[Sony Xperia XZ1 Compact Guides, News, & Discussion] Ephesus:
Hi everyone,

The official Pixel Experience ROM is becoming more stable and usable for our device, but there is no thread for it here on XDA so I thought I should put together some instructions for anyone who might be interested in trying it out.

Disclaimer:

This is not a beginners guide to flashing custom ROMs. If you have questions about specific steps I might be able to help you but I might have to refer you to other threads.

I am not one of the developers or maintainers for the official ROM, I'm just putting some instructions together because I had to do quite some digging on the internet in order to find all the instruction to install and get the ROM working. So hopefully this can help someone out.

Also these instructions are based on my personal experience and how I was able to get the ROM up and running so if any of the steps are unnecessary or I missed something just let me know and I will update the thread.

Read through all the instructions before going ahead with the installation, and I offer no warranty as something could go wrong at any step that is out of my control.

What is Pixel Experience?(from the PE website)

About Us

PixelExperience is an AOSP based ROM, with Google apps included and all Pixel goodies (launcher, wallpapers, icons, fonts, bootanimation).

Our mission is to offer the maximum possible stability and security, along with essential and useful features for the proper functioning of the device.

Official Pixel Experience for Sony Support Channel:

https://t.me/PixelExperienceSony

Official Website Link:

https://download.pixelexperience.org/

Additional Features

-AOSP Based which means:

-no stock cam or slow-mo

-RAW support in camera, can be used with apps such as Open Camera

-almost fully working Gcam with portrait mode and HDR+, (not included in the ROM but can be installed)

-Need to flash Xperia ODM for ROM to work

Requirements:

-unlocked bootloader

-at least 30 minutes of free time

-basic rom flashing knowledge

-fastboot and sony drivers installed

Install Instructions:

-Flash latest stock firmware with newflasher, boot to the device and go through the initial setup skipping as many things as possible such as signing into a google account.

Safe downgrade instructions if coming from another version of android or upgrading: https://xdaforums.com/xperia-xz1-compact/help/help-t3889845

Read the whole thread just to make sure you are doing it right.

-Install latest TWRP using fastboot.

TWRP Download Link: https://xdaforums.com/xperia-xz1-compact/development/recovery-twrp-3-1-1-stock-security-t3706704

Boot into fastboot mode by turning off the device, holding down the volume up button while connecting it to via USB to your computer. Then type

fastboot flash recovery twrpxxx.img

to flash twrp to recovery

-Download and flash the latest version of the Official Pixel Experience 10, or 10 (plus edition). Differences explained in the second post.

PE Download Link: https://download.pixelexperience.org/g8441

-Before rebooting shutdown from TWRP and boot into fastboot mode.

-Donwload the latest Xperia ODM binares.

From the link download the latest version for "Yoshino": https://developer.sony.com/develop/open-devices/downloads/software-binaries/

-In fastboot mode flash the download ODM binaries with

fastboot flash oem SW_binaries_for_Xperia_Android_xxxxxxx.img

-Then

fastboot -w

This erases user data but this step gave an error for me so we will solve this is a second.

-Now boot to ROM. It might take a while to boot but you should see the google boot animation with the moving progress bar.

-Quickly go through setup without setting anything up. So skip wifi, google account, everything. We will set this up later.

-Once setup is skipped, go to setting and to a factory data reset.

-This will reboot the phone and wipe user data. Let it do its thing and it will reboot in a bit.

-Once it is back to the setup screen you are good to go and setup as normal. Enjoy your Pixel Experience device.

If you encounter any issues during or after install please report it in the official telegram channel:

https://t.me/PixelExperienceSony

Optional Steps and more info in second post. Any feedback and updates are appreciated.