LineageOS supports a custom avb (android verified boot) key and a locked boot loader on a very limited number of devices, and surely not a galaxy s4. Which is to say if malware was installed on your device it could be persistent through boot/reboot cycles. There will be no verifying OS integrity. Also on a device that’s been unsupported for that many years, the firmware and software that you’ll have access to is dramatically less secure. And this just can’t improved by also not having a locked bootloader.
Lineage can only do so much to support devices after they’ve reached EOL, which while I agree sucks, it’s a problem that’s at the hardware level (Qualcomm and Samsung make it impossible to continue meaningful support).
I understand if you’re trying to keep a device alive that you already have, but buying a phone for this purpose is probably not a good call. Or do you live in an area with limited access to newer tech?
If you can at all, the cheapest and best move would be to buy something like a Pixel 6a or 7a (or even a 5a) and run GrapheneOS.
The short awnser is: https://wiki.lineageos.org/devices/
The m8 also wasn’t supported anymore but since mine will mostly/only be used for media playback (you know, great speakers) so security isn’t my bigest concern.
Depends on how you look at it.
Before: startpage hast been stopped. Ok. Com.google.proesse.gapps has been stopped. Ok etc.
After: pretty smooth sailing only gets pretty slow for web browsing but good enough to watch youtube on newpipe.
And no I have not tried aot.
In comparison to a xaomi mi 9t: quite slugish
The 2GB of RAM are really the bottleneck. I have a few other Snapdragon 800 / 801 phones like the Galaxy Note 3, LG G3, OG Oneplus and those 3GB make a world of difference.
Im using the Xiaomi Mi9t as well. Straight from MIUI to Android 14 custom ROM with Niagara Launcher. Its so awesome. I still love that there isnt any notch or hole on the screen.
Android uses a Just-in-Time (JIT) compile of applications. You can compile everything Ahead-of-Time (AOT) via adb. It would in theory improve performance when starting applications.
This is very interesting, I will check it. Are there any drawbacks?
Edit: Just tried it. No miracles, but got a noticeable gain is usability on my phone. I recommend it to everyone using low-end devices out there. The instructions I found used this command: adb shell cmd package compile -m speed -f -a
I never got to try the m8 but the htc one m7 was my favorite phone of all time. Such a unique and simple all metal design. Incredible speakers for the time and most importantly it fit perfect in my hand. I really wish they was still around as a phone manufacturer.
I kept a Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 from 2013 up to date with CyanogenNod until the LineageOS fork. That thing had 768MB of RAM and 8GB of storage and couldn’t even fully update to Android 4.4.4 due to lack of storage space, but around Android 7 with custom ROMs was when I felt it simply wasn’t worth the effort anymore due to the terrible performance
Fun fact: You can put PostmarketOS on Nokia N900 which is from 2009. It should still make it relatively usable, though probably quite slow. It only has 256MB RAM and a single-core 32-bit 600MHz CPU.
Uhm, I highly recommend running WhatsCrap in the Work profile. Unlock it using Shelter.
Also, bad news maybe but that phone is insecure as fu*k. It didnt get updates forever and this means it will also not be private anymore if you get hacked.
LineageOS cant provide kernel updates or Firmware updates, thats simply how SOC devices work…
But good learning practice! Installing GrapheneOS is a breeze compared to LineageOS though hahahaa, I resized the partition of a Nokia phone once, to get a higher Android LineageOS in there.
It really is a shame how phones are made. Firmware has to be signed by the vendors, so you CAN’T upgrade it. I mean, if there was a big community they maybe could handle the Kernel maintenance, but not the Firmware.
I highly recommend you getting a Pixel 8 with GrapheneOS. It has very long lifetime, even though Google kinda sucks when it comes to hardware features. Their a models seem to have actively crippled Cameras (comparing a Pixel 6a to a 4a, it is worse! Not to speak of a Nokia 7plus which is years old).
But they are the only good one poorly, as they fully support running a Custom OS on it, including all hardware features. Samsung actively blocks custom OSses from accessing those.
When using Graphene, is the camera app as good as the default Pixel OS? I seem to recall running the old AOSP, you didn’t get whatever secret sauce makes the Pixel phone’s camera so good.
They literally preinstall the required libraries, although their camera is okay, you can install the “AI knows everything better than you” PixelCamera, you can install the LineageOS “Aperture” from the iodeOS repo, and you can install Opencamera.
