Friday, December 11, 2015
Install Cyanogenmod 12.1 custom rom on Sony Xperia U kumquat ST25I
Install latest version of android lollipop on Sony xperia U kumquat with the help of cyanogenmod 12.1 custom rom.It was released back in 2012 and was one of cutest looking phones.It is powered by a a dual core nova thor chipset with 512mb of ram.Since it has half a gig of ram you might be thinking that it is underpowered to run lollipop but you should not forget that lollipop is optimized by google itself to run on low ram devices.
This cyanogenmod rom with lollipop base is compiled by a xda senior member "AGONTUK", a big thanks to him for bring this rom for xperia U.This is not an official cm 12.1 but will have all features that cm has to offer which is a good news for us.
Device specific code name for Sony Xperia U is "Kumquat" and has a model number of "ST25i".
Cyanogenmod 12.1 rom for Sony Xperia U kumquat:
About cyanogenmod for Xperia U:
As this is compiled using ice cream sandwich kernel sources it is very hard to bring a fully working rom.Most of features that are essential for daily usage aer working just fine but there seems to have a problem with video recording,wifi direct and some other small issues which you can ignore for sake of lollipop.
Cyanogenmod is one of the best custom roms available in android development ecosystem.They support lot of devices.This is based on android open source project with lot of added features.IT uses android 5.1.1 lollipop as base for now and will be updated to later versions of android when available.
This cyanogenmod rom with lollipop base is compiled by a xda senior member "AGONTUK", a big thanks to him for bring this rom for xperia U.This is not an official cm 12.1 but will have all features that cm has to offer which is a good news for us.
Device specific code name for Sony Xperia U is "Kumquat" and has a model number of "ST25i".
Cyanogenmod 12.1 rom for Sony Xperia U kumquat:
About cyanogenmod for Xperia U:
As this is compiled using ice cream sandwich kernel sources it is very hard to bring a fully working rom.Most of features that are essential for daily usage aer working just fine but there seems to have a problem with video recording,wifi direct and some other small issues which you can ignore for sake of lollipop.
General features of Cm 12.1:
- Software Updates: Cyanogenmod is usually available in three types one s nightlies which gets updated with new features every night and are quite stable for daily usage.second one is the snapchat which is monthly build version which will be stable version and other one is the release candidate.Some times nightlies are considered must stable than the snapshots. As of now we have android lollipop 5.1.1 in form on CM 12.1.
- Trebuchet: This is the default launcher that ships with cyanogenmod. But if you flash gapps then you might loose this.It doesn't have too many features like nova or other launchers but its simple and fast.
- Performance control:A default CPU manager app to control frequencies and governors . You can adjust cpu frequencies and also set them on boot too.
- Status bar Tweaks:Status bar has lot of tweaks which include a brightness slider.Slide in status bar to adjust brightness of the screen.Double tap on status bar to sleep device and also network speed indicator for on going traffic info.
- Theme engine: Theme engine is from the cyanogenmod custom rom which basically changes the look user interface from lock screen to ring tones all the way up to boot animations.The speciality of the theme engine is the ability to choose individual elements of every theme you have installed.So you like the ring tons and wallpapers of one theme and icons of other theme then you can have them at a time.Just open the theme chooser and you will understand how to do it..
- If you are missing root functionality or all your root apps are not working properly then to developer settings and check if root permissions are set properly.
These are key features of cyanogenmod and you can explore other features by flashing this rom on your Sony Xperia U kumquat.
Prerequisites:
- Battery: Charge your xperia U to at least 90% so that you wont encounter any battery related issues while flashing this.
- You must have updated your xperai U to latest firmware available.
- Custom recovery: You need a custom recovery like philz or cwm installed on your xpria P.Without it you can not flash at all.
- Backup:Backup all your data which includes apps,contacts,photos videos etc everything to computer or any cloud storage as flashing Cyanogenmod on Sony xperia U will erase all your data.
- Backup Efs partitions: Backup all your efs partition of your sony xperia U on current Rom.If you loose signal you can just restore it back.
- You must have a Unlocked bootloader for sure.
- Downloads:Cm 12.1 rom by aguntuk for xperia u and google apps. Transfer them to internal storage of your device.
Flash Cyanogenmod on Xperia U using recovery:
- Download Cm 12.1 for Xperia U and Gapps transfer it to sdcard or internal storage of Xperia u.
- Power of device completely and wait for few seconds to confirm that it is off completely.
- Press power button and when device boots up leave power button.
- While you Xperia U is powering up you you will notice led light blinks.When this happens you have to press either volume up or down continuously until it boots into recovery mode.
- Sony xperia u boots into cwm recovery.
- Once you are in cwm click on backup and select all partitions which you want to backup. It might take about 5 minutes for backup to complete. Don't interrupt backup process.
- Once backup of your existing rom is completed click on back button.Wipe data,cache and dalvik cache and wipe system partition too.
- Now select Install and navigate to location where you have placed your Rom and gapps zip files.
- Flashing rom might take about 5 minutes or so.Once flashing is complete do a factory reset again.
- Now reboot to system.Wait at least 15 minutes for initial boot to complete and once done you can explore Rom features.
Once you are recovery wipe all partitions except efs and internal storage and flash rom again.This time it should boot for sure.If you have any other queries regarding cm 12.1 rom for Sony Xperia U don't forget to leave a comment below.
