Lengthy Android development process explained by SE employee


Erik HellmanOne of the biggest criticisms that Sony Ericsson has faced over its flagship Xperia X10 smartphone is the lengthy delay in upgrading the phone from Android 1.6 to Android 2.1. For all those wondering what the big deal is, Erik Hellman, Senior Software Architect for Android Development at Sony Ericsson has given some insight into the complicated work behind the development process.

You cannot just download the vanilla version of Android and stick it into the handset. They first have to work with their component suppliers (flash memory, displays, and processors) to make sure everything is compatible. To give an example, at the beginning of a project the battery life of a phone may last just half an hour before the OS is optimised.

Then comes the challenge of tailoring Android for your handset. To get things working, changes can sometimes be made to the application layer (without tinkering too much with Android), however in other cases deep root changes within Android itself is required. Sometimes this requires taking advantage of undocumented features of Android which is a risky process as it can cause third-party application compatibility issues.

Then comes the testing phase with at least eleven different types of tests conducted. The last stage is the operator testing, which requires hundreds of hours of continuous operation without any incident. However, this is only part of the story. As Sony Ericsson tweaks Android, changes are sent back to the Android developer team. To date, Sony Ericsson has made 170 changes to the code of which 100 have been incorporated into the vanilla version of Android.

This may give some insight into the challenges the company has faced in upgrading from Android Donut to Éclair. After all, even HTC faced very lengthy delays in upgrading from Cupcake to Éclair for the HTC Hero which caused endless frustration for users (much like us X10 owners). Let’s just hope that there are no more delays and that Sony Ericsson has learned from this experience to provide a greater customer experience next time round.

Via Computer Sweden.

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123 responses to “Lengthy Android development process explained by SE employee”

  1. Yeah more or less the excuse we were expecting but it would have been bettter to broadcast it wwith the delay news!

  2. Yeah right!
    If making an update is this hard, why other companies (even Acer FFS!) have released the 2.1 and 2.2 updates in such a short period of time?

    Btw, is it just me or anyone else likes to punch that guy with that stupid smile on his face?

  3. It the same process for everybody, and Samsung, HTC, Huawey, … have already did it.
    Do you need experts? I can send Sony-E/// my curriculum.

  4. Guys you still don’t get it, it was mentioned in the news, Se did more than 170 changes and that was the main reason why it took them so long to upgrade from 1.6 to 2.1, anyway no more excuses for Se, they should have learned their lesson by now, and therefore no more delays in the future.

    Let’s just wait for the very soon 2.1 that will be rolling at the 25Th of this month at least in UK, because I’m pretty sure it will be worth the wait. In the meantime, just relax and enjoy this sweet video of live view :

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kEHR3o9KbE&feature=player_embedded

  5. So I am guessing we are gonna hear from SE very SOON officially informing us about another delay in rolling out the update. This is just another one of their ways to tell us (indirectly) before hand that they won’t be sticking to their promised date this time either.
    Thank you for informing us Mr. Hellman.

  6. It is a lengthy process, that’s why you should of allocated more resources to it and began the project when 2.1 was released. Not months down the track.

  7. Yes U learned a lesson SE,
    & told, you will not repeat it again…
    So what u are not gonna repeat?
    Releasing the updates or delaying the update ????????

    e’m really scared abt u SE…
    I cant believe u guys even if u say Sony.Make it Believe…

  8. I wonder how many changes HTC, Motorola and Samsun have made to the Android code which made it’s way to the vanilla version.

  9. when you can’t deliver what you promisse in het normal bussines live you get replaced, when sony selve does this its oke? not…..

    Yes i agree with the rest of the posters, this is for informing the masses that the updat is gonna take a while, time to pick up my new phone and dump the X10

  10. You could have calculated all the motherfucking problems within the timeline. You fucking idiots, god damn you !

  11. As a developer I know all this effort and lack of bed time from SE to make this possible to us since is not an obligation (It wasn’t displayed in my contract that i would get 2.1) so i highly appreciate se efforts, they are trying to make the less buggy release possible and i’m sure it’s done but it needs a lot of testing. None wants his phone damaged by a bug, thats worse than everything.

  12. Hahaha.
    The kind of excuse I would love to give to my clients, but won’t for fear of being kicked out.

    Poor me. I can’t afford another phone after buying X10 without contract.

  13. I’ve moved on from being angry with the continuous saga of my x10 so I can quite happily thank Erik Hellman for giving an explanation which he didn’t really have to do.

    The thing is no one at SE seems concerned that they are behind there competitors not even a push to get this update out on time or as soon as possible to set things right.

    Essentially if SE were concerned the community wouldn’t need to request an upgrade to 2.2 they would simply skip there original plan and upgrade to 2.2.

    Ignoring the premise that random no name manufacturers can come from nowhere and give you the choice of what components you want and still give you the latest android release http://www.androidcentral.com/want-have-customized-android-handset-look-germany

    No one is getting sacked for this monumental cock up. All these things point to things going according to plan for SE otherwise they would pull there finger out.

  14. I have no feeling on 2.1 updates but how soon they will release 2.2 update? I need App2SD as 70% of iphone game developers will release android version. It is serious issue as some game like SF4, Let’s Golf etc measure in hundreds MB, but X10 only provide very litter rom to install game…
    SE may take another year to issue 2.2 (when other manufacturer already have 3.0-3.5) then they announce it will be ready by end of Q3 2011. When time come, they will make same stupid move to tell the whole world “Sony Ericsson has made 1000 changes to the code of which ‘zero’ have been incorporated into the vanilla version of Android” as the Android Development Team reckon that it is waste of time for version 2.2
    Do you think Android Development Team bother the code sent by SE in view of their readiness on newer built.

  15. Let Hellman go to Hell. He said nothing new. What we want to know WHY SE has such poor planning? and WHAT EXACTLY they were planning to issue to the market a month ago, if it wasn´t ready?

