Alongside the other two ‘hardware’ additions to the Sony Xperia Smart Extras range, Sony have also announced the arrival of exciting new product – Xperia SmartTags into the Smart Extras family.

SmartTags are basically tags that use NFC (near field communication) technology to communicate with any Android smartphone capable of using NFC. The Xperia SmartTags can be configured to change the profile on a mobile handset when the phone touches the tag. As an example, you could take one tag and configure it so that when you swipe it with your phone, the tag changes the phone profile to turn on WiFi, turn the phone onto silent, open an app and so on.

More new products from Sony have been announced, in the form of three ‘smart’ accessories that will not only be compatible with the new Xperia NXT range of handsets but, with any Android smartphone with bluetooth or NFC support enabled.

Sony Ericsson have confirmed that they will be updating all of their 2011 range of Xperia smartphones to Android 4.0, aka Ice Cream Sandwich. The update will begin rolling out in March 2012 to the Xperia Arc S, Neo V and Ray initially.

The other 2011 handsets, such as the original Xperia Arc and Neo models, Xperia Play, Xperia Mini, Xperia Mini Pro, Xperia Pro, Xperia Active will get the update in late April to early May 2012. The Sony Ericsson Live with Walkman will also be getting an update to ICS at the same time as the Xperia family.

We’ve seen many, many price drops for the Sony Ericsson Xperia Play, while the Xperia Arc and Arc S remained at a relatively high price. Until now that it. Carphone Warehouse have the Xperia Arc S available for £269.99 sim free, which is a good price but, another UK retailer is offering the handset for as low as £199.99.

Sony Ericsson have declared themselves as the first mobile phone manufacturer to include support for WebGL technology on their handsets. WebGL is a technology that allows 3D graphic rendering to be viewed on browsers without the need for additional plugins and although the technology has been around for a little while now, Sony Ericsson have jumped in with open arms to integrate WebGL support into it’s range of 2011 Xperia handsets.

Just over a month ago, Android 2.3.4 began rolling out to Xperia phones in Nordic countries but, Sony Ericsson have now confirmed that the update is rolling out for the rest of the world.

Android 2.3.4 will be available for the Xperia Arc, Play, Neo, Ray, Mini, Mini Pro, Active, Pro, Neo V and Arc S as well as the non Xperia Sony Ericsson Live with Walkman.