Motorola announced brand new Android hardware on Tuesday, including the sleek and affordable Moto X Pure Edition phablet and the significantly updated budget-friendly Moto G. But there’s also one other thing Motorola plans to do starting with these phones in order to fix the most annoying thing about Android.
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Many people will say there’s no such thing as an Android fragmentation problem, as most apps don’t require the latest Android version to run. That’s true, but then again you see plenty of users complaining about their non-Nexus phones not getting the latest Android update on time.
That might change for these new Motorola handsets, which is even more exciting considering that Motorola is already very quick to release new Android updates.
In an interview with Engadget, Motorola’s senior vice president of software Seang Chau revealed that there’s a reason neither phone is going to be sold by carriers, and this decision will have a profound effect on Android releases such as the upcoming Android M update.
“We decided we were going direct-to-consumer because all the carriers now are moving toward this T-Mobile/UnCarrier model where they’re not subsidizing anymore and contracts aren’t there and people can move between carriers as they see fit depending on who’s got the better price,” he told the blog.
In other words, you won’t find a subsidized Moto X Pure or Moto G, as Motorola isn’t dealing with carriers this year. And by removing the middleman, Motorola said it’ll be able to control the faith of updates.
“Going with that retail and distribution model is fantastic for us And the big impact for software is: I don’t need carrier approvals anymore to push out updates!” Chau added. “So now I can push out updates and upgrades like Android M quicker because I don’t need to go through a carrier’s submission process. I still go through all my quality checks and all that, but I don’t need a carrier to tell me I can upgrade my phone.”
Check this post for our hands-on experience with the two handsets, in case you want more details about the newest Motorola smartphones in town.