If you’ve signed up to receive emails from Sony Ericsson, either through their support website or forums, or through Facebook chances are you may have received an email from them recently offering you so much off an Xperia Arc S or Xperia Ray.

While this initially sounds like great news, there are unfortunately two failings to this promotion. Firstly, my partner received an email offering 10% off the purchase price of an Xperia Arc S, or a Sony Ericsson Xperia Ray but, I then received an email offering me only 5% off with a different promotional code. A bit later on, another email that I’ve used with Sony Ericsson also received the email, this time with a 15% discount.

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.

First up in the Smart Extras range is the SmartWatch which is basically a wireless display which can mount onto the provided ‘watch strap’ and allows the display of calls, messages and social networking updates in a similar (but better) way to the Live View accessory that Sony Ericsson brought out. Next is the rather exciting Smart Wireless Headset Pro, a bluetooth stereo headset that can also be used as a standalone MP3 player and FM radio or can connect to your phone and will also display call information, text messages and Facebook or Twitter updates. Thirdly, Sony have released a new Smart Extension SDK which will allow developers access to create exciting new applications to enhance and customise both the SmartWatch and the Smart Wireless Headset Pro.

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.

With Phones4U you can do a pay as you go upgrade, which means providing them with a pay as you go number which hasn’t been used for an upgrade in the last 6 months (terms vary by network) and get the phone for just £199.99 and Phones4U handsets are unlocked. Pay as you go upgrades can only be done in store. Alternatively, if you haven’t got a pay as you go number you can use, they are doing the Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc S for £229.99 with a £10 top up.

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.

An update to the custom ROM CyanogenMod has been released, after a short delay on the expected release date. Version 7.1 of CyanogenMod is now available to those adventurous Xperia owners as it is now working on all of the 2011 Xperia handsets including the Xperia Play, Xperia Arc, Xperia Mini and Mini Pro, Xperia Ray and the Xperia Neo handsets. Even the Xperia X8 is catered for with version 7.1.

The FreeXperia team have been working tirelessly to get this custom ROM up and running on the Xperia range of phones and Sony Ericsson themselves shocked the developer scene recently by handing the team 20 Xperia handsets and technical information in order to help make CyanogenMod work with their products. It has to be noted however that despite encouraging the developers in such a way, Sony Ericsson still stand by the ‘rule’ that if you modify your Xperia handset by flashing a custom ROM to it, you will invalidate your warranty so be warned before taking the plunge.