14 DAY TRIAL // Android 2.3 Gingerbread, the latest flavor of Google's operating system for mobile phones, is expected to land on Sony Ericsson's first Android device, the Xperia X10, sometime in early August, the company has just unveiled. Although it originally said that no update will land on Xperia X10 past the Android 2.1 OS upgrade, Sony Ericsson changed its mind and promised an OS upgrade to Gingerbread back in March.
Apparently, things are moving along pretty well, and the software update is nearing availability, just as stated only recently.
“Our developers have been working hard on this and the work has progressed well. Development and testing is still ongoing and the current plan is start the roll-out in the beginning of August,” the company announced.
In addition, they unveiled some more details on what the platform will come with on the old mobile phone, including the fact that it would sport the original camera UI as in the Éclair version, as well as the Facebook inside Xperia features from the new Xperia products.
The handset will include functionalities similar to those of products like Xperia arc, Sony Ericsson explains in a recent blog post. Some specific details on the matter can be found in the video embedded at the bottom of this article.
Thus, users will enjoy features like pinch-to-overview gesture, Wi-Fi & USB tethering, app storage on microSD-card, as well as a customizable horizontal app tray as in the new Xperia smartphones, and the media experience widgets that Sony Ericsson packed them with.
“One difference compared to the 2011 products is that DLNA will not be included. Extra type approvals were needed for that and we were unable to prioritize that without jeopardizing the time schedule. There are both server and client alternatives downloadable from Android market though,” the company explains.
The Xperia X10 mini, X10 mini pro and X8 handsets won't taste the new software update, Sony Ericsson explains, mainly due to the fact that they come with less RAM than the X10, and that they will not be able to provide the wanted experience to their users.
The company also explains that unbranded devices will be the first ones to receive the update to Android 2.3 Gingerbread.
“Even if there will be some operator kits getting this upgrade, as said before – some of you will not be able to upgrade your customized version of Xperia X10,” the company continues.