Related
I thought we could create a thread dedicated to the upcoming new android version regarding the Xperia mini/mini pro and Ray.
Maybe here we could gather information about release dates, user interface thoughts and ideas, features etc.
Sounds like a good idea?
Peace
Sent from my ST15i using xda premium
I somehow think that Sony might pull a "We believe our stock 2.3 rom is the best ever. We see no reason to update" like they did with their older phones, and save it for their 2012 range.
Yeah possible, but then again they have stated that all the 2011 models will get ICS, and hopefully they have learned from the disaster with the X10.
But after spending some time searching the forums I'm starting to think that your scenario is pretty possible, sadly...
Sent from my ST15i using xda premium
Yes, I think the same My second phone is x10 mini pro and SE end support his on Android 2.1. Reason? Thats the best for this hardware. Now I have alternative rom an android 2.3.7 and it work faster like stock rom 2.1 Thanks for devalopers from xda.
hopefully
if they dont release it for 2011 xperias , hopefully the epic cool devs here will, as a custom rom
i'm an x8 user and they had me stuck on 2.1 and if they ever do this again to me ( i plan to get the xperia mini pro ), idk then next time i'm buying a phone i will consider that SE is invisible and have no existence in planet earth anymore lol , regardless of what so ever "super cool" looking handsets they might have available at the time......
if you like Android 4.0 theme, you can use
ICS Launcher
https://market.android.com/details?id=mobi.SyndicateApps.ICSv2
it's free app
I guess they put out a statement on it, pretty vague. But Engadget interprets as SE confirming ICS
http://www.engadget.com/2011/10/20/sony-ericsson-bringing-ice-cream-sandwich-to-xperia-handsets/
barrist said:
I guess they put out a statement on it, pretty vague. But Engadget interprets as SE confirming ICS
http://www.engadget.com/2011/10/20/sony-ericsson-bringing-ice-cream-sandwich-to-xperia-handsets/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm quite confident that it will come, eventually. Don't hold your breath on when exactly that will be, though I'm sure CM will beat them to it.
SE firmwares are somewhat backward compared to firmwares provided by samsung or htc in their devices. (eg. No smart dialing in my mini pro). And the timescape UI lacks many features (I don't need five home screens, but can't change it). I hope they will improve such minor details in forthcoming updates.
Hey all, I have been googleing and reading a lot in this forum and others. I want to get a new android phone. Am a noob in android but a geek so definitely gonna play with it.
I have tried google and reading all, but can't find specific answers. so,
I have three options (ignoring price, all have 1ghz cpu)
1) Motorola Defy+
2) Sony Ericsson Xperia Neo V
3) Sony Ericsson Live with Walkman - WT19i
I got really confused with all the specs so wanted to know how the expert choose the phone.
for example,
1) Both Sony ericsson phone have dual cam (i can ignore that because 3g isn't really great in India)
2) then comes memory, Sony Ericsson phone have 320 MB internal in both phones, and defy+ have 2gb (doesn't matter in gingerbread).
3) Defy+ have 1 Gb ROM, does ROM plays a important role?
4) I was reading the defy forums, it says it got the eFuse, so once I update, I won't be able to get back to previous ROM, so hard process for customs ROMS,
5) Defy+'s bootloader is locked and can't be unlocked, wheres Neo V's can be unlocked, why is bootloader is so important.
6) Both Sony Ericsson gonna have ICS, can anyone tell me the ETA for Defy's stable ICS release
7) I also have seen in some picture, the ICS with kernel version 3, can we change the kernel version?
8) seems I won't be able to play(root, install custom ROMs) with defy+ but can with sony, is it really true?
If am missing any issues please mark
Thanks in advance, hope to get answer
supersurfer88 said:
5) Defy+'s bootloader is locked and can't be unlocked, wheres Neo V's can be unlocked, why is bootloader is so important.
6) Both Sony Ericsson gonna have ICS, can anyone tell me the ETA for Defy's stable ICS release
7) I also have seen in some picture, the ICS with kernel version 3, can we change the kernel version?
8) seems I won't be able to play(root, install custom ROMs) with defy+ but can with sony, is it really true?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
5. With a locked bootloader, you won't be able to flash anything unofficial.
6. See here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1378691.
7. Only if you have the source for the kernel you want to change it to.
8. If no progress is made on unlocking the bootloader (probably it will be done eventually), then yes.
All those phones suck. No offence but save a bit of money and get a decent phone or don't get one. You'll just be looking at everyone else's phone and wishing you did in the end. The SGS3 is only around the corner. Get an SGS2 whilst they're a little down on price.
