Sony Confirms 2012 Smartphones Will Receive Jelly Bean In 2013, 2011 Devices Are Stuck On ICS

Straight from the horse's mouth is always the best way to hear about updates, even if it's less-than-stellar news. Today, Sony confirmed its schedule for Jelly Bean updates on its line of phones. For starters, the recently-launched Xperia T and Xperia TX will be upgraded "from mid-Q1 2013." This will put the latest and greatest from Sony a solid six months behind Android 4.1's initial launch and, if our guess is correct, at least a few months behind the possible release of Android 4.2.

After that, the rest of Sony's 2012 lineup, including the Xperia S, Xperia acro S, Xperia ion, Xperia P, Xperia go and Xperia J will all be upgraded to Jelly Bean sometime next year. Don't hold out for an official release date, though. The manufacturer promises that it will release a timeline "in due course." For the layman, this is PR speak for "we'll get to it when we get to it."

As for anything older than this year, sorry, you're out of luck. This is exceptionally disappointing given that Jelly Bean only came out in June of this year. For a device like the Xperia Arc, which was released in October of 2011, right around the time that Ice Cream Sandwich came out, this means it will receive exactly one upgrade, to 4.0, and is now out of its development cycle. Maintaining upgrades for six months is, by all accounts, a disappointment.

Sony says that the reason for this lack of updates is because it would not be able to guarantee a good experience on these devices beyond ICS. Take that for what you will. The company has at least promised maintenance updates for the older devices.

There you have it, in clear cut black and white. Now you know exactly when the cut off is. So, does knowing exactly where your phone stands make you feel better, or do you think you'd be better off not knowing?

Source: Sony Mobile Blog