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[Q] Is it worth it to install cyanogenmod?

Just a simple question that may help some others like me. Is it worth it to install cyanogenmod and install another rom with the new kitkat update coming?
Thanks in advance!

bludsugah said:
Just a simple question that may help some others like me. Is it worth it to install cyanogenmod and install another rom with the new kitkat update coming?
Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Depends on your tech savvy. Personally I don't mess around with roms when I have everything I need in stock, especially on my primary phone. Sometimes you also mess up your connectivity to your carrier (this is called EFS partition, back it up!). I've messed with Xperia phones before and I like the stock roms on them. I say don't put cm, unless you HATE your stock rom. Even then you can just theme it with Xposed if you're on that level or use a 3rd-party launcher for beginners and of course you gotta root it Rooting is more for system tweaks tho, only after you install Xposed you can do theming.
Hope this helps,
Sent from my SCH-I605 using XDA Free mobile app

Personally, I disliked Cyanogen mod because I was so used to the look of my phone. Cyanogen mod changes the entire feel and asthetics of your phone to increase its efficiency. I personally couldn't put up with it, but it may be different for you! I would just stick to stock rom unless you intend to stretch your phone to its absolute limit, in which case Cyanogen mod will help you!

camera quality will be lost, battery life is the same like stock, im using it since jan, sometimes annoying bugs are present..
there is no efs on sony and there are no problems with those like on samy or lg.
Sent from my Xperia Z using XDA Free mobile app

I went to cyanogenmod last week, it's fine so far and has many features which can make you excited. the CM based ROMs are super fast and smooth, them can give you another feeling comparing with the stock.
If you want to install CM, you need to unlock your Bootloader, it means you will lost your Bravia Engine forever unless you relock it
http://forum.xda-developers.com/xperia-z/development/tutorial-xperia-z-zl-bootloader-t2153261
As far as I am concerned, I always want to explore something new and XDA forum is better than SONY. believe me

Sony fw is actually based on AOSP/CM itself.. But if u r bored with stock, u are always welcome to try CM ROMs.. They provide their own features, customizations and a different theme engine.. Plus CM11 actually gives u more battery backup and better RAM management.. Hence an upgrade in the performance level.. But both are good in its own ways.. :good:

Only time I've moved to cm is when the manufacturer stops development for the phone, or if the standard rom is just bad. I had a Moto Atrix that was worth the move to cm. The Xperia is fine without cm and I can't think of anything useful it would add.
Sent from my C6603 using XDA Free mobile app

its nice to take a break from sony's ui. ive tried PAC and PA and some others for a month or so, in the end i ended up going back to sony because CM nightlies are too buggy atm.
its really up to you, both offers slightly different things, CM has more themes to choose from and like i said its a nice break from sonys ui if you got bored of it.

[Q] How much benefit does rooting the Z3C bring over stock?

Hi all,
I'm sure this'll seem like a dumb question to most, but.. I had an Xperia ZL and found that rooting and installing CM was a fantastic improvement.
However, I'm generally happy with the stock performance on my Z3C and would like to know just how much benefit it brings to have CM running on your phone this time around. Especially since there's not a stable version out yet.
Can anyone comment and persuade me to go through the process of rooting to backup my DRM etc.?
Thanks and good evening to all my fellow XDAers!

schnidex said:
Hi all,
I'm sure this'll seem like a dumb question to most, but.. I had an Xperia ZL and found that rooting and installing CM was a fantastic improvement.
However, I'm generally happy with the stock performance on my Z3C and would like to know just how much benefit it brings to have CM running on your phone this time around. Especially since there's not a stable version out yet.
Can anyone comment and persuade me to go through the process of rooting to backup my DRM etc.?
Thanks and good evening to all my fellow XDAers!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think you should go for cm12 now that Lollipop is around the corner. I'd advise you to wait for stock Lollipop. You should use it for a few days and within a few weeks from the lollipop release, cm12 will become bugless. That's when you should switch (if you really need to).
Sent from my D5833 using XDA Free mobile app

Got it, sounds sensible - thanks very much

For me the big benefit was being able to use Titanium backup, I hate updating an app from the Play Store and finding out it is full of bugs or simply backing up a games progress....well worth it to me. Using Xposed and Gravity Box makes the stock software even better by adding almost any Rom feature to the stock software. I would highly recommend that you root before upgrading to Lollipop, you never know if for some reason you can't downgrade and gain root afterwards. Developers will have stock Lollipop zips available shortly after Sony releases it so you can simply flash one and keep root.

