Motorola Marketed the Moto E 2015 On Promise of Updates, Stops After 219 Days 123
An anonymous reader writes: Over the past few years, Motorola has emerged as one of the best manufacturers for low-to-mid-range Android phones. Unlike many other major manufacturers, they keep their version of Android close to stock in order to keep OS updates flowing more easily. When they began marketing the Moto E 2015, updates were one of the features they trumpeted the loudest. But after the company published a list of devices that will continue to get updates, Android Police found the Moto E to be conspicuously absent. The phone launched on February 25, a mere 219 days ago. According to an official Motorola marketing video from launch day, "...we won't forget about you, and we'll make sure your Moto E stays up to date after you buy it."
That was then, this is now (Score:3, Insightful)
They already got money from the current customers so why continue to pander to them? Now they want new customers with new wallets to extract money from.
This is standard business practice in many places. New customers make you money but old customers are a drain on your financials.
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New customers make you money but old customers are a drain on your financials.
And old customers will bitch and complain, but will succumb to the sunk costs fallacy since they have the device, and just continue to pay. It's easier to bitch than to actually take your business elsewhere, and people don't like to believe they have been suckered.
Re:That was then, this is now (Score:4, Interesting)
IMO since we're entering the IoE (Internet of Everything) age, I think it's probably worth having some kind of legislation that every company that sells a consumer product that is network connected must provide free security updates for a minimum of 5 years after the device's end of manufacture date (i.e. when the last batch of product hits channel.) If not, we're looking at a new era where the whole world is under a constant threat of botnet DDoS, spam, and identity theft.
This could be enforced with hefty fines and civil liability in the event the device owners are targeted after 90 days of a known exploit and no patch is available. If they can't patch it, then a recall is required. If the company folds, then whoever buys the biggest portion of its assets assumes responsibility. If it folds and nobody buys its assets, then the source code for all components (including signing keys) must be released to an escrow company (no, open sourcing it all isn't practical for various reasons) that can fulfill the security updates for the remainder of the 5 year period. The escrow service would be paid by some kind of insurance (or bond) that must be paid prior to the company being legally allowed to sell network capable products to consumers within the US.
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Re: That was then, this is now (Score:2)
Fantastic though..
I assume you are happy with the price of your devices going up 5 to 10 times to allow for this mandatory support, possibly more as they will need liability insurance thanks to your requirements.
Of course the dodgy ones will just shut down every 6 months to remove their liability leaving everyone high and dry..
Sounds like consumer heaven??
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I assume you are happy with the price of your devices going up 5 to 10 times
You just made that up. For that to be true, the cost of software development would have to be 100% of the cost of the device, and the current development time would need to be 6 months to one year. Realistically, if software development makes up 10% of the cost of the device, is completed in six months, and the support period is extended from nothing to 5 years (at 40% effort, since there's not always a new operating system to support, and since code can be shared with newer devices), the cost would increas
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People will stop introducing new models. Or, to be more precise, companies exposed to this legislation (e.g. ones with an official import channel to the (checks, yes, that's your country) USA, or which manufacture or sell there, will stop releasing new models where they are
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New customers make you money but old customers are a drain on your financials.
And old customers will bitch and complain, but will succumb to the sunk costs fallacy since they have the device, and just continue to pay. It's easier to bitch than to actually take your business elsewhere, and people don't like to believe they have been suckered.
Except those of us considering buying a new phone will hear the old customers' bitching and complaining, and decide y'know what, let's buy something else.
Old customers stop being a drain on your financials the moment they start spreading negative word-of-mouth about your product.
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Except those of us considering buying a new phone will hear the old customers' bitching and complaining, and decide y'know what, let's buy something else.
Old customers stop being a drain on your financials the moment they start spreading negative word-of-mouth about your product.
But where are you going to go? It's not like Verizon, AT&T and the others have stellar reputations for not violating their customer agreements. They are all trying to outdo each other in screwing their customers out of their dollars without losing their contracts.
