Motorola Mobility outlines Android Ice Cream Sandwich plans

Motorola Mobility has outlined extensive plans for upgrading its smartphone range to Android 4.0, otherwise known as Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS).

The company previously announced plans for ICS availability on its Droid Razr, Droid Razr Maxx, Droid 4, Droid Bionic, Droid Xyboard 8.2 and 10.1, and Xoom WiFi +3G/4G models, but Motorola has released details of plans to bring ICS to many of its other devices.The only dates revealed so far are vague estimates that primarily fall in the second and third quarters of this year, and are subject to change, while most other models are still too early in the development cycle to release an upgrade date.Motorola also outlined its upgrade development cycle, which features four stages: 1) evaluation and planning; 2) development; 3) testing; and 4) availability. Most models are still in stage one, with around a dozen in stage two. Since none are in stage three we should not expect a release anytime soon, especially considering how long the testing process could take.Google recently secured approval from the US and EU for its bid to acquire Motorola Mobility, which leaves few obstacles remaining in the way of the deal. If the acquisition closes within the next few months we could see a faster process in rolling out ICS upgrades to Motorola devices, and it is likely that todays outline of the plan going forward was made in anticipation of this.For a full list of Motorola devices receiving the ICS update, check here.