[Xperia Z3 Compact Original Android Development] okij:
User experiences and issue list for 2019-03-11 Release

First of all, thanks to [MENTION=3816568]Myself5[/MENTION], [MENTION=5621191]rcstar6696[/MENTION] and all other members of the CarbonROM team for the release of CarbonROM 6.1 Oreo for our device! :good::victory:

User experiences with CarbonROM 6.1:

Installation was smooth. I flashed cr-6.1 and OpenGapps ARM 8.1 on top of my working cr-5.1 installation (dirty flash), so all of my apps and their settings were kept. MindTheGapps 8.1.0 arm, which are recommended by the Carbon devs, are also working fine. Keep in mind that there is no guarantee that a dirty flash works in all cases, so you might have to wipe your data partition. This generally is recommended when updating to a new Android version anyway.

Besides of some small issues (see below), everything runs stable and the system is snappy and smooth. Thermal management and charging speed is fine.

Magisk 16.0 works fine, as well as Xposed Framework (SDK 27) v90-beta3 or alternatively Systemless Xposed (SDK 27) v90.1-beta3 Magisk module. However, there are some force-closes of background apps every now and then, caused by the beta status of Xposed v90.

My Xperia Torch Boost Magisk module is still working well on cr-6.1.

Selinux is set to enforcing, just as it was in cr-5.1.

I found out that Android Messages SMS/MMS app has a high battery drain, which e.g. is also reported for Pixel devices on Android 8 Oreo, so a general bug by Google. Because of this, I switched to Textra SMS (of course you can also use one of the other SMS/MMS apps around), which fixes the battery drain.

Improvements in comparison to cr-5.1:

The camera button now acts exactly like in Sony Stock ROMs, so now focussing and taking pictures is possible with Stock Sony Camera. You can also invoke the Stock Sony Camera by long-pressing the camera button, just like in Stock ROMs, but this doesn't work when the device is off or locked. In this case you can use a double press on the power button, which can be enabled in Carbon Fibers settings.

Booting the device is noticably faster than on cr-5.1.

Lower battery drain than on cr-5.1.

Better, more uniform design.

The ROM is being updated to the latest Android Security Patches.

Apps can be "locked" in the Recent Apps, so when pressing the Clean All button, they keep running.

4K video recordings are possible.

Missing features in comparison to cr-5.1:

There is no option to turn on Network Traffic Indicators yet. (This has been added in 2018-04-05 Weekly.)

Default Camera-App does not allow to save photos to sd-card, puts photos in wrong orientation and is all around very limited. However, there are good alternatives like Open Camera and the Stock Sony Camera. (Since 2018-05-01 Weekly, Snap Camera is used again.)

Issues in Carbon ROM 6.1:

Video recording doesn't work yet with the built-in Camera app, as well as with several other apps like Open Camera and the Stock Sony Camera. Until this is fixed, you can use Footej Camera for video recording as a workaround. (This has been fixed in 2018-05-08 Weekly by [MENTION=2233641]AdrianDC[/MENTION] and Milos Ratkovic.)

DoubleTap2Wake isn't working yet. (This has been fixed in 2018-04-11 Weekly.)

The SystemUI (Quick Settings etc.) always is shown in white theme. I know that this is Oreo's default design, but it should change to dark theme when using a dark wallpaper. (See [MENTION=3816568]Myself5[/MENTION]'s reply in post #14.)

The gyroscope doesn't work properly yet with certain apps, e.g. Vr Tester - Gyroscope Sensor App and Accelerometer Gyro Tester. (Obviously this is a bug of those apps or of Oreo in general, since [MENTION=3816568]Myself5[/MENTION] could reproduce it on his Pixel 2 XL device, running on stock ROM. Many other apps that use the gyroscope are working fine on cr-6.1.)

Saving and accessing files on SD card doesn't work for certain apps and tools, which could be a Linux permission or SELinux denial issue. For further information and partial workarounds, see post #45, post #49 and post #51. (This has been fixed in 2018-06-05 Weekly.)

Screen Cast still isn't working for me with 2018-04-11 Weekly (I tested this with a Sony and an LG Smart TV which both connected fine to my Z3c on stock ROMs), even with the new boot image from post #103 which is working with [MENTION=3816568]Myself5[/MENTION]'s Fire TV stick and Wireless Display Adapter. This has been fixed in 2018-04-17 Weekly.

WiFi isn't working on 5 GHz band in some countries, as has been reported in post #1634 on the Z2 cr-6.1 thread, including links to posts with possible workarounds and fixes. There's also an article in the xda wiki with further information. Since 2018-05-01 Weekly, Germany (DE) is used as Wifi country code, but there have been several reports by users from other countries that this doesn't work for them, so is not an universal fix. As a workaround, until this is fixed, you can use my Magisk module from post #195, which you have to change to your own country code by following the instructions that I gave there. Edit: [MENTION=4872825]marcogiannetta[/MENTION] posted an improved Magisk module in post #373 which changes the Wifi Country Code accordingly to the system language. A similar issue (wifi dosent connect in Iran) also has been reported on the bug tracker and is being looked after by the devs. Edit: According to post #2092 on the Z2 thread, this issue can also be fixed by installing WiFi regional problem solver Xposed module.

Music files can't be played from SD card with Vanilla Music, Sony Music and several other players. This issue was fixed in 2018-05-08 Nightly, but reappeared on 2018-05-15 Nightly. Until this is fixed again, you can use jetAudio HD Music Player as a workaround. (This has quickly been fixed again in the 20180515-2340 Weekly build.)

When making a screenshot via the Power menu, most of the time the Power menu itself is visible in the screenshot. There should be a slight delay (just 1/10th second might already be sufficient), so the Power menu is already hidden again before the screenshot is taken. This has been fixed in 2018-07-05 Weekly.

Apps like Netflix, MyCanal and MagineTV don't work because DRM WideVine is not supported yet, whereas in CarbonROM 5.1 it was supported. This has been fixed in 2018-08-15 Release.

Lock screen rotation has been removed since 2018-09-11 Release. It was a useful feature when using the phone in landscape orientation e.g. in a car holder and IMO should be added again. Edit1: As a workaround, I made LockscreenRotationEnabler Magisk module which adds this functionality by adding a setting to 'build.prop'. Edit2: Lock screen rotation can also be enabled with GravityBox [O] Xposed module.

NFC extended length isn't supported, which is needed e.g. for reading identity cards with apps like AusweisApp2. (This has been fixed in 2019-03-11 Release.)

NFC-HCE isn't supported, which is needed for Google Pay. (This has been fixed in 2019-03-11 Release.)

Wish list for some further improvement of Carbon ROM 6.1:

Long press camera button to wake and launch camera app when the screen is off or the phone is locked. Edit: I found a workaround which I described in this post.

A toggle to switch to dark UI theme for quick settings. Edit1: The dark UI theme can be forced with ForceDarkModeOreo Xposed module. Edit2: ForceDarkModeOreo unfortunately is one of the Xposed module which cause random app crashes, so it's not advisable to use it. Let's hope that the devs will add this feature eventually.