New again or better? - Nexus 7 General

Background (short version): I finally replaced the charging port and my 2012 Nexus 7 is back up and running... Sort of... Navigation is impossible and I've tried every non-rooted method I can find, to clear memory and storage. It's slightly improved now that it's stripped down, but still hardly functional. I'm aware there have historically been, countless ways to root then flash custom roms to help with this. Most roms are probably a bit more than what I need and the developer support for each is hit or miss, for such a dated device.
My question: What do you recommend I do (linked tutorial preferred) for a straight forward process to get this tablet running, so that I can stream my favorite video services and play a couple of simple games? I'll be using the tablet for light browsing too, but that's about it. Right now, I can't even navigate through the Settings menu without dedicating 30+ minutes. I'm prepared to factory reset, root and flash, but I don't want to go down the wrong rabbit home.

Time to scrap it. You'll keep wasting time trying to make it usable, and it will continue being a bad experience.

TheMystic said:
Time to scrap it. You'll keep wasting time trying to make it usable, and it will continue being a bad experience.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oof... I mean sure, but I'd like to use it instead and there's no reason it shouldn't be capable of running a couple video streaming apps

kevinbakon said:
there's no reason it shouldn't be capable of running a couple video streaming apps
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is. It is called Planned Obsolescence. Not your fault or device's fault.
There will be no support for devices or Android versions that are older than a certain age/ version.

TheMystic said:
There is. It is called Planned Obsolescence. Not your fault or device's fault.
There will be no support for devices or Android versions that are older than a certain age/ version.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Related

What should be the most responsive/quick firmware for omap4430 512mb 10.1" G9?

