Computerworld - LAS VEGAS -- Sony showed off its new Xperia Ion smartphone in the middle of its massive booth at CES here, drawing attention to its multimedia features and sleek styling.
The Xperia Ion is the first LTE smartphone from Sony, and will be sold exclusively by AT&T in the U.S. starting in the second quarter.
The phone on display at CES was labeled Sony Ericsson, though Ericsson is no longer part of the company. The label is expected to be changed to simply "Sony" once it receives regulatory approval, a booth agent said.
Kevin Burden, an analyst at ABI Research, said he liked the phone --"because it's just Sony now."
Many industry observers have said the Sony Ericsson partnership failed in some product areas, such as smartphones. There's been a feeling among some analysts that Sony has a strong reputation for its historic connection to music, movies and TV that will work better without Ericsson.
The new Xperia Ion pushes those multimedia capabilities with home screen controls of music and video. A 4.6-in. high definition display (1280 x 720 pixels) offers 720p video play. A 12 megapixel rear-facing still camera puts it in the upper range of what new smartphones offer, and Sony has made the rear-facing video capture 1080p, with the front camera at 720p.
All of those video capabilities should be well served by the faster AT&T LTE network, with the possibility of 10 Mbps downloads, and the phone's 1.5 Ghz dual core processor. An HDMI port will allow users to play the phone's movies, photos and video on a TV.
In the hand, the phone feels sleek. An aluminum back to the phone gives it durability and distinguishes it from many new multimedia-centric phones on the market that have a plastic composite back. One potential drawback is that there's no removable battery, something that Sony seems to have adopted from the iPhone.
The phone will launch with Android 2.3, but there's been no word on upgrade possibilities to Android 4.0, also called Ice Cream Sandwich, or pricing. By comparison, Verizon Wireless sells the new Samsung Galaxy Nexus which runs Android 4.0 for $300 with a contract.
(computerworld.com)
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Jumat, 13 Januari 2012
Minggu, 18 Desember 2011
PlayStation Games for Xperia
Sony Ericsson mobile communications are “Xperia acro IS11S” of December 8, “Xperia arc SO-01C” of DoCoMo and “Xperia acro SO-02C”, and KDDI, the contents distribution service of PlayStation Store showed that use became possible from the same day. By accessing PlayStation Store from a correspondence terminal, the game of first PlayStation is downloadable (download requires Wi-Fi connection). In addition, by Xperia arc/acro, “GOLF 2 of everybody” is downloadable for free from December 8 to February 8, 2012.
In order to use PlayStation Store, the renewal of software provided with Xperia arc SO-01C and Xperia acro SO-02C from November 7, Xperia acro IS11S needs to download PlayStation pocket and a PlayStation Store application after carrying out renewal of software offered from November 10. For downloading an application the tap of “beginning PS Store” is carried out, and after downloading PlayStation pocket first, it is necessary to download PlayStation Store [ which is added to the tray ]Since the shortcut of “beginning PS Store” will disappear from a home screen if PlayStation Store is downloaded previously, it is necessary to re-download shortcut from http://www.playstation.com/pss/store/ja.html
In order to use PlayStation Store, the renewal of software provided with Xperia arc SO-01C and Xperia acro SO-02C from November 7, Xperia acro IS11S needs to download PlayStation pocket and a PlayStation Store application after carrying out renewal of software offered from November 10. For downloading an application the tap of “beginning PS Store” is carried out, and after downloading PlayStation pocket first, it is necessary to download PlayStation Store [ which is added to the tray ]Since the shortcut of “beginning PS Store” will disappear from a home screen if PlayStation Store is downloaded previously, it is necessary to re-download shortcut from http://www.playstation.com/pss/store/ja.html
Sony’s Vita Debuts Squeezed Between Nintendo Price, Smartphones
More than 100 game fans queued before 7 a.m. this morning outside a store in Tokyo’s Shibuya shopping district, awaiting the release of Sony Corp.’s PlayStation Vita.
