It was thought the Xperia S was set to launch the week beginning March 5th, which was the date given by online retailer Clove. Now Phandroid are reporting in an article that the release date looks to be much sooner than that. UK retailer Play.com has the device listed with a shipping date of January 30th, which is a week today.

When the online retailer was quizzed about the release date they confirmed it was genuine. The handset is one of the first to come from Sony since it broke away from previous partner Ericsson, which saw Sony buying out Ericsson’s part of the company.

A number of carriers have confirmed they will be providing the smartphone to their customers, which include the likes of Vodafone, Virgin Mobile, and Three. To recap the impressive looking handset will come with a 4.3 inch screen packing a 1.5GHz dual-core processor, complete with a twelve megapixel shooter and NFC technology.

The Xperia S is also cheaper on Play.com as well coming in at £449.99 SIM free, and delivery is also free as well. Hopefully there will be no changes to this release date and the device does indeed become available next week.

Are you thinking of getting the Sony Xperia S?

The handset may not set the world on fire but it will bring Samsung’s great Super AMOLED screen technology to consumers on a tighter budget. According to FoneHome the handset is reminiscent of the Omnia 7, and at 9.9mm thick and weighing 122 grams is also similar to the Wave 3.

This handsets big selling point will be the nice 4-inch Super AMOLED display that was first seen on the original Galaxy S. The handset is powered by a 1GHz single core processor, which for a mid-range handset is still good. The device comes with 4GB of on-board storage, and a reasonable three megapixel camera.

While many higher specified smartphones are looking forward to get Android Ice cream Sandwich, the Galaxy M will have to make do with Android 2.3 Gingerbread. For the time being it is not known what regions will be getting the Galaxy M and for how much.

But for now the new smartphone is launching in the company’s homeland South Korea, which gets the device from today. Price wise at current exchange rates it works out at around $500/£320, but could come down if it does launch in these regions. Samsung are certainly beginning to flood the market with a variety of handsets, which ultimately means more choice for consumers.

Samsung has made its updated Galaxy Ace Plus official and is basically as the name suggests, an updated version of the original Galaxy Ace. According to TechRadar the new version gets its screen size increased from 3.5-inch to 3.65-inches. The device is also upgraded from Android Froyo to Android Gingerbread.

Instead of the originals 800MHz processor the Galaxy Ace Plus gets a 1GHz unit, but the screen may not be to everyone’s tastes. The resolution has stayed the same at 320 x 480 meaning that because of the slight increase in size there will be a drop in screen clarity.

Camera wise you will get a five megapixel autofocus camera that includes a LED flash. You also get 3GB of memory, 512MB of RAM, Bluetooth 3.0, and a microSD card input. The handset will come with the usual Samsung TouchWiz UI, which features all the social and music features you can expect from the service.

Other features of the device include the ability to block calls and SMS messages from people you don’t want to hear from. The device is expected to be released later this month in Europe and Russia, and later in the year in Latin America, Africa, China, Asia, and The Middle East. It is thought the device will be priced at a similar level to the original Galaxy Ace.

Are you interested in the Galaxy Ace Plus?

We can tell you that this is actually a new build of Gingerbread, as the build released in September contained various bugs which HTC deemed sufficient enough to pull the update. For those that are still rocking Android 2.2 Froyo, you may want to head to your settings now and check to see if there’s an update available.

If there is, you should see the build number of 4.08.605.2 ready and waiting to download, with the install size reportedly coming in at just 6.7MB. Once updated, your Droid Incredible should be updated to version 2.3.4 of Gingerbread – so yeah, still not the latest version (2.3.5) which is pretty laughable when you think that the first Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0 phone is due to hit Europe in a few days time.

Changes listed by HTC in the new update include improved Bluetooth functionality, a fix to the low memory message related to SMS, voice command fixes, tweaks to GPS and a fix regarding app loading problems when using an SD card. You can view Verizon’s update document here, courtesy of Droid-Life.

If you haven’t updated yet, try it out now and let us know how you get on. We’ve heard that some people have had problems mounting apps of the SD card, so check this aspect out specifically and report back to us with your findings. On a side note, what are your thoughts on HTC only issuing Gingerbread now for the Droid Incredible? Does it make you worried for future updates for handsets like the Rezound? This is one reason alone that many consumers will opt for the Galaxy Nexus since it will get all software updates first before any other Android handset.

The update will start hitting devices tomorrow with the LG Optimus 2X first of the Optimus range scheduled to get the update. According to the Inquirer owners of the Optimus 3D will start receiving the Gingerbread update from November 21st and the Optimus Black has to wait a week later on the 28th before the update will begin.