I usually choose based on:
1) Locked bootloader. If it has one, don't buy. The Motorola has one. Maybe it will be unlocked eventually but maybe and eventually are bad words to bet the farm on.
2) Amount of activity on the phone's XDA subforum (more is better). If it has none, you want to mod it, and it wasn't released five minutes ago, don't buy.
3) Existence of a Cyanogenmod port (better if it has one). I'm a CM fan, and will run it if I can.
4) Specs and price.
Nexus S is better than all those and probably cheaper where you are. great phone with ICS.
thanks all,
but tell me how the Read Only Memory plays inportant role?
ROM size doesn't if you have an SD card slot anyway. Most phones have more ROM space than you'll ever need; worst-case-scenario, you need to re-partition like the Galaxy S for ICS.
RAM, however, can make a huge difference, especially on Android with its process caching.
should I go for defy+,
can I downgrade to sbf GB, after installing the CM9/ICS?
I personally wouldn't go for any of those phones. Motorola phones... well let's just say I'm not a fan. Locked bootloaders should be a no-go for anyone wanting to mod, unless you don't mind jumping through hoops.
I'm not really familiar with Sony phones, but I don't think that they're exactly top of the line.
If money is an issue, I'd save up and get an HTC phone or a Nexus. Easier to mod, and generally better phones than what I've seen you mention, even older models. That's just my opinion, so take it or leave it, but I think you'd find yourself much happier with a phone that can be easily modded.
For the record, ROM has to do with app and data storage space. If the phone has an SD card slot then you can expand the memory up to 32 gigs, otherwise you're stuck with whatever size the phone comes with for USB storage. You can then run apps from external storage if you find yourself running low on space, but apps also run better on internal. Ram, as mentioned, also plays a vital role - in many ways more so than ROM. You'll want to future-proof your phone as much as possible when purchasing, so take these into account.
If you really want the Motorola then go for it, but I'd check out other options that you haven't listed and see what development is like for those. The more development, the better.
Supersonic Evo 4G | MIUI | Tapatalk
Hi there! I've done a successful rooting, flashing (nAa) and install of miniCMS 9.0 (3.0.3) on my mini pro (u20i), though I find that the apps are really slow, and Trebuchet (default launcher) keeps crashing. I chalk it up to having so little RAM on this tiny mobile, so I'm saving up for the slightly bigger x10.
I've heard that Sony is allowing updates to Android 4.0 right now, and I'd like to try to go back to the standard Sony version of Android to check out the performance. I've downloaded and successfully flashed ( U20_2.1.1.C.0.0_Kernel.ftf ) and then subsequently gone back to NAa.. that didn't effect my install of miniCM9 at all.
I have tried the Sony Update Service download and run it through alright- both with the standard kernel and with nAa flashed, it tells me my software is up to date and leaves my phone alone.
I do need to install something lighter though, if possible. Odd things keep happening, like unrequested apps loading (Like phone, for example, in the bathroom, and bluetooth enabling itself after every time it was switched off last night for about ten minutes).
Any suggestions? Much appreciated, -illys
illysmanx said:
I've heard that Sony is allowing updates to Android 4.0 right now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wait! What? :S ICS on x10 mp? Are you sure someone wasn't pulling your leg?
illysmanx said:
Hi there! I've done a successful rooting, flashing (nAa) and install of miniCMS 9.0 (3.0.3) on my mini pro (u20i), though I find that the apps are really slow, and Trebuchet (default launcher) keeps crashing. I chalk it up to having so little RAM on this tiny mobile, so I'm saving up for the slightly bigger x10.
I've heard that Sony is allowing updates to Android 4.0 right now, and I'd like to try to go back to the standard Sony version of Android to check out the performance. I've downloaded and successfully flashed ( U20_2.1.1.C.0.0_Kernel.ftf ) and then subsequently gone back to NAa.. that didn't effect my install of miniCM9 at all.
I have tried the Sony Update Service download and run it through alright- both with the standard kernel and with nAa flashed, it tells me my software is up to date and leaves my phone alone.
I do need to install something lighter though, if possible. Odd things keep happening, like unrequested apps loading (Like phone, for example, in the bathroom, and bluetooth enabling itself after every time it was switched off last night for about ten minutes).
