My favorite phone Xperia Mini Pro is alive and kicking......

I already have a lot of posts on the favorite phone. I have written all about its features, rooting it, installing custom roms and everything. This post is particularly about the attitude of big corporations and their lethargic attitude towards the customer once a sale is made.

Business institutions are full about various subjects relating to customer satisfaction/customer requirements/repeat customers. Students from these institutions get high packets based on the things they learn from these institutions and are taught about all the ideals of keeping the customers happy.

But once these students end up with big organizations, with a very costly noose around their necks, called the "tie", they are re-programmed to work in the traditional way the whole business is being carried out. The very best example of how these organizations work has been the android eco-system. Being an open eco-system based on apache licence has put into open the negatives of traditional way of customer satisfaction.

Customers these days are over-whelmed with information about products and their features. This information is again adulterated by paid reviews of the product and see that it gets maximum penetration. This is one side of the coin which deals with selling a product to the customer. Now, the android eco-system starts with a sale, while other products end with a sale. Organizations are finding it difficult to assimilate the fact that a sale with open systems, dont end with a sale, in fact it starts with a sale. Customers are eagerly waiting for additional services/product upgrades. So, why are the customers so much demanding? The answer lies in the open nature of the android eco-system

Once a device is released, the kernel code which is under GPL is to be released in parallel. So, what do traditional companies do to continue doing their traditional business? They delay the release of the kernel sources. Now, once the kernel sources are released, there is only one task remaining, build a custom rom for that device with all the updated features available in the AOSP code released.

AOSP is a moving target, being updated everyday with bugfixes and new features from volunteers worldwide. But the device came with a static rom and that is exactly what the big organizations are ready to give you. Well, the customers dont want that, they want their device to be alive as long as it meets their requirement or they can make the device meet their requirement by using upgraded code from the AOSP project.

How do big organizations stop users/devs from doing the above? Create binary only drivers packaged as blobs and Linux supports blobs to be loaded as it is(This is exactly what makes RMS fume on the licensing choice of the linux kernel). Now, without these blobs, the custom built rom would not function out of the box, resulting in a rom, with limited functionality compared to the stock rom which came with the device.

Let me come back to the subject, xperia mini pro. Awesome design for a qwerty phone, little heavy thats it. Its an awesom device. Sony upgraded the software radically only once. They upgraded it to ICS from GB, cribbing all the way about the lack of hardware capability to run ICS throught the build process which took almost an year. After that they orphaned the phone. Another team, the freexperia team which is responsible for bringing cyanogenmod to xperia devices also lifted their hand from upgrading the phones to the next version, JB.  Half hearted attempts were made by them to build cm10 for the 2011 series. Once they saw that the device did live it up to the task, they became serious and we had 4.1 for our phones, then, they stopped and decided that 2013 is too late for 2011

Now, it is the turn of the individuals to expand the life of the device. nAa, did the unthinkable and unimaginable for 2011 devices he started with 3.* kernel and has succesfully built 3.4* kernel for them, But of course he was still standing on giants. You should feel the device in your hands running this fantastic kernel and 4.2.2, the lates branch of android. In fact the 2013 flagship sony devices are still on 4.1.2. The device feels snappy and ready for future android releases. Thanx to all the devs at Cyanogenmod and users/devs at the xda forums, my fav phone has got a new lease of life and is completely rejuvinated.

So, shall we jump to Customer satisfaction 3.0....................

Update:- 14.08.2013

We now have android 4.3 a.k.a Cyanogenmod 10.2 on the Xperia mini pro. Thanx to the efforts of mikeioannina and ofcourse nAa we now have LegacyXperia 4.3 . Go ahead and flash it.

custom roms on xperia mini pro with unlocked bootloader

Let me start by stating, once again, I nor any devs whose contribution we will be using are responsible for any damage to your phone. Proceed at your own risk!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Alrighty then. You have unlocked the bootloader of your favorite phone. With this you have unlocked the full capacity of your device. No need to bother losing CWM after every install of any custom rom. Developing for unlocked bootloaders appears to be easy, since majority of the rom devs initial release will be for unlocked ones. With unlocked bootloaders we will be installing CWM into a seperate partition which will not be touched during custom rom installation. So whatever happens with your rom installation the CWM is still there. Anything wrong with the current installation of the custom rom, you wipe it and install a new one OR restore a previously working, backed up rom.

Now we know the advantage of unlocking the bootloader w.r.t installing custom roms. For disadvantages please refer the previous post. Let us start with the fact that whatever roms were dicsussed in the locked bootloader post are available in the unlocked ones also. Since the rom development for our favorite phone is happening at a rapid pace owing to newer developers taking up the mantle to serve us with their hot-baked versions of custom roms the roms mentioned in the previous post is very minimal. It is recommended to visit this post, to see the recent roms and the pace of development activity on this phone.

