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A few weeks ago, Motorola started pushing a soak test update for the Atrix 4G to members of its "feedback network." Naturally, everyone ran wild with speculation – could this be Ice Cream Sandwich? Never mind that Motorola had already made it pretty clear that the first dual-core handset would be officially be stuck on Gingerbread until its dying day. We were all hoping that the company had a change of heart. And it made sense – after all, why would they send out a soak test for an incremental update?
If you're an Atrix 4G owner, I've got a case of the feels for you. When the handset came out, it was one of the first pieces of hardware with a dual-core processor and it seemed like it would last forever. So far, though, it hasn't managed to get ICS. We all get burned by manufacturer updates but this one seems particularly harsh. Which is why I'm glad to bring a bit of good news: Motorola appears to be beginning its soak test program for the handset.
When Motorola announced a few months back that it was not going to update most of its 2011 Android devices to Jelly Bean, owners were understandably upset. Moto attempted to calm the masses by offering a $100 trade-in credit. Now the details have been finalized and the program is looking much less appealing than everyone had hoped.
Soon after Motorola revised its software upgrade timeline, changing the original Atrix 4G's ICS ETA from Q3 2012 to a disheartening "further plans coming soon," a leaked Ice Cream Sandwich build has cropped up on XDA's forums. If you're the owner of an Atrix 4G and you're tired of waiting, there's good news - the leak, which carries an August build date, can be downloaded and installed on your device in just a few easy steps. Here's how it's done:
Last week, Motorola made some changes to its ICS timeline. Most of the changes didn't sound so good - several devices that were originally on the roster to get ICS were changed to "further plans coming soon." Among those devices was the ATRIX, Photon, and Electrify, which are all basically the same phone. Now, Motorola has made yet another change to the timeline, and it's not good news for owners of the aforementioned devices.
Motorola made some changes to its firmware update timeline this morning. It looks some ICS updates have been delayed, while others that were once promised are now undergoing evaluation. Here's a look at what changed.
AT&T Releases List Of Devices To Receive Ice Cream Sandwich Update
AT&T Releases List Of Devices To Receive Ice Cream Sandwich Update
Seeing as how the HTC Vivid officially started getting its update to ICS this morning, AT&T thought it would be the best time to go ahead and tell everyone else who will (and won't) be getting the update as well. While this list holds few surprises when it comes to devices that made the cut, there are a few devices seemingly absent:
Motorola Atrix users should be expecting an OTA update this evening (or at least sometime soon), according to Motorola's Global Portal (corroborated by reports from Atrixforums.com). The update evidently includes a handful of improvements, from the "latest Google Android security fixes," to stability improvements, as well as Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, Messaging, and Contacts enhancements. Here's the full list of highlights from Motorola's site:
Koushik Dutta, the mastermind behind ClockworkMod recoveries and other goodies, has been hard at work today after releasing the initial beta versions of the new Touch iteration of CWM for the Nexuses. "What was he doing?" you may ask. Adding support for more devices, one by one. They are, as of this moment:
The Motorola lapdock for the original Atrix 4G is being blown out of the AT&T store starting today for $250 off its $300 list price. Yup, just $50 after an instant discount gets you a laptop shell with a 36Wh battery inside.
It looks like the Cyanogenmod team, in a continued effort to bring continually-updated Gingerbread goodness to as many devices as possible, have brought nightlies to a new crop of handsets, including AT&T's variant of the Samsung Galaxy SII, the Motorola Atrix, LG's Optimus Black and a handful of Sony devices including the Xperia X10, Play, Arc (X12), X10 mini, ST18i, and about five others.
Yesterday, we took a look at Riptide GP for Tegra devices with the addition of controller support. To celebrate the update and all the fun that adding a controller to your Tegra tablet can bring, we've once again teamed up with NVIDIA to bring our most massive giveaway yet: The Riptide Gaming Power Pack.
Skype for Android, an app that gets almost as much love as it does hate, was updated to version 2.5 a few minutes ago. Because the last update unofficially opened up Skype to all 2.2+ devices, this time around Skype simply listed 13 more devices as whitelisted and approved for video chat capabilities:
If you've been holding out on getting a bundle of goodies to go with your Motorola ATRIX, there is good news. AT&T has just dropped the price of the ATRIX's Entertainment Centre/Webtop Access bundle down to a cool $99. That's down from the original $190 price tag, and still lower than Amazon's offering of $140.
There is good news for Motorola Atrix users with a penchant for rooting and modding as the CyanogenMod Atrix Developers Team has just released a pre-beta of CM7.
It looks like the ATRIX Gingerbread update that started over the weekend is just the start of a line of updates set to hit all AT&T 2011 model post-paid smartphones by the end of this year. Ma Bell is standing on the rooftop shouting out this glorious news for all to hear, along with a list of the phones that will see Android 2.3 sometime this year:
Better late than never, right? Motorola's first dual-core handset, the ATRIX 4G, has finally received the green light for Gingerbread - and the OTA is a go. If you head into your Settings menu, and hit About Phone, then System Updates - the update should be waiting for you. If not, just wait a while - OTA's often take several days or even weeks to complete the "rollout" process.
Netflix this evening appears to have quietly unleashed the Android app on 16 more previously unsupported devices, all without updating the application at all.
As an Atrix owner, these past couple of days have been a bit of a "Christmas in (almost) July" celebration. First, we get confirmation that our bootloader will be unlocked with Android 2.3.4. After that, the phone is placed on sale on Amazon for one measly cent. Then XDA Developers say "screw that; we'll give you an unlock on Froyo!"