Comment 2 for bug 1314113

For completeness, the Java Cryptography Architecture Oracle Providers Documentation (http://docs.oracle.com/javase/7/docs/technotes/guides/security/SunProviders.html) documents the behavior:

    Although SunJSSE in the Java SE 7 release supports
    TLS 1.1 and TLS 1.2, neither version is enabled by
    default for client connections. Some servers do not
    implement forward compatibility correctly and refuse
    to talk to TLS 1.1 or TLS 1.2 clients. For interoperability,
    SunJSSE does not enable TLS 1.1 or TLS 1.2 by default
    for client connections.

However, in 2014, its no longer a valid reason.