Develop Bugs

S4 Mini: where to (re-)start after CyanogenMod 11

I just totalled my S4 Mini (i9195). The phone is alive but the LCD is totally smashed.
Been running CyanogenMod 11 for a couple of years. Once the ROM got stable I've been really happy with the hardware and software.
My question is what to do now.
Fix the phone and just carry on with CyanogenMod 11
Fix the phone and upgrade the ROM -- what's everyone using for day-to-day use; is it LineageOS? I like CyanogenMod 11 because it's not tied to Google, PrivacyGuard and LED notifications, otherwise fairly minimal. I don't want really want to go back to the unstability I remember of the early CyanogenMod 11 milestones.
Upgrade the phone to a new one. I'm not sure one is suitable; my main criteria are small size and switchable battery, custom ROM.
I'm fairly technical but new to posting on XDA. Hoping you can help me past some of the jargon and codenames. What are people using their S4 Mini day to day (not experimenting) doing?
Thanks -- Mark

wheelsofsteel said:
I just totalled my S4 Mini (i9195). The phone is alive but the LCD is totally smashed.
Been running CyanogenMod 11 for a couple of years. Once the ROM got stable I've been really happy with the hardware and software.
My question is what to do now.
Fix the phone and just carry on with CyanogenMod 11
Fix the phone and upgrade the ROM -- what's everyone using for day-to-day use; is it LineageOS? I like CyanogenMod 11 because it's not tied to Google, PrivacyGuard and LED notifications, otherwise fairly minimal. I don't want really want to go back to the unstability I remember of the early CyanogenMod 11 milestones.
Upgrade the phone to a new one. I'm not sure one is suitable; my main criteria are small size and switchable battery, custom ROM.
I'm fairly technical but new to posting on XDA. Hoping you can help me past some of the jargon and codenames. What are people using their S4 Mini day to day (not experimenting) doing?
Thanks -- Mark
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Click to collapse
If you are going to keep your phone it sounds like CM13 would be best for you as it is very stable and you will get much newer security patches (though it looks like Arco will not be updating it any further for now). It has Privacy Guard and you can flash a smaller Open GApps package to keep Google to a minimum .....
LinageOS is already very stable but there are a few small bugs (maybe a big one with the dialer as some people have reported in last few days having no audio on calls) as you would expect on a "TEST" ROM, but some are using for daily driver with no real problems. Maybe give it a look once it's gone "official".
It's almost impossible to get a new phone with good spec and small size now especially one that has such a great custom ROM's available.

It's almost impossible to get a new phone with good spec and small size now especially one that has such a great custom ROM's available.
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I just came across the S5 Mini.. Seems like it might be the last phone that fulfill my hardware requirements and it won't cost me much more to upgrade than to repair my current phone. Did all the S4 Mini crowd move to the S5 Mini or is there good reason to stick with the old? For example, worse support for the hardware.
Thanks for the ROM tips, I will definitely try version 13 once I have a working phone just to see. If I really don't like it I can always consider going back to 11.

wheelsofsteel said:
I just came across the S5 Mini.. Seems like it might be the last phone that fulfill my hardware requirements and it won't cost me much more to upgrade than to repair my current phone. Did all the S4 Mini crowd move to the S5 Mini or is there good reason to stick with the old? For example, worse support for the hardware.
Thanks for the ROM tips, I will definitely try version 13 once I have a working phone just to see. If I really don't like it I can always consider going back to 11.
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Click to collapse
Yes, S5 Mini will probably be a good choice, though not as much development by the looks of it, but we S4 Mini owners have been spoilt. Don't think that many people upgraded to it, but I don't really know.

IronRoo said:
but we S4 Mini owners have been spoilt.
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Yup I think I have, and until now took it for granted that most of the phones were reverse engineered to the same level.
I made a decision and ordered the parts to repair my S4 Mini, that will be my day-to-day phone. When I get it I might spin up CM13 for a test. As for a 'new' phone that will have to wait. Thanks for the advice.

wheelsofsteel said:
Yup I think I have, and until now took it for granted that most of the phones were reverse engineered to the same level.
I made a decision and ordered the parts to repair my S4 Mini, that will be my day-to-day phone. When I get it I might spin up CM13 for a test. As for a 'new' phone that will have to wait. Thanks for the advice.
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Click to collapse
Take the Lineage OS 14.1 build from arco68. and TWRP 3.03 from neozone75 Much more performance,longer battery life,and my s4 mini boots packed with a lot apps in under 1min. when flashed, don't miss to set the preferrred network type in Mobile radio networks- if you have no LTE contract set it to 3G . good luck for repair

Lenovo P2 - a good choice?

