
Lenovo will adopt the ‘Moto’ label for its smartphones - jonbaer
http://thenextweb.com/mobile/2016/11/09/lenovo-is-ditching-its-own-brand-name-to-make-way-for-moto/
======
provemewrong
Also ruining Moto brand and reputation by dropping support for their devices.
Moto G used to get two years worth of Android updates, meanwhile the G3 is
just a year old and isn't getting Nougat. Their Moto G4 Play has the same SoC
and is getting the update, so it's just Lenovo doing this instead of, say
Qualcomm dropping the support.

~~~
subway
G3 and G4 do not use the same SoC. G3 has an MSM8916, while G4 has an MSM8952.

Nougat's CTS requires either OpenGL ES 3.1 or Vulkan support. MSM8916 supports
neither.

~~~
deovferreira
This is not true. See [https://source.android.com/compatibility/android-
cdd.html](https://source.android.com/compatibility/android-cdd.html).

Particularly, the ending paragraph in 3.3.1 which says that you must export ES
3.1 symbols for linking purposes but their implementation is only compulsory
up to the level for which the device declares support.

The following section 3.3.1.1 also mentions that Vulkan libraries and symbols
must be present for linking purposes but may report zero
VulkanPhysicalDevices.

Additionally, there are several qualcomm releases for 8916 nougat
(LA.BR.1.2.9-01310-8x16.0).

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pjc50
See also [http://www.theverge.com/2016/5/17/11097990/lenovo-
motorola-h...](http://www.theverge.com/2016/5/17/11097990/lenovo-motorola-hp-
palm-mistakes)

Pity, I'm very pleased with my first-generation Moto G, even if it's not
powerful enough for Pokemon and seems to have suffered from Android bitrot
slowing it down.

~~~
m3Lith
How's it not powerful enough for Pokemon (if you mean GO)? I've played it for
a good week (before getting bored) after the release and didn't notice any
problems.

~~~
pjc50
It's _tremendously_ slow. It takes ages to load. Tapping on things often has
over a second delay. The phone doesn't have any spare RAM, so if you switch to
another app it will immediately get ejected. The AR works, but at a few frames
per second.

The "bitrot" is simply that it doesn't feel as fast as it did when I bought
it, before upgrading to Android 5.1. And the storage is perpetually full with
only a few apps and as many as possible moved to the SD card.

~~~
bobajeff
I had that problem with my Moto G 4G. Found out that it wasn't the 1G of RAM
causing this issue but the firmware. This was fixed in an update and seemingly
broken again in another update.

------
nix0n
Obligatory shoutout to the Moto E, LTE/CDMA, 2nd gen, which takes a 64GB
MicroSD (even though it only says it'll take 32). Literally the device I
dreamed of when I was a kid, it does calls, text, email, and most of my mp3s.
(It doesn't do much else, due to a lack of internal storage and lack of RAM,
but I just don't care.) It's been discontinued, so get one now while you still
can.

~~~
twostorytower
I have one too. But I can't get the latest Android on it. It's stuck on
Android 5.0.

~~~
nix0n
I hope you mean "Stuck" not "suck"? I'm stuck on 5.1 and don't mind it.

------
ameesdotme
I really wonder why. Motorola has been building a great brand over the past
years, while Lenovo - in my experience - never built a decent smartphone. This
will probably result in the pollution of the Moto-brand, causing people to
trust it no longer, unless the Lenovo-smartphone department and the Moto-
department are also merging.

------
kevlar1818
Reminds me of The Wire:
[https://youtu.be/KbbZc2pab9k](https://youtu.be/KbbZc2pab9k)

------
mywacaday
I ran the Moto G for a few years and upgraded to the Moto X Force a few months
ago, am really happy with both but the G was starting to show its age. The X
force is much nicer than my wifes Oneplus2 in my opinion. My next phone will
be a motorla as well but based on how well the G lasted it will be 2020 before
thats a problem

------
fiatjaf
Why did Google sell Motorola in the first place?

~~~
dswalter
A major suspicion at the time was that other Android OEMs were concerned about
Google's production of their own hardware and potential ensuing favoritism. To
this day, Google has branded phones (Pixel, etc.), but they aren't made by
Google.

As an aside, my Moto X is still such a well-designed product.

~~~
Navarr
Pixel is "made by Google." There's not a hint of supplier manufacturing
anywhere on the device (save for the battery).

It looks like Google got mad at the suspicion and decided to make it flat-out
true.

~~~
shimo5037
They're actually made by HTC. Would be interesting to know what their exact
arrangement is.

~~~
Navarr
I think they're made by HTC in the same way Apple's phones are made by
Foxconn, which is the reason I used the "made by" in quotes.

As I think it's disingenuous to consider the Pixel another company's phone
(like the Nexus line was)

~~~
Fej
The current suspicion is that the phone was almost entirely designed by HTC.

It appears that it was a phone that HTC had in the works, but then changed to
the Pixel when Google rang.

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downrightmike
Is the other half going to be Rola or Polo?

~~~
wastedhours
Motonovo doesn't sound too bad.

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reustle
Title is a bit misleading, they are ditching their own brand name _for their
smartphones_.

~~~
kagamine
I thought the had Lenovo branded smartphones. There are some on ebay but I
don't know how recent the models are.

------
ungzd
MotoFish

