I have a Motorola Droid 4 – and I really love it. That said, it is lousy being not just one but TWO VERSIONS of Android behind … I mean, this is the sort of thing Google said they were eliminating. Anyway … that is about to end!
Yesterday I read that the ‘Ice Cream Sandwich’ update was finally approved and a ‘soak test’ commenced, meaning that the full update would be released soon (unless something bad happened).
Then later last night I heard that it was starting to ‘roll out in phases’. Motorola Mobility tweeted about it:
4G LTE + LED edge-lit QWERTY + ICS is sweet! Android 4.0 for DROID 4 is rolling out in phases: http://moto.ly/d4ics
So what does this MEAN? It means … I wait. Unlike the vastly superior iOS method of announcing an update and letting people … um, get the update, Android has updates ‘tossed to the wild’ where vast inefficient committees of carriers and handset makers work through what devices will get what updates and when, and what might or might not be included from the original update.
As a result, more than 6 months after the Droid 4 was released – at which time Android 4.0x was already several months old – users are seeing the update. Of course, it isn’t the NEW operating system (Jelly Bean, which itself is already a month or so old) we’re getting … but it is better than the very long-in-the-tooth Gingerbread.
And … it is much better than being someone who showed support for Motorola and Verizon by jumping early on the LTE train – and are STILL waiting for their ICS update!
What do you think about the update system for Android? How long have you waited for your updates? And how do you feel about so many updates now only going to ICS rather than Jelly Bean?
At least Tom Petty can feel our pain …
