By Aldo Panessidi
According to a recent blog post from Motorola, the company will limit ICS updates to just the handsets it believes will benefit from the change. For example, the Droid 3, Droid Pro and Milestone 3 will remain on Android 2.3 (a.k.a. Gingerbread), while some phones will keep versions of Android as far back as Android 1.5 and 2.1. 
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Here is the explanation in Motorola’s words: “You may be wondering why all devices aren’t being upgraded to Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich). Here’s the deal. We work very closely with Google and cell phone carriers for every software update. And, obviously we want the new release to improve our devices. If we determine that can’t be done—well then, we’re not able to upgrade that particular device.”
To date, the only device that has received its update to Android 4.0 is the WiFi-only XOOM (and only the US and Canadian versions). All other devices remain in one of their four stages: development, test in-house, carrier test and release. (A beta field test may also be inserted between stages 3 and 4.)
Motorola has probably been the most candid and thorough device manufacturer when it comes to Android upgrade plans. Motorola has been good about maintaining their device update page found in their forums. Here is a summary of their ICS roll-out plans as of this month:
Android 4.0 update Q2 2012
Motorola XOOM WiFi-Only (Asia Pacific, China, EMEA, Japan & LATAM)
Motorola XOOM (Verizon)
Motorola RAZR (Asia Pacific, Canada, China, EMEA, Japan, Korea & LATAM)
Motorola DROID RAZR Maxx (Verizon)
Motorola MT917 (China)
Motorola XT928 (China)
Android 4.0 update Q3 2012
Motorola Atrix 4G (USA)
Motorola Atrix 2 (Asia-Pacific, LATAM, USA, and selected other markets)
Motorola XOOM Family Edition (USA)
Motorola XOOM 2 (Asia Pacific, EMEA, and LATAM)
Motorola XOOM 2 Media Edition (Asia Pacific, EMEA, and LATAM)
Motorola Xyboard 8.2 (USA)
Motorola Xyboard 10.1 (USA)
Motorola DROID Bionic (Verizon)
Motorola DROID 4 (Verizon)
Motorola DROID Xyboard 8.2 (Verizon)
Motorola DROID Xyboard 10.1 (Verizon)
Android 4.0 update Q4 2012
Motorola Photon 4G (USA)
Devices that have no assigned dates (and no update guarantees)
Motorola Atrix/Atrix 4G (Asia Pacific, EMEA and LATAM)
Motorola Electrify (USA)
Motorola Photon 4G (Japan)
Motorola XOOM WiFi + 3G (Asia Pacific, EMEA and LATAM)
Motorola devices that will NOT get updated to Android 4.0
Motorola Admiral
Motorola Charm
Motorola DROID 3
Motorola DROID X2
Motorola Flipout
Motorola Milestone A854/A953
Motorola Milestone XT720/XT701/XT711
Motorola XT605
Motorola XT615 / XT685 / MOTOLUXE
Motorola XT882
Motorola MT870
Motorola Milestone X2
Motorola Pro+
Motorola Devour
Motorola Cliq XT
Motorola i1
Motorola Dext
Motorola Quench MB501/XT5 XT502/XT3 XT502
Motorola Defy MB525 (Europe & MEA)
How much the Google buyout of Motorola will affect the release schedule is anyone’s guess. Google is very good at raising the bar, so we hope they lay some Google ambition on Motorola’s organization.
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