AT&T Xperia X10 reaches EOL; hopes vanishing for Android 2.1 update?


AT&T Xperia X10 reaches EOLWhilst most of us around the world are now running the Android 2.1 update on our Sony Ericsson Xperia X10s, spare a thought for those in the United States, where users are still stuck on Android 1.6. Back in late November, Sony Ericsson USA said that the update will take longer to hit the States, compared to other countries. However, here we are three months on with no word of an update from either SE USA or AT&T (the exclusive carrier). An extremely poor situation from both sides.

Even worse is the fact that it looks like the handset has reached EOL, earlier than expected. AT&T is no longer stocking the handset on its website, despite the fact that the product page is still up. Only a refurbishment Xperia X10 handset is being offered for $0.01 on a 2-year contract.

What this means for the Android 2.1 update is anyone’s guess. However, I’d be surprised if AT&T suddenly pulled the plug given the bad press/possible libel action it may receive. Especially as the phone was sold with the promise of Android 2.1 at some point down the line. If you can’t wait, then you may want to take action into your own hands by flashing it to 2.1. There is a good guide here from xda-developers to get you going. Also, for those upset by this action, a petition is running entitled “Make AT&T honor their upgrade promises!”


39 responses to “AT&T Xperia X10 reaches EOL; hopes vanishing for Android 2.1 update?”

  1. SE maybe hope die for 2.2 or 2.3 but you hope gonna die for selling facking spupid phones to me
    YOU ARE FACK COWARDS

  2. I think $0.01 is a fair price judging by the disgusting lack of support from Sony Ericsson – wish I’d managed to get it for that price, instead of the price I paid!!!

  3. @everyone

    George Hotz, the man who jailbroke iphone && ps3 said that he will soon buy an x10 && try to crack the bootloader, thus helping him in the future, with xperia play. SO, maybe the bootloader could be cracked in any way :).

  4. @Cockles

    Thats how you expect a premium phone to be supported! Not in the way Sony Ericsson has half-heartedly supported the X10, until their next model came out. Not even a years worth of software upgrades and the upgrades there have been haven’t always been up to expectations and always way behind their competition. Take for instance the upgrade they have just released or was it a downgrade? The one with dual touch the calendar seems to have been totally messed up and now looks awful (very basic) not what I’d expect on this sort of phone – it’s more a budget app. Also, mediascape seems to have gone the same way as the calendar. I haven’t tried many of the other so called improvements as I was too disappointed and who wants an app to send a postcard on their phone, I ask you? It’s a b****y phone Sony Ericsson don’t you understand???

    Appalling!!! I would never have purchased the X10 if I’d known the built-in apps were going to be handicapped 8 months later by SE to help sell their new model and the updates were going to be so few and poor! Advice to anyone considering Sony Ericsson – think long and hard… they don’t care about their customers once you’ve parted with your cash!

    After the let down with no more OS upgrades and now this, I will be steering well clear of any Sony Ericsson Android phone in the future.

  5. I can’t believe that some customers haven’t even been issued with the 2.1 update. SE just doesn’t care!

  6. if u do choose to go the xda-way they also have a nicely working android 2.2 cyanogen 6.1 adatation rom for the x10. it runs really fast and generally problemfree. only anoyance for me is that it sometimes forgets it’s bluetooth connection if it has been dormant for a while, though never while i’m listening to something. dual touch is of cause built in 🙂
    much faster than even a cleaned out SE rom with Jit-v2.

  7. SORRY ERRORSSON Strikes again!
    I feel bad my my American neighbors still stuck on 1.6.
    SORRY ERRORSSON=EPIC FAIL

  8. The update IS out for the xperia x10a here in the usa if you have an unbranded phone. I’m from New York and I’ve had the update since november, so sony ericsson is not at fault here its at&t who doesn’t care about their customers.

  9. It seems the writer really enjoys when he makes the users angry and frustrated. You have a bad habit bro and I advice you to change it.

    This is old news and most of us know already know the situation with At&t so why one of a sudden make a big deal out of it? Probably something you need to keep this blog running.

    My advice is to keep posting great news in the xperiablog instead of useless news here.

  10. at&t need to pull the heads out there ass’s and honor experia x10 they have sold to thousands of customers and get it upgraded to 2.1.
    Yes there will be legal issues going forward and I don’t think at&t want to be involved in a large lawsuit on something that was promised at the time of sale.

    What they ought to do is to give those customers that bought the experia x10 a very
    early upgrade to another phone of there choosing without cost to the customer

  11. Since I am Canadian, I did receive all the updates properly, but I haven’t used an official Canadian rom from Rogers since the 2.1 update Nordic. I strongly suggest that all Americans use the xda approach and give yourself either 2.1 with dual touch as well as 2.2 with cyanogen. I am now on 2.2 thanks to xda and I have everything I want on this phone and fast!

    You may not believe me but my husband has the galaxy s and I have more freedom than that phone does. So much more control! Rooted and all. The only thing that doesn’t work is video recording. I never use it so I don’t care about that.

    If you want the android phone you always wanted with the xperia, get the 2.2 update by xda. It may take some computer know how, but trust me its worth it. I am happy to have this phone over the galaxy s.

  12. Can someone tell me more about this rooting and custom Roms I haven’t wanted to do this to my phone because of fears over killing it, but I am now so frustrated with SE’s lack of support that I am starting to think about trying this.

    Some of the questions I have about this:

    1. What does the phone look like when you use these custom ROMs is it like a vanilla Android phone?
    2. How does the camera work? Do you still get all the SE camera functions (except video) or is it a more basic interface?
    3. Does things like Timescape/Mediascape/All other SE bloatware get removed?
    4. Will the phone still work on my current contract with T-mobile or will I need to re-enter settings to get it to work?
    5. What happens if I want to return to the original SE software?

