Atrix 4G - Motorola Broken Promises

[Welch]

http://hothardware.com/News/Motorolas-B ... -Bad-Rap-/

Well this just isn't a good first step for the "New Motorola"... The Atrix 4G has been promised to get at least the Ice Cream Sandwich upgrade. But according to new that I just found, it looks like they are backing out of their promise. This particular promise was made damn near a year ago as I watched it with bated breathe in hopes that I'd eventually see an update for the 2 Motorola Atrix 4G phones that I have (1 person, 1 business).

This is complete ****. Its one thing to say you'll provide an update and then a month or so later say sorry you can't, but to drag this **** on for the better part of a year is just down right irresponsible. Now I realize that there was a large changing of hands when it comes to power in Motorola since the original promise, but what about purchasing a company and being required by law to uphold the companies prior warranties and other promises to customers? This honestly feels like a textbook example of bait and switch. I'm absolutely outraged. Not really sure how many other people own this phone like me, but its a perfectly good platform and has been the best phone I've ever owned. I figured an upgrade to 4.0 or 4.1 would have made it even better just like it improved my Xoom.

Ohh yeah, and how cute to offer $100 rebates to people who own this phone or a Photon 4G which were also shafted. I mean at least they offered something, but its a ploy to get us to stay in bed with Motorola and not go to another manufacturer. It's **** like that that make people turned off to Android phones and then the sheep flock to the fruity company.

[blorbic5]

I owned the OG droid and completely loved it, but moto ruined everything when they decided to start locking down there phones with encrypted boot loaders and no updates. I really wanted to get the Droid razor maxx with the huge battery capacity but there lack up updates was a complete deal breaker for me.

[codedivine]

That is indeed quite dumb on Motorola's part. "Customer satisfaction" does not look to be high on their list.

[derFunkenstein]

Better than LG. They made the same promise on the G2x only to withdraw it and then shrug.

The only way to really ensure the OS stays up-to-date is with Google-branded phones. That means a GNexus right now. It's a nice phone but it's a year old now and the hardware is a little crusty for the $350 they're asking.

[drkicker]

Your 4G still works? The top half of my screen quit responding to touch three weeks ago. After dealing with AT&T's lovely customer service, I terminated my contract and went elsewhere. Now I have a phone with ICS and an expected Jelly Bean update within the next month and a phone that actually gets 4G service (unlike a phone called the 4G that doesn't do 4G).

[NeelyCam]

Ohh yeah, and how cute to offer $100 rebates to people who own this phone or a Photon 4G which were also shafted. I mean at least they offered something, but its a ploy to get us to stay in bed with Motorola and not go to another manufacturer. It's **** like that that make people turned off to Android phones and then the sheep flock to the fruity company.

I whined about it on Twitter, and filed a complaint with BBB Chicago, demanding an Atrix 2 or Atrix HD as a free replacement:

http://goo.gl/8HbDa

Motofail Facebook page has all sorts of ideas for bugging Motorola:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Motofail/487173897968298

[derFunkenstein]

Your 4G still works? The top half of my screen quit responding to touch three weeks ago. After dealing with AT&T's lovely customer service, I terminated my contract and went elsewhere. Now I have a phone with ICS and an expected Jelly Bean update within the next month and a phone that actually gets 4G service (unlike a phone called the 4G that doesn't do 4G).

What'd you get? When my phone croaked (which I got it on eBay, so I guess I should have expected that) I used an Optimus T while I waited for my Square Trade warranty to kick in, and once I got that money I added some cash of my own and got an HTC One S about a week ago. JB update expected in October, totally awesome phone.

[DancinJack]

What'd you get?

I'm guessing a Verizon SGS3.

[drkicker]

Your 4G still works? The top half of my screen quit responding to touch three weeks ago. After dealing with AT&T's lovely customer service, I terminated my contract and went elsewhere. Now I have a phone with ICS and an expected Jelly Bean update within the next month and a phone that actually gets 4G service (unlike a phone called the 4G that doesn't do 4G).

What'd you get? When my phone croaked (which I got it on eBay, so I guess I should have expected that) I used an Optimus T while I waited for my Square Trade warranty to kick in, and once I got that money I added some cash of my own and got an HTC One S about a week ago. JB update expected in October, totally awesome phone.

Same phone as you. HTC One S on T-Mobile.

What'd you get?

I'm guessing a Verizon SGS3.

Nope, Verizon's customer service is only marginally better than AT&T. I don't get true 4G, but I'm wifi connected to FIOS at work and home, so LTE isn't that big of a selling point to me.

[DancinJack]

Nope, Verizon's customer service is only marginally better than AT&T. I don't get true 4G, but I'm wifi connected to FIOS at work and home, so LTE isn't that big of a selling point to me.

You confused me by previously stating that you actually get 4G service on your new phone.

