Sony Ericsson phones from 2011 will not be getting Jelly Bean

UK Product Manager for Sony Mobile, John Cooper was taking questions from customers on Facebook recently, 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 their 2011 phone lineup, and the Android 4.1 Jelly Bean update before this. The Xperia 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.

Not getting Jelly Bean

Sony had earlier announced that the 2011 lineup of Xperia phones would be receiving the Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS) update. The rollout for the ICS update was set to take place in a phased manner over the course of several weeks and Sony had stated that all kits for a specific model would not receive the update at the same time.

As for the 2012 Xperia phones, Cooper has said that Sony is still reviewing which handsets are the best suited for the Jelly Bean update, and that the decision will be announced on Sony’s Facebook page.

If you’re interested in the specs of the most powerful Sony Xperia handset from 2011, the Xperia Arc S, here they are:

• 4.2-inch capacitive touchscreen with a 480 x 854 pixel resolution
• 3G, EDGE/GPRS, Wi-Fi
• GPS with A-GPS support
• Bluetooth 2.1 with A2DP, USB 2.0
• 8 MP autofocus camera with LED flash, 720p video recording
• Stereo FM radio with RDS
• Memory expandable upto 32 GB via microSD card
• 3.5 mm handsfree socket

The phone also sports a 1.4 GHz processor that gives it a 25 percent performance boost compared to the Xperia Arc. 

Sony had recently released the ICS update for their Xperia Mini Pro. They had announced the update through a forum post on their Sony Mobile website.

Here are some of the specifications of the Xperia Mini Pro:

• 3-inch capacitive touchscreen display with a 320 x 480 pixel resolution
• 3G, EDGE/GPRS and Wi-Fi capabilities for net access
• GPS with A-GPS support for Google Maps
• Bluetooth with A2DP and USB 2.0 (Micro)
• 5 MP camera with LED flash and secondary camera up front
• microSD card support for upto 32 GB more memory

The one phone to not receive the update to Ice Cream Sandwich was the Xperia Play. Sony has given a reason behind not updating the gaming centric phone, “This decision was also verified when we received similar feedback from the developer community; both experienced developers and advanced users, along with game content providers following our ICS beta ROM for unlocked Xperia PLAY smartphones. Our priority has and always will be, to provide the best possible user experience on Xperia smartphones. In this instance the ICS upgrade would have compromised stability, where we look to ensure a quality gaming experience with games optimized and developed for Xperia PLAY.”