Hasta La Gadget!

Back in September, Motorola Mobility announced that some of its handsets from 2011 and later wouldn’t be making the jump to Jelly Bean. In an effort to smooth things over with exiled customers, the company pledged that it would offer a $100 rebate to those who trade up to a select Motorola smartphone. Today, the Google-owned Android maker has released a list detailing which phones qualify for this promotion. If you’re among the many who purchased a Droid 3, Droid X2 and Photon 4G, it looks like an official update to Android 4.1 is out of the question. It should be noted that this offer doesn’t affect your wireless contract’s terms and conditions (read: ETF may still apply). However, if you’re just aching to pick up a Motorola phone that released in 2012, then why not score a $100 credit for your troubles? Move past the break to see which other devices made didn’t make the cut.

Continue reading Motorola lists phones that won’t get Jelly Bean, offers $100 credit to buy a phone that will

Filed under: Cellphones, Software, Mobile, Google

Motorola lists phones that won’t get Jelly Bean, offers $100 credit to buy a phone that will originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 19 Oct 2012 20:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Back when Motorola announced the DROID RAZR HD and the DROID RAZR M, it made a commitment to upgrading the majority of its phones to Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. When it made this commitment, the company said that it would give users who didn’t get updated $100. Naturally, no one was expecting Motorola to upgrade all of its handsets to Jelly Bean, and today, the company revealed a list of phones that will qualify for the $100 rebate.

However, there’s a bit of a catch. Motorola isn’t just going to give you $100 because your phone isn’t receiving Jelly Bean, after all. In order to get that money, you’ll need to trade up to one of six recently-release Motorola phones. The handsets you’ll need to trade up to include the Atrix HD, DROID RAZR MAXX HD, DROID RAZR M, DROID RAZR HD, Electrify 2, or PHOTON Q. As you can see from the list posted below, quite a few Motorola phones qualify for the promotion.

Those devices that qualify include the original Electrify, the Atrix and the Atrix 4G, the DROID 3, and the DROID X2. If you don’t see your device on the left side of the list, it seems that you can expect an update to Jelly Bean at some point in the future. Motorola has set up a page on its site for interested users looking to take advantage of its trade up program.

Of course, it’s important to remember that if you’re currently on contract, early termination fees will still apply if you decide to get a new phone through Motorola’s trade up promotion. Essentially, you can look at this as a $100 rebate on an upgrade to a phone that will have or will be getting Jelly Bean, rather than getting $100 in cash as an apology for not getting an upgrade to Android 4.1. Will you be taking Motorola up on its $100 rebate offer, or will you be sticking with your current phone now that we know all of the details?

[via Android Community]

Motorola lists phones that won’t get updates to Jelly Bean is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Sony’s official Jelly Bean update for its Android smartphones won’t start rolling out until early 2013, the company has admitted, while users of pre-2012 devices can pretty much discount any hope of an upgrade. The Xperia T, Xperia TX, and Xperia V will be first in line, with an update to Android 4.1 coming “from mid-Q1 2013″ and then followed by other 2012 models. However, 2011 Xperia devices won’t get official Jelly Bean at all, Sony says.

“We were glad to provide the Android 4.0.4 upgrade for our 2011 Xperia portfolio across most markets and the majority of models but, after thorough evaluation, we have concluded they will not be upgraded beyond Ice Cream Sandwich” Sony writes on its official blog. As usual, the excuse is one of subpar performance with newer versions of Google’s platform.

“Beyond Ice Cream Sandwich we would not able to guarantee owners of these smartphones the user experience you expect and we demand” Sony argues. “We will however, continue to support all these products with firmware maintenance releases.”

Those with a global versions of the Xperia S, Xperia acro S, Xperia ion, Xperia P, Xperia go, or Xperia J can expect Jelly Bean sometime in the new year, though Sony says we’ll have to wait for “detailed timings.”

Unsurprisingly, owners of Sony Android phones not in line for an official update aren’t especially pleased with the company’s decision, and the comments over at the official blog are swiftly filling up with complaints. Adding to the fracas is the fact that several third-party Android 4.1 ROMs exist that work perfectly well on the 2011 Xperia devices, and which are being held up as evidence that Sony is thinking more about avoiding work than it is “user experience.”

[via Android Community]

No Sony Jelly Bean until 2013; Pre-2012 Xperia out of luck is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Verizon has been granted a couple more smartphones from the likes of Motorola and Google here with the massive battery-toting DROID RAZR MAXX HD right alongside its near-identical brother the RAZR HD (without so much MAXX). The difference between these two devices is just about as slight as it could possibly get – the MAXX has twice the internal storage (32GB instead of 16) and a giant 3,300mAh battery instead of the 2,530mAh unit the standard HD has. The weight and thickness are absolutely negligible – even when you’ve got them both in your hands it’s difficult to guess which is which, believe it or not.

The max is 0.37 inches thick and 5.54 oz (157 g) heavy while the smaller of the two is 0.33 inches thick and 5.15 oz (146 g) heavy. Have a peek at these photos to see how small that difference really, truly is. It’s as if Motorola is playing a joke on us – but the differences are there, and that battery is indeed in there with that much extra power. NOTE: We’ll be doing an extended battery test over the next few days on the MAXX HD as well – stay tuned for that!

You’d be well off taking a peek at our DROID RAZR MAXX full review to understand how these two devices are going to work for you, and make note of this fact as well: their software builds are the same. They’ve got the same version of Android, the same Motorola additions and tweaks, and the same apps. There’s no software differences between these two devices.

Remember also that Motorola has made it clear that they’ll be bringing each of these RAZR devices (including the DROID RAZR M as well) up to Jelly Bean very, very soon. That means Android 4.1 and a bit of the new Google Now system as well. The MAXX HD and the HD will be on sale at Verizon immediately if not soon nationwide as well – head out and grab one!

Motorola DROID RAZR MAXX HD hands-on vs RAZR HD is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

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