After a long delay, Sony has finally released the Jelly Bean update to its 2012 smartphone model Xperia Ion.

During the past two months, the Japanese tech giant has been rolling out firmware updates to many Xperia smartphones like Xperia S, SL, acro S an Go. High-end models such as Xperia ZL & Z had recently received v4.2.2 Jelly Bean.

Xperia Ion had last received ICS (Ice Cream Sandwich) update in late 2012 and now finally on Tuesday, Sony reportedly released the new Jelly Bean v.4.1.2 software for Xperia Ion (LT28) in India, Egypt and select European regions, bringing cheers to the owners of the 2012 Xperia phone.

The new firmware Android v4.1.2 (build version: 6.2.B.0.211) which is a little over 470 MB in size can now be downloaded through Sony PC companion on the computer, whereas Apple Mac owners need to use Bridge software to download it.    

The new firmware is expected to bring in new Google Now app, Project Butter features, new customisable notification panel, more camera app options and performance enhancements.

Xperia Ion owners hope that the new firmware will be free of bugs as owners of its sibling Xperia S reported problems soon after the new Jelly Bean v4.1.2 update was installed. They had reported some lag in the camera applications and other major issues such as fast battery drain even when the device was in power saving stamina mode. Also, its volume keys were temporarily non-functional at times. In a bid to mitigate the problem, Sony has already released the second firmware update within a month's time and is also planning to release the third update to fix NFC issue.