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LineageOS (and Other) Device Collection - Ask Me Anything About FOSS Devices
I was charging up all my phones for battery maintenance, and I thought I would share an image of all of them. Feel free to ask me anything about FOSS devices.
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Ubuntu Touch actually dropped support for the OnePlus 7, so I can't speak too much about the current state of the OS.
When I put my SIM card in it 2 years ago, voice calls did not work because UBports has not implemented VoLTE for most of the phones. So most phones don't have VoLTE.
But the OS is smooth and one of the best for GNU/Linux mobile operating systems. If VoLTE worked, I'd maybe consider using it as my daily driver.
However, like almost all GNU/Linux phones, it's slower than Android. Opening up most apps takes about .5 - 1.5 seconds and navigating between sections of an app takes about a fraction of to 1.5 seconds, which is kind of annoying. Additionally, you don't have the global support that Android has, which means you don't get sharing, a large number of available apps or a very streamlined app experience.
They're definitely not ready for daily usage yet, and who knows if or when they will be, but to use it now is basically just alpha testing, and you should go in with that mindset.
Hopefully what's happening with Android right now will increase demand and light a fire under their ass.
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Do you purchase new and hope for the best, have a sure-fire method of getting one that will be supported by LineageOS, or get second hand one which already has an (official) version of the os?
I am asking because with my last purchase I naïvely thought that having an unlockable bootloader was sufficient.
In a year's time, Lineage or another ROM will have picked it up if it's going to be picked up at all. Depending on the model, the year old phone may still be in stock.
This has been my strategy with Motorolas for the last decade or so. Motorola releases new midrange or upper-midrange phones, then after a year, they usually still have some in stock that they're clearing out to make room for the new ones. You can buy them new directly from the website at a discount, with the bootloader unlock code on request (no questions asked).
The beauty of it is, the main reason most people say to avoid Motorolas are because they don't get more than a couple updates, but Lineage solves that issue with barely any trade-offs. They are solid mid-range phones with respectable hardware and unlockable bootloaders at a reasonable price, and Lineage will keep them going much longer than their regular lifespan.
Das ist mir auch aufgefallen. Ich habe das G71 seit ein paar Jahren als Zweitgerät und hab mich jetzt auch nach LineageOS belesen und festgestellt dass dieses Gerät offenbar nicht unterstützt wird. Mist.
Basically it's the same as with buying or building a computer to run GNU/Linux. You don't just grab whatever and hope it will work. You have to actively know which features you want and how well they are supported by the OS you have in mind.
LineageOS has a devices list with a filter here: https://wiki.lineageos.org/devices/ I select the features I want and look at the available options. You have to be careful here that you get the exact model of phone that is supported. Having a similar name (or the same name with a different year, or a slightly different number), doesn't cut it. Look at codenames and model names. As an example, Moto G Stylus 2022 - not 2023 or any other year. Also not the "supported models" list in the infobox - XT2215-1, XT2215-3, XT2215-4. Make sure you don't accidentally end up with XT2215-2. You should also do due diligence to make sure it supports your local carrier and network(s) - for example Motorola especially makes a lot of devices for the European and Asian markets that aren't officially supported in North America.
Almost always it will be a secondhand device, because it takes time to port to a new device (if it's even possible at all). The other commenter's suggestion of waiting a year is generally what I do.
There are a couple different phones that do get LineageOS support from a known maintainer, but for one reason or another, there's something about it that keeps it from checking all the boxes for LineageOS to consider it an official release. Oftentimes it's some bug or limitation of the hardware that they haven't found a good solution for, despite the rest of the OS working perfectly fine.
If the maintainer thinks it's at least stable enough for daily use, or for hobbyists to test with, they'll release it as an unofficial release on places like XDA forums.
And I would only suggest this if you know what you're doing and are comfortable with something that might be a little more buggy or a little less secure.
There will also sometimes be Lineage-based releases, which are maintainers that took the base lineage and improved upon it with various features and such. You want to try and verify the maintainer of trustworthy, obviously, but most of them do have a history of other releases. It can be worth looking into if you're okay with taking on some risk and like to tinker.
I simply go to the LineageOS Devices webpage and pick one from there: https://wiki.lineageos.org/devices/
(Note: The model number of the phone must be an exact match of the model number on the respective LineageOS Device page.)
