So you own a sweet MOTO DROID RAZR/RAZR MAXX, DROID Bionic or other premium device, but are still aching for that ICS update? Well we know it’s on its way, but as of this time, there’s no estimated release date from MOTO at this time. Owners of the devices previously presumed it was because of customizing the (MOTO)BLUR skin on top of Android 4.0. However, the software development isn’t the hassle— it’s actually the hardware that’s causing a bit of a hassle and prolonging the eventual rollout of the update to the handful of MOTO devices. Christy Wyatt, Senior VP and general manager of Motorola’s Enterprise Business Unit makes that point clear:

“When Google does a release of the software … they do a version of the software for whatever phone they just shipped. The rest of the ecosystem doesn’t see it until you see it. Hardware is by far the long pole in the tent, with multiple chipsets and multiple radio bands for multiple countries. It’s a big machine to churn. I would have to know that every single operator I have is going to want to upgrade every single product, and sometimes they’ll want to control the timing … it’s just not easy to make that blanket statement.”

Motorola completely feels for its customers and wants to push out timely updates as quickly as possible, but it’s not at this point because of various factors involving hardware and mobile carriers. The problem is pretty straightforward: Motorola finds out if the hardware is compatible, throws on the custom skins like (MOTO)BLUR and waits to finally get re-certified by every individual carrier– which is a difficult process by itself. As tedious as the process is upgrading devices to Android 4.0, it’s a necessary one in order to ensure all aspects of the devices are running smoothly and without issues.

All is not doom and gloom though folks. While highlighting the difficulties in updating the software for each phone, Wyatt added some understandable enthusiasm for Android 4.0 because it gives developers a single UI for phones and tablets:

“That has to be one of the promises of Ice Cream Sandwich,” she said. “By bringing these UIs together, you solve the experience gaps and the ecosystem gaps between [phones and tablets].”

Our sentiments exactly Christy. While additional tweaks such as the WebTop (laptop) mode needs to be worked out as well, expect MOTO and its great group of developers/engineers to figure out everything sooner than later.

source: PC Mag