Sony releases Android 4.0 Ice cream, for certain Xperia 2011 handsets

[Xahid]

Starting from today (13th April), we?re beginning the Sony software upgrade including the uplift to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich for our 2011 Xperia? smartphones.

The software will initially be made available for Xperia arc S, Xperia neo V and Xperia ray for consumers in Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, Finland and Norway. For the above models, the software rollout will continue over the next 4-6 weeks, becoming available in other global markets ? we will update you here on the blog when additional markets can upgrade.

You?ll be able to see when the software kit (customized specific to your operator and handset) is ready on our support community;

http://talk.sonymobile.com ? please continue to check in if your kit is not yet listed, as it will be updated when new kits become available.

In order to upgrade your 2011 Xperia smartphone you will need to connect to a PC or Mac ? please visit

http://www.sonymobile.com/update and follow the instructions.

Following on, Xperia arc, Xperia PLAY, Xperia neo, Xperia mini, Xperia mini pro, Xperia pro, Xperia active and Sony Ericsson Live with Walkman will receive their scoop starting from the end of May/early June*.

Thanks for all your comments and questions so far; please keep them coming and we will continue to answer as many as possible.

If you?re looking for more information, you might find these links useful:

• Our original Product blog post announcing our rollout timings
  
• Our Developer World post detailing the technical differences between ICS and GB and how Android 4.0 will change your 2011 Xperia smartphone
  
• A look at the ICS alpha and beta versions for unlocked Xperia smartphones
  

*The availability and scheduling of this software upgrade and specific models upgradeable to Android 4.0 will vary by market and carrier requirements

Via Sony Blog

[Trudd]

There was a lot of talk about this upgrade causing problems with older 2011 phones and the memory available there. However so far I have gained both double the internal memory and RAM compared with the old Andoid on my Xperia Ray so I'm more than happy at the moment. :-) Remains to see how the battery stands up.

[Cute James]

Trudd, I'm very interested in the Ray (I believe it's the only smartphone with a small form factor), so would be keen to read your thoughts on the ICS upgrade. Are things like scrolling etc. much smoother due to the hardware acceleration etc.?

[Trudd]

No I wouldn't say that. It is about the same as far as I can tell. Well maybe it is scrolling faster but only after a few seconds of thinking.. ie when opening the contacts or sms app it scrolls with a few hickups for 1-3 seconds before it becomes very smooth and fast. Anyway I wouldn't use this as an argument for upgrading. I'm not current with the latest models but I thougth Sony had a new small form factor phone in the same category as the Ray that should be released soon? Basically a facelifted Ray I guess (with 512 RAM instead of 384 RAM or whatnot).

[neo1911]

Did they just say end of May/Early June for other models? First it was March, then April and now May. So this means, it will actually land in June/July for international markets when Android 5 will be doing rounds. I have installed ExMIUI rom on Xperia Mini. No issues so far. Works good as a backup phone.

[|Rapture|]

Please tell me this means they'll start rolling out Xperia S upgrades now...

[Xahid]

Xperia S update is delayed to May ...

[hellohello]

It's stated ICS will use more resources and some of the apps will then also require more RAM to run as oppose to it's in GB.

It's possible to downgrade to GB after updating? I would like to test the new android but who knows it doesn't work well with my current phone.

[|Rapture|]

You'd probably need to root your phone to downgrade, you might even need to install a custom rom. Just guessing though really.

[Site Lab]

You can upgrade to this, and you can downgrade again using FlashTool. (Look on xda-developers).