Signing up for cell service in the U.S. is like going to federal PMITA prison. You're going to be someone's bitch, that's for certain, so you chose the one that beats you the least often.
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And you don't get repeat customers as a consequence. Motorola should know this the best.
Re: That was then, this is now (Score:2, Insightful)
It wasn't standard for Motorola. This looks like Lenovo's influence.
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As someone who bought the Motorola i1 with Android 1.5 on the promise of updates it never received, I'd have to disagree.
I tend to agree with melios here, Moto did the same thing with the Photon 4G, right around the time Google acquired them (so that they could play the lost in the shuffle game). Locked it down hard on the way out too. Sadly, while they make excellent hardware, software after the sale has been hit or miss. I bought a Samsung Galaxy S3 after they did that, and as much as I want Moto quality hardware, I'll not be buying from them again.
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5 year support (Score:5, Insightful)
Repeat Business, every 2-3 years? (Score:2)
Old Apple customers aren't a drain on Apple's financials, even in between the times they're buying new shiny Apple products, but that's Apple.
If you're selling competitive-market hardware like Android phones, you not only need to sell your new phones to new customers, you have to keep the old customers happy enough that 2-3 years from now they'll consider buying a new phone from you, or at very minimum, you're going to have to keep them happy enough they're not saying Really Terrible Things about your suppo
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Old Apple customers aren't a drain on Apple's financials, even in between the times they're buying new shiny Apple products, but that's Apple.
The difference between Apple and Motorola is that Apple owns the app store that they ship on their devices, Motorola ships the Google one. If someone publishes an app that needs the latest OS, then Apple has an incentive to ensure that it runs on the widest possible set of devices so that they can take their 30% cut of the sale price. If Motorola ensures that the app can run on all of their devices, then all that they're doing is adding to Google's profits.
This is why Amazon and Samsung include their o
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And yet Apple has the longest update policy of all phone manufacturers of any significant volume [there might be one or two outliers that provide updates for longer than Apple does, but they only sell a very small number of phones].
The iPhone 4S I bought new in 2011, then passed onto my dad, is still supported by iOS 9 [started with iOS 5].
With Android, you do have a choice of vendors. Roughly equally poor vendors [w.r.t. updating their software].
Re:They have your money... (Score:5, Insightful)
If they don't want to sell any phone again, then you are right.
lawsuits....3...2...1...go! (Score:3)
Here's the thing, if a company says something to entice a purchase, they are likely to be sued and give refunds to everyone that purchased based on those promises.
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oh wait...
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difference is that Sony never really promoted 'other os' as a specific selling point. Motorola used it directly in their marketing.
Money makes the world go round. (Score:1)
False advertising as hell. I think they run $60 for verizons $45 montly unlimited plan 1GB or 2GB data. It is a really good deal though but you cant "multitask" without having to refresh the window you switched out of though.
Problem is its too damm expensive to have a phone with data now.
Straight talks $45 unlimited plan with 5GB data is what I wish I could have kept but the GPS would always loose its signal on a Note 3 I had.
Re:Money makes the world go round. (Score:5, Interesting)
The advertising said you would have at least one update. There was one.
The claim was fulfilled that's not false advertising. Specially not for such a cheap phone, that already has Android 5.1
Hardware requirements for Marshmallow? (Score:3, Interesting)
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Moto E is a low end phone. Maybe it doesn't not satisfy the Marshmallow hardware requirements?
Plausible. The Moto E has only 1GB of RAM. However, Moto X 2013 is also missing from the Marshmallow list. It has 2GB just like the 2014 model, which is on the list.
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OS updates are not that important for Android, as long as they are providing security updates.
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Hardly (Score:3)
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Moto E is a low end phone. Maybe it doesn't not satisfy the Marshmallow hardware requirements?
