Motorola Outlines Android 6.0 Marshmallow Phone Upgrade Plans

Nearly all of the 2014 and 2015 Motorola phones will get the next version of Android, but not the 2014 Moto X from AT&T and Verizon, which is going to make many people unhappy.

Once again, Motorola is among the leaders of Google Android hardware partners in talking about Android upgrade plans. Nearly all 2014 and 2015 Motorola handsets are expected to get the Android 6.0 Marshmallow software upgrade, the company said on Friday

Timing is still unknown -- partially because carriers have to approve the software upgrade -- but at least Motorola device owners now know if they should expect to see Android 6.0. Speaking of carriers, the AT&T and Verizon branded Moto X from last year will not get upgraded according to an official Motorola forum post.

Here's a list of handsets Motorola plans to upgrade:

• 2015 Moto X Pure Edition (3rd gen)
• 2015 Moto X Style (3rd gen)
• 2015 Moto X Play
• 2015 Moto G (3rd gen)
• 2014 Moto X Pure Edition in the US (2nd gen)
• 2014 Moto X in Latin America, Europe and Asia2 (2nd gen)
• 2014 Moto G and Moto G with 4G LTE2 (2nd gen)
• DROID Turbo
• 2014 Moto MAXX
• 2014 Moto Turbo
• Nexus 6 (Google's 2014 handset built by Motorola)

Noticeably absent are any of the company's Moto E handsets, which are the budget line. It's likely that the company is concerned about the less hardware specifications on those phones.

Based on features native to Android 6.0, Motorola is also retiring a few of its own software functions.

Moto Assist won't be available to Android 6.0 devices because Google has improved Android's own Do Not Disturb functionality; you won't be interrupted by notifications during meetings or sleep hours, for example. I'm a bit disappointed to see Moto Assist go because it also automatically read incoming messages aloud when the app detected I was driving.

Motorola Migrate will also be retired due to improvements in the backup and restore functions in Android M. Also gone is the Motorola Connect extension for Google Chrome since "many consumers have moved from SMS to other over-the-top messaging services."

Motorola says it will have additional details on the upgrade timing in the coming weeks. Android 6.0 officially arrives on the new Nexus 5X and Nexus 6P, which were announced earlier this week. (zdnet)