Silent camera shutter - Xperia Arc Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

A friend has an Arc and it's a nice little phone. She has one problem with it though, you can't silence the camera shutter which she finds embarrassing in some situations.
I haven't got the full details of the ROM she's on yet, but the phone has never been rooted, so it's going to be some sort of official one I guess, either UK or international, Gingerbread.
EDIT: She's just come back to me, it's Build no 4.0.2.A.0.62
I've had a quick look and search on this forum, but I couldn't find a definitive answer to my question.
Is there an official GB ROM that includes a silent setting for the camera shutter? If so, where might I procure said ROM?
I did automatically think "I wanna stick ICS on it" but a quick search turned up this thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1600727&highlight=4+0+2+a+0+62
I don't feel like reading 35 pages of issues, and I know for sure I don't want to give her back a phone that performs worse than when she gave it to me. Can anyone give me the lowdown on whether I want to stick an (official) ICS ROM on it or not? I don't want her to have any issues later on when it comes to warranty and such, so custom ROMs.
Also finally, can you direct me to the easiest instructions for the Sony-sanctioned ROM update procedure?
Thanking you kindly!

Also, what's the situation with rooting this phone? I've been on HTCs all my Android life with the exception of my latest Samsung. I know that each official software update with the HTCs I had always managed to block the previous method of root - meaning it was a cat & mouse game for the devs.
What I'm getting at is that I don't want to cut off her options later on, by installing an official ROM that blocks all known root methods.
Does anyone care to expand on this for me, please?

As i know its possible. Try to hit the menubutton while the camera is open then choose shutter sound then choose off
Typed down from the sky with sexy LT15i

TheHaso said:
As i know its possible. Try to hit the menubutton while the camera is open then choose shutter sound then choose off
Typed down from the sky with sexy LT15i
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
She has assured me that, in contradiction to what I have read on this forum, there is no shutter off sound. There are three options, none of which is silent.

For her rom, she'll use Global.
About the shutter problem, you can disable it IF ON ROOT.
To disable it while on root with Root Explorer go to:
System>Media>Audio>Common Here you can delete the Focus sound.
System>Media>Audio>Camera1 (or something like that, I'm on CM now) Here you can delete the Shutter sound.

RamEsRock said:
For her rom, she'll use Global.
About the shutter problem, you can disable it IF ON ROOT.
To disable it while on root with Root Explorer go to:
System>Media>Audio>Common Here you can delete the Focus sound.
System>Media>Audio>Camera1 (or something like that, I'm on CM now) Here you can delete the Shutter sound.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Excellent, that sounds pretty simple. I'll go and look up how to root it then. Thanks.

Related

[Q] Completely Silent Camera on Stock ICS

agat was able to shut off the shutter but not the focus. calk was able to shut the whole thing up but only in deodexed ROM.
are there any devs able to completely shut the camera off on Stock ICS odex? i love sfhubs Stock ICS ROMs but need the camera to be completely silent for those times in the in the library and have to take pictures of notes.
intuitively i would just delete the sounds by going into the system/apps but apparently deleting the sounds renders the camera to FC.
guirae said:
agat was able to shut off the shutter but not the focus. calk was able to shut the whole thing up but only in deodexed ROM.
are there any devs able to completely shut the camera off on Stock ICS odex? i love sfhubs Stock ICS ROMs but need the camera to be completely silent for those times in the in the library and have to take pictures of notes.
intuitively i would just delete the sounds by going into the system/apps but apparently deleting the sounds renders the camera to FC.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same here, renamed all the camera audio files to .bak..
However can't seem to get rid of the focus beep (or even find the sound) for that matter.
Hope someone can figure this out.
AOKP milestone 6 has a camera sound shutoff option in its ROM control. Its bare bones ICS with huge potential for mods.
Sent from my SPH-D710 AOKP
changlo said:
Same here, renamed all the camera audio files to .bak..
However can't seem to get rid of the focus beep (or even find the sound) for that matter.
Hope someone can figure this out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A modified APK is required to eliminate the focus sound. I haven't come across one yet but if anyone does, please let me know. Would love to get rid of the sound also as I like to take photos of the chalkboard during lectures and the focus sound is very distracting.
Wayno-san said:
A modified APK is required to eliminate the focus sound. I haven't come across one yet but if anyone does, please let me know. Would love to get rid of the sound also as I like to take photos of the chalkboard during lectures and the focus sound is very distracting.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here is how to do it:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=27463276&postcount=11
Search is your friend.
If anyone here helped you in anyway a thanks would be appreciated.
guirae said:
agat was able to shut off the shutter but not the focus. calk was able to shut the whole thing up but only in deodexed ROM.
are there any devs able to completely shut the camera off on Stock ICS odex? i love sfhubs Stock ICS ROMs but need the camera to be completely silent for those times in the in the library and have to take pictures of notes.
intuitively i would just delete the sounds by going into the system/apps but apparently deleting the sounds renders the camera to FC.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You must replace a few .ogg files in /system/media/audio/ui/ and replace the Camera.apk/.odex in /system/app/. Need root privileges beforehand, flash sfhub's rooted FF18 ROM with ODIN (here). You can find a silent stock FF18 application here, the audio files are below the download link to the application.
newbie
question you said replace the Camera.apk/.odex the download is juat the apk wher might i find the .odes file...thanks just starting to learn and i also u in the libary and in class hehe at test time
budfrog said:
question you said replace the Camera.apk/.odex the download is juat the apk wher might i find the .odes file...thanks just starting to learn and i also u in the libary and in class hehe at test time
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you are on an Odexed version you will have to delete the camer.apk AND the camera.odex files. Then replace with the other camera.apk. Also make sure you reboot and clear the cache too.

