Motorola Xoom to get basic 4G upgrade even if rooted
updated 11:20 am EST, Sun March 6, 2011
Motorola promises Xoom 4G regardless of hacks
Motorola in a statement to recent owners of the Xoom that the tablet would get its 4G upgrade regardless of whether or not the firmware is stock. Those who root the device won't be guaranteed a successful upgrade but will at least be given an attempt. If the update fails, Motorola will still install the LTE modem so they can try again later, it said.
The policy is a reversal from what had been suggested earlier, where Motorola had insisted the firmware be stock before it would plug in the 4G upgrade. It still recommends that users stay on official firmware if they want to get LTE but no longer considers it mandatory.
The update only requires a short hardware upgrade along with the firmware but could require as many as six business days for the Xoom to ship to and from Motorola. All Xooms will eventually ship with 4G out of the box, but it's believed the company opted for 3G at first to rush the Android 3.0 tablet to market before Apple launched the iPad 2.