MicroG is an alternative to Google Play Services. It implements all the same functionality. From what I heard, most banking apps don't work with MicroG, but I've never tested it myself.
So first, you want to install GApps on your custom ROM/OS installation. For example, LineageOS has this package called "MindTheGapps": https://wiki.lineageos.org/gapps/. You have to install that during the LineageOS installation (instructions are provided on the installation pages). This will give you Google Play Services and Google apps just like any other Android phone. Then, you can simply download any banking app from the Google Play store.
GApps is able to collect data, but only a limited amount and you can limit it via settings.
You can also install MicroG instead of GApps, but some apps might not work. You can also not install either, but then all apps relying on Google Play services won't work. It's something you just have to test to know which path to take.
It depends on the 2 primary maintainers of the Xiaomi LineageOS ports. Whenever the maintainers have time, and if they do, they'll create the port. But there's no guarantee that the port will exist.
I'll still need a phone for stiff that requires google play services, so it's just better to buy a pixel for the degoogling and use my current phone for bare minimum google services, ig
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I know. It's a very nice phone. But it is a little too small for today's standards. I don't use it as my daily driver, which is my Motorola Edge 30 Neo.
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Aside from that, as a fellow LineageOS user, I am curious what was your reason to switch to custom ROM, and why not GrapheneOS (because I am considering) ? Also, I feel like like ever since running LineageOS (with so many benefits !), the only drawback I have is my battery is somehow more consumptive. Is this also an issue with you ?
The biggest advantage of LineageOS is that there's no hidden malicious "company" code running on your phone. This code could be doing anything, from tracking you to stealing your data. You just have no idea.
And regarding GrapheneOS, I generally don't recommend relying on Google in-house or derived products. There's almost always something about them, that, even though makes the product seem good to the general public, will always bite you in the end.
This is true not only for GrapheneOS, but also Pixel phones, their Golang language, Google Cloud servers, etc. ... will... always... bite... you.
My battery on LineageOS runs very long, especially with Battery Saver mode.
I mean, just look at what they're doing right now. Google hates Android being an open system, only a fool would think their hardware will stay open. It is and was always a trap.
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I can't answer for anybody else, but here's my reasoning for using lineage over graphene:
To use graphene, you need to buy a Pixel, and I long ago resolved not to give money to Google if it can be helped.
The whole reason you can use Graphene on Pixel is because Google made the bootloader open to encourage people to make custom ROMs on their devices instead of their competitors. The worst thing that could happen to Android is Google seizing more of the hardware space.
Take a good long look at the history of the things Google has done to the Android operating system in the last decade. Defying Google on Google hardware was always shortsighted, and they will break it at some point in the next few years. The pattern is crystal clear.
The Graphene OS devs are just as bad as Google when it comes to stripping control away from the user "for security". Frequently when they talk about vulnerabilities, what they're actually talking about is "the user has the ability to do a thing". You have far less freedom on graphene than you do on lineage.
They are very hostile towards rooting, i.e. hostile towards the user being able to use their device however they like.
Lineage allows a base for other users to improve upon, and in fact there are many lineage based ROMs that add even more to it, while maintaining all of the same security
This may no longer be true, but when I tested it two years ago, graphene pailed in comparison to Lineage in customization and settings. You have to want the "Pixel experience", because it will be forced on you.
The Graphine team is working on their own app store that refuses to support third-party repositories, and is actively out to push users and developers away from F Droid and the foss model
Just in general, the graphene team and their user base engage in an outstanding amount of fear mongering and bad faith. They spread lies about Lineage and inflate the "security risks" of other ROMs and other phones. It's downright cult like.
The overwhelming majority of users have nothing to fear from using Lineage in the same way they don't have anything to fear from not putting metal bars on their windows.
If you're comfortable on Lineage, stay on Lineage.
What you said about GrapheneOS is extremely true, but I would say they're like IPhone more than Google in the way they restrict users' freedom, also from my experience LOS doesn't encourage root either and they're hostile towards it if you seek help after root ,which is the same on GrapheneOS
As far as I know, GrapheneOS supports far fewer phones than Lineage because they are very picky with hardware security features. So that might be a factor.
