The Wall Street Journal reports that Google has begun laying off 1,200 employees at its Motorola Mobility hardware division. The cuts are a result of Motorola’s inability to return to profitability as the smartphone maker attempts to compete against the likes of Samsung and Apple.

The email announcing the layoffs said that the company “is optimistic about the new products in our pipeline,” but says that high costs and operating in non-competitive markets has led to a situation where the newly christened subsidiary of Google just isn’t making money. The layoffs will affect employees in the U.S., China and India.

The new round of layoffs is apparently a continuation of the layoffs announced last summer that affected over 4,000 employees at Motorola shortly after Google bought the company for $12.5 billion. Since then, the company has struggled to create a smartphone that could be certified as a hit.

Despite its struggles, Google is still trying to get the most out of its purchase. The company is reportedly working closely with Motorola on something called the “X Phone.” The rumored device is said to be “a real breakthrough” and will go on sale in July. It’s unknown if Google will announce the phone at May’s Google I/O, but it very well could be if the device is chosen to house the next version of Android.

The transaction will net Google $2.05 billion in cash and $300 million in newly issues Arris stock, which represents a 15.7.% ownership stake in Arris.

“This transformational combination of two complementary businesses will create a leading end-to-end provider of today’s video, data, and voice products and tomorrow’s next-generation IP-based broadband products,” said Bob Stanzione, chairman and CEO of Arris. “Ever-expanding consumer demand for bandwidth will continue to drive growth across cloud and network technologies we provide that enable innovative home entertainment products and services.

“Acquiring Motorola Home builds on Arris’ rich history, creating a global player with significant footprint, revenue, and cash flow. It also adds expertise in video and a larger presence in the home to our core strengths in voice and data, ensuring we are even better positioned to capitalize on and manage the evolution toward multi-screen home entertainment. We look forward to working with the Motorola Home team as we integrate their complementary product portfolio and engineering expertise to accelerate best-in-class end-to-end solutions to a broader customer base and increase value for shareholders,”

Google made no secret of it’s plans to sell off Motorola’s set-top box division, and has implied that Motorola Mobility’s acquisition was largely for the company’s patent portfolio. In August, Google announced 4,000 layoffs at Motorola Mobility and closed down the company’s Israel branch. Google then hired Barclays to shop around the Home division.

AT&T announced today that the Atrix HD is the fourth Android phone from the carrier to get the Jelly Bean upgrade. It’s also the first Motorola device from the carrier to get it as HTC and Samsung devices were the previous recipients.

Atrix HD owners can look forward to a number of new features and enhancements that come with Android 4.1, including Project Butter and grouped notifications. On the AT&T side, the device comes with updated Smart Actions, including a Drive Rule that sends automated text messages to those who text or call you while you’re driving.

Motorola recently shared some videos of Jelly Bean running on the Atrix HD and how they perform:

The Jelly Bean update is available now as an OTA update. You can access it by going to Settings>About Phone>Software Updates.

Android smartphone users have waited over four months now since the release of Jelly Bean, and only a few smartphones have been upgraded. Still, today’s announcement is better than the wait Droid Razr and Razr Maxx customers had for Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. That upgrade only just took place back in June – a full eight months after Ice Cream Sandwich was released.

I’t easy to see why Google is now pushing its Nexus lineup of products, featuring Jelly Bean and fast upgrades whenever a new Android OS is released. For years now, the developers of Android have been upgrading the mobile OS with features and capabilities, only to see manufacturers and carriers themselves take months to heavily modify the OS to suit them. These modifications often take out features (such as Wi-Fi hotspot and tethering) and arrive just when new versions of the OS have made them dated.

The latest Android distribution numbers from Google show that Android 2.3 Gingerbread is still on over 50% of Android devices. Jelly Bean, since its release at the beginning of July to the beginning of October, only managed to get onto 1.8% of Android devices. That’s less than the percentage of devices (1.9%) that the number show are running a version of Honeycomb, the now-defunct Android version for tablets.

The earnings release is currently displayed at SEC.gov. It shows Google with revenues of $14.1 billion for the quarter, an increase of 45% year-over-year. Motorola revenues were $2.58 billion ($1.78 billion from the mobile segment and $797 million from the home segment). Motorola suffered a $527 million operating loss.

Ad revenue was up 16% year-over-year, and up 6% from the previous quarter.

The release did not have a quote from CEO Larry Page in it. It’s still unclear whether he will be on today’s earnings call. He has been speaking publicly this week for the first time since his vocal cord issues, so it seems fairly likely.

The Wall Street Journal shares a statement from Google on the leak of the report, saying, “Earlier this morning RR Donnelley, the financial printer, informed us that they had filed our draft 8K earnings statement without authorization. We have ceased trading on NASDAQ while we work to finalize the document. Once it’s finalized we will release our earnings, resume trading on NASDAQ and hold our earnings call as normal at 1:30 PM PT.”

Motorola released an updated upgrade chart today that gives us a better idea of when Android 4.0 will be hitting their smartphones. The original upgrade chart, according to Ars Technica, featured the Atrix 4G as being one of the lucky phones to receive ICS. That’s no longer the case as that particular model has been updated to say, “Will remain on Gingerbread.”

Quite a few devices such as the Droid 4 and the Atrix 2 will be getting upgrades to ICS, but an even larger number of devices are being left to rot on the aging Android 2.3 OS. Here’s the full upgrade list:

To add insult to injury, a recent software update for the Atrix 4G disabled the bootloader. Owners who installed this update will not be able to load a custom ICS ROM onto their phone. It’s a little underhanded on the part of Motorola, who’s now owned by the maker of Android, to keep people from updating their devices.

