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No Android ICS update for Motorola Atrix 4G, Electrify & Photon 4G

Categories Google Nexus Motorola Phone Software
Author by Debbie Turner September 29, 2012
2,787 53

We always try to bring news to readers about operating system updates coming to their phones and have been giving details about Android 4.0 ICS updates for some time and more recently Android 4.1 Jelly Bean updates. Today we have bad news for Motorola Atrix 4G, Electrify and Photon 4G owners as it seems that not only will their devices not be updated to Jelly Bean but they will also not get the ICS upgrade.

While some consumers are frustrated that their devices still haven’t received Jelly Bean we should spare a thought for the many people whose devices haven’t even received the 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich update yet. Even worse if you’ve hoped that your phone will eventually get the update and then you find out that it won’t be forthcoming. Motorola has now officially confirmed that there will be no ICS upgrade for the Atrix 4G, Electrify and Photon 4G and that their days will be numbered on 2.3 Gingerbread.

There have already been many complaints from Motorola device owners and frustration about the speed that it has taken Motorola to issue OS upgrades. We recently told for example how Droid Bionic owners are still waiting for ICS although Motorola has now said it will come in Q4 and issued an apology. News that ICS is not coming to the Atrix 4G, Electrify and Photon 4G was brought to us from Android Authority sourced from Motorola Mobility. The new software lead at Motorola, Punit Soni, said that “tough choices” had to be made regarding Android software upgrades before specifically citing that the above phones will not receive ICS.

Motorola has also updated its device upgrade list and as you can see here the status of these three handsets now reads, “will remain on Gingerbread.” Atrix 4G, Electrify and Photon 4G owners among you will be left feeling pretty frustrated and disappointed this weekend then and we’d like to hear your views on this. Do you feel Motorola has let you down by not updating your particular phones to ICS? Send your comments to tell us how you feel about this.

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53 thoughts on “No Android ICS update for Motorola Atrix 4G, Electrify & Photon 4G”

  1. Joe says:

    It’s pretty unbelievable how these phones, specifically the Atrix, will not get an update. When released at the end of February the Atrix was Motorola’s flagship device and had a quick dual core processors (one of the first) and a full 1gb of RAM. Fast forward to October of the same year and ICS is released and shortly after that we are told that their flagship Atrix will get ICS. It has almost been a year since then and nothing has come of this update. The simple fact is that we have all been lied to because Motorola has only been focusing on releasing new devices every month and not supporting their existing ones. I does not take one of the world largest handset manufacturers an entire year to port an OS to one of their devices. The Atrix 2 is a perfect example because it is newer and already has a soak test for ICS. Obviously it doesn’t take this long and the only conclusion we can arrive at is Motorola might not have even started on the update, and abandoned this phone only 8 months in. Soni seems honest and wouldn’t cancel this if there was real progress already made. Motorola also said that every phone that is capable of running ICS will get an update as long as the performance isn’t negatively impacted This another lie we have heard because single core phones with half of our RAM are running official ICS right now. So again we come back to straight out being lied to.

    This is a horrible way to treat your customers and has certainly driven me away from Motorola for good. If they can’t update a former flagship device in a year then why should I hope they change for their new flagship device(s)? I will actively seek out any and all of my Android friends and ensure they know what Motorola does to their customers and encourage them to not give them any business. It’s sad because this is probably the worst company in the Android system because Samsung, HTC, and even Sony are updating their devices faster. I am not saying the Photon or Electrify are lesser phones, but the Atrix was heavily advertised because of its features and Motorola was really proud of this phone, so the last thing they should do is cancel its update because that just shows everyone that no phone is safe from getting left behind. And since the Photon and Electrify are basically identical to the Atrix I’m sure the same update works for all 3.

    Motorola, you have shown your true colors and I will be moving to Nexus devices. You seem to forget how this is Android, not Apple, and that the consumer has a multitude of devices to choose from and that your phones aren’t special. You should be trying to hang onto as many customers as possible instead of doing this.

  3. Chace says:

    Its business. With the holidays fast approaching, why upgrade a good phone when you can debut the newest and greatest all in the name of making a dollar.

