14 DAY TRIAL // Bad news for Xperia PLAY owners as Sony Mobile changed its mind and will not deploy an Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich upgrade, as previously promised.
Although the Japanese company confirmed earlier this year that most of 2011 Xperia smartphones would be upgraded to Android 4.0, it appears that Xperia PLAY has been pulled from the list of ICS-upgradable devices.
As KnowYourMobile points out, Sony Mobile published a list of 2011 Xperia phones that will receive the hotly anticipated Android 4.0 ICS update by the end of the year.
Unfortunately, Xperia PLAY is not on that list, which includes the following models: Xperia arc, Xperia arc S, Xperia neo and neo V, Xperia mini and mini pro, Xperia pro, Xperia active, Xperia ray and Sony Ericsson Live with Walkman.
Sony has yet to offer an explanation for not taking into consideration Xperia PLAY’s upgrade to Android 4.0. Also, we think it’s unlikely that the company may have made a mistake and inadvertently skipped the Xperia PLAY from the list.
We don’t have any other details that could shed some light on the reasons that made Sony Mobile change its mind.
Even though Xperia PLAY already got a beta Android 4.0 ICS ROM, so owners can experiment with the new features and provide the much-needed feedback, it looks like Sony has suddenly pulled the plug on the whole project.
This may have something to do with the latest reports of games crashing on Xperia PLAY while running Ice Cream Sandwich.
Unlike other 2011 Xperia smartphone, Xperia PLAY comes with a PSP-like gamepad controller, which seems to be a hard to overcome obstacle in implementing Google’s latest Ice Cream Sandwich platform.
On a side note, Sony Mobile already rolled out Android 4.0 ICS updates for Xperia arc S, Xperia neo V and Xperia ray, but owners are complaining of slow performance and various bugs, which is prove to Sony’s poor execution in bringing the ICS to these handsets.