Hello.
I'm looking for a new phone, my budget is around 340 USD and therefore Lenovo P2 has really caught my eye. I'd like to ask a couple questions.
1. How is the bootloader unlock procedure? Is it known to be problematic or causing any issues with ultimately not being able to unlock the bootloader? Coming from an LG device, I want to be extra careful regarding this.
2. I plan to have this device for a longer period of time, around 3-4 years. Is Lenovo P2 a viable choice in this regard? Will it be able to hold off for that long, in terms of ROM support and general performance/usage?
3. How do custom ROM development prospects look right now for the device? Can I expect good custom ROM support from this device in the coming years?
4. How satisfied are you with your phone? Would you recommend it to me? Is there anything you don't like about the phone?
Thanks in advance.

1) submit unlock request through the phone and the bootloader should be unlocked 14 days later.
2) original ROM support - highly unlikely. Custom ROM - depends on how well received the phone is by the community. Might be too early to tell still. Performance etc, I don't think any high-end phone from 3-4 years ago can compete with mid range phone's today. So I can only imagine P2 being as sluggish as entry level phones today in 3-4 years.
3) can't comment. If you want custom ROM support, flagship Samsung and Nexus might be a better option?
4) battery life is exceptional, but I really wish it was smaller. The camera is not excellent either.
Sent from my Lenovo P2a42 using Tapatalk

Are you planning to use this phone in the USA? If yes, don't purchase it. The us networks are not supported.

ken218 said:
1) submit unlock request through the phone and the bootloader should be unlocked 14 days later.
2) original ROM support - highly unlikely. Custom ROM - depends on how well received the phone is by the community. Might be too early to tell still. Performance etc, I don't think any high-end phone from 3-4 years ago can compete with mid range phone's today. So I can only imagine P2 being as sluggish as entry level phones today in 3-4 years.
3) can't comment. If you want custom ROM support, flagship Samsung and Nexus might be a better option?
4) battery life is exceptional, but I really wish it was smaller. The camera is not excellent either.
Sent from my Lenovo P2a42 using Tapatalk
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Click to collapse
Thank you for the answer, very much appreciated.
I'm aware that it probably won't get official ROM support, but I hope that custom ROMs will be usable, i.e. that all the issues like the fingerprint scanner and notification LED will be fixed.
Most of the Nexus options are overpriced where I live, but maybe Nexus 6 could be an option(?).

Rom Support and reception seems to be starting well 2 months from this conversation... don't you think ?
(that's what made me buy it + full french 4G support)...

Fobos531 said:
Thank you for the answer, very much appreciated.
I'm aware that it probably won't get official ROM support, but I hope that custom ROMs will be usable, i.e. that all the issues like the fingerprint scanner and notification LED will be fixed.
.
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Let me put it this way: I still use my old Note 3 as remote control for Xiaomi Smart Home. It runs on last official Android 5.1. All those custom ROMs are crap. Nothing just headache.

Its a great budget phone

MIUI Pro Custom ROM

I was wondering if anyone has experience using the above custom ROM? The homepage is in Russian and I haven't been able to find out much more about it other than the fact that some people really seem to like it.
If anybody is running the ROM I would be interested in opinions. Is it worth flashing instead of using stock MIUI? Any problems using it in English or compatibility issues with US phone service?
I haven't unlocked my bootloader yet but have permission. I'm trying to figure out if there is a custom ROM worth flashing that offers some advantages over stock. My original plan was to flash LOS but some people seem to be experiencing bugs.
Any info on MIUI PRO (or even a different recommendation) would be appreciated.
I can't complain about performance on stock which is blazing fast but I do miss Google Smart Lock.

jhs39 said:
I was wondering if anyone has experience using the above custom ROM? The homepage is in Russian and I haven't been able to find out much more about it other than the fact that some people really seem to like it.
If anybody is running the ROM I would be interested in opinions. Is it worth flashing instead of using stock MIUI? Any problems using it in English or compatibility issues with US phone service?
I haven't unlocked my bootloader yet but have permission. I'm trying to figure out if there is a custom ROM worth flashing that offers some advantages over stock. My original plan was to flash LOS but some people seem to be experiencing bugs.
Any info on MIUI PRO (or even a different recommendation) would be appreciated.
I can't complain about performance on stock which is blazing fast but I do miss Google Smart Lock.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Would actually also appreciate any information on this ROM. I have used LineageOS, MIUI Stable, Developer, Nightly Beta, EpicRom, RR but not this one solely because the site is Russian as you stated. Would love a bit more info...Figured I'd reply to this in hope to revive it.
As for LineageOS, you might as well try it out now. The third release (most recent one) has had a LOT of fixes and optimizations done to it.

