It looks like Sony is not yet ready to give up on smartphones, despite all the rumours and speculation that it might be looking to sell the division. Sony Mobile has announced that it will be running a trial for a new concept operating system based on Android 5.1 Lollipop.
The OS is currently known as Sony Concept for Android, and features a fully scaled back view of what a manufacturer should be doing. Sony claims that it will have a more vanilla Android look and feel, with native Sony apps that are the most popular among users.
This appears to be an extremely limited beta test for the operating system. The Song blog post says that this is “a chance for us to listen and act upon bug reports, opinions and experiences, so we can acquire feedback to improve the experiences based on what you like and what you don’t.”
Sony is only limiting the test to 500 Xperia Z3 users in Sweden. There was no explanation offered for why the sample size is so specific, but it could just be to test the feedback system as well.
There has not been much news about mobile from Sony over the last few months; leading some to suspect that the company is rethinking its involvement with smartphones and tablets. However, this looks more like the silence was taking time to plan its next move.
[Source: Sony Mobile Blog]
