We’ve just come back from a presentation with Sony Ericsson, who said that the very latest edition of Android, fixing those pesky security issues, will arrive alongside the new Facebook inside Xperia features announced last month.
Both the Xperia Arc and Xperia Play will get updated to Android 2.3.4 2.3.3 (still called Gingerbread), and gain the new deeper Facebook integration next week. (Providing UK phone networks have okayed the update.)
Facebook inside Xperia will add a handful of new features to the Xperia. Liking music currently playing on your phone will send an update to your Facebook feed, which can be clicked through for more information via Sony Ericsson’s TrackID, whilst photos can be uploaded and now downloaded and kept on your phone.
Your Facebook calendar will also sync to the phone, and your Google account, meaning we’ll have no excuse for missing birthdays ever again.
Contacts on your phone can also be more deeply connected to Facebook profiles, and you’ll be able to see their status updates, interests, and more.
Calum MacDougall, Head of Web Service Partnerships at Sony Ericsson told us that Facebook inside Xperia was not about making a ”Facebook phone” but “enriching the experience” of using the phone alongside Facebook’s features.
MacDougall also said that these embedded Facebook features would be an ongoing project- but that it would focus on Sony Ericsson’s strength in entertainment, and vowed they wouldn’t look to replicate features that already worked well on the original Facebook app.
Any Facebook-phobes will be glad to hear that these Facebook features can be switched off, either individually, or all-together, although we’re waiting to hear back from Sony Ericsson on how much space your giant Facebook photo library will take on the phone.
Facebook inside Xperia will come to all future Xperia models, and all phones released so far this year. Expect to find the new features on Xperia Neo, Xperia Mini, and Xperia Mini Pro later this year.