After previously stating that its Xperia X10 smartphone will not receive an OS upgraded beyond Android 2.1 (Éclair), Sony Ericsson (SE) has made an about turn. The company has now said that it plans to bring Android 2.3.3 (Gingerbread) to the Xperia X10 by the end of Q2 or early Q3 of 2011.

 

According to SE it was its efforts on its 2011 range of devices the likes of the Xperia Play (aka the PlayStation Phone), Xperia arc and Xperia neo, which has allowed it to kick off a special project bringing Gingerbread to the Xperia X10.

 

SE will be rolling out a generic trade version as well as versions customised for operators. Since the company is still working on this update it didn’t reveal much in terms of the functionality that will be unlocked by it. It did state that it will be bringing “similar software and functionality” to Xperia X10 that is available on its newest range of smartphones.

 

The company did provide some detail on the smartphone’s functionality that will be affected by the update:

 

 

Users of the Xperia X8, as well as the Xperia mini and mini pro will be disappointed to know that it is only the X10 and not their devices that will be receiving this update. The company said that it won’t be upgrading the X10 beyond Gingerbread, although it does plan on updating its new range including the Xperia PLAY, arc, neo and pro to the next Android iteration when it becomes available.   

 

SE stated that this upgrade will only be available via its PC-based upgrade clients and users will not be able to update their devices by way of an over the air update feature. Once a user has upgraded to Gingerbread he or she will also not be able to downgrade back to a previous Android version.