  16. I know this comment will make some of you angry but I really don’t care, what ever!! You guys are really damn stupid, I can’t believe I’m even here with you. Now who the fu* said that that the upgrade will be delayed ??! in the Sony Ericsson blog they promised that it will still be ready by the end of this month. Also SE UK mentioned that the upgrade will be rolling in the 25th of this month according in their twitter homepage. If someone needs to pull out his finger, it;s you simple minded jerks, sorry but it was really frustrating to keep reading people that are claiming that the update will be delayed again, although there was no such thing in the news.

  17. @Macro,
    The best way to test software is not by few tom dick & harry in SE lab but to release the beta, rc etc built to all X10 user and lets millions (maybe) of X10 user test the update.
    This, at least will shut our mouth for a while.
    What Erik Hellman said is not really convincing, most parts in phone are common brand, SE use it, Moto also use it and HTC also use it. If other manufacturer able to get the display, flash memory works on their 2.1 or even 2.2, i am pretty sure the driver is quite mature and Android Development Team may just advise SE accordingly or they already put that into vanilla version.

  18. Yeah! By informing the owner of the X10 about the development of an update and how hard it is, I guess they are priming the public that there will be another delay. They have nine days to go, if not, I will not update my phone anymore. I’ll buy another one which is not an SE Android phone. Whoooaaa…

  19. @fact is fact – They promised it to us not once but twice. Ask yourself what exactly they were promising to deliver in September if it was THAT raw. Their promises and porno-videos on youtube that Rik Assberg demoes to us mean NOTHIING. You won´t get an update in October, no matter what the swedish queers with stupid smiles promise you.

  20. For those who don´t know, X10 is actually made by HTC, so there is nothing ultra- SE specific except for design.

  21. I guess the Cupertino boyz are much up to their sleeves in rolling out their iOS
    A case in point, underneath the skin of Android it’s still an LINUX and as same fate with other LINUX everyone is creating their own flavor and in the long run ends up fragmented.

  22. Well, if you knew it would be a lengthy process then you should’ve hired more developers

    this is just an epic fail

  23. It’s really very sad what I’m seeing here. Seriously I’m very disappointed with all this negativity. I can’t believe you guys, although se confirms that the upgrade will be rolling for sure by the end of this month, yet most of you are concluding things just because of this interview, which probably was made just to explain and clarify things nothing more.

    I think I need to take a little rest, by not reading your comments at least for a while, because I don’t want this sickness to transfer to me, the sickness of being pessimistic and never seeing the bright side. Shame on you all!

  24. @fact is fact. My friend, the phrase “SE confirms” means nothing to the market. They have confirmed many things before and nothing happened. They confirmed an update in September. Where is it? So don´t blame us for not trusting SE, blame SE for devaluing their own words to zero.

  25. Really disappointed with SE right now, I have the X10 and where it is now? It’s on a repair shop. My X10 with Android 1.6 is having serious issues for no apparent reason the phone keeps on rebooting/restaring. No fancy work done on the phone that could cause it.

    So I’m having some concerns that there will be more problems once they roll out the Eclair was what they promise… Cross my fingers for it

  26. fact is fact you are just a very pathetic SE fanboy. It is just so embarrassing to read some of your comments. I completely agree with most who have commented that these are just lame excuses probably preparing the way for another delay. Well when I say delay, I’m just being kind to SE because in truth they never had any intention of releasing the update before end of q4. Everything else was just a tactical(you can even say cynical) ploy to manage the frustration of x10 users. Other companies seem to do just fine but SE come out with this kind of pathetic nonsense to justify their greed. Notice I said greed not failure. I think if they wanted to release froyo, they could have done so months ago but they want to ensure the x10 goes no further than 2.1 by delaying, as long as they can, its implementation. Why? so that they can maximise profits on their next froyo phone coming to a store near you soon.
    Now that gentlemen, as they say in America, is how the cookie crumbles.

  27. @fact is fact,
    Explanation of delay come after the release of 2.1 will show how sincere SE are, but explanation before the release may indicate there will be delayed again.
    When the delay is actually happened, SE might just said ” you poor X10 user, i told you it is complicated and right now only 100 out of 170 changes is incorporated, we have 70 more to go.”
    Is this clear to you? You better don’t answer as you said you don’t want to read comments….

  28. I have lambasted SE for their delays. On another blog I also tried to present the Development process which is exactly what was posted (condensed of course).
    I am a retired Software Architect so I understand the complexity of the product, and the pitfalls that await.
    One glaring (maybe 2) ambitious attempts to stand a cut above the crowd was the attempt to release Timescape and Mediascape? with close to 100% of function instead of rolling out incremental updates, and also making it an integral part of the phone instead of making the functions optional.
    Another error was allowing carriers the ability to ‘control/eliminate’ the majority of SEs basic layer (in Software Architect, this is a no,no!! That was a disaster which they have discovered). Updates will become more difficult as they go down the road.
    I, like all of you am frustrated. However, having lived the development cycle one can see their frustration, and ours.
    To illustrate the point, look at the number of ‘techie’ root/unlock/debrand bits of code where the person states that it works, but when one tries it, the phone is rendered ‘useless’. Why? the ‘techie’ developed it for a specific environment ‘theirs’, your environment was NEVER considered!
    Having said all that, I am waiting for FLASH. Will I ever see it? I can only hope.

  29. That gives a good insight into why it’s taken a lot of time and it is reassuring that the testing is so stringent. It must take forever to get through all that QA.

    To all the rude commenters, if you have nothing nice to say, don’t say it. I don’t think talk like that would make them want to go any faster anyhow.

