[Sony Ericsson Xperia Mini, Mini Pro, Xperia Pro, A] foggyflute:
Hello guys, if you're noob and looking for a start with Ray, this post may help you for the first step into having a stable and smooth working phone so you can start with other stuff easier.

It's how I setup my phone, you still have many other options to do with your phone after this.

Read from the begining till the end of this post before starting.

I will point you to where to get unlocked bootloader, kernel, rom, and some useful apps.

If you guys have question about them, ask in the original thread.

1/ Unlock bootloader - Check link in option C if you want to stay locked

If you want custom kernel, you will need to unlock the bootloader, the locked bootloader prevent many hacks and mods so Sony and carriers will have less bricked phone and less worry to support people dont know why "this not work and that not work" because they dont know what they doing. If you unlock it, you should know what you're doing, and Sony will not help you after this, because you voided the warranty.

There's two way to do it​

A/official way:

http://unlockbootloader.sonymobile.com/

B/Unofficial way:

http://androidflip.com/unlock-xperia-phones-bootloader-without-losing-drm-data-track-id-working/

I prefer the method B, it's easier for me, and I scared of those FOTA brick that I dont know. Please READ ALL THE INSTRUCTION there before starting. I can not give you more detail instruction than that blog post, and I'm not able to help you, I just point you to where you can get the solution.

After you finish, head to this thread and thanks the guy:

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1363847

C/STAY locked.

Of course you may yourself comfortable without install AOKP, CM9 or CM10, but install modded kernel is like moving from single core to dual core computer, everthing faster and smoother at the level custom ROM can not give you.

You can skip this and the next step if still want to run locked, other stuff still useful, you will need to head to THIS THREAD FOR LOCKED BOOTLOADER to download rom and have fun:

http://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=29503642&postcount=330​

2/Install KERNEL

Stay with Sirkay kernel [ XRay V7.3.431 ] ICS 4.0.4, if you curious why I dont recomend the ver 8.x but ver 7.x, READ HIS THREAD. And press thanks to him when you download the kernel.

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1544513

The instruction is on the top of first post. REMEMBER TO INSTALL DRIVER COME WITH FLASHTOOL.

Install the kernel will be very quick so head to the next step and download the rom and put it in your sd card so you can boot right into cwm after install the kernel.

Remember to click thank to the man who make the kernel.​

3/install ROM

now you installed the kernel, you will see red text "xray.kernel" under Sony logo when boot up, if not, head back to step 2, you did something wrong, flash it again, there's no hurt to your phone.

I like to use JJ's Rom for stablity and fully sony functions from my phone.

head to this thread:

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1535971

Again, read all the instruction before you start (post 2, post 4 and post 10 to, dont just read the first post). The instruction will be a bit short if you are new to android, so I will give you some detail:

After you flashed the kernel, it come with CWM (clock work mod)

When the phone boot up and you see the red boot screen, the phone will vibrate , press volume down right after you feel the vibrate, you will get into CWM, choose reset, then wipe cache, then select advance, wipe dalvik and battery cache too. After all the wipe, choose zip file to install and choose the ROM in your SD card, it will take sometime, make sure your phone batt is over 50% before start with kernel or rom install to prevent something can happen. (you can use vol up/down and home button to navigate if you dont like the on screen buttons)

And dont try to install those add on in post 2 before you finish with the rom, some will crash or not working at all, after finish install the rom, just boot to the rom first, leave it with charge for 1 hour, you can setup and install some stuff first.

You may find wifi not working, and after restart, still not working, flash the kernel again, still not working: try this http://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=28633889&postcount=8

NOT ALL ROM CONTROL OPTIONS WORK, READ THE POST #10 in ROM THREAD.

And remember to click thank to the man who make the rom.​

4/Other stuff

A/ROM ADDON

Now you got a working phone

There's some addon for JJ's ROM that I like:

Paranoma camera and this camera mod: http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1791746 (thanks to the original guy who make this mod too: http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1742758)

inverted contact and inverted SMS, white on those app is awful, but white on gmail app is okay for me :D

ICS camera skin is look good too.

Sony keyboard (I use keyboard for my language so I dont need it)

I love my bootanimation: http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1745218

or you can head to arc forum and find some good stuffs, JB nexus boot look good too.

My toogle mod: http://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=29152491&postcount=2499 (it's just comestic, but easier to spot which one is on)​

B/APPS

Some app you will need (just type the name in google play, it hard to get the wrong app):

Google+: fixed "me" contact in your phone contact.

Contact photo sync: So gmail dont push ****ty low res image back to your contact.

Link2SD: Internal mem is short for install app, but I dont like that I can not use my app when mount the SD card to PC, so I install this one, it can move any app to SD card, very awesome

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=919326 thanks this guy

If you dont know how to make second partition, here: http://www.xperiablog.net/2011/12/12/link2sd-guide-never-worry-about-internal-memory-limits-again/ (this blog is all about Xperia and update daily, worth to follow if you like Sony phones).

aLogcat: if something wrong with app or rom, report it to the author with the log when it occured will helping A LOT, so keep it.

Terminal emulator: some time, you will need to do stuff with the linux command (ping, traceroute, zip something for backup or move) , so keep it. You have busybox installed with this rom already.

Advanced Brightness: brightness by hour of the day, auto brightness cant beat it. you may want to enable rom control option to slide the status bar to adjust brightness, you can disable the brightness slider in notification drop down cause it's still buggy.

FasterGPS: change NPT server to your location so you can get GPS location faster.

No-frills CPU control: JJ introduce it on his thread so I will not repeat, but you should read this thread to find what you like to set it: http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1631894 and thank that guy after reading.

Power control: widget to do more stuff than the toggles of this rom.

Slider widget: I like to control all the volume setting.

Weather eye: best free weather widget.

Apex launcher: better than the trebuchet come with rom: you can change icon, rename, and add shortcut to activites (like go right to telther or running services setting). I install Lock screen app and set to double tap on home to lock the phone, no need to reach power button, convenient :P

Battery Monitor: I like to know battery temp, this one is the lightest come with holo theme. If you just need %, change it in rom control.

You may like Solid Explorer Beta2, but MIUI explorer come with the rom can do just fine :)

Some other very good app: appaware, eval calculator, go backup (so i dont need to do manual install with titanium), MX player, zipsigner2, soundhound, XDA app, etc...

END

That's all, it's the basic. after you bored with this rom and kernel,

you can make nandroid backup in cwm and try some other rom: CM9, paranoid android, etc...

Anything will be easier for you since you got more exp with all those tool

Now time to show some screenshot: