14 DAY TRIAL // Sony Ericsson might not come up with an official Android 2.2 Froyo software update for the high-end Xperia X10 smartphones, but custom ROMs that enable users enjoy the benefits of this OS version already started to emerge into the wild.
The new ROM available for Sony Ericsson's Xperia X10 devices is currently available only in a beta flavor, and can be installed through xRecovery.
The software comes from the XDA-Developers forum, and is described in this thread: “FreeX10 is a clean, fast and stable rom for Xperia X10 based on AOSP and CM sources.”
For those users interested in installing this ROM on their Xperia X10 smartphones, we should note that it requires a rooted 2.1 ROM to be present on the device.
As usual, we warn users that the rooting of any mobile phone results in voiding the warranty for that device.
It should also be noted that installing unofficial software in the device is sometimes quite risky, and that users should refrain from doing so, especially if they are not familiar with what the rooting of a mobile phone is all about.
As for this particular ROM, we should note that, being only in a beta flavor for the time being, means that it still comes with a series of issues, and that users might experience random crashes with it, or that the camera does not work as of yet.
The USB Mass Storage, the hardware video enc/dec + Youtube and Wifi DNS/DHCP / ringtone loop issues initially present with the software already got hotfixes, and the existing known issues might be solved in the near future as well.
Additional info on this custom ROM for Xperia X10, as well as the necessary download links can be found in the said forum thread.
While no OS upgrade will be on its way to Sony Ericsson's Xperia X10 devices past the Android 2.1 platform version, users would still benefit from software updates from the handset vendor, it seems.
One of them is reportedly the 2.1.A.0.390 firmware update, unavailable for end-users at the moment, which should bring forth multi-touch capabilities.