How To: Transform Your Android into a Sony Xperia Z3

Sony's latest flagship, the Xperia Z3, comes with some pretty high-end hardware, but what really draws me to it are the aesthetics of its ROM, Xperia UI. Even though my HTC One M8 can still go toe-to-toe with the Z3 in a performance matchup, there is something about Sony's UI that is simply missing from my HTC.

Ben Ling must share my sentiment, because he took it upon himself to do a complete system dump of his Z3 and share all of the apps that came preloaded with it. With his port of core Z3 apps, like the Z3 launcher and Walkman, you can make any Android running KitKat feel like a Z3, and you do not even need root access!

Launcher, Home Screen, & Sounds

While there are many layers to an Android smartphone, the first to catch your eye are usually the launcher and its widgets, so we will start our conversion there.

The Xperia Launcher functions just like its Sense counterpart, but with a few added perks, like a new slide-out menu on the app drawer and a more comprehensive long-press home screen menu. The launcher and widgets will install just like any other APK, but you will need to enable Unknown Sources in your security settings first.

• Xperia Home Launcher
• Photo Widget
• World Clock Widget
• Weather Widget
• Clock Widget

You can also change your your background to one of the static Z3 wallpapers, or the Xperia live wallpaper. The wallpaper folder will first need to be unzipped with a file explorer like ES File Explorer.

• Z3 Wallpapers
• Z3 Xperia Live Wallpaper

To finish the transformation, you can replace the sounds on your device. Included in Ling's system dump are new alarms, notifications, and ringtones. After unzipping the audio archive, you will need to copy the contents into their appropriate folders on your device.

• Z3 Sounds

Sony Xperia Apps

Now that you have your phone looking and sounding like a Z3, it's time it started acting like one. Ling included ports of the Movies, Walkman, Photo Album, Audio Recorder, and Sketch apps.

• Movies
• Walkman
• Photo Album
• Audio Recorder
• Sketch

The Movies app also comes with Gracenote integration, so you can have all your movies' information tagged effortlessly.

When coupled with the Xperia Camera, the only thing left to tell your M8 apart from a Z3 will be the front facing speakers! Be sure to ask me any questions you have about this, or any other guide, in the comment section below as well as on Facebook and Twitter.