O2 UK Says No to Android 4.0 ICS for Xperia Arc, Ray and Neo

Sony’s 2011 Xperia smartphone have already received the long-awaited Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich update in most regions. However, there are still some carriers that have yet to approve the rollout of the upgrade to some of these Xperia handsets.

Unfortunately, O2 UK customers won’t be among the lucky (or unlucky) Android users who will get the Ice Cream Sandwich update for Xperia arc, Xperia ray and Xperia neo.

The carrier has just announced that it won’t allow the update to go live due to some issues discovered during testing. It appears that the software update affects the performance of the smartphones, which clearly changes the overall user experience.

The issue is well-known by Sony Mobile as well, as the company states on its support site that given the fact that Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich operating system has more advanced hardware requirements than previous versions of the platform, it might affect the phone’s speed.

Here is how O2 UK officials explain the fact that Xperia arc, ray and neo owners won’t receive their promised updates:

“Unfortunately with the Xperia ray, arc and neo our testing found that the software update affected the phone’s speed and performance.

These issues were present on three separate versions of the Android 4.0 software we tested and are caused by the software having more advanced hardware requirements than previous versions, as Sony explain on their site – “Android 4.0’s hardware requirements are more advanced than previous software updates, so your phone’s performance may be affected.”

Those who own carrier-free Sony Xperia arc, ray and neo smartphones and flashed the update complain that their handsets’ performance and speed have been negatively affected, so the problem is real and, by the look of it, it cannot be overcome by Sony’s engineers.

We recommend those who still own one of these 2011 Xperia smartphones to change their phones if they wish to take advantage of Android 4.0 ICS’ new features and services.