I have my G9 for about 2 years now, and it's the first generation 512mb G9 1.0ghz.
All these years I updated every firmware that Archos released, so also used to the bugs and problems that sometimes occured.
Using 4.0.28 a long time now, but I think it's not repsonsive and has a lot of lag. Sometimes waiting quite a while to start an app for example.
I know that's also caused by the 1.0ghz and 512mb, but I want to try a custom rom IF that's faster.
I know all the custom firmwares are based on the official firmware, I read almost all the topic about them, but I'm not sure which firmware to choose. Hope someone can give me some clues if installing another firmware could make my G9 faster. And if so, which of the firmwares should do the trick? Somewhere I read the 4.0.7 should cause less lagging on the older generation tablets.
hars73 said:
I have my G9 for about 2 years now, and it's the first generation 512mb G9 1.0ghz.
All these years I updated every firmware that Archos released, so also used to the bugs and problems that sometimes occured.
Using 4.0.28 a long time now, but I think it's not repsonsive and has a lot of lag. Sometimes waiting quite a while to start an app for example.
I know that's also caused by the 1.0ghz and 512mb, but I want to try a custom rom IF that's faster.
I know all the custom firmwares are based on the official firmware, I read almost all the topic about them, but I'm not sure which firmware to choose. Hope someone can give me some clues if installing another firmware could make my G9 faster. And if so, which of the firmwares should do the trick? Somewhere I read the 4.0.7 should cause less lagging on the older generation tablets.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'd be interested in that answer also, I'm on Surdu's custom ROM which was great at first, but now it's lagging like crazy. I can't see anything running in the background that would cause it.
hars73 said:
Using 4.0.28 a long time now, but I think it's not repsonsive and has a lot of lag. Sometimes waiting quite a while to start an app for example.
I know that's also caused by the 1.0ghz and 512mb, but I want to try a custom rom IF that's faster.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Although there are a few 'custom' ROMS that have some features like overclocking... overall, the VERY SMALL increase in performance of them simply is not worth it (at least not to me).
The slow down is also not really due to having only a 1GHz CPU and/or only 512MB of RAM either. It's a combination of 2 things...
#1) The totally STUPID way Archos changed their Media Center apps (Video and Music) so that the device constantly starts 'indexing' files (even when it should not do so). Heck, it even tries to 'index' pictures, music, or video files of certain game apps when you try to install them. When your device is 'lagging' take a look down in the lower right notifications to see if there is circular arrows indicating it is 'indexing'. If it is, that will slow the device down to a snails speed until it gets done.
#2) Many of the new Google updates (Google's own app updates) are now becoming far to over bloated with foolish (and, as far as I'm concerned totally unnecessary fluff).
The best solution to #1 (on my end anyway) was to simply go back to 4.0.7, but there is some extra clean up work needed to get that all straightened out. Even then you can still end up with the #2 problems (simply because Google wants everyone to buy new devices so that they and everyone else can make more money).
Sorry, I'm just way too tired and about to fall asleep here to explain all the details about how to get back to 4.0.7 and clean things up right now. All I can say for now is that I am far more happy with 4.0.7 than ANY other firmware on my end. YMMV.
55mls said:
Although there are a few 'custom' ROMS that have some features like overclocking... overall, the VERY SMALL increase in performance of them simply is not worth it (at least not to me).
The slow down is also not really due to having only a 1GHz CPU and/or only 512MB of RAM either. It's a combination of 2 things...
#1) The totally STUPID way Archos changed their Media Center apps (Video and Music) so that the device constantly starts 'indexing' files (even when it should not do so). Heck, it even tries to 'index' pictures, music, or video files of certain game apps when you try to install them. When your device is 'lagging' take a look down in the lower right notifications to see if there is circular arrows indicating it is 'indexing'. If it is, that will slow the device down to a snails speed until it gets done.
#2) Many of the new Google updates (Google's own app updates) are now becoming far to over bloated with foolish (and, as far as I'm concerned totally unnecessary fluff).
The best solution to #1 (on my end anyway) was to simply go back to 4.0.7, but there is some extra clean up work needed to get that all straightened out. Even then you can still end up with the #2 problems (simply because Google wants everyone to buy new devices so that they and everyone else can make more money).
Sorry, I'm just way too tired and about to fall asleep here to explain all the details about how to get back to 4.0.7 and clean things up right now. All I can say for now is that I am far more happy with 4.0.7 than ANY other firmware on my end. YMMV.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In know about the stupid indexing service. I can see it running after rebooting my tablet, but almost never when using it.
Maybe I'm going to install the official SDE from Archos (that can also be installed on 4.0.28 since a few months) and after that install a rooted 4.0.7 and then disable all the services I don't need. That might help a bit.
I suggest 4.0.28 or 4.0.7. 55mls hates firmware after 4.0.7 but .28 has been good for me. I don't store any media files so indexing doesn't affect me. Prior firmware have bugs with some games for example too.
Also on my 80 G9, I think 4.0.7 has some wifi strangeness. Disconnects occasionally.
Alternatively you can roll back to 3.2.80. This one works quite well overall functionally. However it's certainly not the fastest. The GUI seems slower to me than with the 4.x OS. Honeycomb also has some caveats like occasional lack of app support and the fact that it's sort of a Android 4 prototype in general. On the other other hand, Honeycomb is an interesting bit of history and I like its UI theme.
having the same tablet here (also with ""only"" 512mb ram).
i'm running 4.0.7. now, which works a lot better than 4.0.28 for me, but still has some lags from time to time..
I guess I should have also mentioned a 3rd reason in my previous post that some people may not be aware of...
When installing apps, some do require extra 'temporary file' and/or 'cache file' storage space. By default, Android normally will pop up a "memory low" notification when the amount of memory drops below 500MB. Of course, that means the systems has already gotten so low on memory that it can no longer operate correctly.
On my end (and my devices) I've found that things start to slow down already even when the 'free space' gets down to 1GB. In general, if you can keep the 'free space' up to at least 1GB (preferably 1.5 or more) then there is very little of any slow down.
Of course, now days, almost all the newer devices come with at least 16GB of flash memory and 2GB of RAM (not to mention quad core processors) simply to be able to handle all of the extra fluff Google keeps adding into things with their own upgrades.
Since Google is making the exact same mistakes Microsoft did years ago (taking a good OS and cluttering it up with so much extra fluff that nobody wanted/needed)... well, I've pretty much lost all interest in Android now. I bought my Archos G9 tablets for only one reason and that is to do what Archos claimed they did at the time. I did not expect, nor did I ever want them to end up having to go thru multiple upgrades (from either Archos or Google) to do anything more or less than that. Unfortunately, every upgrade now seems to actually lower (or even restrict) being able to use my Archos devices BELOW what I originally could use them for.
55mls said:
On my end (and my devices) I've found that things start to slow down already even when the 'free space' gets down to 1GB. In general, if you can keep the 'free space' up to at least 1GB (preferably 1.5 or more) then there is very little of any slow down.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This seems to be something all devices have a problem with. It's probably a flash RAM issue. When the flash gets near full, it needs to do more erases+writes to store new data and this just kills write performance.
swaaye said:
This seems to be something all devices have a problem with. It's probably a flash RAM issue. When the flash gets near full, it needs to do more erases+writes to store new data and this just kills write performance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My son installed a lot of games on my Archos in the past and there was not a lot of free memory left. This week he bought a Asus MemoPad HD7, so I uninstalled all the games on my Archos.
And it seems my Archos is a lot more responsive now and has less lags. :good:
Still on the official 4.0.28, but this is good enough for now.
hars73 said:
My son installed a lot of games on my Archos in the past and there was not a lot of free memory left. This week he bought a Asus MemoPad HD7, so I uninstalled all the games on my Archos.
And it seems my Archos is a lot more responsive now and has less lags. :good:
Still on the official 4.0.28, but this is good enough for now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Another thing you can do, especially if you have a 512MB device, is to keep watch for apps that run extra background processes. For example, do a reboot and load the system monitor app and see what is loading automatically on boot up. The 512MB devices really don't have enough RAM to go around beyond the basics.

