And the hits just keep on hitting for Motorola Android handset owners. In a post on the Motorola Owners forum, Moto's Eurpean Marketing Director James King makes the following statement about the status of the Milestone getting Froyo in the near future:
Next European Milestone and 2.2 (Froyo). I have expressed over the last few days that the decision is pending. The team here has been collating key pieces of information and views from this community in the last month and providing input to relevant teams in Motorola so they are aware. I am pushing for that decision to be made as quickly as possible, and we can then all go from there. Some others ask why the decisions on upgrades take so long, and why does implementation then take much longer still. What I can say and have stated recently is that upgrades are not a walk in the park.
Sure there are short cuts that people can take, but when you have to integrate software to a specific hardware, then test it and integrate with third party applications, let alone any innovation from ourselves, plus then get approvals to make this all official and safe… its is a big undertaking that requires planning and resource and third party coordination to see this all through. As I say, once we have decision, we will inform. JK
So for those of you who bought the device because it was advertised as a "Flash-ready" device, it seems your wait is going to be an extended one. From this statement, it does not even look like Motorola has even begun development on an upgrade package.
This statement highlights the need for Google to develop an outstanding UI with Gingerbread, so that handset makers won't need to put non-vanilla Android on their units. Updates to phones with Motoblur are delayed because of the issues stated above and along with that is the bottom line, upgrades cost the handset maker money, money on which they will not see a return.
For you Milestone owners, you have our sympathy, it seems like Motorola is making some missteps lately with their handsets, promising one thing but delivering another. I hope that you do get your Froyo update in the near future. More info as we get it.
39 Responses to “Froyo for Motorola Milestone “Undecided”.” Leave a reply ›
the fact is that the milestone has a vanilla version of android, it hasn't motoblur. So it isn't much difficult to build 2.2 for it.
2.2 for DROID new versions leaking every week..
if they don't release 2.2 for the Milestone it is false advertising and we can return the phone for full refund.
Ray, first of all, thx a lot for your post. As for JK's post on the Motorola Owners'... it was on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/motorolaeurope), btw see all the comments there.
Not specific to the Droid, but unlock the ROM or support the phone. Motorola doesn't want to support phones that aren't actively shipping, but they are implementing security features that prevent the community from supporting phones that Motorola has chosen to abandon.
That leaves me with one conclusion: Locking down the phone is purely financial. It shortens product lifespan and increases phone churn. Basically, Motorola is saying that they are willing to cripple their own products to speed churn.
Apple has done this for years, but I really didn't expect it from Motorola. So Motorola can do whatever they want. My droid is rooted and when it dies, I will NOT be buying a Motorola product.
Haggie is right on the money. I've been able to keep my HTC Magic running with all the latest and greatest using Cyanogen ROMs. Hey, we've voided the warranty, the manufacturer doesn't have to fix it, why do they care so much? I will never own a Motorola phone that's locked down like this. I'm looking forward to getting a Samsung Vibrant soon, I'm waiting for Cyanogen ports first.
Milestone is a pure Google experience phone, not a Motoblur experience. However, carriers make Motorola do a lot of changes before they will let them run on their networks. That means dev costs, testing costs, and lots of time. Now, a new version of Android comes out, and all this has to be done again. With Google releasing a new version every few month, all this work has to be done again and again. HTC, Samsung and everybody else who wants to sell on 40+ carriers has to go through that.
The Milestone is NOT a stock android device, as it has additional apps (media center) and features like exchange calendar sync which are not supported on the vanilla android versions up to 2.1. So it's definetly not like a nexus one in example.
Yeah.. elegant design, it's awesome gadget...
My Question is why does the DROID in America get Froyo and the european Version maybe does not? Its the same Hardware and sold in Europe as well as in America. I think they expect that nobody buys the new Phones coming out next time if everyone allready has its Froyo.
I think the custom UI is not the real problem. HTC has a custom UI and they are much faster with updates. The droid has no motoblur and still waits for froyo. We will see how good the service of htc samsung and motorola is over the next month, and they will see that in the high level phone selling business a good update policy is worth its money. I will have to look at samsungs keyboard phones for my next phone if motorola will keep on doing this to their customers.
HTC being fast at updates?! The last time i checked (as HTC Hero user) they provided the Android 2.1 update AFTER android 2.2 was officially released.
Now i'm happy with my nexus one.
Janusz- hate to burst your bubble.. but as a ScamSung Behold II owner, you might want to stick to HTC. Sounds like Moto is taking a page from the ScamSung handbook: Promise promise promise, and just when your promise is up for inspection, back out and release a new phone instead.
