ICS on the DX2

[luke31]

So, the time is near ladies and gentlemen. This coming week, the world expects the announcement of Google's newest and best version of Android, Ice Cream Sandwich. The question has been asked multiple times in multiple places, but I want this post to consolidate all of those fragmented questions. So, do you think that our DX2's will get a taste of Ice Cream Sandwich? They are, after all, not even a year old yet, and I doubt that the Tegra 2 processor, with our 512mb of RAM, will not be enough to run ICS. That is, unless Moto bloats and blurs it up to the point of instability. So what do you think? Will we ever see the light of ICS on our phones?

 

[hkklife]

Tegra2--not the lead platform for ICS and T2 devices have been notorious slower than their stablemates to see GB, LTE etc.

512MB RAM--not a deal-breaker but even under Froyo and GB the X2 feels like it's short of at least 256MB. ICS will not help matters

Limited internal storage--Will ICS even support removable storage at all? Or will it be a very late arrival like it was under Honeycomb?

Add the above technical reasons to the X2's status as a generally unpopular, unloved, much-maligned, and somewhat dated device and I think we have seen the final update (2.3.4) or perhaps at best we'll see a final 2.3.5 maintenance release...but I definitely wouldn't count on seeing ICS on any current Moto model other than the Bionic and perhaps the D3.

 

[luke31]

Yea that's what I'm afraid of. And I really want ICS when it comes out. Given that I'm stuck with the DX2 for some time, I might end of selling it on Ebay when the Nexus Galaxy or Droid RAZR come out, and buy one at the full retail price. And you know what's sad? The DX2 is not an underwhelming or bad device. MotoBLUR is the reason why 512mbs of RAM feels insignificant. And from Motorola's perspective, I don't see them compelled to rid the DX2 of MotoBLUR. So yea, I think your assessment is pretty accurate.

 

[Devinator]

I think we'll see it. Going from Froyo to GB almost after launch and then calling it quits would look really bad for Moto. If at least to save face I'd think we'd see it. I don't know that I can justify buying another Moto phone in the future if my phone is put out to pasture that soon.

A buddy at work has an original Droid X and he saw Eclair, Froyo and GB. And, he just had an update to his phone recently. I would hope that they follow the same trend and we see three iterations as well. Like I said, if not, I don't think there will be another Moto phone in my future.

 

[bbsadaj]

i'm hoping for a little ICS love myself. moto can't possibly let us down now, can they? they've been so reliable in not releasing a new device every month slightly better than the previous. and now a bulletproof one covered in kevlar and gorilla glass. i'm hoping to get my X2 to just take care of my "honey do" list for me is all. ok enough of the rant and praying for ICS.

 

[fargles]

Google Confirms Most Gingerbread Devices Will Receive Ice Cream Sandwich
this looks if anything promising

 

[hkklife]

Google doesn't develop the updates, it all comes down to the handset manufacturers and the carriers' approval of those updates. I would wager that some of the latest devices that shipped with Gingerbread will receive ICS updates (think Bionic and MAYBE Droid 3). Everything prior to that---X, X2, Pro, D2G, D2 etc, I would consider close to EOL and a lock to not receive any further updates.

 

[markabele]

I think we will see ICS on the X2. The phone hasn't even been out a year yet. Look at all the updates the X gets. Heck, even the original Droid got an update, albeit a small one, this last March.

As for blur, it seems like Moto has been cleaning it up a bit in each new release, so I don't think it should be too much of an issue.

That's my two cents. Hopefully I'm not just being overly optimistic.

 

[luke31]

Google Confirms Most Gingerbread Devices Will Receive Ice Cream Sandwich
this looks if anything promising

I love that Google has basically stated that virtually any phone running 2.3 SHOULD be capable of running ICS. Basically, I see this as Google placing the ball in the manufacturers' court. The implicit message is that our phones have the full capability to run ICS, and if they do not see the update, then the manufacturers and their skins (Blur, Sense, TouchWiz, etc.) are to blame. So, at the very least, I don't want to hear bs from Motorola stating that "Regrettably, the Droid X2 is not capable of running the latest version of Android..."

 

[Devinator]

Yea, more like putting a target on them. Hopefully this will put some pressure on Moto to make sure they get to it, and promptly. Also, lets hope Google's acquisition of Moto Mobility will work out favorably for us as well.

 

[johncihak]

Given the X2's relatively small market share compared to other Moto phones, and its age, an update is unlikely. Even if it comes out, it will be buggy before the first patch (like all the GB updates).

