10 things to try after successfully rooting Xperia Z

[shem2409]

So today I have recorded a video and compiled a list of MODs and apps that I thought were most useful to have after successfully rooting your Sony Xperia Z.

So here is my youtube video:

Necessary links to MODs and apps presented in this video:
Remember to show support to developers and thank them on the xda-forums.

1) Avast Antivirus
https://play.google.com/store/apps/...NvbS5hdmFzdC5hbmRyb2lkLm1vYmlsZXNlY3VyaXR5Il0.

2) TWRP - LOCKED BOOTLOADER ONLY
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2190936

3) BACKUP your device in TWRP!


UPDATE Step 4 works for ODEXed ROMS only (and not for everyone)
you can go straight to step 5) to get both black status+notification bar and smaller flashable keys

4) Black status+ notification bar
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2178024

alternative link for black status+notification bar DEODEXED ROM ONLY:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2180168

5) Smaller flashable softkeys
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=38632615

6) Custom themes
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2200229

7) Reboot option - FOR DEODEXED ROM ONLY (link to stock, deodexed ROM and rooted ROM, you can flash with locked bootloader: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2180208)
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2202116&highlight=reboot

8) PureXAudio
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2190558

9) Greenify (root)
https://play.google.com/store/apps/...GwsMSwxLDEsImNvbS5vYXNpc2ZlbmcuZ3JlZW5pZnkiXQ..

10) Titanium Backup
https://play.google.com/store/apps/...mNvbS5rZXJhbWlkYXMuVGl0YW5pdW1CYWNrdXBQcm8iXQ..

I hope you guys enjoyed it.

UPDATE!!!
11) Add a background to your notification bar (one of my favourites now)
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2259460

 

[ryan1mcq]

thanks for this shem, good to know you have to do 4 and 5 together, i had some snags yesterday but trying now with clean install of everything and 434fw flashed

 

[shem2409]

thanks for this shem, good to know you have to do 4 and 5 together, i had some snags yesterday but trying now with clean install of everything and 434fw flashed

Yeah, I don't understand how it works but for some reason whenever I got the navigation and notification bar to disappear I just flashed the softkey mod and it appeared again . Hopefully someone more technical than me will make a use of it and design a better fix.

 

[MamaSaidWhat?]

Big thanks for sharing this mate! Using a couple of these mods now, and that Greenify app is AWESOME. No idea how I haven't heard about it before

Sent from my Xperia Z using Tapatalk 2

 

[glitschi667]

Yeah, I don't understand how it works but for some reason whenever I got the navigation and notification bar to disappear I just flashed the softkey mod and it appeared again . Hopefully someone more technical than me will make a use of it and design a better fix.

hi shem2409,

ok. 2 things:

- that is most probably my fault but the softkey_...._black.zip also gives you a black background for both, status and navigation bar. I could have been more descriptive in my post... sorry =)

- Ticklefish's Black status+ notification bar mod should give you in addition this:

I've also changed the background of the toggles on the notifications screen to black as well. Looks nice, huh?

but since both mods change SystemUI.apk they are going to overwrite each other. and if you flash the softkey mod, the black background of the toggles should be gone? can you confirm that? (the bars will still be black - since you flashed the softkey_black.zip)

and there could be a problem when doing mine and ticklefishs mod in the opposite order: I've put the ".odex file" into the SystemUI.apk, so it runs with odexed and deodexed roms - but it deletes the SystemUI.odex during installation (this is needed so the one from inside the apk is taken by android). Since ticklefish's mod does not have that "odex file" included (it's actually "classes.dex" when it's inside an apk), it will not work if you install his mod after the softkey mod...


so as far as I can tell from here (I haven't tried it out - just have looked at the files), step 5 is overwriting the changes made in step 4.


cheers and thanks for the video tutorial!

 

[iDroid8]

If you were to flash smaller soft keys, would games and apps scale correctly or would the image just be stretched? So right now if the soft keys occupy 100 pixels in height, and was changed to 50, would games use the extra pixels? Would it be stretched to fit or would it run at a higher resolution? Or would there be a dead space?

 

[shem2409]

If you were to flash smaller soft keys, would games and apps scale correctly or would the image just be stretched? So right now if the soft keys occupy 100 pixels in height, and was changed to 50, would games use the extra pixels? Would it be stretched to fit or would it run at a higher resolution? Or would there be a dead space?

I checked in a couple of games and the bar remains smaller in the games, so I guess the game is stretched to fit the extra screen space.

 

[fareeed]

Advanced reboot menu needs a deodexed rom so I wouldn't advise flashing it

 

[shem2409]

Advanced reboot menu needs a deodexed rom so I wouldn't advise flashing it

Thanks for that information. I will add it to the video. I am actually on a deodexed stock rom and it worked fine for me.

 

[shem2409]

hi shem2409,

ok. 2 things:

- that is most probably my fault but the softkey_...._black.zip also gives you a black background for both, status and navigation bar. I could have been more descriptive in my post... sorry =)

- Ticklefish's Black status+ notification bar mod should give you in addition this:



but since both mods change SystemUI.apk they are going to overwrite each other. and if you flash the softkey mod, the black background of the toggles should be gone? can you confirm that? (the bars will still be black - since you flashed the softkey_black.zip)

and there could be a problem when doing mine and ticklefishs mod in the opposite order: I've put the ".odex file" into the SystemUI.apk, so it runs with odexed and deodexed roms - but it deletes the SystemUI.odex during installation (this is needed so the one from inside the apk is taken by android). Since ticklefish's mod does not have that "odex file" included (it's actually "classes.dex" when it's inside an apk), it will not work if you install his mod after the softkey mod...


so as far as I can tell from here (I haven't tried it out - just have looked at the files), step 5 is overwriting the changes made in step 4.


cheers and thanks for the video tutorial!

I have modified the information in my post to account for what you thought me. Thank a lot for that. Tbh I always flashed one after the other and never even checked that flashing small softkeys on their own would do the job.

 

[danw_oz]

...

After TWRP backup I would install, Titanium backup, and do a backup of all the apps and settings, then install an optimised ROM, then 4 and 5 are covered in most cases.

 

[shem2409]

After TWRP backup I would install, Titanium backup, and do a backup of all the apps and settings, then install an optimised ROM, then 4 and 5 are covered in most cases.

If someone is on locked bootloader there is a limited number of ROMs available at the moment and tbh I haven't found one with smaller softkeys yet. As far as I am concerned the only one for locked bootloader available is the one in the link under my video. I could be wrong though.

 

[robogo1982]

Well, flash the smaller keys separately.

 

[shem2409]

I have added the new MOD to add a background to the notification bar to the list.

11) Add a background to your notification bar (one of my favourites now)
http://forum.xda-developers.com/show....php?t=2259460