It would be apt to talk of few roms which impressed me with their unique abilities. This is a very subjective selection. I live it to you to find the rom which suits your taste. The serial number is also the roms "I" rank in order of my preference

1. When we talk about custom roms we cannot leave out the unlocked bootloader specialist cyanogenmod 10. This is v10 of the cyanogenmod project based on Jellybean 4.1.1. Since it is a very recent project there is a long list of "not working". A working/not working list is maintained by M66B.
I loved this rom for it smoothness(result of project butter) and wifi connects almost immediately. Remember that installing cyanogenmod requires install of their own kernel. They dont play well with other custom kernels. In fact M66B compiles the cm10 kernel with additional drivers. It is a good choice to install his kernel. He releases his kernel in parallel with the cm 10 kernel. If you want a basic jellybean system look no further. And the project releases updates regularly.

2. If ICS is what you want to eat, then the first preference would be cyanogenmod 9 Lot of work has gone into this rom and very much usable. The advantage is it is a basic implementation of ICS.

3. If Ginger bread is your preference then look no further than this. This is developed by shprakash and sandy( I believe they are from bangalore ) called HaSa Rom. Remember this is based on sony's rom with additional tweaks and modifications. For this you can use any of the kernels mentioned in the previous post( choose the GB ones. There will be two versions of the kernels. one for GB and one for ICS.

4. Sandy and shprakash have an ICS offering also it is Xperia icecream pureness. This is again based on sony's official ICS rom with tweaks and modifications.

5. When it comes to UI customization and eye candy nothing can beat the MIUI project, but it comes at a cost of higher utilization of ram and rom space. If eyecandy is what you want then you can choose between
a. Hasa miui ICS. This, as the name suggests is developed by the duo sandy and shprakash. The rom is a very good implementation of miui on a sony base.
b. JB exmiui. This rom is a combo of MIUI JB version and cm 10. It will have the same working/not working as of cm10. But mark my words, It is beautiful.

Some other roms impressed you, Tell me.

Thanx to all the devs, testers and fellow users, sony for allowing to unlock the bootloader, AOSP project and the Linux kernel project.

Rooting and installing CWM on xperia mini pro Unlocked boot loader

Unlocking the bootloader on xperia phones voids your warranty claims. All the DRM keys go out. They cannot be returned back(or, I dont know any method to bring back the DRM keys). I nor any devs are responsible for any damage your phone may suffer because of any implementations of the discussions below.

Here we go. We are now bored with all the hassles required to install custom roms on xperia mini pro with a locked boot loader or your xperia mini pro is now out of the warranty period. Installing custom roms on a locked boot loader is a pain in the neck for the rom users and also for the devs. For a locked boot loader, the CWM is installed in a portion of the rom memory which get over-written during the installation of the custom rom. So, How do we think that our CWM is safe during the custom rom installation? We cant. Only if the devs have a version of CWM in the custom rom zip properly configured and zipped, your options of losing CWM are iminent. For an easy method of getting back the CWM on locked bootloaders please refer my previos post.

Now, we go to the next logical step. Unlocking the bootloader(You are warned again, Your warranty will be void. There have been cases wherein, sony has refused to repair phones with unlocked bootloader. So continue at your own risk). Unlocking the boot loader on xperia phones is a straight forward process and sony should be thanked for making it very simple. Fire up ur favorite search engine and search for "xperia unlocking boot loader". You will get guides and the sony developer site is very user friendly.

See to it that your phone is recognized by sony pc companion. That just shows that all the necessary drivers are in place.

Basically the steps are

1. GO to the sony developer site and click on unlock boot loader
2. Keep the IMEI number of your ready (Dial *#06# on your phone dial pad)
3. Follow the steps on the sony developer site.
4. Note down the unique code given out and then,

follow the procedure given here

After this, installing CWM is a piece of cake. Go to point number 11.
Here ignore everything from point 4.
Download flashtool.
Install it
Run it
Shut down the phone
Now connect the USB cable first to ur laptop and then press and hold the volume up key while connecting the USB cable to phone. The phone LED turns blue and you get info on the flashtool application that the phone is now connected in the fastboot mode. Click on the 'lightening" icon and select fastboot. Here select "flash kernel" and browse the "boot.img" of your favorite kernel. Thats it. disconnect the phone and reboot.

After this step, You get a custom kernel pre rooted and CWM. The kernels available for xperia mini pro(ICS) and known to work with majority of the custom roms and also stock(pre-rooted  plus  CWM)
1. Rage(All drivers within the kernel)
2. Mesa(All drivers within the kernel)
3. kamarush(You have to flash the wifi-modules from CWM)


Thanx to all the devs for making the xperia mini pro a true hackers phone. Thnx to sony for allowing the unlocking of bootloaders. Thnx to all th users over at XDA for testing and reporting.............

Custom roms on xperia mini pro locked boot loader

I, nor any devs or their work can be held responsible for any issues or for damaging your phone. Proceed at your own risk. You have been warned. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



This post is directed at people who dont want to unlock their boot loaders
Refer to my previous post regarding rooting and installing CWM on xperia mini pro ICS. Read further if your device is ready as per my previous post.

So, Fed up with the way your device looked and performed. Let us give your mini pro a facelift with these custom roms.

