It was recently announced that the Xperia X10 won’t be upgraded to Android 2.2 even if Sony Ericsson has the Xperia Arc running in Android 2.3. The reason for this was explained recently by Nathan Vautier, a representative of Sony Ericsson for UK and Ireland.

It seems that the company engineers are having a hard time in “uncoupling” the Timescape user interface from the Android operating system. They actually were able to pull it off in the Xperia Arc but had no luck with the X10.  Basically, the X10 will remain as it is and not have any more OS upgrades. Sony Ericsson even commented that Android 2.1 was even equal or even better than Android 2.2 on this model.

While the Xperia X10 recently received the Android 2.1 update, many were hoping it would be Android 2.2, with a petition started months ago for the release of Android 2.2. Now, with 2.1 on most X10′s (subject to country/network) and Android 2.3 on the way, it’s led to many asking questions again about the availability of Android 2.2 on the Xperia X10.

As we’ve learnt in the past, what one Sony Ericsson employee says isn’t necessarily true, however it’s very encouraging none the less. One user sent a message on the Turkish Sony Ericsson support site asking about Android 2.2 on the Xperia X10. The response that was received back (translated) is: “SE X10 will get the Android 2.2 update during the second quarter of 2011. Work is still currently ongoing on version 2.2.” While this is good news for X10 owners, that the Xperia X10 will not remain stuck on Android 2.1, by this time, Android 2.3 will probably be on most top Android devices.

Originally, the Xperia X10, X10 Mini and X10 Mini Pro were, to many people’s disappointment, due to get the Android 2.1 update in Q4 of this year. With 2.2 announced many people were hoping that Sony Ericsson would skip 2.1 and go straight to Android 2.2 but, they have confirmed this won’t be the case. However they have pushed the release of Android 2.1 forward from Q4 to late Q3. To some this won’t make much difference but, we’re now looking at a September release for 2.1 instead of possible as late as December.

Sony Ericsson have also confirmed they are working on Android 2.2. They have also committed to a Q4 release for Froyo, so we should see the Xperia X10 updated to the latest Android operating system by the end of the year.

The Xperia X10 is a popular handset and the first Android powered handset from Sony Ericsson but, one thing which has let the handset down is the old firmware. The Xperia X10 comes pre-installed with Android 1.6, with 2.1 promised for the end of year. However a lot of apps require 2.1, which means the X10 hasn’t got as vast a supply of apps as other handsets.

With the announcement of Android 2.2 and the update already rolled out onto some handsets, a petition has been started online, asking Sony Ericsson to include an upgrade to Android 2.2 instead of 2.1 when they release the update to the handset.