Advice from Sony-experts

[No-New-Phone]

I just have been at a local store, had this phone in my hands and I have to admit, that this phone could be the perfect phone for me. I love the dimensions. My only problem: on my previous phones I always had full access to my phone (root et al), and this seems to be a real problem with sony phones in general. Unlocking the bootloader is difficult, and if you succeed, this might break your hardware (camera, as this is the case with Sony xz1 compact).

I'd need access mainly to extend the phone's lifetime, using custom roms when the device is not supported by the manufacturer any more. (I have high hopes that updates are easier since oreo.) So my question: This would be my first Sony. What do you expect in this regards?

 

[mirhl]

That at least for two years, you'll have top notch official updates.
By that, fixes for it, like happened for previous xperias, are likely to pop out camera just degrade in quality btw it doesn't break completely)

As for extending functionalities, I hate to admit it, but modern android really.
Even freaking betterbatterystats can be granted all the required system permissions with.
Same for shimming applications with virtualxposed.

 

[Marvinho+]

Well, if you are only using root and custom ROMs after support has ended, you do not have to worry about that for the next two years (maybe three considering security updates). Sony is in the Top3 Android-Manufacturers then it comes to Softwaresupport.
So, after two years you won't have any problems using an AOSP ROM. Thanks to project treble you could already use such a ROM right now. And with the ported Google Camera APP (which will be working on the new Snapdragon 845 shortly) you will not have to compromise Photoquality when switching to a Custom ROM.

To sum up: You don't have to worry for the next two years and you will be able to use this phone for a long period of time thanks to project treble and GCam.

PS: you do not break the actual hardware by unlocking the bootloader, you simply lose some sony-softwarefeatures, which can be replaced most of the times. At least that's how it's been on Sony Flagships in the past years.

 

[wase4711]

Thanks to project treble you could already use such a ROM right now.

Really? Please post where that rom is, and how to use project treble to install it?

 

[Marvinho+]

Here is one of those ROMs: https://forum.xda-developers.com/pr...-development/experimental-phh-treble-t3709659

I suggest you to do a search for project treble here on xda. There are several articles and threads to learn more about it.
I do not own a treble enabled device myself, so I don't know exactly how it all works.

 

[zynexiz]

Unlocking the bootloader isn't hard, even a noob can do it with ease. Sony is one of few manufacturers that actually supports it natively from their website. But, as you said there are some downsides to it. The DRM-keys will be lost forever, unless you back it up (which you can only do with temp root). But if you going to use a custom rom, there's no need for them anyway.

I'm not sure what loosing the DRM-keys will do with the XZ2 Compact. But with previous models some stuff stopped working, like the image processor. The camera worked, but with a slight impact on pictures taken in low light (probably have to do with image processor).

 

[wase4711]

Here is one of those ROMs: https://forum.xda-developers.com/pr...-development/experimental-phh-treble-t3709659

I suggest you to do a search for project treble here on xda. There are several articles and threads to learn more about it.
I do not own a treble enabled device myself, so I don't know exactly how it all works.

no custom recovery for this phone yet, so not sure how you can flash a custom rom on it

 

[Marvinho+]

Via fastboot. At least thats what it says in the instructions, when no custom recovery is available.
I told you to read more about treble and you didn't even read the instructions? I'm not gonna flash the ROM for you.
So to make things clear: I think you could flash a treble ROM like lineage OS et al. but I wouldn't recommend it to you.
Because:
-you would lose your DRM keys. There is no way to back them up yet and no DRM fix, yet.
-Gcam is not working properly an the sd845 yet.
Just wait two months and it will be whole other situation with this phone.

Are you this disappointed with the Sony firmware, that you want to flash another ROM already?

 

[wase4711]

flashing a rom via fastboot is not what I would consider a safe thing to do, and, if you have a disaster doing it, then without a custom recovery there might be a problem getting back to where you were.
I'll wait to flash anything until there is actually something worth flashing, since the Sony stock firmware is pretty good right out of the box