After Sony Ericsson changed their plans for the Xperia X10 and announced they would update the Xperia X10 to Android 2.3 after saying they wouldn’t be releasing further updates to the X10 range, there have been many angry customers and many customers left wondering if Sony Ericsson will also change the plan for the X10 Mini range, including the X8.

Sony Ericsson announced that they wouldn’t release a further update for the Xperia X10, X10 Mini, X10 Mini Pro and X8 but, later released another statement saying because of all the uproar, they would release Android 2.3 for the X10. They also said that they stood by their decision about the Mini range and still do.

Vodafone Australia however, state they are anticipating Android 2.3 in six weeks time for the X10 Mini Pro and will begin testing it. Due to many questions from customers about the status of Android updates for various handsets, they put a blog post together detailing what version of Android is running on various handsets and what the next version will be. It also says what the status is on the update, some saying it was released a week or two ago, others saying they’re going through testing. Vodafone will finish testing Android 2.3 on the X10 in a couple of weeks time. The X10 Mini Pro is also listed, with a note saying the test stage hasn’t been scheduled yet but, they anticipate to have Android 2.3 to test in six weeks time.

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Sony Ericsson have confirmed two new handsets coming to their Xperia range of handsets. The Xperia Mini and Xperia Mini Pro are successors to the X10 Mini and Mini Pro. The Mini Pro naturally features a slide out keyboard and continues with Sony Ericsson’s handset naming system.

Sony Ericsson claimed they had the smallest Android powered handsets with the X10 Mini and Mini Pro, however other phone manufactures have since released their own “mini” smartphones to compete with the X10 Mini’s. So what does the Xperia Mini and Mini Pro offer that’s different? They’re the worlds smallest 720p HD video recording smartphones via a 5 megapixel camera.

Both handsets will be released on Android 2.3 and hopefully, like the Arc and Play will be continually updated, unlike the previous Xperia models. Like the X10 Mini and X8, the Xperia Mini and Mini Pro will feature the four corner UI. The screen on both handsets has been increased to 3 inches compared to the 2.55 inch screen on the X10 Mini. This allows 16 apps to be displayed in the homescreen, improving on the four corner UI. A new service called Facebook inside Xperia will also be present on the handsets, allowing a deeper integration throughout the phone.

There is a lot of buzz around the internet right now, suggesting that Sony Ericsson may announce three new handsets this week, or sometime before the end of the May at the latest. Two of the handsets have a codename and are said to be successors to the X10 Mini range.

The Sony Ericsson Mango is said to be a successor to the Xperia X10 Mini Pro and will feature a slide out keyboard, where as the Xperia Smultron will be a successor to the X10 Mini and will not feature a physical keyboard. Both handsets are rumored to come with a 3 inch display and a 1GHz processor. They are also both rumored to come with Android 2.3.3 and a 5 megapixel camera at the back, while having a VGA camera at the front.

There’s also speculation that a third handset will also be unveiled but, at the moment there are no further details what so ever.

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When Sony Ericsson announced that they would be releasing a successor to the Xperia X10 in the form of the Xperia Arc, they also announced around the same time, that there would be no further Android updates for the X10 range of handsets. As could be expected, this caused a lot of uproar as many customers bought their X10 in good faith that the handset would be supported for the length of their contract. This announcement came before the handset was even a year old, so even customers who bought the X10 as soon as it was launched were extremely disappointed with the company.

It’s no surprise to hear that Sony Ericsson got a lot of feedback from customers, some of which was over the top and offensive, while other feedback stated the benefits of upgrading the X10 to 2.2 or 2.3. Thankfully, Sony Ericsson have listened to this feedback and announced that the Xperia X10 will receive an Android update at the end of Q2/early Q3.

The update will take the X10 straight to Android 2.3.3, the highest version of Android currently available. The work that the company have done with 2.3 and their new range of handsets has essentially made 2.3 on the X10 possible. Although there are some consequences in doing so. Most of which however, many will happily live without and have not wanted from the start. In some cases such as Moxier, many users rooted their handset to remove this.

In the place of Moxier, the X10 will use the 2.3 native EAS functionality. Also Mediascape will be replaced by the music player and media experience widgets as found on the next range of Xperia handsets. What won’t be replaced by another app or feature however, is the backup and restore app – although there are many alternatives on the Android market. Smile detection and face recognition will also be removed, instead the X10 will use the standard camera interface of Android.

Unfortunately for X10 Mini, Mini Pro and X8 owners this doesn’t apply however and will remain on Android 2.1. Unless of course Sony Ericsson change their mind on that matter as well.

