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As gaming becomes more popular on Android, developers are doing their part to make gaming more fun. Whether it’s connecting familiar controllers to faking PlayStation certification, the effort to make gaming more universal is there. Now, there is a gaming mod for a plethora of Xperia devices, including the Sony Xperia U, P, Sola, and GO.

XDA Senior Member GEKTHEBOSS released a tweak that makes gaming a little more fun for the aforementioned Xperia devices. The package doesn’t contain a lot of mods, but the mods included give users access to a lot of games. The features include:

*Full PlayStationMobile Certification
*Full Xperia Play PlayStation Certification
*Xperia Play Game Launcher

In addition, recent updates have added optimizations and an uninstaller. To install, users download the mod and install it via custom recovery. If it doesn’t quite work, fixing permissions is the accepted troubleshooting method. Several users have confirmed that the mod works on a few different devices. Some users on the Xperia GO have expressed that they’re having issues, but upcoming updates should sort that out.

If this looks like something you want to check out, go to the original thread.

Luxury phones seem to have a stigma of being mid range at best. Luxury car dealers like Aston Martin make cars worth hundreds of thousands of dollars that sit on the bleeding edge of vehicular technology. Then they release smartphones for thousands of dollars that aren’t so great. Sony has done the same with the Xperia P.

As Engadget points out, there are better smartphones in the Sony lineup that could’ve gotten dipped in gold. Why they went with the Xperia P is anyone’s guess.

In case you’re not familiar, the Xperia P isn’t the worst smartphone out there. It sports a dual core, 1GHz processor, 1GB RAM, and 16GB of storage. It is pretty mid range compared to today’s standards.

So this gold plated Xperia P is the best luxury phone out there?

It may not seem like it, but it really is. When compared to luxury offerings like the Aston Martin phone mentioned above, it’s a veritable Porshe. After all, the Aston Martin phone rocks an 800MHz, single core processor and a whopping 256MB of RAM. We would’ve compared it to a Lamborghini, but their offering wasn’t much better than Aston Martin’s.

Compared to the competition, the Xperia P is a rock star. Unfortunately, these will never go on sale. According to the Sony Mobile’s blog, only 15 were made and they’re likely being given away on their Facebook page.

Was this a good move by Sony, or should they have gone with a better phone than the Xperia P? Let us know!

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For most smartphone users, battery life is a key concern. As devices become more and more powerful, the need to conserve battery increases since battery technology itself isn’t evolving at the same pace. That’s why people are always on the lookout for battery saving tips. If you’ve got a Sony Xperia P and have noticed it consuming significant amounts of battery while idling, we’ve got a simple tip for you that may help you get some more juice out of your battery with little effort.

When XDA Member PGTomsk was tired of experiencing up to 20% battery drain overnight at idle, so he tried looking for solutions. By trial and error, he stumbled across the most simplest of solutions. It seems the stock Weather widget was the culprit, and removing it resulted in just under 5% of battery drain overnight.

You can visit the forum thread to read up further on it or join the discussion.

Sony has done some interesting work with their Xperia devices. One of the more interesting software features they’ve begun implementing comes in the form of Small Apps. Small Apps are essentially floating window applications that open like windows on your computer. It’s similar to Galaxy Note 2 multi window feature. Now, some third party developers have gotten into Small Apps have released their own.

XDA Senior Member hhlong89 posted an application called WebView. It’s an Xperia Small App and also a web browser. It opens up a web browser in a Small Apps window, and lets users browse the web. It’s not too much different from regular Android web browsers, except the floating window feature. A full list of features include:

Share URL from Intent
Can Use Default Browser
（※↑Not Working When You Aleady Set another app）
Long press maxmize button go to Setting Activity
Long press home button to browser reload
Long press open with browser button(left bottpm) to show input form

In addition, some copy/paste functions don’t work and the pulldownlist doesn’t work. The app has been confirmed working on pretty much every Xperia device that can run Small Apps. Now that third party developers are digging into Small Apps, users may see more on the horizon.

For additional details, check out the original thread.

Sony has some interesting plans regarding its smartphone future, but issuing timely Android updates are not part of them. The company has shared more details about its Android 4.1 Jelly Bean roll out, but in case you don’t own one of the recently launched Xperia models you won’t like what we’re about to tell you.

The lists of Jelly Bean-upgradeable Xperia devices includes only the following models:

• Xperia T
• Xperia TX
• Xperia V
• Xperia S
• Xperia acro S
• Xperia ion
• Xperia P
• Xperia go
• Xperia J

We don’t have any actual Jelly Bean roll out details for either model, but it looks like the most recent Xperia devices – the Xperia T, TX and V – will be the first to get their Android 4.1 update. That will happen at some point in the first quarter of 2013.

In case you own 2011 Sony Android smartphones, you won’t receive any official Jelly Bean upgrade next year, so you’ll either have to stick it out with Ice Cream Sandwich, or find custom Jelly Bean-based ROMs to install on those Xperia models:

We were glad to provide the Android 4.0.4 upgrade for our 2011 Xperia portfolio across most markets and the majority of models but, after thorough evaluation, we have concluded they will not be upgraded beyond Ice Cream Sandwich.

Beyond Ice Cream Sandwich we would not able to guarantee owners of these smartphones the user experience you expect and we demand. We will however, continue to support all these products with firmware maintenance releases.

We’ll be back with more Jelly Bean upgrade details once Sony starts releasing the update.

