It was a big letdown for Sony, when the firm released its new flagship smartphone earlier this year missing Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich on board. Following a downward approach, Sony has started rolling out Ice Cream Sandwich update for Xperia S after delivering it to 2011 lineup of Xperia smartphones.

The Japanese electronics giant announced on Sony Xperia Product Blog the start of ICS update rollout for Xperia S smartphone. The update brings new media apps along with the regular Ice Cream Sandwich features. This new app selection includes WALKMAN, Album and Movies app.

WALKMAN, as the name suggests, is a music listening app with social features. Album is much like the traditional Gallery app, allowing users to browser photos and videos, while Movies app is oriented around blockbuster titles. These new apps are heavily integrated with Facebook, allowing users to share everything they are viewing or listening to.

The update also brings standard Android 4.0 features like revamped lock screen, homescreen customizations, data caps and new taskmanager app.

Sony Xperia S owners will get notified on the screen as soon as the update is available in respective countries. The Android 4.0.4 update for Xperia S is approximately 200MB in size and can be downloaded through cellular network or Wi-Fi network on the smartphone or through PC.

In case you do not know about Xperia S, it is Sony's latest flagship smartphone. The device has 4.3-inch LCD display with HD resolution of 720 X 1280 pixels @342ppi. It runs on dual-core 1.5GHz processor with 1GB of RAM. The device comes with 32GB of internal storage. However, it lacks microSD card slot for expandable memory options.

Sony Xperia S is well known for its 12-megapixel camera that can capture images with maximum resolution of 4,000 X 3,000 pixels. There is also a secondary 1.3-megapixel camera in the device that can record 720p HD videos at 30fps.