When it comes to releasing the Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich update, most manufacturers have taken the high road where the newest and most powerful devices in their respective stables are always the first to get first dibs on getting the upgrade to the latest iteration of the Google mobile operating system, Sony is using a different approach in doing things.
When you take a look at the high-end devices in the lineup of Sony such as the Xpreia S, Xperia P and Xperia U which were all released this year, you’ll notice that all three handsets are still stuck in the Gingerbread generation and are still waiting for the official ICS update to land. But when you look at the midrangers in the Xperia lineup of the company released back in 2011, you’ll see that these modest devices are already strutting in their full Ice Cream Sandwich glory.
More recently, Sony has announced that another 2011 midranger is getting the Android 4.0 refresh I the form of the Sony Xperia Active. The handset stayed in the ICS upgrade schedule of the company for a quite a while but Sony has finally managed to the average hardware of the Sony Xperia Active with what is said to be the best version of the Android operating system yet. As such, Sony has confirmed that it has already started rolling out the Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich update for the Sony Xperia Active.
If you happen to rock a Sony Xperia Active for your mobile weapon of choice, the first step you need to take is take off the back cover and battery of your handset and check for its SI (Sales Item) number. Afterwards, head on over to the official support site of Sony and check the Si number of your Sony Xperia Active against those already listed in the site. If you are lucky enough to find your handset’s SI number in the support site of Sony, all you need to do now is hook up your handset to a PC, fire up the PC Companion software and get the update process rolling to give your Sony Xperia Active its tasty treat of Ice Cream Sandwich. If the SI number of your handset is nowhere to be found in the support site, don’t panic, because Sony updates the list regularly and sooner or later, your Sony Xperia Active will also get its fair share of ICS.
As for the Sony Xperia Active, the handset’s circuitry is built around QualComm MSM8255 Snapdragon SoC with a 1 GHz Scorpion processor working with 512 MB of RAM to generate the computing power needed by the handset for its operation. The storage space of the handset is rather measly at just 320 MB but since this is still expandable and a 2GB microSD card is included in its retail package for memory expansion purposes, this shouldn’t be an issue at all. The display of the handset on the other is a 3.0-inch LED-backlit LCD panel with a 480 x 320 resolution while its camera department only has a rear-facing 5MP shooter capable of 720p video capture to boast of.
