For those of you who are still in a contract with O2 after taking out Sony Ericsson’s 2010 flagship handset, the Xperia X10 here’s some good news. O2 have finally released the Android 2.3 update for the Xperia X10 which, has been out for a little while now on unbranded X10 handsets and even other network branded handsets. O2 UK are the last network to provide the update to their customers as even O2 Ireland and O2 Germany provided the update as early as August. According to a blog post over on O2 the delay is because they found the update caused problems with the phone’s camera. They have however been working with Sony Ericsson to resolve this issue and it is now fixed.

Despite this, O2 still warn that the Xperia X10 may run slower once updated than it currently does on Android 2.1. Users of the O2 forum however so far have found the opposite with Quadrant tests showing Android 2.3 almost doubles the results. To update you will need to connect your phone to a PC and use PC Companion to update. You will need to back up your data with an app from the Market as the 2.3 update wipes your data and the Backup and Restore feature found on the X10 has been removed from the 2.3 update.

via

It’s not the first time we’ve seen O2 offer the Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc at a fantastic price and hopefully it won’t be the last. O2 have put the Xperia Arc on their “flash sale” which takes place over weekends.

Unfortunately the Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc isn’t free on their cheapest package like last time which includes 50 minutes. It is however available for free if you take out the next contract up which includes 100 minutes and is more in line with what most consumers are using any way. The 100 minute a month tariff is £15.50 a month but, you must take out a data bolt on with the plan which starts at £3 per month for 100MB. The bolt on is changable on a month to month basis, so you could upgrade it to 500MB for £6 or 1GB for £10. Likewise you can also downgrade the bolt on or remove it altogether.

The O2 flash sale ends August 1st. Also, if you purchase the handset through O2, you will get exclusive Cowboys and Aliens content, as well as two cinema tickets and the chance to win a VIP trip to Arizona.

via

It seems Sony Ericsson isn’t having too much luck with O2 in the UK. First O2 announced that they were delaying the Xperia Play as they found significant issues with the phone that hindered the user experience. At the time, there was no information on the Xperia Arc being delayed but, that also wasn’t released at the same time as other network carriers released the handset. Only in the past week or so have O2 made the Arc available to buy. Whether any of those orders were fulfilled or not however, remains to be seen.

Up until earlier today, the O2 store still said you could purchase the Xperia Arc and indicated that it was in stock, however O2 admitted that they didn’t have any stock in and were aware that the website did not reflect this. Instead of amending the site to show the handset as being out of stock or similar, the page for the Xperia Arc has been removed entirely. Upon browsing the O2 store, the Arc is listed on the first page but, following this link takes you to a “We’re sorry, but the phone you selected does not exist on the O2 shop” page and suggests looking for another phone, or that the page address may be wrong. Looking through phones available the Arc cannot be seen here either.

SE-Xperia also revealed that while talking to several stores, some said they may get stock in next week but, interestingly two of the stores said they wouldn’t have it for a few weeks, as further testing needed to be done on the handset. Some could assume the sales team got confused with the Play but, after the Arc being removed from the O2 site it seems that O2 could indeed be testing the Arc further.

While Sony Ericsson have confirmed that their gaming handset, the Xperia Play will be available in both black and white, most retailers are only showing the Xperia Play in black. In the UK we can confirm that if you are after the white version, the white Xperia Play is an exclusive to O2, so you’ll need to purchase the handset from them.

O2 haven’t provided any pricing information or tariff info, so it’s unknown whether O2 will be charging extra for the exclusive white model or not. This is unlikely but, is a possibility.

via

One UK network has confirmed that they will be stocking the recently announced Xperia Arc by Sony Ericsson when it launches in the UK. O2 have added the handset to their line of coming soon range and lists an April release date. Pricing is currently unknown but, it’s likely to be free on contracts above £35 a month, lasting 24 months.

Hopefully O2 will release the handset unbranded, as many O2 users felt disappointed with the way O2 dealt with updates released from Sony Ericsson, including the Android 2.1 update on the X10. O2 themselves had to approve the update, which led to X10 owners with O2 branded handsets, the last to receive the Android 2.1 update in the UK. Or if they do decide to the Xperia Arc with their own firmware, they are much quicker to release any updates Sony Ericsson provide for the Arc.

Various readers have tried contacting O2 themselves about the update from Sony Ericsson. With Three finally releasing the update, this has put O2 UK as the last network to support the Sony Ericssons update which improves battery life and there still isn’t an timescale for how long users will have to wait. While looking to see if O2 customers had been made happy yet, I of course found they haven’t, well the UK ones haven’t anyway. Upon further inspection of the situation, it seems that both O2 Ireland and O2 Germany have approved and released the update for the phone, making the wait for O2 UK users seem even more ridiculous. One O2 user send the company a message via Twitter. Unfortunately, all they could say on the matter is that “a new software version will be appearing very soon on the SE site”. To confirm they were on the same wavelength, the user sent a reply asking them to confirm this was the Sony Ericsson update they were talking about and not the Android update. Unfortunately, they haven’t responded to that yet.

I’ve also tried contacting them and have just had a response back, saying it’ll be another week or two and again, to keep an eye on the Sony Ericsson site.

While the firmware update which improves the battery life among other things has been released to most markets now, X10 users in the UK who have an O2 branded handset are still awaiting the update. The firmware is available in several variants through out the world, starting from R2BA020 going up to R2BA024. The last digit is dependent on region and carrier. In the UK generic handsets have R2BA020 as does the T-Mobile update, while Vodafone branded handsets are given R2BA024. In India users are being updated to R2BA023. At least two networks are still awaiting the update, Three UK and O2 UK. One member of the Android Forums went as far as emailing Sony Ericsson, to ask where the update was for O2 X10 users. In the response, the Sony Ericsson rep suggested other ways to improve the battery life but, spoke specifically of the situation with O2. At the moment, Sony Ericsson are still waiting for O2 to approve the firmware version for release through the Sony Ericsson Update Service. Unfortunately no time scale is known but, the rep went on to say, as soon as the approval has been received from O2, they will release the update.

Have you updated your firmware yet, or are you still waiting for your carrier to approve the update? Let us know in the comments.

Over on the O2 website, the Xperia X10 has made an appearance  leading to further speculation that the carrier will be providing the Sony Ericsson smartphone at some point in the future.

The X10 has previously been spotted on the O2 website by coolsmartphone when the model appeared in the accessories section of the site and now the X10 has appeared on the O2 ‘smartphone hub‘ page, in image form at least but, with UK carrier Vodafone already due to offer the X10, these little teasers from O2 are giving the impression that the android handset will indeed be available on O2 in the UK.