[Q] NEED HELP, stock nexus apps menu not coming up in landscape mode

i was using it quite normally, just got it 2 weeks back and suddenly now i noticed the apps menu coming only in landscape mode, when i open a browser or an app, it can change its orientation but not the menu , also the clock in lockscreen is only in portrait mode suddenly. wat should i do , do i have to do facotry reset etc or wat may be causing it,
i checked and my auto rotate option in settings in checked plz help guys,,
You didn't provide any information to help you with.
063_XOBX said:
You didn't provide any information to help you with.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ok , its 4.2 stock android. it cant auto rotate my apps menu anymore as well as the clock in the lockscreen , however if i open an app or browser , i am able to rotate it , i wasnot doing anything fishy , just downloaded some apps from google play , normal apps, and never rooted or tried anything on it. it was working fine from last week when i got it.. please tell me about any other thing you may need to know
also tried checking/unchecking the autorotate option , rebooted several times.
I'm bone stock, and neither my app drawer, nor lock screen have ever had rotation, to my knowledge
Cmoore0965 said:
I've never known the app drawer (which I assume you're talking about) to have a landscape mode. In fairness, I never really cared or looked for it, so that could be my own oversight. The clock app, does, however rotate, so I guess you've got an issue. If you flashed, reflash with a clean install. If you're ota, then you're options branch out depending on if you're rooted, and/or your access to custom recovery. Anyone here is going to need more information, though, to help you. Might start with your current firmware, and method of installing it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ok actually its pure stock , nothing tweaked , iwas planning to but now after this problem ,i dont know
Lol I'm not used to such quick responders on threads, I apologize for my edits and timing. You're first response posted while I was typing. Like I amended my post to say, I've never known this phone to have that function on stock, and mine definitely don't since I've checked just now. We're they rotating before you updated to 4.2?
Cmoore0965 said:
Lol I'm not used to such quick responders on threads, I apologize for my edits and timing. You're first response posted while I was typing. Like I amended my post to say, I've never known this phone to have that function on stock, and mine definitely don't since I've checked just now. We're they rotating before you updated to 4.2?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
oh ok, i just figured it out , it was basically almost new for me, not much data on it , so i did a factory reset and now the lock screen clock working fine, i guess u rite about app drawer. could wait lol
could you please tell me th best method to root and unlock, as their are so many methods, and then wha are the next possibilities.
Best method to root is a mildly interesting debate around here lol depends on your comfort level with simple adb commands, and a little footwork to find the drivers to do it manually, or your comfort in little understanding of one stop shop toolkits. The toolkits are pretty reliable, and the only discouragement I've heard against them is the fact that you don't have to learn what going on to achieve your goal. The manual method isn't difficult either, you'll have to set up the proper drivers,and sdk on your computer, and use an extremely simple series of commands utilizing fast boot. Either path to root can be found in the stickies around here, and I've only given a very fast a loose overview of the processes lol but keep an open mind, follow the instructions to the letter, and they're both easily attainable
As for further possibilities passed unlock and root, there's always the hunt for your favorite rom, there's extremely useful scripts you can run to modify particular necessities for your experience or shortcomings you may find, there's even guides on compiling your own stuff if you're particularly taken by this wide world of amazing android user control lol you can do whatever you want, buddy. If you've got the time, the selfless dev, mod, and member community here has almost certainly posted how to get it done
Cmoore0965 said:
Best method to root is a mildly interesting debate around here lol depends on your comfort level with simple adb commands, and a little footwork to find the drivers to do it manually, or your comfort in little understanding of one stop shop toolkits. The toolkits are pretty reliable, and the only discouragement I've heard against them is the fact that you don't have to learn what going on to achieve your goal. The manual method isn't difficult either, you'll have to set up the proper drivers,and sdk on your computer, and use an extremely simple series of commands utilizing fast boot. Either path to root can be found in the stickies around here, and I've only given a very fast a loose overview of the processes lol but keep an open mind, follow the instructions to the letter, and they're both easily attainable
As for further possibilities passed unlock and root, there's always the hunt for your favorite rom, there's extremely useful scripts you can run to modify particular necessities for your experience or shortcomings you may find, there's even guides on compiling your own stuff if you're particularly taken by this wide world of amazing android user control lol you can do whatever you want, buddy. If you've got the time, the selfless dev, mod, and member community here has almost certainly posted how to get it done
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanx dude, that was encouraging as well as enlightening, and yup i am going to start working on this already dont like some things like i cant customize the lockscreen ,, you were the ist one to ans my post . thanx for a great start..:good:

