So as promised, a subjective comparison between this and CM12:
I'll be sticking with Sony's Lollipop, mainly due to the battery life and bravia engine/clearaudio+ (as my primary use for the tablet is watching video content)
- Longer standby battery life with Stamina Mode than with DS Battery Saver, plus far better app whitelisting. CM12 rarely managed longer than 2-3 weeks (or barely 1 week without DS Battery Saver), whereas Stamina Mode seems to be just as effective as it was on Sony's KitKat firmware and allows standby of 6-8+ weeks.
- Very slightly less responsive than CM12, but not enough to be a deal breaker. Animations are equally smooth.
- More free RAM than CM12 - without any debloating other than using a different keyboard and launcher, with no apps running it is ~200-300MB used, while CM12 was 400+MB.
- Less free storage than CM12 - Sony firmwares are much larger
I'll be sticking with Sony's Lollipop, mainly due to the battery life and bravia engine/clearaudio+ (as my primary use for the tablet is watching video content)