Bionic - at wit's end.

[elef]

My first Verizon Android phone was a Samsung Continuum. That phone was forever, hopelessly stuck with an obsolete version of Android. Phones significantly older than mine were running versions of Android which were several iterations ahead of the OS on my phone. I was frustrated.

So, on launch day, I purchased a DROID Bionic to solve these problems. Cruel fate, right?

First off, I shouldn't have to hack my phone and flash a leaked a ROM, merely to make my phone work. Using a community-developed / leaked ROM should be for things like removing bloatware, customization and such. It should not be the only way to have my phone authenticate a data signal.

It is inexcusable that the latest generation of Moto phones even shipped. It's bad enough that even the Bionic was released, not to mention the other phones released later, built on the same architecture.

All we have gotten as far as "support" is stalling, empty/broken promises, and complete falsehoods (dare I say "lies"). I've been told time and time again that the newest firmware updates will fix the problem. They haven't. I've been told that swapping out the SIM card will fix this. It won't.

Even if we do get ICS as promised, its too little, too late. Great, so even if things go according to plan, my device ( for which I paid $300 and agreed to a two-year contract) will STILL not be running the latest Android version.

Today, I signed up for the Motorola rebate at this website https://motorola-global-portal.custhelp.com/ci/documents/detail/2/motorola-jelly-bean-rebate_en-US 

Sorry I just have to laugh at the rebate offer. There are no terms as of yet, so really it is meaningless. Even if they updated my phone to Jelly Bean and gave me $100 cash tomorrow, I'd still feel ripped off. Giving me $100 for a rebate on my NEXT Moto phone? What a joke. I really don't like Apple, but my next phone will probably be an iPhone, just because I'm sick of this nonsense.

The manufacturers and carriers seem more interested in stringing suckers (I mean customers) along, than actually fixing any of the serious fragmentation issues with the Android platform. This is probably because there's more incentive to sell the consumer on the latest and greatest next device, than to fix the broken / immediately-obsolete phone which they just sold them. This dynamic doesn't exist with Apple's business model. How many RAZR MAXX ULTRA XTRME ULTIMATE phones do we need? How about just one version that works well?