Motorola: Its not our fault we're slow with updates . . .blame Google!

[Bateluer]

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2400023,00.asp

"When Google does a release of the software ... they do a version of the software for whatever phone they just shipped," she said. "The rest of the ecosystem doesn't see it until you see it. Hardware is by far the long pole in the tent, with multiple chipsets and multiple radio bands for multiple countries. It's a big machine to churn."

Motorola understands that consumers want their Android upgrades sooner, but the process is complicated, she said. First there's hardware support, then the layering in of custom software from manufacturers like Motorola, and finally, phones must be re-certified by carriers, taking more time.

Personally, he's full of crap. Android OS updates are available to all once uploaded to AOSP, and it doesn't take a full year to make a build for a Moto phone. There's a slew of reasons why manufacturers are slow as molasses with updates, and Google isn't one of them.

In the future, Motorola, perhaps you shouldn't release 30 phones in a single year.

 

[Anubis]

30 phones is only part of the issue

the rom guys can get stable roms out in days yet moto cant get one out in 6 months

they either emply monkeys or simply dont want to update phones

even if they want to keep blur it should not take more then a month after a release hits AOSP, because unless its a 2.x to 4.x change the updates are pretty minor

 

[Red Storm]

Yeah, Google is only responsible for the Nexus line.

Obviously companies like Moto and Samsung have to abide by certain guidelines and testing rules or whatever, so nobody is expecting them to outpace or match the modding community in terms of releases (we're very lenient on community bugs, not so with official ones). Maybe if they gave up their custom bloat/skins it wouldn't take so long to update their phones.

 

[trmiv]

Sounds like a load of excuses to me. I'm interested to see when/if my wife's Razr gets ICS. But then again when it does get it, I'm sure it will be loaded with the Motoblur crapware. Whatever, at least she's happy with it!

 

[Anubis]

Droid life has it up as well

http://www.droid-life.com/2012/02/0...re-choice-to-blame-for-slow-android-upgrades/

This would mean a lot more... if Moto isn't using a TI chipset in nearly everything they make these days...

 

[LOL_Wut_Axel]

Yeah, sure... it's Google's fault that Motorola needs 6 months to a year so they can put their Excreblur skin/ROM on top of Google's stock one. Here's a good idea: why not just leave the stock ROM alone? It's much better than whatever crap skins/ROMs manufacturers have been able to come up with.

 

[soccerballtux]

Excreblur

lol

 

[notposting]

It's not like the drivers need to change between updates really either...you are writing for the same damn hardware each time anyways. Maybe it's your shitty skin cancers that take so long to update. Maybe it's because your update crew only consists of one intern working on Friday afternoons.

 

[Deeko]

The article absolutely did not say "blame Google". The article said blame the fact that they use different hardware than the Nexus line. They were insinuating that it isn't Blur's fault, its the differences in the hardware. Whether you agree with that statement or not is one thing, but its misleading to claim they're blaming Google.

 

[Deeko]

It's not like the drivers need to change between updates really either...you are writing for the same damn hardware each time anyways. Maybe it's your shitty skin cancers that take so long to update. Maybe it's because your update crew only consists of one intern working on Friday afternoons.

Drivers can certainly change from one OS version to another. Windows Vista crashed a lot early on because XP drivers didn't work correctly with it.

 

[Puddle Jumper]

The article absolutely did not say "blame Google". The article said blame the fact that they use different hardware than the Nexus line. They were insinuating that it isn't Blur's fault, its the differences in the hardware. Whether you agree with that statement or not is one thing, but its misleading to claim they're blaming Google.

In the case of ICS all of Motorola's latest phones use the same OMAP 4 SoC as the Galaxy Nexus so their statement doesn't mean much.

 

[zerocool84]

Drivers can certainly change from one OS version to another. Windows Vista crashed a lot early on because XP drivers didn't work correctly with it.

For the 64-bit version yes but not for the 32.

 

[ponyo]

Basically what the article is saying is Nexus is the only phone to get on the Android side if you want quick updates.

In my mind there's really only two phones worth the dollar. iPhone and Nexus phones. The rest are just filler.

 

[Deeko]

In the case of ICS all of Motorola's latest phones use the same OMAP 4 SoC as the Galaxy Nexus so their statement doesn't mean much.

I believe Motorola has pledged ICS quicker than other manufacturers, which was not the case in previous upgrades, where the Nexus used something different. That would support what they're saying.

There's also more to the internals of a phone than the SoC. Having a matching SoC is a step, but its not the only one.

 

[Puddle Jumper]

I believe Motorola has pledged ICS quicker than other manufacturers, which was not the case in previous upgrades, where the Nexus used something different. That would support what they're saying.

