Sony Xperia PLAY

Sony Xperia PLAY

Sony announced back in May that it would not be providing an Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich update for its PlayStation Certified Xperia PLAY. However, an upcoming firmware release for the handset suggests the Japanese company may have changes its mind.

Now, we don’t want to get your hopes up too much if you’re an Xperia PLAY owner, so please take this with a big spoonful of salt. But according to a post on PTCRB, the firmware update that is required to run Ice Cream Sandwich has been approved for public use on the Xperia PLAY.

As noted by Xperia Gamer, the software’s build number (4.1.B.0.431) is the same as that recently rolled out to the Sony Xperia arc, a handset that is on the list for the Ice Cream Sandwich update. But before you get too excited, this doesn’t necessarily mean that Sony has performed an unexpected u-turn.

It’s entirely plausible that although this software readies handsets for a future Ice Cream Sandwich release, it could also contain bug fixes or enhancements that are useful to the Xperia PLAY regardless of its Android future. Also, it’s worth noting that Sony was working on Ice Cream Sandwich for this handset before it decided it was going to can it. Therefore, this firmware could simply be the remnants of its previous progress.

For now, however, it does provide a little hope. We’ll be sure to report updates on this if and when the situation develops.