[Sony Xperia L] bitsnpieces:
Ah yes, sorry, forgot to mention that the Xperial L is already unlocked :)

And thanks for letting me know about StryFlex :)

Previously, I unlocked my phone, and it got caught in a boot loop, so I used Flashtool to try and flash a stock rom I found again.

I then tried rooting using vRoot, and installing TWRP Recovery via their app, but it would never install. Thus, I did Fastboot and installed it via img file (https://twrp.me/devices/sonyxperial.html - twrp-2.8.7.0-taoshan)

However, when booting into the recovery menu, there was a graphical glitch the menu was flipped around, and text information all duplicated and overlaid itself.

Is this due to the fact that I'm not rooted when I did this? Let alone the method of installation may not have been correct?

Nevertheless, I did the standard wipe (basically picked wipe and then slid the slider over to wipe) that's in there to prepare installation for BlissPop. When going to Install and choosing the BlissPop zip file, it would give me an error - thus... I my phone could not boot anymore and BlissPop wouldn't install.

I then downloaded Resurrection Remix LP, thinking maybe it was a bad file I had, zip had the same error.

I read somewhere about flashing the kernel and the files they talked about involved downloading X firmware and flashing the boot image file, so I extracted the RRLP to my computer, and flashed the boot image file in there - the phone turned on and went straight into recovery mode, this time, with the Cyanogen Recovery.

I did the wipes that were available in it again, then did the BlissPop again, and this time, it worked.

Of course, not liking BlissPop because I want the Sony interface, I'm back to the standard stock rom, looking to update - however, do I need to?

Given that 4.2.2 is all the Xperia L officially got, compared to the 5.1.1 that's out now, I'm just wondering about performance in general - would installing LolliPop actually run better than JellyBean? Or is JellyBean the technical limit of the Xperia L, which is why, alongside the fact that it's older now, that Xperia L only lasted to 4.2.2?

EDIT: Just found my answer from a different post you made:

This is an interesting statement... Could potentially downgrading the firmware give a performance boost? For example, maybe 4.1.2 - though may not have the same updated features or look of 4.2.2, as long as it still can do just about everything, and possibly use less RAM, does it technically mean it should run faster? Etc - basically, which Android would be the optimal spec that the Xperia L is suited to? Just a general inquiry this one. :)

So, on the assumption that LolliPop would perform better and the android versions should have improvements in each one and it isn't phone specific, if I was to install StryFlex, it says to use the TWRP Recovery. If it's like anything mentioned in my above experience, will I have any issues installing StryFlex? Or would I do it as a one-two combo again? Using TWRP to wipe the things mentioned in the installation instructions, then flash in the Cyanogen Recovery kernel to run the zip and install StryFlex?

What you've also mentioned is that wiping the cache and dalvik cache won't affect apps and settings, in the instructions for StryFlex, it says to change filesystem, then change only system (filesystem?), data and cache partition (without having the phone with my right now, I can't quite imagine what this is, let alone what the instructions are talking about right now), when I swipe to confirm and format these partitions, will I lose data? Will it be as SdtBarbarossa mentioned... it needs a clean install? ...

Sorry for the questions... Really thinking this should have been in the other post lol...