[GB][LB/UB] Refreshed Gingerbread - stock .184 ROM [update: 09/03/2014] - Sony Xperia P, U, Sola, Go

WHY ANOTHER GINGERBREAD ROM?
OK, now you will ask "why posting another Gingerbread ROM when we have ICS, JB, Kitkat?"
Simply because it is a fact that our Xperia U runs good only on Gingerbread.
Yes, it runs well on higher versions, but GB is the only one on which it runs FLUENTLY.
I was furious because every single ROM higher than GB would run poorly or would have some bugs.
Closest thing to perfect ROM was CM10 LE. Thumbs up for those guys, really, they did a helluva work
I was also unhappy with default looks of stock gingerbread ROM for our little precious device,
so what I did was that I picked the best (chiefly cosmetic) features of more advanced ROM's and
integrated them into this ROM. I thoroughly tested it, so finally I can share it with you without fear
of something going south
I must warn you that while this ROM took some of the looks of its younger siblings, it IS NOT a try to mimic them.
I just took what seemed as a good fit to refresh the outdated ROM. My aim when I made this ROM was not to
have a feel like you went to the stone age when you flash it. It still retains many GB elements, but I hope
you will find pleasing and soothing
Hence, I present to you:
Refreshed Gingerbread
(changelog and addons in second post)​
FEATURES:​
Added support for Locked Bootloader [update]
Sounds: Removed maximum volume beep and changed battery warning sound to Kitkat one [update]
init.d support: Now you can add you own init.d tweaks Included are loopy smoothness for launcher, mali tweaks [update]
Addons (find them in second post): You can now install Kitkat fonts and change colour of toggles to match with current theme [update]
Completely redesigned systemUI (statusbar and notifications panel)
- potato statusbar: you can now play/pause/change tracks by swiping across statusbar (set you preferences via potato app) [update]
- ability to change transparency of statusbar (also changeable via potato app; if you set maximum transparency, you'll get kitkat-like statusbar) [update]
- toggles
- jellybean-like clock
- settings button
- you can swipe notifications
- other small changes
Advanced Home application (GXhome by @serajr)
Redesigned themes, our phone now looks unbelievably cool )
Wallpapers from Xperia Sirius integrated in themes
Roboto and SoMA fonts from stock JB ROM's
Notes widget, not like the one from ICS, but still very useful
New icons for music player and gallery
Redesigned music player. Things modded:
- new icon
- buttons
- widget
- statusbar icon
- lockscreen controls
Set of useful applications included:
- oandbackup, very useful app to backup your other apps. I use it when changing ROMs. Ant it is open source
- latest Gmail for GB
- Latest Youtube
- Ultra explorer, very useful file manager app. Another open source app
- Xperia U SD card mounter (we all know this app)
NOTE: they are all uninstallable!
Heavily debloated:
Removed all Timescape and Facebook related stuff,
removed almost all Sony's bloat, removed live wallpapers,
removed a ton of unneded stuff
Added build.prop tweaks (only the ones which actually work)
- Notification for ADB connection is disabled for aesthetic reasons , if you want it back just delete persist.adb.notify=0 from build.prop and you'll have it back
New Kitkat toast notification (it's pretty sleek)
Advanced kernel with working CWM and Wifi tether
SuperSU v 1.93 instead of Superuser
less than 200MB in size!
...and many other small tweaks and mods
SCREENSHOTS:​
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
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"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
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"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
DOWNLOAD:​
For Unlocked Bootloader:
refreshedGB_v1.1
For Locked Bootloader:
refreshedGB_v1.1_for_LB
​INSTRUCTIONS:​
For Unlocked Bootloader:
- copy ROM to your phone
- wipe data, cache, dalvik cache (you can also format /system if you want everything to be 100% failsafe)
NOTE: if you are coming from another stock GB based ROM, you probably don't need to wipe data)
- install
- reboot
- wait a little until ROM boots up for the first time
- enjoy!
For Locked Bootloader:
Same as for Unlocked bootloader, you just have to have any CWM installed (duh!) so you can flash this zip ​
Note about GPL2 licences:
Since this is a stock based ROM and all the sources that Sony have released are publicly available on their developers site,
I think that it is redundant for me to post any links or sources, since I don't own any. Thanks
Credits:​
- @mariozawa for great potato statusbar mod ;
- Special thanks to @serajr for letting me use his great GX home app, cheers ;
- Unknown author of notes widget, if he or she ever visits this thread, please let me know so I can include you in credits;
- @FranciscoGool, I've asked you for permission to use some of your resources included in my themes, but you didn't log in for a long time, I hope you don't mind posting it before you replied ;
- @VavanL, for his great tutorial on how to disable max volume beep;
- Chainfire, for making such a wonderful Superuser app;
- All of the XDA community, for being such a supporting bunch of people;
- And finally you, for downloading this ROM