There's also more to the internals of a phone than the SoC. Having a matching SoC is a step, but its not the only one.

There is more to phones sure but not much, pretty much every significant component with the exception of cell radios are already integrated into the SoC. Besides it clearly doesn't take long to port an android update to a new SoC since Asus and Nvidia have allready done it for Tegra 3.

 

[Red Storm]

I believe Motorola has pledged ICS quicker than other manufacturers, which was not the case in previous upgrades, where the Nexus used something different. That would support what they're saying.

There's also more to the internals of a phone than the SoC. Having a matching SoC is a step, but its not the only one.

It will be interesting to see. HTC has announced its ICS rollout starts in March (although the Rezound is set for later in the year).

 

[bearxor]

Basically what the article is saying is Nexus is the only phone to get on the Android side if you want quick updates.

In my mind there's really only two phones worth the dollar. iPhone and Nexus phones. The rest are just filler.

Agree. Reason I didn't go Android was because if I was going to spend $200 on a phone, why wouldn't I just buy another iPhone? Still came awfully close to getting a Nexus S.

 

[Deeko]

There is more to phones sure but not much, pretty much every significant component with the exception of cell radios are already integrated into the SoC. Besides it clearly doesn't take long to port an android update to a new SoC since Asus and Nvidia have allready done it for Tegra 3.

They also didn't have to go through the carrier certification process, which is certainly a large part of the delay. Not really a fair comparison.

Look - like I said above, I'm not interested arguing Motorola's case here, just pointing out that its misleading to say they're blaming Google. If anything, they're blaming their own engineering department for using the hardware they did.

 

[ponyo]

There is more to phones sure but not much, pretty much every significant component with the exception of cell radios are already integrated into the SoC. Besides it clearly doesn't take long to port an android update to a new SoC since Asus and Nvidia have allready done it for Tegra 3.

Asus didn't have to get carrier approval since it's WIFI only device. Carrier approval process can take 1-2 months by itself. Then if carrier find bugs or request changes, the re-approval process takes additional time. It's ugly situation with no easy fix. Frankly I'm sick of the whole process and will only consider Nexus phones for purchase.

 

[Bateluer]

Yeah, sure... it's Google's fault that Motorola needs 6 months to a year so they can put their Excreblur skin/ROM on top of Google's stock one. Here's a good idea: why not just leave the stock ROM alone? It's much better than whatever crap skins/ROMs manufacturers have been able to come up with.

From now on, I'm going to use this term to refer to Blur. Thank you sir.

Asus didn't have to get carrier approval since it's WIFI only device. Carrier approval process can take 1-2 months by itself. Then if carrier find bugs or request changes, the re-approval process takes additional time. It's ugly situation with no easy fix. Frankly I'm sick of the whole process and will only consider Nexus phones for purchase.

Again, not Google's fault. Carrier and manufacturer. And it still doesn't explain why only 2(3?) of the myriad of HoneyComb tabs have been upgraded to ICS despite using nearly identical hardware. Only the Xoom and TF Prime have been upgraded to ICS, with TF101 coming soon. The Thrive, Samsung Tabs, Acer tabs, Sony Tabs, etc, all still using HoneyComb.

 

[ponyo]

Again, not Google's fault. Carrier and manufacturer. And it still doesn't explain why only 2(3?) of the myriad of HoneyComb tabs have been upgraded to ICS despite using nearly identical hardware. Only the Xoom and TF Prime have been upgraded to ICS, with TF101 coming soon. The Thrive, Samsung Tabs, Acer tabs, Sony Tabs, etc, all still using HoneyComb.

Because all these companies suck at update. Asus has shown they're the fastest and the best when it comes to update. Motorola and HTC are decent when it comes to updating US devices. Samsung, Sony, LG, and the rest are bad and should not be trusted.

 

[cliftonite]

I wonder if Google will eventually follow MS and support only a few SOCs so the updates can come out faster?

 

[Red Storm]

I wonder if Google will eventually follow MS and support only a few SOCs so the updates can come out faster?

Why would they? Again, it's not Google that needs changing here, it's HTC/Samsung/Moto/Sony. While they are under no obligations to keep up with Google and the Nexus line in terms of updates, it would be nice to see it happen.

 

[cliftonite]

Why would they? Again, it's not Google that needs changing here, it's HTC/Samsung/Moto/Sony. While they are under no obligations to keep up with Google and the Nexus line in terms of updates, it would be nice to see it happen.

Would it not please app developers if they knew all the platforms that they had to support (along with standard resolutions)? At the least I hope Google makes Moto drop their skin and go with the pure OS.

 

[dagamer34]

The RAZR uses the exact same chipset as the Galaxy Nexus. There is absolutely no excuse there.