DROID BIONIC Jelly Bean Update

[Mooncatt]

Sometimes I wonder if all you have to do to be successful is put a lower case "i" in front of your product's name.

 

[matriX1218]

SamuriHL

Just a quick question

What will we get by the end of February, a soak test or release?

Sent from my Droid Bionic via Reliance Wireless

 

[SamuriHL]

Neither.

Sent from my Xoom using Tapatalk HD

 

[Tom in Bristol]

Neither.

Sent from my Xoom using Tapatalk HD

Oh, boy...think I'll nuke some Orville Gormet and watch the fallout from *that* brief reply!

 

[SamuriHL]

Oh, boy...think I'll nuke some Orville Gormet and watch the fallout from *that* brief reply!

I'm not sure why there'd be fallout considering a few posts above I clearly state I don't believe the Bionic build will be out in February. At this point, we're going to be lucky to see ANY build go out in February. Things aren't......going so well.

 

[Tom in Bristol]

At this point, we're going to be lucky to see ANY build go out in February. Things aren't......going so well.

As I'm already well aware.

 

[TheSkeptic]

I posted a comment in another blog a week or two ago indicating that I spoke w a Moto Rep at a Verizon store (Moto has a large facility in Ft Lauderdale where I live), and he said Android 4.1 (JB) would not be available for Bionic before July or Aug. My post irritated a few viewers, but I bet he was right.

 

[SamuriHL]

They are notorious for saying all kinds of stuff. VZW reps are worse. The fact is, NO ONE at this point knows when it's coming. There are issues at this point that are delaying all the JB builds. In fact, the HD and M may be slightly delayed in getting 4.2, as well. The sad part in all this? The Bionic build has been done for a couple weeks now...

 

[zachthebomb13]

Whoa, huge bombshell there. Bionic is done, just sitting there waiting? Man, that sucks. I was secretly hoping since they screwed up and released the Razr early build in December they would fast track this whole thing. While I'm sure you can't tell us what the holdup is, it sounds like it might not be a software issue, if I understand correctly and the bionic build is complete. But I'd be willing to bet it's a Verizon problem...

 

[zachthebomb13]

Also, just a reminder to everyone, information on this thread doesn't go anywhere else, like on a moto thread...

 

[SamuriHL]

Don't forget there's a process. So, Moto completes a build, VZW still has to accept it. I don't know if they have or not. Right now Moto and VZW are very concerned about the RAZR given the screw up there. What I can see confuses the hell out of me, tbh. I would have thought they'd release a patch for the JB build that was accidentally pushed. That's not the case and they are doing something rather unprecedented. The Bionic will be the last build to go out, so, until the RAZR (first) and D4 builds go out, we have no chance of seeing it. Kinda screwy.

 

[zachthebomb13]

Ya, I can understand them being a little gun shy after that. Going and reading the RAZR forums makes me happy that my wife didn't get that update now, as much as I wanted it then. It also does surprise me that they haven't patched up their mistake either. As for "unprecedented," I hope whatever they do works out. I've been hoping that now that Google owns Motorola that some of the greatness of Google will roll over to Motorola, and change mobile phones for the better. I'm sure at I/O we're going to see some of that. Maybe this update is another "step." Or, maybe I'm way off. Just trying to read between lines while I'm bored at work...

 

[SamuriHL]

I would say Google has a much bigger hand in things since the RAZR snafu. By unprecedented, I mean I've never seen them downgrade a version before, but, that's exactly what it looks like they're going to do. Meaning all those on JB now will be downgraded back to a special version of 211 and then re-upgraded to the latest version of JB. Right now that's 98.72.16 which is a far cry from 98.72.8 that was pushed at Xmas. The D4 is as the same build. The Bionic is currently at 98.72.14 although I don't know if that's final or not. This should be quite the wild ride I think.

 

[zachthebomb13]

Wow, I can see how this might be time consuming. If Verizon has to approve all these builds, plus they want to make sure they get it right this time. To downgrade certain phones I'm imagining isn't a easy task, then making sure all get upgraded smoothly. And after December, I'm sure Verizon is testing the crap out of the whole process. Well, thanks for the update. At least we can hope for a quick transition for all three as soon as the ball gets rolling.

On another note, I think I remember reading somewhere that Motorola's new phones will be built a little different, where Motoblur will be skinned on top of stock Android, instead of baked into it. Is that true, will it work, and does that make it possible for upgrades to come quicker?

 

[SamuriHL]

That was the theory at the time, although I don't know where that stands now. We'll see what they do with the X phone and KLP. I'm hoping Motoblur dies off completely. It's become less and less obnoxious with each release, so, that's good at least.

 

[snowwy66]

they'll never get it right.

after all. the phone was 9 months late in being release. it's been discontinued for awhile now. and come july and august if that ends up being the actual release date.

well, i'm eligible for upgrade in may. i have absolutely noooooo intentions of keeping the phone past that point.

in fact.d it'll probably get thrown against the wall the minute i step in the door.

 

[WebOS Refugee]

well, i'm eligible for upgrade in may. i have absolutely noooooo intentions of keeping the phone past that point.
in fact.d it'll probably get thrown against the wall the minute i step in the door.

My guess is that you could sell it here, which would also save you the trouble of vacuuming the phone fragments out of the carpet.

 

[snowwy66]

i don't think anyone wants to buy a junk phone. been that way since day 1.

 

[hokiesteve]

If you care about root, get an unsubsidized, unlockable phone. Once you unlock the bootloader, you can flash root to it using a custom recovery. Subsidized phones are evil. The carrier expects a level of control over it since they are essentially paying for part of it. Learn to buy unsubsidized and take control over your device.

As for JB, it's JB.

Ultimately though we pay for it over the course of the two years not them. Unfortunately, its because they are the dominant bulk purchaser of phones for their network that they get such a large say on the software and hardware specs. They then use the phones to bait people into subscribing to their network for two years. As a result, we get a sub par experience.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Android Central Forums

 

[SamuriHL]

Ultimately though we pay for it over the course of the two years not them. Unfortunately, its because they are the dominant bulk purchaser of phones for their network that they get such a large say on the software and hardware specs. They then use the phones to bait people into subscribing to their network for two years. As a result, we get a sub par experience.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Android Central Forums

Yup. And the latest info I've seen is that they are going to try to remove all grandfathered unlimited by the end of 2013. If they do, I'm seriously going to consider getting off their network and onto a more bootloader friendly one.