Sony Xperia E1 Dual
Consumer electronics giant Sony has released music centric budget smartphone Xperia E1 Dual to the Indian market.Sony press kit

A new firmware, understood to be the Android KitKat update for Xperia E1 dual has been reportedly certified.

The software (with build number: 20.1.B.0.60) slated for Sony Xperia E1 models - D2104 and D2105 has been certified by PTCRB, a North American Cellular Operators forum, reported Xperia Blog.

[Note: Another DTV Xperia E1, a limited edition model (D2114) is also expected to get an update with build number: 20.1.B.0.61].

The news comes just days after Sony promised (view report, here) to roll-out the new OS to Xperia E1 and M2 series smartphones by July end and now it looks like the company is about to fulfill at least one of its promises.

The new firmware is expected to enable users to store apps on the SD card, updated Camera application, improved email apps, re-furbished Sony native apps and entertainment apps such as - WALKMAN, Album and Movies, new custom UI – 'Xperia Themes' and the regular stability, performance and battery life enhancements.

Brief Description Key Features of Android v4.4 KitKat OS:

Improved Caller-ID: If a user receives a call from an unknown number, the phone will look for matches on the Internet with local listings via Google Maps.

Priority Contacts: The new OS empowers the phone to automatically prioritize contact list for easy access, based on the frequency of the peoples' contacts to which users talk.

Enhanced Google Mobile Service (GMS) Apps: This application helps users to automatically back-up photos and video clips. He/she also can create, view, share, rename Google Docs and files.

Enhanced Message Grouping: Google has brought in some improvements to the new Hangouts app; now, users can find all their text SMSs and MMSs, audio and video call details all in one place. He/she can also share location and send animated GIFs.

Emoji Characters:  Initially, users had to install a third party app to use colorful characters in their SMS. Now, with KitKat update, the keypad comes pre-loaded with native Japanese Emoji emotion icons.

NFC and Wireless Printing: Google's new OS comes with a new Quickoffice app where-in people can create and store word documents in cloud storage as well as print files wirelessly on NFC-enabled HP printers.

Location Menu: This integrated location menu enables users to easily activate GPS, Wi-Fi and mobile networks, while simultaneously keeping a tab on the battery consumption by the location service based apps.

Immersive Display: To enhance the entertainment factor, the new OS comes with an immersive mode, where the status bar and navigation buttons disappear in to the back ground while you play music, games and read e-books. Users can just swipe the edge of the screen to bring back the utility buttons.

Multi-tasking:  With efficient memory management, users can multi-task by opening multiple applications; listen to music while you can browse through the Internet.

Performance: Like all other software updates, the new KitKat enhances smartphone's performance as well as efficient RAM management, leading to increase in battery life.