Sony finally confirmed the long-awaited Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean update for the Xperia Tablet S will arrive at the end of April/ early May.

The tablet currently runs on Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS) and many owners complained of issues relating to the tablet randomly shutting down, as well as unstable Wi-Fi connections.

The firmware update to Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean will also fix the memory management issues that currently plague the tablet, causing it to shut down from time to time for no apparent reason.

Some owners of the Sony Xperia Tablet S seem to have little to no patience left regarding this update, and a petition is making the rounds to try and get Sony to release the update earlier. Sony's statement, however, is quite clear:

"We will be releasing Jelly Bean for the Xperia Tablet end of April 2013 / early May 2013 for the Xperia Tablet. This update will resolve a memory management issue that may cause the Xperia Tablet to shut down from time to time."

Sony first announced its Xperia Tablet S back in August last year, and the Japanese manufacturer seemed in no hurry to bring a firmware update to this device. Moreover, the company already started selling the Xperia Tablet S successor, the Xperia Tablet Z, in select countries, with more regions to follow soon. In India, for instance, the Sony Xperia Tablet Z should launch sometime in May.

Keep in mind that the Android 4.1.2 update announced for the end of April/ early May is for the Sony Xperia Tablet S, which is not to be confused with the original, first-generation Sony Tablet S. Owners of this original tablet seem to be stuck with their current version of Android, as Sony announced no plans to roll out an update.

"Currently we do not have a roadmap to release the Jelly Bean update for the 1^st Generation Tablet (Sony Tablet S)," the company explains in the same statement.

In other words, if the original Sony Tablet S will eventually get an update to Android Jelly Bean, it's not in the near future.