Motorola Unveils Which Smartphones Will Get Android 6.0

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Motorola unveiled which of its devices will get the next major version of Android (Marshmallow). The upgrade includes all the major new features in Android 6.0, as well as some that are replicating older Motorola features, making those unnecessary.

All of the 11 smartphones that will receive the Android Marshmallow update seem to be from 2014 or earlier:

2015 Moto X Pure Edition (3rd gen)2015 Moto X Style (3rd gen)2015 Moto X Play2015 Moto G (3rd gen)2014 Moto X Pure Edition in the U.S. (2nd gen)2014 Moto X in Latin America, Europe and Asia2 (2nd gen)2014 Moto G and Moto G with 4G LTE2 (2nd gen)DROID Turbo2014 Moto MAXX2014 Moto TurboNexus 6

The owners of the above phones will be happy to receive all of the following Android Mashmallow features:

Doze Mode

This new feature puts the phone in deep sleep when it's not being used, which ends up significantly increasing the standby battery life, as well as the overall battery life by about 30 percent, according to Google's David Burke at Google's recent keynote.

Android Pay

Android Pay allows users to make store purchases with a single tap, without having to open an extra app. Android M also brought native fingerprint authentication, but none of these phones have fingerprint sensors, so the feature will use a PIN, passphrase or pattern for authentication instead (the same authentication necessary for unlocking the phone).

Direct Share

The new version of Android allows users to share photos, news, links and so on more easily with favorite contacts.

Simpler Volume Controls

Android volume controls have been hit and miss over the years, and Android 6.0 takes another shot at making the volume controls easier to use.

Now On Tap

The Now on Tap feature is an extension of Google Now, which instead of using only data Google already has on its servers through the different services Android phone owners use (such as Gmail, Maps, Google search, etc.), it can also see the information coming from other active applications, and make recommendations based on those.

Deprecating Motorola Features

Android 6.0 brings many other features, and some of them, such as a Do Not Disturb setting, Motorola Migrate, as well as Moto Assist, have been replicated by native Marshmallow features, making them redundant. The Google Chrome extension found in Motorola connect will also be retired, as multiple third-party applications found in the Play Store can now replace this functionality.

Motorola hasn't given an exact timeline for when these phones will receive updates, but it promised it will unveil more details about release details in the coming weeks.

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Lucian Armasu
Lucian Armasu
Lucian Armasu is a Contributing Writer for Tom's Hardware US. He covers software news and the issues surrounding privacy and security.
15 Comments Comment from the forums
  • Gam3r01
    Sleep mode to save battery is really all I care about with the 6.0 update, however I dont see this updating coming to my own G2, so poor battery life it is.
    Reply
  • awolfe63
    Don't you mean "2014 or later"?
    Reply
  • johnnycanadian
    2014 or later, eh? This is precisely why I left Android behind some time ago. OEMs are going to have to get their collective S together and start supporting handsets that are more than one year old with new OS releases.
    Reply
  • i have an unlocked 2nd gen moto e that came out in march, i'm still waiting for the 5.1 update and now i won't even get marshmellow, which is released only seven months after the phone's launch. how fucking delightful.
    Reply
  • thundervore
    Don't you mean "2014 or later"?

    I was wondering the same thing because I read that as all phones BEFORE 2014 instead of all phones AFTER 2014.
    Reply
  • chuckydb
    No moto G 2013, which is basically the same thing as the 2014 one?
    Well, F!!! You Motorola.
    Reply
  • dragonsqrrl
    It really sucks for those who bought the 2014 Moto X from a carrier. Support dropped after 1 year, and it's not the first time Motorola has done this either. The Droid 3 was dropped after just 1 update to 2.3 a few months after launch.
    Reply
  • Dino Dubravcevic
    It feels like customer satisfaction has disappeared and the only thing exists is manufacturers'. They just strive for ppl to blindly buy next gen phones. Not fair at all. Selfish and unprofessional....
    Reply
  • velocityg4
    Everyone blasts Apple for their pricing. But a 2011 iPhone 4s just got the latest iOS 9 update. Each supported generation also gets updates instantly.

    It remains to be seen how long MS will support their Nokia phones.

    Google really needs to take Android control away from the manufacturers. Instead require manufactures of phones to submit drivers to Google. Then Google can make an updater that installs Android with all drivers and delete those the phone does not use. Also make a similar updater for running an update through a PC if the Android device has insufficient memory. Make the updater give an option for a clean install for device owners that want a vanilla Android experience.

    That way a phone will be supported until the drivers are obsolete or it simply doesn't have the RAM or storage to handle the latest version.
    Reply
  • epdm2be
    "It remains to be seen how long MS will support their Nokia phones."

    Upto (mid) 2016.
    After which they'll pass the ball back to Nokia for "Nokia" branded devices I guess }:-)

    Joking aside, hasn't M$ already told which devices will get Windows Phone 10 and which won't?
    Reply