[Q] Ringtone quiet then LOUD annoyance...

I am sure i know the answer to this, but is there any way of fixing this without flashing a custom rom? Even if i have to root and keep stock, i am ok with that. I just wanna fix this STUPID stupid feature that samsung was obviously drunk and thought it would be a good idea to put in...
I hate that i have to edit my ringtones just to make them sound right for this stupid "feature"...
Like i said, even if I have to root, I am ok with that. I just want to keep my stock rom, UNLESS someone has found a way to make all the features of stock work in a custom rom with some perks (like spen opens snote or evernote, or wificalling is there, etc...good USEFUL features)
Some people modded the secphone.apk and got rid of it for s3...and i think it was for verizon or at&t. Try searching for it and you can try doing it yourself.
http://www.mediafire.com/?56fn99xzjegx547 . flash via CWM
Download "Disable Increasing Ring" app from Google Playstore. Works great, no root needed.
tbvnz said:
Download "Disable Increasing Ring" app from Google Playstore. Works great, no root needed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
omg it works....now if only it didnt have a notification....or was an option in the phone from the getgo! Seriously! Im just glad they fixed the stupid "unable to open camera while in call" stupidity...what the hell was that all about.

BUG: JB 4.1.2 update - Pressing Home Button to wake brings up task manager sometimes?

