Sony Ericsson's Android Future

Raekwon

So Sony Ericsson comes out with bold statements like this, claiming that they want to be the biggest Android smartphone supplier, yet they cannot even get their flagship device off 1.6 after yet another delay in the long promised 2.1 upgrade (see here)

With their reputation now at an all time low and their creditability being widely scrutinised, do Sony Ericsson have a future in the Android smartphone market or will they always be lagging behind the likes of HTC, Motorola and Samsung even it comes to sales?

Brian

They're too busy working on Gingerbread on the PSP phone.


:pac:

missingtime

I have one of these and i love it. Wasnt too pushed about the 2.1 but when they keep pushing it out and pushing it out it gets annoying.

Raekwon

Only 2 posts in nearly 24 hours! Just goes to show how much of an impact Sony Ericsson are having on the Android market :pac:

I was just reading some of the comments in the official SE blog and the amount of unhappy customers is actually quite staggering. Their current flagship device is on the market since April yet is still on 1.6 (while everyone else is on 2.2), doesn't support multi-touch, won't support flash, doesn't support 16m colours and will more then likely not be upgrading to 2.2. Also to add insult to injury SE are refusing to open their bootloader to allow developers to create/install custom ROMs because their patent applications, Timescape & Mediascape, are built into the core of the Android system and they don't want to lose them to vanilla upgrades.

It really seems like SE are pretty much dead in the water in regards to Android devices and IMO should stick to their successful formula of bringing out Walkman & Cybershot phones.

Brian

Reading the comments on SE's blog, and on XDA, I would be quaking were I in Sony Ericsson's boots. There is a lot of animosity towards them in the Android community.

Otacon

I filled in a survey sent to me by SE about my X10. Based on the questions they asked, they seemed to know they weren't doing good enough, asking why I chose that phone over other Androids, how important the OS version was to me and all that.

Honestly, if they get their asses in gear, I think they have the hardware chops to be a good Android option, but they need to be really good to their customers to change their image.

Hellrazer

Have to say I love the x10 but seriously Sony delaying these updates is ridiculous.

Im seriously considering selling it and getting something like a Desire or GalaxyS which might get updates quicker or can even have custom roms loaded on to it.