Nowadays, sections are filled with a huge number of ROMs since everyone is compiling their own and distributing it to the public. So, if someone has just entered the Android Custom world then he or she is surely going to get perplexed with the number of ROMs available out there. So to aid you and to follow our old ritual of releasing the Best Custom ROMs series for various devices, we are going to do the same and today is the turn for the Best Custom ROMs for Xperia Z C660/C6602/C6603. This list here will ease up the process of finding the best suitable Custom ROM for yourself. We’re going to handpick only certain ROMs on the basis of few aspects viz Stability, features, performance and battery life.
The remarkable SONY flagship ‘Xperia Z’ was released in January 2013 featuring Qualcomm MDM9215M Quad-Core 1.5 GHz Krait processor, a 13.1 MP primary camera, a 5 inches 1080p full-HD screen with shatterproof and scratch-resistant glass, and SONY Mobile Bravia Engine 2. Having such a marvelous hardware, yet the device is not performing at its full potential. To unlock the same, you will have to Install one of these Custom ROMs.
Before you read further, here are a few things that you’ll require to do. The first and the foremost is to root and then Install a Custom Recovery like TWRP (recommended). Both of these could be done easily by our guides, just click on the links below and follow.
How to Root Xperia Z (C660, C6602 and C6603) on Firmware Version 10.3.1.A.0.244/2.67
How to Install TWRP on Xperia Z with Locked Bootloader
1. CM11 FXP ROM for Xperia Z
Developer: FXP
About the ROM
CyanogenMod is a very popular and stable ROM and not only this, it is also one of the very few Custom ROMs that are available since the beginning of Android (Thanks to Steve Kondik, and his team). FXP or ‘FreeXperia Project’ was first initiated back in the Gingerbread era to reach out SONY’s unsupported devices (In terms of updates) and also to port the popular CM ROM to the same devices. The main idea was to stay updated with the new versions of Android via CyanogenMod. In this long run, FXP began with low-end devices like X8, X10 etc and now supports almost every high-end device like the Xperia Z series.
The latest ROM that FXP supports is the CyanogenMod 11 based on KitKat 4.4.2. According to the users, CM11 by FXP team is highly recommended for those who seek limited but useful features and prefer minimalism in terms of ROM content. To be short, “plain and simple”.
Read more at CyanogenMod website for its features. Visit the FXP website for more information on ROM, changelogs and news. Also , isit the XDA thread for interacting with other users.
How to Install
- Download ROM and GApps
- Connect the device to the PC and transfer the zip files to a suitable location.
- Disconnect the device
- Power off the device (Skip steps 5 to 7 if you have TWRP installed)
- Hold Volume up button and plug in the USB device to boot into fastboot mode (Blue LED will flash)
- Extract boot.img from the downloaded ROM zip file.
- Open a CMD window in the folder where the boot.img is extracted and type in the following commands one after the other
fastboot flash boot boot.img
fastboot reboot
- While boot the LED will flash violet 3 times, during this press the Volume up key to boot into recovery mode.
- Flash the ROM zip file followed by GApps.
- Wipe Data and cache paritions.
- Reboot the device.
2. AOKP ROM for Xperia Z
Developer: championswimmer
About the ROM
Another very well-known ROM for its unique features. AOKP stands for Android Open Kang Project and was built first during the release of Android Ice Cream Sandwich. The team and the ROM has always displayed a full sync to its users, which according to me is a very responsible thing to do. For now, the ROM is following Nightly releases until a completely stable state is attained to be treated as a milestone. The ROM is famous for its smooth UI, stability and features like Custom QS Toggles, Vibration Patterns, AOKP Ribbons, Navigation Rings, LED Controls etc.
Any user, who wants some real features accompanied by stability should go for this ROM.
Visit AOKP website for feature details, news, changelogs and social channels. Also visit the XDA thread.
How to Install
- Copy ROM and GApps to the SDcard or Internal Storage
- Make sure to have TWRP or any other Kernel installed which has a recovery
- Reboot device, press Volume up to boot into recovery mode and the LED will be pink.
- If coming from a previous version like JB 4.2 or 4.3, make sure to wipe data and cache partitions or Factory reset
- Flash ROM zip
- Flash GApps zip
- Reboot the device
3. ParanoidAndroid ROM for Xperia Z
Developer: SuperHanss
About the ROM
The most anticipated ROM for an Android device. the ROM that actually changed how we define the word innovation. The team has always made unique inventions, the first and foremost Hybrid Engine, which lets you switch between various UI modes, Per-app colors that enables colors with respect to every app, Pie Controls that made navigation controls interactive and more useful, and Halo which changed the way of receiving and dealing with notifications and multitasking. Unfortunately, only Pie controls is the only feature that has made its way to PA 4+ based on KitKat due to a lot code changes from JB to KK. Don’t you worry, all of these are a WIP and coming back soon. Apart from this another great feature introduced lately is Peek, which in many cases resembles Moto X’s ActiveDisplay, but is still way different and unique.
The ROM offers its users with great stability and unique features. So if you seek something different, PA is the best choice. The performance of this ROM is completely Kernel based since it uses stock kernel. To vary the performance use any AOSP based kernel.
Visit the PA blog and Google+ community for news, changelogs and much more. Also visit the XDA thread.
How to Install
- Download the ROM and GApps
- Connect the device to the PC and transfer the zip files to a suitable location.
- Disconnect the device
- Power off the device (Skip steps 5 to 7 if you have TWRP installed)
- Hold Volume up button and plug in the USB device to boot into fastboot mode (Blue LED will flash)
- Extract boot.img from the downloaded ROM zip file.
- Open a CMD window in the folder where the boot.img is extracted and type in the following commands one after the other
fastboot flash boot boot.img
fastboot reboot
- While booting the LED will flash violet 3 times, during this press the Volume up key to boot into recovery mode.
- Factory Reset
- Wipe cache and dalvik
- Install ROM and GApps
- Reboot the phone
4. SlimKat ROM for Xperia Z
Developer: ebelos
About the ROM
SlimROM began its journey as SlimBean which was based on Jellybean. It has now migrated to KitKat source, renaming the KitKat based releases to be SlimKat. It is an extraordinary ROM based on AOSP source, which has always emphasized on User Interface customization but not on the sake of stability or performance. The major features outlined are the Real Dark Slim, Custom Shortcuts on Navigation bar/ring, lockscreen etc, additional camera features like true-view and smart capture, Slim Recents, Slim Pie and Slim Center which lets you manage everything on your SlimKat.
According to the users, the ROM has been highly awaited. People claimed it to be one of the best custom ROM available for Xperia Z because it full of customization and performance.
Visit the Slimroms website for more information, news and changelog Also visit the XDA thread.
How to Install
- Download latest SlimKat and latest gapps and put on your sd card.
- Reboot to recovery.
- In recovery make a full wipe as per these instructions:
- In TWRP choose advanced in wipe section and wipe dalvik cache, cache, system and data.
- Flash SlimKat rom zip.
- Flash SlimKat gapps zip.
- Reboot, setup and enjoy.
Voila! We’re done with the list. Its your turn now to pick up the best for you. Stay tuned until we get back with some more Best Custom ROMs for Xperia Z.
this is the best article I found so far – in search of the best custom rom for Xperia Z. but since it’s kinda out-dated don’t u think it’s time to update it @Dhananjay Bhardwaj ? cuz I Believe it’ll do good!
anyway, thanx for ur good info man m/
Hi Ali, we’ll update the article in a couple of days. Thanks for the appreciation!