I dont see a lot of posts about this. But, there is a very annoying bug after the update; where if I press the Home Button to wake the screen, it will sometimes launch the task manager about a second later. I've seen sporadic posts about this for Tmobile as well as Sprint for JB 4.1.2 update; but nobody seems to have a solution.
I guess it's possible that some people dont think it's annoying enough to post; or, it's a possiblility it only affects people who have the factory rooted update installed.
I'm hoping someone smarter than me has already figured out a way to circumvent this very annoying behavior. What makes it really bad is that it only sometimes happens.
PS: The only carrier that doesn't seem to have this issue after the 4.1.2 update is ATT. My guess is they caught this bug before pushing it to all their customers.
mkanet said:
I dont see a lot of posts about this. But, there is a very annoying bug after the update; where if I press the Home Button to wake the screen, it will sometimes launch the task manager about a second later. I've seen sporadic posts about this for Tmobile as well as Sprint for JB 4.1.2 update; but nobody seems to have a solution.
I guess it's possible that some people dont think it's annoying enough to post; or, it's a possiblility it only affects people who have the factory rooted update installed.
I'm hoping someone smarter than me has already figured out a way to circumvent this very annoying behavior. What makes it really bad is that it only sometimes happens.
PS: The only carrier that doesn't seem to have this issue after the 4.1.2 update is ATT. My guess is they caught this bug before pushing it to all their customers.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm going to bet that is you disable your lockscreen you'll see this behavior just about every time. I'm fairly certain I tracked down at least one way to circumvent this behavior - check out this post for some info on it. The take home - my approach requires a wee bit of smali hacking, and everything that utilizing such a solution entails...
Dwitherell, thank you so much for responding. I was even considering on reverting back to 4.1.1 because of this. I don't use any kind password or pattern lock.
Forgive my ignorance, but the post you pointed me to locks like its on a Jedi ROM. I don't even see any specific references to this issue. What is this fix for specifically? If it is for sure going to restore normal behavior, i guess i could try to do this hack.
If this issue is as wide spread as i think it is, is there any chance you could make a tiny root app that fixes the problem or some way of automating a fix for not so technical people? How wide spread is this issue? Thanks a million for your help.
dwitherell said:
I'm going to bet that is you disable your lockscreen you'll see this behavior just about every time. I'm fairly certain I tracked down at least one way to circumvent this behavior - check out this post for some info on it. The take home - my approach requires a wee bit of smali hacking, and everything that utilizing such a solution entails...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My annoying fix...
I have been plagued by this since the update as well. I have tried factory resets and uninstall programs one by one. Nothing worked. Today I decided to try removing my lock screen pin, just used the swipe to unlock. That did not work. Then it came to me...
I set back up my pin to unlock, and switched the setting "Lock automatically" to Immediately instead of having a delay that I love. That "worked" as in it no longer goes to recent apps. But now I have to chose to have a pin to unlock it every time my screen turns off or remove security or deal with the recent apps issue. Any way you choose it's an extra annoying step to unlock.
I'd like to hear if anyone else has found any other solution.
Edit.... I have tried every lock option and as long as set to lock immediately, it will eliminate the problem. And the same with setting any delay, with any lock option it will result in the recent apps.
I forgot to mention that lock screen prevents this bug from happenening. I'm guessing that's why not everyone has complained about the issue.. and why the bug somehow sneaked passed beta testing of 4.1.2. I would think this changed behavior was a new "feature" as horrible as it is, but it looks like it dad unintentional since its not consistent behavior.
I'm hoping that a kind android developer who also can't stand this problem, Kay offer a small script or app for rooted user to patch this problem.
mrtolles said:
I have been plagued by this since the update as well. I have tried factory resets and uninstall programs one by one. Nothing worked. Today I decided to try removing my lock screen pin, just used the swipe to unlock. That did not work. Then it came to me...
I set back up my pin to unlock, and switched the setting "Lock automatically" to Immediately instead of having a delay that I love. That "worked" as in it no longer goes to recent apps. But now I have to chose to have a pin to unlock it every time my screen turns off or remove security or deal with the recent apps issue. Any way you choose it's an extra annoying step to unlock.
I'd like to hear if anyone else has found any other solution.
Edit.... I have tried every lock option and as long as set to lock immediately, it will eliminate the problem. And the same with setting any delay, with any lock option it will result in the recent apps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
mkanet said:
Dwitherell, thank you so much for responding. I was even considering on reverting back to 4.1.1 because of this. I don't use any kind password or pattern lock.
Forgive my ignorance, but the post you pointed me to locks like its on a Jedi ROM. I don't even see any specific references to this issue. What is this fix for specifically? If it is for sure going to restore normal behavior, i guess i could try to do this hack.
If this issue is as wide spread as i think it is, is there any chance you could make a tiny root app that fixes the problem or some way of automating a fix for not so technical people? How wide spread is this issue? Thanks a million for your help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It was posted in a Jedi thread, but only because that is where I noticed it was mentioned. The context outside that single post was someone stating the same observation as you, my responding saying that I was also annoyed by it, with a later edit saying I may have come up with a workaround for it, and their response of "tell me more". As far as automating a fix or creating an app or the like - that is well beyond my paygrade unfortunately. What are you running? If you are interested you could PM me - all I need is your android.policy.jar (or to know what you are currently running) and I can try to get a fix together for you given some other conditions (i.e. have a custom recovery installed so you can flash things). It seems to have fixed it on my end, but I would be very interested in getting some others to test