I've been using it for more than one Xiaomi phone and I think it's a great rom. Very fast, smooth, without lag and with an excellent battery life. It also has a face unlock and other settings that you can't find in other roms...I try Epic Rom,Xiaomi Eu,Lineage...
I don't know about US phone service because I'm from Europe...not from Russia but I use Miui Pro without problems or fear also if they are from Russia
Try it:good:

3o3ulka76 said:
I've been using it for more than one Xiaomi phone and I think it's a great rom. Very fast, smooth, without lag and with an excellent battery life. It also has a face unlock and other settings that you can't find in other roms...I try Epic Rom,Xiaomi Eu,Lineage...
I don't know about US phone service because I'm from Europe...not from Russia but I use Miui Pro without problems or fear also if they are from Russia
Try it:good:
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Click to collapse
Thanks! I shall look into it. What kind of modifications/differences are there compared to the stock MIUI?

For example you can encrease at 6 number of toggles... double tap where do you want to wake up or turn off the screen...choose the colour the battery when is 100% or 80%...etc

MIUI Pro has had very bad battery backup for me
I switched to Mi-Globe ROM

Kaji said:
Would actually also appreciate any information on this ROM. I have used LineageOS, MIUI Stable, Developer, Nightly Beta, EpicRom, RR but not this one solely because the site is Russian as you stated. Would love a bit more info...Figured I'd reply to this in hope to revive it.
As for LineageOS, you might as well try it out now. The third release (most recent one) has had a LOT of fixes and optimizations done to it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried LOS. I was excited at first to have stock Android back but then I experienced issues with poor call quality and my mobile data reception became erratic so I ended up going back to MIUI Global with the MI Flash tool and not paying close enough attention allowed it to lock my bootloader again.
My skepticism about MIUI PRO goes beyond the Russian website. There is no information about the ROM in English anywhere I could find. The only review on YouTube is in Hindi. None of the Xiaomi threads on XDA, Google+ or Reddit has information about the ROM. I know Xiaomi phones are primarily sold in China and India but that doesn't really explain why there seems to be no information anywhere about the ROM.
But the fact that the ROM is based in Russia does seriously concern me. I had an issue with Kaspersky Anti-virus (which used to be first rate) not flagging Russian malware on my computer. And that happened a full year before Russian hackers helped Trump become president. Using a Russian operating system on a phone just doesn't seem like the smartest idea.
If you try MIUI Pro post what you think of it.

jhs39 said:
I tried LOS. I was excited at first to have stock Android back but then I experienced issues with poor call quality and my mobile data reception became erratic so I ended up going back to MIUI Global with the MI Flash tool and not paying close enough attention allowed it to lock my bootloader again.
My skepticism about MIUI PRO goes beyond the Russian website. There is no information about the ROM in English anywhere I could find. The only review on YouTube is in Hindi. None of the Xiaomi threads on XDA, Google+ or Reddit has information about the ROM. I know Xiaomi phones are primarily sold in China and India but that doesn't really explain why there seems to be no information anywhere about the ROM.
But the fact that the ROM is based in Russia does seriously concern me. I had an issue with Kaspersky Anti-virus (which used to be first rate) not flagging Russian malware on my computer. And that happened a full year before Russian hackers helped Trump become president. Using a Russian operating system on a phone just doesn't seem like the smartest idea.
If you try MIUI Pro post what you think of it.
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Click to collapse
Well said my friend, and kudos for using the flash tool....just feels so much more..genuine. Can't say I haven't accidentally locked my bootloader too but that's how we learn.
I found the LOS to be, well, an absolute stock experience. But like you and I'm sure many others, it just isn't at the point where it should be used as a daily driver. I'm currently running the 11th of May beta but honestly has more bugs than LOS at this stage so will be reverting back to the latest official developer ROM from the MIUI site (fastboot ver of course).
Gave this MIUIPro some extra thought and seeing as though it sounds very limited in extras (you can mod the number of toggles in the quick settings with packages already available on XDA if you wished to do so) I'll stick with builds straight from Xiaomi.
Sorry for the let down

