Sony Ericsson releases official ICS Alpha ROMs for Xperia Arc S, Ray and neo V

After Huawei, Sony Ericsson has come forward and released demo Ice Cream Sandwich builds for three of its smartphones today. These smartphones include Sony Ericsson Xperia neo V, Ray and arc S.

Few days ago, Chinese manufacturer Huawei became the first company to release an official ICS build for its Android flagship Honor and now Sony Ericsson has followed suit with not one but three phones. These alpha ICS builds for SE phones are now available for download on its developer website.

If you are running latest software build 4.0.2.A.0.42 on your Xperia arc S, neo V and Ray, you can install the released ICS ROM. However, it is not an easy process and you will need to unlock the bootloader of your Xperia phone first.

What is not working in this test build:

• Google Mobile Services (GMS) apps are not included (for example, Gmail, Google Maps, etc.).
• Modem is turned off and SIM card will therefore not be recognised (this also means you can’t make any phone calls).
• Bluetooth™ is turned off.
• Wi-Fi is turned off.
• ANT+ is turned off.
• FM-radio is turned off

This means normal consumers cant’t even think about applying these builds as you will not be able to use the most basic feature “calling” after installing these builds.

What is new in this ICS Alpha build:

• New “Roboto” font.
• New “Holo” theme is supported (you are able to test apps written to make use of the Holo theme).
• Music player control from lock screen.
• Updated UI in the Settings menu.
• Updated UI in the web browser.
• Updated UI and interaction with the new messaging action bar.
• Updated UI for improved multitasking.
• Swipe to dismiss notifications, tasks and browser tabs in the Notification menu.

You can find the full installation instructions here, if you are a normal user just skip it and wait for the official release. This alpha build is better suited for devs to help them in developing custom firmwares or even testing applications or games.