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Sony Xperia Z1 and Ultra owners will start to receive all the Project Buttery filled Jelly Bean 4.3 goodness they can handle today, as Sony has said they will begin the rollout of the Android OS version upgrade to those two devices. In a statement from Sony on their official blog, they talk about how the OS update will improve the user experience for the two Xperia models.
“We’ve been working to blend our Sony Xperia software with Google’s Jelly Bean release to create some cool user experiences (if we say so ourselves)”.
Some of the improvements include bringing the optimization to both phones that is offered by Project Butter, which should greatly enhance the speed and functionality of the device. Along with Project Butter, users of the Z Ultra will notice that their camera app has been upgraded within this update, bringing Sony’s Smart Social Camera to the device that was launched with the Z1. The Smart Social Camera lets you download and enjoy Sony’s personal signature camera apps within the viewfinder so you don’t have to back out of a snapshot. This feature makes enhancing your pictures with Sony’s photo solutions a lot easier, and is a nice option even if you choose not to use it.
Other changes with this update include a sort of facelift of Sony’s native app portfolio, which has in it things like Messaging, MyXperia, Smart Connect, Small Apps , and Track ID. Sony is saying that with the changes made to its native app portfolio, it will be tweaking the experiences and improving them for these specific apps. Sony is also giving a tiny overhaul to their media based apps such as WALKMAN, Album and Movies, by adding in and integrating it’s Sony Entertainment Network Cloud service. This change will give users more seamless access to both local and cloud content, says Sony.
The last two notable changes here are the launch of Sony’s custom interface experience called “Xperia Themes”, which lets you download customized UI packs from Sony Select, and the upgrade of the latest Android security enhancements paired together with Sony’s own Mobile Enterprise Solution titled “Xperia In Business”.
If you own one of or both of these phones, apparently the Camera bug that has been plaguing devices with unlocked bootloaders has been taken care of as well. So that should make those of you who like to unlock the bootloader pretty happy. As always updates are incremental and receiving them depends on a few factors like location and service. If you own one of these Xperia phones, be on the lookout for the update notification within your status bar.