Motorola announces Jelly Bean upgrade for older devices, offers a $100 credit to those who still won’t get it
Based on at least public awareness and opinion, Motorola Mobility doesn’t seem to have been doing well the past few months. They didn’t have a new device out to compete with the Galaxy S III and One X, and their current line of devices was lacking somewhat on the software side from the start. The company addressed the former problem with new devices just this week, but I’m here to talk a bit more about their solution to the problem of software updates on older devices.
In an announcement today, Motorola announced their plans for upgrading older devices to Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. The short version is this: Pretty much any phone launched in 2011 will be getting Jelly Bean. If, however, your device doesn’t get Jelly Bean officially from Motorola (and is remotely current, like the X2 and Atrix), the company will give you a $100 credit for the device. Unfortunately, the credit can only be used to purchase a Motorola device with Jelly Bean, but it is certainly better than nothing. Also, Motorola also said that they would soon be releasing “developer edition” devices which would be more open to modification, but the details are still scarce.
It isn’t a perfect solution, but this method does make sense especially with Google’s takeover of Motorola now in place. The updates will obviously help with Jelly Bean adoption, and the trade in program shouldn’t hurt either. It is somewhat of a bummer that Motorola isn’t offering perhaps an Amazon gift card for the old devices, but it makes sense that they want users to get another Motorola device. Anyways, this program is certainly better than nothing, and a good move in the right direction with Android updates and long term support.
[Android Police]
