As Sony's Xperia Z4 looms on the horizon, Xperia Z2 and Z3 owners are still awaiting the arrival of the Android 5.0 Lollipop mobile operating system to their smartphones. But will Lollipop come to the older Xperia models before the Z4 launches?
Late last year when Lollipop first debuted, Sony was quick to let customers know that the whole Xperia Z line will be getting the OS upgrade.
"Since the initial reveal of the Android 'L' Developer Preview, we've seen lots of questions on our upgrade roadmap about our plans," a post on the official Sony Mobile blog stated in October of 2014. "So, here goes... We'll be making Sony Mobile's Android 'L' upgrade available for the entire premium Z series: including Xperia Z, Xperia ZL, Xperia ZR, Xperia Tablet Z, Xperia Z1, Xperia Z1S, Xperia Z Ultra, Xperia Z1 Compact, Xperia Z2, Xperia Z2 Tablet, Xperia Z3, Xperia Z3v, Xperia Z3 Compact and Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact. Sony Z Ultra Google Play edition devices will be first up - we'll be back with more details on that soon."
True to the company's word, the Google Play edition of the Z Ultra was first on December 3, but now that we're almost into the third month of 2015, many customers are getting anxious for that "early 2015" release window for Lollipop on the Z2 and Z3 especially.
A recent certification from the Wi-Fi Alliance has leaked, showing a certification for Lollipop on the Xperia Z3. The certification is dated for February 16, so we may be seeing that Lollipop update soon. Rumor has it that last year's Z3 will receive the OS update first, and then we can look forward to the Z2 getting it just before the rest of the Z line.
Another leaked screenshot not only hows off a bit more about the upcoming Xperia Z4, but also seems to show Android 5.0 Lollipop working on the new phone.
"The shots are allegedly from the Xperia Z4 dual-SIM edition smartphone, which Sony has not yet announced," according to TechnoBuffalo. "The phone is expected sometime later this year, perhaps later in the spring after the Galaxy S6 and HTC One M9 are already on the market, or even sometime this summer. We can see that Material Design is clearly used in various areas of the operating system, including in the settings menu, in the phone dialer application and in the clock. One shot shows the reference to dual SIM card support, while another clearly shows Android 5.0.2."
Leaked specs over at Android Pit show the Z4 with an ARM Qualcomm eight-core processor running at 1.55 GHz, which is the popular Snapdragon 810 that all the high-end phones are running in 2015. It also suggests that the Z4 will be running 3 GB of RAM and come standard with Android 5.0.2.
Even though the Mobile World Congress is right around the corner next month, Sony has already quenched the rumor fires by stating that the Z4 will not be shown during the event. Even so, the possibility of a launch this fall is not out of the question. The original Xperia Z was released in February of 2013, while the Xperia Z2 came out almost exactly a year ago in March of 2014. Sony was quick on the ball releasing the Z3 in Autumn of 2014, so if we do see the Z4 this March, we may even see a Z5 at the end of the year if Sony keeps up this pace.
But thanks to last year's Sony Pictures email leak, word is out that the Z4 is expected in both May and November of this year. This could really only mean two different versions of the Z4. Perhaps we can expect a regular and compact version of the phone as we did with the Z3?
The Z4 is expected to be priced around $600, but for that price, will users make the jump to the Z4 or hold on to the Z3 a bit longer?