Need help solving an issue, play store misbehaving on my SM-T810

Hello, I hope I can post this here.. i tried, i searched... can't find any solution to my issue.
Model : SM-T810 , with Samsung 128GB UHS microSD. OS : stock Nougat from Samsung.
Here is the problem :
On the play store, if there are pending updates, they only install one at a time, and then it won't do more. Like if there is 5 pending updates, it will maybe do one, and then the other 4 stay pending. It might only do the download portion of the first one and not go to the install phase. If there's no pending updates, and i try to install an app, only the downloading portion of the process shows up, it stops after that, it doesn't go to installing. I have to close the store and go back in for it to install, but if there's a queue of downloads (updates or asked to install multiple apps), I have to close the store for the same amount of apps in the queue for them to install one by one. Now I noticed that every once and a while, 2 or 3 will have updated overnight but that's it!
I closed the process, I cleared the cache, I cleared the data, I cleared the download manager's data and cache, i rebooted, i forced a wrong date and time then set it to auto-date and time to retry, etc.... I uninstalled the Play Store updates, nothing worked!!!
The next step was to do a factory reset. I did not want to lose some progress on some games, AND I have an app to read PDF files and did not want to lose read/unread status of my files...
So I used Odin to flash TWRP, did a backup, rooted, used Titanium Backup to backup my apps.
Then I did factory reset. Store behaved normally again! Installed a few apps, waited a few hours, still good. Did a restore of my apps from titanium backup, everything seemed fine, then a few hours later, store still was not updating or installing the apps right...
Did another factory reset, store worked fine, only restored a couple of backed up apps (the critical ones that i wanted to keep the saves from), everything worked fine. Over the course of 24 hrs, i re-installed a bunch of my regular apps via the play store. Play store worked fine. I did to another Nandroid backup with TWRP just in case.
Then all of a sudden, it started to lag a bit between clicking install, to downloading, to installing. And then a few hours later, issue completely came back, store won't install without me closing it between the download finish and install.
Now one of the last steps I did before it started acting up again was moving ONE app to the SD card (not using any root features). I'm not sure if that caused the issue to come back.
I did notice that Android left a bunch of files on my SD card, some Android folder, with a bunch of subfolders.
I'm wondering if the SD card could be the culprit... I will do one last restore from my last working Nandroid backup and not move anything to the SD card.
If it comes up again, i think i will move the data that i have on my SD card that I dont want to loose (my PDF, pictures, etc.) on to my NAS, and do a factory reset without the SD card installed. Maybe even re-flash with Samsung Kies... and forget about my Titanium Backup saves...
It's my last resort so I was hoping anyone would have any idea on what else to try before doing that?
One last point : yes the stores kinda slows down at some point where the download process takes a few seconds to kick in, and then a few seconds to installing, up to the point where it never does. BUT the rest of my tablet still is really fast, no slow downs anywhere else... All apps launch fast
Thanks!
Auto updates are bad. They just kill the performance of your s2.. better do such things manually.
Niii4 said:
Auto updates are bad. They just kill the performance of your s2.. better do such things manually.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Auto updates of the apps? Or the OS?
Apps i can see... but still... If I turn that off, that solves the issue of the auto-updates. But then if I want to update a bunch, they will only do one by one, i have to close the store and open again after each updated app.
But even with app auto-updates, if i want to install one new app on my S2, it will only download, but not install, i have to close the store and open it again for it to install. Then the next time that I want to install an app, I have to do the same thing again, close and open. It's like the download manager doesn't tell the Play Store app to do the install (or tell whatever app or service to install the APK...)
Niii4 said:
Auto updates are bad. They just kill the performance of your s2.. better do such things manually.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What a bunch of nonsense. Please stop spreading misinformation.
@stefer09 A logcat reader may help you determine the cause of the issue.
Niii4 said:
Auto updates are bad. They just kill the performance of your s2.. better do such things manually.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
fonetyk said:
What a bunch of nonsense. Please stop spreading misinformation.
@stefer09 A logcat reader may help you determine the cause of the issue.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, that's new for me, I'll read into it!
stefer09 said:
Thanks, that's new for me, I'll read into it!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am having the same issue on my sm-t810 as well hope you find a solution and post it.
Tabpro8.4 said:
I am having the same issue on my sm-t810 as well hope you find a solution and post it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
After more research i've seen other people on other devices with same issue... no answer or solution in sight
if i find something ill come back here for sure
I had an OTA update last night to NRD90M.T810XXU2DQCL and the play store is working better now but it is still slow to update.
Tabpro8.4 said:
I had an OTA update last night to NRD90M.T810XXU2DQCL and the play store is working better now but it is still slow to update.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the info.
I would check for OTA update but since i rooted mine, it won't do them...
I'd have to flash the stock rom from samsung again and loose my saved data... which right now i might be OK living without...
Anyone knows if I loose TWRP if i flash a stock rom with odin ? If so... am i better using Kies?
Fair, let's recap: you do not use stock rom. You have root, twrp, flashed this and that and a morbid desire to have always the very lastest version of whatever the app. And now the Play store doesn't work properly anymore.. d
Do you see the pattern?
But, hey, maybe you need even more *lates updates* to fix your issue.
Updates = bad performance and new issues in general. Period.
Niii4 said:
Fair, let's recap: you do not use stock rom. You have root, twrp, flashed this and that and a morbid desire to have always the very lastest version of whatever the app. And now the Play store doesn't work properly anymore.. d
Do you see the pattern?
But, hey, maybe you need even more *lates updates* to fix your issue.
Updates = bad performance and new issues in general. Period.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wooooh, DON'T jump to conclusions here.
I was running the STOCK out of the box Android for the S2, no root, no TWRP. The issue started after one year of usage, and not only included updating apps but installing FRESH NEW ONES TOO.
The "flash this and that" came AFTER i ran into issues.
I also have a Note 5 supplied from work and for that reason I'm still runing stock, not rooted, and never will root it. I have over 100 apps on there, 5 email accounts (2 professionnal, 3 personnal), multiple google calendars, multiple outlook calendars, auto-update is on, it's been over a year and a half, if not more, and never ran into this kind of issue, ever! It's synced with my CPAP, my smart watch, and my headphones. And it's still goes the same speed and gives me the same performance as when i took it out of the box.
My tab S2 is my second Android tablet, before I had a Tab 3 that never gave me issues like that either, and always had auto-updates on.
Sometimes you need updates. Some online services might not work right or at all if you don't have the app that matches the features, like evernote, facebook, onedrive, dropbox, etc...
Or you get new hardware that requires an update.
Yes sometimes they include bugs ... which are fixed in a later version.
Niii4 said:
Fair, let's recap: you do not use stock rom. You have root, twrp, flashed this and that and a morbid desire to have always the very lastest version of whatever the app. And now the Play store doesn't work properly anymore.. d
Do you see the pattern?
But, hey, maybe you need even more *lates updates* to fix your issue.
Updates = bad performance and new issues in general. Period.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In my case I do have stock rom and have had issues with play store since update to Nought. It does seem better since last night's OTA update.
Tabpro8.4 said:
In my case I do have stock rom and have had issues with play store since update to Nought. It does seem better since last night's OTA update.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I saw multiple posts of people having different phones running stock having this exact issue for a while with no solution in view. I think it has to do with Nougat too... But my Note 5 is on Nougat and no issue... it might be brought on with specific services or apps running while on Nougat.
Tabpro8.4 said:
In my case I do have stock rom and have had issues with play store since update to Nought. It does seem better since last night's OTA update.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for letting me know about the OTA update. Since i was rooted, i can't get OTA updates, would have needed to wait for the 7.1 Rom to flash...
I ended up taking screenshots of the stuff i didnt want to loose (read/unread status of my pdf files, nevermind the save games) and then i used Samsung Smart Switch to reflash the whole thing back to strictly stock, lastest firmware. So far so good, crossing fingers
I*was*running the STOCK out of the box Android for the S2, no root, no TWRP. The issue started after one year of usage,
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Fair. So in this *year of usage* you never ever updated the OS?
And auto-update was of course *off*, right?
If that's the case, then clearly there must be some other issue with your s2.
Otherwise, you have merely confirmed what I have told in the very beginning: updates = bad performance and new issues in general. Period.
By the by, apps like evernote and facebook track and spy on you.
About your Note 5, maybe there weren't so many updates..
Niii4 said:
Fair. So in this *year of usage* you never ever updated the OS?
And auto-update was of course *off*, right?
If that's the case, then clearly there must be some other issue with your s2.
Otherwise, you have merely confirmed what I have told in the very beginning: updates = bad performance and new issues in general. Period.
By the by, apps like evernote and facebook track and spy on you.
About your Note 5, maybe there weren't so many updates..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
...
Yes in that year of usage I upgraded the OS from 5 to 6 to 7. Yes auto-update was on, for Android and for my apps. By stock rom i meant nothing flashed "this and that" like you said.
If you would read my other comments, you'd also realize that another member helped me more by letting me know there was an OTA update that helped him. I reflashed my S2 with Samsung Smart Switch and haven't had any issue with the Play Store since... that proves that updates do fix issues.
There's no OS versions, app versions, firmware versions on any devices that don't have any issues whatsoever. Updates might bring bugs but they also fix the ones from previous versions. If you think that anything stock out of the box never have any issues whatsoever, you're wrong.
Apps like evernote and facebook spy and track you? Really? And you're on a forum for Android based product and don't think that Google tracks what you do? If you dont sign in with your google account and only browse the web with your tablet, that's your business, but you can't go on forums and admonish people for doing otherwise.
Besides, this is a forum where a good part of the posts are about custom roms, flashing different boot/recovery loaders, different kernels, unlocking phones... and you're judging me because i do app updates, and flash "this and that" ?
Come on...
No judging here. Just pointed out the probem at hand.
You did update the OS at least twice.. see?
OEM updates = bad in general.
Sure, new updates fix what *previous updates* screwed up to begin with; sometimes.
I totally agree that there is no OS version that is 100% issue free, but -- why trying to fix something that seems to work?
You see, that is my whole point.
I told you about evernote and facebook because you mentioned to have them on your Note 5 which happens to be your professional work phone?!
Just be aware that Evernote steals content just like the FB messenger. And I mean literally. Your creative ideas become their property. You did agree to their terms! FB also records the mic(s) 24/7.
Certainly Google tracks and spies as well. Then again, you can deactivate or block (firewall) those services/apps.
Just remember, things that are *free* come with a price.
Niii4, I tried to subtely pass the message that I did not want any of your help when I said that SOMEONE ELSE helped me with their input and update.
I didn't say that I was using evernote and facebook on my Note 5 from work. Jumping to conclusions again.
You want to know what are the biggest secrets in my Evernote notes ??? RECIPES!!!!!
Oh no... they can read the oh so secret lemon crinkle cookies recipe that is available with a quick online search! Here's the link btw : http://www.laurenslatest.com/lemon-crinkle-cookies/
I came here after trying a lot of troubleshooting steps, when everything that I've tried failed. And someone else helped me.
All you brought to the table was misinformation about updates in general and spread paranoia on who is spying on who.
fonetyk asked you to stop that, and I asked you to stop that. So far my issue has been resolved and i'm thankful to the user Tabpro8.4 for his comment.
Please, please leave my thread.
First and foremost, this is a forum and thus other users that may encounter similar or the exact same problem(s) will seek to comprehend the whole issue at hand and not just one side of a problem.
Oh yeah, an OTA update seemed to have fixed it. Seemed.. for now.
Second, this is not exclusively about *helping you*. Apparently you are quite knowledge resistant, especially when facts are being stated that don't conform your general view.
True, you only have hundreds of apps on your work phone. But definitely not FB messenger or whatnot. Whatever. What's right is right, and what's fair is fair.
I suppose, you are probably right, the work you do must be of no interest for anybody in this world; at all. Same for your private life. Now, be a neat little sheep and go on chewing the green.. (while we are watching you).
Oh, and you stalking all my comments, telling people to ignore me is hilarious. Keep up the great whine. ?
Niii4 said:
First and foremost, this is a forum and thus other users that may encounter similiar or the exact same problem(s) will seek to comprehend the whole issue at hand and not just one side of a problem.
Oh yeah, an OTA update seemed to have fixed it. Seemed.. for now.
Second, this is not exclusively about *helping you*. Apparently you are quite knowledge resistant, especially when facts are being stated that don't conform your general view.
True, you only have hundreds of apps on your work phone. But definitely not FB messenger or whatnot. Whatever. What's right is right, and what's fair is fair.
I suppose, you are probably right, the work you do must be of no interest for anybody in this world; at all. Same for your private life. Now, be a neat little sheep and go on chewing the green.. (while we are watching you).
Oh, and you stalking all my comments, telling people to ignore me is hilarious. Keep up the great whine.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lol... knowledge resistant. Thats cute.
:angel:
Stalking your comments... ah! Maybe you got that dead pixel from trying to plug your bluray player on your tablet. Seriously clueless or just trolling...
My issue is resolved so im unsubbing from this thread.
Bye bye :good:

