Sony rolls out ICS for Xperia mini pro, others still wait their turn

Sony has announced the availability of Ice Cream Sandwich update for the Xperia mini pro through a forum post on their Sony Mobile website. They’ve also revealed which regions have received the update by posting a list of SI numbers. If your phone’s SI number matches the one in the list, then you will receive the update. This is a very easy and convenient way of letting users know if they’re eligible for the update, rather than make them wait for it. Here’s a snippet from the forum post, “The Ice Cream Sandwich software update for 2011 Xperia Smartphone’s is now being rolled out. The update is released in batches, and below you will find links to each phones list of all the currently released ICS software’s. If you find your SI in the released software table the software for your device is released and available in PC Companion and Bridge for Mac where you can update your Xperia Smartphone.” In case you don’t find your SI number in the list, don’t worry as it will be added soon.

Updated to ICS

Sony will also soon be releasing updates for the Xperia mini, Xperia Active and Live with Walkman phones. The updates for the Xperia Arc, Arc S, Neo, Neo V and Ray have already been released, except for one phone in the fleet – the Xperia PLAY. Sony has given this gaming centric phone a cold shoulder and their reason behind it is, “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.”

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)
•     5MP camera with LED flash and secondary camera up front
•     microSD card support for up to 32GB more memory