Back in September Sony Ericsson announced that some of their devices would be getting an upgrade to Android 2.3.4, the downside was that the rollout was only announced for Nordic countries. Sony Ericsson has now announced via the Sony Ericsson blog that the 2.3.4 update is now rolling out to the rest of the world and that they`ve also added some more goodies to the update that rolled out to the Nordic countries.
The devices getting the update are : Xperia Arc, Xperia PLAY, Xperia Neo, Xperia Mini, Xperia Mini Pro, Xperia Pro, Xperia Ray, Xperia Active, Xperia Neo V, Xperia Arc S and the Sony Ericsson Live with Walkman.
So what is in the update :
- Google Talk with Video Chat for smartphones with front-facing camera
- Updated Facebook inside Xperia™ functionality for enhanced like, share and discover abilities.
- Xperia™ smartphones introducing world’s first 3D Sweep Panorama functionality powered by Sony.
- 16x video zoom
- The software upgrade will enable consumers to turn their Xperia™ smartphone into a mini-mobile PC by connecting USB peripherals (mouse, keyboard or game controller) to Sony Ericsson LiveDock™ multimedia station. Connect the smartphone to a TV via HDMI to get a big screen experience.
- Gesture input – text input by swiping the finger from one letter to the next
- WiFi DLNA
- Screen capture – allows the user to share a screen grab from anywhere in the phone.
Some caveats apply to the rollout, the update will be available for all unlocked mobiles and most carrier variants but there will be local deviations -so basically it`ll depend on your carrier to deliver the update after ‘testing’. Now, obviously Google Talk video chat will only be available for phones with front facing camera, the only other exception is with the Xperia PLAY, which will not get 3D panorama sweep but it will get HD video recording and the rest of the updates.
No word yet on Ice Cream Sandwich for the Xperia lineup, but Google has said that devices running Gingerbread should technically be able to run the newest Android update and Sony Ericsson seem pretty keen to keep their devices updated and even adding the extra functions seen above, so hopefully we`ll see something on it after the Ice Cream Sandwich source is released to AOSP. We`ll keep you posted if/when they announce something.
Video from Sony covering the update :
View Comments (5)
This is great news! I got an Xperia Arc today since my Desire died.
Hopefully ICS makes its way to my phone in the future!
2.3.4 was great for the 10 minutes I spent using it before the Neo died. Excuse the following rant if you must but I think this is a serious issue.
Problem is users of the Xperia Neo and Xperia Arc updated their phone to Android 2.3.4 and because the update was new there was no working root method for the Android version so users flashed 2.3.2 to their phones and attempted to use Gingerbreak to root it. What happened with the downgrade is that the downgrade and/or the use of Gingerbreak caused the phone to display 0% battery and turn off, unless plugged into charger.
Over at XDA dev it has been discovered that the problem is the fuel guage has corrupted so even though the battery may be charged the phone doesn't recognise it and will shut the phone down. Devs have released patches but the false battery percentages are overcharging the batteries or not charging them at all, causing the phone to be non-operational.
Custom ROMs do not fix the issue, bootloaders have been unlocked to apply the patch and now warranties are void on their broken phones. A few who had the issue and warranty put the phones in for service and were given an entirely new phone inside of their original housing.
Sony Ericsson has not done anything to address this issue, they also won't work with devs to find a patch that will keep charging the battery. I am now left without an android phone, I have had to borrow an old Nokia from a friend for the time being. I also can't sync my contacts from google to this new phone, so I have had to waste time adding them in.
I have contacted Sony Ericsson about service centres and issue with my warranty, I did not unlock the bootloader and yet, they couldn't give me a decent answer. I am so over this, never buying a Sony Ericsson again.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1272738
How is this Sony Ericsson's fault?
I thought that SE said all their current devices were getting ICS, hope they do.
At this stage SE have said yes to ICS, I assume after the 2.3.4 update the next would be 4.0