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LineageOS Android Distribution

lineageos.org

21–30 of 104 posts

Re: LineageOS Android Distribution

#21
post #4
post #2

LineageOS was great a few years ago when I used it with my older Nexus devices, but it doesn't seem as maintained nowadays. There's no images for the newer Pixel devices and no Android 10 support, which is a huge shame. Magisk/stock is what I've been using of late.

I don't think people use ROMs as much as they used to. Especially since mobiles are so fast nowadays that they don't get slow even if the ROM is bloated.

Also because many apps won't run on rooted phones. Funny how I can't use my bank's app but can do everything in the browser.

I get the security concern in that case, tbf, but not when it's some entertainment app.

Re: LineageOS Android Distribution

#22
I remember a ROM distribution similar to this, where the maintainer/company also sold used phones with it preinstalled. I thought it was LineageOS, but looking at the LineageOS site I'm definitely remembering that wrong. Does anyone know the name for what I'm describing?

Re: LineageOS Android Distribution

#23
post #3

LineageOS is great, my one complaint is that it is almost never available for the phones I own. You basically have to get phones according to their popularity in a certain subgroup: for example currently one HTC model and two LG models are supported, but close to everything from OnePlus. I know I can get unofficial builds, put apart from the sometimes quite severe missing features (calling or camera not or only parti…

Well, nowadays, for devices that started from Oreo or later, there is this thing called Project Treble where every device are guaranteed to boot AOSP of the same version. It is possible to use that to create generic lineage image, that just works on all devices released with oreo or later. Of course with those generic images, not everything will just work, but calling and camera are a given.

There are unofficial builds of this [1] but lineage doesn't want to endorse this approach, even though that's technically how they support all recent devices.

https://forum.xda-developers.com/project-treble/trebleenable...

Re: LineageOS Android Distribution

#24
post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Most donated phones have an iCloud lock with no way to contact the previous owner to request an unlock To be fair, newer Android phones have Factory Reset Protection[1], which is pretty much 1-to-1 clone of iCloud lock. [1] https://support.google.com/nexus/answer/6172890

It's easy to disable FRP by de-associating any Google accounts from the phone before factory reset. Can iCloud locks be removed with comparable ease by the original owner before they "donate" the device?

You just sign out and say Yes when the phone asks to disable “Find My iPhone” during the process. It’s not a convoluted process at all.

Re: LineageOS Android Distribution

#25

I remember a ROM distribution similar to this, where the maintainer/company also sold used phones with it preinstalled. I thought it was LineageOS, but looking at the LineageOS site I'm definitely remembering that wrong. Does anyone know the name for what I'm describing?

you're thinking of CyanogenMod, LineageOS was born out of Cyanogen running out of money and the maintainers dropping it.

Re: LineageOS Android Distribution

#26
post #23
post #3

LineageOS is great, my one complaint is that it is almost never available for the phones I own. You basically have to get phones according to their popularity in a certain subgroup: for example currently one HTC model and two LG models are supported, but close to everything from OnePlus. I know I can get unofficial builds, put apart from the sometimes quite severe missing features (calling or camera not or only parti…

Well, nowadays, for devices that started from Oreo or later, there is this thing called Project Treble where every device are guaranteed to boot AOSP of the same version. It is possible to use that to create generic lineage image, that just works on all devices released with oreo or later. Of course with those generic images, not everything will just work, but calling and camera are a given. There are unofficial buil…

Project Treble images are less "generic" than they sound - they vary by stock-OS version (Nougat, Oreo, Pie, Q/10), 32-vs.-64 bits, A-only vs. A+B boot.

Re: LineageOS Android Distribution

#27
post #11
post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While popularity of phones plays some part, mostly this is down to the manufacturers. HTC are well-known for providing locked-down devices; even if you're looking for a near-stock experience, HTC tends not to be recommended. Samsung is similar in this regard, though they get away with it somewhat more than HTC due to demand. In short, don't complain to/about Lineage. Vote with your pocket and buy more open phones.

>HTC are well-known for providing locked-down devices I've been using HTC devices for ages, and so far every one of them was dead-simple to unlock: Just go to the HTC developer page and enter your phone ID, get unlock code and enter on phone, done! Naturally HTC will from there on out decline responsibility for bricked phones, but which company doesn't?

If you're talking about simply unlocking the bootloader, that's as simple on most phones. I'm more referring to the general barriers put up to doing anything with your phone, either before unlocking (the OS itself is restrictively HTC-oriented) or after unlocking (S-ON, etc.)

> Naturally HTC will from there on out decline responsibility for bricked phones, but which company doesn't?

The fact that this is an accepted norm is another part of the problem. Why "naturally"? Some manufacturers (like Google, Fairphone, Motorola on a limited number of phones) don't void the warranty, but even if none did: why do you think this "naturally" an acceptable thing other than it being the norm?

If you don't damage the hardware by flashing, there's no reason it should be out of warranty. If you do "damage" it because of some malicious hardware fuse installed by the manufacturer, then it seems to me that could reasonably be considered a faulty device.

Re: LineageOS Android Distribution

#28
post #11
post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While popularity of phones plays some part, mostly this is down to the manufacturers. HTC are well-known for providing locked-down devices; even if you're looking for a near-stock experience, HTC tends not to be recommended. Samsung is similar in this regard, though they get away with it somewhat more than HTC due to demand. In short, don't complain to/about Lineage. Vote with your pocket and buy more open phones.

>HTC are well-known for providing locked-down devices I've been using HTC devices for ages, and so far every one of them was dead-simple to unlock: Just go to the HTC developer page and enter your phone ID, get unlock code and enter on phone, done! Naturally HTC will from there on out decline responsibility for bricked phones, but which company doesn't?

I believe you can unlock Pixels without voiding the warranty.

Re: LineageOS Android Distribution

#29
post #7

Been using lineageOS 16 on my OnePlus phone for years. LineageOS has allowed me to use my perfectly fine phone much much longer than the normal upgrade cycle. And this has saved me money. More importantly my phone remains in use rather than being thrown away and a new one purchased saving about 4 phones from landfill (my guess based on a 2 year upgrade cycle). Apple with all their environmental goodness claims locks…

I wish I could buy another new OnePlus one. Phone lasted me three and a half years before I broke the screen and decided to upgrade. All while never having a case. Phone has a metal bezel that extends out past the edges of the glass and a sandpaper textured back that actually allows you to grip it. Eventually I dropped it one too many times flat on its face. I should have just figured out how to fix the screen. Its amazing how much longer a phone lasts when it's not entirely wrapped in glass. Sure you can buy an OtterBox, but then you're carrying around a brick in your pocket.

Re: LineageOS Android Distribution

#30
post #21
post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think people use ROMs as much as they used to. Especially since mobiles are so fast nowadays that they don't get slow even if the ROM is bloated.

Also because many apps won't run on rooted phones. Funny how I can't use my bank's app but can do everything in the browser. I get the security concern in that case, tbf, but not when it's some entertainment app.

Rooting with Magisk usually isn't enough to trigger SafetyNet failures (which is what most apps use to detect "rooting", among other things). I've been running rooted on my OnePlus 6 since day one without any app ever complaining, including google pay. Custom ROMs will fail SafetyNet typically, but there are ways around it if you want to keep hacking.
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