[UNOFFICIAL BUILD] Sony Xperia M (nicki)

@petefoth
Hello Pete, are you gonna build an update for this device ? I’m going to sell mine very soon and would like my buyer to be able to experience the latest /e/ OS version available. :slight_smile:

Hi. My usual tactic is to make unofficial builds for these Sony devices sometime after the official builds are tested and released. Currently the v0.17 release is undergoing testing, but there are some problems so it may be a little while before that happens. Until then v0.16 is the latest available

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Thanks for you fast reply ! I’ll let my buyer know about the delay 'til the next update.

Here’s a new build based on the v0.17.1-nougat tag. It’s untested. As always, use at your own risk

Release notes for v0.17-nougat are here

  • Xperia M nicki

The functionality to enable Exposure Notifications in MicroG does not work. If you want / need to enable this, then please install this .apk file https://ecloud.global/s/WGf4kCnnSeaKixT

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Here’s a new build based on the v0.18-nougat tag. It’s untested. As always, use at your own risk

Release notes for v0.18-nougat are here

  • Xperia M nicki
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Though I don’t own this device anymore, I’m glad that you keep building for it. Thanks @petefoth !

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i’m amazed there’s still development for this device! i just found my old one and i’m tinkering/playing with it. so far everything works, but can’t seem to read my sim cards.

So I got it to read my sim card now, but only one sim card, not the other sim card :sob:

Tried flashing the dual sim patch but it doesn’t seem to work.

Everything is working well!

Here’s a new build based on the v0.19.3-nougat tag

Release notes for the Q build are here - content will be similar for these nougat releases

List of outstanding and fixed defects is here

Xperia M nicki

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Here’s a new build based on the v0.20.2-nougat tag. It’s untested. As always, use at your own risk.

v0.20-nougat has not been officially released because of some outsanding problems (which are device-specific and should not affect this device) so there are no release notes. Release notes for v0.20-q are here, and the list should be similar for nougat

The functionality to enable Exposure Notifications in MicroG should now work: click on the link in Settings | System | advanced | MicroG

  • Xperia M nicki
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Here’s a new build based on the v0.21-nougat tag. It’s untested. As always, use at your own risk.

No release notes yet for Release notes for v0.22-nougat but for the other v0.21 builds they are are here, and the list should be similar for nougat

Thank you @petefoth for these builds. Works great on my Xperia M and L phones!
However, I can’t download the latest build from the AndroidFileHost site (e-0.21-n-20220526-UNOFFICIAL-nicki.zip). It only works on the builds in the archive folder. The same applies to the Xperia L. I can’t download the latest build: “Oops! No mirrors found”
Do you have an explanation for this?
Will more builds follow?

Thanks again, your builds are the best roms i have tested so far.

This sometimes happens with AndroidFileHost, and I believe it is caused by problems with their servers or storage. Sometimes the problem will go away after a few days (or weeks), but it may be that this file is not recoverable. I’m sorry about that, but it’s out of my control and AFH are not good at communicating with their users about problems or solutions.

I have checked my local storage, but I no longer have a copy of this build, (or the other builds I made for Sony’s nougat devices. Builds take up a lot of disk space :frowning:

Maybe. I recall that the last time I tried to make nougat builds od /e/OS, the builds were failing, though I don’t recall why. I will try another build run for the Sony nougat devices taoshan, nicki, ivy, karin, karin_windy . If it succeeds I will upload the builds. If there are problems, then I don’t really have time to debug them so you’ll be out of luck!

In the mean time you could ask if anyone here still has a copy of the ROM file (although as it only had 1 download, I think that is unlikely :slight_smile: )

This is because the problem has existed for a long time. I noticed this at least half a year ago. Otherwise the downloads would be much higher (see numbers of downloads in the archive folder).

Thank you for trying again! I will follow it with interest, without expecting anything.
I don’t know much about building roms. Would it be possible to build /e/OS roms for the tsubasa and dogo devices as well? Or even urushi (Xperia ray)? :slightly_smiling_face:
“unknownanonymous” seems to have built roms for tsubasa and dogo, but they can’t be found on AHF anymore…

:frowning:

The sources and proprietary binary ‘blobs’ are still available in github for tsubasa and dogo, so if the current builds (for ivy, nick and taoshan) succeed, then builds for these two should also be possible, and I will try :slight_smile:

No sign of the needed files for urushi, so I’m afraid that’s not going to happen

Well the first build has completed successfully (after only a couple of false starts :slight_smile: That build was for Xperia Z4/Z3+ ivy: see this post

Z5 Compact suzuran is building now (because I own one of those devices so I can do some basic testing). Xperia L taoshan is next and Xperia M nicki is after that. So it should be available in a day or two :wink:

That’s great, Pete! The linked download works fine, by the way.

I’m glad that your builds are based on Nougat, because I noticed on my z3 compact with e-1.7-q-dev that the privacy settings are not nearly as extensive as on the older /e/OS or lineage.
If I understand correctly, you need a lineage version as a basis for an /e/OS. Could you also use newer lineage versions than Nougat? Don’t get me wrong; I am absolutely satisfied with nougat. It just interests me.

I like to give feedback about the functionality of the roms. What are the “usual suspects” I’m supposed to watch out for?

A tsubasa build would be great :grinning:

Greetings, Andi

The nicki build is now available - see this post for the link

You are correct - /e/OS is built on LineageOS (from Pie onwards) or its predecessor CyanogenMod.
The reason these devices are “stuck” on nougat is that Lineage stopped supporting them when Pie (lineageOS 15.1) came along, probably because they used an old kernel that couldn’t be upgraded or ported to Pie. So the latest available Lineage to build on is actually CyanogenMod 14, which means the latest /e/ you can get is Nougat.

I don’t know to be honest. I’ve only tested the nougat builds on Xperia Z5 Compact, bcause that’s the only one of these devices I own, and even then, I just give it a basic sanity check to see that it boots, can access the internet, make calls and send texts.

I did notice with this build that the Mail app is a bit flakey: it kept crashing and I had to clear its storage and re-enter account details. Anyway I usually recommend using K-9 instead of /e/'s app (which is a fork of K-9, lags behind it in terms of bug fixes and new features, and any updates of /e/'s app won’t make it to the nougat builds).

Also, I don’t know if Apps (the app store app) has got any updates recently. Again, I recommend F-Droid and Aurora Store for installing and updating apps

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Thanks a lot, Pete!
As promised, I will give feedback about taoshan, nicki, tsubasa and dogo (if buildable).
But be patient. I don’t go as fast as you :wink:

Is it sufficient to install from an already installed lineage version? Or should I rather install from latest stock rom?
Either way, I’ll do clean installs on all devices.

I also use f-droid instead of the in-house app store. And from my point of view, microG also makes little sense for low-performance devices such as the Xperia M. In that case I just disable it…

A new build is uploaded to AndroidFileHost

https://www.androidfilehost.com/?fid=4279422670115712436

See this post for details