There's no reason why Marshmallow would consume notably more resources than Lollipop. If it did, it would consume only more memory. The Moto E 2nd has no less RAM than the Moto G 2nd, which is getting Marshmallow.
Vote with your wallet... (Score:2)
Re: Vote with your wallet... (Score:1)
Sure, I'll buy a GPE phone... Oh wait, Google cancelled that program. MicroSD-free Nexus is the only option. No thanks, might be time to consider switching platforms when my S4 (stuck on KitKat) dies.
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I voted with my wallet. I bought an iphone. 5s - Got it launch day September 20th 2013
Just over 2 years old. Installed iOS 9.0.2 the other day- Scheduled the install for the middle of the night while I was sleeping.
Of course, I could have stuck with my 4s... That's still currently supported. Launched early october 2011 - Just under 4 years old and it too can run iOS 9.0.2.
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I voted with my wallet. I bought an iphone. 5s - Got it launch day September 20th 2013
Just over 2 years old. Installed iOS 9.0.2 the other day- Scheduled the install for the middle of the night while I was sleeping.
Of course, I could have stuck with my 4s... That's still currently supported. Launched early october 2011 - Just under 4 years old and it too can run iOS 9.0.2.
Poor guy! He's obviously never getting Lollipop or Marshmallow.
Next time, don't be such a cheapskate, and get yourself an Xperia Z2 or an HTC M8.
They cost more than iPhones, but you get what you pay for.
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The Xperia Z series of phones have the best camera modules on the market bar none. They are also at least to some extent water resistant as well.
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Buy a nexus or GPE edition phone, even a good used one. Alternatively get any popular model that has an active ROM community and contribute back to it.
Speaking as someone who just made a donation (via XDA-devs) to someone who's maintaining the only active Transformer Prime ROM (which is actually someone else's tf300t rom repacked with a tf201 kernel) you can only get so far that way. The only reason I can even have lollipop and not merely jellybean (not even kk!) is that Asus decided to kick out one last tablet using the same chipset, a cost-reduced version of the same tablet in fact, and they brought out lollipop for that. But there will be no marshmallo
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Samsung has hundreds of devices, each with multiple versions, spread over hundreds of mobile network operators and even though Note 3 was supposed
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Lenovo... (Score:5, Informative)
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The reaction by the Parent of Android will also change as various manufacturers do damage to the brand of Android. You could likely see the creation of a new branding system ie badging specific phones as Android upgradeable. So phones that stick closer to the Android core and more open drivers, this to enable Google to directly update those phones via the play store, advantages for Google, it gets more people to the play store checking for updates to their phone (so get them in the shop door and keep them
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It is pretty obvious that the current method of forcing smart phones into being disposable products is by welding self destructing batteries in place and thus ensuring the death of that phone/tablet and thus also blocking resale. This in turn will eventually force new regulations blocking this tactic (a truly insane abuse of planetary resources) and ensure a longer consumer life for those products.
It's also blocking some basic useful procedures for dealing with a brick-y smart phone--mine came out last year, and I can and will cheerfully pop the back off so I can pull its battery.
In my experience, though, that and the occasional travel/storage situation where for safety reasons you want to pop the battery (if nothing else so if it dies horribly it does so somewhat quietly) are the reasons to complain about the current tendency to not have batteries user-accessible. I've only had one phone that manag
Really? (Score:4, Informative)
I have a samsung convoy 3 (Not a smart phone) it was released August 29, 2013.
The last update for it was released on April 2nd, 2015.
That's 581 days of support if I never get another update.
Don't mind me I'm just comparing rocks to lolipops.
Re:Really? (Score:4, Informative)
My iPhone 5s was released Sept. 20, 2013 and will be receiving updates until at least next Sept.
I never understood why they segmented the Android market so much. It would have been better for consumers if Google had a core that could be updated from Google and the various phone manufacturers put their custom software on top. There could be some system that would prevent roll-outs until the manufacturer tested any updates to the core on their phones. If they stopped checking then the update would go to the customer directly but with a huge warning about the phone/apps not working. The phone would need a way to restore the previous system easily.
