With most manufacturers you do good to get updates after 6 months. I'd like to see a class action on it but have no idea of its feasibility.
I bought the Moto X largely on the... assurance ("promise"?) that this particular phone, coming from a Google-owned Motorola, would actually be updated expeditiously by not just the manufacturer but also, downstream, Verizon.
Well, about a month ago my still 4.4.4 phone received an update. FINALLY. Then I looked at the version information; still at 4.4.4 .
I tell you, Google, I'm about done with your mobile products. Not that I hate dealing with them, with Android, but the U.S. (and elsewhere?) ecosphere for them simply sucks.
At least I am at 4.4.4 . Were I at 4.4.3, the last I read I would be subject to a web component vulnerability that Google has refused to fix below 4.4.4 . I suspect there are a lot of phones and tablets stuck at 4.4.3 or below. In fact, my parents have one, a Samsung tablet sold to the by... VERIZON, about a year and a half ago. (And they didn't buy at the cheap/old end of Verizon's tablet offerings.)
I am DONE with this bullshit. Meanwhile, Apple seems to have added some efficiencies to iOS that now allow a 4s phone (not sure about 4) to work reasonably well.
I was staying away from Apple's rather closed ecosphere and attitude. I am seriously reconsidering, at this point. I need my primary phone to fucking work and be reliable. I'll keep the more experimental stuff to other platforms.
https://motorola-global-portal.custhelp.com/app/software-upg...
Verizon has long been a bastard with regard to releasing updates. However, travel takes me where they are the only thing that works (other than a local carrier that makes no sense back at home). They also tend to have better coverage here at home.
BUT, they told me that one of the selling points of this model on Verizon was that they were committing to releasing updates in a timely manner.
My fault for believing Verizon. But... Google's fault for not pressuring them. iPhones on Verizon get updates. This becomes "simple math", for the user on Verizon. And, Verizon has a lot of users, here in the U.S.
P.S. Even if Google is not in a position to effectively do anything about this, they should recognize the pressure this applies to users to switch platforms. Something I would imagine they ARE interested in.
I may look into jailbreak/rooting options that are compatible with ongoing Verizon service, for the phone.
In future, if I don't switch to an iPhone, I may well go with another carrier, and just eat the cost of e.g. a prepaid Moto G for the times when I travel and need the network covereage. Still, seems ridiculous. And if not Google, the FCC should be taking a good, hard look at Verizon Wireless. At some point, negligence should apply that, if nothing else, gets their spectrum allocations revoked. That would get their attention, fast.
P.S. Maybe a Google lobbyist and/or lawyer could have a quiet little conversation with their FCC contacts about this?
And I apologize, after that rant I realize it doesn't really have anything to do with the topic, but I've sunk the cost already!
There were some hiccups with the upgrades to 5.x, but I didn't get caught by those. News reports taught me to be a bit conservative, in exercising a bit of delay before applying OS updates if there was no looming security fiasco.
Compared to my parents' contemporary and more expensive Samsung tablet, with Verizon LTE (and thus, Verizon as well as Samsung in the middle), that is still stuck on 4.4.1 or 4.4.2, the last I looked... And with some crappy third party calendar app as the default that had my mother confused for a while...
Well, via that comparison and others, I'm agreeing with the other commenter that if you can go straight Nexus, that seems to be a better way to go WRT the Android platform.
I'm hitting "tired"; otherwise, I might be able to think of some of the software concerns I've had that are not OS / updates specific.
Oh, I remember the time I added some photos to Keep, to learn that there was no way to keep them from syncing while on the cell connection as opposed to WiFi.
And, I could lament the whole "fish around on the web for random articles, for your documentation" approach, these days.
Anyway, I'm mostly responding to show a bit of support, despite our differing satisfaction levels / experiences. When something doesn't work, too often the environment/app leaves us feeling SOL. They got my money, so f--- me! ;-)
The fact that the only way to get reasonably-paced system updates is to install 3rd party operating systems (e.g. Cyanogenmod) is extremely frustrating.
Buy a Nexus phone. It's that simple
unofficial Motorola word on xda was that there was a single intern handling releases for older phone. heh i actually believe it.
everyone here with a short memory will say they are on 5 already. which adds nothing. and they will forget the 4 months they were on a insecure 4.x