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Should we upgrade to 5.1 ?

Hi, I have D2403 with zexperience installed on it and I wanted to hear your guys oppinions on 5.1.I have locked bootloader and I can't unlock it and I dont understand is it safe to root now or no with Locked BL? Is it worth to update 5.1 or should i stay with my current system etc..?
cheers

Yes you can update of you want to, it does take up slightly more room than kk did. it took about two weeks for my battery life to settle down but once it does battery life is better than kk for me never get less than 5-6hrs screen time sometimes a bit more and that's with the zram as Sony intended. yes root is available for LB but only by flashing a pre-rooted zip via recovery on rooted kk and recovery is only available at the minute by using t2u nut dual recovery(not ideal but it does work). If you're totally stock and don't want root I'd update by Sony pcc. Only thing I'm really missing is xposed I think it was worth the wait myself.
D2303 5.1lollipop customised NCB rooted LB t2u nut dual recovery bravia engine+x-reality debloated

Weekend Offender said:
Hi, I have D2403 with zexperience installed on it and I wanted to hear your guys oppinions on 5.1.I have locked bootloader and I can't unlock it and I dont understand is it safe to root now or no with Locked BL? Is it worth to update 5.1 or should i stay with my current system etc..?
cheers
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Rooting is as safe as ever. Just more complicate to enable it (basically start from KK, root it, install recovery, make PRF file with 5.1.1 system, flash PRF file from recovery, flash rooting zip from recovery, flash remaining 5.1.1 components with Flashtool and restart all over downgrading to KK if anything goes wrong).
Regarding if it's worth it.. The current issues are:
- The camera sucks for many. Even Xperia Blog reported it now.
- It uses more RAM (which is vey disappointing. I thought ART was going to need less memory?!). Disabling the zram and setting the minfree as they were in KitKat one gets nearly zero multitasking
- Frequent I/O wait even with the zram disabled (but not as bad as with the zram. Unfortunately see above)
- The WiFi has different functionalities from KK (it stays connected to the WiFi even if the AP drops the internet connection. The option to disable it has gone. In other cases it shows an exclamation mark due to something with Captive Networks)
- It seems to me it lags more. But I have plenty of apps installed.
- Few old apps perform poorly
- Many old KK Xperia themes won't work in full , yet (at least the ones I liked the most)
- Potential issues with the GPS (it seems to be a bug in Lollipop generally speaking)
- I hate the new notifications
The Pros:
- Better Stamina mode
- The slick new UI, I especially love the new open applications list (which finally puts a separate window for apps open inside other apps. IMDB from TV Sideview excluded, though)
- Some newer apps make full use of the Lollipop API and more will follow
IMO KitKat is more stable and efficient. But I like Lollipop nonetheless so I decided to stick with it. The few bugs around aren't a deal breaking to me.

Yes you should always upgrade to the newest android.

After battery drain,gps and camera issue I am back to 4.4.4 and ALL work fine and i am happy.

I'm holding back to see if we can get a working recovery (other than Nut's T2U) on a locked bootloader and hopefully then @linuxct will cook us up a new version of his Lite ROM based on 5.1.1 with all the kinks of the official software ironed out

gordonthegopher said:
I'm holding back to see if we can get a working recovery (other than Nut's T2U) on a locked bootloader and hopefully then @linuxct will cook us up a new version of his Lite ROM based on 5.1.1 with all the kinks of the official software ironed out
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
We (@AleksJ and I) are currently working on a fully functional recovery solution for both Lollipop and KitKat (No need to use T2U solutions anymore, which is quite RISKY as I explained in some threads before).
If there aren't any inconveniences, we should be releasing it soon. After that I'll start the Z4 eXPERIence 4.0 (it'll be a light edition) development.

Yea true, two days ago linuxct told me that he's found a way to use a good bueselinux module by zxz0O0 in our recovery installer.
Well fine the installer is back on the game, it can be used on the recent Android release with old recovery. But....recently we also noticed a very nasty touch screen issues the reasons for which are unclear for now.
p.s.
The PhilZ Touch project is "End Of Support", but believe or not with this recovery boot.img I can install and run on my unlocked M2 the latest Omnirom and CM (without sensors lib) in the same way as CWM and TWRP..)
Of course I can't and don't want to tell anyone what and how to do. Just share my opinion.