How likely is it that we will see TWRP and/or LineageOS soon?

I have to ask this. I needed a new phone a month ago, and I chose to wait for this one instead of getting a Note 9, and now I still don't have a usable phone and have less than 20 days to return this one. When I did my research about my next phone I was told that Sony phones are developer-friendly and tend to have a clean Android experience, on top of that, this phone has a 3.5mm jack with a great DAC. Now I come to find out that not only does this phone come with bloatware/spyware, even though you can root it, in Android 10, OEMs have the system locked down as read-only, and while Magik can gimmick /system to remove apps, there is no way to delete apps installed in /oem.
Placing apps in a directory that is impossible to change is inexcusable, especially when they are:
1) A game no one wanted which will be irrelevant in 6 months
2) A FREE TRIAL APP
3) A social media application not everyone uses
It isn't by mistake that Sony did this, and it tells me that the pittance they get from Activision, Jay Z, and Microsoft matters more to them than I do as a customer. Some will say that it is possible to simply de-activate the apps, at least unlike Facebook, there are no background services still running and collecting your data, but I say that is irrelevant. I own my phone; I should be able to control what's on it.
I was still running Android 8 on my One Plus 3T that recently died, so I'm not familiar with how Android works today. We went from simple to hard, to harder. There is A/B, no more stock recovery, and apparently fastboot is dead and is replaced by a blank bootloader flash mode that only lets you know you are in it with a tiny blue LED? I don't know how viable TRWP and Linage are on a phone like this, which is why I am asking. There is only one thing I know for sure right now: I don't have much time to wait for custom ROMs built from the ground up to develop and mature.
You can disable verity and delete them. However, even if you could remove them, they'll just keep coming back with updates. Just disable them and move on with life.
LineageOS is pointless because you're going to lose the Sony camera. Why spend $1,200 if you're going to do that? At that point, just get a Pixel 4a for $350.
Some will say that it is possible to simply de-activate the apps, at least unlike Facebook, there are no background services still running and collecting your data, but I say that is irrelevant. I own my phone; I should be able to control what's on it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You totally can. Again, this is about dm-verity, which most custom roms disable and spoof to appear enabled. However, if you're gonna do this on the official rom, it'll be your job to pretty much delete every single piece of bloatware every time you update your phone. It's much easier to simply disable the packages because the disable setting is retained through updates.
There is A/B, no more stock recovery
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Welcome to pretty much every single device since Pixel 3. This is a Google thing, and has nothing to do with Sony.
apparently fastboot is dead and is replaced by a blank bootloader flash mode that only lets you know you are in it with a tiny blue LED?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Okay, I'll give you this one. Sony did a piss-poor job here. It took me several hours to figure out that:
Vol. Up + Insert USB cable = blue led = fast boot, for which you need to manually install the Google fastboot driver.
Vol. Down + Insert USB cable = green led = download mode, for NewFlasher flashing.
The only indicator is the blue/green LED, which indicates the various modes.
For future reference, I flashed the RU region firmware and it only came with 1 bloatware: Yandex. Best thing about it is, you can uninstall Yandex. So basically I have the 1 II without bloatware! (Except Facebook, but I use it anyway)
YandereSan said:
You can disable verify and delete them. However, even if you could remove them, they'll just keep coming back with updates. Just disable them and move on with life.
LineageOS is pointless because you're going to lose the Sony camera. Why spend $1,200 if you're going to do that? At that point, just get a Pixel 4a for $350.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First of, thanks for being cool with your response
Second, I bought this phone for a few reasons, and the camera isn't one of them. For any given phone I want:
1) For it to be unlockable so I can install whatever recovery/kernel/OS I want on it. There aren't many phones like that anymore, at least not in the US.
2) Hardware that will last me at least four years.
3) A 3.5mm headphone Jack with a good DAC.
4) A good, large, color-accurate display.
5) Fingerprint reader.
5) Expendable storage (or a LOT of onboard storage and OTG as a compromise).
I have been using the menu button on the left and back button on the right for eight years now, and I can't fix that on this phone
You totally can. Again, this is about dm-verity, which most custom roms disable and spoof to appear enabled. However, if you're gonna do this on the official rom, it'll be your job to pretty much delete every single piece of bloatware every time you update your phone. It's much easier to simply disable the packages because the disable setting is retained through updates.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Honestly, the only updates I care about are security updates. If we get lineage or some other mature ROM that can do most of what I want, I'll ditch stock., I only need stock for now. If I do end up updating stock and getting those apps back, I don't mind spending another 5 minutes removing them after the update. I don't like disabled apps for three reasons:
1) If it doesn't disable background services. If you just disable Facebook, Facebook's other services will still keep tracking you and selling your personal information.
2) They still appear in the app menus and stuff, which I hate. It pisses me off seeing COD and a TRIAL for something I'll never, ever, use.
3) I am 99.9% some vulnerability can't exploit them, but I can be 100% sure if they aren't there.
As for why this is all the way it is, I did learn after the fact that it is mostly Google's BS and not Sony. Still, it sucks. I hope I can maybe flash DM variety and disable it on stock.
If I can disable DM variety I'm keeping the phone. If I can't and it doesn't seem like we'll get TWRP and Lineage then I guess I'm getting an Exynos Note 9. I really don't want to though, but those OEM apps WILL haunt me every time I use my phone, touch my phone, think about my phone, or am otherwise reminded I own this phone. Maybe I'm crazy, but that's irrelevant, because that's how it is.
I tried to flash dm variety and disable verification, etc, and it didn't unlock the system, so until TRWP comes to Android 10, it looks like stock in the US is out.
iArvee said:
For future reference, I flashed the RU region firmware and it only came with 1 bloatware: Yandex. Best thing about it is, you can uninstall Yandex. So basically I have the 1 II without bloatware! (Except Facebook, but I use it anyway)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are a god. I looked at the Russian firmware and it doesn't look like it's been dirtied by crazy Putin. You can systemlessy remove all the apps you don't want. I got Magisk and Xposed working on it. I also have 4G on t-mobile, and it lists 5GNR as an option, which the US version did not. To note, I do not have VoLTE or Wifi Calling (not that I care).
I'm going to try and flash the HK dual sim variant just to see if I can unlock the mythical sex sim slot, and also if also fits the bill. I realized that to test dual sim you need a dual sim tray. There is no way to get the Q51 tray to work for this. It doesn't seem that people are selling replacement parts for this phone yet, so right now I can't buy a Q2 tray to test it. I'll circle back around to this in a few months when it becomes time to flip the phone for a Q2, just to see if maybe I don't have to do that.
Thanks everyone for the replies. We could maybe use this as a general TRWP/LineageOS update thread, though I suspect someone will make a new thread as those pass certain milestones.