You did it! Your fix works perfectly! The bug is gone! ...like the bug was never there. My understanding is the fix prevents the phone from stupidly trying to launch the task manager when the screen wakes by the home button. I also donated for you time and effort. Thanks a million.
dwitherell said:
It was posted in a Jedi thread, but only because that is where I noticed it was mentioned. The context outside that single post was someone stating the same observation as you, my responding saying that I was also annoyed by it, with a later edit saying I may have come up with a workaround for it, and their response of "tell me more". As far as automating a fix or creating an app or the like - that is well beyond my paygrade unfortunately. What are you running? If you are interested you could PM me - all I need is your android.policy.jar (or to know what you are currently running) and I can try to get a fix together for you given some other conditions (i.e. have a custom recovery installed so you can flash things). It seems to have fixed it on my end, but I would be very interested in getting some others to test
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, thank you for making me learn how to put an odexed mod together and testing it for me!
So this fix will work for anyone running a stock odexed version of 4.1.2 UVBMB4 - you just need to be rooted, and having a custom recovery would be nice so you could flash it but you could also just copy the files over. That being said - would this be worthwhile to post?
I wish i had know i could just copy the files over.. that's actually less convoluted process than depending on a script. I thought the reason you made a patch via flashing is because the system files were locked/open by the system. Anyway, i am extremely thankful for this'll as there is no other way to fix the bug without adding extra steps to wake the screen.
You should definitely share both odexed and deodexed patches with others. I personally don't know how i could tollerate that bug for much longer. I'm sure there are others who don't use the lock screen. Plus, this would give a chance for others to appreciate your work by dontating for your time and effort.
mkanet said:
I wish i had know i could just copy the files over.. that's actually less convoluted process than depending on a script. I thought the reason you made a patch via flashing is because the system files were locked/open by the system. Anyway, i am extremely thankful for this'll as there is no other way to fix the bug without adding extra steps to wake the screen.
You should definitely share both odexed and deodexed patches with others. I personally don't know how i could tollerate that bug for much longer. I'm sure there are others who don't use the lock screen. Plus, this would give a chance for others to appreciate your work by dontating for your time and effort.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The flashable zip is just one method to get the files where they need to go. Literally all it does is overwrite the 2 files in /system/framework by moving the 2 files over from the zip - but there are definitely other ways to do such things. Some are more comfortable with this route, others are more comfortable w/ getting /system to be rw and move the files manually.
I'll likely post this at some point in the next few days
I don't mean to revive a dead thread or anything, but this bug has been driving me CRAZY & the smali hacking worked perfectly for me, thank you!!!
FYI, I'm willing to help people out with this as well. If anyone wants this done but doesn't wanna mess with the java stuff, PM me & send me your android.policy.jar and I'll hack it for you
kabuk1 said:
I don't mean to revive a dead thread or anything, but this bug has been driving me CRAZY & the smali hacking worked perfectly for me, thank you!!!
FYI, I'm willing to help people out with this as well. If anyone wants this done but doesn't wanna mess with the java stuff, PM me & send me your android.policy.jar and I'll hack it for you
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Glad to hear
Is it possible that my phone isn't affected? If its a 4.1.2 bug, it should be in all phones with same version right?
This is not happening to my phone. Whether I have lock screen activated or not. I'm rooted but running stock ROM and I have Nova launcher installed if thats even important.
It's not all notes.
Sent from my SGH-T889 using xda premium
kabuk1 said:
I don't mean to revive a dead thread or anything, but this bug has been driving me CRAZY & the smali hacking worked perfectly for me, thank you!!!
FYI, I'm willing to help people out with this as well. If anyone wants this done but doesn't wanna mess with the java stuff, PM me & send me your android.policy.jar and I'll hack it for you
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
is this offer still good? i'm was experiencing the same problem and it was so annoying that the only solution i found was to revert back to 4.1.1. I'm currently running t889uvall4.
also, my phone is not rooted. will the fix dwitherell came up w/ work? or do i really have to root my phone?
wesblogger said:
is this offer still good? i'm was experiencing the same problem and it was so annoying that the only solution i found was to revert back to 4.1.1. I'm currently running t889uvall4.
also, my phone is not rooted. will the fix dwitherell came up w/ work? or do i really have to root my phone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes you'll need to be rooted unfortunately - sorry
wesblogger said:
is this offer still good? i'm was experiencing the same problem and it was so annoying that the only solution i found was to revert back to 4.1.1. I'm currently running t889uvall4.
also, my phone is not rooted. will the fix dwitherell came up w/ work? or do i really have to root my phone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Absolutely. just PM me. Yeah, you have to be rooted but that's easy to do & worth it for this hack & all the other things you can do once you're rooted.
kabuk1 said:
...Yeah, you have to be rooted but that's easy to do & worth it for this hack & all the other things you can do once you're rooted.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
^^^ THIS - a thousand times over

