Motorola isn't updating the Moto G4 line to Android Oreo as it said it would, and that's bullshit

Android Police

By Richard Gao

Published Sep 17, 2017

Read update

Motorola has decided to update the G4 Plus to Oreo, but not without a bunch of catches. Check our post for the full details.

You know who everyone hates? Liars. Nobody likes being promised something, only to have it taken away without explanation. At launch, Motorola advertised Android N and O updates for the Moto G4 line, but to the shock of many G4 owners, none of these phones were listed in the company's official Oreo update list. In fact, all mention of this promise has been wiped away. Motorola, this is bullshit.

Motorola mentioned that the Moto G4 line (or at the very least, the G4 Plus) would get Android O on many occasions. The main piece of evidence that ignited this fire was the screenshot you see at the top, in which Motorola claims the following: "Moto Pure phones like the Moto G4 Plus will get upgraded to Android operation system versions N and O." That screenshot is part of a larger infographic, which you can see below on the left.

left: Old. right: New. Look closely at the last words in the last paragraph.

Funnily enough, if you go to the Moto G4's Amazon India landing page right now, you'll find the same exact infographic - just without the mention of an upgrade to O. And if you look at 1:02 in this screen recording of the Amazon India Moto G4 page when the phone was brand new, you'll see the exact same wording in a different format. redditors noticed this promise too, as evidenced by this post.

Look at this, too; a brochure for the G4 Plus in Spanish that came in the phone's box in Colombia claims the same thing. The "Moto Pure" section says "La version Moto Pure de Moto G recibe actualización a las versiones del sistema operativo Android N y O..." You don't need to know how to read Spanish to see that Android O was clearly promised here as well.

It doesn't even seem like Motorola knows exactly what's going on (or how to say "thank you," for that matter), which just makes the situation worse. The original reply from Motorola India has since been deleted, but the damage was already done - customers are mad. And they should be; even if O hadn't been promised, the G4 is well under two years old (the traditional major update cutoff).

Motorola used to be lauded for its quick updates. Most notably, the Moto X (2013) got 4.4 KitKat before the Nexus 4, and the Moto X (2014) got 5.0 Lollipop before the Nexus 5. But lately, the company has been more focused on releasing as many models as possible than living up to promises.

Let's cut the bullshit, Motorola. More updates, less needless superscripts in product names.