Xperia Play no longer slated for ICS upgrade

Sony has really been making a valiant effort to get all of its Android powered devices up to speed with Ice Cream Sandwich. Just the other day, it promised that all Sony Tablets would see the upgrade by the end of May. It looks like one popular Sony smartphone may have been left in the dust.

Sadly, even though the Xperia Play was previously mentioned by the electronics giant as one of the devices that would see an update, it has gone missing from the Sony Mobile Android 4.0 upgrade page.

Sandwichless

Unfortunately there is no official word as to why the Xperia Play has suddenly been dropped from the ICS schedule. In fact, the last we heard was back in March when an Ice Cream Sandwich beta version for rooted Plays was released. At that time Sony Mobile said it was looking into "how the gaming experience works on ICS,” and was hoping to solicit feedback on game compatibility and resulting bugs.

It’s not clear if that test did not go well, but lets just hope that Sony Mobile is working out some kinks and that Xperia Play owners might one day still get their scoop of Ice Cream Sandwich.

source: Sony via XperiaGamer

21 Comments

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posted on 24 May 2012, 18:29 5

1. biophone (Posts: 1994; Member since: 15 Jun 2011)

Ice cream sandwich nazi?

posted on 24 May 2012, 19:35 1

2. theBankRobber (Posts: 682; Member since: 22 Sep 2011)

Talk about a let down, after the leaked ICS from it might have been unstable. Who knows.

posted on 24 May 2012, 19:37 2

3. JcHnd (Posts: 174; Member since: 30 Apr 2012)

Damn, and I was about to buy one... maybe they'll just release a new version of this one... I think I'll just wait...

posted on 24 May 2012, 20:22 4

4. cepcamba (Posts: 717; Member since: 27 Feb 2012)

A dual core version with 1 gb ram, >=4" screen, >=2000mAh battery would be a D-E-L-I-G-H-T ! :p

posted on 24 May 2012, 20:44 2

6. JcHnd (Posts: 174; Member since: 30 Apr 2012)

I know... that's what I was thinking!

posted on 24 May 2012, 20:36 1

5. RaKithAPeiRiZ (Posts: 1488; Member since: 29 Dec 2011)

If this is out...so will the Arc

posted on 25 May 2012, 07:38

15. XiphiasGladius (Posts: 813; Member since: 21 Aug 2011)

The Arc? Yeah right. Remember the Arc S already got ICS. But if that's the case they'd be beyond stupid (Imbecile). . .

posted on 26 May 2012, 08:01

21. romeo1 (Posts: 729; Member since: 06 Jan 2012)

It's not that crazy as the arc is the slowest of the bunch.
but i think they will include the arc because it isn't made for gaming.
But the play is made for gaming so the gaming experience must be good.

posted on 24 May 2012, 21:12 2

7. zeljonsu (Posts: 22; Member since: 24 May 2012)

In terms of hardware of the 2011 Xperia phones, they have very similar hardware specs. The Xperia neo V's specs are almost similar to the Xperia PLAY yet the neo V gets ICS. :)

posted on 25 May 2012, 01:39

13. thelegend6657 (unregistered)

Gamepad giving problems

posted on 24 May 2012, 21:13 1

8. InspectorGadget80 (unregistered)

Aint that a SON OF A B....

posted on 25 May 2012, 00:01

9. bobfreking55 (Posts: 866; Member since: 15 Jul 2011)

okay, I will now sell my Xperia.

posted on 25 May 2012, 01:39

12. thelegend6657 (unregistered)

Why do you even buy one in the 1st place ?
Their ui pre ics and pre xperia s is ugly everything is themed with that ugly blue wallpaper

posted on 25 May 2012, 23:14

20. InspectorGadget80 (unregistered)

The only thing thats ugly is your typing skills and spelling

posted on 25 May 2012, 01:03

10. kartik4u98 (Posts: 511; Member since: 19 May 2012)

what is the meaning of the picture in article

posted on 25 May 2012, 09:22 1

16. Ric1511 (Posts: 26; Member since: 28 Dec 2011)

You would have to be a Seinfeld fan to know.

posted on 25 May 2012, 10:19

19. EclipseGSX (Posts: 1737; Member since: 18 Oct 2011)

Not even a fan just involved in society and not under a rock

posted on 25 May 2012, 01:16

11. microsoftnokiawin (Posts: 1236; Member since: 30 Mar 2012)

teh Xperia play sucked anyway 3 month after purchase the screen got so laggy and constant freezing

posted on 25 May 2012, 03:09 1

14. fongy (Posts: 41; Member since: 09 Feb 2010)

I had a GS2 for almost a year, and going on to envirofone, they were offering more money trade-in for it than the cost of an unlocked Xpera Play!

So because handsets this year have been a bit underwhelming, I thought "always wanted one - why not give it a go for 6 months until my contract runs out..."

So that's what I did!

I have to say, gaming is second to none, my emulators work an absolute treat... playing some of those oldies, wow! the commodore 64 one in particular...

BUT

Woeful amount of storage, having to move things to SD, and running out of space all the time is a nightmare, the screen is impossible to see in the sunlight and generally it just feels like a year-old phone (slow), I didn't think I'd miss the radio as much as I do as well.... even though I didn't use it that much...

To be fair, I'm not surprised they couldn't get ICS working with it... to be honest I suspect it'd do more damage than good...and at least they've been honest about trying to get it to work...

At least knowing this now I can root it and get rid of all the sh1tware and rubbish games and have a lot more storage now (which will probably make it run a bit faster)

Win/win? It'll only mean my next phone will feel like another OS!

I tell you though, I'll be ready to drop this for a faster phone in December... one of the new Nexus ones perhaps?

HOWEVER

I'm more impressed with Sony's overlay and little Facebook integration things than Sammy's (having had a Galaxy 1 and 2) so if anything the Play has given me a nice insight into how Sony is coming along in the Android race... definitely not the best specced phones, but a really good user experience... (fingers crossed for the Hayabusa / Mint)

:O/

posted on 25 May 2012, 09:31

17. Ric1511 (Posts: 26; Member since: 28 Dec 2011)

I agree with everything you just said. The gaming is amazing! I love having a solid library of PSX, N64, SNES etc titles in my pocket, but the phone is really starting to show it's age, and the specs were never amazing to begin with. I'll keep it as a nice work toy though. :)

posted on 25 May 2012, 09:49

18. snowgator (Posts: 3604; Member since: 19 Jan 2011)

My son has nothing but enjoyed his Play (on AT&T), but he is in no way a phone tech type. He downloads his games, uses the text and phone, and basically still has it set up like I did for him when he got it for Christmas. Honestly, more support in games would be welcome than ICS for him.

A new Sony Play with better specs would be the bomb....