I think LineageOSses Camera is better for photos as it has this “take an image from a video” thing so it works instantaneous. GrapheneOS camera may have better quality overall.
As far as I know it does not include Google’s special sauce. You can install it back on in GrapheneOS but I believe that requires the Play Store. You also lose Android Auto in GrapheneOS
The GCam works without any sandboxed play service requirements. Note sandboxed Play Services. You can disable components, uninstall them again, give or restrict permissions, like normal Android apps.
On GrapheneOS you can also disable every App.
And Android Auto recently got support, fully sandboxed. But its crazy how much tracking that needs, I still have no idea what it is at all but it works.
I also tried Google Play Games, which is not available through their store, from Aurorastore, and with the sandboxed Play services it also works perfectly fine!
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One of the best Android phones ever made. Just seeing this photo made me happy and Nostalgic
I’m about to buy a Galaxy S4 and do the same.
Can I ask why?
LineageOS supports a custom avb (android verified boot) key and a locked boot loader on a very limited number of devices, and surely not a galaxy s4. Which is to say if malware was installed on your device it could be persistent through boot/reboot cycles. There will be no verifying OS integrity. Also on a device that’s been unsupported for that many years, the firmware and software that you’ll have access to is dramatically less secure. And this just can’t improved by also not having a locked bootloader.
Lineage can only do so much to support devices after they’ve reached EOL, which while I agree sucks, it’s a problem that’s at the hardware level (Qualcomm and Samsung make it impossible to continue meaningful support).
I understand if you’re trying to keep a device alive that you already have, but buying a phone for this purpose is probably not a good call. Or do you live in an area with limited access to newer tech?
If you can at all, the cheapest and best move would be to buy something like a Pixel 6a or 7a (or even a 5a) and run GrapheneOS.
How do you find out what set of devices?
The short awnser is: https://wiki.lineageos.org/devices/ The m8 also wasn’t supported anymore but since mine will mostly/only be used for media playback (you know, great speakers) so security isn’t my bigest concern.
WE DID IT!!
How does it work? Have you also tried the AOT for all your apps to help with performance.
Depends on how you look at it. Before: startpage hast been stopped. Ok. Com.google.proesse.gapps has been stopped. Ok etc. After: pretty smooth sailing only gets pretty slow for web browsing but good enough to watch youtube on newpipe. And no I have not tried aot. In comparison to a xaomi mi 9t: quite slugish
The 2GB of RAM are really the bottleneck. I have a few other Snapdragon 800 / 801 phones like the Galaxy Note 3, LG G3, OG Oneplus and those 3GB make a world of difference.
It also only has a 32bit CPU. So I think Android 10 is as high as it goes. I never updated my Android 4.4 because it runs so much better on it.
Battery is pretty shot though so I only rarely use it at home now.
Im using the Xiaomi Mi9t as well. Straight from MIUI to Android 14 custom ROM with Niagara Launcher. Its so awesome. I still love that there isnt any notch or hole on the screen.
What’s AOT?
Android uses a Just-in-Time (JIT) compile of applications. You can compile everything Ahead-of-Time (AOT) via adb. It would in theory improve performance when starting applications.
This is very interesting, I will check it. Are there any drawbacks?
Edit: Just tried it. No miracles, but got a noticeable gain is usability on my phone. I recommend it to everyone using low-end devices out there. The instructions I found used this command: adb shell cmd package compile -m speed -f -a
Yeah, I think you need to do it after any update. I do this on my OG Pixel XL
I never got to try the m8 but the htc one m7 was my favorite phone of all time. Such a unique and simple all metal design. Incredible speakers for the time and most importantly it fit perfect in my hand. I really wish they was still around as a phone manufacturer.
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Yep, and only 2GB RAM.
I kept a Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 from 2013 up to date with CyanogenNod until the LineageOS fork. That thing had 768MB of RAM and 8GB of storage and couldn’t even fully update to Android 4.4.4 due to lack of storage space, but around Android 7 with custom ROMs was when I felt it simply wasn’t worth the effort anymore due to the terrible performance
Fun fact: You can put PostmarketOS on Nokia N900 which is from 2009. It should still make it relatively usable, though probably quite slow. It only has 256MB RAM and a single-core 32-bit 600MHz CPU.
I wish N900 had a modern version.