Kaji said:
Well said my friend, and kudos for using the flash tool....just feels so much more..genuine. Can't say I haven't accidentally locked my bootloader too but that's how we learn.
I found the LOS to be, well, an absolute stock experience. But like you and I'm sure many others, it just isn't at the point where it should be used as a daily driver. I'm currently running the 11th of May beta but honestly has more bugs than LOS at this stage so will be reverting back to the latest official developer ROM from the MIUI site (fastboot ver of course).
Gave this MIUIPro some extra thought and seeing as though it sounds very limited in extras (you can mod the number of toggles in the quick settings with packages already available on XDA if you wished to do so) I'll stick with builds straight from Xiaomi.
Sorry for the let down
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Click to collapse
I was thinking about trying the MIUI Developer ROM. Is it stable enough to use as a daily driver? I looked at posts about the beta but that seemed to be to buggy for me. I value stability since I'm using the Mi Mix 2 as my main phone. That wasn't my original plan but the signal reception is so superior to my Essential PH-1 I couldn't justify using it daily instead even though there are many things that I prefer about that phone.
Maybe LOS for this phone will get better eventually but that was what I kept telling myself when I had an OP5. I hated the stock OS but after trying every custom ROM that existed I found only 1 Nougat ROM (Viper) and 1 Oreo ROM (Phoenix) that I considered good enough to use as a daily driver. I'm not a programmer but I think the quality of custom ROMs has gone down the toilet because they are almost always being made now by people who don't use the phone as their daily driver. The only non-OOS ROM made by a developer who actually used the OP5 daily was Phoenix and you could tell the difference the developer actually using the phone made.
Cyanogenmod was the first custom ROM I ever used that always had bugs, probably because they were trying to be compatible with as many phones as possible. My experience with LOS on 2 previous phones has been exactly the same. I love that they are trying to bring stock Android to phones that don't have it but I wish they were doing a better job.

jhs39 said:
I was thinking about trying the MIUI Developer ROM. Is it stable enough to use as a daily driver? I looked at posts about the beta but that seemed to be to buggy for me. I value stability since I'm using the Mi Mix 2 as my main phone. That wasn't my original plan but the signal reception is so superior to my Essential PH-1 I couldn't justify using it daily instead even though there are many things that I prefer about that phone.
Maybe LOS for this phone will get better eventually but that was what I kept telling myself when I had an OP5. I hated the stock OS but after trying every custom ROM that existed I found only 1 Nougat ROM (Viper) and 1 Oreo ROM (Phoenix) that I considered good enough to use as a daily driver. I'm not a programmer but I think the quality of custom ROMs has gone down the toilet because they are almost always being made now by people who don't use the phone as their daily driver. The only non-OOS ROM made by a developer who actually used the OP5 daily was Phoenix and you could tell the difference the developer actually using the phone made.
Cyanogenmod was the first custom ROM I ever used that always had bugs, probably because they were trying to be compatible with as many phones as possible. My experience with LOS on 2 previous phones has been exactly the same. I love that they are trying to bring stock Android to phones that don't have it but I wish they were doing a better job.
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Hey man. I had been using Developer builds up until now and I can tell you they are easily stable enough for daily use. I cannot confirm this is 100% correct but I'm fairly sure Developer ROMs are just the in-between ROMs where all the minor adjustments happen. The change logs have all included things like "Improved system stability", "removed unnecessary files for [insert app here]" etc. So you never know, they could actually be more stable than any of the "Stable" releases you've used so far, you'll have to be the judge of that. I don't travel much, nor do I require any very advanced function of Android at this stage so for sure there could be something I've missed but I have never had a force shut-down, lack of signal, graphical bug or force-close of app with any of the developer builds.
I never owned a OP5 but I did have a OP3 and OP3t which I used FreedomOS on both but eventually came around to LineageOS only because they all seemed about as optimized as eachother. I'm all for custom MIUI ROMs if they are going to actually improve on something but at this stage all they do is debloat which can be done by anyone and add a few features which actually make the system less stable and battery hungry. My plan is to try the occasional Beta to see what new features Xiaomi is bringing to the table, stick with the latest developer the rest of the time, and when they finally make a stable I'm happy with then stick with that until the next wave of software upgrades is due.
How is the Essential by the way? Apart from the signal. Never met anyone who owned one.