Hi, when can we expect the new Z4 eXPERIence 4.0to arrive? if You need some Beta testers, I would be happy to asign
(Sorry if this isn't the right thread for the question!)

@semil
Linuxct said he will work on updating that rom after he and AleksJ finish working on a legit recovery for LB.

5.1.1 battery problem

Hello guys, i have installed 5.1.1 on my xperia m2 but my battery drains so fast! (i tried to erase everything and install 5.1.1 again but the same problem )
Any suggestions?
prntscr.com/8wmif0
prntscr.com/8wmiqr

It takes a week to ten days to settle down after updating then it should be the same or better than kk
D2303 5.1 customised NCB LB t2u nut dual recovery rooted de-bloated bravia engine 2+x-reality

oh really? okey i ll try it
Thanks for the help my friend

No problem..
D2303 5.1 customised NCB LB t2u nut dual recovery rooted de-bloated bravia engine 2+x-reality

[email protected] said:
It takes a week to ten days to settle down after updating then it should be the same or better than kk
D2303 5.1 customised NCB LB t2u nut dual recovery rooted de-bloated bravia engine 2+x-reality
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think so, well that didn't work in my case anyway. I used it for more than 10 days for sure. The battery drain was so bad it made me downgrade to kk and in not even talking about camera quality, decreased volume or no Xposed...

My battery life on 5.1 is better than kk even with the zram enabled fully, easily lasts all day on one charge with 5-6hrs screen time. camera is better aswell my only problem is no xposed but I'm getting used to it now no way I'm going back kk
D2303 5.1 customised NCB LB t2u nut dual recovery rooted de-bloated bravia engine 2+x-reality

I don't know, but my battery still ending like no tomorrow ...
prntscr.com/8xy41s
prntscr.com/8xy4ba

Check out the standard battery drains =>
*IO 50% caused by zram
*Media-scan process stuck (causes a huge battery gain)
*Have you got a clean install? (wiped properly?)
*Cleaning your cache might reduce the Android-OS battery usage.
Start off with the easier stuff first, might be a petty app causing your phone to be awake whole day long. (syncing or stuff like that)
To check your CPU from being used too much use this command: top -m 6 -n 1 [-m => amount of processes listed & -n = amount of refreshes before exiting the top command]
Try the app: BetterBatteryStats which gives info about wakelocks.
Hope this might help you in a way?
Grtz

I too have been having problems with battery life. Prior to Lollipop, I could easily make 2 days on light use. Now, even without using the phone, something is sucking the battery dry.
In the battery stats, the screen is hardly on... BUT even when its off, something is "Awaking" the phone every 10-15 seconds!
I have tried a full factory reset but to no avail. I cant even get a day out of the phone now! Even with it just sitting there!!!!

Auto update after flashing phone

Hi all,
A little while ago I downgraded my Xperia M2 to Jelly Bean, so that I could get root access. So I now have 18.0.C.1.13 (central Europe) installed. Now I have decided that I don't need root access any more, so I'd like to get back on the standard OS rollout programme. The Sony update centre regularly reminds me that I can update. However, when I come to update it will download ok, but fails to install.
Any ideas what could be going on, and how to fix it? I could flash a new ROM, but that may not help. I'm wondering if it's unhappy about the region I used for the downgrade (I am in the UK) but it shouldn't worry about that.
Thanks for the help,
Neill

Just reflash the ftf via flashtool updates don't work with root as the system has been modified.
D2303 5.1lollipop customised NCB LB rooted Nuts t2u dual recovery bravia engine 2+x-reality debloated viper audio

No joy I'm afraid.
I upgraded to Kitkat this weekend, using an FTF file I found (unfortunately I can't post a link, as I don't have enough posts on this forum).
I then tried to upgrade using the Sony Update Centre. It downloaded ok, but when I pressed "install" I got the error message "could not verify download".
So, I then tried upgrading using the Sony PC Companion. Again the upgrade downloaded fine, but upon install I was greeted with something like "Could not upgrade, because there are customisations on your existing operating system".
I'm going to have a try with flashing lollipop now, but I don't have high hopes for being able to upgrade after that.

