How to Update Sony Xperia Z3 to Android 5.1.1 Lollipop Custom ROM

By Vijaykumar Meti

| Updated: Monday, June 29, 2015, 17:23 [IST]

There is some great news for Sony Xperia Z3 users, as the CarbonROM developers have come up with a popular Android 5.1.1 custom firmware for the company's flagship smartphone.

Sony Xperia Z3 In Pictures

How to Update Sony Xperia Z3 to Android 5.1.1 Lollipop Custom ROM

The Xperia Z3 will be officially updated to the Android 5.1.1 Lollipop in the coming month. If you can wait till the official release you can simply follow this tutorial to install the latest Android Lollipop version on your smartphone.

The CarbonROM is well known for its creative work, developers at CarbonROM collects awesome features from number of different ROMs and bring them together in one ROM. Overall, this custom ROM is very stable, fast and smooth so far.

You can update the Sony Xperia Z3 to custom firmware of Android 5.1.1 CarbonROM Lollipop using this tutorial. Please note, this firmware is not an official release by Sony, but just a custom ROM which require a custom recovery installed in the device in order to flash the ROM.

[Disclaimer: This procedure is highly technical. If the smartphone brick or damaged during the installation process, GizBot cannot be held responsible for any kind of damage for the smartphone. Hence, the user has to perform the installation on their own risk.]

Key Features of Android 5.1.1 CarbonROM Lollipop ROM for Sony Xperia Z3

This CarbonROM custom ROM comes with tons of new features and is based on Android 5.1.1 Lollipop. A quick list of the main features in CarbonROM is given below and we are sure you'd love to use this on your Xperia Z3

CM Notification manager
Slim Heads Up Notifications and its features
"CarbonFibers" features Menu
Fully CM customization for hard buttons (tweaked)
Omni Wake lock blocker
SuperSU

Points to remember before starting installing custom ROM

This tutorial is only to install the CarbonROM Android 5.1.for Sony Xperia Z3. Please don't try this on any other variants of the phone.

Backup all the important data, additional files, apps and settings. Installing custom ROM on the Xperia Z3 will wipe all the data.

It is recommended to use custom recovery tool to create a complete image of the existing phone setup. To create backup in recovery tool, select Backup and Restore and tap Backup in custom recovery mode.

The smartphone should be rooted with the latest ClockworkMod (CWM) or TWRP recovery tool before installing the custom ROM and its bootloader is unlocked.

Ensure the smartphone have at-least 80 percent of battery charge to avoid power off during installation process.

Make sure USB drivers of Xperia Z3 have been installed on the PC.

Sony PC Companion will NOT detect your phone after installing this ROM because it is a custom firmware.

We have put together a detailed step-by-step instructions guide on how to install Android 5.1.1 CarbonROM Lollipop custom firmware on Xperia Z3. If you are used to installing custom ROMs on Android smartphones, then installing this custom ROM on Xperia Z3 is no different. However, for beginners do read all the points mentioned in this tutorial before actually performing it on your device.

Also note that, installing the custom ROM or custom recovery will void the warrant of the device and will not get any official updates including security update from OEM or Google.

Before starting the installation process, download required files to your computer from the links provided below.

Download CarbonROM Android 5.1.1 ROM

Download Google Apps

Complete Steps to Install Custom ROM on Sony Xperia Z3

Step 1: Download the above files to your computer and extract boot.img from the custom ROM zip file.

Step 2: Connect and mount the USB (mass) memory of your Sony Xperia Z3 on your computer using the USB cable.

Step 3: Now copy and paste the downloaded zip files (CarbonROM Android 5.1.1 ROM and Google Apps) to the SDcard root. Do not copy the files to phone's internal memory or in any other folder, keep the files in the SD card root.

Step 4: Copy and paste the boot.img file (which you extracted in the first step) to android-sdk-windows\platform-tools directory.

Step 5: Turn off the smartphone

Step 6: Now get into the Fastboot mode, by holding the Volume Down + Power buttons together.

Step 7: Once in the Fastboot mode (on your phone), navigate to android-sdk-windows\platform-tools directory (on your computer) and open Command Prompt (Shift + Right-click > Open Command Prompt).

Step 8: Type the following command and press Enter.
fastboot flash boot boot.img

Step 9: Then, type the following command and press Enter.
fastboot reboot

Step 10: Now to get in the Recovery Mode on your smartphone. Turn on the phone while pressing the Volume Up or Volume Down buttons a few times when you see the LED light turn pink or any other colour.

Step 11: Once you are in ClockworkMod Recovery, select perform a full data wipe by selecting ‘wipe data/factory reset'. Use the Power button to select everything while in the Recovery Mode.

Step 12: Clear cache memory of the One M8 by selecting 'wipe cache partition'

Step 13: Go back to main menu of recovery mode and select 'advance' and choose 'wipe dalvik cache' to perform complete wipe. This step optional but it is recommended to clear dalvik cache to avoid boot loops and other errors during installation.

Step 14: Again return to the main menu of the recovery mode and select 'install zip from SD card'. Navigate to the phone's SD card and select the custom ROM zip file, which you copied earlier to the root folder of phone's SD card. Repeat this step to install Google Apps as well.

Step 15: Once the custom ROM and Google Apps installation completes, go back to main menu of recovery mode and reboot the device by selecting 'reboot system now'.

Now the smartphone will take about 5 minutes to boot for the first time with custom ROM installed. That's it, now your Xperia Z3 is running the Android 5.1.1 Custom ROM. To verify go to device Settings, scroll down till you get the About Phone and tap to verify the Android version