Any suggestions? Much appreciated, -illys
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Any Sony updates to ICS are ONLY for 2011 devices and newer, NOT for the x10 series of phones from 2010, like we have.
You can save up for the Xperia X10, but it will give you basically the same hardware platform as your X10MiniPro has now, so you won't see much improvement in this ROMS performance, and it will still not give you Sony's Android 4.0, because that is a 2010 device too.
SmG67 said:
Any Sony updates to ICS are ONLY for 2011 devices and newer, NOT for the x10 series of phones from 2010, like we have.
You can save up for the Xperia X10, but it will give you basically the same hardware platform as your X10MiniPro has now, so you won't see much improvement in this ROMS performance, and it will still not give you Sony's Android 4.0, because that is a 2010 device too.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the clarification! Do you think though that miniCM9 will run better on the xperia pro? I've been very impressed with minicms on the x10 mini pro, but running apps on top of it has been like goopy molasses. I'll give up the idea of running Sony 4.0 software on these little systems- honest, Cyanogenmod is lovely.
Trying to install miniCM7..
Thanks
illysmanx said:
Thanks for the clarification! Do you think though that miniCM9 will run better on the xperia pro? I've been very impressed with minicms on the x10 mini pro, but running apps on top of it has been like goopy molasses. I'll give up the idea of running Sony 4.0 software on these little systems- honest, Cyanogenmod is lovely.
Trying to install miniCM7..
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If the Xperia Pro (2011) handled ICS badly, Sony wouldn't have put out an upgrade for it, I bet CM9 and CM10 (JellyBean) will both run lovely on the Xperia Pro.
Trebuchet is really bad on our phones tbh. I replaced it with Nova launcher and That's great.
And JB runs faster than ICS on the robyn at least apparently so hopefully it will be great on here once we get it!
X10man
Sent from my Fender Stratocaster to your face via XDA Premium
Hi all!
First of all I wish to thanks in advance for any of you who may stop by, and provide some tips, experience
regarding the next matter, advice request:
My context is that I am completely noob regarding choosing android phone.
I want to get my first one, but a low budget, and I thought about Sony Xperia Tipo, cause it uses Android ICS,
and its hardware specs are some better than comparing to others of similar budget as LG Optimus L3, Samsung Galaxy Mini
( phonearena.com/phones/compare/LG-Optimus-L3,Samsung-GALAXY-mini,Sony-Xperia-tipo/phones/6941,5147,7151 )
I already discarded going for Vodafone Smart II, cause after reading its thread in XDA (around 30 pages), despite it was posible
to be rooted at first, in 1 month the new versions have been capped by cel companies (the recovery, the fastboot etc), at least for Spain, Portugal versions, therefore the customization is getting quite impossible, or very random depending the version, the cel company, ...
I think the main problem it is that this Xperia Tipo has been released quite very recently,
and after been searching through forum about info for rooting the Xperia Tipo, I can't find any info about it :S.
So my 2 questions are:
- it is expected that Xperia Tipo will be rooted in a near future ( and therefore customizable with
ROMs ...) ?
- Taking in count any answer to this question, would you suggest to go for it,
or by other hand go for Samsung Galaxy Mini (despite it has worse HW, Android GingerBread,
BUT it has quite plenty support for rooting and flashing with custom ROMs) ?
Again thanks in advance for any advice, and excuse the long post! )
Cheers!
ive used this phone after recomending it for someone else. Its a great cheap ICS phone dont expect it to be really fast or to play excellant games but it is really good for the price under £100!!!. would i recomend it to someone else after using it YES!!!! just remember to clear the apps your not using from the RAM by pressing the Home key and holding it and swiping it to close it so it doesnt get laggy.
as for root im not a dev but im safley sure it will be rooted in the future as its got a SD card slot so its easier to install CWM recovery etc.
BUT it is new out and dont expect it to happen any time soon i have the Xperia U and thats been out ages now and i still dont have root it just takes time for the devs to get the phones and then to start work on them.
hope it helped
djpigz said:
ive used this phone after recomending it for someone else. Its a great cheap ICS phone dont expect it to be really fast or to play excellant games but it is really good for the price under £100!!!. would i recomend it to someone else after using it YES!!!! just remember to clear the apps your not using from the RAM by pressing the Home key and holding it and swiping it to close it so it doesnt get laggy.
as for root im not a dev but im safley sure it will be rooted in the future as its got a SD card slot so its easier to install CWM recovery etc.