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Changelog and Addons
Changelog:
v1.1:
- Added support for Locked Bootloader
- Sounds: Removed maximum volume beep and changed battery warning sound to Kitkat one
- init.d support: Now you can add you own init.d tweaks Included are loopy smoothness for launcher, mali tweaks
- potato statusbar: you can now play/pause/change tracks by swiping across statusbar (set you preferences via potato app)
- ability to change transparency of statusbar (also changeable via potato app; if you set maximum transparency, you'll get kitkat-like statusbar)
ADDONS:
Themes for toggles:
Now you can change colour of toggles according to the theme
Download:
Themes pack
Instructions:
1. Unpack provided pack
2. Copy the desired theme (for example, emerald) to the phone
4. Enter cwm
5. Important: mount /system
6. Install theme
7. Reboot. Done!
Kitkat fonts:
If you wish, you can have Kitkat fonts on this ROM. And if you don't like them, I've prepared uninstall pack which restores fonts to default ones
Download:
Kitkat fonts
Uninstall pack
Instructions:
1. Copy zip to phone
2. Enter CWM
3. Flash and reboot. Done!
Note, if you want to revert fonts to default one, just repeat the procedure with uninstall pack.

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Thank you (hvala )

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Thanks for the rom, i installed it, it looks nice but in every GB rom i tried the camera gives too BRIGHT photos, the focusing is faster but maybe too fast, so every 2-3 picture is out of focus.
I have 2 photos made in same conditions (almost total darkness) with ICS and GB, the brighter and the out of focus are from GB .
So.. i guess im back to my ICS..

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pirej said:
Thanks for the rom, i installed it, it looks nice but in every GB rom i tried the camera gives too BRIGHT photos, the focusing is faster but maybe too fast, so every 2-3 picture is out of focus.
I have 2 photos made in same conditions (almost total darkness) with ICS and GB, the brighter and the out of focus are from GB .
So.. i guess im back to my ICS..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree, this is the one downside of using gb rom, and unfortunately I haven't found a way to fix this. Personally, it doesn't bother me too much because I don't use camera very often, but I understand why you want to reverse to ICS. Anyhow, hanks for trying out my rom!

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pirej said:
Thanks for the rom, i installed it, it looks nice but in every GB rom i tried the camera gives too BRIGHT photos, the focusing is faster but maybe too fast, so every 2-3 picture is out of focus.
I have 2 photos made in same conditions (almost total darkness) with ICS and GB, the brighter and the out of focus are from GB .
So.. i guess im back to my ICS..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The camera on ICS is pathetic low focus speed and dark pictures...GB is alot better

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Stock GB has never been good, but if you could build CyanogenMod 7.3 for Our device this would change the story..

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pipi14 said:
Stock GB has never been good, but if you could build CyanogenMod 7.3 for Our device this would change the story..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
@DevSwift1 tried to build CM7, but without success
Enviado desde mi ST25i mediante Tapatalk

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No chance this will ever work with LB, right?
Sent from my ST25i using xda app-developers app

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0M3G4_ said:
No chance this will ever work with LB, right?
Sent from my ST25i using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you are LB just remove the boot.img from the zip and flash it LOL
Enviado desde mi ST25i mediante Tapatalk

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And would it be bug free?
Sent from my ST25i using xda app-developers app

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Garcia98 said:
@DevSwift1 tried to build CM7, but without success
Enviado desde mi ST25i mediante Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1...all devs should try to team up and work..!

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0M3G4_ said:
And would it be bug free?
Sent from my ST25i using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What exactly?

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Garcia98 said:
If you are LB just remove the boot.img from the zip and flash it LOL
Enviado desde mi ST25i mediante Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But there's no boot.img!!!

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Haskamp said:
But there's no boot.img!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So delete kernel.elf LOL
Enviado desde mi ST25i mediante Tapatalk

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pipi14 said:
Stock GB has never been good, but if you could build CyanogenMod 7.3 for Our device this would change the story..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Garcia98 said:
@DevSwift1 tried to build CM7, but without success
Enviado desde mi ST25i mediante Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Garcia98 is right, I think it's unbuildable, at least for now.

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0M3G4_ said:
No chance this will ever work with LB, right?
Sent from my ST25i using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Garcia98 said:
If you are LB just remove the boot.img from the zip and flash it LOL
Enviado desde mi ST25i mediante Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I haven't tried it on LB, but there is no reason why it shouldn't work since it is a stock based ROM.
There is no boot.img because kernel.elf is included, which is the same
Just delete kernel.elf from zip and you're good to go, but I must warn you that you will lose CWM, since CWM is integrated in kernel.elf!
And if you decide to flash this ROM, please report back how it went so I can add that info in first post, thank you

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Advanced kernel with working CWM and Wifi tether
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Appears in first post, so I think assuming it has custom kernel, making it unavailable for locked bootloaders is fair, or am I missing something?
Edit: I can't test it now because I need the phone working good for today, maybe during the week..
Cheers

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0M3G4_ said:
Appears in first post, so I think assuming it has custom kernel, making it unavailable for locked bootloaders is fair, or am I missing something?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No no, this was added because all of custom kernels for stock GB had broken wifi tether, which I fixed. Now the point is that you can use this ROM even with stock kernel. I personally tried to flash stock kernel and it worked without a hitch. Are you locked to .184 ROM version?
EDIT: I'm 99% sure it will work on LB when you remove kernel.elf, but just to be sure it's better for you to wait untill you have free time

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Congrats...
Great job!!!!