1. MiniCMSandwich Lite AOSP, Get it here, takes the top spot for custom rom on mini pro. The main reason being the majority of the ROM contains AOSP(Android open source project) a.k.a Vanilla ICS. The shocker is the amount of free space in the internal memory after installing the rom. This is a real barebones, vanilla ICS at its best. He has tried to take the best from cyanogenmod, AOSP and sony software and mixed them to come out with a great and awesome mod. People who want to theme their phones keep out. This is a great rom for people who want to run games n their xperia mini pro and install a plethora of apps. Every aspect of the phone is working fine and optimal. Thanx kamarush for a great rom

2. The second spot is a re-spin of kamarush's rom. CyanogenTimeScape. To qoute from his OP "This ROM is a Hybrid of Android Open Kang Project, Cyanogen Mod, and Xperia S ICS. The ROM is basicaly made by kamarush. I just modified it. The major challenge for me was to make the Sony Sound Enhancements work on the ROM. I could figure out how to do it after flashing the ROM more than 50 times on my device for testing purposes.
Other than these, I have provided some cool Xperia S apps in the ROM, to help increase productivity, and level of coolness of this ROM." It is basically a kamarush rom. If you like what DragonClawsAreSharp has done to kamarush's rom, go ahead and install it. The difference is minimal except for facts explained in the OP.

3. The third spot goes to expeacer's ExMIUI. Anybody who has rooted his phone would know the fork of android caled MIUI. Here is a fork of android which cares only about the looks. Yes, the ram usage is nearly twice that of kamarush rom. But you are looking for the good looks and theming, look no further. You can change the look of your phone just by downloading themes of miui website or from the public network and just apply them. It is an excellent attempt at bringing theis beatiful rom to this cute phone. The animations are superb and the mini pro gets a new identity. The only issue here is ram usage.

We have reviewed the best roms for xperia mini pro with locked boot loader. And one more thing, all thes roms feature the aroma installer(think it as a step by step configuration selection during installation) which is awesome. All the roms look good on the mini pro and the keyboard works flawlessly. I cannot end the post without thanking the devs of these fantastic roms. I just hope that these devs continue to love the awesome device created by sony designers. I would like to thank all the devs associated with the vanilla android, AOKP, MIUI and other forks of android. We love you.

UPDATE: 01/08/2012

I would like to add one more Custom rom to this list. That would be real ICS. It is now at version 5.1. This particular rom is interesting because it's major portion is based on Sony's stock rom. Loaded with many mods to make it a music hub. It has the best from the latest xperia phones and other sound improvement mods. If u like the stock feel, but want to extract the max out of your device, then this is the rom for you. Mind you, it is a heavy rom at around 250MB. and the ram/rom usage is on the higher side compared to kamarush's AOSP rom. With jelly bean around the corner by the same devs, this is good rom to try out the stock feel of sony with all the awesome mods. Since we are discussing devices with locked boot loader, this rom has not mentioned its support for locked bootloaders loudly owing to some caveats. After installing the rom, you may lose CWM. The best way to get it back would be to install x-parts from the market. With this you can install CWM back. Once installed, after reboot during the display of sony logo, the LED will flash blue. Just click any button to enter CWM. Thanx again to all the devs who are keeping the xperia series phones alive and kicking.

Rooting and installing CWM on Xperia mini pro ICS v4.0.4

I, nor any devs, whose work we are going to use, are responsible if anything goes wrong. Continue at your own risk!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This procedure is for sony xperia mini pro updated with official ICS v4.0.4. and is for people who dont want to unlock their bootloaders.

Before you start install PC companion and check whether the phone is detected by the sony pc companion. If it is detected then u already have the necessary drivers. You should not proceed if the phone is not detected.

1. Head here and follow the procedure step by step. Read the requirements and preparations very carefully any mistake here may definitely brick your phone. It is a great post and self contained. All the downloads required are excellently linked. Thanks to the dev for highlighting the procedure beatifully with illustrations. At the end of this procedure you have rooted the phone without unlocking the bootloader.

2. Now to the next default step after rooting any phone. Installing Clockworkmod Recovery. This is a part of the ROM manager. This gives you a recovery console, form where you can backup the current rom(Which you should be the first thing after installing CWM), Install custom ROMs(Google is your friend), Install great mods(These are minor modifications to the already installed roms, official or custom roms). Here is the tool you are going to use to install CWM on your rooted xperia mini pro. The tool is windows only and requires .net framework 3.5. Download the zip, extract it and run the .exe in the folder. You get a window as shown in the post. Click the 'select option' drop down box and choose 'clockwork mod....' and click on the install button. Read the instructions very carefully and meet all the requirement specified. Now you have CWM without unlocking the bootloader.

Thats it. Now you have entered the infinite area of customization of your phone just head here to find out the zillion things you can do with your rooted mini pro. Just observe the passion with which the devs give out their hardwork for the general public so that the utility of the device people have bought is maximised.

Thanks to all the devs and users at XDA, MIUI, AOKP and other Android modding communities for unleashing the real power of android phones and bringing this power to the masses.

Thanks to google for keeping the OS open(would love to see it GPL'd so that we could label it GNU/Android)