    Or does anybody know of a website that could answer these questions?

  13. @Coyote: All your questions, full instructions and more can be easily found in the forums. I know AT&T is hosing X10 owners even more than Sorry Errorsson. If feel for them and suggest that they hound their carrier (AT&T) for an early hardware upgrade based upon hardware not living up to contract. My carrier in Canada has told me to contact them as soon as I hit 6 months from purchase in a few weeks and threaten to pull the pin. They listen.

    @Fanboy is Fanboy: If there was any great news, it would be here. Since there isn’t any great news, bad news is also reported without bias as would be expected.

  14. @fact is fact

    I actually support the article being published when it was. While some of us are aware that AT&T hasn’t updated the X10, not everyone is aware of this fact. The US users still on 1.6 are acutely aware though. One thing to remember is that the plight of American X10 users isn’t necessarily something the rest of the world really cares about. In a stereotypical way, some Americans believe that the US is the most important market in the world and I see this delay as a bit of a jab to that. It’s almost satisfying to know that much of the rest of the world has the update while they do not…but then, these are real people who are “suffering” with 1.6. I agree that the phone was sold with a promise to bring 2.1 out, and now it seems unlikely. The timing of this article is based on the EOL discoveries on the AT&T website that suggest they are no longer marketing the phone.

    I certainly suggest that AT&T X10 users bring the phone in and demand a full refund of whatever it is that you paid if there is no 2.1 update in the near future. Then demand a hardware upgrade price on some other phone that you find appealing – possibly the arc? It will be like getting an upgrade to 2.3 for free on a somewhat familiar handset…assuming you trust SE to deliver updates in a more timely way as they have promised.

  15. @Michael

    Sad part about it, even though AT&T sold the phone with promises of the update to 2.1…you can’t hold AT&T or Sony liable for the lie, as it was never in the written contract, it’s your word against theirs.

    I am pretty much fed up with Sony, and am looking at upgrading my phone to a Motorola Atrix this summer. (Not available through Rogers, but I can order one unlocked…sure I’ll have to pay full price…but get this…at least Motorola has decent customer support, and keeps their phones updated even past EOS.)

  16. So AT&T announced that they’ll be making the Froyo update for the Samsung Captivate available very soon. They also mentioned that the Android 2.2 update for the HTC Aria will be coming out shortly.

    I really don’t understand why they don’t update the X10 with 2.1 at all for those customers.

  17. What’s at issue here is that SE did promise US purchasers support/updates. (contract or not) Many bought the phone under that premise and SE failed to deliver. Bottom line, the company lacks any level of honesty or integrity potential buyers of othe SE products should tae note. SE won’t perish without my future purchases, but I will certainly find other products. BTW, not all US users are the sheep AT&T and SE think we are and we don’t like being “jabbed”. I’ve been rooted and debranded for a couple of months but it’s still EX X10 and anything Sony for me!

  18. Yeah I got this phone free with a 2 year contract renewal with ATT. Came with 1.6, but I flashed it to 2.1.1 after a day or so. Everything is working great and I am very happy with it. Not real happy with ATT though, since I really shouldn’t have had to use a third party firmware to get to a semmi current OS.

  19. @Khast

    This may or may not be entirely true. If there is even a single recorded conversation, or if any of the advertising mentions 2.1, then AT&T are up the creek.

    I wouldn’t pin this on SE…much. Yeah, I can admit that they were quite late with delivery of 2.1 to the service providers. But why is it that some are released within days to weeks, and AT&T is still lagging so far behind? Obviously AT&T is dragging their heels on certifying it or they are making outrageous demands of SE to make the update “certifiable” in their eyes. If the update is available from the handset manufacturer, the service provider should be legally compelled to provide the update to it’s customers unless it has a damn good reason not to. At this point, it’s all smoke and mirrors, no clear comments from either SE or AT&T around the lack of update for US customers.

  20. Great ADVICE for the fools stuck with a crappy X10.

    1. ROOT YOUR PHONE
    2. DOWNLOAD Titanium Backup FROM MARKET
    3. DELETE GARBAGE APPS LIKE TIMESCAPE, MEDIASCAPE, AND MOXIER
    4. VISIT http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=947974 AND DELETE THE JUNK APPS LISTED HERE
    5. ????
    6. ENJOY A MUCH FASTER, SMOOTHER PHONE WITH BETTER BATTERY LIFE

    SE SUCKS. THIS PHONE COULD HAVE BEEN GREAT, IF NOT YOUR THE SONY SOFTWARE JUNK.

  21. Yes, it was in writing on AT&T website X10 product description. I bought my X10a on November 10, 2010, and was told it was coming with Android 2.1 upgrade already installed. Obviously, it came with 1.6. I have contacted them numerous times, and I have it in writing that I did not need to return my X10a because the 2.1 update was only a few days away. A well known-unknown xda member that seems to have inside information stated in January that there would be good news for AT&T X10a owners at MWC 2011, which didn’t happen 🙁 As stringent as AT&T is regarding their contracts they need to be held liable or offer an early free device upgrade.

  22. ATTN. AT&T X10 Owners!
    Rogers (Canadian Partner to AT&T) has offered me an EARLY HARDWARE UPGRADE due to S.E.’s EPIC FAIL with X10! AT&T will probably do the same if you complain enough and then you can get a handset that has 2.2 or higher to better enjoy your AT&T contract with!
    Check my post here: http://www.xperiax10.net/forum/post11077.html#p11077
    It’s worth a try and good luck fellow X10 Owners.

  23. I have filed a complaint with the Federal trade commission against AT&T for fraudulently promising an android upgrade and failing to follow through. I urge all American X10 owners to do the same.