Sony Xperia S finally gets a taste of Ice Cream Sandwich

When it came to releasing the Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich update to their respective lineups, most manufacturers usually unleash the update to their high-end smartphones. Those handsets from the midrange category usually get left out in the cold but Sony has taken a different approach when it came to its ICS plans. In fact, the manufacturer included several of its midrangers in the list of its handsets that will get cranked up to the latest iteration of the Google mobile operating system and these past couple of days, we saw the Android 4.0 refresh landing on the Sony Xperia Mini Pro and Sony Xperia Active, both midrangers for that matter.

Users of the manufacturer’s high-end devices need not feel envious at all because their handsets will also get the same treatment from Sony. And that being said, the manufacturer has just started rolling out the Android 4.0 Ice Cream sandwich update for the Sony Xperia S, the company’s current flagship device.

Looking back, when the Sony Xperia S was unveiled by Sony back in January, we were rather impressed with the hardware DNA of the handset. We were a little disappointed though when we checked the software department of the device and found Gingerbread for its operating system. Of course, if we are to maximize the impressive components lurking under the hood of the Sony Xperia S, Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich should be running in its circuitry.

Come to think of it, the journey to ICS of the Sony Xperia S is a bit troublesome. Last month, a Sony employee said on a support forum of the manufacturer that the handset will get upgraded to ICS either in late May or in the early parts of June. Sony was quick to step in and immediately refuted the claim and in the process announced that the ICS update for the Sony Xperia S will get unleashed in the latter part of Q2. With the Sony Xperia S finally getting its tasty treat of Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich with just over a week before July, Sony managed to keep its word in terms of the ICS rollout schedule it announced. This is a good thing really because users of the handset are already frustrated and couldn’t be bothered with more delays in the rollout of the ICS update for the Sony Xperia S.

The ICS update for the Sony Xperia S will be unleashed via the usual OTA means in a staggered manner but a user of the handset also has the option of hooking up his smartphone to his PC and firing up the Xperia Update software to get the update process rolling. The ICS update for the Sony Xperia S weighs in at around 200MB and will bring improvements to the Walkman, Movies and Album features of the handset. The update also gives the handset an improved lock screen functionality, resizable widgets and a more improved control over the consumption of your mobile data.