Motorola has promised to release Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich software updates for some of the company’s latest smartphones. But it could be a while before we see Google’s latest software running on Motorola devices.

The company spelled out some of the details involved in bringing new versions of Android to existing devices in a blog post today.

Basically Motorola needs to:

• Optimize the software for its hardware and add Motorola customizations such as MotoCast.
• Perform quality testing.
• Submit the software to wireless carriers for certification.

Sometimes there’s also a pre-release beta made available to customers before Motorola pushes the full software update. If you read the full blog post, you’ll see that it can take as long as half a year for Motorola to release an upgrade after Google pushes out a new version of Android.

That might sound like a long time, but it’s actually pretty typical for official software upgrades. Samsung, HTC, and other phone makers don’t do things much more quickly.

On the other hand, we’re already seeing unofficial versions of Android 4.0 for a number of devices thanks to the developers behind CyanogenMod and other custom ROMs. Unfortunately the installation process can be a little intimidating for newcomers and you may end up voiding your warranty if you decide to use a custom ROM instead of waiting for an official software update.

Motorola is offering up a few details about its plans for Google Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. For now, the company is confirming that the Motorola Droid RAZR and Droid BIONIC smartphones and the Motorola XOOM tablet will all receive Android 4.0 updates.

That’s not to say that these are the only devices that will be updated. I wouldn’t be surprised if other recent Motorola phones are added to the list, and according a post on Twitter, Motorola will make announcements about any other devices on the list within 6 weeks of Google’s public release of Ice Cream Sandwich.

The first phone that will ship with Ice Cream Sandwich is the Samsung Galaxy Nexus. Google is expected to release the source code shortly after that phone goes on sale, so we shouldn’t have long to wait until Motorola makes more details available.

Of course, Motorola phone and tablet users may be able to install unofficial builds of Ice Cream Sandwich long before that. We’ve already started to see developers working on custom ROMs based on Google’s latest OS update.

It’s likely that most of Motorola’s current Android phones will be able to support Ice Cream Sandwich. Google has said that any phone that can run Android 2.3 should also be able to run Android 4.0. Whether Motorola wants to put the time and effort into developing a software update for older handsets is another question.

via Android Police and Android Community

Google announced plans to buy Motorola Mobility this morning. The acquisition would bring Google and one of its closest Android partners closer together. But it doesn’t necessarily mean that Samsung, HTC, LG, or other device makers will exit the Android market now that they’d be competing directly with Google. Motorola will be operated as an independent company, and in fact, executives from a number of competitors have already said that they “welcome” the news.

That’s because the acquisition isn’t just about controlling hardware and software. It’s about patents. By acquiring Motorola, Google gets to add an awful lot of intellectual property to its portfolio, so that next time a company like Microsoft or Apple wants to file a lawsuit saying that a product infringes on some patent or other, Google can reach into its portfolio and either prove that it’s covered… or threaten a countersuit for any technology that the competitor is using which infringes on Google’s patent.

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Motorola’s latest Android phone, the Droid 3, provides a look at the company’s newest version of Motoblur — the software interface that’s designed to run on top of Android. The main purpose of Motoblur is to put a unique, signature spin on the Android experience that’s exclusive to Motorola smartphones.

The folks at PocketNow posted a video showing some of the highlights. The newest version of Motoblur isn’t quite as in-your-face as previous versions. There aren’t any more social widgets on the home screen. And when you tap-and-hold an app icon on the home screen to move it, a series of grid markers shows up to make it easier to place icons.

You can uninstall most of the 3rd party apps that come preloaded with the Droid 3, but the Verizon V Cast apps that come with the phone are not removable.

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Motorola has promised that all future phones and tablets will have unlockable bootloaders, making it easier for users to install custom ROMs or make other system-level modifications to their devices. It looks like the company will also be issuing software updates that unlock the bootloaders on existing devices. BriefMobile obtained a leaked copy of an Android 2.3.3 Gingerbread software update for the Motorola Atrix 4G smartphone and noticed that the it allows users to unlock the device.

Building on that news, xda-developers forum member the2dcour put together a utility that you can use to unlock the bootloader on any Atrix 4G — even if it’s still running Android 2.2 Froyo.

So here’s how it works. If you have a Motorola Atrix 4G you’ll need to root your phone and then download the appropriate utilities for your device from the xda-developers thread. The instructions aren’t really meant for beginners, but BriefMobile has put together a step-by-step guide which may be a little easier to follow.

Keep in mind, you may void your warranty by following these steps. It’s probably safer to wait for the official update — but there’s no word on when it will be available.

Motorola has a reputation for releasing smartphones with locked bootloaders, which means that while user have been able to install some custom software, Android phones like the Motorola Atrix 4G simply won’t support custom kernels which make it possible to make deep changes to the phone’s software.

Image Credit: Droid Life

The Motorola XOOM Android tablet, on the other hand, has a bootloader which can easily be unlocked or relocked. As the first tablet to ship with Google Android 3.0 Honeycomb, the XOOM was designed as a developer-friendly device.

Now it looks like there’s reason to hope that future phones and tablets from Motorola may be just as easy to unlock or relock as the XOOM. In response to a petition started by Irwin Proud, a Motorola rep said the company plans to enable bootloader unlocking on all devices starting in late 2011.

There’s one major caveat though. While Motorola will support unlocking the bootloader, mobile carriers and operators may not. I suspect more petitons may be needed before unlockable bootloaders become the norm.

via Electronista

The Motorola Atrix 4G isn’t expected to go on sale for another few days. But in advance of launch day hackers have managed to get a hold of the full system dump (containing the operating system and all the files and programs that will come with the phone.

Once that was done, users were able to extract the custom wallpapers, ringtones, and even the boot animation from the phone.

And then if that wasn’t enough, you can find pictures of a rooted Atrix 4G at the xda-developers forum. There are no instructions on how to root the phone yourself just yet, but the Getaphixx, who is responsible for the initial hack says he’ll release more info soon.

The Atrix 4G is a new phone with a dual core NVIDIA Tegra 2 processor running Google Android 2.2. It supports AT&T’s HSPA+ mobile broadband network, has 1GB of RAM and 16GB of storage. But what really makes the phone cool is the way you can dock it with a laptop station to use a full version of the Firefox web browser on an 11.6 inch display or with a media dock for displaying HD video content on a big screen TV.

Motorola’s custom user interface that runs on some of the company’s Google Android phones is getting an update. The company announced this week that the next generation of MotoBlur will feature support remote wiping of your phone if it’s lost or stolen, better backup of your contacts and other data.

MotoBlur will also include support for location based social networks and new Connected Music and Gallery apps for media synchronization. While I’m generally not a huge fan of third-party overlays for Android such as MotoBlur, some of the new apps sound pretty nice. For instance, if I’m not mistaken, the new music app is the Connected Music Player that was leaked a few weeks ago, and it’s all kinds of awesome, thanks to integration with TuneWiki, SoundHound, and Shoutcast, and other services.

The Connected Gallery app will let you view albums from Facebok, Flickr, Picasa, Photobucket and other web-based services. You’ll also be able to upload photos to those services from your phone. The standard Android Gallery app does something similar, but only with Google’s Picasa service.

Motorola is also introducing a MotoConnect suite of services for synchronizing your content between a PC and smartphone. MotoConnect is at least partially built on ZumoCast, a service which lets you stream media from a PC to a mobile device. Motorola bought ZumoCast in December.

Some of the most recent Motorola phones including the Atrix 4G and Cliq 2 will receive updated MotorBlur apps as over the air downloads in the next few months. Phones that ship later this year will include the whole new suite of apps and services.

via Android Community