The next great version of Android OS, 4.0, the Ice Cream Sandwich, is yet to launch but Sony Ericsson has already played its cards regarding the updates — confirming that all devices released by Sony Ericsson in 2011 will get Android 4.0 update. Sure, that’s so nice and soothing news for android blogosphere, and especially for those who bought Xperia Arc, (upcoming) Xperia Arc S, Xperia Play, Xperia Mini, Xperia Mini Pro, Xperia Neo, Xperia Neo V, Xperia name-your-phone, etc.

So even if your Arc/Play/Neo is managing with that very old 1 GHz Qualcomm processor, Sony Ericsson will still update it to Android 4.0 very well.

Android updates were a matter of great concern back in 2010, but we’ve seen great improvements this year; so much that we’re greatly impressed with update teams of SE, Samsung and HTC, except that of Motorola and LG who’re a bit slow to update their (even flagship) phones to latest Android OS available. Anyhow, this announcement should serve as a wake up call to those manufacturers who were undecided about the update plans.

Btw, Sony Ericsson’s next flagship phone, the Xperia Nozomi, which features a 1.5 GHz dual-core processor and 1 GB RAM, is expected to launch by March 2012. So, it’s safe to expect that Nozomi will launch with Ice Cream Sandwich pre-installed, which is good, but would SE update its older devices to Ice Cream Sandwich before releasing its phone-of-the-year phone in March? I don’t think it will. This leads to conclusion that Arcs, Neos and Plays can expect to taste the Ice Cream Sandwich only sometime in April 2012, and more probably, by May 2012. Duh!