Sony Mobile updated us on its Jelly Bean plans earlier today and judging by the comments in the previous post, there are understandably a lot of upset folk out there. Obviously, we have users of the Xperia U, Xperia sola, Xperia miro and Xperia tipo frustrated by not being on the JB update list. Then there are the Xperia S users, annoyed by being lower down the pegging order compared to other handsets such as the Xperia J for example.
There has been a lot of venting on the official Sony Mobile blog post too. This led Sony representative Anthony to try and explain Sony’s actions and decisions. We have collated a few of the responses below so that users can see where Sony is coming from. Unfortunately not all of the responses make sense.
For example, Anthony says that “screen resolution, hardware platform and RAM” are all considered when making the update. Whilst this may explain why the Xperia U and sola were overlooked and the Xperia go received the green light, it doesn’t explain why the Xperia J is being updated to Jelly Bean. Anyway, see what the Sony Mobile rep has to say below.
On why the Xperia U, Xperia sola, Xperia miro and Xperia tipo are not receiving Jelly Bean:
“The quality of Xperia’s software experience is dependent on a number of factors including: screen resolution, hardware platform and RAM. In the case of Xperia go, this combination came together in a way that meant the user experience running JB was not adversely affected.
Unfortunately, in the case of Xperia tipo, Xperia miro, Xperia U and Xperia sola this wasn’t the case – so we made the decision to keep them on Ice Cream Sandwich.”
On how the decision is made as to which Xperia to update to JB:
“Our priority has and always will be, to deliver the best possible smartphone experience – this means accounting for hardware, functionality and stability alongside Android version development.
As we are making the JB upgrade available to a considerable portion of our 2012 portfolio, finding a balance between these elements, means the process takes a little longer than if we had done it only for particular models at the high end.
We are continually investigating upgrades to the different/latest Android OS versions. As always, we will only share firm information when we’re confident of hitting the deadlines.
When we start an upgrade process we look for the way to get the very best out of the new software; that normally means starting with the most capable/latest devices. Once we’re satisfied that we’re really stretching the capabilities of that software, we then start to look at how we can re-create that user experience on earlier products. This takes a little more time but we believe it pays dividends in terms of the final product.”
On why the 2011 Xperia family will not be updated to JB:
“Xperia Arc S is part of our 2011 portfolio, which won’t be upgraded beyond ICS. The reason being – user experience is at the heart of our product development and support; after thorough evaluation, we concluded that the user experience for our 2011 Xperia smartphones will be superior if they remain on Ice Cream Sandwich versus being upgraded to Jelly Bean.”
