Android 2.3.3 update for Vodafone's Xperia PLAY & Arc packs new Facebook UI

Good news for any Vodafone customers sporting either the Sony Ericsson Xperia PLAY or Arc smartphones because you’re getting a wonderful surprise in the form of a new software update – Android 2.3.3 in fact!

Not only are the handsets being bumped up to the latest version of Gingerbread, but the software update packs along some additional perks that should appease owners. Specifically, it brings forth a few different bug fixes that iron out some kinks, improved voice quality, stability improvements, email/exchange setup improvements, and Sony Ericsson’s new Facebook integrated UI.

Simply going by the name of Facebook Inside Xperia, it actually places the social networking service into a variety of core apps – such as the music player, media library, camera, and address book. Basically, you can execute various things like seeing social networking statues within the address book, suggesting songs to walls, and use the “like” function on just about anything. Naturally, the timing of this update is perfect seeing that we first reported about it late last month.

However, it’s worth noting that this is a manual update – meaning, you’ll need to do it the old school way of connecting it to Sony Ericsson’s Update Service app via your PC. Indeed nice for Vodafone owners, it’s hard to say if Verizon’s Sony Ericsson Xperia PLAY will be getting treated to it as well down the road.

via MobileCrunch