Xperia Z (C6603) Generic ES firmware (.FTF)

Sony XPERIA Z is Sony Mobile flagship for this year. This phone has large fullHD display, very powerfull quadcore CPU, 2 GB RAM or 13 megapixel camera. Phone is also water resistance. Below you can find the latest firmware for the phone and also three tutorials/manuals - how to unlock the bootloader, how to relock the bootloader and how to backup the original firmware customization.

First of all one important thing - before you start to do anything with your phone, do the backup of your personal data. It is only for your safety in case that something goes wrong or any mistake happens. In that case you can use the backup to restore the data and try to do everything once again. Each tutorial has been done many times to verify its propriety, so just read carefully all instructions and continue step by step. For each of Sony (Ericsson) XPERIA smartphones we will provide a manual consisting of 4, 5 or 6 „HOW TO“ chapters. Our tutorials will be of course updated every time when Sony Mobile publishes anything new, affecting any of our topics. All important files have been stored on Google Drive, so there should be no problem with downloading. The major part of every file has been created by myself and every file has been tested on the corresponding phone. In this guideline related to the Sony XPERIA Z you can find some photos and videos showing how to proceed, but the most important thing are the below written manuals. All referenced files are determined for Sony XPERIA Z C6603. So, what can you expect in terms of mentioned manuals / tutorials? 

It is following 6 guidelines showing HOW TO:
1. how to install the newest Android 4.3 for your phone (for Sony XPERIA Z C6603 it is currently the 10.4.B.0.569 firmware)
2. how to install the newest Android 4.2.2 for your phone (for Sony XPERIA Z C6603 it is currently the 10.3.1.A.2.67 firmware)
3. how to install the newest Android 4.1.2 for your phone (for Sony XPERIA Z C6603 it is currently the 10.1.1.A.1.307 firmware)
4. how to backup your original firmware customization (it is important in case you must send your phone to service)
5. how to unlock the bootloader (in case you want to install the custom kernels with recovery menu and much more)
6. how to relock bootloader on your phone

1. how to install the newest Android 4.3 for Sony XPERIA Z C6603
a) first of all, check your firmware version (if you already have the newest one, you do not need this tutorial)
b) download and install latest Flashtool from here (mirrors Google Drive or Mega)
c) download also latest Android 4.3 (mirrors Google Drive or Mega) for Sony XPERIA Z
d) paste the ftf file downloaded in step c) to folder „Firmware“ included in the XPERIA Flashtool
e) open the XPERIA Flashtool, click on flash and choose downloaded firmware, than click ok. Important - if you do not want to delete any data of your phone, just uncheck flashing userdata.sin file. All data will remain in your phone, but sometimes it can cause additional troubles. So it is better (and I recommend that) to do the backup of your personal data, than proceed with clean instalation and then restore your personal data.
f) turn off your phone and when Flashtool shows pop up window, connect phone to PC with holding volume down button
g) after few minutes all is done and your phone gets the new firmware