Is samsung ruining our devices intentionally?

i have a display issue with my note 8 (N950f), the screen gets greenish and messes up the colors making it very unpleasant to look at (started happening right after september 2020 update) i could fix it by pressing the power button, taping the screen to turn on always on display but then it would switch back to that annoying green display after seconds or minutes (weirdly enough the Always On Display is always good and never shows any green), so i tried to fix it by : Factory reseting, clearing cache, flashing stock os, custom roms pie, 10, 11, nothing worked until i tried flashing a custom kernel (Phantom Kernel for Pie) on a stock os. that fixes the green screen issue temporarily (2 to 3 weeks) i mean it's still there but it gets green very rarely, until it starts to gradually get worse overtime. And also im not the only one! i found another user @B3anbeanbean who has the EXACT problem and he fixes it like i do with the phantom kernel. This can't be a coincidence.
If you have a fast, stable platform that fulfills its mission, leave it be.
My 10+ is still running very well on Pie and will be for the life of the device.
If Samsung doesn't break it, Gookill Android surely will. What applies to MS XPx64, W7 applies more so now with Android.
For all those "upgrades" what did you gain?
Rather than enjoying the device how much time did you lose? Which bring me back to my original statement.
Play games and don't let the game play you.
blackhawk said:
If you have a fast, stable platform that fulfills its mission, leave it be.
My 10+ is still running very well on Pie and will be for the life of the device.
If Samsung doesn't break it, Gookill Android surely will. What applies to MS XPx64, W7 applies more so now with Android.
For all those "upgrades" what did you gain?
Rather than enjoying the device how much time did you lose? Which bring me back to my original statement.
Play games and don't let the game play you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
mate, i would've never touched the phone, i love pie and i dont mind using it, the problem occurred on itself on stock os i hadn't touched anything. i did those "upgrades" in hopes of fixing the display.
omae_wa said:
mate, i would've never touched the phone, i love pie and i dont mind using it, the problem occurred on itself on stock os i hadn't touched anything. i did those "upgrades" in hopes of fixing the display.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If it running right when first purchased it's likely hardware if a factory reset wouldn't resolve it.
When you start changing firmware rather than find the root cause you throw more variables into the mix. Making it more difficult.
blackhawk said:
If it running right when first purchased it's likely hardware if a factory reset wouldn't resolve it.
When you start changing firmware rather than find the root cause you throw more variables into the mix. Making it more difficult.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
if it's an hardware problem then why would flashing a different KERNEL fix it? there's no way this can be an hardware issue. please read what i said and dont throw useless opinions if you can't explain them or fix them.
omae_wa said:
if it's an hardware problem then why would flashing a different KERNEL fix it? there's no way this can be an hardware issue. please read what i said and dont throw useless opinions if you can't explain them or fix them.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ever wonder what happens when one or a couple dozen of the billions of transistors in the processor fails?
Firmware doesn't just of a sudden fail, hardware does.
Firmware can get corrupted. Did you ever reflash the original stock firmware version back onto it?
You know verify the firmware load was intact?
You probably lost some digital pathways and/or memory cells in the CPU or another chipset.
The current firmware for whatever reason(s) doesn't use them.
Major carriers like AT&T, Verizon etc are partnered with Samsung and actively dictate what software and firmware goes in those phones to Samsung.
What could go wrong?
I personally never update, rooted and up... well (actually downdates) turned off for all its days.
although to answer the question directly, in my opinion yes spammy ruins stuff for more sales (aka rips off it's customers) then inturn they eventually never want to see a spammed cell again. so realistically they loose money, not a smart choice obviously, but when blinded by greed all kinds stuff will happen.

