An all-too-familiar pet peeve for those who dutifully line up to get the newest and most promising flagship phone from a company: software and OS updates that take too long to reach customers, all the while becoming riddled with delays, snags, snafus and false promises that account to the disappointment companies incur by withholding release of updates.
Google recently released its latest OS, Android 7.0 Nougat, bearing a consistent nod to its naming scheme of sugary desserts, but users find it anything but sweet, bearing in mind how phone manufacturers are inevitably slow to develop and release an updated firmware version of Google's new OS.
Motorola, one of many manufacturers that's sure not to balk at the accusation, previously haven't talked about plans for Android 7.0 support for the Moto Z family and Moto G4. That was until Droid-Life reached out to the company, and in response, a Motorola spokesperson confirmed that users can expect Android 7.0 on Moto Z family and Moto G4 handsets "beginning in Q4."
Q4, or the fourth quarter of a fiscal year, starts several days from now and spans until the end of the year. On surface value, Motorola's promise seems straightforward enough: expect Android 7.0 once Q4 begins. But read that statement a few more times and it's actually still uncertain. Does it mean the Moto Z family and G4 handsets will receive the Android 7.0 update at the very start of Q4 or within the Q4 time frame, possibly even near the end of the fourth quarter?
Another uncertain aspect that the Motorola spokesperson wasn't able to clear up is whether the Android 7.0 update is also headed to previous Moto handsets like the Moto X and Moto G series. For now, Motorola offered a consolation, reminding users who are awaiting updates that "upgrades are about getting it right and making sure the phone performance remains the best it can be."
Motorola has been a previous target of controversy when in July this year, it confirmed that its Moto Z and Moto G4 won't receive monthly security patches, reasoning out that it was more efficient to simply congest updates across fewer releases. Even more notable was in February this year, when Motorola broke its promise to bring Lollipop, Google's most recent OS at the time, to Droid Ultra, Maxx and Mini handsets. Motorola's history is certainly alarming, and time will tell if they live up to their word once Q4 rolls around.
As of this time, only Nexus phones have received the Android 7.0 update, although Samsung is reportedly in preparations to release Android 7.0 for its S7 and S7 edge devices. LG also confirmed that its flagship device, the LG V20, will come with Android 7.0 out of the box.
Photo: Heba Said | Flickr
