Android 4.0.4 rolling out to 2011 Xperia smartphones

A few days after announcing that the Xperia P will be receiving the Android 4.0 update, Sony has recently posted an announcement on its blog that will surely excite those who have purchased the 2011 Xperia handsets. As per a post on its official blog, Sony has announced that starting from this week, it will  be rolling out Android 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich to its existing 2011 Xperia range of handsets.

As per the post, Sony states, “Starting from this week, Xperia arc, Xperia arc S, Xperia neo, Xperia neo V, Xperia mini, Xperia pro, Xperia active and Xperia ray will receive a new Ice Cream Sandwich software update that comes with bug fixes, performance tweaks and other improvements. Xperia mini pro, Xperia neo L and Live with Walkman are next up, and will start to receive their serving over the next few weeks.”

Sony to update 2011 Xperia handsets to ICS this week

Though the brand has announced the update for these handsets, it states that the availability and scheduling of this software upgrade will vary by market and carrier requirements.

The post goes on to state that users who have already upgraded to Android Ice Cream Sandwich will receive a notification on their handsets informing them to download the update over-the-air. Users of any of these handsets who are using the Android Gingerbread operating system will need to upgrade their smartphone using the PC companion or Bridge for Mac. To know more about the update, click the link here.

As mentioned earlier, Sony had recently announced the availability of Android 4.0 on the Xperia P. For those in the dark regarding this update, here is a quick look at the features one can get when they upgrade their handset to this new firmware:

• New ways to experience your media with new media applications – “WALKMAN”, “Album” and “Movies”
• Extended standby mode, increasing standby time by up to four times (depending on user-profile and data consumption)
• Lock screen with improved functionality
• Resizable widgets for improved personalisation
• Improved control of your mobile data consumption
• Recent Apps button for a clear overview of your applications

With Android Jelly Bean already been made public last month, Sony had announced that the Xperia lineup from 2011 will not be eligible for the update to Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. UK Product Manager for Sony Mobile, John Cooper was taking questions from customers on Facebook and revealed that the Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc S and Xperia Mini Pro will not be getting updates to Android 4.1 aka Jelly Bean OS.

Sony was yet to make an official statement regarding its 2011 phone lineup and the Android 4.1 Jelly Bean update before this. The Arc S was the Xperia phone with the highest specs released in 2011. So if it isn’t getting the update, you can be sure that none of the other 2011 phones would be getting it. Sony is also yet to announce if the 2012 lineup of Xperia phones will be getting the update to Jelly Bean.