Ice Cream Sandwich coming to 2011 Xperia™ smartphones from end March/early April 2012

Sony Ericsson confirms that the first 2011 Xperia™ smartphones will be upgraded to Android 4.0 starting from end March/early April 2012. The first smartphones to get the upgrade are Xperia™ arc S, Xperia™ neo V and Xperia™ ray. Soon after, starting from end April/early May, Xperia™ arc, Xperia™ PLAY, Xperia™ neo, Xperia™ mini and mini pro, Xperia™ pro, Xperia™ active as well as Sony Ericsson Live with Walkman™ will get their upgrades.

This will be a phased roll out over several weeks and all kits for a specific phone model will not get the upgrade at the same time.

Below is a summary of the process:
•It starts with public push when we as a manufacturer get access to the new Android release from Google
•Our developers take the existing Xperia™ software and combine it with the new Android release
•Once the coding is done we want to make sure the quality of the new software meets our, our partners and your expectations
•Now we feel the new software is ready but we also need to make sure it’s approved by our external partners
•All good. We’re all set to roll-out the new software. The story continues in your Xperia™ smartphone

Owners of 2011 Xperia™ smartphone will receive a notification in the phone instructing them to download the software over the air via 3G or WiFi. Alternatively, they will have the option to connect to a computer and download it via PC companion.

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