I had that phone, also with Lineage. It was great. :)
Same here, one of the best phones I’ve ever had.
I like that background can you tell me where it’s from?
Sorce where I found it online: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=lineage+os+standart+wallpapers&t=fpas&iax=images&ia=images&iai=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.setaswall.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2018%2F02%2FLineage-OS-15.1-Stock-Wallpaper-03-2560x1440.jpg
It’s one of the preinstalled wallpapers on lineage os 17.1 I can try to post it in the comments.
We use the exact same things in the home row bar or whatever that bottom folder is called. 🙌
Many apps and launchers call it a ‘dock’
Sucks they are killing off 3g in a lot of places this year which is taking out many devices of this generation
This phone supported LTE
Uhm, I highly recommend running WhatsCrap in the Work profile. Unlock it using Shelter.
Also, bad news maybe but that phone is insecure as fu*k. It didnt get updates forever and this means it will also not be private anymore if you get hacked.
LineageOS cant provide kernel updates or Firmware updates, thats simply how SOC devices work…
But good learning practice! Installing GrapheneOS is a breeze compared to LineageOS though hahahaa, I resized the partition of a Nokia phone once, to get a higher Android LineageOS in there.
It really was good practice, It’ll not be my main phone. That was more or less just a proof of concept or a bit of tinkering.
It really is a shame how phones are made. Firmware has to be signed by the vendors, so you CAN’T upgrade it. I mean, if there was a big community they maybe could handle the Kernel maintenance, but not the Firmware.
I highly recommend you getting a Pixel 8 with GrapheneOS. It has very long lifetime, even though Google kinda sucks when it comes to hardware features. Their a models seem to have actively crippled Cameras (comparing a Pixel 6a to a 4a, it is worse! Not to speak of a Nokia 7plus which is years old).
But they are the only good one poorly, as they fully support running a Custom OS on it, including all hardware features. Samsung actively blocks custom OSses from accessing those.
When using Graphene, is the camera app as good as the default Pixel OS? I seem to recall running the old AOSP, you didn’t get whatever secret sauce makes the Pixel phone’s camera so good.
They literally preinstall the required libraries, although their camera is okay, you can install the “AI knows everything better than you” PixelCamera, you can install the LineageOS “Aperture” from the iodeOS repo, and you can install Opencamera.
I think LineageOSses Camera is better for photos as it has this “take an image from a video” thing so it works instantaneous. GrapheneOS camera may have better quality overall.
As far as I know it does not include Google’s special sauce. You can install it back on in GrapheneOS but I believe that requires the Play Store. You also lose Android Auto in GrapheneOS
No and no.
https://grapheneos.org/faq
The GCam works without any sandboxed play service requirements. Note sandboxed Play Services. You can disable components, uninstall them again, give or restrict permissions, like normal Android apps.
On GrapheneOS you can also disable every App.
And Android Auto recently got support, fully sandboxed. But its crazy how much tracking that needs, I still have no idea what it is at all but it works.
I also tried Google Play Games, which is not available through their store, from Aurorastore, and with the sandboxed Play services it also works perfectly fine!
Oh cool! I was out of date on all of that so thank you
Yeah its always easy. There are a TON of misconceptions about GrapheneOS.
I am doing a writeup of a “GrapheneOS Kickstart” guide currently, nearly done. Includes many of those questions, although impossible to include all.
If a person says to you they know everything, you get 100% security or privacy, they are lying.
When the time to upgrade comes, I’ll probably get a pixel. But right now my main phone is holding up very well. Even though it’s allready 5 years old.
sniffs
It still smells like corporate data collecting nonsense in here. And I think I know why.
Spoiler alert: it’s WhatsApp.
Not tiktok music?
That doesn’t look like TikTok to me.
Allready deleted that app, if you scroll thru the comments you can see that it’s been replaced by signal.
You’re making great progress.
Don’t forget to stay away from stupid keyboards!!
Some are basically key loggers
AnySoftKeyboard is nice also
Most of them. Florisboard or Openboard.
Could use some ricing. Try iconify
Isn’t this phone was originally shipped with Windows Phone 8? How do you managed to mod it out and install Android on it?
There might have been a windows version, but I definitely had an android one.
Oh I see…
Welp, that make it far more easier technically to pull off that I imagine it would be
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Don’t mean to highjack topic. But Thank You Steve, for watching my dog while I was on vacation.
?
Steve is a good friend.