Sony Mobile made the Xperia E1 and E3 handsets for a steady smartphone that takes over the mid-range of the market in parts of Asia and Europe. It comes with an emphasis on the music experience. The E1 comes out of the box with Android 4.3 Jelly Bean and Sony were nice enough to dish out the Android 4.4 KitKat. While still under the KitKat name, we are witnessing a fresh staged rollout of 20.1.A.2.13 firmware hitting the Xperia E1 smartphone throughout Asia. In addition, the same build is making its way to the Middle East and European variants.
Details of this software update are scarce now since nobody is commenting if they are seeing the OTA signals come in to the device. It arrives as a notification alerting you of its presence. However, users can always navigate their way to Settings > About Device > Software Update > Check For Updates that way. You should always install firmware using a WiFi connection and avoid mobile data plans. Since loads of people are also downloading the update the data traffic is high and that results in a less stable connection. Try using the Sony PC Companion if you can’t see the signals coming direct to the mobile.
If you don’t want to risk losing and data due to factory resets you cab backup the texts with SMS Backup+, sync the contacts and backup the apps with helium for Android.
Sony are not mentioning whether they intended to update the E series with Android 5.0 Lollipop yet. Other devices still awaiting confirmations include the Xperia T2 Ultra and Xperia M2. It’s not looking positive for them as we do have confirmation for 14 smartphones and tablets under the Z series name.
Of course, firmware rolls out in phases to everyone. That means it can take days before it reaches your phone even though the official roll out is already underway. We love comments from people already running the newfangled version on their OS. Did you notice any new features? Did it come with any relief for known bugs you were suffering from?