Motorola Exec Blames Hardware for ICS Upgrade Delay

[exfileme]

It's the hardware fragmentation that's keeping you from getting that Android 4.0 upgrade pronto.

Motorola Exec Blames Hardware for ICS Upgrade Delay : Read more

 

[Guest]

Well for the Xoom, America got the ics update while the rest of the world waits on..

 

[Kryan]

"Well for the Xoom, America got the ics update while the rest of the world waits on"

AND THAT, they can't explain away...weird how XDA developers manage to get this kinda stuff done in a week. and that's normally ONE guy. Sony, Motorola, HTC have TONS of software guys...twiddling their thumbs?? I root and, to quote Cartman, "I DO WHA I WANT!"

 

[dimar]

Manufacturers should give us the plain ICS or new Android versions, and release their bloatware through Market. Carriers shouldn't even touch the software. Problem solved. Everybody gets the latest releases a lot quicker.

 

[nebun]

lies....isn't the galaxy almost the same as other top end smartphones when it comes to hardware?....how hard is it to manipulate the code from google? stop being lazy and spend more money on R&D, also please get rid of bloatware.....can't stand it....wait, i will sue the companies for not allowing me to remove it, legally that is..good idea

 

[watcha]

This is probably the single most worrying aspect of Android for me. Old devices get forgotten, new devices have to wait ages. Not good.

 

[everygamer]

Sounds like a cop-out to me, last I checked with each release Google puts the development builds and final releases of the OS in the manufacturers hands. The manufacturers take part in expanding the hardware support, its not just google that does active development on that. So this is just Motorola saving face.

 

[everygamer]

[citation][nom]mobrocket[/nom]well since Google now owns Motorola shouldnt it be developing software for each of motorola's active chipsets... which would help the ecosystem as a whole...[/citation]

Google started the process of purchasing Motorola last year, I do not believe the process is complete yet its still in progress. In addition to that Google is going to continue to treat Motorola as a separate company so as to not scare the other vendors that make use of Android. They are just going to flex Motorola's patent library to defend Android and/or attack Apple and other vendors with counter suits using different patents. Example, Motorola recently blocked a number of Apple devices in Germany (though it can be appealed), so what we are seeing is Apple attacks Samsung or HTC, now Google via Motorola can attack Apple. Its all a big tug of war where one royalty wipes out another.

 

[everygamer]

[citation][nom]watcha[/nom]This is probably the single most worrying aspect of Android for me. Old devices get forgotten, new devices have to wait ages. Not good.[/citation]

No different than Apple, I do not believe an iPhone or iPhone 3 (nor iTouch 1st & 2nd generation) can use iOS 5, I think its the iPhone 3GS and greater than can. It is just more pronounced w/ Android phones because there are more phones in that side of the market. There have been close to 115 different Android phones released since 2008, there have been only 5 different iPhones.

Also, keep in mind, for all of us that crave the next version of the android OS on our old phones there are likely 5 to 10 people who just don't care. My father, wife, sister and two brothers could care less if their phones get updated, they browse the web, download a few apps, check email and make a few phone calls (if that). They are joe average users where technology is just a tool rather than a daily interest.

Me, I am craving the ICS 4.0.4 for my Galaxy Nexus

 

[bgaimur]

To make matters worse, some manufacturers work with more chipsets and carriers than others.

 

[Guest]

While I agree getting it to work on all these different devices is tough, I bet it's their bloatware that's really slowing them down.

I mean, I have an "ancient" Droid X and I'm already running a rooted / stock ICS on it. Sure the camera doesn't work on it, but otherwise it works great. If some teenage kid has already ported it over to an old phone then I'm sure the professionally paid guys can do it just as quickly.

 

[igot1forya]

Must be my install or build of ICS or something, but my Xoom is so unreliable now that I updated it - I can't play video in-browser any more (I have to load a stand-alone app and download the video to play it) and a bunch of other apps I have to close in order for the images to load properly on the 2nd try (this is with hardware acceleration enabled and disabled). I'm probably going back to Honeycomb until a more stable version is released.

 

[stingray71]

Complete bull. Developers had ICS working on the xoom a good month before Google/moto put out an official release.