  30. @Vlad,
    I think, you should not comment on something you’re not really sure about. X2 was manufactured by HTC, but X10 was made by FoxConn, just like many other phones on the market, for example Apple iPhone’s.
    Anyway, if the finally release the update in the next nine days, lot of people will be happy. If not, they will lost a lot of potential customers due to their broken promises on the upgrade. Bad news travels faster than good news…

  31. man wtf is wrong with this comment section. duh. If you people think its easy why not inquiry for Se dev. team? lmao. update.update.update.it sounded easy for you peoples (some).

  32. they said they’ve made 170 changes to the root..??what I dont care..i dont need the stupid game and the stupid gps that are only for trial..give me a clean rom that work.. i will choose which apps to install..

    beside..hey you guys..you just pay for the phone once..so why you expecting that they will support this phone forever..anyway I hope we will get our 2.2 atleast..

  33. @Rod M. No matter who makes it Foxconn or HTC, it is a generic device with nothing specific to SE.

  34. No one just downloads vanilla and put into the handset straight away.
    Bottom line, customers don’t care how difficult you have been through upgrading 1.6 to 2.1
    What they when the update is ready to pick up!!!

    Please continue your job, don’t waste time by bloging this thing. Please..

  35. glad they are trying to rectify the damage but i think its too little too late hope they can pick up again though the x10 is killing se reputation. i think the next phone they will have to get right hopefully it will shut zodiac up

  36. and all this takes 1,2 month for HTC to complete and it takes sony ericsson 8 months.
    Stop trying to justify your incompetence you pricks.

    F u Sony Ericsson.

  37. Glad that some SE guys do communicate with us. Pity that it’ just another pile of lame excuses. Was SE really so self centred that they didn’t notice difficulties other companies had beforehand? I mean, it’s not that SE pioneers Android development…
    I’m afraid that this is just the preparation of another delay. Prove me wrong, SE!

  38. “To give an example, at the beginning of a project the battery life of a phone may last just half an hour before the OS is optimised.”

    After optimisation the battery last AN COMPLETE HOUR!!! Can’t you see??? Huge improvements!!!! LOL

  39. We understand;
    but why the sound is very less .. i mean the earphone .. we facing prb… taking phone calls. and listening to voice. ..

  40. “taking advantage of undocumented features” ? Thats asking for a pain…They should stick to supported modyfication, or if they really want to change something that is undocumented they would better have enaugh people to make it smooth..but its evident that they didn’t.

  41. -laugh-

    If there are no more delays now, I am sure many people who have bought the Desire are going to regret not having chosen this beautiful phone, who is only rivaled by the iPhone in design.

    And the day I buy something from Apple, is the day marsmallows fall from the sky and Bill Gate is crucified!

  42. SE will in all probability announce a new device soon with froyo. Then all the criticism of having a flagship device with outdated software will stop. All those who want froyo will only get it by getting another phone… it will certainly not come to the x10. I am resigned to that eventuality so I don’t really care one way or another about SE and the x10 any more. I will keep mine for half my contract and then either get a gingerbread tablet or another phone next year. All hope for the x10 is diminishing day by day and will ultimately be extinguished.
    I am sorry to be the bearer of bad news but with the exception of the small minority of die hard x10 fanboys, the rest of x10 users will have nothing but regret when they remember their x10s.

  43. @ D3llerium

    I had the same issue! I sent it back 3 times to the sony ericsson repair centre only for them to send it back twice with only software being reflashed (even though i told them that i had tried that several times). They eventually solved it by reinstalling a new chipset. If your phone comes back and you haven’t got a new IMEI it most likely will happen again. From a rather heated conversation with the repair guys it turns out that it is a problem with the 3G radio chip on some phones. So if you need to test if it’s working properly try downloading your e-mails on to your phone via 3G or going on a really action packed website via 3G like skysports.com etc

  44. This is a cool post thanks, as a self respecting android user i crave little insights into the software like this and there should be more of this kind of post that teaches a few things along the way to people who could really do with learning a few things from time to time as well as for anyone who wants to learn.
    Seriously more stuff about android as well as the x10 would be welcome here.

    its also refreshing to maybe finally get the non conspiracy laden side of things too, end of the day its not ready its not ready. A month has not hurt has it.

  45. SE: sorry to say but these are just excuses, and the community isn’t buying it.

    As others have said, your competitors didn’t take anywhere near this long to get Android 2.1 onto their phones, and the X10 line isn’t so different that it should’ve warranted such extensive delays. Android 2.1 had been available (to developers at least) for months prior to the X10 even hitting retail, which is why the lack of 2.1 right out the gate was one of the biggest complaints about the phone. To be here 6 months later and still waiting for an OS update, is inexcusable.

  46. I’m guessing that over 80% of those complaining about the upgrade use only 30% of the functionality 1.6 provides. For most of you, it’s only a lego toy that you add and remove apps until you get what you still don know you want. Give it a rest or just move on to HTC or whatever. I’ve owned an HTC, Samsung, and others and they all push out release dates because they don’t want you jamming their blogs or phone lines with redundant issues. The best way to make over a millions customers mad is to release an update that’s less than 75% ready. Now, I’ve stood on my soap box and I’m getting down, don’t piss me off again.

  47. These statements are not really “news”. They are just providing some specific details about the extent of the delays. I would like to say that SE was surprised by the difficulty in upgrading to 2.1 and that future upgrade will be more efficient (either because they now have trained employees or because they will hire a larger workforce to get it put together). I feel like I can forgive SE the first time they upgrade an Android system, it’s new territory for them. On the other hand, they had to create the original system for the X10, so one would assume that they had some idea of the challenges. We shall have to wait and see regarding future OS upgrades.