neill.bowler said:
No joy I'm afraid.
I upgraded to Kitkat this weekend, using an FTF file I found (unfortunately I can't post a link, as I don't have enough posts on this forum).
I then tried to upgrade using the Sony Update Centre. It downloaded ok, but when I pressed "install" I got the error message "could not verify download".
So, I then tried upgrading using the Sony PC Companion. Again the upgrade downloaded fine, but upon install I was greeted with something like "Could not upgrade, because there are customisations on your existing operating system".
I'm going to have a try with flashing lollipop now, but I don't have high hopes for being able to upgrade after that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As Aidy said, you can't succeed with PC Companion if you have modified system (unlocked bootloader or root) so use Flashtool 9.18.6 for flashing, make sure you have all drivers instaled and also PC Companion and you can succeed. You can download latest ftf with XperiFirm that is built in Flashtool. You can root it with KingRoot (use Google how to change to SuperSu).
Good Luck!
Sent from my D2303 using Tapatalk

Ouch! That was a bit of a nightmare...
First things first, thanks for pointing me to XperiFirm, it looks like a great place for getting FTF files. It was not obvious what the XF button on Flashtool does. Equally, it's not entirely obvious how to use it. But anyways, it looks good.
I downloaded and flashed the 3 UK kitkat FTF file for the M2. Upon rebooting the phone got stuck on the 3 splash screen, and would not respond to any input (could not even turn off). I thought I had killed my phone. I had to wait an entire day for the battery to die. I have now reflashed a lollipop ROM I downloaded from the internet, and everything seems to be working ok. I'm going to be a lot more cautious about flashing my phone in future.

To power off phone you have 2 options :
1. There's a hole by simcard put some sharp pin in it and phone is off (well, if it's not connected to changer or use on pc )
2. Hold volume up + power button together at same time, you'll feel vibration (that will reboot phone) hold it little more until you feel 3 vibrations, now your phone is off.
Sent from my D2303 using Tapatalk

Three UK use sim free network unlocked devices(bootloader unlockable). So you're better off flashing customised UK no three splash screen or apps then this is what I've done but I'm using customised NCB instead.
D2303 5.1lollipop customised NCB LB rooted Nuts t2u dual recovery bravia engine 2+x-reality debloated viper audio

Thanks all for the help, much appreciated.

User modifications and OTA updates

My mate 7 is rooted and with custom recovery (TWRP) instaled. Due to these modifications I am not able to get OTA updates from Huawei.
In order to get access to them, again, do I have to unroot and instal stock recovery , or can I only instal stock recovery and keep phone rooted?
many thanks

You need to unroot and instal stock recovery.

I decided, seeing as so many mate7 owners are bricking their phone, I will leave mine with root and CWM on kitkat and it can't get an OTA that will spoil it.
If there were a decent recovery flashable ROM I'd have a current backup and try it, but there's nothing out there with full functionality so kitkat stays.
The phone works really well as is. The mods I've applied give good performance and function. Why try to reinvent it just to say I have a newer OS?

RobboW said:
I decided, seeing as so many mate7 owners are bricking their phone, I will leave mine with root and CWM on kitkat and it can't get an OTA that will spoil it.
If there were a decent recovery flashable ROM I'd have a current backup and try it, but there's nothing out there with full functionality so kitkat stays.
The phone works really well as is. The mods I've applied give good performance and function. Why try to reinvent it just to say I have a newer OS?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What mods have you applied?
I'm running 5.1.1 on my gold model and found quite a significant performance boost. On KK I was experiencing choppy UI more often than not. The battery has slightly improved as well. Not that it's bad in any way running KK though...
I would kill to get a stock ROM (or a CM ROM) running on this phone, or even just Xposed. But alas, EMUI just won't budge.

