14 DAY TRIAL // Sony Xperia Z is one of the lucky smartphones that will eventually receive an upgrade to Android 4.4.2 KitKat operating system. According to Sony, that will happen sometime in May, but an exact release date has yet to be unveiled.
Until then, those who have already rooted their Xperia Z units or want to try out an earlier version of KitKat can download the latest official ROM that leaked online several hours ago.
We reported earlier this week that the first KitKat build for Xperia Z, firmware version 10.5.A.0.227, popped up on Sony's EMMA flashing tool.
XperiaBlog also published some screenshots provided by XDA developer DooMLoRD, which were taken from an Xperia Z device running this particular build.
Today, DooMLoRD is back with yet more news on the long-awaited Android 4.4.2 KitKat update for Sony Xperia Z. In fact, he posted the firmware build that appeared on EMMA, so all Xperia Z owners with unlocked bootloaders can experience the goodness of the latest version of Android.
According to him, the KitKat ROM for Xperia Z features build number 10.5.A.0.227 and was initially aimed only for developer devices (brown ones). However, DooMLoRD managed to tweak it to make it work on retail Xperia Z handsets.
As we have mentioned earlier, your Xperia Z will need to have the bootloader unlocked and working recovery, in order to install the leaked ROM. Also, keep in mind that this build should be compatible with both Xperia Z C6602 and C6603 model numbers.
As with all these more or less official ROMs, make sure you know what your are doing before attempting to flash it into your smartphone, as you might brick it.
In this particular case, you might also want to know that this KitKat ROM for Xperia Z is a very early build, which means it's also very laggy. The information has been confirmed by DooMLoRD as well, so flash it only if you are willing to sacrifice functionality over good looks and new features.
Even though this build comes from Sony Mobile via a developer, there's no telling whether or not more features will be added in the final version. There's always the chance that some feature may be removed entirely, although we hope this won't happen in this case.
Anyway, for more details on how to download and install this Android 4.4.2 KitKat ROM for Xperia Z, you may want to head over to the original thread.
[UPDATE]: According to DooMLoRD, those who have flashed this KitKat ROM for Xperia Z should disable all animations and enable Force GPU rendering in Developer options, then reboot. That way, the ROM will run without any lags.