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I was very disappointed to see today that Motorola announced it’s effectively decided to abandon the Admiral and its user-base less than seven months after releasing the product (though, I’d imagine the decision was actually made long ago). I hope that by not not even providing an upgrade to the version of Android (4.0, Ice Cream Sandwich) that was released[1] prior to the Admiral’s retail availability[2], Motorola’s message to current and potential customers is heard loud and clear: the relationship ends once your credit card clears from buying the phone.

While the Admiral had the potential to be a great phone, this should pretty much condemn it to failure, since anyone who knows anything will know better than to buy it now. And I, at least, now know not to ever buy another Motorola phone and expect anything more than whatever software it ships with.

(Mostly a copy of my post on Motorola’s forums, but I’m not sure if they’ll leave the comment up or delete it.)

Citations

• [1] Android 4.0 released October 19, 2011
• [2] Motorola Admiral released October 23, 2011

I wrote my initial review of the Motorola Admiral (my new phone) about three and a half days after getting my hands on it. I’ve been using the phone full-time for almost two weeks now, so wanted to follow up with a few other thoughts. You should definitely read the initial review above to put these additional notes into context.

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After nearly five years of using my trusty (Palm OS-based) Treo 700p (preceded by over three years with a Palm OS-based Treo 300, preceded by over a year with a Treo 180, etc…), I finally bit the bullet and moved to Android. I actually did pick up a used Samsung Moment (landscape QWERTY slider) off a friend a couple summers ago, but never activated it; pretty much all of my reference point for Android comes from that device, though (running a custom rom, rooted, Android 2.1). I wasn’t especially thrilled with the Moment for a few reasons, which convinced me it was alright to stick with my Treo for a while longer, and keep my eye on the market. A few months ago, there were some leaks about an upcoming portrait QWERTY device from Motorola on Sprint that was supposed to be pretty fancy, and even back then, I had pretty much made up my mind: this would be my next phone.

Details in subsequent leaks changed a little bit, and the rumored release date came and went without additional information, but at long last, the Motorola Admiral was released at the end of October. I was hoping to find some other reviews online right away, but they didn’t come immediately. A few people on forums ordered the devices promptly and answered a few questions, and someone posted a Youtube overview, but there wasn’t exactly a thorough review out. Nevertheless, I decided to pull the trigger, and ordered mine (requiring upgrading my plan to Everything Data) this past Wednesday. I was fairly impressed with Sprint’s customer service that got my plan changed and corporate discount applied over online chat with virtually no pain, and then I ordered the phone, and they had it to my door around noon the next day. Nice work, guys!

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