Announced back at Mobile World Congress, the Xperia U is now available to order in the UK. Mobile network Three have the handset listed on their website and is available on pay as you go or contract. The pay as you go version costs £169.99 and is subject to a minimum £10 top up. That £10 top up gives you 100 minutes, 500MB of data and 3000 texts. The first top up option give you is for £15 which gives you 300 minutes, 3000 texts and all you can eat data but, the drop down menu allows you to easily change it to a £10 top up to keep the cost down.

Contract plans start at £15 a month but, do require an upfront payment of £69 for the phone. For £20 a month though, you can get the phone absolutely free. There are eight different tariffs to choose from between £15 a month and £30 a month.

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Sony have already begun rolling out the Ice Cream Sandwich update to certain 2011 models in the Xperia range, such as the Xperia Arc S and Xperia Ray. Those who have upgraded to this year’s Xperia handset though, the Xperia S are having to wait a little longer for the update. One of the possible reasons behind this is that it appears that the Xperia S will be updated to Android 4.0.4, where as the 2011 range of Xperia phones from Sony Ericsson are being updated to Android 4.0.3. While it isn’t a significant difference, it does mean that Sony have been working on two different Android 4.0 updates across various phones.

A leaked ROM for the Xperia NX – the Japanese equivalent of the Xperia S shows the Android version to be 4.0.4 and also has a higher kernal number, 3.0.8 compared to 2.6.32 found on Xperia handsets runnin Android 4.0.3.

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UK retailer Carphone Warehouse have an exclusive offer on the Xperia S this week. Normally the handset from Sony is available for free on a £26 a month contract with Vodafone. Until May 24th however, they have lowered the minimum tariff down to £20.50 a month. Taking out a 24 month contract on the £20.50 Vodafone plan will bag you the Sony Xperia S for free. That £20.50 a month will give you 100 minutes, 250MB mobile data and 500 texts. Admittedly not a great amount of allowances but, for phone fans who rarely use their handsets as an actual phone, it’s a relatively good price.

The offer is available online and in store, so no need to wait around for them to deliver it, as may be the case with other retailers who have similar, or perhaps an even better deal. As is the case with Tesco Phone shop. If you’re willing to wait for delivery of the handset, you can pick up a £21.50 a month deal on O2 through the Tesco phone shop, which again will bag you a free Xperia S. The extra £1 a month gives you twice as many minutes and data, as well as unlimited texts. With O2 you can also adjust the data allowance, with the basics starting at 100MB a month, or increase the allowance to 1GB for an extra £4 a month.

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A sincere apology later and those of us that are waiting [im]patiently for the release of the Android Ice Cream Sandwich update to roll out on the Xperia S are back doing just that, waiting.

We recently reported that the ICS update would be coming to the Xperia S a little earlier than previously expected. The original date which was perhaps June or July for the update was cut down to a late May, early June release as one of the Sony representatives on their official forums said this would be the case.  However, this staff member was mistaken and has retracted his statement, instead saying that the Android 4.0 update will come to the Xperia S in the latter part of Q2 this year, as expected originally (before he said otherwise basically).

Again, even when Ice Cream Sandwich/Android 4.0 does start to roll out for the Xperia S, it will still take a little extra time to get the software update to all customers across different regions and networks but, it is still scheduled for a release in the next few months at least.

Since Apple’s iPhone 4, the death grip effect has been seen more on phones. Attenuation happens on all phones but, the severity differs between handsets and in the case of the iPhone 4, it caused the iPhone to lose signal completely. It seems that the Xperia P also has a small case of “death grip”. Cnet Asia have posted a video up demonstrating how to replicate the problem on the Sony Xperia P which they say is very easy to do when gripped in a particular way.

Cnet note that it doesn’t affect voice calls but, does affect data. Data is stopped from being sent and received when the death grip is in place on the Xperia P. The death grip is easy to replicate indoors any way where signal strength will be lower. Once outside however, Cnet were unable to repeat the effect. It does seem to come down to how hard you grip the handset though, as Cnet report that if you grip the handset loosely, it solves the problems. They have contacted Sony for a comment on the situation. Read the rest of this entry »

Mobile phone buyers in India will soon be able to pick up the dual core Sony Xperia P handset in their country as Sony plan to release the Xperia P in India at the end of May.

The Xperia P is actually already available in India to preorder from e-tailer Infibeam and is priced at 25,500 Indian Rupee, the equivalent of $469 US Dollars on their website. The black model is the only colour available currently, for this retailer at least.

Specifications of the Xperia P include the 1GHz dual-core processor, a 4 inch display and an 8MP camera. This handset also comes with 16GB built in storage however, it is one of the few Xperia handsets that does not offer expandable memory support ie there is no microSD slot and no way of increasing storage on the Xperia P.

Sony are releasing the handset into the Indian market with 2.3 Android preinstalled and are suggesting that Android 4.0, or Ice Cream Sandwich will arrive for the Xperia P in June in India.

The Xperia U handset is the latest Sony smartphone to be released, this time in the Middle East, a press release from the company has announced.

Director of marketing for Sony Mobile Communications in the region Mr Gousetis was at hand to praise the features of the handset as the company announced the arrival of the Xperia U saying “The Xperia U is an extremely stylish phone that delivers the best in Sony’s iconic identity design philosophy. Packed with a range of distinctive features such as xLoud and Sony 3D surround sound audio technology, it offers a complete smartphone experience.”

The Xperia U will come with Android version 2.3 (aka Gingerbread) installed with an update to Android 4.0 (aka Ice Cream Sandwich) on the cards for a release in Q3 of this year. Colour options available for the handset are the standard black and white and the Xperia U with its 3.5 inch display, 1GHz dual core processor and 5 megapixel camera which is capable of recording HD video and taking both 2D and 3D panoramic photographs.

Pricing is set at Dh1,199 which is equivalent to roughly US$325.

We recently saw a Google ad for the Xperia Ion that hinted at a June release for the AT&T bound LTE capable Sony Xperia Ion. While Sony or AT&T haven’t specifically confirmed this, the launch date seems very plausible and ties in with a Taiwanese release date.

We recently learned that the once US only bound Xperia Ion would be making it’s way to Taiwan and pre-orders have begun for the handset by Taiwan Mobile. The handset is due to go on sale at the end of May. So far, we have the sim free price for the handset in Taiwan, which will be NT$19,900 which works out at about $672 or £425.

What with the Google ad we’ve recently seen, it seems clear that after a couple of months of not hearing much about the Sony Xperia Ion, it’s nearing a US release. The Google ad we recently saw told us that the handset would be out in June exclusively to AT&T. The Sony Xperia Ion has also been certified by the GCF (Global Certification Forum) which means it’s close to being released.

Hopefully we’ll hear something official from Sony or AT&T regarding the release date of the Xperia Ion which will be the first Sony LTE phone in the US – when it is released any way. Other handsets announced for AT&T after the Ion, have already been released so hopefully we won’t have to wait much longer.

A certification listing on the UPnP forum lists a new Sony Xperia model number which has previously been unseen. The Xperia ST27 listing doesn’t give any details on specifications but, the model number has led to speculation that this could be a successor to the Sony Ericsson Xperia Active which featured dust and waterproof resistant technology and is expected to be found on the ST27 as well. Other speculation surrounding the ST27 is that it could feature an equally smaller display than the rest of the Sony Xperia family, of 3.5 inches and could use the same 1GHz dual core processor as found in the Xperia P and Xperia U.