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It looks like the Cyanogenmod team, in a continued effort to bring continually-updated Gingerbread goodness to as many devices as possible, have brought nightlies to a new crop of handsets, including AT&T's variant of the Samsung Galaxy SII, the Motorola Atrix, LG's Optimus Black and a handful of Sony devices including the Xperia X10, Play, Arc (X12), X10 mini, ST18i, and about five others.
At the beginning of August, the CM team announced that they would be supporting the Sony Ericsson Xperia Play, arc, and neo. Cyanogen himself has now announced via Google+ that they have joined together with the FreeXperia Team to bring CM7 to seven other Xperia devices in future releases, totaling the number of supported Xperia devices to ten. The full list includes:
Update: It looks like someone in Sony's camp got a little overzealous concerning this update, as it's actually not available just yet. According to the Sony Ericsson Product Blog, the launch is coming, but "[they] just need more days before [they] can push the button." We'll keep you posted of any developments on this front -- like, you know, when it's actually available.
We first told you back in March that Sony would be bringing Gingerbread to non-carrier-branded Xperia X10 units, with a late Q2/early Q3 arrival. With the end of Q2 quickly approaching, Sony posted a new entry on its Product Blog this morning stating that "the current plan is [to] start the roll-out [at] the beginning of August," which hits the early Q3 target date right on the head.
In this line of work, I get the chance to write about things that are new and exciting. Other times, however, that's just not the case. There are times when writing about certain subjects just makes me sad... and this is one of those times. Sure, it may be good news in a sense, but the fact that I am sitting here, on May 31, 2011, reporting an update to Android 2.1... well, that's just disappointing. Regardless of that, though, here are the deetz on the Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 Android 2.1 update.
Owners of the Sony Xperia X10 around the world are rejoicing, because after a long wait, the previously locked bootloader has finally been cracked. What does this mean, you ask? In a nutshell, it means that the X10 can now handle custom features that other Android devices have had for some time, like kernels that allow for overclocking/undervolting, native USB/Wi-Fi tethering, removal of the 32fps cap, and a myriad of other tweaks.
They may have publicly stated that the Xperia X10 wouldn't be receiving further Android updates just a few months ago, but it looks like Sony Ericsson has had a change of heart: they now say the phone will receive an update to Android 2.3.3 (Gingerbread) sometime in late Q2 or early Q3. You can apparently thank the Xperia PLAY, arc, and neo, as the company says similarities in development of these devices has made it easier to bring the update to the X10.
The impossible has happened: thanks to a new software update, the Xperia X10's Internet and Maps applications are finally multitouch-capable. And as if that weren't exciting enough for X10 owners, the update also introduces support for bi-directional languages (i.e. Arabic, Farsi, Thai, and Hebrew) - a nice addition, though definitely not as high up on most users' wish lists as a version of Android more recent than 2.1 (or 1.6, if you're using AT&T's edition of the device).
Sony Ericsson has confirmed that it will not be updating its Xperia X10 line of smartphones to Android 2.2 Froyo. So, owners of the Xperia X10, X10 Mini and X10 Mini Pro will be stuck on Android 2.1 Éclair for the foreseeable future. However, Sony Ericsson has promised to provide some minor software updates, with features such as multitouch, later this year.
Amazon Wireless, Amazon's mobile arm, launched a big sale on all AT&T Android phones today in a weekend promotion that could easily rival even the upcoming Black Friday deals (BF is happening on Nov 25th). All of the AT&T Android phones Amazon Wireless carries are temporarily exactly 1 penny:
Right on time, Sony Ericsson's begun rolling out the update to Android 2.1 Eclair (build number 2.0.A.0.504) for the Xperia X10, X10 Mini, and X10 Mini Pro. Judging by what we're seeing on Twitter and from what our tipster told us, it's only available in Scandinavia for now, so we can only hope that other regions will get to join in on the fun soon enough.
Try to contain your excitement, here: Sony-Ericsson will begin rolling out an the update to Android 2.1 (Éclair) for the Xperia X10, X10 Mini, and X10 Mini Pro devices starting November 1. As sarcastic as we are about being updated to an already out-of-date version, it's still a huge step up from the current Android 1.6. Major features of the updates:
This morning Sony Ericsson posted a teaser video on YouTube explaining to X10 users the differences they will find in the update from Android 1.6 to 2.1. As painful as it is to watch a video of someone demonstrating five homescreens, slide-to-unlock and live wallpapers like they're brand new features, the video underscores the growing expectation that an update will be released for the X10 within the next few days.
Who thinks strictly black and gray phones are gloomy and boring? I do and, thankfully, so does Best Buy. A few months ago, the retailer announced an exclusive white EVO 4G, and today we got word of not 1 but 2 more white Android phones arriving on October 24: Verizon's Samsung Fascinate and AT&T's slightly outdated Sony Ericsson Xperia X10. While the exact pricing on either of these is unknown, you can head over to Best Buy today and reserve the device of your dreams with a $50 deposit. Unfortunately, there's no word on whether other outlets will be receiving these handsets - all we have to work with is the picture below.
The lucky folks over at French tech blog JournalDuGeek got themselves some on-wrist time with Sony Ericsson's OLED Bluetooth watch/remote/alert terminal. If you're not familiar with the device, check out our coverage of its official announcement in September: Sony Ericsson Outs The LiveView Remote For Android Devices...
I've had this article in mind for quite some time now, but haven't mustered up the courage to do it in fear of upsetting fanboys. But when the Fascinate shipped with Bing rather than Google as the default search engine, I could hold off no longer. For a Google Android phone to ship with a search engine other than Google, the search engine I know, love, and use on a daily basis (and I'm pretty sure I'm not alone here) is unthinkable; not offering a way to change it is even more of an outrage. Of course, Verizon isn't the only one committing this crime; AT&T did essentially the same thing with the Motorola Backflip, T-Mobile bastardized Sense on the MyTouch 3G Slide, and Sprint's had its share of Android-related evilness too (Sprint NASCAR? Sprint NFL? Who needs that crap installed by default?). The manufacturers - HTC, Motorola, Samsung, and others - have all participated in this game as well, even more so than the carriers. Simply put, Sense, MotoBlur, TouchWiz, and other skins are ruining the Android experience and must be stopped immediately.
With the US release of Sony’s Xperia X10, we were given taglines such as “smarter is coming”, but with Android 1.6 running the show, smarter may be a little bit of a loose term for now. Those of us on the other side of the pond may be in luck pretty soon, however, as Sony Ericcson’s UK Twitter account posted a reply to a user stating that Android 2.1 is due for release in the UK “before the end of September this year.”