BUT it is new out and dont expect it to happen any time soon i have the Xperia U and thats been out ages now and i still dont have root it just takes time for the devs to get the phones and then to start work on them.
hope it helped
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the tip!
Being cheap phone is ok, in fact that is what I seek for, a low budget phone as a start point, looking for customization.
Well, I could get that Xperia Tipo for £48, while the Samsung Galaxy Mini would cost £32. HW (CPU, inbuilt mem, display res) difference and phone release date diff, explain the price difference, hehe.
I was tempted to get Vodafone Smart II (for £48, I think), but atfer reading this whole thread forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1722811 , I found that it is a lottery, if I could get it rooted or not :S
My main doubt is if going for Samsung Galaxy Mini cause its great support in matters of rooting and customization, or expect that Xperia Tipo will get some nice support here in XDA, in the future ...
A third choice could be LG Optimus L3 which has worse display res, same price as Xperia Tipo, and it has some support here at forum for rooting and ROMs.
Regarding your Xperia U, I think there is quite nice support in this site, forum.xda-developers.com/forumdisplay.php?f=1728 , so you mention you still having probs to root it ?
I have just returned my Tipo today due to very poor reception. If you just want a phone to make calls and send texts then it should be more than adequate but if you are going to use it for browsing or games I would find something with a stronger processor as it can be very laggy after using it a while - even in menus. However the touchscreen is responsive and the display should be OK for making calls and texting but I found it very washed out when viewing pics etc. On my particular handset I could hear electrical interference through the headphones but this could be related to my reception fault I guess. If you can I advise you try it out before making a decision - if ur in the UK o2 shops usually have all there the phones on display switched on. If music is important to you the sound quality is very budget. Also the camera has no flash or autofocus. Tbh if it wasn't for the Sony xperia branding on the front I would have though this was a cheap chinese no-name handset as Sony really have cut costs on this one.
I can't comment on the Samsung but I have read bad things about the lg. Have you considered the Motosmart from Motorola. It has a similar spec to the tipo but at least the camera has a flash and its root able (running gingerbread)
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app
I bought this phone a week ago. It's very nice for the price!. It isn't laggy, It has plenty of ram. Obviously it isn't so fast as would be needed for a device to play games,and doesn't have a big screen (or an hires one) if you have to surf the web a lot, but handles with no problems at all divx streaming from my pc, using mx-player. It's clearly better than vodafone smart_II and my device hasn't reception problems at all. The battery (this is a good point in my opinion) it's 1500mah just better than the usual 1200mah used in low-end devices
The camera can make decent photos but hasn't flash or aufocus at all & no front camera just like all the cheap phones.
BTW i think it's one of the best ICS devices avaiable here in Italy for about 150€.
I tried samsung galaxy mini too and this experia is a lot better in my opninion.
I have been using the mobile for more than a month... It's perfect .. Go for it... It is the best in the range... I do use it a lot and it has held up against everything... Custom ROM will be available veeeeeeeeeeeery soon... It is already rooted...
Sent from my ST21i using xda app-developers app
[help] firmware flash
my boot loader is unlocked and my device is stuck at boot with single vibration .
i need to install firmware but its get aborted everytime with an error
ERROR - ERR_SEVERITY="MAJOR";ERR_CODE="0019";ERR_DYNAMIC=" SIN header verification failed";
please help
The Z4 Tablet is possibly my dream tablet, it has a great screen, microSD slot, good battery life and it seems dev-friendly.
I've got no Sony experience and I see surprisingly little custom ROM development. How 'dev-friendly' is this tablet? Does Sony provide source codes, drivers? Are they easy in unlocking bootloaders and flashing stuff like radios? Does it seem likely custom post-Marshmallow ROMs will be cooked in 1,5-2 years from now on?
do some research!
e.g. here "Anybody work on root?" much off topic posts unfortunately
there are two section with the title "Development" here ...
look at the phones: Z3+ and Z5 (nearly the same sources)
and all you need with almost useful documentation in SONY's Developer world:
http://developer.sonymobile.com/
DHGE said:
e.g. here "Anybody work on root?" much off topic posts unfortunately
there are two section with the title "Development" here ...
look at the phones: Z3+ and Z5 (nearly the same sources)
and all you need with almost useful documentation in SONY's Developer world:
http://developer.sonymobile.com/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I admit my question was a bit lazy, but it'd be pretty easy for people like you with lots of experience/knowledge on this Sony platform to give me a general idea.
