14 DAY TRIAL // Motorola has recently refreshed its Android upgrade schedule with new details that shed more light on which devices will get the long-awaited Ice Cream Sandwich update and which will remain on older Android versions.
Sadly, some devices that were initially rumored to get the update will remain on Android 2.3 Gingerbread, even though they meet the minimum hardware requirements to run Ice Cream Sandwich.
To make the reasons behind its decision to keep these devices on current software versions even clearer, Motorola issued the following statement:
“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.”
Among the smartphones that won’t be getting an Ice Cream Sandwich update and that will remain on Android 2.3 Gingerbread, there are the Motorola DROID 3, DROID X2, ADMIRAL, Milestone 3, Milestone X2 and Motorola PRO+.
Unveiled back in January at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Motorola DEFY MINI and MOTOLUXE will remain on Android 2.3 Gingerbread platform as well.
Motorola DEFY+, FIRE, FIRE XT, Milestone 2, ME863 (China), XT861 (China), XT882 (China), and XT605 won’t be getting the Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich upgrade.
Lots of older Motorola smartphones will remain on Android 2.2 Froyo or earlier versions of the operating system, so those who are now confirmed to be stuck on Gingerbread can consider themselves lucky.
Unfortunately, for the time being all Android fans who own a Motorola device have yet to receive the highly anticipated Ice Cream Sandwich upgrade, as the company deployed the update only on Motorola XOOM Wi-Fi. Stay tuned for more info on the subject.