[Sony Xperia L] Hnk1:
INTRODUCTION

I am starting this forum in hope of educating my readers about ROM development according to my experiences. Further, I will highlight what is the usual developers' thought process before they decide to build a ROM for a specific device. The reasons why they usually choose a certain device or why they prefer one device over another would also be stated briefly. I also have intention of looking into ways how we can speed up ROM productions for Xperia L and what you can do to play your part.

I UNDERSTAND YOUR FRUSTRATION FOR NO CUSTOM ROMS EVEN AFTER 7 MONTHS BUT THIS DOESNOT GIVE YOU THE RIGHT TO SPAM

I am sure many of you must be really disappointed by the lack of development for Xperia L and I know this must be frustrating when we see other devices are getting ROMS so quickly. However, sad to put this into writing that many users have indulge into SPAMMING and I have not seen a more unorganised forum at XDA for a while. I know many are too excited when they find a little about any OTA/ Custom ROM and sharing such news is fully justified after it seems plausible. However, it's beyond my logic & thinking why the forums are SPAMMED for any little information they might find anywhere regardless of their sources or if it has been ALREADY POSTED. I reckon many of these threads could have been avoided by simply searching in the forum.

ROM DEVELOPMENT

I can assure you that many develoeprs are working very hard to PORT and develop different ROMS for Xperia L. However, the reason we can not see any CUSTOM roms till yet is due to complicated nature of Xperia L itself.

Usually developers prefer a device which is :

1. Easy to work with, less complicated to code with or in other terms DEVELOPER friendly. For example, for a while I had a real issue with HTC phones as they have too many things to work with like Bootloader, S Lock, Radios, Hboot version etc while in Nexus devices you only need to unlock your device with one fastboot command. That's all and you are ready to flash ROMs.

2. Personal preference of Device. This simply means that we all have different tastes and thus we choose different devices. A certain developer might only work for a certain brand while other might work with few brands. This has nothing to do with anything but a personal choice.

3. A device that promises reward in terms of money/self satisfaction. Developers usually go for devices which have most active users so if their intention is also to get some money out of it in terms of donation, this will work well with devices which are more in number.

4. Knowledge about a certain brand more than another.

5. MONEY TO BUY A CERTAIN DEVICE/DEVICES. Suppose a developer wants to make ROMS for Xperia L/ SP/Z and Xperia U. Yet he only has 500 dollars to choose from. He then will have to make a choice between devices and this will eventually mean that not all of the devices get the same treatment. Money is the most decisive factor why a developer doesnot chose your device but rather another. For example purpose only, if I have to choose between devices, I might prefer SP over Xperia L as I can see more future of SP than Xperia L(I might be wrong).

SOME REQUESTS

Please STOP bugging developers by trivial questions. Just think how many other people ask the same question and it gets very frustrating to actually work on the device itself.

Every developer has a LIFE apart from developing ROMs. They also have a family, school, work, hobbies, bad days and so much like us. So they will do it when they feel like doing it. Just sit back and relax. Enjoy your device until developer releases the ROM for your device. Asking a REASONABLE question seems plausible but asking same questions/useless questions without using brains is just STUPID. Kindly refrain from that.

Ubberlaggydarwin has taken the initiative to work on CyanogenMod and I believe the best thing now is to be patient. Let him concentrate. Spamming and spamming again won't help really. I saw the other posts from other CM developers who clearly stated that CM team do not HAVE xperia L till yet to start working on CM and people have started SPAMMING developers, their twitters, blogs and accounts. That's really sad. You can discuss on the forum what you think about it but IRKING developers isnot really cool.

The reason of this forum is to work as a team and I am afraid we havenot been really good at it till now and moderators have to CLOSE/DELETE forums.

If you are wondering why Xperia L isnot getting many CUSTOM ROMS is that it is a complicated device and small developers are having a tough job working on it. Thus, many developers who could easily port a ROM or build one haven't been successful as their are many stumbling blocks to work with.

WHAT CAN YOU DO TO HELP DEVELOPERS AND SEE CUSTOM ROMS.

1. Search the form first and look for answers. DON'T start new posts/questions/threads when it is ALREADY mentioned in some other section.

2. STOP PMing/SPAMING developers but rather ask a question WHICH havenot been asked before in the forum. Do not engage in the habit of making a new forum for everything. Try to keep threads as little as possible.

3. Follow developers and see what they have updated about on their official twitter,facebook,etc rather than bugging them on different forums/social websites.

4 DONATE THEM. DONATE THEM . DONATE THEM!

The amount of efforts they put, sitting for hours in front of their PCs and I know how frustrating it gets when you try to run commands and everything seems to work yet you can not boot up your ROM. And worse, you can not find WHY really. Just a change in line in build.prop results in failure of ROM to boot up and specially working from source to build ROM is really really tough. The best thing you can do is being supportive and patient !

A ROM development requires not just EXCESSIVE amount of hardwork, time, energy and dedication but also they need MONEY to actually buy devices and try it on. They are happy and encouraged to keep on developing ROMs when they see their efforts are not wasted and they are rewarded and respected for what they do.

MY SUGGESTION

An easy way to encourage the developers to work for Xperia L is by donations. Give them donations to buy a specific device. In our case, we can agree on how much we all can donate. After it is learnt how many devices can be bought with donations, we can send the amount to different developers to buy Xperia L.

I give you the opportunity to write on this forum who wants to donate and whom they trust to do this job. Specific developers can be chosen.

You can discuss about why you chose a certain developer and how much he can offer. In the end, voting should be done between users who are willing to donate so we can agree who will be the best men to do this job (of developing ROMs).

I am NOT asking for any donations myself (I have no donation bar in my account) or no one has asked me to start this post.

I will appreciate that people do not SPAM THIS THREAD.

ONLY put really important points or if you are willing to donate or want to make a valid point. I will add the names and the amount any user wishes to donate so we can track how much have been donated in theory before we can actually take the next step.

Xperia L costs around US $235 in USA, GBP 217 in the UK. So even if 50 people donate around 5-7 dollars (less than one hour of your wage), we can have many ROMS and support for our device.

I donot have a paypal account and I will ask my bank if I can make transactions to PAYPAL to tell you that I am the first person to take initiative of my theory.

UPDATE : STARTED A FORUM IN DEVELOPMENT SECTION TO FIND DEVELOPERS.

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?p=47791745#post47791745

Kindly show your support and write on the thread now and then so most people can see the thread and we can reach more developers.