I would much rather have a stable GB than a buggy ICS

Sent from my A500 using Tapatalk

 

[Devinator]

X2 is less than five months old. My buddy has an original X and he received GB (second major update) maybe ten months after the release of his phone. I can't comment on the market share, as, I have no data. All I can point to is that trend and hope that it's consistent.

Well, by this logic you'd rather have a stable Froyo build than a buggy GB build. I mean, if you want updates you kind of have to accept that it's not going to work quite right at first.

 

[Cyrilmak]

You guys are missing a pretty big point. Motorola, LG, HTC, Samsung, Verizon, Sprint, AT&T - all made an agreement to support and update every phone for 18 months. The Droid X2 is 4 months old. I think it's pretty safe to assume that the X2 will see ICS. If it doesn't then people won't trust Google/Developers/Carriers, etc. The original X has seen three iterations of Android since it's release well over a year ago. In fact the entire Droid line has been kept pretty up to date, considering were dealing with Motorola.

512MB of RAM is still more of the standard even now. Were just now starting to see high end devices with 1GB. ICS will run fine with 512MB of RAM, or else Google wouldn't be so bold to say most all phones should run ICS. Also it's running a Dual Core Tegra 2 CPU/GPU combo which is still what nearly all tablets use and is by no means slow. We can't help that Motorola slaps their UI's on it to bog it down. The Xoom which is google experience suffers none of those issues.

People need to stop and think before saying one thing or the other.

 

[Cyrilmak]

Given the X2's relatively small market share compared to other Moto phones, and its age, an update is unlikely. Even if it comes out, it will be buggy before the first patch (like all the GB updates).

I would much rather have a stable GB than a buggy ICS

Sent from my A500 using Tapatalk

It's AGE? It's 4 months old! The original X is STILL getting upgrades, and 2 major OS versions and it's almost a year and a half old! Come on man use common sense.

 

[Devinator]

I think we'll see it. Going from Froyo to GB almost after launch and then calling it quits would look really bad for Moto. If at least to save face I'd think we'd see it. I don't know that I can justify buying another Moto phone in the future if my phone is put out to pasture that soon.

A buddy at work has an original Droid X and he saw Eclair, Froyo and GB. And, he just had an update to his phone recently. I would hope that they follow the same trend and we see three iterations as well. Like I said, if not, I don't think there will be another Moto phone in my future.

I don't think I'm missing the point. In fact, I already mentioned the X going from Eclair to Froyo to GB.

Motorola, LG, HTC, Samsung, Verizon, Sprint, AT&T - all made an agreement to support and update every phone for 18 months.

I don't see how this supports the phone getting ICS. While I do think we will see ICS, I see no guarantee of three Android incarnations in what you have stated. In fact, that doesn't imply any new incarnations at all. Support and update are sorta vague terms. Maybe their official policy states more clearly what we should expect, not really sure.

 

[fargles]

Considering how similar our phones are to the ATRIX I can safely assume we will get ICS because of all the ATRIX users and because we are only a 5ish month old phone... I have faith in Motorola for this.

And maybe if we're lucky we can get that nice bootloader unlocking app

 

[luke31]

I purchased this phone over the summer for the sole purpose of assuming that it is "future proof." It was the only phone on VZW with a dual core processor. I assumed that I would be able to get the latest and greatest updates for at least a year. ICS obviously falls within this time frame, especially given the fact that most phones aren't even dual core yet. I really hope we get this update...

 

[hkklife]

My predictions on which Moto devices will get ICS:

Definitely getting it:

All Xoom variants
RAZR
Bionic
Atrix 2
Photon
Droid 3

Undetermined:
Atrix 1
X2
D2G

Definitely not getting ICS:
Droid X
Droid Pro
Droid 2
Droid 1 and all comparable devices

 

[auxy]

Didn't Motorola say that all of their dual-core devices would get ICS? And didn't Google buy Motorola Mobile? I think it's a fairly good chance the DX2 will get ICS eventually.

 

[Devinator]

Man I hope so. Do you have a link? I looked real quick on google, but, couldn't find anything official.

The purchase of Motorola Mobility is pending. "On October 14, 2011, Motorola announced that its shareholders will vote November 17 on whether the company should accept Google Inc.’s $12.5 billion offer.[25]"

Motorola Mobility - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

But, yea, I mean, I'd say it could only help the chances of the X2 getting ICS.