Sony unveiled the Xperia Z, its latest flagship smartphone, at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas last week, and the device has been very well received. It looks good, and it has some great specifications. But there was one thing we didn’t like. The device is set to launch with Android 4.1 Jelly Bean — not Android 4.2, the latest release, which offers features like Daydream and lock screen widgets.

Thankfully, Sony has now confirmed that the Xperia Z will get the Android 4.2 update “shortly after launch.”

One thing that’s always discouraged me from buying Android smartphones from certain manufacturers is the time it takes for them to roll out the latest software updates. Some are notoriously slow, and Sony itself hasn’t exactly been the quickest. So when I heard the Xperia Z would come with Android 4.1, I wondered how long it would take to be updated.

According to Lego Svardsater, the company’s product manager, who has the best first name in the world, it won’t be long after launch before the Xperia Z is updated to Android 4.2. We don’t have a specific date, but we’d expect it to arrive within the first month of two.

Having said that, don’t let the Xperia Z’s lack of Android 4.2 put you off. It was by far one of the most impressive Android handsets to come out of CES, and its feature set puts it right up there with the most current high-end smartphones, like the HTC Droid DNA. Not only does it boast a 5-inch 1080p display, but it has a speedy quad-core processor, a 13-megapixel camera, and it’s waterproof and dust-proof.

• SourceSony Mobile Blog
• ViaPhandroid