  4. snowboarder74 says:

    Moto is notorious for doing this. They pulled this nonsense on Cliq owners way back in the day but we raised so much hell and they got so much negative publicity that they did eventually release an update to 2.1. After that debacle, I swore off Moto phones forever. To this day, I have not purchased a Moto phone and I never will…I don’t care how cool the particular device is. Unfortunately, this is just history repeating itself and we’ll see this behavior again in the near futurue with some of their newer models.

      1. ronf57 says:

        don’t buy an s3! I have an S3.
        wait and buy the next gen device.
        quad cores are coming with 4g to the USA, even, or so they say.
        The note 2 looks like a better option for right now with the S-pen2 the s3 c-pen is junk my finger works better so if that’s a consideration don’t buy s3 for that.
        besides until google fixes ICS move apps to ext sd card issue i’d hold off or buy a phone with as much ram and “internal sd” size. I’m using a 32gb s3 and wish had gotten a 1terrabyte because of how it stores apps and downloads. luckilly “beyond pod” has modified their program to allow running and storing on the ext sd card inspire of ICS.
        If unaware the phone storage is divided as: phone-sdcard (internal)-extsdcard (the one you install)
        my 32gb s3 has ….
        2 gig ram/1.59gb available (it could use more) —
        storage: 32 GB model— see note below
        phone : 26.26 GB
        sdcard: 26.26 GB
        extSdcard: 16 gig card formatted to 14.54GB available

        note:
        total ram is divided between phone and sdcard storage
        with no way to set the divide point
        storage :
        53.47 GB reported by X-plore app.???

        either the 32 GB phone has 64 GB of actual storage and is rated for how much is left after the Android system is installed and that is divided between phone and sdcard storage pools OR…someone is mis-reporting.
        As for motorola, they design Russian tank looking devices like the droid original (i bought it day one) and quickly abandon them. I’m glad i didn’t buy the Bionic and if i had one one I would root and put a newer Rom on it. go visit XDA developers site and search for one and how to do it.

  5. Jim says:

    I like Motorola products and recently purchased an Atrix 4g with the understanding that it would get ICS in the near future. Now they say it will not. For a company that makes a good product , the software end sux. Today I purchased a used Samsung Skyrocket and upgraded it through Kies to 4.0.4. Sorry Motorola , I am loosing faith in your so called updates. Get the update mess straightened out and I will consider trying another Motorola phone , which I will say it again , is a well built product , the updates are lousy !!! fool me once , shame on you , twice , shame on me

    1. Davidmarie says:

      Not only did i recently purchase an Atrix 4G with the promise it would get ICS (on Motorola’s own web site) but I also purchased a Lapdock because I thought this phone had some long term viability. Actually, for anyone who Moto induced to buy a Lapdock for $300 when they first came out, this is a particularly egregious thing to do with loyal customers. No loyalty. No shame.

  8. Michelle says:

    Motorola screwed the Atrix 4G users, and I hope it comes back to bite this sorry excuse for a company on the ass!. Word of mouth goes a long way so all the owners of these phones that got passed over need to warn their friends about Motorola’s disregard for their customers.

  9. Gabriel Moraes says:

    Good. They say one thing then remove it like if it were nothing.
    Motorola makes great hardware, but letting my Atrix down will make me look away from it.
    I used to own Motorola Only phones, StarTac, V60, E398, V3, Razr and now my last one, Atrix 4G. Great hardware but poor software. I’m moving to Samsung.

  12. Atrix user says:

    Well, and these companies wonder why theye can’t compete with Apple. I’ve been a staunch supporter of Android, but if the manufacturers are not able/willing to keep-up with the pace then they deserve to lose in the competition. I’ve loved my atrix, but the company is not giving me any reason to be there customer any more.

  13. Alex says:

    Well thanks for backing ur products… Not. Well looks like it custom ROM time. Once my upgrade comes there’s no way in hell it’s unna be another moto.

  14. LFC says:

    I own an ATRIX4G phone and have been waiting for the update for almost a year. I even purchased a few more accessories to make full use of my phone because they promised I would get ICS. Now with 3 days left in Q3 they have kicked me in the gut and offered me a $100 to stay quiet about it. What an insult!! The ATRIX 4G is more than capable of running ICS or JB; #MOTOFAIL has screwed me over for that last time. I’ll let everyone know how they treat their customers and especially on a flagship device. Disgusting I cant explain how furious I am.

