During a conversation with PCMag, Motorola’s design chief Jim Wicks opened up about the future of their products, most importantly, those influenced by the newly formed Google exec team. Wicks make it sound as if the current state of the mobile industry, one that focuses on specs and a “bigger is better” mantra, isn’t where they are headed. They want stock Android devices that are updated quickly, phones that are the right size instead of oversized, and that reach all carriers. 

Speaking at AllThingsD’s Dive Into Mobile conference this morning, Eric Schmidt was asked about his thoughts on where Motorola stands and how we can expect to see Google use them in the future. His comments were brief but powerful, to say the least. After hearing Google’s CFO Patrick Pichette discredit any of Motorola’s near-future products as not having the “wow” factor that Google likes to see, Schmidt went the opposite direction. 

On Friday, Verizon approved the much-anticipated Jelly Bean (Android 4.1.2) update for the Motorola DROID Bionic. As is typical with Motorola updates, an initial rollout of the new firmware was pushed to members of a test group to make sure that no major issues were hanging around. Thanks to that push to testers, we now have the file for anyone willing to take the plunge and manually update ahead of time. 

The Jelly Bean (Android 4.1.2) update for the DROID Bionic has been approved by Verizon as build number 98.72.22. The update will include a number of important goodies like an immensely improved voice search, smarter notifications with actionable items, a better keyboard, and of course, Google Now. Your device should also run smoother, feature more intuitive graphics, and react quicker to touch responses thanks to Project Butter. 

With devices getting updated left and right, some apps are finding themselves no longer compatible with certain devices. But have no fear, those app developers are always working hard to make sure their apps are functioning properly. This week, the developer of FoxFi (the app that turns your phone into a free WiFi tethering machine) has added support for a good list of Motorola device running Jelly Bean, which were previously unsupported. 

Yesterday, news broke that Dan Rosenberg (@djrbliss) had unlocked bootloaders for a handful of Motorola devices including the DROID RAZR HD, RAZR MAXX HD, RAZR M, and Atrix HD, all of which are powered by Qualcomm chipsets. Today, he has released that same unlock tool so that you can free your phone from Motorola and Verizon’s clutches.

We should point out that you cannot re-lock the phone after using this tool (at this point), and it does indeed void your warranty. Also, Motorola can more than likely patch this in a software update, so you may want to weigh your options here before long. It’s risky from a warranty and replacement standpoint to say the least. As always, proceed with caution.

You definitely need to be rooted ahead of time, prior to using this tool. For those with a RAZR HD running Android 4.1.2 (the newest update), root has not been gained yet so you are out of luck for now. I can’t imagine that this won’t ever be rooted, but again as of today, there is no root method.

Update:  Dan released a root method for Android 4.1.2 that can be found here.

As we mentioned yesterday, this method does not work on OMAP powered phones, including the original RAZR, Bionic, and DROID 4. Do not attempt to use this on any of those phones.

Below, we have the basic instructions and notes from Dan. 

About a week after Motorola committed to a Q2 rollout for the Jelly Bean (Android 4.1) update of the DROID Bionic, the company has begun sending out invites for members of their Motorola Feedback Network to participate in a soak test of the new software. The invites specifically say “Jelly Bean software release,” so there isn’t any guessing to be had here.  

Motorola made a slight change to their DROID Bionic software news page today, one that signifies them finally settling in on a time frame for updating the device to Jelly Bean. Q2 is it. If you had hopes of receiving the update by the end of Q1, which is in 5 days, you will leave the month and quarter disappointed. I know there were rumors of the update happening in Q1, but as far as we can tell, the update page from Motorola has only said that it would receive 4.1, not when. This is the first time the update site has listed out a specific quarter.

So, Q2 means the update could arrive anywhere from April 1 through June 30. Ugh.

Via:  Motorola

Cheers Gabriel!