“I can’t wait to open the box and play,” said Fumito Ito, 23, who was among the first to purchase the new game device. “I look forward to playing against others.”
Sony aims to revitalize its game business and lure consumers increasingly turning to Apple Inc.’s iPhones for entertainment. Success with Vita is critical for Sony in a gaming landscape reshaped by price cuts from larger Nintendo Co. and the growing popularity of Rovio Mobile Oy’s “Angry Birds” on smartphones, analysts said.
“Serious gamers may bolster Vita demand in the beginning, but what Sony needs is casual gamers to sustain sales,” said Satoru Kikuchi, a Tokyo-based analyst at Deutsche Bank AG. “Sony may need to cut the price as early as next year to keep attracting buyers. It’s a difficult time for console makers.”
Profit from the new portable console also is key to Chief Executive Officer Howard Stringer’s efforts to offset a slumping TV business that’s put the world’s No. 2 video-game maker on course for a fourth straight annual loss.
“The ultimate portable entertainment device is now available,” Executive Deputy President Kazuo Hirai said today at a press conference. “We would like to introduce a new way of gaming.”
A Wi-Fi version of the Vita, the first major overhaul of the handheld since the PlayStation Portable went on sale in 2004, costs 24,900 yen ($319 in Japan), while the 3G model costs 29,980 yen.
Sold Out
The device, with a 5-inch display using OLED, or organic light-emitting diode, technology and touch pads, already sold out in pre-ordering in Japan, said Andrew House, chief executive officer of Sony Computer Entertainment.
“There were lines to make reservations for the machine at retailers,” House told reporters in Tokyo on Dec. 15. He declined to provide sales figures.
House’s comments came the same day Sony, Japan’s biggest consumer-electronics exporter, had its rating cut to one level above junk by Fitch Ratings, which cited difficulties reviving the TV business and deals that won’t improve profit.
Loss
Tadayoshi Sugaya, who cooks pasta dishes at an Italian restaurant in Tokyo, wasn’t among the Vita’s customers.
“I’m happy playing games on my smartphone,” said the 39- year-old chef, who uses Samsung Electronics Co.’s Galaxy model to play mahjong and other games. “I don’t see much need to buy a game player.”
The Consumer Products and Services Group -- Sony’s biggest by revenue and maker of TVs, games and cameras -- had a loss of 34.6 billion yen in the quarter ended Sept. 30, compared with a loss of 35.5 billion yen a year earlier.
Sony rose 1.1 percent to 1,360 yen at the close in Tokyo trading. The stock has declined 54 percent this year, while the benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average has lost 18 percent.
Reviving demand is important to help Tokyo-based Sony recover from its worst hacker attacks in April, when intruders compromised more than 100 million customer accounts in the second-largest online data breach in U.S. history. Sony suspended those services until July and budgeted 14 billion yen in costs this year.
The device will miss this year’s shopping season in the U.S., where it will debut in February and is priced at $249.99 for the Wi-Fi version and $299.99 for the 3G model.
Nintendo 3DS
That’s more expensive than Nintendo’s competing 3DS after the world’s biggest maker of video-game machines slashed prices of the new 3-D handheld player to as low as $170 because of poor sales. Nintendo sold more than 795,000 of the 3DS portable units last month, the Kyoto, Japan-based company said Dec. 10, citing figures from researcher NPD Group Inc.
Sony has a “very good product” at a “very affordable price” and, therefore, won’t cut prices of the Vita in response to other companies, Hirai said in August.
Sony expects to sell 15 million of the PlayStation 3 consoles this fiscal year, up 4.9 percent from last fiscal year, after the company lowered prices in August.
Sony Strategy
The Vita is part of Sony’s strategy to link its TVs, Blu- ray players, game consoles and digital cameras via the Internet to movies, music and video games. Sony also is increasing online services, including the PlayStation Suite that allows users to download games on devices running on Google Inc.’s Android software.
There will be 24 titles available when the Vita goes on sale, Sony has said. They include the “Unchartered” adventure game, which costs 4,900 yen to download, and “Everybody’s Golf 6,” priced at 3,900 yen.
