Motorola had already announced that Moto X units under carrier lock will not be getting Android Marshmallow. That’s just how it is, and that’s why a lot of owners of the 2014 Moto X who got their units via AT&T or Verizon got depressed for a while there. We have good news, sort of, but really just for Verizon Moto X users. Motorola will give these units a bootloader unlock, so you can get root access, custom recovery, and your custom ROMs in. That makes it possible for you to get Android Marshmallow.
Let’s get this clear – the Marshmallow update will still NOT be pushed to the units. But the bootloader unlock will make the units open to custom ROMs, especially ones based on Android Marshmallow. It won’t be the stock ROM, but hey, we take what we can. Sadly, the news does not extend to users who are under AT&T. Below is the full announcement from Motorola.
Hey, everyone. Just wanted to let you know that we did get the green light to unlock the bootloader on Verizon 2014 Moto X (2nd Gen) devices. Unfortunately, we can’t do this for devices on other carriers. Also, the usual caveats apply – if you unlock your device, you void the warranty. But we know some of you want the flexibility and we’re glad we can offer it.
If you analyze this move, it ultimately just means that there are issues with the carriers themselves on why they don’t want the update. Also, there’s a lot of burden on AT&T to explain why it does not want to permit the bootloader unlocking. For the meantime though, we should be thankful that at least some of the Moto X users will be getting some joy.
VIA: SlashGear
