Sony announced this morning that the official rollout of Android 5.0 Lollipop updates to its Xperia Z3 and Xperia Z3 Compact has started. The update will begin in the “Nordics and Baltics” before continuing on to the rest of the world in a couple of weeks.

The update is “blending” Lollipop with Sony’s own skin, which means “goodies” are involved. I just hope that really means Sony is ditching their incredibly dated and painful-to-use Android skin. If the first bullet point below that talks of “fresh, streamlined looks” is any indicator of things to come, I may just get my wish.

Here is the list of what we can all expect to see in the update:

Fresh, streamlined looks – based on Google’s material design, but retaining our minimalistic approach to interface and application design

New look notifications and lock screen – with fully customizable settings, so you only get the information you really need

Multi user profiles and guest mode – making it easy for family and friends to use your device, or the creation of dual environments for work and play…

Android for Work – not only are business-ready Xperia smartphones and tablets unique devices for work – with waterproof form factors, great battery life and productivity features – they will now also be part of the Android for Work ecosystem

Better storage control and customisation – with the option to easily move applications from internal memory to SD card – giving you more control over your content, particularly useful for devices with slightly less space

That actually sounds great. Sony’s skin really has been one of the worst for a number of years now and is one of the reasons their phones have been difficult for us to fully get behind. If we can get an updated, “fresh” look, this could be a huge deal, especially looking forward to the next Xperia flagship.

Via: Sony