Motorola's disrespect

[lips2286]

Fellow Android lovers. I am a Motorola Cliq owner. My phone as well as the Dext, XT, and Backflip are running Android 1.5. We were mislead into believing an update was coming for our phones. While at this time we are being told the upgrade for the Cliq, which was the first 1.5 phone on the list, is being tested we were only told that information on the very last day of Motorola's own self-imposed deadline. While no promise was made, no communication was made to the public before the very last minute. As owners of a Product that cost some of us $400 we feel that we have been put on the back burner by a company that has found more success with phones that do not run its MotoBlur user interface. Despite the Dext and Cliq's release before the Droid, the Droid has been upgraded from its very own special o.s. 2.0 to 2.1. Rumors now say the Droid should be updated to 2.2 very soon! Also, the Droid X is being delivered with Blur as a set of widgets rather than a user interface. This only lends credit to the idea that Blur has failed. We have been told to expect an update now. We have no idea when it will come, only that it is in testing.
I am reaching out to the other Cliq/Dext/BackFlip/XT owners and asking you to join my Facebook Group. The link is in my signature. This may seem trivial to some of you, but those of us stuck on 2.1 are missing out on some very useful apps. We do not have turn by turn navigation. We do not have the Kindle app. We do not have a lot of things we should have. The point of Android was to make it customizable and to make it available for updates and advances in the o.s. Motorola has totally crippled a $400 smartphone by placing its own user interface on top of the Android o.s. Motorola owners are being left in the dust unless they are Verizon handset owners. All of this is very unfortunate. It is my belief that this facebook group is a way for us to show a physical number of upset customers. A group on facebook got Betty White on SNL!

 

[takeshi]

That's why in my view anything other than an officially announced release date (for devices, updates, whatever) doesn't mean a thing when it comes to anything in the wireless market. Don't count on anything other than such unless you're into disappointment.

Why would you buy a skinned/UI Android device is you want the fastest updates? Think about it, the skin/UI adds complexity as the OEM has to spend additional time ensuring that the skin/UI and the Android update work properly together. Of course Google Experience phones (such as the Droid) get updates faster -- they're as close to stock Android as it gets.

Do you have a link from Motorola announcing updates for the devices mentioned? Or is this all based on rumor?

 

[mrmojoz]

Someone paid $400 for one of the Motorola crap phones?

 

[opticalshadow]

well i dont mean to sound harsh on this, but thatsa what you get for going with a phone designed liek that. i mean yeah it sucks that you got lied to by moto, and it sucks that because of their interface it will take forever for things to come your way.

the only news i care about when updates are concered are directly from teh androids themselves, offical is the only one i care about, which generally mean i dont listen to my service provider at all, which i salso why i bought an N1, i wanted to know that the relase date i get from my homeship was gold.

as for the droid getting updates faster then cliq, from what i understood droid was liek the flagship of android phones at the time, and it will most likly recive priority over other phones in its class until it becomes obsolte, the cliq with a interface over the gui makes standered ota's slow, and moto has bigger fish in it sea to catch then an update for a phone that would require an entire build dedicated for tehupdate. it sucks that you got boned like this, and i feel for you.

 

[sic0048]

Not to sound like a prick - but you should never buy a device based on what someone said it will do. You should buy based on what it does now.

 

[lips2286]

Thank you guys for your thoughts! I do appreciate them. Believe me I have been kicking my own butt for about 4 months now. I did not do enough research into Android at the time to realize that the Cliq was not an Android phone.

This is definitely my bad. While doing my research on Android, I found that the system was easy to upgrade and that Android phones should be able to stay current. So when I went to my t-mobile store I asked for an Android device with a qwerty. The cliq was brought to me. I saw that it was running 1.5. I had done enough research to know that wasn't current, but had also read Sanjay's (moto bigwig) quote promising the update. Mentioned the update to the rep, rep said it was coming in a month at the most.

If I had known that MotoBlur was an overlay of the Android o.s. I would not have purchased the phone. I thought by going Android I was jumping ship from handset makers that released a phone and then forgot about it. I did not realize that Blur wasn't just a set of custom widgets. Only after I tried to use turn by turn navigation did i realize just how badly I'd been duped. A little more research brought the Sense u.i. and its problems to my attention, and then I found Motorola's Owner Forum. That is when I began to understand just what I had done.

Rest assured, I will not be purchasing another Android phone with some u.i. on it. The point of purchase was to sport a Google inspired phone. That is not what I got. There are many many users out there who feel the same way. I guess I spent the majority of my first post complaining.

Let me give you a better idea of why I started the FB Group. Motorola refuses to give any official statements regarding the update. They refuse to respond to users questions regarding how they are in breech of their OHA rules and regulations. They refuse to respond to the fact that their Blur u.i. is hindering the progression of Google's innovations. What we want is answers. Blur users were led to believe they were getting an Android smartphone. What we all got was a Motorola Tween Text Machine.

The FB group focuses on the update at this time because there are 3 other Blur phones that haven't even been given a testing in progress notification. They have no clue when they will get to use the full capabilities of the Android Market or pinch to zoom web browsing. I feel that if we amass into one group in one place, it will be a whole lot harder to ignore us.

Motorola customers have questions, and we want answers! (From Motorola)

 

[mrmojoz]

What we all got was a Motorola Tween Text Machine.

I'm sorry, but thats exactly what that phone was meant to be.

 

[Ynomrah]

/joined the revolution.

 

[UrbanMuppet]

No longer a contributing member. Account pending for deletion.

 

[EmoTonyB]

I'm with you. Sadly the Cliq was the only phone available at T-Mobile when my G1 broke. I hated every minute I had with that phone.

the mytouch3G came out before the cliq... just saying..

