Sony Xperia S/P/U/Sola/GO Thread

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Amidst all this confusion, I see @randomuser111 seems to have disappeared, the one who has always been advocating Sony products on this thread.
 
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Pretty much sure that Sony won't do JB for Sola. However, how good are the chances of Sony releasing its code for JB to open source developers? I mean do companies usually do this thing for devices which it does not intend to support in future.?
 
Xavier said:
No, they do not lack the firepower needed to run JB smoothly. My 2 year old ZTE Blade runs 4.2.1 as smoothly as it would run 2.3.7. Sony is citing the excuse of the Mali 400 being a RAM monster, but they can easily find a way around and release a pure AOSP based JB for the phones in question instead of loading it with UXP NXT bloatware. Also, @comp@ddict was talking about the U/Sola being the bestsellers across Sony's range of phones (which includes your beloved S) not just a low-mid end bestseller like the Ace.
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Small Correction - Sola actually hasn't sold well at all. Xperia S is the best selling Sony device for 2012 followed by Xperia U. I am not aware of the exact reason why the Sola/U JB update was axed though, if I get any info I would definitely share :)
 
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Either way, seeing cheap Indian brands update their phones to Jelly Bean (Wammy, a small company too) I was expecting a giant like Sony to do the least for their NXT lineup.
 
Not trying to justify but this is the reason behind no JB for Sola and U. As you all know, Sony was going to release JB updates for 2012 phones including Sola and U this month. (Alpha ROMS were developed in October) But then there was a shift in priority as Sony wanted all developers to work on unifying the code and moving to vanilla android for 2013 Xperias to deliver super fast OS updates. All JB work for 2012 was stalled.

Also in addition to that Sony Yuga (Xperia Z) which was going to release in April was pushed back to February. And a couple of other 2013 models as well. So again resources were diverted to getting a stable and fast JB for the 2013 phones by end December as Yuga goes has gone into production now.

Now since the work was significantly higher for developers, they decided to use the sola and U as sacrificial lambs due to the fact that it would take a lot of time and resource to optimize JB for these two phones thanks to the higher resolution and 512MB RAM.
 
randomuser111 said:
Not trying to justify but this is the reason behind no JB for Sola and U. As you all know, Sony was going to release JB updates for 2012 phones including Sola and U this month. (Alpha ROMS were developed in October) But then there was a shift in priority as Sony wanted all developers to work on unifying the code and moving to vanilla android for 2013 Xperias to deliver super fast OS updates. All JB work for 2012 was stalled.

Also in addition to that Sony Yuga (Xperia Z) which was going to release in April was pushed back to February. And a couple of other 2013 models as well. So again resources were diverted to getting a stable and fast JB for the 2013 phones by end December as Yuga goes has gone into production now.

Now since the work was significantly higher for developers, they decided to use the sola and U as sacrificial lambs due to the fact that it would take a lot of time and resource to optimize JB for these two phones thanks to the higher resolution and 512MB RAM.
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But the Xperia Z or Xperia X (Yuga and Odin) or the Xperia E (and E dual) which are the first 2013 Sony Xperia smartphones running Jelly Bean are still on the same Timescape Sony (heavy, custom) UI.

When will the shift to Vanilla OS happen? Or is it a lighter skinning you're talking about instead of complete vanilla?
 
^

No. Sony is using launcher + theme. Beneath the skin its vanilla Android. It's a theme just like what you find on Google Play Store. Sony themes + Sony apps. All on top of Vanilla Android. Unlike the code level theme on 2010/11/12 Xperias. So the work is hugely reduced when they need to bring an OS update as they do not have to modify the code much at all. Only add the drivers and optimize.

Also all devices have a unified Sony Android code so multiple phones can be updated at once rather than working on each phone separately.

I know saying this doesn't make any difference but Sony Mobile is under transition right now and moving to its first true year with developed in Japan phones unlike the re branded Sony Ericsson story in 2012. 2012 was a mess and same happened with the software updates as well. 2013 will be much better (though I guess most guys on this thread are not going to buy a Sony device next year or even later for sure) :)

Eventually though I am sure Sony is going to win back all of you ;)

For now though, I apologize to U/Sola owners on behalf of Sony :(
 
My only complaint for now is the lack of a removable battery. Rest things I am satisfied with my go's performance and overall behaviour.
 
Thanks a ton for all this info. Well it's true I won't be trusting Sony with my money for a long time.

Heck I went ahead and bought a Sony LED TV in place of a Samsung one because I was really happy with the Sola (this is before "the disappointment" happened)

Well. I had written this possibility in that news post I made. I guess this makes more sense instead of going into deep level customization.
 
I can understand @comp@ddict. But fact is, Sola/U cannot run JB smoother than ICS. When you guys get a stable CM10 ROM you'll realize that. :) Jellybean uses about 100-150MB RAM more than ICS, and I believe in U/Sola u hardly get 150MB free in ICS. So JB will be anything but "buttery"

Also seems like there is a misconception that since JB has Project Butter it HAS to be sooooooo much better and way faster than ICS. Forget U/Sola, a simple Google search will show you that people are finding Jellybean slower than ICS on devices like GS3 and ASUS Transformer Prime with much more powerful hardware. ( I will not link any pages, anyone can Google it and see for himself)

There will be new ICS updates though from Sony.

