This problem comes in line with the current lawsuit between Microsoft and Motorola regarding patent infringements which an Administrative Judge released an initial ruling in favor of Microsoft in the latter part of 2011. Now the ITC has placed a ban on Motorola devices from entering the US unless the mobile company does something to rectify the situation.

For those who don’t know, this infringement case involves a number of Microsoft patents allegedly breached by Motorola including scheduling meetings, email synchronizing, and reporting battery life and signal strength change on Android devices which the mobile company claims as “essential to the smartphone user experience”.

Many would note that the lawsuit happened in line with Google announcing its plan to buy Motorola. In order to lift this ban, Motorola needs to agree to license Microsoft’s patents. However, online sources report that Google and Motorola have an agreement which prevents Motorola from making any intellectual license agreements until they have sealed the deal between them. On the other hand, there are reports that there are some exceptions on the agreement which the public is not privy to.

Either way, it seems that Motorola may be finding itself between a rock and a hard place right now. Stay tuned

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According to the thread, the build is 4.0.4, which is the latest version of the platform, and is fully functional with Motoblur as its user interface. To get it, the phone needs to be rooted to allow Cheesecake to run. This is a little Android-only app that allows users to change servers that the phone checks for software updates, and once it’s been installed into the Droid 4, the option “Click to create proper files” must be chosen. The phone then must be rebooted, and afterward choose “Click to change server”, then “Staging”, and afterward the option with “100″. The download is about 400mb, which would take more than just a few minutes.

However, there are a couple of drawbacks to using this ROM, as some people seem to be having problems with the actual installation and there’s a chance that a computer may not recognize the phone as a device anymore, but the biggest problem with this is that the update is permanent. Once the leaked stocked has been installed into the Droid 4, it can’t be upgraded or downgraded in the future, so those who cant wait will find themselves stuck with a possibly bug-filled interface that can never be changed again.

If the existence of the leak is any indication, it may mean that Motorola is already working on an actual ICS update for the Droid 4, and that it may arrive very soon. Leaving the unofficial update alone in favor of waiting is the way to go right now.

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And the better news is if you are one of the owners of the abovementioned Motorola phones then you should know that only a few days from now, you can experience the best performance and features that Android ICS can bring. Yes, that’s right! Only a few days to wait, on April 4 to be exact, you can receive the latest innovation in your Droid RAZR Maxx and Droid RAZR. In addition, after two days, the HTC Rezound will also be given the Ice Cream Sandwich upgrade.

If you are an owner of any of these phone models, then it would be ideal to be part of the initial preview that Motorola Company invites you to regarding how Android 4.0 OS will make your phone fast and powerful.

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To make things worse, Motorola didn’t even handed out refunds to RAZR buyers and the option for a trade in was slashed out of the picture. Yes, this will clearly light the fuse of RAZR owners and suffice to say, all were just dismayed not only of the RAZR MAXX’s surprise release, but also to the fact that Motorola let it out for the same price, up to the last penny.

Moving over, the Cellphone Repair Shop is now giving the Verizon Droid RAZR internal battery conversion kit on a pre order basis for $109.95 and saying that they “highly recommend” RAZR owners to send their units over to their installation facilities for a professional to install the kit.

The package will include the following:

• Motorola Droid RAZR MAXX EB40 Internal Battery Lithium Ion 3300mAh
• A pre-cut Motorola Droid RAZR MAXX EB40 installation adhesive tape
• Back housing with SIM and SD card door cover, antenna and camera lens
• Back battery housing cover frame and installation adhesive tape

Once installed, the kit promises to expand its talk time from 12.5 hours to 21.50 hours; standby time from 204 hours to 380 hours and standby days from 8.5 days to 15.8 days. In a bit of an oddity, one RAZR user pointed that the RAZR MAXX’s peripherals are swappable – even the 3300mAh battery and went on to say that the RAZR MAXX’s back plate and battery can be transferred to the original RAZR. Check the link below if you’re interested.

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The first beneficiary of the update would be the HTC Vivid as AT&T already made mention that the ICS roll out would be implemented in the coming weeks. The update to ICS also has goodies in stored and it includes having the Sense 3.6 and the third party support for Beats Audio. As for Motorola Atrix 2 owners, the update is said to be arriving in the coming months and so they’ll have to wait a little bit more (it is definitely worth the wait).

For those not adept with ICS, it really has some interesting new features. There is face unlock which definitely takes unlocking your smartphone to another level. Android Beam is present which is more like near field communication (NFC). The web browser in Android 4.0 is at par with the Chrome desktop browser. There’s also an entirely new user interface (UI). Other sleek features include live voice-to-speech functionality (lets user create email, sms, etc. through speaking) and widget management.

Vivid owners can receive the update through WiFi or if not, they can use their computers to download the update.