[Q] Need assistance with Android, moved away from iOS.

Hello everyone,
I have done quite a bit of research over the past few days but I am quite overwhelmed and confused, I thought I will post my questions here as I am now a proud owner of a Sony Xperia Z1 Compact.
I ended up winning a Sony Xperia Z1 Compact from a work competition just the other day, before then I was using my iPhone 4 ever since it came out. I have never owned an Android device, I wish to root it mostly to theme the device. I have tried the Themer application in the Playstore which is fantastic in it's own right, but it doesn't let me create my own. I'm a huge Apple person and I ended up Jailbreaking all my iDevices so I wish to get some of that power out of my Android phone.
1. How harmful is it to root, unlock bootloader etc?.. I would imagine it is no different than Jailbreaking.
2. Am I able to store absolutely everything on the SD card when it comes to applications and tweaks?
3. Is it possible to remap the physical buttons to do other things?
4. I have came across Cyanogen quite a lot, is it stable and will I notice any speed issues compared to stock OS?
5. Is there a "Tweak store" of sorts to download all the extra stuff after rooting the device, similar to "Cydia" for iDevices?
I would really appreciate some assistance, I do apologize once again for being extremely new. It's just a little complicated when you hear there are so many versions of Android and rooting tools for individual devices!
Hi, I do not own the device but I've been in Sony and Android ecosystem for quiet long. So I can probably answer most of your questions.
1. Its not harmful at all! In fact since Sony devices don't get hard bricked you can't go wrong with it!
2. You can, once rooted! Ofc, you'll need mod of some kind.
3. Yup!
4. Speed issues? Probably not! But you might lose several functionalities, major one being the Camera quality. As Sony camera works as great as it is on stock only.
5. This forum is your tweak store.
KyleSforza said:
Hi, I do not own the device but I've been in Sony and Android ecosystem for quiet long. So I can probably answer most of your questions.
1. Its not harmful at all! In fact since Sony devices don't get hard bricked you can't go wrong with it!
2. You can, once rooted! Ofc, you'll need mod of some kind.
3. Yup!
4. Speed issues? Probably not! But you might lose several functionalities, major one being the Camera quality. As Sony camera works as great as it is on stock only.
5. This forum is your tweak store.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for getting back to me very quickly. I did not know Sony devices cannot get hard bricked. So you're saying whatever I do to it software wise, I cannot not physically render the phone useless?
How bad is the camera quality once you root? is it very noticeable, are people trying to improve the quality?
I will definitely have browse this forum more, is there a particular place you would suggest or should I just stay in the Z1 Compact thread?
Happy_todd said:
Thanks for getting back to me very quickly. I did not know Sony devices cannot get hard bricked. So you're saying whatever I do to it software wise, I cannot not physically render the phone useless?
How bad is the camera quality once you root? is it very noticeable, are people trying to improve the quality?
I will definitely have browse this forum more, is there a particular place you would suggest or should I just stay in the Z1 Compact thread?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've been using Sony (ericsson) devices since forever and I can tell you you'll love it. About the brick - feel safe. Whatever goes wrong with the phone just flash the original stock FTF firmware via Flashtool and your phone is like new. It's not necessary to switch to CyanogenMod as Sony's firmware is very smooth and fast on our devices thanks to the hardware and the lower resolution. You can just root and install one of the stock based roms in the development section. No need to unlock and you can get 4K video and 120fps slow motion video without losing picture quality
Edit: You don't lose quality when you root. Sony uses bionz image processor which requires the bootloader to be locked to work. If you unlock your BL you will have pictures with colder colors (from my observations) and more noise since Bionz is not processing the shots.
omegastarr said:
I've been using Sony (ericsson) devices since forever and I can tell you you'll love it. About the brick - feel safe. Whatever goes wrong with the phone just flash the original stock FTF firmware via Flashtool and your phone is like new. It's not necessary to switch to CyanogenMod as Sony's firmware is very smooth and fast on our devices thanks to the hardware and the lower resolution. You can just root and install one of the stock based roms in the development section. No need to unlock and you can get 4K video and 120fps slow motion video without losing picture quality
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Click to collapse
No loss of picture quality, that's contradicting with what KyleSforza said. If something did go wrong with the device, and I flashed back to the original stock FTF firmware, will it leave traces of the root on my phone in case I had to send the handset back for warranty repair or anything?.. Also how does one obtain the original stock firmware, would that be in the development section or on Sonys website somewhere? Thanks so much!
