-you-shouldnt-use-them just saying ;) for more info try google greetings

posted on May 19, 2012, 3:00 PM 5

60. mas11

Posts: 1034; Member since: Mar 30, 2012

I couldn't agree more with you. It probably uses more power opening and closing these apps than just letting Android manage them.

posted on May 20, 2012, 5:31 PM 0

24. Droid_X_Doug

Posts: 5993; Member since: Dec 22, 2010

This is the problem with not providing specifics about how/why ICS won't 'improve' the users experience. It just fuels the frenzy. Moto could have nipped this in the bud.

posted on May 19, 2012, 2:05 PM 2

44. phitch

Posts: 214; Member since: Mar 06, 2012

HTC didn't use a chip that the developer decided to stop supporting less than 6 months after it was deployed in smartphones. WAY TO GO NVIDIA!

posted on May 19, 2012, 5:19 PM 0

52. poddey

Posts: 77; Member since: Mar 22, 2012

It is total BS. Motorola haven't provided any specifics because the real answer is it was most probably a decision based on dollars - i.e. they didn't make enough money selling these handsets to justify spending more money on developing an upgrade to ICS. It seems Motorola thinks that they can make their way back to profitability by releasing a new flagship with slightly better specs every couple of months. Whether they realised it or not at the time, they have released way too many devices for their budget or software development team to be able to develop a firmware upgrade for each one for every country each one is being sold in. Does Motorola really think that customers who they've left behind without an upgrade are going to buy the next best Motorola phone or that their reputation would not be tarnished? I get it that it doesn't really make sense for Motorola to provide an upgrade to pure ICS on a phone they sold with their Motoblur customisations (because the majority of customers won't root their phones and install custom ROMS). However I find it hard to believe that ICS with their latest Motoblur build wouldn't fit or run well on these handsets when their latest version of Motoblur basically looks like pure ICS anyway. If Nvidia are partly to blame (because the Droid X2 runs their dual core Tegra 2 chip) then shame on Nvidia because Qualcomm are still supporting their SINGLE core S2 chips (Sony are upgrading their ENTIRE 2011 line up of Xperia phones and all of them run the S2 chip).

posted on May 19, 2012, 10:05 PM 2

2. hybrid06339

Posts: 23; Member since: May 16, 2012

Utter BS from Moto. I have a DX running AOKP build of ICS and it runs just fine. Moto should come out and say that they won't support anything past a year old and allow users to unlock those devices easily so that they can be updated with a custom ROM.

posted on May 19, 2012, 12:18 PM 4

11. theBankRobber

Posts: 682; Member since: Sep 22, 2011

Both the Atrix and Photon can have there boot loaders unlocked easy and still both are getting ICS.

posted on May 19, 2012, 1:05 PM 2

45. Tatperson

Posts: 58; Member since: Oct 21, 2011

But according to XDA, Motorola is giving an update with 2.3.6 for both the photon and the Atrix which will further lock down their bootloaders and even make it impossible to flash SBFs.

posted on May 19, 2012, 6:02 PM 0

53. theBankRobber

Posts: 682; Member since: Sep 22, 2011

I was just in the recent soak test for my Photon 4G. I can not confirm the ( can't unlocked the boot loader again method) but can say the update was a BUST. Only thing good was the 1080p video recording.

posted on May 19, 2012, 10:52 PM 0

3. CharlieAtInfinity

Posts: 253; Member since: Apr 10, 2012

even my arc s with 512 MB ram got ICS... geeze Motorola!! :/ disappointing to hear!!

posted on May 19, 2012, 12:24 PM 5

22. sasa3342

Posts: 2; Member since: May 19, 2012

I have Xperia neo V with ICS, believe me, every 30 min i get "Application is not responding, would you like to close it?". Xperia neo V + ICS = FAIL! Sony is using ICS update for marketing purposes only. ICS was made for dual core processor and 1GB RAM. Motorola is right.

posted on May 19, 2012, 1:57 PM 4

32. adjou

Posts: 106; Member since: Jul 06, 2010

That's why Sony said clearly upgrading to ICS can affect the performance of the handset. And that's why they clearly stated that ICS is optional. They know ICS won't do the handset any better, but they gave the user the choice to choose. You should read next time you upgrade...

