Until Sony decides to adorn your Xperia Z3 with the beautiful Android 5.1.1 Lollipop in July, here is how to do it manually. The very popular Carbon ROM is now updated to Android 5.1.1 and enjoy the very latest features of Lollipop. Follow this guide to flash Android 5.1.1 for Xperia Z3.

- Also, read: Galaxy S6 edge Tips to Help You Take the Best Out of Your Curved Phone

CarbonROM Android 5.1.1 features:

Audio
AudioFX Equalizer
AOSP & CM Audio features
Slim Extra features like:
Camera Shutter sound,
Screenshot Sound,
Safe Headset Volume,
Less frequent notification sounds, etc.
Volume steps,
Audio charge notification

Display Options
Adaptive Brightness
Daydream
Ambient Display
Wake Up on Charge
Double Tap to Sleep
Omni Screen Recorder
Color Calibration
Expanded desktop

CM Notification manager
Slim Heads Up Notifications and its features

LockScreen:
CM shortcuts
Slim shortcuts
Weather with custom style

“CarbonFibers” features Menu:

Status Bar
Slim Clock & Date Options
Weather
Battery Options
(Portrait, Landscape, Circle, Dotted Circle Text or Hidden)
Mobile & Wifi Network activity icon options
Network traffic monitor
Brightness control
notification count
notification ticker
Custom carrier label options

CM custom Navigation Bar tweaked (size/color and other)
Custom Navigation ring

Interface:
Toast animations,
Listview animations,
System animations,
Gesture Anywhere,
App Circle Side Bar

Recents:
Clear All Button Tweaks
Hideable Google search bar

Slim PIE

Notification Drawer
Tile Options (Fully customizable)
SlimActions Tile
Quick Setting Options
Quick & Smart Pulldown
Colorized Tiles

Power Menu:
Advanced reboot
Screenshot
Screen Record
Profile Switcher
Airplane Mode
User Switcher
Settings
Device Lockdown
Sound Panel

Buttons
Fully CM customization for hard buttons (tweaked)

Omni Wake lock blocker
SuperSU

Prerequisites to flash Android 5.1.1 for Xperia Z3:

• Backup any important data from your Sony Xperia Z3 as a complete wipe will be required during the flashing process.
• Make sure ADB and Fastboot is configured on your PC.
• Sony Xperia Z3 must be rooted with unlocked bootloader and installed with a recovery tool.
• Your device must be charged to at least 60% of power.

How to flash Android 5.1.1 for Xperia Z3:

Required files: download CarbonROM Android 5.1.1 Lollipop custom firmware for Xperia Z3 from here and save it on your computer. Extract boot.img file separately.

• Connect your Xperia Z3 to your computer using a USB cable and copy the zip file to your phone memory's root folder.
• Copy the boot.img file to android-sdk-windows\platform-tools directory.
• Switch off your Xperia Z3 and enter Bootloader mode: press and hold the Volume Up button while connecting the phone with USB cable. Phone LED will turn blue indicating the Bootloader mode.
• Once in the Fastboot mode, on your PC navigate to android-sdk-windows\platform-tools directory and open Command Prompt with Shift + Right-click > Open Command Prompt.
• Type the following command and press Enter:
  • fastboot flash boot boot.img
• Type the command and press Enter:
  • fastboot reboot
• Enter in the Recovery Mode: switch on the phone while pressing the Volume Up button a few times.
• Wipe data task: from CWM recovery menu, select wipe data / factory reset and confirm the process.
• Also clean cache from wipe cache partition.
• From recovery menu, select install zip from sdcard followed by choose zip from sdcard. Locate the Carbon ROM Android 5.1.1 Lollipop custom firmware and confirm the flashing process.
• Once done, return back to main recovery menu and reboot your into the new custom ROM.
• First boot takes a good 5 minutes so please be patient.

Enjoy the latest version of lollipop on your Xperia Z3.