Happy_todd said:
No loss of picture quality, that's contradicting with what KyleSforza said. If something did go wrong with the device, and I flashed back to the original stock FTF firmware, will it leave traces of the root on my phone in case I had to send the handset back for warranty repair or anything?.. Also how does one obtain the original stock firmware, would that be in the development section or on Sonys website somewhere? Thanks so much!
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Look my edited post, I have explained why picture quality gets bad. As long as you use stock based firmware on locked bootloader (BL) you will not lose quality. About the warranty - I think rooting does not drop it but unlocking the BL does. You need to read some of the threads in this section before doing anything. When you flash the FTF everything goes back to stock and you will lose the root. As long as you BL is locked and you are on stock firmware your warranty is not voided.
Edit: You can find FTFs in the development section as well
I am using CyanogenMod and it is obviously better than Sony stock ROM.. Just two issues I have faced on CyanogenMod.. Sound volume is very low and camera quality is also bad.. Except these two, everything is more stable than stock ROM..
Sent from my Xperia Z1 Compact
1. How harmful is it to root, unlock bootloader etc?.. I would imagine it is no different than Jailbreaking.
Rooting is a bit more work than jailbreaking, because no simple one-click-method esists anymore/yet/at the moment. A rooted device allows you to modify EVERYTHING there is on your device (software wise). This naturally brings some dangers, such as losing all your data, or bricking it. As the posters above already stated, it is quite hard to do lasting damage to your phone. Overclocking and removing overheat protection might, but other than software-induced hardware damage, it is nearly imposible. Keep in mid that playing with partitions might require you to open the device to repair the software.
Additionally, rooting via Bootloader unlocking* removes Sony's DRM-Keys. This mainly stops Xreality and the Bionz image processor from working. it is possible to back up those keys, and i would recomend doing that. It complicates rooting a lot, but makes it possible to go back to a 100% stock phone if you ever want to. they are located in their own partition (TA). flashing another TA partition than your own will also cause your phone to be permanently broken.
2. Am I able to store absolutely everything on the SD card when it comes to applications and tweaks?
You should be able to, yes. I am however not sure how you mean that. Some tweaks like init.d scripts need to be in the system folder, as have some of the apps. It is certainly possible to have them elsewhere, but it will require some effort. Why do you want to have everything on the external memory?
3. Is it possible to remap the physical buttons to do other things?
Yes.
4. I have came across Cyanogen quite a lot, is it stable and will I notice any speed issues compared to stock OS?
CM is stable, yes. they have "Snapshot" builds, which are lightly quality tested (boots, features work as they should in most usecases, etc) and nightlies. Nightlies are builds that are generated automatically every night by a bot (3 actually) and are also quite stable. But it can happen that there are mayor bugs (not booting, stuff crashing left, right and center...), specially at the beginning of merging a nes Android release. rolling back to the last working FW will normally fix that.
Speed is normally faster because it has less bloatware.
5. Is there a "Tweak store" of sorts to download all the extra stuff after rooting the device, similar to "Cydia" for iDevices?
No. You have t find it yourself and sideloas the *.apk. Be careful with what you install. Stuff on the forum should be fine, because other able coders quite quickly raise awareness if something's not right. For Xposed there is a dedicated repo which you can access from the module itself.
there are so many versions of Android and rooting tools for individual devices!
This is the reason why there are device specific forums. Stay here for everything device-related. There are special forums for non-device-specific stuff as apps and certain tweaks.
I hope this celaned up some questions, if you still have some: read, read, read! learn, and do not be hasty in the beginning. Or just ask me...
oh, and:
coolkoushik07 said:
I am using CyanogenMod and it is obviously better than Sony stock ROM.. Just two issues I have faced on CyanogenMod.. Sound volume is very low and camera quality is also bad.. Except these two, everything is more stable than stock ROM..
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This can in no way be generalized like that. tastes are different, and everyone should decide by themselves.
coolkoushik07 said:
I am using CyanogenMod and it is obviously better than Sony stock ROM.. Just two issues I have faced on CyanogenMod.. Sound volume is very low and camera quality is also bad.. Except these two, everything is more stable than stock ROM..
Sent from my Xperia Z1 Compact