Scruffykid said:
What mods have you applied?
I'm running 5.1.1 on my gold model and found quite a significant performance boost. On KK I was experiencing choppy UI more often than not. The battery has slightly improved as well. Not that it's bad in any way running KK though...
I would kill to get a stock ROM (or a CM ROM) running on this phone, or even just Xposed. But alas, EMUI just won't budge.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
On KK B130 I have unlocked bootloader, root, CWM recovery, de-bloated apps and launcher, installed Viper4Android, xperia keyboard and an old version of xposed withe some modules. It has other stuff too. Runs fast. No urgent need for a new ROM. Modded a lot to be really simple, lol. It is a pleasure to use.
For choppy UI, I enabled the setting to force GPU rendering in 2D applications. It's in developer options. You can also reduce or turn off animations.
I've installed a Kernel adjusting app too. Changed some settings, made the phone respond faster and read ahead performance increased. This made bluetooth streaming perform a lot better and it's just nice to use.
The stock governor settings keep the phone on the low speed cores as much as possible and this kills UI performance and makes UE disappointing. I also removed the Huawei launcher after installing Smart Launcher Pro.
I'm thinking of removing the OTA update app and permanently run B130 with no chance of updating it without use of CWM recovery to flash it.

Xperia M2 D2302 Camera issue

Hi
My M2 is running on build 18.6.A.0.182 lollipop and tried to downgrade to kitkat 4.4.4 using flashtool. But it resulted in a bootloop.
After that using PC companion I repaired it back to 5.1.1 and got it back working .But now the camera is showing some white noise lines while shooting pictures on indoors where there is a bright highlighted area. This happens only in HDR mode. One time I saw it also in Superior auto mode where the auto scene selection was shown as Backlight HDR. So is this a sensor problem or a software issue?
I had a backup firmware of lollipop that I copied from C:\ProgramData\Sony Mobile.
I copied that to the location before repairing it using PC Companion so that the PC Companion wont download the entire firmware which is about 1.1 GB and there by saving my limited data plan. Is there a problem by copying the firmware before repair process?

zankdroid said:
Hi
My M2 is running on build 18.6.A.0.182 lollipop and tried to downgrade to kitkat 4.4.4 using flashtool. But it resulted in a bootloop.
After that using PC companion I repaired it back to 5.1.1 and got it back working .But now the camera is showing some white noise lines while shooting pictures on indoors where there is a bright highlighted area. This happens only in HDR mode. One time I saw it also in Superior auto mode where the auto scene selection was shown as Backlight HDR. So is this a sensor problem or a software issue?
I had a backup firmware of lollipop that I copied from C:\ProgramData\Sony Mobile.
I copied that to the location before repairing it using PC Companion so that the PC Companion wont download the entire firmware which is about 1.1 GB and there by saving my limited data plan. Is there a problem by copying the firmware before repair process?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you wipe clean the device when trying to downgrade to KK you must wipe user data and cache in flashtool when going from lollipop to KK and vice versa I'd try another software repair as it'll re-install the whole ftf from scratch. Pretty sure sony pcc will always download the latest available firmware from sonys server's before completing a software repair don't think there's anyway round it. It should fix the camera issue

Hi
Solved the problem. Yesterday I downgraded to KK using flashtool 0.9.18.6 . Previously I used 0.9.19.8, in which there was only an option to clear user data and not clear cache.
Flashtool 0.9.18.6 provided both the options and I also read on an XDA post that 0.9.18.6 is best suited for Xperia M2.
Now I am on kitkat 4.4.4 build 18.3.1.B.1.8. Now the camera issue is gone. No more white noise lines on camera pics. Focusing got faster and better. HDR video mode now equalizes bright and dark areas more efficiently as before. In Lollipop videos shot were wobbly with Steadyshot turned on. That was not a problem with KK then and now. Also I got back about 1 GB of Internal memory that was taken up by lollipop .
I love KitKat. But still I miss Lollipop for it's notification design. Can I get a full Lollipop interface on KK without rooting? . I have no idea about rooting modding and all.

zankdroid said:
Hi
Solved the problem. Yesterday I downgraded to KK using flashtool 0.9.18.6 . Previously I used 0.9.19.8, in which there was only an option to clear user data and not clear cache.
Flashtool 0.9.18.6 provided both the options and I also read on an XDA post that 0.9.18.6 is best suited for Xperia M2.
Now I am on kitkat 4.4.4 build 18.3.1.B.1.8. Now the camera issue is gone. No more white noise lines on camera pics. Focusing got faster and better. HDR video mode now equalizes bright and dark areas more efficiently as before. In Lollipop videos shot were wobbly with Steadyshot turned on. That was not a problem with KK then and now. Also I got back about 1 GB of Internal memory that was taken up by lollipop .
I love KitKat. But still I miss Lollipop for it's notification design. Can I get a full Lollipop interface on KK without rooting? . I have no idea about rooting modding and all.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not that I'm aware of and the one I used on KK that was almost like lollipop needed root and superuser mod anyway. Kk sucks compared to 5.1 lollipop in every way but each to their own and all that and rooting 5.1 is also easy now with linuxcts root tool almost a one click job compared to how it was

