Sony has started rolling out a new firmware update for the Xperia Z1 and Z Ultra that brings about battery life, camera, and display improvements. While the company has started rolling out the update from today itself, the availability will depend on the market, carrier and the variant of the handset.

With the software update, Sony is trying to address some of the common complaints from Z1 and Z Ultra owners. For the Z1, Sony is tweaking the its image processing algorithms for better performance as well as the camera app for performance and stability.

For Xperia Z1, we’ve…

• tweaked the camera algorithm for even better all round performance
• refined Sony’s Smart Social Camera platform, so Xperia Camera apps run more smoothly (particularly Burst Mode, Superior Auto, AR Effect and Sweep Panorama…)

For Xperia Z Ultra, we’ve…

• optimized touchscreen sensitivity, for both finger gestures and writing / sketching with pencils, metal pens and selected styluses

And then across both products, we’ve…

• re-calibrated the display ever so slightly, to ensure viewing experiences remain bright & bold

• economised power consumption for longer battery life

• streamlined Exchange connection for faster email sync, display and download

It will be interesting to see if the software update fixes the poor viewing angles complain most Z1 and Z Ultra owners are reporting. The software update also patches the exploit used to gain root access, so you will need to unlock the bootloader to gain root access post the update.

Sony is expected to update its flagship devices to Android 4.3 Jelly Bean by next month.