[drkicker]

Nope, Verizon's customer service is only marginally better than AT&T. I don't get true 4G, but I'm wifi connected to FIOS at work and home, so LTE isn't that big of a selling point to me.

You confused me by previously stating that you actually get 4G service on your new phone.

Sorry, I get T-Mobile's 4G (I know, not LTE) on the new phone. I was making fun of the Atrix 4G name for a phone that only uses 3G.

[DancinJack]

Sorry, I get T-Mobile's 4G (I know, not LTE) on the new phone. I was making fun of the Atrix 4G name for a phone that only uses 3G.

###let's not turn this into a discussion on what REAL 4GiGaZ is please###

It all depends on what you classify as 4G. The Atrix 4G does have ATT HSD/UPA at 14.4 and 5.76. So it's not thaaaaaat bad.

[Jigar]

Better than LG. They made the same promise on the G2x only to withdraw it and then shrug.

SU660 (Close brother of G2X) got it's official ICS update recently, you might want to check that. BTW, check Xda for more information as people are working on the ROM to flash it on P990 and G2X and also the new leak of official ICS P990 has been found with HW acceleration enabled, which developers are working on to port it on P990 and G2X

[NeelyCam]

When my phone croaked (which I got it on eBay, so I guess I should have expected that) I used an Optimus T while I waited for my Square Trade warranty to kick in, and once I got that money

Money? I thought Square Trade only gives you a replacement (after the $100 deductible)..? I have SquareTrade on mine, and with its WiFi dead ("WiFi Error"), maybe I should go through the warranty..

I don't want to waste $100 to get a second Atrix 4G, but if they give me cash, it might be worth it

[derFunkenstein]

SU660 (Close brother of G2X) got it's official ICS update recently, you might want to check that. BTW, check Xda for more information as people are working on the ROM to flash it on P990 and G2X and also the new leak of official ICS P990 has been found with HW acceleration enabled, which developers are working on to port it on P990 and G2X

Yeah, I know, but the fact it has a different partition layout, hardware buttons (vs. capacitive) and a bunch of other hardware differences make it something less than "close". I followed it on xda's forums, and nobody has still been able to do anything with the SU660's update to make it work with a P990 or P999.

NeelyCam - I had to go around in circles because they didn't have a replacement to give me (plus I'd had it all of 3 months, not sure if that made a difference). I found this on their website and they ended up reimbursing me:

Reimbursements: Sometimes it’s faster to reimburse you the cost of your item. If we reimburse:

For most cases, you'll have a choice of payout options.
If your item is shippable, we’ll provide you with a pre-paid shipping label.
Once we receive your item, we pay claims within 3-5 business days.

Same phone as you. HTC One S on T-Mobile.

Spectacular choice.

[NeelyCam]

NeelyCam - I had to go around in circles because they didn't have a replacement to give me (plus I'd had it all of 3 months, not sure if that made a difference). I found this on their website and they ended up reimbursing me:

Reimbursements: Sometimes it’s faster to reimburse you the cost of your item. If we reimburse:

For most cases, you'll have a choice of payout options.
If your item is shippable, we’ll provide you with a pre-paid shipping label.
Once we receive your item, we pay claims within 3-5 business days.

Fantastic - thanks!

[David]

That means a GNexus right now. It's a nice phone but it's a year old now and the hardware is a little crusty for the $350 they're asking.

That's for an unlocked phone directly from Google. You can get it for $100 from a carrier. It's a fantastic phone and still plenty fast.

Sadly, neither the carriers nor the manufacturers want to update your phone. They want you to buy a new one in order to get the updated OS. Motorola is definitely not the only one backtracking on what they say.

[Jonsey]

Why not just root it and run Jelly Bean? Lots of tutorials of how to do it on the Atrix 4G

[derFunkenstein]

Why not just root it and run Jelly Bean? Lots of tutorials of how to do it on the Atrix 4G

Lots of benefits to rooting and custom ROM-ing, but there are plenty of downsides with specific phones, with things like non-functional features. In this case, there are no drivers from nVidia for the graphics part so you wind up running a lot in software so you get worse battery life, worse performance, or often times both.

In general I'm a big fan of custom ROMs. On my G2x, Cyanogenmod 7.2 was way nicer than the stock Gingerbread ROM other than a problem with GPS locks taking significantly longer. On the Optimus T I mentioned above, CM 7.2 is an improvement over the stock FroYo ROM in all areas. On my One S I could be running Jelly Bean now if I wanted CM10 nightlies, but I kinda like Sense 4 now that I have it so I'll wait.

[NeelyCam]

Why not just root it and run Jelly Bean? Lots of tutorials of how to do it on the Atrix 4G

Lots of benefits to rooting and custom ROM-ing, but there are plenty of downsides with specific phones, with things like non-functional features. In this case, there are no drivers from nVidia for the graphics part so you wind up running a lot in software so you get worse battery life, worse performance, or often times both.

At the moment, video camera isn't working either.