 

[opticalshadow]

yeah there were a few more options, unless your t-mobile store only had very few for some reason or another. anything im unsure about i ask here to avoid this type of situation, i think i was on the forums for a good long while before i bought my phone, i started out wanting to get a mytouch, and these guys slowly convinced me up the food chain to teh Nexus One, havent regretted it yet.

 

[ashykat]

I don't know if this is something you'd want to do, but I used to see all the time on Craigslist people trading phones. For example, people wanting to trade their mytouch for a cliq, etc. The mytouch is a lot more customizable than the cliq and you can root and install roms on it. Might be something you want to look into?

 

[ari-free]

Let it be said now so that nobody will get the wrong idea: something called "Charm" and looks like

is also likely to be a tween texter

 

[opticalshadow]

yuck, that looks a bit on the ugly side

 

[Tangent]

On the subject of Motorola disrespect:

Apparently their new Droid X is designed to brick itself if you attempt to mod it.

Leaving people hanging waiting for a promised update that never comes is bad enough, but now they're intentionally destroying phones if you try to update it yourself?!?

 

[rasmith3530]

MotoBLUR made me somewhat leary when it came out. My concern was that Motorola Mobile Devices division was in such dire straights a couple years ago that they couldn't find a buyer when a sell-off was mentioned, and a majority stock holder was forcing them to spin off the mobile phone business from the rest of the company. I thought, "What would become of MotoBLUR, and those who'd purchased phones based on it, if the company went belly-up?"

From what I'm reading in this thread, it looks like this is the answer, and they haven't even gone under!

 

[thaden0]

Motorola Cliq 2.1 leak -- yes, Blur and Eclair now play together | Android Central

Maybe look into this or some other custom rom. This is android after all, take advatage of whats out there.

 

[kbohip]

Motorola Cliq 2.1 leak -- yes, Blur and Eclair now play together | Android Central

Maybe look into this or some other custom rom. This is android after all, take advatage of whats out there.

But still nothing for the Cliq XT.

 

[CriticalMass]

Motorola should not be trying to lock the phones down. this crap is exactly why. The original DROID was ONLY as popular as it was because it was NOT locked down. No encrypted boot loader B.S. no Moto Blur crap.

Motorola is going to put themselves right back where they were if they don't stop this foolishness. They need to ride the wave that is Droid by being more open instead of going Apple's route.

 

[MonmouthDroid]

How did a thread that is just a bunch of complaining get stickied?

 

[J03]

How did a thread that is just a bunch of complaining get stickied?

My guess: angry mod with a cliq that is too embarrassed to admit it.

 

[jroc]

Motorola should not be trying to lock the phones down. this crap is exactly why. The original DROID was ONLY as popular as it was because it was NOT locked down. No encrypted boot loader B.S. no Moto Blur crap.

Motorola is going to put themselves right back where they were if they don't stop this foolishness. They need to ride the wave that is Droid by being more open instead of going Apple's route.

I disgree with that. Not wanting to drag the root vs. non-root debate up..but how many ppl that bought the Droid do you think rooted and installed custom ROMs on it?

When I first got it I had no idea it did that. All I saw was free GPS, capacitive touch screen, and tons of free apps, slide out keyboard. Thats it.

It was popular cuz it was/is a good phone. I do agree that it not having Blur my have helped its popularity tho. I agree with ppl that say all Android phones should come with vanilla Android, with an option to install Sense UI, MotoBlur, TouchWiz, etc.

 

[vbetts]

Verizon alongside Motorola is handling the updates for the Droid series. The Milestone isn't getting 2.2 despite being a GSM version of the Droid.

 

[sdguy67]

well i dont mean to sound harsh on this, but thatsa what you get for going with a phone designed liek that. i mean yeah it sucks that you got lied to by moto, and it sucks that because of their interface it will take forever for things to come your way.

the only news i care about when updates are concered are directly from teh androids themselves, offical is the only one i care about, which generally mean i dont listen to my service provider at all, which i salso why i bought an N1, i wanted to know that the relase date i get from my homeship was gold.

as for the droid getting updates faster then cliq, from what i understood droid was liek the flagship of android phones at the time, and it will most likly recive priority over other phones in its class until it becomes obsolte, the cliq with a interface over the gui makes standered ota's slow, and moto has bigger fish in it sea to catch then an update for a phone that would require an entire build dedicated for tehupdate. it sucks that you got boned like this, and i feel for you.

The Droid also has stock Android instead of crappy MotoBlur, which made it MUCH easier to get the software working on it over older phones with slower processors, less memory, and with custom Skins

Stick to phones with stock Android, and you will have a lot less issues. Plus it will force Moto, HTC, and Samsung to either stop putting those skins on phones, or to improve their trun around time for upgrade. If people stop buying them, and only buy phones with stock Android, these companies will learn

 

[sdguy67]

I disgree with that. Not wanting to drag the root vs. non-root debate up..but how many ppl that bought the Droid do you think rooted and installed custom ROMs on it?

When I first got it I had no idea it did that. All I saw was free GPS, capacitive touch screen, and tons of free apps, slide out keyboard. Thats it.

It was popular cuz it was/is a good phone. I do agree that it not having Blur my have helped its popularity tho. I agree with ppl that say all Android phones should come with vanilla Android, with an option to install Sense UI, MotoBlur, TouchWiz, etc.

It has nothing to do with Rooting or non-rooting. I bought a Droid because I didn't want any of the custom skins on my phone and wanted it to be stick android and stock android only, and that is what I got. I have never rooted my phone, and didn't want anything to do with Blur, Sense, or any other custom skins