By comparison, Nintendo had eight titles when it began selling the 3DS in February. The 3DS allows users to see 3-D images without wearing special glasses.
“The number of titles is truly impressive, so there is no risk that people will wait to buy,” said Michael Pachter, a Los Angeles-based analyst at Wedbush Securities Inc. “The price point is the biggest obstacle.”
Apple Devices
The iPod Touch media player, the cheapest Apple device that can download and play games, costs $199 in the U.S. while the iPhone 3GS is free with a wireless contract. Apple sold 17.07 million iPhones and 11.12 million iPad tablet computers, which can also be used to play games, in its fiscal fourth quarter.
In a similar strategy, Sony is consolidating its multimedia devices. In October, the company agreed to buy Ericsson AB’s 50 percent stake in their mobile-phone venture to integrate the smartphone business with its gaming and tablets.
That still won’t entice Ai Takenaka, 28, to buy the Vita because she can get free titles from Apple’s AppStore and Google’s Android Market.
“I like to play simple games with my smartphone because they are all free,” the Tokyo restaurant worker said.
(businessweek.com)
“I can’t wait to open the box and play,” said Fumito Ito, 23, who was among the first to purchase the new game device. “I look forward to playing against others.”
Sony aims to revitalize its game business and lure consumers increasingly turning to Apple Inc.’s iPhones for entertainment. Success with Vita is critical for Sony in a gaming landscape reshaped by price cuts from larger Nintendo Co. and the growing popularity of Rovio Mobile Oy’s “Angry Birds” on smartphones, analysts said.
“Serious gamers may bolster Vita demand in the beginning, but what Sony needs is casual gamers to sustain sales,” said Satoru Kikuchi, a Tokyo-based analyst at Deutsche Bank AG. “Sony may need to cut the price as early as next year to keep attracting buyers. It’s a difficult time for console makers.”
Profit from the new portable console also is key to Chief Executive Officer Howard Stringer’s efforts to offset a slumping TV business that’s put the world’s No. 2 video-game maker on course for a fourth straight annual loss.
“The ultimate portable entertainment device is now available,” Executive Deputy President Kazuo Hirai said today at a press conference. “We would like to introduce a new way of gaming.”
A Wi-Fi version of the Vita, the first major overhaul of the handheld since the PlayStation Portable went on sale in 2004, costs 24,900 yen ($319 in Japan), while the 3G model costs 29,980 yen.
Sold Out
The device, with a 5-inch display using OLED, or organic light-emitting diode, technology and touch pads, already sold out in pre-ordering in Japan, said Andrew House, chief executive officer of Sony Computer Entertainment.
“There were lines to make reservations for the machine at retailers,” House told reporters in Tokyo on Dec. 15. He declined to provide sales figures.
House’s comments came the same day Sony, Japan’s biggest consumer-electronics exporter, had its rating cut to one level above junk by Fitch Ratings, which cited difficulties reviving the TV business and deals that won’t improve profit.
Loss
Tadayoshi Sugaya, who cooks pasta dishes at an Italian restaurant in Tokyo, wasn’t among the Vita’s customers.
“I’m happy playing games on my smartphone,” said the 39- year-old chef, who uses Samsung Electronics Co.’s Galaxy model to play mahjong and other games. “I don’t see much need to buy a game player.”
The Consumer Products and Services Group -- Sony’s biggest by revenue and maker of TVs, games and cameras -- had a loss of 34.6 billion yen in the quarter ended Sept. 30, compared with a loss of 35.5 billion yen a year earlier.
Sony rose 1.1 percent to 1,360 yen at the close in Tokyo trading. The stock has declined 54 percent this year, while the benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average has lost 18 percent.
Reviving demand is important to help Tokyo-based Sony recover from its worst hacker attacks in April, when intruders compromised more than 100 million customer accounts in the second-largest online data breach in U.S. history. Sony suspended those services until July and budgeted 14 billion yen in costs this year.