[Q] Considering move from Nexus to Z3c.. Q's

So I have a Nexus 5 that's screen is dying for the second time and I'm considering my options including a replacement phone. The Z3c is obviously a great spec phone and nicely built... I'm attracted to it by it sensible size also. The Nexus 5 I'm coming from is about the limit of size I'm willing to go. However I'm afraid of moving from the open world of easily being able to install custom ROM's and do whatever I like to the phone. I've read up on what's involved in doing this on the Z3c but I still have some reservations:
How stable are the ROM's available for the Z3c, I'm really just interested in a close to stock ROM with bloatware removed, I'n not looking for experimental features/customisations. I've used Cyanogenmod before on another device, and other ROMs and there always seemed to be something that never worked quite as well as the stock ROM. (CM had bluetooth problems for me)
If you go the route of unlocking the bootloader, are the DRM protected features that are lost deal-breaking? Is it possible to achieve what I want (clean ROM, root) without unlocking the bootloader?
Thanks for your help in advance!

I am facing prettu much the same problem...
But i am moving away from a lg g2. ( it does not have the best custom rom support, but it works)
Anyway, i am willing to give a shot to the stock sony android... because of the DRM keys..
Well.. lets see what the people have to say!

RoryHa said:
How stable are the ROM's available for the Z3c, I'm really just interested in a close to stock ROM with bloatware removed, I'n not looking for experimental features/customisations. I've used Cyanogenmod before on another device, and other ROMs and there always seemed to be something that never worked quite as well as the stock ROM. (CM had bluetooth problems for me)
If you go the route of unlocking the bootloader, are the DRM protected features that are lost deal-breaking? Is it possible to achieve what I want (clean ROM, root) without unlocking the bootloader?
Thanks for your help in advance!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1: The Roms here are really stable and most of them are close to stock Roms so you won't have to worry about that, since most of them are near stock Roms you won't have to worry about the stability either.
2: Only you can judge if you're going to miss the DRM features, I didn't and still don't I couldn't wait for root, so I unlocked my BL and I never regretted my choice.
The only downside to this phone is the camera in my opinion, so gather some info about the camera first.
When unlocking the BL you also lose some camera quality (only really noticeable in low light conditions tho).
See my topic (in sig) for pictures).
And you don't have to unlock your BL at all if you don't want to, only if you want to use another Kernel.

Thanks for the info
Dsteppa said:
The only downside to this phone is the camera in my opinion, so gather some info about the camera first.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had a look at the photo there and they are not as good as I thought the camera is.. still they are not bad. The Nexus 5 I currently have is not amazing either so it's not really a deal breaker for me. It seems to be the one thing all non-flagship phones compromise on is the quality of the camera.

[Pre-buy] Z3c a wise choice for custom roms?

Dear all,
I'm in the market for a waterproof phone and the z3c has all the features I want (except dual sim). But I really want a custom-rom to better protect my privacy. So what to buy? I've been without ANY phone for a week since my old died because I can't make up my mind
From what I read on all kinds of fora it appears to me that the z3c might not be a wise choice if I intent to run custom-roms on it (and still want a well functioning camera)? I really want bluetooth and decent camera performance.
In general, it seems that custom roms are a bigger pain on the z3c than on other devices, but I was unable to even find if this problem is specific to the z3 series, a general xperia problem, or a general problem with recent smartphones (and what is recent?).
Could anyone comment on this?
Many thanks for your kind help!!!