Kaji said:
Hey man. I had been using Developer builds up until now and I can tell you they are easily stable enough for daily use. I cannot confirm this is 100% correct but I'm fairly sure Developer ROMs are just the in-between ROMs where all the minor adjustments happen. The change logs have all included things like "Improved system stability", "removed unnecessary files for [insert app here]" etc. So you never know, they could actually be more stable than any of the "Stable" releases you've used so far, you'll have to be the judge of that. I don't travel much, nor do I require any very advanced function of Android at this stage so for sure there could be something I've missed but I have never had a force shut-down, lack of signal, graphical bug or force-close of app with any of the developer builds.
I never owned a OP5 but I did have a OP3 and OP3t which I used FreedomOS on both but eventually came around to LineageOS only because they all seemed about as optimized as eachother. I'm all for custom MIUI ROMs if they are going to actually improve on something but at this stage all they do is debloat which can be done by anyone and add a few features which actually make the system less stable and battery hungry. My plan is to try the occasional Beta to see what new features Xiaomi is bringing to the table, stick with the latest developer the rest of the time, and when they finally make a stable I'm happy with then stick with that until the next wave of software upgrades is due.
How is the Essential by the way? Apart from the signal. Never met anyone who owned one.
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Click to collapse
It's a nice looking phone. Great build quality and excellent QHD screen. It's smaller than other phones I've owned over the past 5 years bit doesn't feel like a small screen phone because of the high screen to body ratio. It's much more comfortable to handle than the Mi Mix 2 although I'm getting used to this one. It's not as smooth or snappy as the Mix 2. But the weak signal reception is a big problem. I used it on T-Mobile (erratic signal), AT&T (poor signal), Sprint (poor signal) and Verizon (very good signal). Unfortunately Verizon's MVNO (Straight Talk) is way more expensive than the ones available for T-Mobile so it made more sense to use a different phone than pay a higher cell service bill every month just so I could keep using the Essential. I should have returned it for a refund but fell in love with it which was why I tried every network. I'm just using it as a backup with very cheap T-Mobile. The signal at home is crap but since WiFi calling works it doesn't matter.
Maybe I'll try the dev ROM then. Thanks for the info.

Kaji said:
Hey man. I had been using Developer builds up until now and I can tell you they are easily stable enough for daily use. I cannot confirm this is 100% correct but I'm fairly sure Developer ROMs are just the in-between ROMs where all the minor adjustments happen. The change logs have all included things like "Improved system stability", "removed unnecessary files for [insert app here]" etc. So you never know, they could actually be more stable than any of the "Stable" releases you've used so far, you'll have to be the judge of that. I don't travel much, nor do I require any very advanced function of Android at this stage so for sure there could be something I've missed but I have never had a force shut-down, lack of signal, graphical bug or force-close of app with any of the developer builds.
I never owned a OP5 but I did have a OP3 and OP3t which I used FreedomOS on both but eventually came around to LineageOS only because they all seemed about as optimized as eachother. I'm all for custom MIUI ROMs if they are going to actually improve on something but at this stage all they do is debloat which can be done by anyone and add a few features which actually make the system less stable and battery hungry. My plan is to try the occasional Beta to see what new features Xiaomi is bringing to the table, stick with the latest developer the rest of the time, and when they finally make a stable I'm happy with then stick with that until the next wave of software upgrades is due.
How is the Essential by the way? Apart from the signal. Never met anyone who owned one.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Programming on OnePlus phones has gotten way worse since the OP3/3T days. Oxygen was programmed by a team in Europe back then. But to save money OnePlus fired the European programmers and transferred the ROM to the Hydrogen team in China. That's when the coding started to go completely to hell.
Software engineers in China and India analyzed the OnePlus version of Oreo and reported that a lot of the code was actually Nougat. They also said the coding overall was very sloppy and unprofessional.
If you follow software devs on their Telegram channels (outside of XDA) it doesn't take long to discover that the poor programming on OnePlus phones is a running joke with many of them.
Running a custom ROM doesn't completely fix the problem either because the custom ROMs still need to use OnePlus firmware which is a mess.
OnePlus phones are so poorly programmed there is no way to use TWRP safely unless you decrypt the data on your phone and keep it permanently decrypted.