I ordered a Z4T, but while reading this subforom while waiting for the shipment, things start to itch me a bit.
I'll anwer my own questions the way I see it now: Sony is pretty developer-friendly by providing source code and build instructions, but it's pretty buggy and there are very few developers doing stuff for the Z4T. I guess it's because of the bad availability of the device and the relatively small user base. The people @ FXP build ROMs, but I haven't heard much about how useful these builds are. If anything, I heard people downgrading from the 5.1.1 build. Rooting is only possible by unlocking the bootloader and flashing @AndroPlus' custom kernel. His current TWRP build has a bug that makes it impossible to restore a device backup.
Sony provides the option for unlocking the bootloader, but you'll completely lose your warranty. Furthermore, the TA partition will be irreverably changed and you'll lose functionality.
Marhsmallow has been announced, so there's that.
SONY's devices are good compromise for me
@jelbo
Good summary!
My opinion:
The SONY devices are good hardware. I like them because they are water resistant since I lost a phone after cycling in heavy rain.
I have a Tablet xperia Z with CyanogenMod on it. Android 5.1
The start with that 3rd party ROM was slow and it was quite buggy. Also battery life was worse than with stock ROM.
I have a SAMSUNG Galxy S5 phone. They have Knox-protection on their devices. Quite evil compared to SONY. Because it was released with Kitkat I could root it via exploit and keep Knox untriggered. I could get CyanogenMod, even Marshmallow Alphas for the phone. But the drivers are not that good and the battery life with stock is very good (up to four days for me).
So I will keep that phone on stock and I used Titanium Backup to get rid of SAMSUNG's bloatware.
SAMSUNG do not provide documentation and many of their SOCs are proprietary - no chance to do any development for these devices.
Long post short: SONY is very open and relatively easy to hack on their devices.
Better (now) in price and features than the Nexus devices IMO. I would never buy a device without any chance to do development on it.
I think the bug in TWRP will get fixed soon (has bitten me once).
Thanks for your kind reply
DHGE said:
@jelbo
Good summary!
My opinion:
The SONY devices are good hardware. I like them because they are water resistant since I lost a phone after cycling in heavy rain.
I have a Tablet xperia Z with CyanogenMod on it. Android 5.1
The start with that 3rd party ROM was slow and it was quite buggy. Also battery life was worse than with stock ROM.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sounds familiar. In my experience with the last few phones I've had, AOSP-based ROMs were always a tad slower and less battery-friendly than stock or stock based ROMs. For example, the stock 'Google Play Edition' ROMs ran like a dream on my HTC One m7, but others were always less smooth / battery friendly.
So, for the Z4T I'm not partularly worried about the lack of 3rd party ROMs. I'll be fine with stock rooted. But for the longer term, because of the unpopularity, I think it's unlikely to see much going on in a year from now on and that kind of makes me doubt my purchase.
I have a SAMSUNG Galxy S5 phone. They have Knox-protection on their devices. Quite evil compared to SONY.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, but not more evil than Sony I think. Samsung's bootloader unlock 'trips' Knox and it'll disable features like secure storage and services that depend on it. It's also irreversible. It's an awful lot like Sony's irreversible TA partition 'tripping'.
Because it was released with Kitkat I could root it via exploit and keep Knox untriggered. I could get CyanogenMod, even Marshmallow Alphas for the phone. But the drivers are not that good and the battery life with stock is very good (up to four days for me).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I could root my Galaxy S6 using an exploit, without tripping Knox. I'm running 5.1.1 with an engineering bootloader, while still having my Knox untriggered. It's a luxury I'm not gonna have on the Z4T, unless an exploit will be found.
SAMSUNG do not provide documentation and many of their SOCs are proprietary - no chance to do any development for these devices.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, it's one of the reasons I want to avoid a Samsung as my new tablet. Exynos is a black box, so custom, stock-based ROMs will be the best you can get. BUT, I'm doubting now. Custom, stock-based ROMs are fine with me - as you mention, battery life is great. And on top of that, Samsung is so popular that lots of development is being done. I think chances are bigger to see the Marshmallow successor being ported for older Samsung devices than we'll see on this Sony Z4 Tablet in the future. But that's an assumption, I don't have Sony experience, but I see things re pretty dead here, even though the device was released quite a long time ago.
Long post short: SONY is very open and relatively easy to hack on their devices.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not really seeing that yet, but again, I've only looked at the Z4T now.
