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On Tuesday, Sony released a list of Xperia devices which would get the Android 6.0 Marshmallow update. Today, the Japanese multinational consumer electronics giant has announced that it would be rolling out the beta versions of the Marshmallow builds for the company’s Xperia Z3 and Z3 Compact smartphones to as many as 10,000 users of the aforesaid devices in Europe. The opportunity to beta test the Marshmallow ROMs comes as part of Sony’s “Concept for Android” initiative, which, the company had launched back in July this year, to help users of Xperia smartphones try out and give their feedbacks about new features and enhancements available as part of future updates. The offer is open on a first-come-first-serve basis to residents of a number of countries in Europe, including Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Iceland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, United Kingdom, Ireland and Germany.
As for the “Concept for Android” program, Sony says that feedback and suggestions from users have “helped us create an experience built on the fundamentals of: prolonged battery life, smooth and fast performance, sleek user interface, Sony apps and experiences and frequent, timely updates. We’ve included all of that here and also hope to road test a few new Sony experiences along the way. Rather than merely previewing a new software version, this is about a proof-of-concept way of working, whereby we build a new user experience – and more importantly, process – from the ground up, that will also allow us to be more responsive in developing and rolling out the Sony Android upgrades Xperia users want, more quickly”.
According to instructions posted on Sony’s official blog, interested users in the aforementioned countries will be able to sign up for the program via the “Concept Sign-up” app, which is available for download from the Google Play Store. The company says that only up to 10,000 beta-testers will be enlisted on a first-come-first-serve-basis, as mentioned already. Successful applicants will be notified within the next few weeks, according to Sony. It isn’t immediately clear however whether the program will be expanded to users of other Xperia devices as well, or if it will be limited only to the users of the two devices specifically mentioned by Sony on its blog.