    I am now on a anti-Motorola mission and I hope all other owners follow suit. If they had been honest from the beginning i could understand but this is outrageous. Never another Motorola Product.

    signed
    12 yr moto customer

  15. Jhelu says:

    I literally feel backstabbed by Motorola… They went back on their word…I waited since February for this upgrade ..and there are users who probably waited longer than me…Motorola ..you broke my heart..but I am gonna keep the phone because I still like it…. If only I can unlock it … I will feel better

  17. g.schimme says:

    das war das wirklich letzte handy von Motorola,ein gerät das nicht einmal ein radio hat bei 550,00eur. und jetzt nicht mal das update bekommt,ist das allerletzte!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    nie wieder was von den amis………………………..
    googlemail.wird auch gelöscht,is ja auch von dene

  18. June says:

    I bought the photon 4g thinking that it would receive updates since moto is owned by google. big mistake i see. Bye Bye Android, im going for the iphone 5.

  19. Sandman3835 says:

    Here is a wild, crazy, radical idea. What if we stripped a little of that power from the service providers/carriers, in so much that they don’t get a say on the matter of updates, and in turn it greatly reduces the problems with communication or lack thereof, and update rollouts. Think about it, and follow me on this. In the computer world, your service provider has nothing to do with those updates, implementing their own software or bloatware. I’m all for pure Android phones straight from HTC, Samsung, LG, ect.., and with the phones capable of going to any carrier service, that would rule out a good deal of the problems there. Let the carriers focus more on the service spectrum, why do we, or the FCC give them so much power otherwise? Just a thought…

  20. Voodoosnakedeath says:

    Ridiculous. Well that seals it -I have been an Android user since the G1 and am now going to make the switch to the iPhone. This (the atrix 4g) is the third android phone I have bought that has been prematurely abandoned by it’s manufacturer, if I’m paying a premium I’ll be better off with an iPhone then a nexus device, I believe the past three generations of iPhones got ios6, plus there is a ( no longer:( ) standardized dock connector with tons of accessories.

  24. Zane says:

    Well that’s it for me. Thanks for making my decision easier. You were taking too long to role out the ics update and now you say your keeping my software as is and you had to make tough choices! I once bragged about my phones capabilities. Tomorrow I’ll be looking for a new phone to brag about. Remember Motorola I bought your phone so its kind of like you’re my employee. Did not do your job so now I’ve got to fire you and look for somebody that will. Former photon user as of now!!! Karma is a you know what!!!

  26. Rufus Xavier says:

    Maybe the real problem is with Google and Android. Google doesn’t really care which phones get updated. They only care about how many phones have Android installed on it. At the last Google I/O conference they said 1 million Android devices are activated everyday. Do you think they are all ICS or Jelly(has)been. NO. Probably the majority are 2.3 Gingerbread. The numbers are inflated just to make them look like Android is superior to iOS in popularity. Well fellow Android suckers, Google gives out open source Android to cheap Chinese manufacturers for free and these manufacturers flood the market with crap devices. We are all being brought into the Android whirlpool and where soon all our money and time will get sucked into it. Just stop and consider how risky it is to buy an Android phone with the hope that you will get some kind of update next year. It is just ridiculous, and you think Google really cares whether your phone gets updated? You have to admit Apple makes Google look like a huge stinking dung pile when it comes to updating and support their products. I know it’s painful to swallow, but at least you know that the money you have invested into a new Apple product results in getting a few updates that improve/fix the product. Google is just causing a disposable phone industry to develop and they don’t really care. They are all about the numbers and the money that is flowing out of our accounts into Google’s. I’m beginning to think Google has made me a sucker!!! No more Android for me.