    @zodiac – it’s encouraging to see that you are willing to put up with the phone for half of your contract. Depending on my finances, I like to replace my phones after half a contract anyway, so you’re not really cutting your relationship short in my opinion. I’m certainly not overly loyal to SE, and I wouldn’t consider myself to be a fanboy of SE or the X10 specifically. When I was looking for a new phone at the beginning of the year my research suggested that I wanted the X10 – it had all of the features that I wanted at that time. I have a suspicion that my research indicated that the screen was 16m colours and multi-touch capable, but I did review the specs prior to purchasing in April. My phone works the way I need it to, although I admit there are features that newer Android versions offer that I would enjoy having too. If we get those features (either native to the Android update SE offers or as an add-on to bring an older version of Android closer to the current version), I will be happy. I will probably still replace the phone though. Depends on what is on the market and if it is a significant improvement on my current device. If something significantly better isn’t available, I’ll tough it out until something with sex-appeal and a “cool” factor is available.

    If there is one thing that I have learned from buying this phone it’s that it can be risky to buy on release date when there aren’t many true “user” reviews. But I still like the reward of having a new-on-the-market device that nobody else has. But, as advice for the future for myself and others, if you’re buying a phone that’s been on the market for a while, READ FORUMS! At the very least, you will find out what the unhappiest users like to complain about!

  48. I wonder when the update will be available in India. Many of my colleagues who have x10 are thinking to dump it and go for Samsung or HTC.

  49. @Willing to wait on a good release
    I do agree that releasing a buggy update would be a bad idea all around. But the fact of the matter is that it still shouldn’t have taken this long. SE should’ve been well into the development of 2.1 by the time the X10 was put up for sale back in March. As I stated before, none of SE’s competition has taken nearly this long, and they’re hardware isn’t really much different.

    I’ve tweeted Erik Hellman with my comments about this information he gave. I recommend everyone else do the same. A link is in the first paragraph of this news article.

  50. Let’s be honest – SE were a fair bit unprepared for what Android gave them, but at least they are trying to be the best – I’ll give them that. Look at it logically – If 100 out of 170 ideas they have suggested have been implemented, then it should make the upgrade process more seemless – in theory. I’m personally happy to hang in there – the phone is pretty good and does most things I need (timescape is a waste of time – personally). Then again, Facebook is a waste of time too – I don’t need to display myself on the web to feel happy. The X10 is good and 2.1 will speed things up considerably. There is one thing I really want above all – FIX THE VOLUME OF IN CALL RECEPTION – IT DRIVES ME NUTS WHEN I HAVE TO SAY WHAT? 3 TIMES TO UNDERSTAND SOMEONE BECAUSE OF LOW VOLUME!!!!

  51. willing to wait for a good release…. you seem to forget that froyo brings a few very important additions to android. Its not really about the performance improvements. I don’t use the web browser on my phone much because I don’t think a small screen is ideal for that. However flash support would improve things considerably as you could watch a lot of videos. I would also love to be able to turn my phone into a wifi hotspot without rooting because I had problems with that before. Lets not forget the apps2sd feature in froyo. These improvements, no matter how much they are played down the x10 fanboys, would significantly enrich the user experience many fold.

  52. @ Fact is Fact. Hey man, what the fuck are you doing here if you don’t know why you’re here. noone wants jackasses like you here. and where on fuckin twitter you saw SE saying that the update will be rolling out on 25th? SE never gives you any exact date – refuckingmember that, fudge-packer homo…

  53. I am so happy that i sold this piece of crap to someone and am now using an iPhone 4.
    Android currently is a garbage system and the Sony x10 is even worse.
    Maybe in a few years Android will be better, as for Sony they will always by crap!

  54. Jimmy, i agree that x10 is a crappy piece of shit, but don’t say anything bad about android man. it’s the best we’ve ever seen – and by we, I mean everyone living on this planet now… :)))

    take it easy.

  55. and not every x10 user is like us ‘apps nerd’, some of them just treat it as a phone. they dont want to see timescape and mediascape gone with an UPDATE? I mean..yeah we wish we can get the 2.1 rom ASAP but they need to consider about the customers. its like..not everyone’s iphone is jailbroken. not everyone haz appsync and install crazy free apps.

  56. Look at the Samsung, they have problem after their haste upgrade. I agree that SE have taken a lot of time, with the upgrade….

  57. No 2.1, no angry bird, no other new games that design for 2.X.
    For those support SE, i am very doubt that
    – do you own X10?
    – if you do, what are you using it for? If you don’t use it for Android game and use it for facebook, sms, mms, voice call, don’t buy expensive X10, use any cheaper smartphone
    – do you need 4″ LCD for texting? or you use it for browsing? go and use computer…. crap.. i choose X10 because of its 1ghz CPU and large screen so that i can enjoy playing game, as it claims to have bigger screen than iphone and it is better in gaming display

  58. This is getting rather tiresome!
    If everyone posting hatefull cr@p here is really that bothered or concerned, go post your hate and anger on an SE site or forum.

    As the title page displays, this is not an official SE site and is purely for owners and enthusiasts of the X10 series.

    All the sh!tty comments do is anger the rest of the readers.

    At the end of the day no matter how much you bitch and moan, the update will roll out when it rolls out. As for all the “why not just give us 2.2” comments, there has been no solid statement telling us that we will even get it so be patient and watch what happens.

    All companies and people make mistakes and suffer set backs, it’s life, surely you should be used to it by now!

    Personally, I’m sitting and waiting for the update as I reckon it’ll be worth it be it late or not. As for any future OS updates, bonus but again, we’ll get them when we get them.

    Sit tight kids!!

  59. @Burdie

    as for what you’ve said about the screen size, will you be complaining or bragging about it when you have the ability of HD video recording and play back?
    I have seen the demo vids and examples that were put on the blog page and must say, I’m impressed, for a phone, it’s awesome and you cant argue with that.
    Other than the vivaz, how many other phones have video capture that good? (combined with the 4″ screen, will put the vivaz back in the stone age)

    Everyone needs to remember, the X10 is still just a phone after all.

    If you want something more powerfull and impressive then yes, go buy a new PC or Laptop!

