Sony Ericsson - Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

Apr

Sony Announces Jelly Bean (Android 4.1) For The Xperia P, go, And E Dual - Rollout Starts This Week; Xperia S, SL, acro S, ion End Of May

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Device Updates, News, Sony, Xperia Acro S (Hikari), Xperia Go (Lotus), Xperia Ion (Aoba), Xperia P (Nypon), Xperia S (Nozomi)

Last Updated: April 26th, 2013

It's been a long time coming, guys – we've definitely seen our fair share of upset Xperia P owners who've been waiting for this update. But, the good news is that it's finally here, and the P is joined by the go and E Dual.

According to the Sony blog, the 4.1 update not only brings Jelly Bean, but also a slew of new enhancements that Sony has been working to "blend" with the OS. Among these new features, you'll find updated versions of WALKMAN, Album, and movies; a way to make your battery last longer with "Battery STAMINA Mode," a more customizable launcher, more home screens, and more.

Sep

Official CyanogenMod 9 Nightlies For The Sony Xperia Ion Now Live At Get.CM

Posted by Cameron Summerson in News, Xperia Ion (Aoba)

Getting tired of running the stock OS on your Xperia Ion? If so, official CyanogenMod nightlies are now available for the device (codenamed aoba). The first CM9 build hit get.cm just a bit ago, so you're only a download away from having one of the smoothest, best supported AOSP ROMs on the planet.

Definition: A "nightly" is a bleeding edge release that is built on a daily basis, usually at night after a full day's worth of new code has been committed.

It could oftentimes be unstable and not properly tested, lacking any changelogs, but eventually evolving into alphas, betas, release candidates, and finally stable releases.

Sep

AT&T Xperia Ion Android 4.0 Update Is Available Right Now Via Sony's Companion App

Posted by David Ruddock in Device Updates, Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0, Sony, Xperia Ion (Aoba)

If you're the owner of an Xperia Ion, you've probably been absolutely foaming at the mouth for an upgrade to Ice Cream Sandwich. Today, AT&T announced that the update is available for everyone, just hit up Sony's website and download the Sony companion app for Windows or OS X. It does not appear this will roll out as a standard OTA update, so you'll have to download the app to get it.

The update will bring faster mobile hotspot and Wi-Fi speeds, apparently, as well as improvements to Exchange Active Sync. Of course, all the features that come with Android 4.0, like face unlock, will be wrapped up in this there as well.

Aug

Sony Continues Its Ice Cream Sandwich Rollout, Promises Updates For The Xperia Arc, Arc S, Neo, Neo V, Mini, Pro, Active, And Ray This Week

Posted by John Thompson in Xperia Active (Satsuma), Xperia Arc (Anzu, X12), Xperia Arc S, Xperia Mini / Mini Pro (Smultron / Mango), Xperia Neo (Hallon), Xperia Neo V (Haida), Xperia Pro (Iyokan), Xperia Ray (Urushi, ST18i)

It was only last week that Sony began to update the Xperia P with Ice Cream Sandwich, but it looks like the company is now going full steam ahead and bringing the update to no fewer than 8 more devices this week.

A post on the Sony Xperia Product Blog this morning said that the update will be coming to the arc, arc S, neo, neo V, mini, pro, active, and ray "starting from this week". Depending on the country that you live in, you may have to wait a little longer for the update, as it will have to be approved by local carriers before it's rolled out.

Aug

[Deal Alert] AT&T's Sony Xperia Ion 4G On Sale At Best Buy For $0.00 (With Free Shipping), Amazon Wireless For $30.00

Posted by Liam Spradlin in AT&T, Deals, Xperia Ion (Aoba)

The Sony Xperia Ion, which we first saw back at CES (and later saw as an AT&T exclusive device), while not a flagship superphone, is definitely a decent device – it packs a dual-core snapdragon processor at 1.5GHz, a 4.55" LCD display at 720x1280 (~323ppi), 1GB RAM, and a 1900mAh battery.

If you like the looks of the Ion but are still waiting for just the right deal before pulling the trigger, this is it. Best Buy is offering the Ion for exactly $0.00 with new 2-year contract or upgrade plus free shipping. Those inclined to buy from Amazon Wireless can still get the phone at a deeply discounted rate of just $30.00.