Ok. is there any way to integrate kitkat camera firmware to lollipop 5.1.1 ?. Or any better camera firmware for M2 in lollipop? . Camera and Internal storage are the main gripe I have with lollipop.
Also I encountered another problem in lollipop recently as I was changing pattern lock. I forgot the pattern lock and it never asked for Google password for recovery. I had smart lock enabled with face detection. It didn't even asked that and I had to perform an ADM erase. Why does this happen with lollipop.
I would like to know about Deodexing. What is that? Is it like rooting? . Will it compromise security?.
In this link http://forum.xda-developers.com/xperia-m2/development/stock-xperia-m2-deodex-patch-t3243891 , it is mentioned Sony shipped the stock with corrupt odex files. Is there any issues with Sony stock firmware?

zankdroid said:
Ok. is there any way to integrate kitkat camera firmware to lollipop 5.1.1 ?. Or any better camera firmware for M2 in lollipop? . Camera and Internal storage are the main gripe I have with lollipop.
Also I encountered another problem in lollipop recently as I was changing pattern lock. I forgot the pattern lock and it never asked for Google password for recovery. I had smart lock enabled with face detection. It didn't even asked that and I had to perform an ADM erase. Why does this happen with lollipop.
I would like to know about Deodexing. What is that? Is it like rooting? . Will it compromise security?.
In this link http://forum.xda-developers.com/xperia-m2/development/stock-xperia-m2-deodex-patch-t3243891 , it is mentioned Sony shipped the stock with corrupt odex files. Is there any issues with Sony stock firmware?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They use different frameworks from KK to LP so it wouldn't be possibly to port over. I thought the M2 had an update that fixed your camera problems?
Deodexing is basically a method to allow for modifications to the system and user apps. Sony accidentally/purposely prevented deodexing, so an alternative method is needed. It's harmless on its own though.

zankdroid said:
Ok. is there any way to integrate kitkat camera firmware to lollipop 5.1.1 ?. Or any better camera firmware for M2 in lollipop? . Camera and Internal storage are the main gripe I have with lollipop.
Also I encountered another problem in lollipop recently as I was changing pattern lock. I forgot the pattern lock and it never asked for Google password for recovery. I had smart lock enabled with face detection. It didn't even asked that and I had to perform an ADM erase. Why does this happen with lollipop.
I would like to know about Deodexing. What is that? Is it like rooting? . Will it compromise security?.
In this link http://forum.xda-developers.com/xperia-m2/development/stock-xperia-m2-deodex-patch-t3243891 , it is mentioned Sony shipped the stock with corrupt odex files. Is there any issues with Sony stock firmware?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Camera on 18.6.A.0.182 is fine, if rooted with a few tweaks even better(I'm using cam2 ui with a combination of KK+L settings+z5+x framework files). The corrupted services.odex file shipped with 5.1 on M2,t2u and c3 only these three devices are affected(funnily enough the three not originally planned for 5,1) basically it means deodexing the stock 5.1 firmware is impossible and xposed won't work. To get round this @Gaurav007 and Co ported z1c + z2(the better port) deodexed system+framework this brings ultra stamina bravia engine x-reality(only on locked Bootloader) assertive display(must be edited to correct M2 screen size) and gives the m2 z2 features I've been using it since just after 5.1 was released no problem at all I highly recommend it for a good base to start with if on stock and want xposed, the only bug is just a annoying toast message when turning off Bluetooth it actually works fine as I use it for my sbh20's. There's also z5 style rom by @linuxct this also uses gauravs z1c port as it's base but is heavily de-bloated(to much if you ask me)With root and a few tweeks the m2 is a good device. I'd have a read through the threads in here you'll find all the information you need any problems post in here.