The whole fragmentation and not knowing when/if updates are coming is preventing me from checking out Android. That, plus all they seem to be pushing is the large phones, like Apple. I know what my handle says but Apple is moving away from their roots. I used to like the iPhone because it was intuitive and easy to use. But with each new "feature" they are making it more difficult to use. Instead of designing to make things easy to use in any situation they are building their apps and phones for certain use cases. I don't fit in their use cases. It didn't matter before. Now it does. And so Apple has gone from what I want to use to being just the best of the bunch.
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I never understood why they segmented the Android market so much.
Android was accepted by OEMs and carriers alike because it pandered to them. It let them do the things they want to do, like bundling and locking down. But over time Google has made that model less feasible, and now phones tend to have less bundled shitware, and they also tend to have unlockable bootloaders. More and more functionality has been moved into Play Services so that it can be updated even when there is no OS update.
And so Apple has gone from what I want to use to being just the best of the bunch.
In order to use an iOS device as one would a normal computer, with freedom to choo
Re: Really? (Score:2)
I've never had to wait on my PC manufacturer nor the computer store to update my computer with the latest OS or security patches the way that Android users have to wait on both the OEM and carrier to update their OS. That's far from what a "normal computer" user expects.
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I've never had to wait on my PC manufacturer nor the computer store to update my computer with the latest OS or security patches the way that Android users have to wait on both the OEM and carrier to update their OS.
First, bringing up the computer store is a red herring. The store where you buy your phone has nothing to do with it. Second, if you bought a phone from a carrier that doesn't unlock your devices, that's your fuckup, similar to if you bought a device that the manufacturer would not unlock. Don't be a fuckup. Third, Apple makes it effectively impossible to support their abandoned devices, at least with some Android devices it is possible.
"Loading alternate ROMs" isn't that "hacking your way into it?" "normal computer" users don't have to "load alternative" operating systems to get security updates.
They do if they are running Windows XP and are unwilling to pay for a n
Re: Really? (Score:2)
The store where you bought your computer is analogous to the carrier. You have to wait for both your manufacturer and your carrier to offer an update to your phone. This is true with even some Nexus devices. You had to wait for Verizon to update their version of the Nexus.
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I don't expect to use my iOS device as a normal computer. They were designed to be different devices with a different workflow and I'm happy to use them that way. If I need a computer then I'll use my computer. I haven't found apps for iOS that are good enough to replace desktop versions. Most of that is the limitations of the touch interface. For example, say I want to mark 50 of 300 RSS articles read. On the desktop it's quickly done with a click of the mouse, moving down to the other item, and a sh
Fool Me Once, Shame on Me (Score:2, Informative)
Moto did this way back with the Moto Droid Devour, an aluminum slideout-keyboard Android unit. They didn't even release enough updates to fix the many bugs it had, let alone an OS update. I swore off Moto devices from that point forward as I'll only be completely abandoned by a manufacturer once. I wouldn't even buy the Nexus 6 even though in theory that should see updates for years.
To Moto E owners, I'm sorry and I feel your pain, you aren't the first and not the last to be burned by a phone manufacture
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They certainly have better politicians, lawyers, and maketers.
UK users can take it back (Score:5, Informative)
in the UK you can return it as electrical goods have a 6year warranty, the stipulation is the fault must of been present when manufactured, not fit for purpose.
EU users have 2 years.
http://www.dailymail.co./news/... [www.dailymail.co]
We promise! (Score:4, Funny)
"...we won't forget about you, and we'll make sure your Moto E stays up to date after you buy it."
(time passes...)
"Ha ha, just kidding! We can't believe you fell for that shit!
But look over here, Citizen- we'll give you $5 off The New Shiny if you sign up for a 50-year unbreakable contract."