And also those other devices with similar hardware as U/Sola that are getting JB will offer a poor experience. Of course if someone HAS to have 4.1 and is okay with a worse overall experience than ICS its upto them :)

This is the reason all 2013 Xperias except E/E Dual will come with minimum 1 GB RAM. 1 GB for low end, 1.5GB for mid end, 2 GB for high end and 3GB for ultra high end.
 
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Well, in that case I hope Sony really nails it with their 2013 line up and for the first time gets both their SOFTWARE & HARDWARE right at the same time. It's sad for the Xperia E and E Dual which already doomed. However, if priced right it can be the Tipo that Tipo can never be.

Well, I only wanted Jelly Bean for project butter honestly, nothing else. ICS is enough. Android 4.1 and 4.2 are more about gimmicks than anything else.
 
randomuser111 said:
Jellybean uses about 100-150MB RAM more than ICS, and I believe in U/Sola u hardly get 150MB free in ICS. So JB will be anything but "buttery"
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Not entirely true. My ZTE Blade runs JB smoother than it ran on ICS. It's a 512MB RAM+WVGA resolution device. Agreed that it has an ancient GPU which doesn't use the same amount of RAM as the Mali 400 does, but the fact is that JB, even 4.2.1 is smoother on it than ICS was. Although I do agree that JB is more intensive on resources for vsync and triple buffering.

Forget U/Sola, a simple Google search will show you that people are finding Jellybean slower than ICS on devices like GS3 and ASUS Transformer Prime with much more powerful hardware. ( I will not link any pages, anyone can Google it and see for himself)
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Again, this doesn't tell the entire picture. The reason why the GS3 and Transformer Prime struggled with Jelly Bean initially was because of Samsung (Exynos) and NVIDIA's refusal to provide open source drivers for their chipsets. Once Samsung released its official JB update, Project Butter was fully implemented. My S2 initially handled JB like crap because of the lack of proprietary drivers, however developers later implemented open source versions of the same drivers, thus bringing the S2 at the same level of a GNex in terms of UI smoothness.
 
^

I was talking about Samsung and Asus Jb Official updates not CM10 or Custom ROMS. Also everyone need not necessarily have the same experience. You can go to XDA and find hundreds of people complaining about slower system performance after JB update in Galaxy S3 and other powerful high end devices. Even CM9 is faster and smoother than CM10.

Also as for ZTE blade, it doesn't have a decent GPU so I wouldn't comment on that. It's why the J is getting JB due to its weak GPU.

There wouldn't be thousands of results complaining of slower Jellybean if it was really so much better. It IS smoother to the eye yes but it's also much more resource intensive.

Anyway I'm waiting for CM10 to be out for U/Sola and hear what you guys think of JB on your phones and if you really think U/Sola are perfectly capable of delivering a better experience with Jellybean than ICS.

Do not misinterpret my post though, I do feel Sony is at fault but not for what you guys are thinking. They are at fault for selling dual core phones with just 512MB RAM, they aren't updating U/Sola because of the hardware bottleneck and not because they want you all to go to hell.

Still, U/Sola owners have all right to be angry and it is completely justified.

@comp@ddict

Well, in that case I hope Sony really nails it with their 2013 line up and for the first time gets both their SOFTWARE & HARDWARE right at the same time.


I'm not sure if that statement can be accurate since 2013 is going to be the first year after 12 years that SONY is returning to the cellphone market. 2012 was Sony Ericsson re branded and Sony Ericsson actually never got anything right unfortunately. Now that it's 100% Sony starting with Xperia E/E Dual they will not repeat the mistakes Sony Ericsson made

Wait for Jan 8th, you will get to see SONY power with 4 new phones (all mighty powerful). As an overall package Yuga will have no real competitor apart from Galaxy S4. Even against the S4 Yuga has quite a lot of tricks up its sleeves to at least match the S4. I mean Xperia Z ;)
 
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randomuser111 said:
Also as for ZTE blade, it doesn't have a decent GPU so I wouldn't comment on that. It's why the J is getting JB due to its weak GPU.
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See this is what has kept me confused. Project Butter does need more horsepower (faster GPU/CPU) to run right? So this weaker GPU being able to power Project Butter while stronger ones still confuse me a lot.
 
@comp@ddict

No. Basically Project Butter does not run (as intended) on those phones. So even if you port JB to a phone with poor GPU it won't be any smoother than ICS. Same with Xperia J, its getting JB but it won't perform any better than ICS at all in terms of smoothness.

There are some other hardware specifications needed for Project butter to run which low end devices lack. So actually there is no benefit running JB on phones like J.

There are some JB ROMs for low end devices that say they include project butter but they actually don't. The developers use some mods for smoother scrolling and say their ROM has Project butter.

Anyway for U/Sola I think you guys should ask developers to get you a great CM9 ROM with "ICS Project Butter" to deliver a JB like experience.

Google Now and stuff toh anyway you can install in a minute on ICS
 
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Finally got CWM installed on my Xperia S. Made my first nand backup. I can finally start messing around with the custom ROMS.
 
Yup was just reading about the "near" Project Butter experience that mods can provide.

I think I would take it over a half baked Jelly Bean update.
 
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