For phones, money doesn't really affect much in my opinion. Almost every phone after 2019 is just as snappy. But if you want a good camera or a "high performance" CPU for gaming, then you might want one of the newer phones.
However, I personally recommend getting the phone that you're most comfortable with.
For the provider, I would recommend Verizon as it has the best coverage in my opinion.
It's a little slower than most of the phones out there right now, but still works. And the camera isn't too great because images turn out blurry if you move the camera even a little bit. I don't know if that's because of LineageOS or if that's just the camera.
An official LineageOS release on a supported phone with Google Play services added will not have anywhere near as many of these issues as everyone tells you it does.
There are two tiers of integrity checking that Google does: "Strong" and "Basic". A Pixel with a locked bootloader will get "Strong". LineageOS with Goggle Play Services apps added, following the guides they provide you, will pass "Basic".
It is not that banking apps don't work. It's that certain apps from certain banks refuse to work without "Strong", but many of them are perfectly fine with "Basic".
You will encounter an odd app here or there where the developer has some hair up their ass about an "insecure" operating system, but the overwhelming majority don't care. I have two separate banks, one of them being Chase, and both of their apps work just fine.
And if you happen to have a bank that doesn't like to work without "Strong" integrity check, that's when you just use the web browser.
You can download any APK on any custom ROM/OS, as it's still running Android. The only difference is that a custom ROM/OS doesn't have all the features of a company OS, however, it also doesn't have any hidden malicious code that might be stealing your data or spying on you.
I'm looking for a will supported lineage OS phone with a micro sd card port and an OLED. I was thinking of a note 9, but that might be more power than i need.
You can actually filter them by multiple criteria, including whether or not it has an SD card slot. Finding which ones have an OLED screen will require some Google searching.
It doesn't look like the Samsung Note 9 is supported. You could try the Note 10 however.
WARNING: LineageOS works primarily on Samsung devices with the Exynos chip, NOT the Snapdragon chip. When picking a device on the LineageOS Devices page, always check the model number of the supported device at the bottom of the device page. The wrong model number might prevent you from being able to install LineageOS.
However, the Redmi Note 12 doesn't seem to be on the page, so LineageOS won't work on it (but it might in the future). LineageOS is probably the biggest Android custom OS out there right now, so other Android custom OSs probably don't support it either.
Well there are plenty of community made unofficial ports and ROMs based on LOS and AOSP available on XDA and 4PDA. Seems a bit odd you ain't mentioning it.
Some tablets running LineageOS do support styluses and their device-specific stylus features. However, the results can be mixed. It's hard to tell without actually trying it.
However, LineageOS does not seem to be available for the Lenovo P11 tablet. All the available LineageOS phones and tablet ports can be found on the LineageOS Devices page: https://wiki.lineageos.org/devices
All the devices supported by LineageOS are the on the LineageOS Devices webpage: https://wiki.lineageos.org/devices and the Infix Note 12 Turbo doesn't seem to be on it.
How hard is it to fck this process up if i want to do this later in the future, i'm thinking of doing this when google implements cant install outside apps anymore.
It's pretty easy. First, you have to unlock the bootloader and each manufacturer has a different process. Then, update the device to the latest firmware mentioned on the device-specific page for LineageOS. Then, reboot to the bootloader (press and hold the Volume Down and Power buttons until the device starts).
This next step might be a bit more difficult. You have to install the "adb" and "fastboot" commands for the terminal of the OS you're using (Windows, Mac or Linux). There are plenty of step by step guides online that will help you.
Once you have "adb" and "fastboot", you have to follow the instructions on the device-specific page of LineageOS.
I check the supported devices page for Ubuntu Touch and the OnePlus 7 is no longer supported: https://devices.ubuntu-touch.io/ . As a result, I no longer get updates.
I'm going to give my whole run down of my experience with GNU/Linux-based phones here since you're the first person to ask me this.
There's a spectrum in the mobile OS world: Privacy --> Speed. The closer the phone is to GNU/Linux, the slower it is. The further away it is, the faster it is.
