For some, Sony is the Apple of the Android world; they know to make sexy hardware as history has shown. Their policies regarding features, and features removed via future updates (not to mention a slew of other problems) have caused many to abstain from purchasing another Sony product ever again. While much of it is subjective and water under the bridge, one thing we cannot tolerate is blatant laziness. And that’s exactly what Sony settled for with the new Xperia Ion Android smartphone.
Call it whatever you want, but the fact that Sony is shipping a brand new, more or less high-end Android device in June 2012 with Android 2.3 Gingerbread instead of the already 6+ months old Android 4.x Ice Cream Sandwich is beyond us.
Mini-rant aside, the hardware is powerful, if not a bit “normal” now – LTE, 1.5 GHz dual-core processor, 1 GB or RAM, 4.6″ 1280 x 720 display, 16 GB of built-in storage (with support for up to 32 GB microSD cards) and a 12-megapixel camera with 720p video capture. It will no doubt be one of the best Android devices on AT&T when it launches there on June 24th for $99.99 (2-year contract required). But in our minds, the lack of Android 4.0 immediately knocks it down to has-been, regardless if an Android 4.x update is coming or not. At this stage in the game, there’s no excuse. If we were standing inside the AT&T store when a customer picked up the Ion, we’d pretty much beg them to take the One X (or GS III) instead. You?
Via: Ars Technica
