Sony Mobile is moving a bunch of its older Xperia devices to end-of-life status. These devices will not be receiving any further software updates from the company. They also won’t be receiving any further software support. Sony says that these Xperia devices will “not receive any further software upgrade support.” That’s pretty straightforward.
The full list of retiring devices includes the Xperia S, Xperia SL, Xperia arc S, Xperia acro S, Xperia P, Xperia J, Xperia U, Xperia miro, Xperia sola, Xperia tipo, and the Xperia go. Some of these devices made it to the U.S. while some of them were only released in Japan, Korea, and other global market. All of these devices are at least 18 months old. Sony is falling in line with a recent trend from manufacturers to stop supporting phones and tablets once they reach 18-24 months old. Some of these older devices simply can’t handle newer versions of Android due to hardware limitations. Android 4.4 KitKat should alleviate some of those issues, but the bottom line is that companies cannot support their devices indefinitely. This move will free up Sony to focus on their current lineup.
While we understand that Sony needs to move on, some users may not be happy with this announcement. If you’re stuck with an older device, it’s never good news to find out that you won’t ever get an update to the latest version of Android. The other way to look at it is that now you know Sony’s plans and you can begin to focus on acquiring a newer smartphone or tablet.
Sony Mobile is already updating the device pages for these units on its website. The official language has changed to “Latest & final version” for the affected Xperia devices. If you’re still carrying one of these older devices, it’s time to start thinking about an upgrade if you want to have the latest version of Android. At this point, your 12-month manufacturer’s warranty is long expired as well, so there are plenty of reasons to begin planning for your next phone upgrade.
Does this Sony announcement affect you at all?
Source: Sony | Via: Xperia blog