Jun

AT&T Announces Exclusive Availability Of Sony's LTE-Packing Xperia Ion On June 24th For $99.99 On Two Year Contract

Posted by Brian O'Toole in News, Xperia Ion (Aoba)

Back at CES in January we got a first glance at Sony's latest flagship phone, the Xperia Ion. In our time with it, the device made an impression with its 720P display and 12 megapixel camera. As expected, this device is finally showing up on AT&T with an announcement today of the device's availability later this month.

As you can see, this is a phone with some serious media credentials. The 4.6" 'Reality display' allows you to view HD content on the go, including content from the Sony Entertainment Network (SEN). The Xperia Ion is also PlayStation certified, so the SEN's selection of games will be available to you in addition to music and video.

Jun

Sony Announces Four New Smartphones: The Xperia miro, Xperia tipo, Xperia tipo dual and Xperia ion HSPA

Posted by John Thompson in AT&T, Sony, Xperia Ion (Aoba)

Sony has had a busy morning so far, announcing no fewer than four new Android smartphones. The newly announced Xperia miro, tipo and tipo dual will all ship with Android 4.0, despite each having underwhelming specifications, whilst the HSPA version of the Xperia ion is still set to ship with Android 2.3, but as the name suggests it will be lacking 4G.

Xperia miro

The Xperia mio packs a 3.5-inch display with a resolution of 480 x 320, Android 4.0 and a 5MP rear camera. Unfortunately, this is all being powered by a 800 MHz Qualcomm MSM7225A processor, so don't expect any performance miracles.

Jun

Sony Rolling Out Xperia Mini Pro And Xperia Live With Walkman Android 4.0 OTA, Continuing The 2011 Xperia Line Update Program

Posted by Brian O'Toole in Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0, Xperia Mini / Mini Pro (Smultron / Mango)

Sony may have disappointed by backing out of bringing Ice Cream Sandwich to its PlayStation-certified Xperia Play, but there are still several other Xperia devices out there due an upgrade to Android 4.0. Having recently dealt with the Xperia Arc and Neo, next up is the pint-sized pocket slider, the Xperia Mini Pro. As you might expect, this will include Sony's usual UI customizations, but considering the Xperia Mini Pro's rather unique form factor such additions may be welcome in this case. With many of its QWERTY brethren such as the Droid 4 or Captivate Glide still awaiting Ice Cream Sandwich updates, this makes the Xperia Mini Pro a rare device indeed.

May

Sony: Ice Cream Sandwich On Xperia Play? Denied!

Posted by Cameron Summerson in News, Xperia Play (Zeus, PlayStation Phone)

Sony was among one of the first manufacturers to be completely transparent about bringing Ice Cream Sandwich to its devices. Throughout the process, the company has posted numerous entries on its blog regarding the process, where they were at with various devices, and even offered up downloads of the beta product for advanced users and developers to test out.

With the most recent post, however, comes a bit of bad news: the Xperia Play has been dropped from Sony's ICS upgrade path. According to Sony, "after extensive in house testing with [their] developer teams and working with [their] partners, [they] have concluded that a consistent and stable experience, particularly with gaming, cannot be guaranteed for this smartphone on Ice Cream Sandwich."

The post goes on to say that this claim has been further verified by the development community, including "both experienced developers and advanced users, along with game content providers following [the] ICS beta ROM for unlocked Xperia PLAY smartphones."

It appears everyone was in agreeance: the Xperia Play just can't handle ICS and maintain a stable experience.

May

Editorial: Sony, Get Your Smartphone Act Together, Please

Posted by David Ruddock in Editorials, Sony, Sony Ericsson

Sony, you really confuse me sometimes. The US is just about to get the Xperia Ion on AT&T, supposedly the Sony-branded flagship smartphone. The problem is that the Xperia GX just took that crown from the Ion - before it even came out. I'm not sure what Sony's grand master plan here is, but looking from the outside in, it seems like the company (that lost $5.7 billion last year - most of it in the fourth quarter alone) is flying completely and utterly blind.

Sony got into the Android smartphone game way back in 2009, with the announcement of the Xperia X10.