  60. realize people SE has been with android for what two years? be realistic and how many phones have 2.2? how many have 2.2 that use the full potiental of android? thats right morons if you think its so easy no one said you can’t hack your phone. Samsung tried to release 2.2 what happened? FAIL……. recalled it back and SE doesn’t want that to happen so fucking wait.

  61. What’s, wrong with you lot, buy a new phone for fucks sake want froyo buy a new phone, stop moaning and put your hands in your pockets, se don’t owe you f-all , granted 1.6 shit but use a home replacement, like the rest of us then sit back shut your moaning selfish fat arse gobs and wait for se to deliver, pricks..

  62. They need more time than Motorola, Samsung, HTC, etc. because SE not only modify android to make it work with X10 (aka drivers) and change the ui by creating UXP but they also need time to remove features like multi touch, 16mil colors, make sure that the unlock screen is a pain in the a** and the agenda will use 4 .. 5 taps to make a call and use very low quality images.

  63. @ burdie

    Yes, I AM a SE-enthousiast, still.
    You claim that Facebook, SMS, MMS, voice calls and stuff like that are not legit reasons to buy an X10. We should have bought a cheaper phone that can do the same.
    Angry Birds, or any other game for that matter, IS a reason to buy the X10.

    Seriously, of all senseless posts made here, this one makes the least sense. You make it seem like the X10 is a gaming device and one should only buy it to use it for gaming. However, the X10 is NOT a gaming device. If you want to play games, buy a PSP or whatever. Don’t come here to cry that you can’t play Angry Birds for the next few weeks. Just wait for the update and you can use your “game console” the way it shouldn’t be used in the first place. It’s a phone. So yes, it’s intended for SMS, MMS, voice calls and stuff like that. And yes, I DO need a 4″ LCD for mailing, just because a touchscreen is easier to handle when it’s larger.

    And yes, I own the X10. And no, I do *NOT* encounter any lags. It has *NEVER* crashed, the battery lasts for a day or two.
    Sure, no Flash support is a fail, so is the update-delay, but don’t come crying here for GAMES and make us think we made the wrong decision buying a phone for the purposes a phone is intended for: calling.

  64. Just another indication to tell us the 2.1 update will be postponed to the end of november. And then postponed again towards the end of christmas.

  65. Here Mate You can download and play angry bird and lot many other games..follow this blog.

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  66. So this was a roundabout way to explain that their whole dev team is incompetent? I don’t see other manufacturers “taking a lengthy time” to “test and optimize” Android updates to *their* phones.

    Sack the development team. The devs over at XDA can do it in a few weeks.

  67. I dont know why all this bitchin is goin on about the update. Just get ADW launcher and ur sweet till we get 2.1. Jeez.

  68. @Garry
    How does a 3 week old post about the Angry Birds beta apply to the known issues of the full Angry Birds not running in any playable state on the X10?

  69. To the sad little whingers on here , its a bloody phone not a feckin life support machine for gods sake , get a sense of perspective . You bought the phone “as was” , not with a cast iron guarantee of upgrades . Running dev teams requires budgets , running them to tighter deadlines requires higher budgets . I wonder how many of the sad whingers have ever run projects .

  70. Special thanks for all the intelligent and mature users that are able to deal with such situations very professionally, unlike some kids and teenagers that just whine and cry and probably need their mama to tell them a bed time story in order for them to come down, I seriously felt sick because of them, but you folks gave me hope that this world still has some decent people that are able to use their brains the way they are supposed to.

    And the special thanks go too :

    @RobC

    @vekz

    @bushy

    @dave

    @Bobble

    @Richo

    @Mike

    Cheers 🙂

  71. And one more thing, for all the users that will be attacking me again, keep in mind that attacking me will never change the fact that you are sad, misreable and unhappy with your lives because you simply turn every small problem into a disaster! As if it was the end of earth.

    Seriously, it’s not only about a phone, it’s about you learning to be patient and also take full responsibility about your decisions. Remember it was you and only you that decided to buy this phone even though it was offered with 1.6, so if you feel you made a mistake than deal with it! No need to whine and cry 24/7 on these forums because it’s not our responsibility to fix what you are feeling now, go pay a proper shrink to do the Job.

    There are still plenty of x10 owners that are happy with the phone and are looking forward for the next upgrade, so trying to make others upset because you are not happy is just a lousy habit and reveals a personality with low self esteem and loneliness. You need to have more discipline and commitment in your lives, you need to change, you need to ask your self do you want to be a loser that just complains or do you want to be a winner that can make some change? Don’t you have any other things to do in life other than whine about an upgrade that will be coming very soon?! Seriously if that’s the case than I feel very sorry for you.

    And now back to study statistics 🙂

  72. I guess everyone should chillout and wait. After all its just phone, not yourlife??
    Later peps xx

  73. @dave

    Samsung are at least running 2.1 already. You say Samsung failed for not releasing 2.2 on time. What does that make SE? The X10 is a total disaster.

  74. Hello out there, heard some news today, maybe, just maybe you will all be in for a surprise soon. SE may deliver. Yes deliver!! Wait until the 25th.

  75. This still doesn’t explain why in the last week before the end of Q3 a delay of more than a month is coming out of the box. Such a delay, especially with all that testing and adjustments would have become clear earlier. Seems SE isn’t in control of it’s software development.

  76. I’m still waiting for Android 2.2 and Adobe Flash in web browser! PERIOD! Fuck off with the Android 2.1 update. WAKE UP, SORRY ERRORSON!!!!
    Hire 300 Android nerds and sack ALL your oldschool Symbian developers!¨
    And get the hell going man!
    Did you think Symbian peolpe know Android!!!??? NO THEY DONT!
    Its like getting a group of Bakers make a car!!!!
    Quit your SE tweaking the Android, build on top of the original Android OS in stead
    as you also have concluded by now. (About time you realized that!)
    Sorry bad words, but my patience was worn up for a long time ago!
    If the in call volume will not be addressed in the Android 2.1 update,
    I will sue Sorry Errorson with help from the danish national consumer commity going for a FULL REFUND of the X10 phone. Then it is COMPLETELY worthless as a telephone.
    I have the bulletproof evidence right in my pocket!
    I will recommend all other X10 owners in the whole world should do the same!
    If you can’t hear CLEARLY and LOAD the people you speak with, get a refund. And YES guys we are MANY that has this problem. and MANY MORE problems with X10 running Android 1.6 oldschool OS.