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Sony Ericsson have another competition for their Facebook fans this week. This time it comes in the form of the X10 Mini Pro, in Lime Green. It’s unclear whether Sony Ericsson have made a typo on this, or if this is a subtle way of letting us know that they will be releasing the Mini Pro in a new color. Currently, as far as we know, only the X10 Mini is available in Lime Green, which is the phone we can see in the picture from the back, where as the front shows the Mini Pro with it’s QWERTY keyboard on show.

Which ever phone it is though, it’s a simple competition to enter and is worth taking a few seconds out of your time to enter. You do need to “like” Sony Ericsson’s page before you can enter the competition, once you have you can enter the competition by entering your name, email address and country of residence. You’ll also need to answer one question, which has a multiple choice answer selection. Head on over to their page here to enter right now.

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One of the downfalls to the Xperia X10 when it launched, apart from not having multi touch, is that the handset also came with an outdated OS upon release. When announced, Android 1.6 was fine but, by the time Sony Ericsson released the handset, Android 2.1 was out, with Android 2.2 coming soon. Or if you were in America, Android 2.2 was already out, while the X10 still shipped with Android 1.6. The OS has since been updated to Android 2.1 although many were hoping Sony Ericsson would skip 2.1 and head straight to Android 2.2, or at the very least update soon after to 2.2. Android 2.3 is out now though and there’s still no sign of Android 2.2 on the X10.

Sony Ericsson have confirmed that the Android 2.2 will not be making it’s way to their Xperia X10 range of devices, this includes the full size X10, as well as the X10 Mini and X10 Mini Pro. The Xperia X8 will also remain on Android 2.1 and not see a further upgrade. While the handsets won’t receive any further Android updates, Sony Ericsson have said they will continue to release minor firmware upgrades to the handset, such as the multi touch upgrade which is on it’s way.

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While some regions are still waiting for the Android 2.1 update for the Xperia X10 range of handsets, another way to see if the update is available has been made available by Sony Ericsson who have released the kit numbers. Sony Ericsson have provided kit numbers for the X10, X10 Mini and X10 Mini Pro. If your handset matches one of the numbers in the list, it means the Android 2.1 update is available for your handset. This is particularly helpful as some users are reporting that PC Companion tells them they already have the latest update but, proceeding with repairing the handset in fact installs Android 2.1. Some users have also been told to just try if it says that. However with this list, there will be no guessing as to whether your handset is ready for the Android update.

The number uses your handset sales number, which can be found under the battery, next to the serial number. The sales number is a four digit number, followed by a line and a follow further four numbers, for example; 1232-4526. The number may end is an X, which for the purpose of the kit numbers, does not matter whether there is an X or not. You can view the full list of kit numbers released after the break.

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According to a tip sent in to MobileSyrup, Canadian Xperia X10 owners are soon to receive the Android 2.1 update for their Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 handsets. The tipster has said that the update would be available from November 8th onwards, although as of yet there’s no sign of it.

Sony Ericsson Canada have also said that the update will be coming this month, although haven’t given any specific dates. Within the past few days however, the response from the Sony Ericsson Canada Twitter team is that, while they can’t provide a specific date, it is “very close”, so hopefully the update should be released over the next few days.

After almost a week of the initial released on Android 2.1 for Sony Ericsson’s first Android powered handset, the Xperia X10, the update has now been released in the UK. The update was plagued with delays from Sony Ericsson generally and again in the UK after Android 2.1 was released in the Nordic market for the X10. The reasoning behind the delay in the UK was due to UK laws and regulations and the update not being approved.

The update has now passed approval in the UK and been released for Xperia X10 handsets. The update for the X10 Mini and Mini Pro haven’t been rolled out at the same time and instead will roll out shortly after, hopefully before next week. Likewise, the update is only available for unbranded handsets at the moment in the UK. Owners of network branded handsets will have to wait until their operator releases the update for the handset after adding their apps to it.

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Despite previous claims from the Sony Ericsson UK staff, mainly via their Twitter page, folks in the UK did not receive the Android 2.1 update before the end of October. Only the Nordic market saw the update on Sunday. Since then, Russia, Indonesia, many African countries and Singapore have also all seen the Android 2.1 update reach their Xperia X10 phones. Unfortunately the UK is still waiting and it may be a few more days before the update is released.

On the Sony Ericsson UK Twitter page, they’ve apologized for the delays and say the update should be with UK X10 owners within the next few days. However a later Tweet also says that they will have more information in a few days, so it may even be the second week of November when the UK get the Android 2.1 update. It’s also likely that this will only be available to unbranded handsets and network branded handset owners may have to wait even longer. This however is the case for most markets.