jhs39 said:
Programming on OnePlus phones has gotten way worse since the OP3/3T days. Oxygen was programmed by a team in Europe back then. But to save money OnePlus fired the European programmers and transferred the ROM to the Hydrogen team in China. That's when the coding started to go completely to hell.
Software engineers in China and India analyzed the OnePlus version of Oreo and reported that a lot of the code was actually Nougat. They also said the coding overall was very sloppy and unprofessional.
If you follow software devs on their Telegram channels (outside of XDA) it doesn't take long to discover that the poor programming on OnePlus phones is a running joke with many of them.
Running a custom ROM doesn't completely fix the problem either because the custom ROMs still need to use OnePlus firmware which is a mess.
OnePlus phones are so poorly programmed there is no way to use TWRP safely unless you decrypt the data on your phone and keep it permanently decrypted.
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Click to collapse
You make me really appreciate the fact I chose my Mi Mix 2 over the OnePlus 5t. Coming from the OnePlus 3T it was a difficult decision but I'm glad I made the switch.
Honestly this is the first I've heard of this but that's so bad, they are becoming one of the most popular high end smartphone manufacturers and they struggle to make solid, secure advancements in their software which can potentially lead to massive breaches of privacy via exploits.
Actually I remember not too long ago, wasn't there a big issue where users could access root from within the hidden developer settings of the OS? Without even an unlocked bootloader.
Gotta love that this is an entirely different topic from what this thread was made for.

Kaji said:
You make me really appreciate the fact I chose my Mi Mix 2 over the OnePlus 5t. Coming from the OnePlus 3T it was a difficult decision but I'm glad I made the switch.
Honestly this is the first I've heard of this but that's so bad, they are becoming one of the most popular high end smartphone manufacturers and they struggle to make solid, secure advancements in their software which can potentially lead to massive breaches of privacy via exploits.
Actually I remember not too long ago, wasn't there a big issue where users could access root from within the hidden developer settings of the OS? Without even an unlocked bootloader.
Gotta love that this is an entirely different topic from what this thread was made for.
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Click to collapse
For whatever reason tech sites in the United States allow themselves to be shills for OnePlus. Reviews for the latest OnePlus device frequently sound more like shameless promotion than honest analysis because they often are. OnePlus solicits reviews in exchange for free phones and places the reviews on accommodating tech sites. I received an invitation to apply for a free OnePlus 6 phone and help to influence tech buyers. To apply OnePlus wanted a full length sample review of a tech product I already owned. The people who submit the most professional sounding reviews get the free phones and send their reviews to OnePlus. OnePlus then cherry picks those submissions and publishes the reviews it likes on various tech sites.
Pretty much the only two places you can get accurate information about OnePlus phones is on Telegram and Reddit.
Here's what happened with spyware in the 8 months I had an OP5. Someone discovered that a system process in Oxygen was secretly transmitting a lot of detailed user information to servers in China. This was separate from the User Experience Program that owners could opt out of.
An explanation of how to disable the spyware process was published and when asked to comment OnePlus promised to remove the spyware.
Nothing was done at all until the next scheduled monthly update. It appeared that OnePlus removed the spyware but it was discovered that OnePlus instead changed the name of the spyware process and that it was still transmitting the same user information to servers in China.
OnePlus apologized again but still left the spyware functioning until the next scheduled monthly update.
Shortly after it was discovered that an app in Oxygen allowed anyone with physical access to a OnePlus phone to unlock and root it by connecting it to a computer. OnePlus claimed that it was a Qualcomm test app that had been accidentally left on the phone. There actually was such an app but when Qualcomm examined the app found on OnePlus phones they said it definitely wasn't theirs.
It took OnePlus two months to remove the app from Oxygen.
Then in December a new type of spyware was discovered in an Oxygen beta build for the OP3/3T--a clipboard app that was transmitting contents to a server in China. OnePlus insisted that the clipboard app wasn't spyware but was actually a feature intended for its Chinese customers even though OnePlus sells virtually no phones in China.
Also in mid November OnePlus started to receive reports that customers who used their credit cards to make purchases on the official OnePlus site were seeing unidentified charges on their accounts. OnePlus didn't shut down credit card processing on its website until January. By that time over 40,000 OnePlus customers had their credit card information stolen.
OnePlus is not a good company so the fact that American tech sites continue to shill for them is nauseating.
I'm definitely much happier with my Mix 2 than I was with the OP5. This isn't a perfect phone but it's very good for the cost. The OP5 had crummy build quality and felt like cheap junk.