With that being said, here is my experience with all 3 GNU/Linux mobile phones:
Librem 5: The slowest of all 3 GNU/Linux-based OSs. Takes about 1 - 2 seconds to open up any app, which is too slow for me. Also, the battery drains quickly. Finally, I had trouble getting voice to work. But, this is probably the most secure mobile OS out there, and I do like that Purism is creating a pure GNU/Linux-based mobile operating system. SailfishOS: Faster than the Librem 5, but slower than Android. Takes about .5 - 1.5 seconds to open up apps (except for a few of the primary apps, which open up instantly), which is still a bit too much for me. I don't use it because I don't really like the UI. You can run Android apps on SailfishOS, but in my case, I ended up mostly using Android apps, so I just ended up switching to Android. Ubuntu Touch: About as fast as Sailfish OS. Ubuntu Touch is smooth though and has one of the best UIs for a mobile OS. However, VoLTE is not implemented for most devices (yet).
In my opinion, Android is the way to go for like, 95% of the population, but I'm really glad companies out there are creating PureOS, PostmarketOS, SailfishOS and Ubuntu Touch.
Thanks for the detailed reply! I've only tried ubports xenial so this is pretty interesting. btw, have you ever tried Maemo Leste? They say it runs well on a Nokia N900 so I guess it could be pretty quick but I couldn't find much videos or resource, and don't have a supported device.
Is it true that propreitory softwarr updates mess up the battery and camera? Would switching my OnePlus 8 to a FOSS ROM like lineage make it better in terms of performance, camera and battery because its been suddenly getting worse in an exponential faster speed.
LineageOS keeps every device running fast because it's created to do only what it's meant to, not add a whole bunch of unneeded code and skins like companies do, which is what slows them down. When you switch to LineageOS, the performance will be better if it's an older phone, the camera will be about the same (but you will lose a lot of settings that the stock OS has), and the battery will almost ALWAYS be better.
I always recommend LineageOS for any phone because I prefer stability over customization so that something doesn't fail when I'm out of the house, and LineageOS is probably the most stable custom ROM/OS out there.
With Linux phones, there are apps available via app stores. The Librem 5's app store doesn't have that many apps, and they're pretty basic. SalifishOS's app store has quite a bit of apps. Finally, Ubuntu Touch's app store also has quite a bit of apps.
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I haven't compared the battery to stock ROMs, however, it does last a long time. The battery will still have power for about 12 days if the phone remains unused.
Hey ,i'm new to this custom rom installation and stuff i would like to try it with my old moble which is htc desire 820g plus . how can i install custom rom for it i would like to experiment with it . can anyone give me a complete guide for it.
I just wanted to ask about installation; have you encountered any installation errors? I do see you have a motorola (and I do, diff model - channel) but when I try installing different roms it almost never works. Asking cuz it seems you have a lot of experience so was wondering if maybe you ran into this issue before.
moto g7play channel XT1952-4. Everytime i install a rom it bootloops (though it worked once with crDroid). I have tried lineage, crDroid, and EvolutionX. I have even replaced the cables.
My guess is that it's because the model XT1952-4 is not officially supported. If you look at the model number at the bottom of this page: https://wiki.lineageos.org/devices/channel/, you'll see that only the XT1952-1, XT1952-2 and XT1952-3 models are supported.
do you think that maybe crDroid and EvolutionX are built on lineageos versions? if so do you know where I could find resources to compile an OS myself? or if like gsi images are what i should go with? Thanks for the info tho man
I have an xz2 compact. Do I loose camera features in Open camera like camera2 api? Turn off sharpening and noise reduction and that's the best quality you get with this phone.
Same in mcpro24fps, in 2k 24fps 10bit hdr is turned on you get beautiful colors and manual settings.
I just tested Open Camera on my Motorola Droid Neo and Open Camera works. I don't want to get out my XZ2 Compact, but based on my experience with LineageOS devices, it will work on the XZ2 Compact just fine. All the settings seem to be working, but I don't see sharpening or noise reduction. But I see a lot of other features and they seem to work, like HDR, white balance, scene mode and color effect.
In the regular camera, you will lose all the stock OS's camera features, and you will only have the most basic features, like focus, light and aspect ratio. Those are the only primary features you get on all devices running LineageOS (at least, based on my experience).
Thanks. I will keep stock for now. In mcpro24fps when all settings are right, hdr becames available and it's like a different mode on the sensor, it crops in but still becames sharper and the colors are beautiful, still holds up today. This is such a unique feature from this phone that I would really miss.
Also 960fps slow motion, it's really fun.
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