We recently brought you news of a new firmware update, version 4.0.2.A.0.69, that had been certified for the Sony Ericsson Xperia arc and arc S. The update has also been certified across the entire 2011 Xperia range (barring the neo V and mini pro, although they should follow soon) over the last few days.
The last update (version 4.0.2.A.0.62) mainly brought changes to improve memory management to counter reboot issues. It seems that this latest 4.0.2.A.0.69 firmware update is only for the German market and surrounds a legal issue of using the ‘Gmail’ name over ‘Google Mail’. Therefore we wouldn’t rush to try and flash to this latest version.
We are still awaiting the latest Gingerbread update (Android 2.3.7) for 2011 Xperia models that will bring UI improvements. Sony Mobile may be waiting to release the Xperia S before releasing this new software to 2011 handsets. Or given the lack of firmware news, maybe Sony Mobile are putting all of their efforts into the ICS update. This could mean that 2011 Xperia users will move straight from Android 2.3.4 to Android 4.0.X. We’ll bring you any confirmation as we have it.