When Sony went back on their word, they cited technical reasons as to why the Xperia Play would not be getting ICS. Motorola’s Software Lead, Punit Soni, shares a similar tale:

Motorola Mobility continues to review how each device can deliver the very best experience possible, and at times, this can mean making tough choices – especially as it relates to Android software upgrades. Today, we need to let you know about some tough choices related to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich upgrades. Specifically, ATRIX 4G, Photon 4G and Electrify will not receive the ICS upgrade, but continue to be supported with maintenance releases to ensure optimum performance for the consumer.

Motorola’s move just further explains why Android 2.3 is still the most used Android OS on the market. The business model of offering hardware subsidies on the back of a two-year contract isn’t helping the adoption of Android 4.0 either. Most smartphone shoppers only buy phones when their contract is up for renewal. Either Google has to force carriers to be more aggressive about upgrades, or carriers need to offer more frequent upgrade options to keep the Android ecosystem from becoming too overburdened by obsolete versions of the OS.

FOSS Patents is reporting that Apple has lost a patent case they brought against both Motorola and Samsung in Germany. The patent in question covers “multi-point and multi-touch enable devices in general, and more specifically in recognizing single and multiple point and touch events in multi-point and multi-touch enabled devices.” FOSS points out that a win for Apple would have required Motorola and Samsung to rewrite several apps since the patent in question covers basic core functionality.

This is a win for Samsung and Motorola against Apple’s global patent litigation, but it hardly wins the war. There are still multiple lawsuits going on around the world. The significance of this case lies in the fact that Apple has lost every lawsuit in regards to this particular patent so far. It’s been proved in courts around the world that Apple’s patents either don’t apply or are invalid when it comes to core functionality.

Apple has numerous other patents that they are going after their rivals with. The other parents also relate to core functionality that we have come to expect in smartphones. If Apple wins these cases, Android phones will be forced to change their core functionality to something far more unintuitive.

For now, we’ll continue to watch these cases as they evolve. The lawsuits may be happening across Europe, but they could have an effect on how U.S. patent lawsuits are decided. Samsung is appealing a jury’s decision to award Apple $1 billion in damages. It will be interesting to see how the case is decided if, and when, it reaches higher courts.

According to FOSS Patents, the offending patent covers “a method and system for receiving user input data into a computer system having a graphical windowing environment.” Sounds like a patent that Microsoft would own, and they’re more than happy to share. They’ve already signed licensing agreements with other Android manufacturers. In fact, Motorola is the only hold out.

Microsoft have won the battle, but they are far from winning the war. Motorola is now owned by Google and they’re going to fight this ruling. FOSS Patents says that Google will probably file for a stay of the injunction within the next few days. They will also appeal the decision to a higher court.

For now, Microsoft has a few options at their disposal. For 75 million euros, Microsoft can have an sales ban implemented across Germany on all Motorola devices. This would make it impossible for Motorola to pump any more hardware into the German market. For another 20 million, they could also force a recall.

Microsoft isn’t in the news as much as Apple, but they are pretty aggressive in regards to patents. The only difference is that Microsoft more often than not choose to settle with hardware manufacturers and enjoys a steady income of licensing fees. In a statement to All Things D, Microsoft’s Deputy General Counsel said that they “hope Motorola will join other Android device makers by taking a license to Microsoft’s patented inventions.”

At this point, it seems that Motorola should just throw in the towel. They’re most likely not going to win an appeal. Licensing fees are probably much cheaper than the legal fees they’re accruing at the moment.

Today, Motorola has announced yet another addition to its smartphone products, the RAZR i. Calling the device a “full-screen” smartphone, Motorola states that the 4.3-inch display on the smartphone spans from edge-to-edge on the device with “virtually” no border.

The RAZR i actually has some pretty impressive hardware. Motorola claims its Intel Atom processor can achieve 2GHz speeds. It will have an 8-megapixel camera and a dedicated camera button. The battery, of course, is larger than most smartphones, and Motorola claims it is 40% “more powerful” than “the competition.” Unfortunately, like the devices Motorola announced earlier this month, the RAZR i will be running Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich at launch, not the newest version of Android, 4.1 Jelly Bean.

“Together with Intel, we’re redefining what people can expect from a mobile device,” said Jim Wicks, senior vice president of consumer experience design at Motorola Mobility. “A camera that launches in an instant, Web pages that load blazingly fast and a device that’s the perfect balance of screen size and fit in hand. RAZR i delivers just that when you put an Intel-fast processor in a beautifully designed phone and add in extra long battery life.”

The RAZR i will be available in select markets starting in October, including the U.K., France, Germany, Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico. Only a black version of the phone will be initially available, with a white version coming soon after.

Motorola announced today that three new Razr models will be hitting Verizon – the Droid Razr HD, Droid Razr Maxx HD and the Droid Razr M. All three phones will be equipped with 4G LTE and Ice Cream Sandwich. All three phones will receive Jelly Bean by the end of the year.

Available for pre-order today, the Droid Razr M will be the first phone available out of the gate. It features a 4.3-inch Super AMOLED screen. Motorola has taken to calling it the “The Full-Screen Phone” as it is shorter and narrower than the original Droid Razr while retaining the same screen real estate.

Coming later in the year are the two HD handsets. The Razr HD and Razr Maxx HD both feature a larger 4.7-inch Super AMOLED screen. The Razr Maxx is outfitted with a better battery that boasts 32 hours of normal use. They claim that the battery can also power up to 13 hours of straight video playback on a single charge.

All three phones will have the following features:

The Razr M will be available for pre-order today from Verizon’s Web site. It will become available on September 13. The phone will only be $99 (after rebate) with a two-year contact. There’s no word yet on pricing for the two HD models. The current Razr Maxx goes for $245 with a two-year contract so here’s hoping the low price of the Razr M carries over to the other models.