Ay moly, have you heard? Motorola’s returning into the high-end Android range topping game — and by the majority of counts, its new superior quality, $999 Edge+ phone is pretty the creation.

Heck, simply look at these excerpts in the scores of early-impression serenades released around these here intertubes:

• “The Motorola Edge+ feels like a true 2020 flagship smartphone”
• “A unique device that will stands out from the pack”
• “Motorola’ s most effective phone in years”

Well, my amazing benefits. Kinda makes you want to go out and scream “Hello, Moto” whilst thrusting the phone higher above your head, doesn’t this?
Motorola
The Motorola Edge+ certain does look snazzy on the exterior.

Before you commence any thrusting, though, hang on: As the abruptly active media relations section within Motorola is no question delighted to see, nearly all these types of overviews of the Edge+ are not able to mention the two words that will truly define the device — the words that provide every reason behind every one of us to shut our wallets, shrug having a knowing smile, and leave. They’re two words that can almost certainly be treated because fine print by Motorola by itself (if and when they’re also included in any publicly available materials — which, so far as I can tell, they haven’t already been   yet).

Yet make no mistake about this: They’re two words that will tell you all you need to know about the particular Edge+ and about Motorola’s wider philosophy as an Android phone-maker.

I won’t keep you waiting. Both words are: ” one update . inch

One update. A single operating system update for a thousand-dollar phone. That’s all Motorola is promising with its brand new Edge+ device: It’ll provide this year’s Android 11 launch to the brand new high-priced flagship at some point — and then that’s it.

I would like to make this as unambiguous as you possibly can: No one should buy this device. No one . Until you for some reason love the idea of throwing out money on a phone which guaranteed to become outdated instead of optimally secure or maximally protective of your privacy inside a matter of months, usually do not buy the Motorola Edge+. Occur to be setting yourself up for annoyance and telling Android device-makers in general that this kind of second-rate treatment of top-paying customers is usually acceptable — that they can break free with saving money by successfully saying “goodbye and great luck” once our billfolds are folded and the purchases are made.

Adding slander to injury is the method Motorola’s working to position this particular phone in spite of that truth. The company’s marketing materials plus standard product page call the Edge+ the particular “best phone for Google android lovers, hands down” plus wax poetic about the “best of Android” software program experience. That little piece about the device receiving just a single Android operating system upgrade and being abandoned simply by this fall? Yeah — not a peep about that.

That will, suffice it to say, will be not okay.

The particular Android upgrade downslide

Let’s zoom out for a moment, because the bigger-picture perspective the following is incredibly important. For framework, most flagship-level Android mobile phones come with two years of post-sales software support. It’s a platform-wide standard that’s been in place since regarding 2014 .

The truth is that will even two years  is not enough when we’re discussing devices we spend various hundred to well over one thousand dollars on. And that’s to express nothing of the fact that most Google android manufacturers send those improvements out inexcusably late — months upon months right after their release — therefore unnecessarily extending the screen in which your personal and/or function phone is not at the best level of privacy, security, plus performance available.

And inspite of the popular narrative to the in contrast, the situation isn’t actually getting far better . Not by any kind of significant measure, anyway. The information talks for itself . Plus Motorola, notably, is among the cheapest of the bottom-of-the-barrel performers, being released in with a lovely round 0% “F” score upon my latest Android Update Report Card (and along with similar results in other report credit cards before that).

The sole exclusion to the rule is Search engines, not surprisingly, which provides a full three years of timely and dependable updates for its own prosperous Pixel products. Even that will amount of time could arguably much better — and as I mentioned in my most recent newsletter , recent rumors of Search engines working to develop its own custom made smartphone chip give me wish that an even further-extended assistance period for Pixels can eventually be possible.

Yet back to Motorola: What’s eventually happening here is that the firm is quietly opting in order to disregard and violate a good already-minimal platform-wide standard associated with post-sales support — regarding no apparent reason minus so much as even trying to justify it. The primary assumption, I’ve gotta envision, is that most people probably won’t discover those two little words and phrases or give ’em any kind of real thought. And let’s not pretend: It’s a reasonable assumption for making, given the miniscule quantity of attention Android upgrade efficiency tends to receive alongside the phone’s more superficial characteristics.

