Motorola’s Support Forum has confirmed that it has begun sending selected Motorola Feedback Network members notice that the manufacturer will begin its latest update “soak test” for the Motorola Droid 4, one of the last remaining devices in the Verizon Droid lineup that is expected to receive the Android Jelly Bean update.
The size of the update being sent out to the soak test participants is much smaller than previous updates owing to the removal of Motorola’s own software suite in favor of the standard Google suite of apps and marking another change owing to Google’s direct influence. Other changes to the update mainly include the standard Jelly Bean updates and fixes, but the update is meant to de-emphasize Motorola’s MOTOBLUR and associated software suite in favor of a much cleaner experience.
With the soak test process beginning this week, this means that the Droid 4 will shortly follow its sibling devices in the RAZR and MAXX HD in receiving the official Jelly Bean update, as those devices had their official update roll outs begin last Thursday with both over the air updates as well as manual pulls being made available. The changelog for the Droid 4 is expected to be almost identical to the RAZR/MAXX HD Jelly Bean update, saving Motorola time in terms of testing compared to the former devices.
The Droid 4 is also one of the most recent devices in the current Verizon Droid smartphone series, having launched in February of 2012 to great acclaim for its progression from its original design, which ushered in Android as a serious competitor to then dominant iOS along with featuring LTE and global roaming support as well as being one of the few Android smartphones that were still designed with a QWERTY keyboard, as many Android manufacturers have moved away from the sliding keyboard form factor and Android itself is slowly having integrated hardware keyboard compatibility removed from each successive release.