Better (now) in price and features than the Nexus devices IMO. I would never buy a device without any chance to do development on it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The microSD is an essential part for me. If the Pixel C would have had a microSD-slot I'd have chosen that. Development and future updates are a huge selling point for Nexus devices.
I think the bug in TWRP will get fixed soon (has bitten me once).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Let's hope so.
Hopefully the Z4T will get some more love soon, as I have just sent my Pixel C back and taken a punt at a open box Amazon warehouse deal last night with 40% off the LTE
I love my Z3CT, Z3C and Ultra, which have had great support from the devs, so am expecting the Z4 to be the best hardware of the lot, but would also love a root method while keeping the bootloader locked for now.
Heres to hoping perhaps MM will lead to some kernel exploits.
scoobydu said:
[...] as I have just sent my Pixel C back [...]
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What made you return your Pixel C?
I love my Z3CT, Z3C and Ultra, which have had great support from the devs [...]
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did it take a while to get to that point? Do you think the Z4T will have the same support?
jelbo said:
What made you return your Pixel C?
Did it take a while to get to that point? Do you think the Z4T will have the same support?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dont get me started on the Pixel C from Google UK pricing error on day 1 and their refusal for a week to refund or swapout 32g for 64g devices, due to their error; then I had a hardware fault with the screen not responding after 24hrs of use. I found their support just awful More issues were being reported in the xda forum and I decided I wasn't going to spend £550 to beta test for google. Nice solid device but heavier that the Z4 and sliding the keybard across the keyboard to remove it, just made me nervous of scratching something everytime I did it.
To be honest the Z4 forums are very quiet, but so were the pixel c's; as a few people were commenting.
I had to root my Z3 Tab by loading the Z3 phone firmware and rooting that, as that had a kernel vunerability and the kernel on the Z3 tab didn't.
Once the Z3 phone firmware was loaded and rooted, I could backup my TA partition and reload the Z3 tab firmware, rooted.
Its generally the phones that get root and the tabs have to utilise what they can, unless of course a dev has the tab.
The tab forums got much busier once the device had a less risky root method.
Sad to see that Nut hasn't got a recovery done, but I am assuming that due to root only being available by unlocking and losing TA, so limited testers, but haven't had time to read the history yet.
I have to say though that the Z4 is fantastic in comparison to the Pixel C and I am very glad I have reverted to the device that I know especially at £360 for the LTE version + keyboard on Amazon open box. First time using and the device is pristine. To be fair the Z4 is many iterations of getting it right and the Pixel is googles first try. Once its at Pixel C v4 it will probably be very good!
Heres to hoping MM is officially released soon, so the chances of rooting may get better.
from Nut
This is the reason why I didn't release XZDR for the Z3+/Z4/TabZ4 yet, too much difference with the Shinano and older device trees.
Edit:
That should be solved with 2.9 though...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Seems the 64 bits is a material change, so things need to progress in 2.9 from my early readings.
scoobydu said:
Dont get me started on the Pixel C from Google UK pricing error on day 1 and their refusal for a week to refund or swapout 32g for 64g devices, due to their error; then I had a hardware fault with the screen not responding after 24hrs of use. I found their support just awful More issues were being reported in the xda forum and I decided I wasn't going to spend £550 to beta test for google. Nice solid device but heavier that the Z4 and sliding the keybard across the keyboard to remove it, just made me nervous of scratching something everytime I did it.
To be honest the Z4 forums are very quiet, but so were the pixel c's; as a few people were commenting.
I had to root my Z3 Tab by loading the Z3 phone firmware and rooting that, as that had a kernel vunerability and the kernel on the Z3 tab didn't.
Once the Z3 phone firmware was loaded and rooted, I could backup my TA partition and reload the Z3 tab firmware, rooted.
Its generally the phones that get root and the tabs have to utilise what they can, unless of course a dev has the tab.
The tab forums got much busier once the device had a less risky root method.
Sad to see that Nut hasn't got a recovery done, but I am assuming that due to root only being available by unlocking and losing TA, so limited testers, but haven't had time to read the history yet.
I have to say though that the Z4 is fantastic in comparison to the Pixel C and I am very glad I have reverted to the device that I know especially at £360 for the LTE version + keyboard on Amazon open box. First time using and the device is pristine. To be fair the Z4 is many iterations of getting it right and the Pixel is googles first try. Once its at Pixel C v4 it will probably be very good!
