Sony says Android ICS coming in April

Good news Xperia owners! Sony Mobile is preparing the Android Ice Cream Sandwich update for its 2011 Xperia smartphones and it should start rolling out in the middle of April.

The Xperia arc S, Xperia neo V and Xperia ray will start to receive the ICS update in April and it should take about 4-6 weeks to roll out. The Xperia arc, Xperia PLAY, Xperia neo, Xperia mini, Xperia mini pro, Xperia pro, Xperia active and Sony Ericsson Live with Walkman will get the update at the end of May or early June.

Why so long? Well, it takes a lot of work to port Android 4.0 to Sony devices while still keeping its custom user interface software on there. While it’s annoying to have to wait for so long, I do comment Sony for being very transparent about the process. Check out this developer blog which spells out the technical differences between ICS and Android Gingerbread.

This updates will be available for download via PC Companion and Bridge for Mac (i.e. not over the air via 3G or WiFi), and you also won’t receive any update requests or notifications.

[Via Sony Mobile]