14 DAY TRIAL // Japanese-Swedish mobile phone maker Sony Ericsson won't provide owners of rooted devices with new software updates through its Sony Ericsson Update Service, a company's representative has confirmed recently.
This is rather strange, considering the fact that the vendor already put in place a special website where users can root their Xperia devices.
Apparently, the handset vendor did not set straight all of the necessary features regarding the unlocking / rooting of their devices, and this is the main reason for which software updates can not be delivered to users.
A recent article on the Xperia Blog brings to light the sayings of Sony Ericsson Developer, Karl-Johan Dahlström, who explained that the company cannot tell what ROM versions are loaded on unlocked devices, thus being unable to provide software updates to them.
Initially, Sony Ericsson said that users who unlocked their devices would not be affected by this, and that new software updates would arrive on their phones either OTA or through SEUS.
While there is no official way to do that at the moment, Sony Ericsson does plan on fixing the issue in the not too far future, and is already working on it.
Here's what Dahlström reportedly said on the matter:
Currently we don’t support SEUS for phones that have been unlocked.
I have initiated discussions if we can support that going forward, but there are several things that needs to be investigated before I can give you an answer (e.g. will it affect customer call centers, repair centers, which SW should be used for unlocked phones, how to identify phone model if other things has been modified, are there security concerns for unlocked phones etc).
Will get back to you as soon as I have more information. Sorry that I can’t give a better answer at this time.
Currently, Sony Ericsson users who already rooted their devices should head over to the XDA-Developers website to learn more on how they would be able to use unofficial software to update their handsets.