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USB On-The-Go is probably one of the greatest tools for Android that not a lot of people know about. With it you can connect virtually anything that requires USB into your Android device, including external hard drives, flash drives, keyboards, mice, and pretty much whatever else you can think of—even your DSLR. As OTG technology gets more popular, the features that come with it will evolve as well. For many Xperia devices, including the Xperia S, P, U, Sola, and Acro S, you can now simultaneously use OTG and charge your device.

The method was written out by XDA Senior Member sonic_boom and it does require some hardware modification. Initially, the hardware mod gave users a choice to switch a cable from OTG mode to Charge mode and thus not have to use multiple cables. However, after some more tinkering, sonic_boom managed to get simultaneous OTG and charging using a 4-way USB hub. What’s the only other way to get this? By purchasing a special dock.

As expected with hardware modifications, your mileage may vary. This involves tinkering with pieces of hardware and may damage your device or your accessories. Aside from the standard boilerplate warning, the mod is actually pretty simple. As stated by sonic_boom, this should work on any OTG-enabled Xperia device.

To learn more, visit the original thread.

Sony Xperia P owners can be happy to know that starting today the device will get an Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich update. The news comes from Sony Mobile’s blog stating the update will start to roll out today and take place over the next few weeks.

Along with the core Android 4.0 update new features from Sony include:

• New media applications such as “WALKMAN”, “Albums” and “Movies”
• Lock screen with improved functionality
• Resizable widgets for improved personalization
• Extended standby mode
• Imropved data consumption control
• A new Recent Apps button for a clear overview of installed apps

Other Sony Android users need not fret, as updates to the Xperia U, sola and go are expected shortly.

Sony Mobile mentions that in some cases the update is only accessible via PC Campanion or Bridge for Mac. For more information visit www.sonymobile.com/update.

Source: Sony Mobile Blog

According to a post from Sony India’s Facebook page, the middle-brother of the Xperia NXT series, the Sony Xperia P will be treated with a serving of Ice Cream Sandwich between August 19 and August 25.

Although we can’t say that the updates at Sony come as clockwork, the Japanese giant is nevertheless one of the most open Android manufacturers when it comes to sharing plans on software updates. To recap, back in July, an Italian Sony representative announced on the social network that the ICS update will hit the Xperia P at the beginning of August. However, Sony backtracked soon after, and pegged the rollout for the second half of August.

Here’s a educational video straight from Sony about what the ICS update brings to the Xperia table.

The Facebook India update is low on details, so we can’t shed any more light on this issue for now. We also can’t say if the update will roll out to more markets besides India on August 19 to 25 or in the coming days. However, we think Sony will confirm its track record and bring Android 4.0.4 to Xperia P devices in other regions at around the same time.

NEXT: Sony Xperia P to receive ICS update in early August

Signal drop fix for Xperia U coming in early August, ICS to follow soon after? Sony Xperia GX Japanese launch pushed back to August, $920 latest rumored price

The Sony Xperia 2012 lineup has been getting bigger recently, and users are wondering if the new Xperia line will have the same robust development of the 2011 Xperia devices. While it’s impossible to gauge the success of these devices before they’ve had a chance to really grow in the development community, they sure are off to an outstanding start.

XDA Recognized Developer DooMLoRD has come out with a trio of kernels for the Xperia Sola, Xperia U, and Xperia P that automatically root their respective device. Want more? Okay. XDA Senior Member krabappel2548 released custom ROMs for the three devices. This means that all three can be bootloader unlocked, rooted, and have a custom ROM already. You can certainly conclude that they’re getting off to an outstanding start.

The processes are essentially the same for all three devices. Once the bootloader is unlocked, it’s a matter of installing DooMLoRD’s kernel to obtain full root and install BusyBox. Unfortunately, there aren’t any custom recoveries available yet, so those wanting to go the extra step and installing krabappel2548′s custom ROMs will have to do so via fastboot. Users looking to flash the ROMs should thus become familiar with fastboot before attempting. These processes will surely become simpler as time goes by and a custom recovery is created, so those wishing to wait probably won’t be out of luck forever.

Xperia Sola users can find everything you need in the Sola kernel thread and the Sola ROM thread. For the Xperia U, hit up the U kernel thread and the U ROM thread. And finally, Xperia P users should visit P kernel thread and the P ROM thread.

The middle child always seems to get the least amount of attention. So it is with Sony’s Xperia P: the high-end Xperia S gets the accolades, the tiny Xperia U gets the “aaaaws”, but the P is stuck somewhere in between. Well we’re not ones to ignore a phone based on its familial issues, and neither is Greek site Digital Life. They’ve got a hold of the as yet unreleased phone and put it through the standard benchmark paces.

As befits a mid-range device, the Xperia P gets solid but not outstanding scores. While it certainly holds its own, it can’t beat out heavy hitters like the Galaxy S II, even though it’s considerably newer. In the ever-popular Quadrant test it scores 2208, AnTuTu gives it a 5325, and it scored 29.2 frames per second in the NenaMark graphics test. While these are alright, they won’t be sitting at the top of any power lists – that’s what the Xperia S is for, after all.

The Xperia P gets a 4-inch “Reality Display” screen, a 1Ghz dual-core processor and an 8 megapixel rear camera. Generally its design follows the other members of the later Xperia family with a squared-off outline and transparent navigation buttons, but the back is made of aluminum. Sadly the phone will launch with Gingerbread and be updated to Ice Cream Sandwich later. Like the smaller Xperia U, the P’s release has been pushed back to later this month for Europe.

[via GSMArena]