The problem won't be solved by Gingerbread, because no matter how good the UI will be, all mobile device manufacturers want to have some kind of unique selling point. So i can imagine Motorola changing Gingerbread too, and even if its only to add some app like the media center app on the Motorola Milestone.
And i also hope that all those rumours that android 3.0 won't allow any UI customizing by other manufacturers is wrong, because it would undermine the open source concept of Android.
It should be up to the OS manufacturer on how the UI looks. If the user wants to change it then so be it, but all Android phones should start with the stock Google UI. Manufacturers like HTC and others have already ruined the UI on Android and Windows Mobile 6.5. I'd hate to think what HTC and Motorola would do to iOS if Apple were purely a software company. As much as I hate Apple, iOS has the best mobile UI ever created. There is no need for the app drawer on Android. All apps should be on an application screen somewhere.
Since the Milestone (like the Droid) uses vanilla Android, there is no custom UI delaying work here. This is just a question of Motorola choosing not to support the phones it sells outside the US as well as those it sells inside. I love my Milestone, but it will be my first and last Motorola if 2.2 is not forthcoming. Flash support was advertised, and 2.2 includes an important performance improvement to enable it.
To a large extent, this problem has been amplified by Motorola's policy of using a locked bootloader. If the bootloader was open, the Android community could develop their own 2.2 ROM and at least some of the users would have happy with that. As it is, the locked bootloader seems like a huge error on their part, and one that will drive existing customers away, plus slow down the adoption rate among new ones.
The Milestone isn't a 100% vanilla android device, as motorola added a few apps and features to the mix. So they can't just take the 2.2 update without adjusting it.
Hi guys. I called the german hotline this morning because of problems with speech quality. They said an update, appearing within the next few weeks would finally remove this bug. When I said "Aaah, cool. Android 2.2 is finally coming" it was pretty painful hearing "No, the coming update will be 2.1.2". O_o
Has the above update already been released in the US?
simple..i am an android community member..i will starting to not recommend every one in our forum to buy motorola again...ever..
I habe a Milestone as well, and the same holds for me: If 2.2 does not come for the Milestone, I'll never buy a Motorola phone again and I'll recommend everyone to stay away from them as well.
Agreed, this whole experience is enough to ensure I will never buy a Moto Android again. The phone was launched in Canada in February as "Flash-ready", and now we're being told it will never get the OS upgrade that is required to operate Flash!
And because of the locked bootloader, if they decide against the update, we're done here, and we'll be stuck with Eclair (and with very little app storage space) forever. Regardless of what they decide, this will be my last Motorola phone, as I don't want to find myself in this situation ever again. The only insurance policy against something like this happening again is an unlocked bootloader, and Motorola is unwilling to provide that, so no more Moto for me.
Those of you with your new DROID X will be facing this same exact problem in 6 months, when Verizon/Motorola drops support for the DROID X and moves on to the latest & greatest phone.
FYI, the DROID X and the Milestone have the same encrypted bootloader, which, after 8 months, still has not been hacked.
Shame on you motorola, I'm selling this piece of shlt for a nexus one. I'm tired of waiting for the features I paid for that will never come
Motorola should have have just died and stayed dead.
Moto going back to its old habit again. Shame on you, no more Moto for me.... btw the shitty Milestone acted weirdly with random restart even with the latest .36 and double, triple alphabet input when typing, more of a pain than joy with QWERTY.
Like many others, I specifically bought my Milestone because it was advertised as Flash 10 ready. Only 7 months after its release here in the UK (more recently in other locations), Motorola are implying that they may not provide an upgrade to the latest OS - bad enough in itself, but also meaning that the Milestone would never be Flash capable.
Unlike Droid owners, we can't upgrade our phones with custom ROMs due to the locked bootloader. I'm glad I kept screen shots of their adverts before the dropped the Flash 10 ready text. If an upgrade isn't forthcoming, it'll be interesting to see if the Advertising Standards Authority in the UK will be willing to get involved.
Whatever Motorola decide, this is my first and last Motorola phone.
I am a little confused here. I have a rooted milestone. I also used the motorola app to flash a new OS version (I think). using rsd lite as docuemtned here : http://android.modaco.com/content/motorola-milest....
Is the limitation simply that you cant flash images unsigned by motorola?
I wrote to Motorola India customer care regarding the Froyo update for Milestones in India. They replied saying, "we would like to inform you that as of now we do not have exact information regarding availability of upgraded version of Android 2.2 but it will be available soon in India". So there's some hope!!