Bought a Sony Ericsson smartphone in 2011? Wondering if it’s ever going to get upgraded to that brand new shiny version of Android that Google showed off in October? Martina Johansson, from the Sony Ericsson Product Blog, is here to answer your questions and save the day:
There have been a few questions here on the blog and in our support forums regarding our upgrade plans beyond Gingerbread. We can today confirm that we plan to upgrade the entire 2011 Xperia™ portfolio* to the next version of Android known as Android 4.0 or Ice Cream Sandwich. We are working on merging our current Xperia™ experience with the new features in Android 4.0. More detailed information regarding this upgrade, timing and global availability will be communicated in due course here on the blog.
* “2011 Xperia™ Portfolio” refers to the following products: Xperia™ arc and arc S, Xperia™ PLAY, Xperia™ neo and neo V, Xperia™ mini and mini pro, Xperia™ pro, Xperia™ active, Xperia™ ray as well as Sony Ericsson Live with Walkman™
Don’t you wish you would have waited until the Samsung Galaxy Nexus came out? Seriously though, the question on our minds is what’s going to happen after Sony Ericsson becomes just plain Sony? The deal is supposed to close in early 2012, so after the ink is dry and the redundant people get kicked out, will Sony do the right thing and honor the promise they’ve announced today? We think they will, but we have no idea when. The clearest example of this loyalty, yet ridiculous tardiness, is the Xperia X10. It shipped in March 2010 with Android 1.6, got Android 2.1 in October that very same year, and then it took them 9 months to put Android 2.3 on there.
All that being said, you likely purchased a Sony Ericsson smartphone because of how it looks, not how it works, so you never really cared what version of Android was on it, right?