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I don't see where CM is "obviously" better, stock ROMs lack functions but a rooted stock with Xposed is pretty close to some third party ROMs. As Coirpre already said, that's a matter of personal preferences. And CM is far from being more stable than any stock ROM. E.g., last time I tried CM and all ROMs based on it completely prevented using encryption because the sensors didn't work. Tethering's also still broken iirc, among several other things judging by the corresponding thread.
Iruwen said:
I don't see where CM is "obviously" better, stock ROMs lack functions but a rooted stock with Xposed is pretty close to some third party ROMs. As Coirpre already said, that's a matter of personal preferences. And CM is far from being more stable than any stock ROM. E.g., last time I tried CM and all ROMs based on it completely prevented using encryption because the sensors didn't work. Tethering's also still broken iirc, among several other things judging by the corresponding thread.
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tethering is working in cm latest nightly.. in stock rom there is over heating prob, notification sound stuttering prob, 'while playing hd games cant charge phone' bug, is that u call a stable rom? lol.. also i am getting better battery backup on cm... u must be a light user and u can only realize these issues on heavy usage..
Sent from my Xperia Z1 Compact
omegastarr said:
If you unlock your BL you will have pictures with colder colors (from my observations) and more noise since Bionz is not processing the shots.
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That's the first I have heard of this. Has anyone else confirmed this?
Well try it and see for yourself. A very detailed post was made in one of the z1 threads and the pictures were clearly showing that. I can't remember in which thread was that because it was more than a month ago.
coolkoushik07 said:
tethering is working in cm latest nightly.. in stock rom there is over heating prob, notification sound stuttering prob, 'while playing hd games cant charge phone' bug, is that u call a stable rom? lol.. also i am getting better battery backup on cm... u must be a light user and u can only realize these issues on heavy usage..
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Your reading comprehension is lacking, I didn't say there are no issues with stock ROMs.
Iruwen said:
Your reading comprehension is lacking, I didn't say there are no issues with stock ROMs.
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read ur own text again.. ur 1st statement was, u cant see where cm is obviously better.. and u told that cm is not stable. then tell me a rom which is more stable.. ur common sense is also lacking lol..
Sent from my Xperia Z1 Compact
Iruwen said:
I don't see where CM is "obviously" better, stock ROMs lack functions but a rooted stock with Xposed is pretty close to some third party ROMs. As Coirpre already said, that's a matter of personal preferences. And CM is far from being more stable than any stock ROM. E.g., last time I tried CM and all ROMs based on it completely prevented using encryption because the sensors didn't work. Tethering's also still broken iirc, among several other things judging by the corresponding thread.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
coolkoushik07 said:
tethering is working in cm latest nightly.. in stock rom there is over heating prob, notification sound stuttering prob, 'while playing hd games cant charge phone' bug, is that u call a stable rom? lol.. also i am getting better battery backup on cm... u must be a light user and u can only realize these issues on heavy usage..
Sent from my Xperia Z1 Compact
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Go playing somewhere else, this is not the topic of this thread!
omegastarr said:
Well try it and see for yourself. A very detailed post was made in one of the z1 threads and the pictures were clearly showing that. I can't remember in which thread was that because it was more than a month ago.
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could you refind it for us? you know the title and the time, and which subforum it was. woud be much quicker than us scouring th forums
EDIT: Thanks! that really is interesting. I might have to relock the BL...
Coirpre said:
Go playing somewhere else, this is not the topic of this thread!
could you refind it for us? you know the title and the time, and which subforum it was. woud be much quicker than us scouring th forums
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what are u talking about? Did u ever read what op asked about? Don't just pass a comment, read thread before posting such a comment.. You should note that this is not a place for trolling.. And u better learn urself how to avoid being off topic..
and yes my this post (just to reply you) is off topic and u r the reason for being off topic..
Sent from my Xperia Z1 Compact
Hi,
camera aside, cm is great. It has lots of customization options and as long as you don't use your phone as MAIN camera device this is the rom for you. However, if you use this 20mpix beast then don't bother with CM. The second someone manages to port stock camera or implement camera as good as stock, cm will win most of users. Again, final decision is up to the user.
Wysłane z mojego Nexus 7 przy użyciu Tapatalka
15 minutes lost from my precious time
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=52658590&postcount=67

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