This is somewhat of a surprising move by Sony Ericsson, today they have released the alpha build of Ice Cream Sandwich for their Xperia line of Android phones. Sony Ericsson states that they have done so to show their support to the developer community and of course hoping to get valued feedback.  The Xperia Arc S, Neo V, and Ray Alpha Android 4.0 builds are available to download. There are only a very limited number of features currently working with these builds, and as a word of caution, these Roms are for development and Demo purposes and are not suitable for daily use. One feature not currently working is the basic ability to make a phone call.
To show our continuous support to the open developer community, and get your valuable feedback, we are today making an alpha ROM of Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4.0.1) for Xperiaâ„¢ arc S, Xperiaâ„¢ neo V and Xperiaâ„¢ ray available for download. This is something we have not done before, and we are obviously very excited about it.
This ROM is strictly targeting advanced developers, and it will not work for ordinary everyday usage, as it only has a limited set of features working (you can for example not make any phone calls).
The extent of the limited functionality for this ICS ROM pretty much guarantees only Developers will have a use for it.
Features not working:
- Gapps (Gmail, Google Maps, etc.).
- Modem is turned off and SIM card will therefore not be recognised
- Bluetooth
- Wi-Fi
- ANT+
- FM-radio
Features included:
- New “Roboto†font.
- New “Holo†theme is supported (you are able to test apps written to make use of the Holo theme).
- Music player control from lock screen.
- Updated UI in the Settings menu.
- Updated UI in the web browser.
- Updated UI and interaction with the new messaging action bar.
- Updated UI for improved multitasking.
- Swipe to dismiss notifications, tasks and browser tabs in the Notification menu.
Well it isn’t Ice Cream Sandwich for all but at least it may give Xperia owners something to cheer about knowing developers are getting the support of Sony Ericsson. If you are curious and want to check out the ICS ROM you can head over to the SE developers world website for additional information, warnings and of course the download links.
Source: Sony Ericsson Developers World
