How do you feel when you see a 3 year old phone got Android Pie update all the way from Marshmallow, but your flagship from 2017 failed to secure even two major version increment and stuck at Oreo? Believe it or not, this is saga of US Moto Z2 Force owners.
The weirdmost fallacy is, only the Verizon variant of Moto Z2 Force in the USA is allowed to have the Pie update, but other carriers are prohibited without any sane reason. Every variant, however, features an array of golden pins at the backside of the phone for connecting compatible Moto Mods.
In fact, the Snapdragon 835 powered phone recently got the support for 5G Moto Mod on Verizon network. While non-US units are grabbing the Pie OTA, AT&T decided to push July security patch to Moto Z2 Force running Android 8.0 (yes, not even 8.1!) Oreo.
The official update tracker page of AT&T is being revised as well, and it shows the following info:
Release date: August 14, 2019
Android version: 8.0
Security patch level (SPL): July 1, 2019
Baseband version: M8998_20207.117.02.41-01.02R
Build number: OCXS27.109-47-29
File size: 108MB
What’s changing: Security patch level
Merely a security patch, isn’t it? Wait, there’s more! The current successor of Z2 Force, i.e. Moto Z4, is now getting a major update in the US.
Although Z4 is one of the cheapest 5G capable devices (after pairing with the 5G Moto mod) in the market, hardcore Motorola fans straightaway denied to accept it as a worthy candidate in the Z family. The underlying Snapdragon 675 is nowhere near a flagship SoC while the single 48 MP shooter is dated compared to others.
Nonetheless, the phone is reportedly getting June security patches with a number of improvements related to fingerprint and Wi-Fi. The full changelog is as follows:
Fingerprint sensor improvements:
– More responsive performance
– New set-up procedure that will further enhance performance and give advice on screen protector use
– Choice of 3 exciting animation styles
WiFi improvements: Fixes to improve WiFi connection with certain access points
Android security: Android security patches through June 1, 2019.
Stability improvements: Fix bugs and improve the stability of your phone.
The Verizon update tracker is still pointing to the day-one patch aka software version PDF29.105-25-11 as the latest build for Moto Z4, but the Amazon exclusive variant is reportedly receiving the new build (PDF29.105-25-13).
Guess the phone will take awhile to get stable Android Q update (which will be the last major OTA for it).
PiunikaWeb is a unique initiative that mainly focuses on investigative journalism. This means we do a lot of hard work to come up with news stories that are either ‘exclusive,’ ‘breaking,’ or ‘curated’ in nature. Perhaps that’s the reason our work has been picked by the likes of Forbes, Foxnews, Gizmodo, TechCrunch, Engadget, The Verge, Macrumors, and more. Do take a tour of our website to get a feel of our work. And if you like what we do, stay connected with us on Twitter (@PiunikaWeb) and other social media channels to receive timely updates on stories we publish.
Tags
Moto Z2 Force Moto Z4
Kingshuk De
896 Posts
I came from a mixed background of Statistics and Computer Science. My research domains included embedded computer systems, mobile computing and delay tolerant networks in post-disaster scenarios. Apart from tinkering with gadgets or building hackintosh, I like to hop on various subreddits and forums like MyDigitalLife and XDA.
Next article View Article