I tried MIUI Pro for a couple days. I wasn't all that impressed with it. MIUI Pro is less smooth and fluid than the latest official Global Dev Build despite having almost all of the Xiaomi MIUI apps removed.
The default keyboard is from Sony Experia for some reason. The only added feature than I personally found worthwhile was the expanded boot menu.
These are the other differences I noticed:
1) There is a smart network function that allows you to choose a specific type of network connectivity when making or receiving phone calls. You can have the phone switch to a specific network type and also automatically shut off WiFi, data or Bluetooth when on a call.
2) Menu options to change the system font and animations and their speed.
3) Built in charging alarm that would have been way more useful if you could customize the low charge/full charge values.
4) Option to use LTE instead of 4G in status bar as well as more options to disable/enable icons that appear there.
5) Three status bar settings (stock, aosp & IOS) that sound promising but all they did was change the arrangement of the status bar icons.
I'm sure there's more I'm forgetting. The Google Play Store comes pre-installed but nothing else--not even the Google app. That makes setting up Google Assistant with voice commands much more of a hassle but it's doable--the menus to make that happen in MIUI Pro aren't intuitive but that's probably because it's based on the China ROM.
It's also more of a hassle to get Google apps working properly in MIUI Pro compared with Official Global because you need to download everything from the Play Store and also manually grant the permissions for each app.
Since there are very few pre-installed apps you do have more free storage but I expected the ROM to be way faster and smoother since it's so stripped down. Performance of the ROM definitely isn't bad but for some reason it's inferior to stock.
Even though I chose English as the install language a couple of notifications came up in Russian. What they said I don't know.
I also don't know if any spyware or malware was written into the OS.
I missed stock after using MIUI Pro for just a few hours but ran it for 2 days anyway to give the ROM a fair chance.
I could see someone running MIUI Pro on a device where there was no official global ROM but it didn't do much for me.

Moto G5 (XT1676) in 2020

Hello everybody.
I'm looking to buy this phone (new) as a daily driver. I know its kinda old, so I would like to ask is it still worth it to buy this phone? I don't use much apps and use my phone for texting, browsing, reddit, calls etc...
I see that there are a lot of roms for this phone, so i would like to ask are they reliable and up-to-date? Or have they been abandoned? I would like to buy a phone and be set with it for next 5+ years.
I would like to buy a phone with removable battery so my other option is Samsung xcover 4s.
Thanks in advance.

crocodilehun said:
Hello everybody.
I'm looking to buy this phone (new) as a daily driver. I know its kinda old, so I would like to ask is it still worth it to buy this phone? I don't use much apps and use my phone for texting, browsing, reddit, calls etc...
I see that there are a lot of roms for this phone, so i would like to ask are they reliable and up-to-date? Or have they been abandoned? I would like to buy a phone and be set with it for next 5+ years.
I would like to buy a phone with removable battery so my other option is Samsung xcover 4s.
Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you buy an 3GB RAM model, I think you're OK.

crocodilehun said:
Hello everybody.
I'm looking to buy this phone (new) as a daily driver. I know its kinda old, so I would like to ask is it still worth it to buy this phone? I don't use much apps and use my phone for texting, browsing, reddit, calls etc...
I see that there are a lot of roms for this phone, so i would like to ask are they reliable and up-to-date? Or have they been abandoned? I would like to buy a phone and be set with it for next 5+ years.
I would like to buy a phone with removable battery so my other option is Samsung xcover 4s.
Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Custom 64bit roms for this device currently have a bug with the camera
If you can get your hands on one look at the Moto g7 play on ebay
It's updatable to stock android 10 and probably just as cheap as this device second hand or refurbished

TheFixItMan said:
Custom 64bit roms for this device currently have a bug with the camera
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If I may ask. Does this bug affect 3rd party cameras?

R1ffR4ff said:
If I may ask. Does this bug affect 3rd party cameras?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Effects any camera app
May have slight green tint in photos
May only be be able to take a certain amount of photos before phone/app needs restarting
Video recording may not work in some apps or may not save file correctly
QR code scanning may not work correctly
The above list is a rough bug list and may vary on a device by device basis & rom version & apps being used

TheFixItMan said:
Effects any camera app
May have slight green tint in photos
May only be be able to take a certain amount of photos before phone/app needs restarting
Video recording may not work in some apps or may not save file correctly
QR code scanning may not work correctly
The above list is a rough bug list and may vary on a device by device basis & rom version & apps being used
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for the excellent reply. I'm quite happy at the moment with the Stock Oreo on my G5 which I recently got A-grade refurbished at a decent price as my old Moto G3 is getting a bit tatty. It seems that my old G3 is better supported at the moment as I'm running 3 different Android 10 Custom roms all working good(Floko/crDroid/Havoc).
It's a shame that crDroid seem to only cover the G5 Potter and Sanders
https://crdroid.net/dl.php