  77. @Jesper
    If you read through the statements released, there is no gaurantee the we will be getting 2.2

    If your more interested in the software than you are the phone, sell up and buy something else.
    Maybe do your homework before your next purchase!

  78. @Bobby and the rest with the “it’s your fault” attitude.

    The majority of people bought their X10 that was on 1.6 EXCLUSIVELY because it was said that the 2.1 update would come in a month or two after the purchase.

    So, yeah, people did their research, and got screwed by SE!

    And a lot of those people don’t have $500 to give on a phone every 6 months.

    So ofc we’re not satisfied. This has been a royal fuck-up. The only sensible thing SE can do now is make up for it and release FroYo with all of the bugs fixed, or return our cash. Quite simple. Why would I settle and sell this phone for half of it’s worth now?

  79. @antar
    As I have said in previous posts, this isn’t the place to be spouting off your hatred!
    Go to the official SE blog/forum and let rip at them.

    I am so bored of people ranting and raving, it’s not going to achieve anything here is it!

    Take it up with SE, theres no need to bash people that are willing to be patient and accept the fact that we will get whatever we get as and when it is rolled out.
    Moaning to everyone here is not going to get any results, this blog and forum is mostly used by people in the same position we are in, only to read through the pages of mindless complaints……. This site is here to provide info and help users with problems.

    Take your problems to the appropriate channels, or would that be too sensible an idea??!!
    Just a thought!

  80. the delay is no excuse for plain lethargic.
    so…

    1.6 sdk released in 15 September 2009 and xperia releases on july 2010
    2.1 sdk released in 12 January 2010 and update comes on october 2010
    2.2 sdk released in 20 May 2010 update will come in 2011?
    2.3 sdk releases then will take another 9 months later?
    so it takes SE the same time to develop a phone and release an update?

  81. se never promised that it will deliver the 2.1 after a month or two, god some people now are making lies just to make a point, how pathetic 🙂

    I remember se clearly stated that the device will be upgradable, and after a while they announced it will be upgraded to 2.1 in q4, the thing I didn’t like about se is that afterwards they said we will upgrade it in q3, they should have just sticked to the q4 thing and this would avoid them a lot of problems and angry customers. Yes se announcing that it will be in q3 after you already stated that it was in q4 was damn stupid and not a wise choice.

    but regarding people who are complaining about mt, 16m, 2.2 etc etc.. these are douche bags that doesn’t even have a clue, so it’s best to ignore them.

  82. fact…
    some devs can even get mt working on the xperia x10
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLmzS5tdXaw
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvCBEqXZsvo
    fact…
    sony ericsson does not want to
    fact… froyo has speed enhancements that make the phone more responsive in the nexus plus 16 million colors
    fact…
    SE does not want to commit to development resources towards froyo/gingerbread so far
    fact…
    xda devs have cooked up excellent roms that enhance nexus one functionality. google xda.
    if SE can’t commit resources or are just plain incompetent, just open source it and let the community handle it.
    whos the douchebag?

  83. BLAH BLAH BLAH. Yea its such a lenghty process. Then how come other smartphones already have 2.2? Never getting another SE Smartphone again.

  84. Oh shit. People are complaining that the x10 needs 2.2 already.
    I pitty se with costumers like this. Zodiac you will always fail.
    The problem is that (some people) will always what what they dont have.
    Im sure 2.1 took its time for 1 reason. Looking forward to it

  85. And for people like fact is fact, well fucking done. I cant understand why some people think that their lives have been destroyed by se. They would be the same people complaining that, if se released the update last month, why they would realease an upgrade which wasnt complety tested or ready.

  86. To all the people defending SE’s tardy approach, we (consumers) are not SE’s enemy. SE is its own biggest enemy. Ffs, i bought the X10, full price. Does that sound like some who doesn’t like the company?

    What SE have done is alienate people like me. All the excuses and a plain unwillingness to let it’s customers feel happy about their purchase.

    The X10 is a beautiful piece of hardware, totally pissed away by cretin dev/ management. I loved it for a bit. Then I used a Desire on 2.1. That’s all it took. The X10 felt second rate after that. I bought a Desire, now on 2.2, and it feels even faster/ better than 2.1. Even if the 2.1 update comes to the X10, its still going to feel second rate.

    My X10 went back into its box to be stored with all my old phones. Pretty sad after only a few months use, but look at the bright side. The record still belongs to my N96. I packed it up after less than a month of use.

    My first cell phone ever was a T68i. Till the X10, I only had happy thoughts when I thought of SE. GJ with the business model SE. You lost 4 phone sales because of me alone. Bought HTC Desires for my girlfriend, her son, my sister and nephew. That wouldn’t have happened if you had not pissed away your reputation and credibil!ty.

  87. @nitin so you dont give a fuck what the x10 offers, you just dont want something thats “out dated”? Can you honestly say that for what you use your “phone” for, 1.6 isnt fast enough and 2.1 still wont be fast enough? If thats the case you probably need more then a phone. Ipad might be the go.
    Granted, flash would of been good, but saying that im redirected to the mobile site whenever i search the web so to me its not that bg of a deal.
    Im glad i bought something i need, if i went and bought a supra for $10,000 thinking it could do 10sec runs by the end of the week, i’d probably feel like a dickhead.
    The only promise se fucked up on is saying they would roll out the upgrade by Q3. Most other thing that were passed around started out as being considered by se and soon through the grapvine became promises. Just gotta go back and research and you’ll realise se didnt “promise” all these things like alot of people are writing.
    Im not a fanboy i just standby what i bought and if i had read this blog a month ago i might not have worried about going and trying it out to see if it was what i needed.