The screens were leaked yesterday on the DroidRzr forum, but no other details were mentioned in the thread. The legitimacy of the images is already in question, since the original poster is a new user in the forum, and hasn’t surfaced to any of the replies made on the thread. The OS does look like the Galaxy Nexus’ version of Ice Cream Sandwich, with a few differences, but if the screens are indeed fakes, then they’re well-made fakes.

The pictures also depict what looks like an updated version of BLUR, Motorola’s answer to mobile social networking. It’s basically a platform for widgets of sites such as Facebook and Twitter, news feeds and is enabled on all Droid phone models. However, last year, BLUR was mentioned as having very poor performance, so hardly anyone uses it anymore.

Motorola has made no mention of these images, nor do we have a proper release date for the ICS update, so it may be a while before anyone gets confirmation that this is indeed what Moto phones will look like with the new Android platform.

Recently, rumors on Motorola’s Atrix 3 were revealed with which websites reported that the device will come with a quad-core Nvidia Tegra 3 processor. Apparently, the new device also comes with a 4.3-inch screen display with HD resolution capability of 1280 x 720, 2 GB RAM, 3,300 mAh battery, and a 10mp camera.

From the leaked photos, it can be said that the Atrix 3 resembles the Samsung Galaxy Nexus. Smartphone fans may have a difficult time in choosing their newest device, what with the Galaxy S3, Windows Phone 8, and HTC One X being released this year. The Motorola Atrix 3 may run on Android Ice Cream Sandwich, which can be a huge hit among users. However, its availability and pricing has not yet been announced by Moto.

The company has already submitted the fact that Wi-Fi version of the Motorola Xoom will already don Google’s well established operating system. Next in line to sport the ICS will be the Motorola Xoom Family Edition, which is expected to start sometime in Q2, although no specific date was announced by the company.

As previously stated by the company, the Droid RAZR, Droid RAZR Maxx, Droid 4, Droid Bionic, Droid Xyboard 8.2 and 10.1 and the Motorola Xoom Wi-Fi 3G/4G will be upgraded to the Ice Cream Sandwich, alongside the Atrix 2, Atrix 4G and the Photon 4G which will be upgraded come Q3 of 2012. Furthermore, Motorola also explained in their website its 4 phases of development: Evaluation and Planning, Development, Testing and Available.

Each phase corresponds to the way Motorola handles its devices to either be upgraded to the Ice Cream Sandwich or to remain with their original operating systems. Apparently, Motorola’s devices with at least 1GB of RAM are first on the upgrade list, with the Motorola Xoom Wi-Fi currently on the “available” phase. A handful is now on the “development” stage while the majority of its devices, some of them with 512 of RAM are on the “evaluation and planning” phase.

Further reports indicate that Motorola is planning to launch its first Ice Cream Sandwich based smartphone at the Mobile World Congress later this month. The said smartphone is rumored to sport Intel’s ultra-low power Atom chip.

Diverting over to ICS news, Chitika, a mobile ad network found out that Google’s latest operating system is only occupying 1.12% of the Android community; on top of the list is the Gingerbread with 66.29% followed by the Froyo at second with 22.33% and Éclair with 5.39%.

This numbers may not be a straight headline due to the fact that the ICS is only available to a handful of smartphones and tablets like the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, the Asus Transformer Prime and now, Motorola’s Xoom. Other companies are planning for the upgrade to their respective devices and we will surely see such throughout the course of 2012.

However, a number of reviews have pointed out that the phone does not have the latest Android version whereas its LCD screen lacks the AMOLED display technology. Its battery compartment also needs to have special key, or a pin, for it to be accessed, thus inconvenience for many. The Motorola Droid 4 is also heavy to carry around, with a height of 5 inches and width of 2.65 inches. It is also a half inch thick, thereby weighing approximately 6.31 ounces and easily standing out from traditional modern smartphones.

While many users may become fans of this new phone that makes use of Android, others may not necessarily enjoy using a massive device. Nevertheless, the Droid 4 makes use of an excellent keyboard and fast LTE data along with a 1.2 GHz dual-core processor. The phone comes with a $200 price and is now available for ordering.

(credit: cnet.com)

The difference between the two phones lie in two things: the size and weight; and battery life. The weight of the RAZR is 4.48 ounce while the Maxx weighs 5.11 ounces. The RAZR is also slimmer at 7.1mm against the Maxx which measures 8.99mm, at its thinnest point. The 1.9mm difference was made to accommodate a bigger battery.

Further, while the battery of Maxx is its major difference against RAZR, the battery life may be the huge thing that sets it apart from RAZR, and perhaps against the rest of mobile phones in the market today.

Maxx has a 3,300mAh battery built inside. Test shows that the Maxx lasted 16.5 hours of continuous playing of videos while RAZR lasts for only nine hours. Tests also show that the Maxx can last two days with moderate use. What is impressive with Maxx is that Motorola was able to pack that kind of battery power in a very slim case. Further, there is no phone in the market today that can match this kind of battery life.

Droid RAZR Maxx is released under Verizon for $300 with a two-year commitment.

(credit: cnet.com)