Motorola Issues Statement Stating Why it Won't Upgrade Droid 3 and Droid X2 to ICS

[dgstorm]

Last Friday, we shared Motorola's new Ice Cream Sandwich update schedule. Some of you may have noticed that the Droid 3 and the Droid X2 were conspicuously absent from the list. As it turns out, this is because those phones will not be receiving an official version of ICS from Motorola at all. Just recently, the Moto devs shared a statement on their blog "explaining" why. Here's the quote:

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.

So... apparently, according to Motorola, Android 4.0 doesn't really make their Droid 3 or Droid X2 phones any better? Both of these phones are dual-core, and although they only have 512MB of ram each, they should still be able to run ICS just fine, so how on earth did they come to this conclusion? Hmmm... this smells like an excuse, but I am no dev. Can any of you guys make this clearer, or is it "ranting time?"

Source: Motorola

 

[anthrpicdecadnce]

I see obvious bull****.

The only reasons i can come up with about why these devices wont get ics is because they dont feel like it is worth it to put money and effort into these devices because it didnt sell well. Either that or it's because they want you to buy a newer device so they can make more money off of us. Either ways, it's bad business. Way to stand behind your products, motorola. I personally believe it's the latter. Why else would they release a 'flagship' device that was underspecced at the time? 3g when 4g lte was all the rage, and only 512 mb of ram when all the other top devices had a gig? Leaves much to be desired. I'm willing to bet the d4 was already being designed while they were designing the d3. Whatever it takes to make a few bucks right? Disgusting...

 

[BJPalmer85]

Im not suprised at all that ICS isnt coming to the X2 or D3. Both of those phones should never have been released. The Bionic and D4 are the same phones as the X2 and D3 with slightly better improvements. I see no reason why the X2 and D3 couldnt run ICS. I believe that Moto f'ed up by releasing phones to quickly and instead of trying to please the fan base they are giving us the middle finger and not taking the time to work out a solution to put the new OS on older phones.

Everybody agrees that Moto seriously screwed up by dropping phones at the rate they did. Not only did they push the phones to fast but they pushed them without working out all the bugs so that many people have had to get multiple replacements. They started to rectify this by releasing a statement saying they were going to scale back the release of phones, which was a positive step in the right direction. Another positive step would have been to work extra hard to push ICS updates to all the phones they released last year, for VZW that would have included the X2, D3, Bionic, D4, Razr and I believe the Razr MAXX (unless it was released it Q1 2012, not exactly sure). This would have showed the Moto fan base that they were sorry for the rapid releases and the problems and that the people who bought phones like the D3 and Bionic only to see a new phone pushed out within a couple weeks wouldnt be forgotten when updates started to launch.

All in all, Moto has made some poor decisions and the excuse about the X2 and the D3 not having enough RAM is a cop-out IMO

my .02

B

 

[jstafford1]

Once again they've put the blame on the carrier. When they say they work with google and carriers to see if it makes the device better, that's placing blame on them. So as I see it, VOW doesn't care about the DX2 or D3 so isn't bothering with them. Case closed. This isn't MOTO, its VZW, just like the bootloader situation....VOW doesn't want it, so we don't get it.

Sent from my DROID3 using Tapatalk 2

 

[BJPalmer85]

Once again they've put the blame on the carrier. When they say they work with google and carriers to see if it makes the device better, that's placing blame on them. So as I see it, VOW doesn't care about the DX2 or D3 so isn't bothering with them. Case closed. This isn't MOTO, its VZW, just like the bootloader situation....VOW doesn't want it, so we don't get it.

Sent from my DROID3 using Tapatalk 2

is it only the MOTO phones that have locked BL or do all Android based phones on VZW have locked BL?

B

 

[jstafford1]

is it only the MOTO phones that have locked BL or do all Android based phones on VZW have locked BL?

B

Right now its pretty much the MOTO phones, but they have to have a deal with VZW as all Moto android phones are in the DROID line. But I do know the Rezound cannot achieve S-off without creating a short somewhere. So others are getting more locked down too.