LG took to its Facebook page to announce the news and said “LG would like to express its sincere thanks to all of the Optimus Series owners who have been waiting patiently for the Android 2.3 Gingerbread upgrade.”

These updates are set to become available for owners of unlocked devices, so owners tied to a carrier will have to wait to hear from specific networks if they will make the update available. The delayed Android Gingerbread update was supposed to be coming for the 3D in October. Once available users will be able to convert OpenGL apps from 2D to 3D.

The Optimus 3D was released with Android 2.2 Froyo so the handset wasn’t delayed getting to the market. This schedule is for European models and could vary from country to country. There still may be some hope of Optimus 2X owners getting Ice Cream Sandwich though.

LG commented about Android 4.0 by saying they want to offer the best experience for its Optimus range, and added “we are currently reviewing the latest Android OS release and will be making a decision with our carrier partners on a rollout schedule”.

Users in the UK were promised the update earlier in the year with a roll-out alongside the US, but then saw months of delays. Now Electricpig are reporting that owners of the Atrix will finally get the Gingerbread update during the middle part of next month.

Motorola UK have confirmed the news, and owners of unlocked devices will be the first to get the update. It is not currently known if users of the handset on T-Mobile or Orange will see any further delay with the software update. US users saw the update bring added support for video chat in Google Talk among other things.

The UK version of the handset was released back in June, and was one of the most powerful handsets available at the time. Motorola did fall fail of advertising watchdogs though with some of its claims about the device. Motorola have never said why the UK update was delayed, but some feel it had problems with the Motoblur software that sits alongside Android.

There will be many users hoping their device eventually gets Ice Cream Sandwich, especially after Motorola Tweeted many of its handsets will get within six weeks of the software being released. Have you been frustrated waiting for the Gingerbread update?

The main issue with the HTC Desire and Android Gingerbread was the amount of storage space the handset has. And according to Android Community, because HTC has had to reduce the update down to fit on the handset, its only available via the cell phone makers developer site instead of an OTA upgrade.

The Gingerbread ROM has lost several HTC apps, and even the official Facebook application and all the pre-installed wallpapers except the default one have all gone. This will be available to download again and installed via the Android Market.

Now a word of warning, installing this Android update may cause some owners to lose SMS/MMS functionality after the upgrade. This is because the ROM may not have the carrier settings needed, but should be able to be added after the update. When users update Android via this route they will also lose all of their customizations, apps, emails, and other content.

This is why the update is recommended for “expert users” by HTC, and if you have a Desire from Germany, Japan, South Korea, North America, and South America the update is not available for you. This is because of “concerns raised from our partners” so HTC blocked the update in these regions.

So despite all this you are still felling brave enough to get the Android Gingerbread update, you can do so here. Many Desire owners will feel let down by this news and will wonder why HTC couldn’t work it better. Will you still download the update?

According to an article by Chris Davies of SlashGear, HTC have conformed via its Facebook page it “will cut select apps from the release”. It is not known which applications HTC will be cutting but it is most likely to be from the HTC Sense UI. The handset has only got 512MB of ROM which makes it difficult for Gingerbread and the HTC Sense to run side by side.

Some owners complained that unofficial releases of the software had managed to work on the handset, with extra space on the micro SD card being used. But this is not possible on any official release of the software. The company promised more updates next week, so could mean the update being available soon.

So it looks like the update is finally on its way, but there will obviously be some compromises to be made to get Gingerbread on the Desire. Are you bothered about losing some features of the Sense UI? Or are you just glad to get Android Gingerbread on your handset?

We previously brought you news of the Xperia X10 receiving multi-touch capability from an upgrade and now thanks to an article at AndroidForums which includes a video and a snapshot of the device sporting some tasty Gingerbread; it seems Sony Ericsson has a few other treats in store for it as well.

These new features include a possible unlocked bootloader, 16 million color support and a new kernel. These new features make the Xperia X10 something to be desired as opposed to something owners for so long have been disappointed and embarrassed about.

You can check out the screenshot and video of the Android handset with its new look Gingerbread OS for yourself by clicking the link above. Do you own a SE Xperia X10? What do you think of the upgrades the device is receiving?

Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

It is said that a cure for this issue could be the Android Gingerbread update. Though these rebooting issues have not been specifically pointed out according to the article at Engadget, LG are working to resolve the issues.

The article reports of a statement T-Mobile received from a small percentage of G2x users, claiming they had been experiencing problems and what improvements need to be made. These possible improvements were low battery life, overheating and rebooting.

The issues listed above were found in screenshot that Engadget came across of a list of issues that customers had brought to the attention of T-Mobile. Check out the full article by clicking the link above for more details about the problems and what LG intend on doing about it.

Will you be getting the update to your G2x?