[Sony Xperia P, U, Sola, Go] Zap_12100:
With the new JB update out, there's been a lot of talk about the new firmware. However, discussion has been a bit messy, so I'll write up a detailed review here and try to clear things up on what's in this update and what isn't.

(WARNING: Detailed review = long post. You've been warned.)

Numbers

Android version: 4.1.2

Firmware build: 6.2.A.0.400 (GENERIC_WORLD)

Kernel version: 3.0.8+

NEW FEATURES

Lockscreen

The slider has been replaced with a simple swipe upwards or downwards. The clock can be swiped left-to-right for music controls, and right-to-left to access the camera. This lockscreen is FAR quicker. No longer is there the problem with the slider where I would slide the unlock icon a few pixels short and have to try again.

That being said, the lock/unlock "click" sound effect plays about a second late, which is a little irritating, and if you use a pattern/pin you will lose the benefits of the new lockscreen.

Xperia Home Launcher

The Overview mode, where pinch-zooming would display all your widgets floating around on one page, has been removed (presumably due to the lag it caused). Instead, pinch-zooming OR tap-holding an empty space will reveal the new customization menu, where you add widgets/change wallpaper/etc. You can now have up to 7 or as few as 1 homescreens.

Notably, the menu button no longer works to bring up the customizer, so don't spam-tap it and think your menu button is bricked ;)

The dock no longer has text for the apps kept in it, and the app drawer is now that of the Xperia Z. All the old functionality is still there, but some is hidden under the menu button. Uninstalling apps through the app drawer is ridiculously fast - you don't see a progress bar. Also, if you choose to organize apps in your Own order, you can put apps into folders (helps with hiding the crapware).

The multitasking menu is now smaller, but doesn't have Small Apps. I think it looks nicer, especially in landspace, but is quite a waste of space. We should hopefully see Small Apps ported over soon.

Notifications

There are now five built in toggles at the top of the drawer - Sound, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, Mobile Data, Settings. I can't find any way to customize these, so looks like we're stuck with these five.

The time is now included in the notification area with a new "Clear" button. More importantly, if you have 12-hour time set, the notification bar will no longer display am/pm, which makes sense - it's usually quite obvious if it's the morning/afternoon, and frees up space for more icons.

Notifications are now expandable, by dragging a finger down to "pull open" the notification. This is used for many notifications that show you info, like emails, texts, missed phone calls, music controls, etc.

Also, when you tap-and-hold the notification bar, the shade will now auto-expand far enough to show you the date. So there's that.

SONY APPS

WALKMAN has had some refinements to it (beyond the colour scheme now being purple instead of blue). As well as some minor graphical refinements, there are now additional options for audio enhancement. There is ClearAudio+ or access to an equalizer, surround sound modifers, and more (Clear stereo, Clear Phase, xLOUD, Dynamic normalizer). Weirdly, you can only choose one or the other.

ClearAudio+ is, at least in my opinion ... different. Not better or worse. It seems to increase clarity by using the equalizer to emphasize certain instruments and tone down others. I found that particularly in many songs the drums were made quieter and the vocals and guitar louder. However, on some songs it emphasizes the wrong things, resulting in an odd sounding mix.

The equalizer is a bit bugged, the numbers on the meter don't display correctly.

The notification controls still disappear when the music is paused and now lack a Previous Track button, unless you expand the notification.

Album and Movies are, honestly, nothing to rave about. I personally think Sony overadvertised them - apart from some extra eye-candy they are functionally no different to the ICS apps. They look nice, at least.

Socialife doesn't come with the update, but can now be downloaded via the Play Store, or if that doesn't work, xda. If you use Timescape I suggest you get Socialife and forget about Timescape. Socialife isn't extremely awesome, but as Timescape's replacement, it's better. You can add Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google Reader (lol whoops) and any RSS feed you chose. The interface is rid of any Gingerbread influence and has far more functionality over Timescape's useless fancy faux-3D effects.

Sony Select is basically a reskinned PlayNow that can't be uninstalled. It's useless.

Browser is untouched and it's good to see Sony's kept it there for those who prefer it over Chrome.

Phone, Contacts and Messaging are now Holo Light themed.

FM Radio has been reskinned with a visualizer and other pretties.

Xperia Link is a new app used for internet tethering to your laptop. I have no use for tethering, so I don't know how well it works.

Crapware is reinstalled, for those who got rid of it. PlayNow, McAfee, EA Games, etc. Uninstall it.

Google Now

Yes, it's there. Some people have said they can't get it running - open the Google app in the app drawer and you should be walked through setup. If it doesn't work for you, try deleting the app data in Settings. It worked for some people.

As for GNow itself, it works great, although it will work best in the US. (It doesn't seem to like the NZ accent, for one :P)

PERFORMANCE

Project Butter has had an effect. There is still some stutter here and there but overall things are zippier. I suggest going into Developer options and setting animations and transitions to .5x speed. Things will happen at the speed of light, I promise.

I ran a Quadrant benchmark for ICS and JB. ICS gets a score of 2445 and JB a score of 2527, so it appears the benchmarks agree.

And before anyone asks, no, I will not report on my RAM stats. Not only will they differ from yours, because you will most likely have more/less apps installed, but how much RAM is in use does not matter in Android.

BATTERY LIFE

Battery life appears to be around the same. STAMINA mode is just Extended Standby rebranded and giving us some more control, so really the battery is still mediocre. You can expect to be charging overnight with moderate use.

MISCELLANEOUS CHANGES (or lack thereof)

The font is now Roboto everywhere, and boy it looks holo. You'll notice the new font everywhere and it looks very good.

All over the place there are minor graphical changes. I could list them all but it would be pointless.

Bravia Engine has not been updated - we're still on the original.

The camera has also been mostly untouched. We can't take photos while we record, no Superior Auto. 3D Sweep Panorama and 3D Sweep Multi Angle have been removed. However, on the bright side Quick Launch seems to be faster by a few seconds, bringing the horrendous 5-7 second wait to an acceptable 2-3.

LIST OF BUGS

Lockscreen lock/unlock "click" sound plays about a second late.

Cosmic Flow and Overview mode have been removed, likely to "fix" the lag.

Equalizer in WALKMAN has graphical glitches.

WALKMAN notification control still disappears upon pausing the music.

Overall this is an excellent and long-awaited update by Sony. Good job from me. I personally do doubt we'll ever see 4.2, much less Key Lime Pie, but hopefully we will get some bug fixing releases to correct the few quirks there are.

I hope you found this overview of the 4.1 update useful. If I forgot anything, tell me and I'll update the OP. Thanks for reading!

APPENDIX

You can root with an unlocked bootloader or a locked bootloader.

If you haven't got the update but WANT IT NOW, you can either change your SI number to trick PC Companion or download the FTF and flash it. (Or you can be patient! :eek:)

There's also general discussion going on in the official thread.