Sony will be holding a “Night of Imagination” launch event in London to welcome the Xperia NXT phone series, which includes the Xperia S, Xperia P and Xperia U. These are the first Sony only phones since the split from Ericsson.

There will be an exclusive set from English singer-songwriter Labrinth. The event is to take place Wednesday 4 April at One Mayfair, North Audley Street, London, W1K 6ZA from 6:30pm.

Sony have released a developer’s ROM for the Sony Ericsson Xperia Play which brings the handset up to Android 4.0, aka Ice Cream Sandwich. The update is due shortly for the 2011 Xperia range for all but, if you have an Xperia Play and can’t wait to get Ice Cream Sandwich goodness and are afraid of the risks of updating to the developer’s ROM, read on.

The official word from Sony on the ROM is that you should be “an advanced developer with extensive knowledge in how to install, and switch between different ROMs” as installing the ROM does require you to unlock the bootloader on the phone to install the ROM. To unlock the bootloader you will require an unlocked Xperia Play and it must be running Xperia software 4.0.2.A.0.42.

As well as the risks of installing the firmware, it is noted that there are some downsides to installing the update, which include Gmail, Google Maps and Wi-fi not working correctly. One of Ice Cream Sandwich’s key, if not gimmicky features is also missing, Face Unlock. If that doesn’t phase you though, head on over to the Sony Developer Blog for the ROM and instructions on how to install ICS.

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Sony have released a beta version of Ice Cream Sandwich for select Xperia models from 2011. The select phones are the Xperia Arc S, Xperia Neo V and Xperia Ray. Unfortunately the original Xperia Arc and Xperia Neo are excluded as Sony note that they have different partition layouts to the newer models.

The update does not include Google Mobile Services, such as Google Maps and Gmail, nor does it include working Wifi or Bluetooth. Face Unlock is also not included in this update but, these features will be available in the final version of Ice Cream Sandwich. This version is available for developers and Sony advise that you should be an advanced developer, with knowledge on how to install and switch between ROMs.

If you’re willing to try the update you must have an unlocked bootloader and be running 4.0.2.A.0.42. Sony also advise that this may void the warranty of your phone.

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We saw that a few weeks back, Sony filed for the trademark “Xperia Sola” within the US, as well as Europe. At the time there were several rumors surrounding the handset, most focusing on solar technology. Sony have now officially announced the Xperia Sola though and we can confirm that the Xperia Sola does feature new technology from Sony but, not in the form of solar charging or similar.

The Xperia Sola is in fact the MT27i aka Xperia Pepper which we’ve previously seen which was rumoured to have a 3.7″ display. We can confirm that the Sony Xperia Sola does feature a 3.7 inch reality display. The screen also allows “floating touch” navigation. Floating touch is the new technology that Sony have introduced in their latest Xperia handset. With floating touch, your finger can float above the screen and the phone will recognise it and navigate through your phone using only this. It does however appear that to select applications or a link etc you do need to physically touch the screen.

Other specifications of the Sony Xperia Sola include, 1GHz dual core processor, NFC with Xperia SmartTags in the box, xLOUD and 3D surround sound Sony Music Unlimited and Video pre-installed. The Xperia Sola will be available in white, black and red.

We’ve previously reported on price drops for the Sony Ericsson Liveview, most recently with Play.com reducing the price down to £15. However for today only, Play have the Sony Ericsson micro bluetooth display on a deal of the day promotion. The online UK retailer have dropped the price to just £12.99 while other retailers still have the Sony Ericsson Liveview for sale for more than £20.

As it comes directly from Play.com, you can expect free delivery on your order and Play are pretty quick to send orders out, so if you weren’t quite tempted enough by Play’s £15 offering on the Play, have they managed to tempt you yet with their even lower price on the bluetooth display, which can be clipped onto your jacket, or worn on your wrist?

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One handset we were expecting to see announced by Sony at Mobile World Congress last month was the Sony MT27i, or as it’s also known the Sony Xperia Pepper. At Mobile World Congress we didn’t see the Sony Xperia Pepper, instead the Xperia P and Xperia U were announced, introducing white magic display technology on the Xperia P.

Despite not making an appearance at the event last month, the Xperia Pepper which we’ve already seen leaked and heard some rumors about has been spotted on the Sony Mobile China website. The handset made a brief appearance on the Sony website before someone obviously realised their mistake and the page was taken down again.

The Xperia MT27i Pepper features the same design as the other Sony NXT Xperia handsets we’ve seen announced this year but, without the transparent bar.

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There’s been rumors about Sony Ericsson working on a Windows Phone for a while but, Sony [Ericsson] look set to keep with Android. However a prototype handset has appeared on eBay displaying the Sony Ericsson branding claiming to be a prototype handset codenamed Jolie. The handset runs a beta version of Windows Mobile and updates are most likely to be non existent.

The eBay listing only shows one photo of the handset showing the front of the phone but, according to the listing it features a slide out QWERTY keyboard as well as the regular connection types, such as 3G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and GPS. The Sony Ericsson Jolie is also listed as featuring an 8 megapixel camera. The listing has 2 days left and is already up at $405 and is described as being in as new condition and great for collectors, as well as being a usable handset.

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When the Sony Xperia Ion was announced at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas last month, the handset was dubbed to be not only an AT&T exclusive but, also a US exclusive. We later reported that a UK company had the Sony Xperia Ion available for pre-order but, with no dates or pricing and was the only retailer outside of the US to offer the Ion. We can now confirm thanks to an announcement from Sony, that the Xperia Ion will be available outside of the US.

Sony have said that the Xperia Ion will be available globally from the summer so hopefully we should see it released before September. Just to recap, the Xperia Ion features a 4.6″ display making it the biggest of the Xperias, however it still outputs the same resolution as the 4.3″ Xperia S. The Ion also features a 12 megapixel camera, 1.5GHz dual core processor and LTE. Whether the Ion will have 4G technology or equivalent outside of the US is yet to be revealed.

As well as announcing the Sony Xperia P, Sony have announced the Xperia U which also features the Sony Xperia NXT Series design. The Xperia U will feature a 3.5″ display making it the smaller of the NXT series which includes the Xperia P and the previously announced Xperia S.

The Xperia U will feature a 5 megapixel camera, a step down from the 8 megapixel camera found on the Xperia P. Sony have also included a 1GHz dual core processor on the Xperia U. Unlike it’s bigger brothers, the Xperia U doesn’t feature NFC technology. Both the Xperia U and Xperia P should be available from the middle of Q2.

Sony have announced officially announced the Xperia P. The Xperia P has previously been known as the Kumquat and LT22i which we’ve seen in leaks prior to any official announcement from the company.

The Xperia P is very similar to the Xperia S but, comes with a 4 inch Reality Display instead of a 4.3″ display as found on the Xperia S and last year’s Xperia flagship, the Xperia Arc (S). While the screen is slightly smaller it debuts Sony’s latest screen technology, White Magic. This new technology is aimed at outdoor viewing and provides twice the level of visibility in sunlight compared to other smartphones on the market.

Other specifications include a 1GHz dual core processor and an 8 megapixel camera, with full HD video recording capability. The Xperia P will also feature NFC, 16GB of internal memory and be available in a choice of three colors, white, silver or black. Pricing is currently unknown but, Sony have stated a release date as the middle of Q2. So we should see the Xperia P on the market sometime around May.