The device will miss this year’s shopping season in the U.S., where it will debut in February and is priced at $249.99 for the Wi-Fi version and $299.99 for the 3G model.
Nintendo 3DS
That’s more expensive than Nintendo’s competing 3DS after the world’s biggest maker of video-game machines slashed prices of the new 3-D handheld player to as low as $170 because of poor sales. Nintendo sold more than 795,000 of the 3DS portable units last month, the Kyoto, Japan-based company said Dec. 10, citing figures from researcher NPD Group Inc.
Sony has a “very good product” at a “very affordable price” and, therefore, won’t cut prices of the Vita in response to other companies, Hirai said in August.
Sony expects to sell 15 million of the PlayStation 3 consoles this fiscal year, up 4.9 percent from last fiscal year, after the company lowered prices in August.
Sony Strategy
The Vita is part of Sony’s strategy to link its TVs, Blu- ray players, game consoles and digital cameras via the Internet to movies, music and video games. Sony also is increasing online services, including the PlayStation Suite that allows users to download games on devices running on Google Inc.’s Android software.
There will be 24 titles available when the Vita goes on sale, Sony has said. They include the “Unchartered” adventure game, which costs 4,900 yen to download, and “Everybody’s Golf 6,” priced at 3,900 yen.
By comparison, Nintendo had eight titles when it began selling the 3DS in February. The 3DS allows users to see 3-D images without wearing special glasses.
“The number of titles is truly impressive, so there is no risk that people will wait to buy,” said Michael Pachter, a Los Angeles-based analyst at Wedbush Securities Inc. “The price point is the biggest obstacle.”
Apple Devices
The iPod Touch media player, the cheapest Apple device that can download and play games, costs $199 in the U.S. while the iPhone 3GS is free with a wireless contract. Apple sold 17.07 million iPhones and 11.12 million iPad tablet computers, which can also be used to play games, in its fiscal fourth quarter.
In a similar strategy, Sony is consolidating its multimedia devices. In October, the company agreed to buy Ericsson AB’s 50 percent stake in their mobile-phone venture to integrate the smartphone business with its gaming and tablets.
That still won’t entice Ai Takenaka, 28, to buy the Vita because she can get free titles from Apple’s AppStore and Google’s Android Market.
“I like to play simple games with my smartphone because they are all free,” the Tokyo restaurant worker said.
(businessweek.com)
Kamis, 08 Desember 2011
Motorola, Sony Ericsson explain to customers why they won't get the new Android 4.0 for months
Unlike Apple, which immediately released its new iOS 5 on the same day for all its current devices, including models that are now over two years old, Motorola Mobility and Sony Ericsson are offering their customers excuses as to why the latest release of Google's Android 4.0 won't be available to them for many more months, if ever.
Motorla Mobility and Sony Ericsson have issued lengthly explanations offering various reasons why their customers won't receive updates anytime soon to Google's Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, which was made available in a generic form three weeks ago. The explanations highlight a major difference between Apple's integrated iOS software and Google's broadly licensed Android platform.
Open like Windows, if it were only launched by Dell
"Like you, we are excited to see that Google released the source code to Android Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS)!"
Motorola stated in a blog posting.
"There are many steps and processes that go into Ice Cream Sandwich in a way that works for the carrier and for you," Motorola states, adding, "once source code is released from Google, it doesn’t automatically update to your device." Both Motorola and Sony Ericsson are members of the Open Handset Alliance tasked with developing Android, and therefore might be understood to be privy to the development of the latest Android release before its final appearance.
However, Motorola explains that "each new version of Android launches with one device partner, in what is called the 'Google Experience Device' or GED, the showcase device for a new Android release."
A very short list of Motorola's Android 4.0 updates
Outside of the launch partner, other members of the Android community only gain "access to the Android source code as its [sic] made public shortly after," Motorola explains.
Now that has happened, the company says it is "currently assessing this source code, and over the next month we will be determining which devices will get the upgrade and when.
