[Sony Ericsson Xperia Neo, Pro] eklavya:
Hi,

I know there are a lot of guides out there but you still might want to read it :)

What are the different things I need to know ?

Well you will hear three terms very often. Baseband, Kernel and the ROM. Lets see what they are.

Baseband :

A firmware to drive the radio (2G/3G) chipset in your phone. Most of the time you don't need to bother thinking about it. But you might need to upgrade this firmware in order to get optimum performance. Just think of it as something you won't need to apply unless explicitly specified. For you xperia neo v, you can find out the baseband version by going into phone info and looking up baseband version number. I have not flashed any baseband. I recommend if you have not rooted/flashed your phone, install the official sony update you'll get the latest baseband without any troubles, this is what I did. Although if you need to flash it, there are very many tutorials available on this forum. You can check out the flashtool androxyde . github . com / Flashtool (sorry for the spaces in the links. I can't post outside links because of some forum rules which don't make any sense whatsoever)

Kernel:

This is the Linux (android) kernel image that drives all the hardware. Always install (flash) the recommended kernel for any ROM. Installing kernel and ROM is an absolute must.

ROM:

This is the actual thing you see running on your phone. It consists of the modified android source, user interface tweaks, the apps and some under the hood modifications done by the ROM developer for ex. cyanogenmod.

Now lets setup you linux (ubuntu) install fo installing a custom ROM on your phone.

Follow this wiki : wiki. cyanogenmod. com / wiki / Howto:_Install_the_Android_SDK

Don't forget to setup Udev by making a file /etc/udev/rules.d/51-android.rules with contents as

SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ATTR{idVendor}=="0fce", MODE="0666", GROUP="plugdev"

now restart your udev daemon by running "sudo restart udev".

Now yo have the necessary kernel and ROM flashing tools at your disposal. I am going to tell you how to achieve a fast and very battery efficient cyanogenmod install.

1) Download CM9 ROM and gapps(for google apps) from here

ROM: download. cyanogenmod. com /get / jenkins/4630/cm-9.0.0-RC2-haida.zip

Gapps: cmw. 22aaf3. com/gapps /gapps-ics-20120317-signed.zip

Copy these two zips to your phone's sd card.

2) Download night elf's kernel for cyanogenmod 9 from here mediafire. com /?nm7g0zid8aazfl1

3) Follow this guide wiki. cyanogenmod. com/wiki/Sony_Ericsson_Xperia_Neo:_Full_Update_Guide

But instead of flashing the kernel inside the zip, flash the night elf's kernel (just provide the path to night elf's kernel instead of the ROM's boot.img).

4) As told in the link given in above step flash both the zips. Before flashing you may also clear the Dalvik cache by going into advanced options in the recovery menu.

5) Reboot your phone. Don't turn off the GPS !!! There is a bug in CM9 RC2 which results in substantial hit on battery life. Just let it be. Anyways the GPS antenna is turned off unless any application is using it.

I am having approx more than two days of battery life with light/moderate usage (No data connection, occasional wifi).

CM9 may not be the best looking ROM. But I can assure you nothing beats it in the performance and the default setup (its very sane !!! No need to change anything at all). Also I only trust cyanogen community with all my very personal information (its my phone, it has everything !! :p ). If you need eye candy more and are comfortable with taking privacy risks, you may try MIUI and the dozens more ROM in the thread. I am not trying to offend anyone, its just my opinion, feel free to call me paranoid.

Always keep in mind that there are no stupid questions only stupid answers :) Ask away !!

I wish you a free and serene future.