Motorola Reportedly Reneges On Delicious Moto G4 Android Oreo Update
It has been about a month since Google released Android 8.0 Oreo and now the wait is on for Android device owners to receive the update. Unfortunately for Moto G4 owners, there is a cloud of uncertainty that hangs over their handset. This is despite Motorola's previous promise that the Moto G4 would see an upgrade to Oreo.
Motorola made the promise when launching the Moto G4. At the time, Motorola advertised that "Moto Pure phones like the Moto G4 Plus will get upgraded to Android operating system versions N and O." At the very least, Motorola should be committed to rolling out an Android 8.0 Oreo update to the Moto G4 Plus, though both it and the regular Moto G4 do not appear on Motorola's recently published list of phones slated for an upgrade.
"Sweet just got even sweeter with the new Android OS update that gives you faster speeds, longer battery life, split-screen capabilities, smart text selection, improved notifications, autofill framework for your trickiest of passwords, and of course, the all new Google Play Protect, helping to ensure none of your apps become compromised," Motorola said last week. "We're happy to confirm Android 8.0 Oreo will be joining our fleet of Motorola smartphones, starting this fall."
Motorola's list of handsets include the Moto Z, Moto Z Droid, Moto Z Force Droid, Moto Z Play, Moto Z Play Droid, Moto Z2 Play, Moto Z2 Force Edition, Moto X4, Moto G5, Moto G5 Plus, Moto G5S, and Moto G5S Plus.
So what gives? It is hard to tell at this point. The folks at Android Police did some detective work and discovered that an infographic posted on Amazon India's Moto G4 landing page is the same one that Motorola posted in the US when it launched the Moto G4, except that it no longer mentions an upgrade to Oreo.
Riled up users took to their complaints to Twitter where Motorola India responded with a confirmation that the Moto G4 Plus will receive an upgrade to Android 8. However, there was mention of a time frame. On top of that, the Twitter post was later deleted.
This is bad form for Motorola. Not only is the communication here exceedingly bad and shady, but the Moto G4 is not even two years old, which is typically the cutoff date for Android updates.
Here is the statement:
Motorola made the promise when launching the Moto G4. At the time, Motorola advertised that "Moto Pure phones like the Moto G4 Plus will get upgraded to Android operating system versions N and O." At the very least, Motorola should be committed to rolling out an Android 8.0 Oreo update to the Moto G4 Plus, though both it and the regular Moto G4 do not appear on Motorola's recently published list of phones slated for an upgrade.
"Sweet just got even sweeter with the new Android OS update that gives you faster speeds, longer battery life, split-screen capabilities, smart text selection, improved notifications, autofill framework for your trickiest of passwords, and of course, the all new Google Play Protect, helping to ensure none of your apps become compromised," Motorola said last week. "We're happy to confirm Android 8.0 Oreo will be joining our fleet of Motorola smartphones, starting this fall."
Motorola's list of handsets include the Moto Z, Moto Z Droid, Moto Z Force Droid, Moto Z Play, Moto Z Play Droid, Moto Z2 Play, Moto Z2 Force Edition, Moto X4, Moto G5, Moto G5 Plus, Moto G5S, and Moto G5S Plus.
So what gives? It is hard to tell at this point. The folks at Android Police did some detective work and discovered that an infographic posted on Amazon India's Moto G4 landing page is the same one that Motorola posted in the US when it launched the Moto G4, except that it no longer mentions an upgrade to Oreo.
Riled up users took to their complaints to Twitter where Motorola India responded with a confirmation that the Moto G4 Plus will receive an upgrade to Android 8. However, there was mention of a time frame. On top of that, the Twitter post was later deleted.
This is bad form for Motorola. Not only is the communication here exceedingly bad and shady, but the Moto G4 is not even two years old, which is typically the cutoff date for Android updates.
Update
Motorola has reached out to us with a statement on what's going on. Apparently the company never actually intended to release an Android 8.0 Oreo upgrade to the Moto G4, and that earlier marketing materials erred in saying so. That said, since it was put out there, Motorola had decided to go forward with an Oreo update. It does not yet have a release date for when this happen.Here is the statement:
It’s been brought to our attention that there were some errors in our marketing materials around Android O upgrades for Moto G4 Plus. This was an oversight on our part and we apologize for this miscommunication. It’s our general practice for the Moto G family to get one major OS upgrade per device, but it’s important to us we keep our promises, so in addition to the N upgrade it has already received, we will be upgrading Moto G4 Plus to Android O. Because this is an unplanned upgrade, it will take some time to fit it into our upgrade schedule.While no release date is yet set, Motorola advises keeping an eye on its software upgrade page for more information.