posted on May 19, 2012, 2:58 PM 3

34. Zayuh24

Posts: 149; Member since: Nov 21, 2011

There are a few factors involved: 1. How long do you have the phone on before you restart it? The longer ANY system runs, the more it uses it's RAM and tries to close programs to ease the load. 2. Are the force-closing apps even updated to support ICS? I read a lot of the "Update Logs" and some still only support Honeycomb at best. It takes a lot longer for devs to jump from Gingerbread to ICS because every app runs differently on different devices. No if, ands, or buts. 3. Maybe it really is Sony's fault, but that doesn't mean you CAN'T fix it. Check some of the Android forums online and see if you're the only one having the problem. It could be a faulty app that's constantly running in the background and eating your RAM or it could be a misspelled word in Sony's rendition of the source code lol.

posted on May 19, 2012, 3:00 PM 0

42. CharlieAtInfinity

Posts: 253; Member since: Apr 10, 2012

dude, just disable facebook inside xperia and few other apps, its working great on my arc S

posted on May 19, 2012, 5:02 PM 2

4. wp74ver

Posts: 62; Member since: May 10, 2012

That's has to suck , you go buy a phone and didn't even get one update lol welcome to android a.k.a fragmentation king lol.

posted on May 19, 2012, 12:35 PM 2

6. biophone

Posts: 1994; Member since: Jun 15, 2011

Your misusing the term fragmentation. This is a serious problem and even fustrates casual users but its not fragmentation.

posted on May 19, 2012, 12:38 PM 5

7. eDiesel

Posts: 142; Member since: Mar 17, 2012

What are you talking about????. Current windows phone handsets won't even get wp8 so you have no room to talk.

posted on May 19, 2012, 12:57 PM 8

13. theBankRobber

Posts: 682; Member since: Sep 22, 2011

Haha WP6 didn't get 7 and wp7 won't get 8, and this guy talks about fragmentation. Lol dude so true

posted on May 19, 2012, 1:07 PM 7

17. Lucas777

Posts: 2137; Member since: Jan 06, 2011

that has actually not been confirmed i beleive.. there are rumors that is is true and that it isnt true but as for the droid, this makes little sense as they google should be making sure their own products get the updates... i mean they practically own moto now so it shouldnt be to hard to get some cohesion

posted on May 19, 2012, 1:25 PM 1

19. kshell1

Posts: 1143; Member since: Oct 05, 2011

The phones aren't their products, the OS is thats as far as it goes. They have 0 control of any device unless its a nexus device. All they do is make the stock OS and let out source codes.

posted on May 19, 2012, 1:50 PM 1

26. threed61

Posts: 259; Member since: May 27, 2011

As of today, Google does own Motorola, and should assume responsibility for all Moto phones. Motorola has always hated to update anything, even bug/security fixes, hopefully this changes under new management.

posted on May 19, 2012, 2:20 PM 1

27. kshell1

Posts: 1143; Member since: Oct 05, 2011

They also said they wouldn't interfere with Motorola's products or use them as sole android manufacturer just doing it for the patents.

posted on May 19, 2012, 2:27 PM 1

29. Droid_X_Doug

Posts: 5993; Member since: Dec 22, 2010

Not meaning to be pedantic, but - Google just received approval from the China ministry to proceed with the acquisition of Moto. Until Google managers are in place at Moto, Google isn't really calling the shots. Soon, but not quite yet.

posted on May 19, 2012, 2:30 PM 2

40. chadrick0814 unregistered

That's a good point. Your title is also a good point. WP 7 phones will be running WP 7 forever and will never get WP 8. Welcome to WP!

posted on May 19, 2012, 4:57 PM 2

5. biophone

Posts: 1994; Member since: Jun 15, 2011

These phones can handle ICS that isn't the reason they aren't getting ICS. Neither is the fact that it won't improve the phone (it would). Its not getting ICS because these phones weren't sold in high volume and where mid-tier devices. When you release a bunch of devices some of them most likely won't be supported. These phones could use ICS though so a big disapointment. The dual cores aren't talken advantage of in gingerbread so ICS would really help the performance of the phone.

posted on May 19, 2012, 12:35 PM 3

8. marions

Posts: 13; Member since: May 19, 2012

This utter and complete bs from Motorola. A prior poster is correct by saying these phones (X2) were not sold in high enough volume to comply with their "promised" 18 month update policy on their new phones. Not to mention their locked bootloaders. This will be my last Motorola product period. If it requires going back to Apple to get updates and reliability, then so be it. By Motorola!

posted on May 19, 2012, 12:58 PM 1

9. kingjr243

Posts: 31; Member since: Jun 06, 2011

any word on the bionic