Heres to hoping MM is officially released soon, so the chances of rooting may get better.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for your reply, good info. I'm glad to hear some reassuring comments on the Z4T. Looks like you had a great deal as well. In the Netherlands they're hard to get. I payed €635 for the WiFi model... I'm still doubting a little bit to go for a discounted Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5 for €380 though. I read it'll even get Marshmallow in April. Price difference is pretty big and there's lots of stuff for it already.
I'll have a look in some Xperia phone subforums on XDA.
jelbo said:
Thanks for your reply, good info. I'm glad to hear some reassuring comments on the Z4T. Looks like you had a great deal as well. In the Netherlands they're hard to get. I payed €635 for the WiFi model... I'm still doubting a little bit to go for a discounted Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5 for €380 though. I read it'll even get Marshmallow in April. Price difference is pretty big and there's lots of stuff for it already.
I'll have a look in some Xperia phone subforums on XDA.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes there are no deals on the Z4 Tab in the UK and all the new prices are the same retail price.
Thats why I decided to take a chance on the Amazon one, as I could return it if it was damaged or anything; and normal 12 months warranty with Amazon.
For me I haven't had a Samsung since my Tab 7.7 and wouldn't personally have another, but each to their own. The devs were always complaining at Samsung not releasing all the source code to their SoC's, wheereas Sony seemed to be more dev friendly.
The Z3 Tab is fantastic if you didn't mind the 8inch, but I am hoping once the Z3+ root is forthcoming and general 64bit root/recovery is done, then we will have some progress; he says, not being able to help the devs on whats seems a lot of work.
jelbo said:
I've got no Sony experience and I see surprisingly little custom ROM development. How 'dev-friendly' is this tablet? Does Sony provide source codes, drivers? Are they easy in unlocking bootloaders and flashing stuff like radios? Does it seem likely custom post-Marshmallow ROMs will be cooked in 1,5-2 years from now on?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's a shame that such a good device is so low supported by free developers even though it seems it's more open by the Sony in comparison with Samsung.
I noticed that some people think in the thread that not so much users have this device. I have an old phone so called HTC desire HD which was released in the faraway 2010, it is excellent supported as it even has the contemporary android 6.0. I don't believe that there are more HTC decide HD users rather than xperia tablet z4 users. Moreover, I see as my comrade-users of our device crying ? everyday on a Russian 4pda.ru site, that we wait but there's no a good root method, there is no a good description or a video showing us how does the only custom ROM work. What works and what is broken. And just not seeing good news over the course of several months. Of course, I am very disappointed in dramatic fashion, but I hope The change will come.
Thank you for attention!)
cut the drama
- you should not compare a phone to a tablet (numberwise)
- look into the fora for phones Z3+/Z4 and Z5
they have nearly identical SoCs, differences a sometimes build options
- there is a HUGE xperia cross devices forum here with tons of additional info
- the Z4 Tablet became available in June 2015
- the first sources from SONY showed up in .... June 2015
- I rooted the device in July - having done no Android programming or rooting before
- I ordered the device after researching (see below) and before there was root available because my findings showed that there would be sources and documentation from SONY so that if all else fails I would get later a custom rom or could even roll my own
- a video for "seeing" developing/hacking? Dream on...
- there is lots of documentation (even video) available, maybe no video on how to do a web search or an xda search
- searching (and reading and trying things out) worked for me - coming from SAMSUNG phones with no prior development experience on Android ... TRY IT
DHGE said:
- you should not compare a phone to a tablet (numberwise)
- look into the fora for phones Z3+/Z4 and Z5
they have nearly identical SoCs, differences a sometimes build options
- there is a HUGE xperia cross devices forum here with tons of additional info
- the Z4 Tablet became available in June 2015
- the first sources from SONY showed up in .... June 2015
- I rooted the device in July - having done no Android programming or rooting before
- I ordered the device after researching (see below) and before there was root available because my findings showed that there would be sources and documentation from SONY so that if all else fails I would get later a custom rom or could even roll my own
- a video for "seeing" developing/hacking? Dream on...
- there is lots of documentation (even video) available, maybe no video on how to do a web search or an xda search
- searching (and reading and trying things out) worked for me - coming from SAMSUNG phones with no prior development experience on Android ... TRY IT
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good summary.
Small point, but the rooting element is by unlocking the bootloader, which not all will want to do. It is though an option that exists and we are thankful for those that have done so in order to progress the dev support.