marcaber said:
Dear all,
I'm in the market for a waterproof phone and the z3c has all the features I want (except dual sim). But I really want a custom-rom to better protect my privacy. So what to buy? I've been without ANY phone for a week since my old died because I can't make up my mind
From what I read on all kinds of fora it appears to me that the z3c might not be a wise choice if I intent to run custom-roms on it (and still want a well functioning camera)? I really want bluetooth and decent camera performance.
In general, it seems that custom roms are a bigger pain on the z3c than on other devices, but I was unable to even find if this problem is specific to the z3 series, a general xperia problem, or a general problem with recent smartphones (and what is recent?).
Could anyone comment on this?
Many thanks for your kind help!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You should read a little bit more.... Because all the answers are on the fora.
Anyway, the camera + custom rom problem is a more general problem to Xperia phones because of post processing of images which is not possible on a unlocked bootloader.
But you really do not need a custom rom on the z3c, which makes it an amazing phone for me.
I run Lollipop, debloated with @moly82 debloat script + xposed + apex launcher + #nochromo. This gives an almost AOSP experience and with xposed ofcourse you can add almost any custom rom feature to your Z3c (I use Xprivacy for privacy, gravitybox, xperiaxposed etc.)
So to conclude: You do not need a custom rom at all when you have Xposed working perfectly on the Z3C.... also, that way you have amazing battery life Better then any custom rom can deliver.

Robin>Hood said:
You should read a little bit more.... Because all the answers are on the fora.
Anyway, the camera + custom rom problem is a more general problem to Xperia phones because of post processing of images which is not possible on a unlocked bootloader.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm sure the answer is somewhere in the fora, so sorry for that. But quite frankly it's hard to know where to start - xda is huge and there's other fora as well. Plus search terms alone can take the form of D5803, Z3c or Z3 compact for the model alone...
Robin>Hood said:
But you really do not need a custom rom on the z3c, which makes it an amazing phone for me.
I run Lollipop, debloated with @moly82 debloat script + xposed + apex launcher + #nochromo. This gives an almost AOSP experience and with xposed ofcourse you can add almost any custom rom feature to your Z3c (I use Xprivacy for privacy, gravitybox, xperiaxposed etc.)
So to conclude: You do not need a custom rom at all when you have Xposed working perfectly on the Z3C.... also, that way you have amazing battery life Better then any custom rom can deliver.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That sounds great!! The custom rom would be just because of privacy concerns - I want google out of my phone as much as possible, but I'm not willing to experiment with non android operating systems (yet).
Thanks for the info, so far everybody seemed quite frustrated with the z3c, you're the first positive voice!

Root/Custom ROM/Bluetooth/DRM issues (Stop me buying an iPhone 6s!)

Hi guys,
My knowledge of ROMs and rooting isn't the best so please bare with me if this question seems dumb. And before anyone says, I have read this thread (and countless others) but would like some clarification.
I've always wanted to install CyanogenMod to my Z3 Compact because my car, an E46 BMW has not been able to pair with my phone since 4.2.2 when a change to bluetooth.default.so was made - Cyanogenmod has the fix.
I have seen recent posts on this forum that suggest if the phone is rooted and a custom ROM is installed, I'm still able to maintain my camera quality which previously was limited (fish-eye effect and low light poor quality) due to the loss of DRM'd software due to a DRM restore fix created by one of the forum members. Is this correct? This was the only thing that ever stopped me rooting my Z3 as camera quality is of high importance to me.
I've been using an iPhone 5s since my screen smashed last month and I planned to buy an iPhone 6s this weekend but if it seems I can use the Z3 Compact for all purposes ( In-car Bluetooth, stable Android, good camera and battery life) then I will definitely get the screen repaired tomorrow!
Thanks in advance.
This is a link explaining the Bluetooth issue I'm talking about.