" Android licensees' lists of supported devices that will get updates to the latest release of Android typically only involve very recent, new devices. In Motorola's case, it only notes the Droid RAZR, Droid Bionic and Xoom tablets as its current targets for Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. This excludes the once highly touted Motorola Atrix 4G that was launched alongside Apple's iPhone 4 last year, along with the also relatively new and widely sold Droid 2, Droid X and X2 models, all of which will be stuck with last year's Android 2.3 Gingerbread. The original Droid/Milestone, which arrived a few months after Apple's iPhone 3GS, is stuck on Android 2.2 Froyo, an even older release.
Sony Ericsson similarly noted that the release of Android 4.0 "meant the start of an intensive period for the engineers at Sony Ericsson, in order to create a working, stable and certified software release of Ice Cream Sandwich for our 2011 Xperia™ phones." That excludes support for Sony Ericsson's Xperia X10, released in the US last fall with specs similar to the iPhone 4.
It will be stuck with Gingerbread, but as Wikipedia notes, "Since the Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) update the phone has suffered a stuttering in play or streaming of music regardless of file association. The only solution currently is to root your phone and apply a patch located on the XDA developers forum. Sony refuses to acknowledge the problem and have as of late offered no solution to this bug."
This fractionalization of the Android platform means that developers have few reasons to incorporate support for features in the latest version of Android, because most Android users are still using a version that's over a year old (according to Google). As of December 1, half of the traffic visiting Android Market is still using last winter's 2.3.Gingerbread, while more than 45 percent is using an even older version.
The long road to releasing Android 4.0
For the few models it chooses to support with an update, Motorola says it must spend some time incorporating support for unique hardware involved in its products, including the specific processors, GPUs and other chips that are not natively supported in the generic Android release.
"This is also the time when we begin integrating all of the Motorola-specific software enhancements into the source code," the company adds. " Features like MotoCast, Smart Actions, and our comprehensive enterprise solutions are integral parts of our device experiences, and we want to make sure we continue delivering differentiated experiences for our consumers with these software upgrades."
Some of Motorola's additional software has had the side effect of breaking Android's permissions-based security system, although not nearly as bad as HTC and Samsung's additional software, which researchers note has opened up the ability for rogue apps to steal private, data, track users' precise locations, wipe the phone entirely, or record calls and send paid SMS messages.
Carriers add more months to Android rollouts
Once an Android licensee has finished working out release bugs to an acceptable level, it releases its hardware-specific updates to the mobile carriers, which have to test and certify the updates, something that Motorola says can involve "a two-month preparation cycle to enter a carrier lab cycle of one to three months."
"Contrary to what people may think," Sony Ericsson states, "it is not the Bring up phase [adding vendor hardware and software customizations], but the Certification and approval phase that is the most time consuming process when it comes to getting a new software release out on our phones.
"This is one of the major tasks that are legally required from us as phone manufacturer, but is a task that the custom ROM community doesn’t have to take into consideration. Furthermore,by putting all this efforts into testing and certification, we ensure that quality and conformance is at a top level, in benefit for all consumers worldwide."
By Daniel Eran Dilger(appleinsider.com)
Motorla Mobility and Sony Ericsson have issued lengthly explanations offering various reasons why their customers won't receive updates anytime soon to Google's Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, which was made available in a generic form three weeks ago. The explanations highlight a major difference between Apple's integrated iOS software and Google's broadly licensed Android platform.
Open like Windows, if it were only launched by Dell
"Like you, we are excited to see that Google released the source code to Android Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS)!"
Motorola stated in a blog posting.
"There are many steps and processes that go into Ice Cream Sandwich in a way that works for the carrier and for you," Motorola states, adding, "once source code is released from Google, it doesn’t automatically update to your device." Both Motorola and Sony Ericsson are members of the Open Handset Alliance tasked with developing Android, and therefore might be understood to be privy to the development of the latest Android release before its final appearance.
However, Motorola explains that "each new version of Android launches with one device partner, in what is called the 'Google Experience Device' or GED, the showcase device for a new Android release."
A very short list of Motorola's Android 4.0 updates
Outside of the launch partner, other members of the Android community only gain "access to the Android source code as its [sic] made public shortly after," Motorola explains.