And you know what? To a specific degree, I get it. Post-sales software support isn’t an attractive or easy-to-understand subject and it is far less eye-catching than, state, a snazzy-lookin’ “waterfall” display or a shiny-colored outdoor. But OS updates are in fact far more consequential for your day-to-day use of a device compared to any of that other stuff, specifically over the entire time that you simply own a phone. This is because something you won’t see highlighted in a whole lot of locations: In addition to their more front facing elements, Android OS improvements include a significant number of improvements to the under-the-hood systems that will allow your phone to work optimally, securely, and usually with your best interests in mind.

Let’s take a think about the current Android ten release, for example. That software program introduced the critically essential ability to limit an app’s access to your location to only once the app is actively being used. It brought about greater control of how apps can entry your photos, videos, as well as other files along with better defense against apps taking over your display screen and expanded protection of the unique device identifiers. And all sorts of that’s only scratching the surface .

The upcoming Android eleven update will pick up exactly where 10 left off and provide you even more control over substantial app permissions. It’ll draw more critical software parts out of the operating system, too, plus make them easily updatable with the Play Store, among other things .

The take-home message are these claims: Even if you don’t care about the particular flashier front-facing elements, Google android updates absolutely do matter . And taking advantage of a phone that isn’t fairly up to date with both major OPERATING SYSTEM releases plus the smaller month-to-month security patches that product ’em is not in any way recommended — for anyone, really, however for business users in particular. (And as for those patches, by the way, Moto is apparently even cheaping out there and reportedly intending to provide those only quarterly, instead of monthly, and only for 2 years instead of the typical 3 on that front. )

All you need is a little simple department to see how quickly the results from this start to add up.

A smarter approach to smart phone value

I’m very little of an algebraist — I really just had to go appearance that word up to make certain it was even a real point — but I from time to time like to do a little smart smartphone mathematics to figure out the device’s actual value. That will lets you see exactly how much certainly pay monthly of buying the phone, assuming you keep this for the entire period in which it could fully supported and thus completely advisable to use.

Under this kind of mindset, a device like the Universe S20, which starts with $1, 000 and gets two years of guaranteed Google android updates, ends up costing a person about 42 bucks per month (provided you bought it near to the time that it came out, that is always your best bet in terms of increasing value).

A phone such as the Pixel 4, which begins at $800 and gets three years of guaranteed Google android updates, comes out to $22 a month. And a phone such as the -pixel 4a , which is likely to cost $400 and get those same three years associated with guaranteed updates, costs merely a 11 dollars a month throughout its advisable ownership time period.

So what about the new Motorola Edge+? Brace yourself: Using its thousand-dollar price tag and solitary year of software support, that will device will effectively set you back $83 for every month you have it — with the presumption that you really shouldn’t keep hold of it for more than a yr, given how outdated plus inadvisable to use it’ll be simply by next summer.

Here’s exactly how that all works out in terms of yearly ownership costs:
JR
Generously click Mr. Image for making him bigger.

Quite the particular contrast, eh?

Farewell, Moto

Sadly, nothing of this should come as a shock. We saw signs of Motorola climbing back the already-poor software support this past year, when the company launched the Moto Z4 with the guarantee of only a single calendar year of Android OS up-dates. That phone, however , price $500 — so although it was still unacceptable (and still made the device unjustifiably expensive in terms of actual time-of-ownership value), it wasn’t almost as grievous as exactly what we’re seeing now with all the new Edge+ flagship.

Nevertheless, the basic situation is almost similar to what happened back then, therefore it only seems appropriate to finish with the same closing believed I coughed up that will month:

The Google android landscape is constantly evolving, and today more than ever, as Android device-makers try to cut corners simply by shying away from established methods and norms, the responsibility drops upon a person as an informed and practical-minded phone-owner to find out what you’re actually obtaining with any given phone — not just in terms of first-day functions but in terms of the device’s whole likely life span — and to make your purchasing choices accordingly.

As has always been the situation with Android, the option intended for optimal software support most definitely does exist. It’s basically up to you to decide how much of the priority that is for you and after that to choose a device that provides the kind of experience and longer-term worth you want.

The power, as always, is in your hands. Use it sensibly.

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