Your telling me moto, with all of its resources can't get ICS working in a reasonable amount of time on my bionic?! Bad enough it took them 2 months to get the latest patch out.

 

[captaincharisma]

[citation][nom]Kryan[/nom]"Well for the Xoom, America got the ics update while the rest of the world waits on"AND THAT, they can't explain away...weird how XDA developers manage to get this kinda stuff done in a week. and that's normally ONE guy. Sony, Motorola, HTC have TONS of software guys...twiddling their thumbs?? I root and, to quote Cartman, "I DO WHA I WANT!"[/citation]

you really think XDA test these builds on every phone? all they do is release it and they tell you to use at your own risk. they don't account for what phones it will be slow on or what phones it will drain the battery fast on. they could release it for an antiqued phone like the HTC diamond if they wanted to

FAIL

 

[captaincharisma]

[citation][nom]stingray71[/nom]Complete bull. Developers had ICS working on the xoom a good month before Google/moto put out an official release. Your telling me moto, with all of its resources can't get ICS working in a reasonable amount of time on my bionic?! Bad enough it took them 2 months to get the latest patch out.[/citation]

one word motoblur

 

[amdwilliam1985]

[citation][nom]everygamer[/nom]No different than Apple, I do not believe an iPhone or iPhone 3 (nor iTouch 1st & 2nd generation) can use iOS 5, I think its the iPhone 3GS and greater than can. It is just more pronounced w/ Android phones because there are more phones in that side of the market. There have been close to 115 different Android phones released since 2008, there have been only 5 different iPhones.Also, keep in mind, for all of us that crave the next version of the android OS on our old phones there are likely 5 to 10 people who just don't care. My father, wife, sister and two brothers could care less if their phones get updated, they browse the web, download a few apps, check email and make a few phone calls (if that). They are joe average users where technology is just a tool rather than a daily interest. Me, I am craving the ICS 4.0.4 for my Galaxy Nexus[/citation]

3GS is +2 years old, that's my last phone before I got my Galaxy S2.
To Apple's credit, they are able to support a phone through it's 2 years contract. How many Android phones got their supports dumped after a year?

 

[g-thor]

even after Google gets the hardware support under control, consumers still have to wait for Motorola, Sony and other smartphone makers to layer on their custom software (read: bloatware). After that, the upgraded phones must be re-certified by the carriers (carrier bloatware is typically installed with the manufacturer bloatware).

In my mind, there's a great argument to stop locking phones in to carriers. Sell them your phone as is. They can add what they want, but I can delete it if I want. Change the business model.

 

[js1882]

[citation][nom]captaincharisma[/nom]you really think XDA test these builds on every phone? all they do is release it and they tell you to use at your own risk. they don't account for what phones it will be slow on or what phones it will drain the battery fast on. they could release it for an antiqued phone like the HTC diamond if they wanted toFAIL[/citation]

Do you even know how the XDA forums works? There are sub-sections for each phone type and there are different devs working on multiple versions of the code for each phone.

Some phones only have a few devs working on ICS and they still manage to get it working faster than the company that made the phone. Whats more is that XDA devs don't have access to the source code for the propitiatory drivers and still manage to work around it.

The problem is that phone companies WANT you to buy a new phone and they use a new OS as a selling feature. My guess is that they probably have small team working on updating old phones.

 

[Vladislaus]

[citation][nom]js1882[/nom]The problem is that phone companies WANT you to buy a new phone and they use a new OS as a selling feature. My guess is that they probably have small team working on updating old phones.[/citation]
That is weird because how many phones are out there on sale with ICS? Unless Motorola, Sony, HTC and the rest want users to buy the Samsung phone instead of theirs.

Your point is valid though when they don't update older phones even though they are more than capable of running it.

 

[DaddyW123]

I think it's funny that they "blame hardware fragmentation" for the delay, when they flat out SAY that it's the time it takes to add all the bloatware. Everyone else here has it right. We don't want your bloatware, we buy your phones in SPITE of your bloatware, and many of us take it into our own hands to root our phone just to get rid of said bloatware. Don't put it on there from the start, and you might actually sell more phones.