We’ve been attempting to keep on top of operating system updates for various manufacturers devices and if you’re the owner of one of the Sony Xperia phones then you may well have been wondering if or when your device will receive the Android 4.1 Jelly Bean update. Sony has been very quiet about this until now but has finally announced plans for some devices. Some of you may not be pleased though as the first phones to receive Jelly Bean won’t be updated until early next year while others will be out of luck altogether.

A while ago we published a roundup of the latest update news from manufacturers about the 4.1 Jelly Bean update and at that time Sony had confirmed that it would definitely come to the Sony Xperia T and the upcoming Xperia V, late 2012 devices. We now know that these will be the first Xperia devices to receive Jelly Bean, along with the Xperia TX but that these updates are not planned until the middle of Q1, 2013.

Other phones confirmed to receive Jelly Bean at some point are the international Xperia S, Xperia acro S, Xperia Ion, Xperia P, Xperia Go and finally Xperia J but Sony has given no planned dates for the upgrade for any of those devices yet. The US Xperia Ion and upcoming Xperia TL on AT&T were not detailed so whether that means they won’t receive Jelly Bean at all is anybody’s guess. It could be that Jelly Bean will come to these latter two devices but maybe at a later stage.

The news came to us from Android Central, sourced from Sony Mobile but further details don’t get any better. In fact it gets worse for owners of Sony Xperia 2011 phones as Sony has now confirmed that none of these will receive Jelly Bean and instead will remain on Android ICS. Those phones out of luck include the Xperia Arc, Neo and Play and news that 2011 Xperia device owners won’t get the update is bound to cause some disappointment and frustration for those affected.

All in all it’s not a pretty picture. We’ve detailed on many occasions about the frustration caused to consumers who are waiting for the latest updates to come to their phones and wonder how many of those who’ve recently purchased the Xperia T or Xperia TX would have done so if they had known the update would be as long away as Q1, 2013? As we all know, these scheduled timeframes have a habit of being pushed back so it could in fact be longer than that.

We’d welcome your thoughts on this. Are you the owner of a Sony Xperia phone? Is yours one of those confirmed to receive the update even though it may yet be months away, and if so how do you feel about that? Maybe you’ve just learned that your 2011 device will be stuck on ICS and feel let down by Sony? Send your comments to let us know.