Now that has happened, the company says it is "currently assessing this source code, and over the next month we will be determining which devices will get the upgrade and when.
" Android licensees' lists of supported devices that will get updates to the latest release of Android typically only involve very recent, new devices. In Motorola's case, it only notes the Droid RAZR, Droid Bionic and Xoom tablets as its current targets for Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. This excludes the once highly touted Motorola Atrix 4G that was launched alongside Apple's iPhone 4 last year, along with the also relatively new and widely sold Droid 2, Droid X and X2 models, all of which will be stuck with last year's Android 2.3 Gingerbread. The original Droid/Milestone, which arrived a few months after Apple's iPhone 3GS, is stuck on Android 2.2 Froyo, an even older release.
Sony Ericsson similarly noted that the release of Android 4.0 "meant the start of an intensive period for the engineers at Sony Ericsson, in order to create a working, stable and certified software release of Ice Cream Sandwich for our 2011 Xperia™ phones." That excludes support for Sony Ericsson's Xperia X10, released in the US last fall with specs similar to the iPhone 4.
It will be stuck with Gingerbread, but as Wikipedia notes, "Since the Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) update the phone has suffered a stuttering in play or streaming of music regardless of file association. The only solution currently is to root your phone and apply a patch located on the XDA developers forum. Sony refuses to acknowledge the problem and have as of late offered no solution to this bug."
This fractionalization of the Android platform means that developers have few reasons to incorporate support for features in the latest version of Android, because most Android users are still using a version that's over a year old (according to Google). As of December 1, half of the traffic visiting Android Market is still using last winter's 2.3.Gingerbread, while more than 45 percent is using an even older version.
The long road to releasing Android 4.0
For the few models it chooses to support with an update, Motorola says it must spend some time incorporating support for unique hardware involved in its products, including the specific processors, GPUs and other chips that are not natively supported in the generic Android release.
"This is also the time when we begin integrating all of the Motorola-specific software enhancements into the source code," the company adds. " Features like MotoCast, Smart Actions, and our comprehensive enterprise solutions are integral parts of our device experiences, and we want to make sure we continue delivering differentiated experiences for our consumers with these software upgrades."
Some of Motorola's additional software has had the side effect of breaking Android's permissions-based security system, although not nearly as bad as HTC and Samsung's additional software, which researchers note has opened up the ability for rogue apps to steal private, data, track users' precise locations, wipe the phone entirely, or record calls and send paid SMS messages.
Carriers add more months to Android rollouts
Once an Android licensee has finished working out release bugs to an acceptable level, it releases its hardware-specific updates to the mobile carriers, which have to test and certify the updates, something that Motorola says can involve "a two-month preparation cycle to enter a carrier lab cycle of one to three months."
"Contrary to what people may think," Sony Ericsson states, "it is not the Bring up phase [adding vendor hardware and software customizations], but the Certification and approval phase that is the most time consuming process when it comes to getting a new software release out on our phones.
"This is one of the major tasks that are legally required from us as phone manufacturer, but is a task that the custom ROM community doesn’t have to take into consideration. Furthermore,by putting all this efforts into testing and certification, we ensure that quality and conformance is at a top level, in benefit for all consumers worldwide."
By Daniel Eran Dilger(appleinsider.com)
Sony Ericsson and Motorola Detail Android 4.0 Upgrade Path
We've talked in the past about how OEMs take the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) and use it to build software tailored for devices in the context of x86 optimizations, and today two partners are sharing some more details about their specific timelines for Android 4.0 releases.
Those two are Sony Ericsson and Motorola, who have outlined in their respective blog posts the path from code to getting a fully baked ROM pushed out over the air to handsets. The two posts describe the process as we've understood it for a while now, and with Android 4.0 things don't seem any different. Google works with a specific OEM and SoC vendor around some chosen reference hardware (in this case Galaxy Nexus), and simultaneously (or close to it) releases the source code and device when things are finished.
