Motorola Android 4.0 'Ice Cream Sandwich' roadmap announced

 

Gallery

Posted on 17 Feb 2012 at 10:11

Motorola's mobile arm, which has recently been given regulatory approval in the US to be acquired by advertising giant Google, has released a timetable of when its devices will be getting an upgrade to Android 4.0 'Ice Cream Sandwich' - and some customers will be waiting a while.

Although the company has already rolled out an upgrade to the latest version of Google's Android platform for its Xoom Wi-Fi tablet in the US, the company's latest roadmap suggests that Europe won't be receiving the same software until some time in the spring.

The same Q2 timescale is given for the company's Razr smartphone, while those with other devices will be waiting even longer. The Atrix 2 smartphone, Xoom 2 and Xyboard tablets have had their updates pushed back to Q3 - some time towards the end of summer.

For customers in the US, the story is even worse: updates for the Droid 4, Droid Bionic, Droid Razr, Droid Razr MAxx, Droid Xyboard 8.2 and 10.1, and the Electrify are currently in the "evaluation and planning stage," with more details expected. As a result, there's no firm guarantee that these devices will ever seen an upgrade to the latest build of Android.

Finally, those who splashed out for the Xoom tablet with integrated 3G in both the US and Europe find themselves in the same limbo as the smartphone users above: no firm date for an upgrade, and if the 'evaluation' process goes badly no promise of an update at all.

Previously, Motorola has blamed Google for its slow rollout of Android 4.0 updates, claiming that the company forced its customers to wait until the commercial release of its own Galaxy Nexus handset before releasing the source code to 'Ice Cream Sandwich.' The reasons for these latest delays, however, are unclear.

Although things are likely to improve when Motorola Mobility is officially acquired by Android maker Google, for now it's a waiting game for the company's customers eager to get their hands on the latest update for their smartphones and tablets.

Author: Gareth Halfacree