With the launch of Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and the glorious Samsung Galaxy Nexus, Android owners can't help but wonder when their devices will be graced with the new operating system.

Both Sony Ericsson (soon to be just Sony) and Motorola have shed some light on the Android ICS update process in separate blog posts.

Motorola, which is on the verge of being acquired by Google, explained in a blog post that a lot of work goes into preparing a new Android version for devices even after Google open sources the operating system.

Sony Ericsson confirms in a blog post everything that Motorola says about software updates but delves further into the details which might prove somewhat technical to most users.

Common to both the smartphone makers is that they customise the operating system to the hardware requirements of the device and the specifications provided by the carriers. The companies then test the implementation and iron out the bugs.

The modified OS is then sent to wireless carriers for certification, which check whether the device has been optimised for their network. After the certification process is completed, which takes a lot of time, the companies conduct a pre-release trial after which the OS is release as update to the users.