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Nothing new, for me Android is Nexus or nothing (Score:1)
I've had a number of iOS and Android devices since smartphones became popular, and have learned with Android the Nexus products are truly the only ones worth purchasing. Google did a great job in building out Android, it's as close as you can get to a computer in your pocket, but what a mess at the same time. You have all these 'pretty' phones with terrible security vulnerabilities and manufacturers that's just don't care. This is way worse than "the Internet of vulnerable things of the future", it's here a
Fool me - you can't get fooled again (Score:2)
Motorola has a long long history of doing this.
I purchased their MotoActv fitness watch and after a year or so they cut off all support and updates.
I don't see a reason to buy Motorola if there is a significant after purchase support portion attached to it.
This isn't the first time they've done. This is not the second time they've done this. Why do we keep acting surprised about this?
alliteration at its finest (Score:2)
Broken (Score:3)
I can't bring myself to buy an Apple, but it is crap like this that makes me foolish for not doing so. My last phone got a couple updates, but they brought it from slow to cripplingly slow (Galaxy Victory POS). I went higher end this time with a Nexus 6 hoping it will be supported longer, has less bloatware, and be fast enough to survive a few update cycles. Who knows...
It is very sad that a dual core 1.2 GHz processor and a gig of RAM would not be enough to keep a stupid phone fast enough to be usable. Now I have a 4 core monster in my pocket with more pixels than my PC, but no real assurance it won't turn into a paper weight in a couple years.
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I can't find the page right now, but Google publishes an official "update SLA", where they say how long they will update their devices. So far they've always followed it as a minimum, and in many cases pushed updates for longer. It is a bit short for taste though, but you at least get to know what you're in for.
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I just put iOS 9.0.2 on my iPhone 4s, works great. Why can't you bring yourself to buy an Apple?
Re:Broken (Score:4, Insightful)
Because despite some of the fuckery that goes on in the Android market there are many many upsides to various devices that the iPhone just doesn't have.
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Misleading advertising aside, that's really not a fair comparison.
Frankly, by now we know what to expect from $125 phones in terms of updates. You really do get what you pay for, and with low end Android phones it is better to temper your expectations than complain later.
I am not excusing Motorola for the false promises. But really, for that price, what did you expect? And I really can't understand why anyone would buy anything under a Moto G, especially in a mid-high income country. Especially anyone who u
Updates? Android?? (Score:1)
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Android updates work fine on Nexus. They have an official SLA and they stick to it. Only hiccups are sometimes they're delayed, but they come.
Sony Xperia Z3 (Score:2)
My Xperia Z3 came with KitKat and was upgraded to Lollipop. The speculation is that it will be upgraded to Marshmallow in due time. This is great and a little surprising as I had been hearing that Sony were keen on ditching Xperia like they did with Vaio.
These mobile devices are simply pocket computers. I would really prefer a proper, open source smartphone platform. With a choice of distros like have with my PC.
Microsoft.. (Score:2)
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running the most recent build of Windows 10 for phones with no issues
I call bullshit. No one runs windows 10 without issues. :-)
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"...we won't forget about you (Score:1)
But, you know, Google tends to complicate things a bit [theguardian.com]... Orders are orders...
Lenovo? (Score:2)
Its hard to ignore the elephant in the room here... Motorola was passed to Lenovo... and then suddenly things change.
Coincidence? I rather doubt it.
At least they are being upfront about it. (Score:2)
I have the original Moto X from 2013, which had been a pretty decent device. It too had been promised OS-level updates (not just patches) and it would go to Lollipop shortly after release. The final release is just getting rolled out now, just as the next version of Android is hitting devices. The delay was due to its custom X8 chipset and limited hands to get the job done. At least this time, Motorola is probably being upfront about it or still haven't assessed the viability of the upgrade. Oh yeah, and yo
As an owner of the Moto E 2015... (Score:2)
Try CM12.1 (Lollipop 5.1.1) as an alternative... (Score:2)