Install CM12 Nightlies on Xperia Z1 Compact and Update to Android 5.0.2 Lollipop OS

The team CyanogenMod finally released their CM 12 Nightlies built for various Android powered devices. Well, among these devices we have the Sony Xperia Z1 Compact, a great smartphone that is now ready to embrace the latest Android firmware: Lollipop 5.0.2.

Therefore, if you are thinking in updating your Xperia Z1 Compact with a custom ROM, why not using the new CM 12 Nightlies firmware? The ROM is stable, works without issues and most important comes pre installed with Android 5.0.2 Lollipop OS.

The Nightlies release of CM12 represents an official roll out made available by those of CM. The firmware is therefore stable and smooth and also fully optimized and customized for your Sony Xperia Z1 Compact. Moreover, according to the users who have already tested this software, CM 12 is coming without any software related problems on the Xperia Z1 Compact – you can flash the OS for a daily use as you will not find bugs, lags, or other similar issues.

CM 12 for Xperia Z1 Compact isn’t however an official Android OS. That means you shouldn’t associate this update with Sony or with Google. Thus, the present Android 5.0.2 Lollipop built is provided by third party devs – the ROM is nothing but a free aftermarket distribution of Lollipop OS.

Because of that, if you install CM12 on your Z1 Compact, you will lose the warranty of your phone. You see, that’s happening when you are flashing custom ROMs and when you are completing unofficial operations. Don’t worry though, as if you stay close to the guidelines from below, nothing bad will happen.

The best is that once CM 12 is applied, your Xperia Z1 Compact will run better and also faster. At the same time, you will then be able to tweak your Android device by improving battery life and by customizing and optimizing other general features. In that matter, you should know that CM12 comes pre installed with both stock and extra Android 5.0.2 Lollipop features and apps (you will get features that cannot be found on the default Android system).

A custom ROM is different than the official Android update. Thus, for being able to install CM12 on your Android device, first you will have to root your Sony Xperia Z1 Compact. Moreover, after ensuring root access you need to flash a custom recovery image on your smartphone – you should use CWM or TWRP recovery in that matter.

These are only few of the general pre requisites. You can check all the stuffs that must be ensured before applying this tutorial here – basically you have to perform things like: ensuring that you can use a computer, making a general backup along with a Nandroid backup, enabling USB debugging on your phone, charge your device and so on (check the link from above before going any further).

Now, let’s see how you can update your Sony Xperia Z1 Compact to Android 5.0.2 Lollipop with CM 12 custom ROM firmware.

Install CM12 Nightlies on Xperia Z1 Compact and Update to Android 5.0.2 Lollipop OS

1. From this page you can download the official Nightlies built of CM 12 custom ROM.
2. Save the file on your computer – on desktop if possible, but don’t unzip the update package.
3. Then, copy-paste the update on your phone’s SD card – first connect your smartphone with your PC via USB cable.
4. Next, unplug the USB cable, turn off your phone and finally enter recovery mode on your Android device.
5. Perfect; now from recovery select the following options: “wipe data factory reset”, “wipe cache partition” and “wipe dalvik cache”.
6. Good; the next thing to do is to navigate towards the main menu of recovery.
7. Then, pick “install zip from SD card” and “choose zip from SD card”.
8. Select the CM 12 firmware file and just install Android 5.0.2 Lollipop OS on your Xperia Z1 Compact.
9. Do note that CM12 isn’t coming with Google Apps preinstalled; so use recovery mode for installing Google Apps on your phone (the flashing procedure is the same with the one used on the custom ROM).

That’s great; you have successfully installed Android 5.0.2 Lollipop on your own Sony Xperia Z1 Compact, which means that CM 12 Nightlies is smoothly running on your Android device.