Downgrading S20 FE 5G SM-G780G Android 13 One Ui 5.1 to Android 11

hello
i've never downgraded/flashed any firmware on this device before, so before i do something that might be fatal/result in bricking my phone i would like to ask is it possible to downgrade a S20 FE android 13 to android 11? while my one ui version is 5.1 i haven't updated the security patch to the april one (the one that changes your binary) it's currently the 1 march 2023 one
i've already checked & downloaded a firmware with the correct binary number so now all i need to do is flash it
Welcome to XDA.
You're limited by the bootloader version to how far you can roll it back. If the bootloader was upgraded too, you're boned. The 5th digit from the rear is the significant digit that determines that. If the rom's 5th digit is the same or higher value you can flash it. If lower, no go.
kiyan_ said:
hello
i've never downgraded/flashed any firmware on this device before, so before i do something that might be fatal/result in bricking my phone i would like to ask is it possible to downgrade a S20 FE android 13 to android 11? while my one ui version is 5.1 i haven't updated the security patch to the april one (the one that changes your binary) it's currently the 1 march 2023 one
i've already checked & downloaded a firmware with the correct binary number so now all i need to do is flash it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi, I downgraded my S20 FE several times from 13 to 12 with the same binary (obviously) with no issues at all, so you can downgrade easily.
In my experience on samsung devices (literally I flashed a hundred times on different devices) it's very unlikely that you brick your device with odin, even if you use a wrong firmware for your device....the only thing that it may brick a device is because it has a hardware damage
rgrapow said:
Hi, I downgraded my S20 FE several times from 13 to 12 with the same binary (obviously) with no issues at all, so you can downgrade easily.
In my experience on samsung devices (literally I flashed a hundred times on different devices) it's very unlikely that you brick your device with odin, even if you use a wrong firmware for your device....the only thing that it may brick a device is because it has a hardware damage
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hello
This will depend on your variant.
on the G780G (binary 3) and G781B (binary 4)
You can download to android 11.
since it has the same binary.
Of course, you should do it from 0.
do not install via CSC_HOME.
The installation must be clean.
before all make backup.
blackhawk said:
Welcome to XDA.
You're limited by the bootloader version to how far you can roll it back. If the bootloader was upgraded too, you're boned. The 5th digit from the rear is the significant digit that determines that. If the rom's 5th digit is the same or higher value you can flash it. If lower, no go.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes it is the same value
mine G780GXXU3EWB2
the firmware i downloaded G780GXXU3AUH5
which would make both binaries '3' right? would this be okay?
rgrapow said:
Hi, I downgraded my S20 FE several times from 13 to 12 with the same binary (obviously) with no issues at all, so you can downgrade easily.
In my experience on samsung devices (literally I flashed a hundred times on different devices) it's very unlikely that you brick your device with odin, even if you use a wrong firmware for your device....the only thing that it may brick a device is because it has a hardware damage
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thank you for your answer & sharing your experience, this is what i've been looking for
kiyan_ said:
yes it is the same value
mine G780GXXU3EWB2
the firmware i downloaded G780GXXU3AUH5
which would make both binaries '3' right? would this be okay?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
since it has the same binary.
Of course, you should do it from 0.
do not install via CSC_HOME.
The installation must be clean.
before all make backup.
rgrapow said:
the only thing that it may brick a device is because it has a hardware damage
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Or if the battery has insufficient charge or capacity. Any time you flash a device you take some level of risk. A power outage with no or insufficient battery backup for the PC would also end badly.
The risk is also greater with Androids because it's not a small couple dozen MB flash that's done in seconds. Lots more time and data for things to go wrong. If my Canon pro cam had a bad flash, Canon would likely repair for free or a reasonable charge. Samsung will do neither of these... repair cost plus a new mobo loaded with the latest firmware. perfect.
mezacorleehone said:
on the G780G (binary 3)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes that is my phone variant
mezacorleehone said:
do not install via CSC_HOME.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
may i ask why is that?
kiyan_ said:
yes that is my phone variant
may i ask why is that?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
the CSC_HOME file
comes in the software you just downloaded.
unlike normal CSC.
The CSC_HOME is used to only update the system, without deleting anything.
in your case you are going to downgrade, use the normal CSC without _home.
thank you everyone for the help & answers
kiyan_ said:
thank you everyone for the help & answers
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are welcome.
where possible we collaborate.
blackhawk said:
Or if the battery has insufficient charge or capacity. Any time you flash a device you take some level of risk. A power outage with no or insufficient battery backup for the PC would also end badly.
The risk is also greater with Androids because it's not a small couple dozen MB flash that's done in seconds. Lots more time and data for things to go wrong. If my Canon pro cam had a bad flash, Canon would likely repair for free or a reasonable charge. Samsung will do neither of these... repair cost plus a new mobo loaded with the latest firmware. perfect.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm referring about samsung devices based on my experience (trial and error), I had a lot of bricks, soft bricks and I was able to solve it with odin.
kiyan_ said:
yes it is the same value
mine G780GXXU3EWB2
the firmware i downloaded G780GXXU3AUH5
which would make both binaries '3' right? would this be okay?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, exactly. Why do you want to roll it back?
If it's a specific issue finding a work around may be easier.
Android 11 is no picnic either. I prefer Pie, Android 10 is ok; I'm running both and will likely never upgrade them.
Regardless you will need to lock it down so it can't do OTA upgrades/updates. That's the first thing I do on my Samsung's... once bitten, twice shy Upgrades and updates can and do break Samsung's... then you have find work arounds and fixes.
blackhawk said:
Yes, exactly. Why do you want to roll it back?
If it's a specific issue finding a work around may be easier.
Android 11 is no picnic either. I prefer Pie, Android 10 is ok; I'm running both and will likely never upgrade them.
Regardless you will need to lock it down so it can't do OTA upgrades/updates. That's the first thing I do on my Samsung's... once bitten, twice shy Upgrades and updates can and do break Samsung's... then you have find work arounds and fixes.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
