One of the difficulties Android has been facing over the years, especially when compared to the competition, is OS fragmentation. It’s no secret that Android device makers and especially mobile operators are rather slow at updating some of yesterday’s high-end devices to the latest Android OS version available from Google. Such is the case with the Motorola Xoom – one of the first Android tablets that tried to challenge the iPad last year – which is yet to receive its proper Android 4.x Ice Cream Sandwich update.

However, we have good news for Verizon Xoom owners, as the ICS update may be closer than you think, although an actual release date is not available at this time. Droid-Life reports that Motorola Feedback Members that purchased the tablet have now received invitations to test a firmware update.

While neither Verizon nor Motorola would confirm this, the most logical conclusion that can be drawn at this time is that we’re looking at the ICS soak test for the Verizon Xoom. Nevertheless, we should warn you that test invitations are not always followed by a fast Android update for the devices in question. In fact, we’ve seen other Android devices pass through the same ritual long before Verizon released the Android roll out expected by users.

At the same time we’ll point out to the fact the Xoom (Wi-Fi and LTE) has been confirmed to receive the ICS update since late 2011, alongside with other important Motorola Android devices including the RAZR family of handsets (RAZR and RAZR Maxx), the Xyboard tablets (both 8.2 and 10.1 models), the Bionic, the Droid 4, and the Atrix family (Atrix 4G and Atrix 2).

We’ll be back with more details on the Xoom Ice Cream Sandwich roll out as soon as we have them.

NEXT: Verizon LTE Xoom Getting An Update (HLK75H), But It’s Not Ice Cream Sandwich

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