At that point, SoC vendors begin working on their own ports and build in necessary drivers or optimizations of their own. That software package then is turned over to OEMs who add their own specific software (in the case of Motorola, for example - MotoCast, Smart Actions, and likely Blur) and make necessary tweaks to accommodate individual carrier equirements and device nuances. After the OEM finishes up its own testing, the update then passes over to carriers for their own testing, and here things have been a bit fuzzy. Motorola gives out an interesting tidbit today in their post, oting that while each carrier is different, the testing period is on the order of months:
Each carrier has different requirements for phases 2 and 3. There may be a two-month preparation cycle to enter a carrier lab cycle of one to three months.
Sony Ericsson also notes that this certification and testing phase is the longest in the process:
The Certification and approval phase that is the most time consuming process when it comes to getting a new software release out on our phones. This is one of the major tasks that are legally required from us as phone manufacturer, but is a task that the custom ROM community doesn’t have to take into consideration.
Motorola has noted as well that the Droid RAZR, Bionic, and Xoom are all guaranteed to get an ICS port before the second half of 2012, and the list of Motorola devices being upgraded to 4.0 will likely grow. Meanwhile Sony Ericsson noted that the entire 2011 Xperia family will receive an update to 4.0 and that dates will come later.(anandtech.com)
Those two are Sony Ericsson and Motorola, who have outlined in their respective blog posts the path from code to getting a fully baked ROM pushed out over the air to handsets. The two posts describe the process as we've understood it for a while now, and with Android 4.0 things don't seem any different. Google works with a specific OEM and SoC vendor around some chosen reference hardware (in this case Galaxy Nexus), and simultaneously (or close to it) releases the source code and device when things are finished.
At that point, SoC vendors begin working on their own ports and build in necessary drivers or optimizations of their own. That software package then is turned over to OEMs who add their own specific software (in the case of Motorola, for example - MotoCast, Smart Actions, and likely Blur) and make necessary tweaks to accommodate individual carrier equirements and device nuances. After the OEM finishes up its own testing, the update then passes over to carriers for their own testing, and here things have been a bit fuzzy. Motorola gives out an interesting tidbit today in their post, oting that while each carrier is different, the testing period is on the order of months:
Each carrier has different requirements for phases 2 and 3. There may be a two-month preparation cycle to enter a carrier lab cycle of one to three months.
Sony Ericsson also notes that this certification and testing phase is the longest in the process:
The Certification and approval phase that is the most time consuming process when it comes to getting a new software release out on our phones. This is one of the major tasks that are legally required from us as phone manufacturer, but is a task that the custom ROM community doesn’t have to take into consideration.
Motorola has noted as well that the Droid RAZR, Bionic, and Xoom are all guaranteed to get an ICS port before the second half of 2012, and the list of Motorola devices being upgraded to 4.0 will likely grow. Meanwhile Sony Ericsson noted that the entire 2011 Xperia family will receive an update to 4.0 and that dates will come later.(anandtech.com)
Android Ice Cream Sandwich Upgrade Process Outlined by Motorola, Sony Ericsson
With the launch of Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and the glorious Samsung Galaxy Nexus, Android owners can't help but wonder when their devices will be graced with the new operating
system. Both Sony Ericsson (soon to be just Sony) and Motorola have shed some light on the Android ICS update process in separate blog posts.
Motorola, which is on the verge of being
acquired by Google, explained in a blog post that a lot of work goes into preparing a new Android version for
devices even after Google open sources
the operating system.
Sony Ericsson confirms in a blog post everything that Motorola says about
software updates but delves further into
the details which might prove
somewhat technical to most users.
Common to both the smartphone
makers is that they customise the
operating system to the hardware
requirements of the device and the
specifications provided by the carriers.
The companies then test the implementation and iron out the bugs. The modified OS is then sent to wireless
carriers for certification, which check
whether the device has been optimised
for their network.
After the certification
process is completed, which takes a lot
of time, the companies conduct a pre- release trial after which the OS is
release as update to the users.(itproportal.com)
system. Both Sony Ericsson (soon to be just Sony) and Motorola have shed some light on the Android ICS update process in separate blog posts.
