Back in March we announced that we are working on a Gingerbread update for Xperia^TM X10. Our developers have been working hard on this and the work has progressed well. Development and testing is still ongoing and the current plan is start the roll-out in the beginning of August.

For more information on what to expect from this update please re-visit theoriginal post from back in March, most of it is still valid:

A few things have changed since then.

First of all – we’ve seen your feedback about losing some of the camera features of the original Xperia^TM X10. Our developers have been working on it and I can now confirm that also the Gingerbread version of the X10 software will keep the original camera UI as in the Éclair version. I can also confirm that the new Facebook inside Xperia^TM functionality introduced in the 2011 Xperia^TM products will also be in the Xperia^TM X10. More info on what it is and what it does at:http://www.sonyericsson.com/cws/products/services/facebook-inside/overview?cc=gb&lc=en.

As said in March most of the 2011 Xperia^TM software functionality from e.g. Xperia^TM arc will be included. The UI with the desktop layout and pinch-to-overview gesture will be similar and Gingerbread features like Wi-Fi & USB tethering, App storage on SD-card etc are included. Also the customizable horizontal app tray and the media experience widgets from the 2011 Xperia^TM Products are in, including an integrated equalizer in the music player. Of course also apps that require Android versions 2.2 or 2.3 will now be possible to download from Android Market, e.g. Adobe flash.

One difference compared to the 2011 products is that DLNA will not be included. Extra type approvals were needed for that and we were unable to prioritize that without jeopardizing the time schedule. There are both server and client alternatives downloadable from Android market though.

For Xperia^TM X10 mini, mini pro and X8 there are as communicated earlier no plans to update beyond the current Éclair version. There are two mains reasons for this: The Xperia^TM X10 mini, X10 mini pro and X8 all have less RAM memory than Xperia^TM X10. By this we can’t guarantee a good user experience by upgrading beyond Android 2.1. The upgrade of Xperia^TM X10 also was made possible due to that we had a code base that mostly could be reused. For the mini’s, who have a different user interface, this possibility did not exist.

With regards to the roll-out plan, as said back in March, this will first and foremost be made available to generic trade kits. Even if there will be some operator kits getting this upgrade, as said before – some of you will not be able to upgrade your customized version of Xperia^TM X10.

I’ve recorded the hands-on video below to give you a view of what it looks like. Let me know in the comments section if there are follow-up questions or certain use cases you want me to go through!