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Topic: Android

Motorola's answer to Jelly Bean upgrade woes: $100 off a new phone

Summary: The Google-owned company is offering cash incentive to people who own a recent Motorola handset that won't be getting the upgrade to Android 4.1, so they can more easily buy a new Motorola phone that will get it.

David Meyer

By David Meyer |

Motorola is offering a $100 rebate to people in the US who own a recent Motorola phone that will not be getting an upgrade to Android 'Jelly Bean' 4.1, and who want to buy a new device from the company that will get the upgrade.

The Google-owned manufacturer said in early September that most of the devices it has sold since 2011 will get the Jelly Bean upgrade, which brings new features such as Google Now to the smartphone and tablet OS. However, in the words of a Motorola blog post on Friday, "we have a lot of ground to cover though, so we won't be getting to all devices".

"For those of you who won’t be receiving Jelly Bean, we're offering a $100 rebate when you trade up to a select new Motorola smartphone," the post read.

This deal is only available to customers in the US, although Motorola said it intended to roll out the programme to other countries "over time".

Although Jelly Bean is a significant step forward for Android, its rollout has been slow. According to Google's own figures, less than two percent of Android devices run the new version of the OS, three months after its release.

Those taking advantage of the deal will need to be buying one of these new Motorola phones, all of which are set to get Jelly Bean in early 2013: Atrix HD, Droid RAZR M, Droid RAZR HD, Droid RAZR MAXX HD, Electrify 2 or Photon Q.

They will need to already own one of these devices: Droid 3, Droid X2, Atrix 4G, Atrix 2, Admiral, Cliq 2, Milestone 3, Milestone X2, Electrify, Photon 4G, XPRT, Titanium or Triumph.

A full list of the Motorola devices that will get the Jelly Bean upgrade can be found here.

Topics: Android, Hardware, Mobile OS, Mobility

David Meyer

About David Meyer

David Meyer is a freelance technology journalist. He fell into journalism when he realised his musical career wouldn't pay the bills. David's main focus is on communications, as well as internet technologies, regulation and mobile devices.

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12 comments
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  • poor customer service by Motorola/Google

    I currently have the Motorola Photon through Sprint. It is not getting an upgrade as originally promised. The only phone that Sprint carries by Motorola worthy of consideration is the Photon Q and it is a slider. Therefore I am not satisfied by the $100 offer and will no longer consider buying a Motorola phone even if/when I change carriers.
    cleaner24
    Reply Vote

  • poor customer service by Motorola/Google

    I currently have the Motorola Photon through Sprint. It is not getting an upgrade as originally promised. The only phone that Sprint carries by Motorola worthy of consideration is the Photon Q and it is a slider. Therefore I am not satisfied by the $100 offer and will no longer consider buying a Motorola phone even if/when I change carriers.
    cleaner24
    Reply 1 Vote

  • What is the point

    Google needs to find some way to make updating Android devices much easier.

    $100 rebate is a generous offer, but it shows that there is something wrong in the Android ecosystem that prevents devices from keeping up to date.
    Emacho
    Reply Vote

    • I love it

      You see the $100 as generous... They're forcing their users to spend more money in order to run the current OS. They're not saving you anything. You'll have to open your wallet if you want to run the current OS on your phone that isn't even a year old. That's awesome. Awesomely hilarious.
      moofer1972
      Reply Vote

  • Motorola, give your rebate offer to somebody that still cares!

    I feel cheated by Motorola. The $100 rebate is an insult. I'm stuck for two years on a Sprint Contract that I only entered because Motorola promised in writing that ICS would be available. The more I think about it, the more I feel let down by Android in general. My next phone will be from a company that cares and shows it by updating all their phones all the time!!. I'm tired of excuses. Apple, here I come!
    jnbarth
    Reply Vote

    • Whenever

      You buy an electronic doodad, you have to assume that the condition it is in at the time of purchase is the way it will be forever, it is foolish to buy a device on the promise that one day it will be better. I don't know where this attitude came from that people are simply entitled to updates for their electronic devices, for decades people would get a device, and they would buy it expectation that it would stay the way they bought it forever....I certainly never expected my Atari 2600 or my VCR or my TV to receive periodic updates....where did this expectation come from?
      Doctor Demento
      Reply Vote

      • From using Apple devices

        It comes from using Apple devices. Been doing so since the 80s and was always pleasantly suprised how many OS updates I could do before the device was no longer supported. Take a look at the hardware and specs at Everymac.com
        observer1959
        Reply Vote

      • "where did this expectation come from?" From Apple.

        iOS devices have routinely been supported on new OS versions for three years or longer. For all the accusations of gouging their customers, no other handset maker has come close to supporting older devices the way Apple has. A great deal of that has to do with Apple's insistence on controlling the customer relationship. The biggest hurdle to handset updates are the carriers, not, necessarily, the OEMs.
        matthew_maurice
        Reply Vote

        • the difference

          If you actually think about it apple is good with letting its old devices upgrade because they've only had what...maybe 7 iPhones...the android market has had somewhere around 75 different devices (complete guess probably not accurate at all) but android has had at least 10 times the amount of devices apple has had if apple had that many i guarantee some of their devices would not support the new os either.....
          kaisean
          Reply Vote

  • Free beer tomorrow in android land...

    "Here, take a $100 and keep your crappy phone." Actually I am delighted to see Android users wake up and start screaming bloody murder about the upgrades. Over 60 percent of IOS users upgraded in two WEEKS. After two months, only 2 percent of Android users were on Jelly Bean. Nothing will change as long as most of androdites pretend it's just fine, getting upgrades years later or not at all. "Our poor manufacturers and carriers." Really? You think they give one bit about whether you get an upgrade once you buy the phone?
    Steve Nagel
    Reply Vote

    • This is just proof that Google doesn't give a darn about Android users

      Motorola Mobility is OWNED by Google ... for more than a year now. How many times have they released updates for ANY of their phones??

      In fact, they are still releasing brand new phones with Android 2.3 ...

      Google spent $13B to get 18 patents (that so far hasn't helped Android at all) and don't even care about using the company to make a Nexus brand device. They don't care if you don't get updates, get trojan viruses via Goggle Play or if you don't like the idea that your secured Wi-Fi password and SSID is being shared (without you knowledge) with the neighborhood pedophile downloading kiddy porn ... because he is an Android user who needs a better "hot spot".
      wackoae
      Reply Vote

      • It takes time.

        Google didn't even finish that purchase until almost the end of May 2012. By my calculations that's only about 6 months of full ownership. When was the last time you purchased a multibillion dollar mobile technology company and turned it around to pump out successful profits in only 6 months? Nobody has including Google. Recently Motorola just released it's new Razr devices. These devices were in development long before Google purchased them. It would have been foolish to just throw all of the research and development in the garbage and push for a Nexus device in a 6 month time period. I'm not saying that things are going to change anytime soon for the Motorola Android OS update process but I am saying that to expect Google to completely change an entire business strategy is a big deal that will take a long time. Not to mention all of the other projects and companies that Google owns and is working on. I do agree however that those patents were the biggest selling points of the purchase.
        Brice813
        Reply Vote
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