TheFixItMan said:
Custom 64bit roms for this device currently have a bug with the camera
If you can get your hands on one look at the Moto g7 play on ebay
It's updatable to stock android 10 and probably just as cheap as this device second hand or refurbished
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
nift4 said:
If you buy an 3GB RAM model, I think you're OK.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you guys. Moto G7 is a bit too large for me as i would like something below 5.5. All the other phones that i've looked at are upgradeable to Oreo or Pie at best. Xcover 4s is upgreadable to Android 10, so i think ill go with that one. And all of the custom roms for other smartphones i've looked at, like LG G3 or G5 seem to have some bugs, or they are not up to date. I don't know is there a point in installing something like LineageOS 14, if that rom is out dated and has security holes in it.

crocodilehun said:
Thank you guys. Moto G7 is a bit too large for me as i would like something below 5.5. All the other phones that i've looked at are upgradeable to Oreo or Pie at best. Xcover 4s is upgreadable to Android 10, so i think ill go with that one. And all of the custom roms for other smartphones i've looked at, like LG G3 or G5 seem to have some bugs, or they are not up to date. I don't know is there a point in installing something like LineageOS 14, if that rom is out dated and has security holes in it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Moto g7 play screen is 5.7 Inch but probably worth the extra screen size compared with other options
LineageOS 14.1 for this device (along with stock rom) is only 32bit so you are limited to only arm-eabi armv7 apps as apposed to later devices which are armv8 and support arm64 (64 bit) out the box

TheFixItMan said:
Moto g7 play screen is 5.7 Inch but probably worth the extra screen size compared with other options
LineageOS 14.1 for this device (along with stock rom) is only 32bit so you are limited to only arm-eabi armv7 apps as apposed to later devices which are armv8 and support arm64 (64 bit) out the box
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've done some research and G7 for European market does not have removable battery, and there aren't any i can buy locally. I would like to buy locally because the shipping adds to the price. What about LG G5, would you recomend it if i put some stable and official rom on it?
Thanks in advance.

crocodilehun said:
I've done some research and G7 for European market does not have removable battery, and there aren't any i can buy locally. I would like to buy locally because the shipping adds to the price. What about LG G5, would you recomend it if i put some stable and official rom on it?
Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Never used it so can't comment - have a read of reviews etc

Cheap Phone For LineageOS

Hello,
I was looking for recommendations on a cheap phone to get started with trying out custom OS's and maybe serving as a backup phone. I found a Blu Advance L5 on Amazon for ~$40, but it looks like it isn't compatible with LineageOS and some of the other builds. Not looking for a daily driver, just something to test things out with. Thanks!

f1yankees said:
Hello,
I was looking for recommendations on a cheap phone to get started with trying out custom OS's and maybe serving as a backup phone. I found a Blu Advance L5 on Amazon for ~$40, but it looks like it isn't compatible with LineageOS and some of the other builds. Not looking for a daily driver, just something to test things out with. Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'd recommend looking for a used Google Pixel phone. The 4 and 5 series still has a lot of custom ROM support, including LineageOS. (Google has ended support for the pre-4 models, so I'd stay away from those. Some developers may still be able to eke out some support for them still, but it's not guaranteed.)

f1yankees said:
just something to test things out with
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Other than what @MJPollard said, you can check also this:
https://wiki.lineageos.org/devices/
And make sure it is common enough, so support doesn't stop suddenly:
https://stats.lineageos.org/

Thank you both. Any thoughts on something like a Nokia 6.1 or Motorola phones (i.e. something sub $100)?

f1yankees said:
Thank you both. Any thoughts on something like a Nokia 6.1 or Motorola phones (i.e. something sub $100)?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
IMHO, anything that's sub-$100 probably isn't going to be supported for very long. You could get one of those phones, only to find out that it'll never go beyond Android 12 (LineageOS 19.1), or might even be stuck on earlier versions due to the lack of any further software support for the hardware (i.e. kernel and driver updates, which are essential). That's why phones like the Pixel are often good choices, as they'll usually be supported with new Android versions (both officially and unofficially) for a lot longer than the el-cheapos. You may have to pay a few dollars more, but you'll be better off in the long run. (Personally, I've had OnePlus phones for the last few years. First the 3T, then the 7 Pro, and now the 9 Pro. Probably not a choice for you as you're looking for something cost-effective, but OnePlus generally has an excellent shelf life even after official support ends... at least, it did until the OnePlus 10 series, but that's a subject for a different thread. )