Motorola, which is on the verge of being
acquired by Google, explained in a blog post that a lot of work goes into preparing a new Android version for
devices even after Google open sources
the operating system.
Sony Ericsson confirms in a blog post everything that Motorola says about
software updates but delves further into
the details which might prove
somewhat technical to most users.
Common to both the smartphone
makers is that they customise the
operating system to the hardware
requirements of the device and the
specifications provided by the carriers.
The companies then test the implementation and iron out the bugs. The modified OS is then sent to wireless
carriers for certification, which check
whether the device has been optimised
for their network.
After the certification
process is completed, which takes a lot
of time, the companies conduct a pre- release trial after which the OS is
release as update to the users.(itproportal.com)
Sony Ericsson will become just Sony by
The Japanese giant has
assumed full control over the the
phone-building company and will only
make smart phones, powered by Android, to regain lost ground against the iPhone. Sony Ericsson has been a joint venture between Sony and Swedish telecoms
company Ericsson for the past decade.
Along with Nokia, Son Eric was a major
name in the phone world until the
iPhone and Android ushered in the smart phone revolution. Sony decided in October to buy out Ericsson for £918m, and the public face of that buyout will be revealed in the first half of 2012. Sony boss Kristian Tear revealed that
the new Sony-only brand would only
make smart phones.
Sony plans to
make the most of its other brands,
such as Bravia, Cyber-shot and the
iconic Walkman name, to claw back some of the ground lost to Apple and
rival Android phone peddlers. Sony Ericsson has a fistful of phones in
the pipeline, including the Nypon and Nozomi, and the hotly anticipated Arc HD. Meanwhile the existing Sony Ericsson Xperia range will be upgraded to Android Ice Cream Sandwich during
2012. Is it a smart move to give up on phones that aren't smart phones? The line
between web-connecting smart
phones and simple phones -- dumb
phones or feature phones -- is getting
blurry, as even the dumbest phones are expected to have cameras, 3G,
maps and even basic apps on board.
Perhaps Sony Ericsson is
acknowledging that all phones are
smart phones nowadays, or perhaps
simply confirming that there's no
money in shifting even vast quantities
of cheap phones. For example, Nokia sells more phones than any other
manufacturer -- in large part to the
developing world -- but is in financial
trouble, and has turned to Windows
Phone smart phones for a shot in the
arm.(cnet.com)
assumed full control over the the
phone-building company and will only
make smart phones, powered by Android, to regain lost ground against the iPhone. Sony Ericsson has been a joint venture between Sony and Swedish telecoms
company Ericsson for the past decade.
Along with Nokia, Son Eric was a major
name in the phone world until the
iPhone and Android ushered in the smart phone revolution. Sony decided in October to buy out Ericsson for £918m, and the public face of that buyout will be revealed in the first half of 2012. Sony boss Kristian Tear revealed that
the new Sony-only brand would only
make smart phones.
Sony plans to
make the most of its other brands,
such as Bravia, Cyber-shot and the
iconic Walkman name, to claw back some of the ground lost to Apple and
rival Android phone peddlers. Sony Ericsson has a fistful of phones in
the pipeline, including the Nypon and Nozomi, and the hotly anticipated Arc HD. Meanwhile the existing Sony Ericsson Xperia range will be upgraded to Android Ice Cream Sandwich during
2012. Is it a smart move to give up on phones that aren't smart phones? The line
between web-connecting smart
phones and simple phones -- dumb
phones or feature phones -- is getting
blurry, as even the dumbest phones are expected to have cameras, 3G,
maps and even basic apps on board.
Perhaps Sony Ericsson is
acknowledging that all phones are
smart phones nowadays, or perhaps
simply confirming that there's no
money in shifting even vast quantities
of cheap phones. For example, Nokia sells more phones than any other
manufacturer -- in large part to the
developing world -- but is in financial
trouble, and has turned to Windows
Phone smart phones for a shot in the
arm.(cnet.com)
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