  88. @luke

    First- I take it you haven’t used 2.2 devices. It’s an exponentially better experience.

    Second- The X10 isn’t outdated by any standards. Just the lame ass developers. Like I said the X10 is a beautiful piece of hardware. Kudos to those guys @ SE. They wrecked it.

    Third- What exactly does an X10 offer? A phone which has an earpiece, which in other phones would be considered broken? A sub par browsing experience (I only used my N900 to browse while I used the X10, but now that I moved on to Desire, I use the Desire about as much as the N900)? A screen which lacks vibrant colours? A phonebook which I couldn’t export without third party apps?…… The list is endless. All this could just go away with an update, but we have to wait on it like dogs eying a party, waiting for the guests to leave so that we can feast on the leftovers.

    I didn’t say SE claimed anything, nor do I give a fuck what they did or didn’t. I bought a piece of premium hardware from them. The decent thing for them to do would have been to offer me support like other companies do, so that I felt good about my purchase. People mentioning how Samsung failed, screw Samsung. I wouldn’t use Samsung if I got it free. Look at HTC and Mootorola. They do android right.

    The X10 costs a bit more than the other cutting edge Android devices, which is especially lame that it does not offer as much. A phone today is a convergence device, not just a camera, or a game pad or a replacement netbook. It’s pathetic that SE is touting camera while failing in all other respects. Ffs using the phone to make a call is an effort with the lame earpiece.

    I don’t give a fuck what SE offer anymore. I moved on. I just feel the rage of watching a beautiful phone totally graped by it’s manufacturers.

  89. WHAT THE FUCK? that guy should jump off the building and get raped! seriously what nonsense! his TELLING US why its taking so long..? well you prick! why didnt you guys moved it faster! lose your job and get another person seriously you guys suck! cant believe i am saying this but even APPLE fucking brings there OS upgrades allot faster then you shit heads! and there crap!

  90. SE I suggest you guys resolve your internal issues asap.

    This update should have been available in June at the latested.

    It is much better to release an update which is imperfect as every piece of software has bugs and release further updates resolving issues as they are found. Nothing will beat world wide every day users doing testing on your behalf.

    Other phone manufacture can 1. provide a phone with works correctly without lots of issues that the X10 has then release updates in a timing mannor resolving the few remaining bugs.

    I have personally been holidng out for this update since I received my X10 as I have been dissapointed with its operation. I have been using my previous HTC phone durring most of this period as it still performs the duties I require. If this update isn’t loaded on my phone and allowing my phone to operate to my needs I will have no choice but to return it and buy something else.

  91. OK, OK, so I’m annoyed just like the rest of you mob in regards to the delay of the 2.1 release, and I agree that this information should have been publicized on the first delay of the firmware.

    One thing I have learned though, is that a lot of you people are so bent up over not having [some feature] in [some time frame], and that in no way do you understand the process involved with this update a Sony Ericsson.

    What I drew of interest in this article was this par:

    Then comes the testing phase with at least eleven different types of tests conducted. The last stage is the operator testing, which requires hundreds of hours of continuous operation … As Sony Ericsson tweaks Android, changes are sent back to the Android developer team. To date, Sony Ericsson has made 170 changes to the code of which 100 have been incorporated into the vanilla version of Android.

    So Sony Ericsson is doing the job that HTC and Motorola aren’t, and that’s improving the Android platform, giving back to the community with improvements they’ve made to the Android OS and ensuring that firmware released on their product range is free of compatibility, performance and IP issues.

    I suspect that the Quality Assurance processes at Sony Ericsson are far more rigorous and thorough than those at HTC, and this is reflected by the problems experienced on some of their handsets.

    So if you are a Sony Ericsson fan like myself, you will put faith in Sony Ericsson to bounce back with a successful firmware launch, and find solace in that by being patient you received a quality update that has all those nasty robot wrinkles ironed out.

    So before you keep bagging out Sony Ericsson, perhaps take a minute to realize that they are not only working on more a firmware release, but also improving Android, which is still really in it’s infancy, for other phone manufacturers and the Android community as a whole. We shouldn’t be bagging out Sony Ericsson, but applauding them for the active role that they are playing and that perhaps it is not Sony Ericsson’s update process that needs to be revamped, but the QA of other phone manufacturers to ensure that no issues are released in the firmware update due to rushed to market firmware giving us the illusion that Sony Ericsson is slow and incompetent.

    Everyone take a load off, put your feet up, and get ready for your early [insert your festive religious holiday here] present from Sony Ericsson; Android 2.1. This is just an opinion, please comment, I’m interested in your constructive views to my post.

    Berg
    Content X10 and SE owner, to be shortly even more content [if that is possible]

  92. Berg, what you posted sounds awesome. It would be good consolation if it was actually right and not just SE propaganda.

    I keep saying the X10 is tryly an awesome phone, just left behind because of the delays. Android 2.2 feells way better than 2.1.

    Also, If SE was truly the one company which had Android’s best interest at heart, I think Google would look towards them and not HTC.

    Lastly, my X10 was a lot more glitchy than my Desire, so I really don’t know what SE is going on about QC. I had to reset the phone twice in a week. That was the straw that broke the camel’s back for me.

    Yup. I have it packed away into my old phone collection. Wont be adding any more Sonys there.

  93. Berg, Let me begin by stating that I HAVE LAMBASTED SE FOR THE DELAY. However, for a ‘company to publicly state that they have suggested 170 changes/requirements, and have 100+ accepted is a high number, and SE should be commended for their testing, and effort to improve the overall Android system. There is no need for the public to be informed about the nature of the changes/requirements.

