Tweaking the Sony Ericsson Urushi (Xperia Ray)

Ever since I got the Urushi (Xperia Ray), I've wanted to port Android 4.0 to it. Unfortunately, having received the carrier branded variant of the phone, the phone's bootloader is not fastboot enabled. Therefore, the bootloader is not unlockable via Sony Experia's bootloader unlock site. I was,  however able to root the device using the method found here. (Thanks again DoomLord!) I have done a bit of tweaking to the pre-installed ROM which I'll describe below.

Automatic Light Sensor Hack:
This was rather simple.. so simple in fact that I was surprised that no one found it sooner. The hack involves two files, the hw_config.sh and als_curve.conf files in the /system/etc directory. In the hw_config.conf, find the line that looks like this:

echo 0,0,0,0 > $dev/lcd-backlight/als/params  #[gain],[filter_up],[filter_down],[offset]

and edit it to look like this:

echo 3,2,2,0 > $dev/lcd-backlight/als/params  #[gain],[filter_up],[filter_down],[offset]

Then, using Terminal Emulator or another app capable of executing scripts, run hw_config.sh. *Make sure you have the backlight set to a value higher than 0 and lower than 100 or else the hack will not work!*

SD Card Read Cache Tweaking:
This one was also as simple if not more simple than the above hack. All thanks go to arcatarc for this hack (which you can find here). It requires either the use of Terminal Emulator, SD-Booster or any app capable of modifying text files with root privileges. ADB can also be used for this if you prefer to work with a full size keyboard. In Terminal Emulator, ADB, or similar go to /sys/devices/virtual/bdi/179:0/read_ahead_kb and change the value from 128 to whatever you choose. When using SD-Booster, all that needs to be done is input the value you want and tap the Apply button. I currently have the read cache set at 1152 and the the write speed has increased to 6.8 MB/s from 6.1 MB/s while the read speed has increased from 15.3 MB/s to 26.8 MB/s. This latter hack as proven to be the most useful of the two as the speed increase is clearly evident when shooting and reviewing photos.