other than battery run out faster & the phone feeling a bit sluggish nothing specific....it's just i've already debloated my phone & disabled many features of the phone that i dont use and dont plan on updating my phone anymore and while that does help improve things quite significantly i just thought at this point why dont i just might aswell downgrade the phone
before i had this phone i was fine staying years with a phone that stopped receiving updates after android 6 lol just that it eventually ran its course and after several hardware problems & the phone giving up by itself (every 3 weeks or so it'll get stuck on bootloop for no reason) i assume it was time for me to buy a new one...too bad
rgrapow said:
I'm referring about samsung devices based on my experience (trial and error), I had a lot of bricks, soft bricks and I was able to solve it with odin.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm glad that's working well for you. I use to always be playing with my PC's like that. With Androids I took a more conservative approach; less down time, more play time.
I leave the firmware be on my 2 stock N10+'s. They run very good, fulfill their mission and it's simply not worth the risk or time. I don't allow firmware upgrades or updates. This N10+ in my hand is still running on Pie, firmware is 3.5 yo, and the current load will be 3 yo this June. No malware in all that time; security isn't an issue. Still fast, very stable with minimal maintenance. It's also heavily optimized and running well; I have zero incentive to change the playing field by altering the firmware.
My SQlite scores are lower than they should be in spite of my fast disk r/w scores so eventually I may do a factory reset to try to resolve that. Lol, that's the full extent of my ambition at the moment.
blackhawk said:
Upgrades and updates can and do break Samsung's... then you have find work arounds and fixes.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yep. i learned the hard way
i'm quite green at this stuff and at first i just thought "more upgrades & updates means good! i should get the most out of this device" but alas after some serious overheating & battery draining problems over loads of features i dont even use.....
kiyan_ said:
other than battery run out faster & the phone feeling a bit sluggish nothing specific....it's just i've already debloated my phone & disabled many features of the phone that i dont use and dont plan on updating my phone anymore and while that does help improve things quite significantly i just thought at this point why dont i just might aswell downgrade the phone
before i had this phone i was fine staying years with a phone that stopped receiving updates after android 6 lol just that it eventually ran its course and after several hardware problems & the phone giving up by itself (every 3 weeks or so it'll get stuck on bootloop for no reason) i assume it was time for me to buy a new one...too bad
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Anything below Android 9 is suspectable to partition worming nasties like Xhelper. Run Android 9 or higher. Android 9 is relatively secure unless you do stupid things.
All Samsung's should be optimized. You will still have scoped storage running on Android 11 anyway. If you don't mind the UI of Android 13 I would try to find what's causing the issues.
Disable global power management then go after the power hogs on an individual case by case basis. A logging firewall is useful in finding them. Cloud, and social media apps are prime offenders. Try temporarily disabling Google play Services and see if this helps; Google backup Transport, Gmail and Playstore are dependencies of it. Enable as needed. 5G can also suck a lot of power and is inefficient when doing small bandwidth transfers. Wifi isn't needed if you have an unlimited data plan. Use Package Disabler or abd/ladb edits to take out the really problem apps that can't be resolved in settings. Don't go too nuts though; target the hogs and totally worthless apps like Digital Wellbeing. Most of the dozens a small Samsung system apps are best left alone as many modify the UI and consume very little resources. Understand what the app does and it's dependencies if any before disabling whenever possible.
Play with it...
blackhawk said:
Anything below Android 9 is suspectable to partition worming nasties like Xhelper. Run Android 9 or higher. Android 9 is relatively secure unless you do stupid things.
All Samsung's should be optimized. You will still have scoped storage running on Android 11 anyway. If you don't mind the UI of Android 13 I would try to find what's causing the issues.
Disable global power management then go after the power hogs on an individual case by case basis. A logging firewall is useful in finding them. Cloud, and social media apps are prime offenders. Try temporarily disabling Google play Services and see if this helps; Google backup Transport, Gmail and Playstore are dependencies of it. Enable as needed. 5G can also suck a lot of power and is inefficient when doing small bandwidth transfers. Wifi isn't needed if you have an unlimited data plan. Use Package Disabler or abd/ladb edits to take out the really problem apps that can't be resolved in settings. Don't go too nuts though; target the hogs and totally worthless apps like Digital Wellbeing. Most of the dozens a small Samsung system apps are best left alone as many modify the UI and consume very little resources. Understand what the app does and it's dependencies if any before disabling whenever possible.
Play with it...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i've done all that hahahah
other than youtube i don't have any other social media apps installed and i've already got rid of chrome & switched to a lighter browser
yep i like to experiment, i suppose the flashing stuff is the next step after all of that (yes have tried factory reset several times too, i don't mind as there aren't any important data in my phone but still, possibly getting a priceful item bricked over my messing around isn't something i'm too excited about, that's why i still like to ask around)
also what got me the idea was that i've also read from several people with the same device saying that with every android updates the phone gets even more sluggish
kiyan_ said:
yep. i learned the hard way
i'm quite green at this stuff and at first i just thought "more upgrades & updates means good! i should get the most out of this device" but alas after some serious overheating & battery draining problems over loads of features i dont even use.....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I learned the hard way with Samsung's too.
After the upgrade to 13 did you do a factory reset? If not, now is the time. Don't use SmartSwitch; do a clean load by importing all the critic data yourself.
At the very least clear the system cache.
I use Package Disabler to disable about 70 apps. It's not as bad as it first seems. Android 10 literally has about 100 more new system apps than 9. Most of those new ones should be left alone. My disable list for the Android 9 N10+ vs the Android 10 one is almost identical though.
Samsung's do lots of cool things so don't be too concerned until you learn more about the features. Bixby got killed right out of the gate; it's a hog and it's EULA is one of the worst I've ever read.

Categories

Resources