Sony Xperia M (sony-nicki)

Features
Flashing Whether it is possible to flash the device with pmbootstrap flasher.	Works
USB Networking After connecting the device with USB to your PC, you can connect to it via telnet (initramfs) or SSH (booted system).	Works
Battery Whether charging and battery level reporting work.	Broken
Screen Whether the display works; ideally with sleep mode and brightness control.	Broken
Touchscreen	Untested
Multimedia
3D Acceleration	Broken
Audio Audio playback, microphone, headset and buttons.	Broken
Camera	Broken
Connectivity
WiFi	Broken
Bluetooth	Broken
GPS	Broken
Modem
Calls	Broken
SMS	Broken
Mobile data	Broken
Miscellaneous
FDE Full disk encryption and unlocking with unl0kr.	Works
Sensors
Accelerometer Handles automatic screen rotation in many interfaces.	Untested

Sony Xperia M
	; Sony Xperia M
Manufacturer	Sony
Name	Xperia M
Codename	sony-nicki
Released	2013
Type	handset
Hardware
Chipset	Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Plus (MSM8227)
CPU	Dual-core 1.0 GHz Krait
GPU	Adreno 305
Display	4", 480x854 px
Storage	4 GB
Memory	1 GB
Architecture	armv7
Software
Original software The software and version the device was shipped with.	Android 4.1.x (Linux 3.4.0)
Extended version The most recent supported version from the manufacturer.	Android
postmarketOS
Category	archived
Mainline Instead of a Linux kernel fork, it is possible to run (Close to) Mainline.	no
Unixbench score Unixbench Whetstone/Dhrystone score. See Unixbench.	371.8
Device package	device-sony-nicki
Kernel package	linux-sony-nicki-mainline

This device has been archived. This means that it no longer appears in pmbootstrap and is likely broken.
It can still be selected in pmbootstrap init by typing in the vendor and codename, but you will have to build the kernel package manually.

Contributors

Konrad Dybcio (@konradybcio)
knuxify (User:Knuxify)

Device owners

Adelahmed
Eldyj (Notes: Broken touchscreen. Untested with PMOS)
ImAdam
Knuxify
SuperPou (Notes: i flashed mmcblk0 and now it is a bricc)
Tau
Zekiu (Notes: C1905; broken. no display, holding power button causes the phone to vibrate constantly; vendor: "orange")

How to enter flash mode

With device powered off, hold [VOLUME +] and plug USB cable in. Device's LED will turn blue, meaning it has entered fastboot mode.

Installation

Follow Installation/Using pmbootstrap. Select sony as the vendor and nicki as the codename.

Flashing:

Unlock the bootloader by following Sony's guide; get the unlock code from Sony's website (scroll to the bottom and choose "Xperia M" in the device selector).
Get lk2nd-msm8960.img from the latest lk2nd release and flash it to the boot partition; then reboot the device.
Once the device reboots, you should boot directly into lk2nd's fastboot; from there, use pmbootstrap flasher.

WARNING: Display and backlight are currently non-functional, both in lk2nd and in Linux. You will see a black screen when flashing and booting - this is normal, as unfortunately the stock bootloader does not initialize the screen.

Parts table and mainline status

It's worth noting that this phone was made by FIH Mobile, a subsidiary of Foxconn. The internal codename in the kernel sources is "Project S3A".

TODO: This table describes the status in the msm8227-mainline fork; the device package still needs to be updated to use it (it currently uses an older fork).

Element type	Element	Notes
Chipset	MSM8227	Mainline work being done in https://github.com/msm8227-mainline/linux. I2C, UART and USB work; storage is enabled but untested.
Graphics	Adreno 305
Display	"Orise" FWVGA ???	Can't tell the panel model from the driver. Might be one of the "Orise Technology" panels in mainline?
Touchscreen	Synaptics RMI4	Supported in mainline.
Accelerometer	Bosch BMA250	Supported in mainline.
Proximity and ambient light sensor	Capella Micro CM36283	Not supported in mainline, though may be similar to CM36651?
Magnetometer	Bosch BMM050	Supported in mainline.
NFC	PN544	Supported in mainline.
Back camera	Samsung S5K4E1/ON Semiconductor AR0543	Not supported in mainline. S5K4E1 seems to be present on my device. AR0543 datasheet
Camera flash	TI LM3642	Supported in mainline.
Selfie camera	Himax HM03D5	Not supported in mainline.
RGB LED	PWM-based ???
PMIC	PM8038/PM8921
Audio codec	WCD9304 (WCD9310?)

Additional info

UART location

The UART pins are located on the phone's motherboard. They take some effort to get to - you have to:

Take off the back casing and inner frame (you will need to undo the screws, then pry it up until all clips are undone)
Take off the SIM/SD card board
Take off the shield around the CPU/RAM (it can be lifted out of place with some prying, it's not soldered in place).

Full disassembly instructions can be found in the service manual - follow steps 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, then 4.24. After that, you should have access to the main portion of the motherboard and can take off the CPU shield.

See the photo on the side for UART locations. The output voltage is 1.8v. (Note that "UART TX" refers to the board's TX and should be connected to the receiver's RX pin.)

Partition list

Device	Label	Size in blocks
mmcblk0p1	TA	2048
mmcblk0p2	sbl1	128
mmcblk0p3	sbl2	256
mmcblk0p4	s1sbl2	256
mmcblk0p5	sbl3	512
mmcblk0p6	aboot	512
mmcblk0p7	tz	512
mmcblk0p8	alt_sbl1	128
mmcblk0p9	alt_sbl2	256
mmcblk0p10	alt_s1sbl2	256
mmcblk0p11	alt_sbl3	512
mmcblk0p12	alt_aboot	512
mmcblk0p13	alt_tz	512
mmcblk0p14	rpm	512
mmcblk0p15	alt_rpm	512
mmcblk0p16	LTALabel	16384
mmcblk0p17	boot	20480
mmcblk0p18	modem	65536
mmcblk0p19	modemst1	3072
mmcblk0p20	modemst2	3072
mmcblk0p21	fsg	3072
mmcblk0p22	ramdump	5120
mmcblk0p23	FOTAKernel	16384
mmcblk0p24	persist	4096
mmcblk0p25	system	1228800
mmcblk0p26	cache	256000
mmcblk0p27	data	2183151