tsmr said:
Hi guys,
My knowledge of ROMs and rooting isn't the best so please bare with me if this question seems dumb. And before anyone says, I have read this thread (and countless others) but would like some clarification.
I've always wanted to install CyanogenMod to my Z3 Compact because my car, an E46 BMW has not been able to pair with my phone since 4.2.2 when a change to bluetooth.default.so was made - Cyanogenmod has the fix.
I have seen recent posts on this forum that suggest if the phone is rooted and a custom ROM is installed, I'm still able to maintain my camera quality which previously was limited (fish-eye effect and low light poor quality) due to the loss of DRM'd software due to a DRM restore fix created by one of the forum members. Is this correct? This was the only thing that ever stopped me rooting my Z3 as camera quality is of high importance to me.
I've been using an iPhone 5s since my screen smashed last month and I planned to buy an iPhone 6s this weekend but if it seems I can use the Z3 Compact for all purposes ( In-car Bluetooth, stable Android, good camera and battery life) then I will definitely get the screen repaired tomorrow!
Thanks in advance.
This is a link explaining the Bluetooth issue I'm talking about.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is true, I am using DRM fix for my Z3c because I didn't backup my DRM keys (duh!) and the camera quality seems perfect, although the fix says it also restores X-Reality and whatnot but I haven't got to get the engine working, I fixed that with Color Control to match my saturation and colors needs...
As for the Bluetooth issues, I've kinda experienced problems with it too, I have a Bluetooth gamepad, and whenever I'm playing an Android game that supports controllers, it disconnects, but when I play on emulators it doesn't happen... I don't know if there's a fix for that but oh well.

DRM fix works only on stock based roms and on Concept roms.
It doesn't work on custom roms like Cyanogenmod.

istux said:
DRM fix works only on stock based roms and on Concept roms.
It doesn't work on custom roms like Cyanogenmod.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the reply. I don't actually need CyanogenMod, I just need to be able to edit the bluetooth.default.so file as per the thread I linked so that in-car Bluetooth works with my handset. Is this possible whilst maintaining camera quality?
Also when you say 'only works on stock based ROMs' - does this mean that I could install stock Android 6.0 to my device with a custom bluetooth.default.so file, then install the DRM fix and it will work as normal? This would be amazing!
PS. What is a Concept ROM?
I'm so sorry for asking what are most probably stupid questions but I'm fairly new to the Android scene thus still learning.

Of course its possible, you don't need unlocked bootloader to edit system files lol. Unlock bootloaders are used to install custom kernels or firmwares not made by Sony, like CyanogenMod or AOKP and etc.
Concept, is the "Alpha" Edition of Marshmallow that Sony plans to ship out within the next few months, they let a select a number of people to test out the rom and help them debug it. I don't recommend installing it as it is near beta stage and the number of bugs really don't make it suitable as a daily driver for you phone, stick with Lollipop until we get the official stable update unless you know what you're doing.
Good luck!

Revontheus said:
Of course its possible, you don't need unlocked bootloader to edit system files lol. Unlock bootloaders are used to install custom kernels or firmwares not made by Sony, like CyanogenMod or AOKP and etc.
Concept, is the "Alpha" Edition of Marshmallow that Sony plans to ship out within the next few months, they let a select a number of people to test out the rom and help them debug it. I don't recommend installing it as it is near beta stage and the number of bugs really don't make it suitable as a daily driver for you phone, stick with Lollipop until we get the official stable update unless you know what you're doing.
Good luck!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for explaining what Concept is. I guess that's not something that I need right now! To clarify; are you saying that to be able to edit system files, I don't need to unlock my bootloader? I was under the impression that to do this I'd need to:
a) Unlock bootloader.
b) Root device.
c) Access/edit the bluetooth system files.
Any advice on the steps I need to take to have my Z3 Compact work with my car whilst maintaining original camera quality would be much appreciated!
PS. Due to the prompt, positive responses in this thread, I've just taken my Z3 to a local to store so the screen can be repaired. Thanks all for the help - such good folk!

