Sony Ericsson has announced the update schedule for its Android-based Xperia X10 handset, and it's not good news. Despite earlier promises of a swift update, it looks like users are going to have to wait until "Q4 2010" before there's any patch released.

The update's big - it'll cover the upgrade of the OS from 1.6 to 2.1 (not 2.2, which is due in a matter of weeks at the time of writing), DLNA capabilities, the ability to record HD video like the Sony Ericsson Vivaz and improvements to Timescape and Mediascape to make them "even smarter and richer".

None of that will be much consolation, however, to X10 owners who won't be too happy about missing out on upgrades that will have been around for more than a year by the time it finally arrives for their gadget. Unfortunately, the one thing that makes a customer regret his or her purchase is seeing it become outdated - which is a fate likely to befall the X10, if it stays without an update.

Sony Ericsson's Sumit Malhotra says: "I would also like to emphasise that there will be an additional smaller software update, already in the next couple of weeks aiming to enhance the usability and performance of Xperia X10. In the next post, I will share more details and precise timings for when this update will be released".

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