    Some of the users complain that they have to ‘re-boot’ their phone because it shuts down, or the ‘incoming voice volume is low’. SE can accept that those problems might exist. However, the complainer does not state what changes have been made to the phone, so without the actual scenario the problem cannot be investigated for resolution. The other problem which is totally subjective is performance. The phone is sluggish compared to X! The question they do not answer is: Are they the same/identical (forget external appearances)? My Xperia X10 doing what I want is ‘fast’, but there are glitches which I have attributed to the Carrier layer on top of SE. My suggestion to SE would be to design a Carrier ‘lock mechanism’ that will not modify/restrict actual SE code.

    I need FLASH, however I realize that I will have to wait until 2.1 is released and hope that FLASH will be released shortly thereafter.

    A side issue.
    Problem:
    During a call, as soon as the screen comes into contact with the face will shut-off (goes into save mode). For someone making calls which require responses, that is cumbersome (too many gestures); Also, the system also ‘latches’ and the call cannot be ended except by pressing the ‘restart’ button.

    Solution:
    When a call is made display the keypad and leave it displayed for the duration of the call.

    Impact:
    Critical

    Problem 2:
    Battery usage.

    Solution:
    Need a function that displays what is currently active on the phone and the ability to selectively stop a process. There should never be processies running that the user cannot terminate. System critical functions excluded.

    Impact:
    Critical

  94. Hi gang,
    Did a check around to find out if others are having problems. It would appear that some users of HTC,DROID, etc., have upgraded to 2.2, and here are some comments:

    Android Market App removed after HTC Desire software update 2.2

    10/14/10
    Same problem as the guys with O2, the linked program no longer installed. Please fix quickly

    10/14/10
    I’m on Vodafone & the exact has happened to me. I don’t want to reset because I don’t want to lose anything. My friend has a desire with orange & she hasn’t lost the market app. It’s just so frustrating. I’ve only had the phone a month & it took me ages to finally decide HTC desire over the iPhone 4. Just hope I haven’t made the wrong decision. Please fix soon.

    10/15/10
    Same thing happened to both my and my wife’s phone. HTC Desire on Orange UK.
    1. Standard System Update.
    2. No.
    3. No.
    I won’t be hard resetting, will be giving the phones back to Orange if it’s not fixed soon.

    10/15/10
    Ditto here. Desire on Orange. Looking for solution which does not require hard reset.

    10/15/10
    Same as the last post.Im on Orange network and to be honest I’ve had nothing but problems.failing to receive txts,incoming calls are 50/50 people give up as they can’t get through,dialling out takes 4 or 5 attempts.network doesn’t want to help.then the update becomes available and I think this could be the end to the problems..wrong as I now have no access to Android market!what a joke.phone goes back to orange this time next week if there’s no fix.will not be forced to hard reset.

    10/15/10
    I have the same problem. Did the update and lost the market app, only difference is that I am in Australia and my phone isn’t locked to a provider. I am with Telstra though, if this has any impact… any suggestions besides a hard reset? Telstra currently doesn’t even offer the update, I only did it because my phone is unlocked.

    10/15/10
    Why now no one from Google is replying ? I am also facing the same problem.

    10/15/10
    I am having the same problem im on 3 network, i foned them up and all the guy said was they havent added market to update and to go bk to 2.1 not happy

    10/15/10
    Ditto here – in the UK, provider is O2.

    It looks like the update is flawed. I expect there will be another update shortly to restore Market access. At the end of the day, it’s only a small part of what is, otherwise, a brilliant phone. It’s certainly not worth throwing one’s toys out the pram as a result.

    I would like to have an update from Google, though. Screw-ups happen, but this silence is not good customer relations.

    Dorjan,
    I have the same problem. I have an Evo 4G on T-Mobile

    1) 2.2 OTA update on 10/13/2010
    2) No
    3) No Did you find this answer helpful? Sign in to vote. Report abuse
    Did you find this answer helpful? Sign in to vote.

    10/15/10
    Same issue when going from 2.1-> 2.2 on Samsung Galaxy S
    10/15/10

    I have the same problem, with Samsung Galaxy S, from 2.1 to 2.2

    Form your own opinion.

  95. Panyah,

    Yes, I had the problem too. It was fixed with a phone reset (Desire). My market app on the X10 stopped downloading without any help of updates, to cock it up. It was the reason I had to reset the X10 twice in the last week that I used it. It showed starting download and thats it, no more action.

    Those long posts made it sound like there were severe, multiple issues, instead of one.

  96. Sorry about the confusion factor, should have stated that almost all of those phones that have 2.2 are exhibiting problems with the update. Perhaps that is he reason SE is taking it slow.

  97. why cant they just release a update to the latest with minimal change to it and at the same time functional on the device THEN put out updates for more changes they make along the way?? or just dont do that media and time scape thing bc i dont even use them ….

  98. A question to all of you talking crap about SE, why are you even here? Why are you wasting your time on a product you clearly do not support?

    Clearly SE wants a product that works instead of all these glitches other updates seem to suffer from. If they want to take their time ensuring that we get the update that works instead of shoving incremental updates like the PS3 suffers from, then what’s wrong with that? It’s slow yes, but I’d rather have a working 2.1 than a broken 2.2 or anything else for that matter.

  99. Maybe next time you should let your missus take care of the money nitin. You seem to buy things you dont want. I would be embarrassed to admit that. Definitely dont go to the car yard. The car dealers will see you coming a mile away brother.
    I for one think the x10 will be one of the best phones around with android 2.1. Other phones with 2.2 are having alot of problems. Its good to know the effort has been put in by se and they didnt crumble to the pressure and rush out a buggy 2.1. The extra month was a painful wait and im sure se regret moving the release date forward from q4 to q3, then back to q4.
    Not long now fellas… yewwwww

  100. If it takes so much optimization how come custom ROM developers like cyanogen are able to produce a better OS than Sony in their spare time?