tsmr said:
Thanks for the reply. I don't actually need CyanogenMod, I just need to be able to edit the bluetooth.default.so file as per the thread I linked so that in-car Bluetooth works with my handset. Is this possible whilst maintaining camera quality?
Also when you say 'only works on stock based ROMs' - does this mean that I could install stock Android 6.0 to my device with a custom bluetooth.default.so file, then install the DRM fix and it will work as normal? This would be amazing!
PS. What is a Concept ROM?
I'm so sorry for asking what are most probably stupid questions but I'm fairly new to the Android scene thus still learning.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you need only the root in order to work on that bluetooth file, you can do it without unlocking the bootloader.
Follow this tutorial: http://forum.xda-developers.com/z3-compact/general/how-to-root-backup-drm-keys-t3013343
You will be able to get root without losing DRM keys and else you will make a backup of DRM keys So, if in the future you need/want to unlock the bootloader, you have a safe copy of your keys. :good:

istux said:
If you need only the root in order to work on that bluetooth file, you can do it without unlocking the bootloader.
Follow this tutorial: http://forum.xda-developers.com/z3-compact/general/how-to-root-backup-drm-keys-t3013343
You will be able to get root without losing DRM keys and else you will make a backup of DRM keys So, if in the future you need/want to unlock the bootloader, you have a safe copy of your keys. :good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you so much. Will try this in the morning and hopefully I will be able to use Bluetooth in my car once again!

tsmr said:
My knowledge of ROMs and rooting isn't the best[...]I have seen recent posts on this forum that suggest if the phone is rooted and a custom ROM is installed, I'm still able to maintain my camera quality[...]camera quality is of high importance to me
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My suggestion (solely based on the points your described):
Either get a Z3c and stick to stock ROM
Or get an iPhone (seriously)
Now don't get me wrong, I am not being against custom ROMs. I am running CM myself and the first think I do before buying any android phone is to check if it has official CM support But you need to know that custom ROMs come with their own cost, and it depends whether you're willing to pay the price.
Reasons for my suggestion to you is that the road to unlocked bootloader and custom ROMs is a rough one. You'll be adding more mods and flashing more updates and you quickly end up with a phone which gets into the way and needs constant maintenance. Then there are issues with warranty, security, bugs, etc. Checking the forums for changelogs, kernels and ROMs will become a normal routine.
If you're regular user who wants his/her phone to just work, accept one of my suggestion and save yourself some pain. However, you might choose to be adventurous, then welcome to the community
PS: I'm myself exploring Z3c and iPhone 5s for my next phone.

Honestly, the road to rooting and properly running a rooted software is really not that long and rocky if you follow the linked thread perfectly. You also don't NEED to unlock the BL to get most of the advantages (there are many pre-rooted customized ROMs available without needing an unlocked BL). Follow the thread, stick to a good stable ROM or customization (I'm on Max Fury right now and she did some amazing work, check it out), and you'll be just fine. My BL is not even unlockable, doesn't bother me one bit. You can use Nova for a more Google-ish feel, and Sony's 5.1.1 is already pretty good at not being "Sony-fied".
Anyhow, this is the best phone I've ever owned, not looking back (I've had MANY more than just in my signature).

hv6478 said:
NOTE: annotated snippets from original comment
- if you follow the linked thread perfectly
- you also don't NEED to unlock the BL to get most of the advantages (it's upto you to figure out that just which advantages follow under that "most" category)
- follow the thread
- stick to a good stable ROM or customization (it's upto you to figure out whether you need a rom or customization)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks. This proves my point even more! Now just compare this to getting a phone that just works
Although ROM customization is a beautiful and powerful idea, it's not for everyone, and comes at a cost (read: complexity). If anyone is ready to handle the complexity, please dive right in
Please don't mistake me. I'm not trying to disrespect the devs or offend custom ROM users, I'm both. I'm just trying to list down the pros and cons.