  30. Sumeet says:

    Is there any forum where we can make noise about it…its really absurd…i thought Moto being bought by google we will not any problem with updates..proven wrong though…but whats even more ridiculous is they promised ICS in Q3 and now they have ditched us all…NO MOTOROLA PRODUCT IN FUTURE….Really bad of Motorola

  33. TK says:

    Disappointed after patiently waiting for so long. I can’t believe that in this day and age when customer views are so critical to the success of a product and so visible in public forums, that a company as big as Motorola would pull this on it’s customers. Will never buy another Motorola handset again, and will avoid the Google devices as well considering that they probably pulled the plug on the ICS update for the Atrix 4G

  34. apmorcate says:

    We shouldn’t even be discussing Ice Cream Sandwich updates.
    Android will loose many more users this way. Google needs to find a way to work this out with its OEMs. Apparently, they can’t have their own Motorola work this out.
    All hardware-compatible Android devices should be running Jelly Bean by now. It is a great OS, so many improvements over Gingerbread, and even ICM. No matter how many excuses they give, it all points to one thing: they don’t care. If there are features that don’t work after the upgrade, too bad, you can go back to the previous version. It should be the customer’s choice whether to upgrade or not.
    I have a Galaxy Nexus with T-Mobile. It is not the fastest smartphone out there, but it gets Android updates on-time. The same Galaxy Nexus with Verizon had to wait more than two months for the update. It is ridiculous.

  35. apmorcate says:

    We shouldn’t even be discussing Ice Cream Sandwich updates.

    Android will loose many more users this way. Google needs to find a way
    to work this out with its OEMs. Apparently, they can’t have their own
    Motorola work this out.

    All hardware-compatible Android devices should be running Jelly Bean by
    now. It is a great OS, so many improvements over Gingerbread, and even
    ICM. No matter how many excuses they give, it all points to one thing:
    they don’t care. If there are features that don’t work after the
    upgrade, too bad, you can go back to the previous version. It should be
    the customer’s choice whether to upgrade or not.

    I have a Galaxy Nexus with T-Mobile. It is not the fastest smartphone
    out there, but it gets Android updates on-time. The same Galaxy Nexus
    with Verizon had to wait more than two months for the update. It is
    ridiculous.

  38. maezono says:

    An example: LG Optimus L5, a phone that has only 800mhz CPU, have 4.0 ICS, and owners of Atrix don’t. This is why I’ll never get other Motorola device again.

  39. eot8857 says:

    Sprint keeps screwing me. I bought their “top of the line” phones each time, and every time Sprint kept telling me the update is on its way, which ultimately ends in a bag of fail. So, now I have a Photon 4G with no updates, to set next to my HTC Hero on the desk. It’s quite apparent that there is no money to be made from updating phones. I will be told to hang onto this phone until my plan is up, then they will attempt to sell me a new one and tell me “this is the top of the line, the one we will support for quite some time – and we mean it, this time. again.”

    If the custom ROMs are being made, like Cyanogenmod, then the least they can do is unlock the damn phone so we can try it without jumping hoops. To not offer an update, then lock your users out of updating on their own should be illegal.

    Time to root/update this phone and see if the Net10 GSM hack is working so I can dump Sprint….

  40. mehmet says:

    motorola ne kadar adi bir marka olduğunu atrixe ıcs güncellemesini vermediği için kanıtlamış oldu artık hayatımda mototrola diye bir marka yokkkkkk.

  41. Disappointed_4G_Owner says:

    So . . . Google buys Motorola and Motorola stops supporting Google software upgrades . . . sounds like a strong argument for Google to shut down at least this portion of the company. I (naively) bought two Photon 4G phones out of loyalty to Motorola products. I actually chose the Photons over Galaxy S2s. My promise to Motorola is that I will never again depend on them for customer support. Good Luck, Motorola.

  42. Jaz says:

    Customer loyalty is gone. I will be taking a different view of Motorola from now on. We as consumers have been strung along only to be lied too about later quarter releases. Now NOTHING! !!WHAT A SLAP IN THE FACE

  44. Herbert says:

    I Think that Motorola only want sell the most new device, but not everyone can buy a nuew device when it is release, but another way we want to have the same software, few month ago mi Atrix was the best devuce ever, but now because the software has begin become old now my phone become old, I want have the best phone ever and only with the most new OS, can still on the top of the most powerfull devices.

  46. brick2112 says:

    I was doing to get the new Razr i but as my Defy was never and my Atrix will never be kept up to date then I’m jumping ship. Even budget tabs eg Sumvision are more up to date. Very annoyed as I like.. liked Motorola devices.

  47. Pradeep says:

    Pretty incompetent on Motorola’s part since their is a hacked version of Jelly Bean that works just fine on those platforms. Apparently the hackers are far superior talent than anyone that Motorola could ever hire. This was my first Motorola and my last.

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