Sent from my DROID3 using Tapatalk 2

 

[BJPalmer85]

Right now its pretty much the MOTO phones, but they have to have a deal with VZW as all Moto android phones are in the DROID line. But I do know the Rezound cannot achieve S-off without creating a short somewhere. So others are getting more locked down too.

Sent from my DROID3 using Tapatalk 2

ok. I was curious.

MOTO is being a whinny little ***** to be honest. I love my D3 (my D2G was complete garbage but oh well). the phone is great, has everything i need and was even better once i rooted and rom'd but i dont think i will ever get another MOTO phone unless they come out with something that really WOWs me and they havent done that since the launch of the D1.

So on my re-up i will either get me and SGS3 (if it comes to VZW) or i will go back to an iPhone

B

 

[tjk629]

It's no surprise at all. The Bionic killed the D3 and DX2. What was the point of getting them when the Bionic was coming out in a few months and had double the RAM and LTE. Last year 4G devices was the it thing. No one really wanted to invest in 3G devices (unless it was the iPhone). Considering the X2 was barely an upgrade from the prior years DX (except the Dual Core CPU, lack of camera key, and qHD resolution display), it still lacked an FCC which was also an it thing last year. D3 IMO was really nice. Dual core and that FFC, but still lacked that all important 4G.

In the end at least Moto stepped up and said "we're not doing it, cause it ain't worth it". Which is better then most companies saying "the device just can't handle it". Which as we know tends to be BS.

 

[silverfang77]

Maybe after Google buys them, things will change and they'll upgrade those phones.

 

[MissionImprobable]

Devs have managed to port ICS Roms to the D2, the D3, and the X and X2. This is just another pass the buck blame game being played. They don't want to put in the work or they're letting VZ tell them not to do it, and either way it's garbage.

 

[BJPalmer85]

It's no surprise at all. The Bionic killed the D3 and DX2. What was the point of getting them when the Bionic was coming out in a few months and had double the RAM and LTE. Last year 4G devices was the it thing. No one really wanted to invest in 3G devices (unless it was the iPhone). Considering the X2 was barely an upgrade from the prior years DX (except the Dual Core CPU, lack of camera key, and qHD resolution display), it still lacked an FCC which was also an it thing last year. D3 IMO was really nice. Dual core and that FFC, but still lacked that all important 4G.

In the end at least Moto stepped up and said "we're not doing it, cause it ain't worth it". Which is better then most companies saying "the device just can't handle it". Which as we know tends to be BS.

The problem with the Bionic was (at least for me) that no knew when it would show up or didnt believe MOTO when they said it was dropping.

4G was important to the manufacturer but not to the consumer (again at least in my case). I use my phone 90% of the time on wife so i wasnt all that conserned with 4G, i was more interested in what features the phone had a physical keyboard being at the top. Since the OG Droid line was my only option i went with the D3 which turned out to be a solid choice.

Bottom line is MOTO should never have release either of these phones if they were planning to drop new ones in a couple months and the only changes would be more RAM.

We agree though, "the device can't handle it" line is utter BS

B

 

[johnomaz]

As much as I hate to admit it, it is bad for business from a profit standpoint. We as enthusiasts may not like it, but its how it is in the business world. I'm very glad my DX has ICS on it (proof the X2 and D3 could handle it), but it is what it is. A business decision. Its also why I will make sure whatever phone I buy in the future can be unlocked. Also, the vast majority of people that own the phone doesn't care about this stuff.

 

[Laur3nNewm4n]

They're really not obligated to update to ICS. They just have to provide bugfixes for 18 months, which they have been doing. Sure, some power users will be irritated enough to move to a different vendor, but most users won't care and will stick with Motorola. Why would they update to ICS when they could get consumers to buy a new device that has ICS on it already promised.

 

[guidot]

I don't agree with this either, but hopefully once ICS is offically on the Bionic, the rest of the things wrong with it for the D3 can be remedied.

Sent from my XT862 using Tapatalk 2

 

[silverfang77]

I say if the device can run the latest OS, it should get it. End of story.

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