Hey guys, im pretty much new to the android scene, last week one of my parents friends changed their carrier to Telstra and my plans came into the conversation, and i said that i would like to get an android phone in the near future (probably the nexus 5 depending on whos making it).
Anyways he said he could give me one of his old android phones, a HTC Velocity 4G to see if i liked it or not.
Now my previous phone was a Nokia N8, not exactly great for apps n stuff but it was good at browsing the net using Opera and its battery life was amazing especially with music in the background it could last for quite a bit. If you werent using the browser and it was just sitting there with a few tabs open it could last nearly the entire day, if you actively used it with music in the background i think it lasted about 2 -3 hours
So here are a couple of questions i would like to ask regarding the phone itself and the google play store n such.
1. Do all android phones seemingly have bad battery life? i put some music on this phone, and it didnt even want to last a damn hour, that im wondering if it really is the phone or if the battery was stuffed up during the time they had it (understandable)
2. Do all android phones come with this task manager and can you only fully close apps from this app itself? i mean the N8 all you did was hold a button it would have the open apps and you just touched the X button.
3.. The Google Play store. Do you have to sign in with a google account? i mean i have a youtube account with a gmail but i dont think i want my phone to get all these email notifications or store my contacts on this account, mainly because this account gets alot of spam, in the spam folder and in the inbox folder that and i dont really use google plus except on a few occasions that i dont really wanna receive those kinds of notifications. Is it better just to create a new gmail just for my phone?
4. If i want in the future, can i remove my android phone from an account and decide to move it to another account due to unforeseen circumstances and keep the apps i might buy in the future?
Please remember im still new to the android scene, pretty much using Symbian my whole life (well only nokia 6300 and nokia n8 but they were both great phones) so dont judge me to harshly.
Thanks
Regular Android User Trying To Help
I am by no means an "expert", but I can try to answer your questions.
1. I currently have the Droid Razr MAXX HD and I can easily get 2 full days of use, and if I try, 3 days of full use. This is taking pictures, using 4g, playing games, texting, you name it. I also know they just released a 5000MaH battery for the S4, meaning it will last longer than my phone. Also, most phones have an optional extended battery.
2. Mostly, you don't need to close your apps. If you use the back button to navigate all the way out, or simply hit the home button, it will stay in your ram, but it won't normally interfere with the speediness of your device; since android apps are run in their own virtual device. But, in the settings you can force close any open app, and custom roms allow you a "kill" button for open apps.
3. I think it is better to create a new gmail for your phone. You have to sign into a gmail account to really even use an android phone, and I find it quite nifty. The one account lets you log into anything Google, the playstore, gmail, keep, etc. I have my contacts synced with my Gmail, so I never lose phone contacts, and I have really switched over to gmail because of my android phone. I just find it better to use than old school yahoo. Plus, I use drive, keep, and calendar frequently. Try all these Google apps for yourself, they can be very useful.
4. If by account you mean google account, then no, because the apps you purchase are synced with that account. If you mean carrier, then yes, because the apps are synced to the google account. You can also back your apps up with a rooted phone with certain software. Someone else might be better at answering this though.
Hope I helped.
jdubya42 said:
I am by no means an "expert", but I can try to answer your questions.
1. I currently have the Droid Razr MAXX HD and I can easily get 2 full days of use, and if I try, 3 days of full use. This is taking pictures, using 4g, playing games, texting, you name it. I also know they just released a 5000MaH battery for the S4, meaning it will last longer than my phone. Also, most phones have an optional extended battery.
2. Mostly, you don't need to close your apps. If you use the back button to navigate all the way out, or simply hit the home button, it will stay in your ram, but it won't normally interfere with the speediness of your device; since android apps are run in their own virtual device. But, in the settings you can force close any open app, and custom roms allow you a "kill" button for open apps.
3. I think it is better to create a new gmail for your phone. You have to sign into a gmail account to really even use an android phone, and I find it quite nifty. The one account lets you log into anything Google, the playstore, gmail, keep, etc. I have my contacts synced with my Gmail, so I never lose phone contacts, and I have really switched over to gmail because of my android phone. I just find it better to use than old school yahoo. Plus, I use drive, keep, and calendar frequently. Try all these Google apps for yourself, they can be very useful.
4. If by account you mean google account, then no, because the apps you purchase are synced with that account. If you mean carrier, then yes, because the apps are synced to the google account. You can also back your apps up with a rooted phone with certain software. Someone else might be better at answering this though.
Hope I helped.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Mostly what jdubya42 said but heres my word on it.
1. Battery life. Battery life can be bad on any device, it depends on what you use and how much you use your data or WiFi Bluetooth etc. Also like jdub said the new s4 is getting a 5000mah battery, that's a lot of juice normally android phones will have only around 1000mah-1800mah, your lucky if you get 2000mah. Android tablets get somewhere around 7000mah, so 5k on a phone should last you all day. Just think of how much the nexus 5 will get.
2. Most android phones nowadays come with a task manager. On some of the Samsung phone all you would have to do is hold the home button and will show you all the apps you have opened, and keeps them running. Its a nice way to switch between apps but keeping apps in the background can drain your battery fast so you should close the ones your not using (the task manager for android only comes with android 4.0 and up devices lower versions of android close the app when exited out), for this I would recommend a phone that would have more than one core, the s4 comes with 1.6ghz quad core which is more than enough.
3.as for the gmail, yes you need to make gmail account or use existing one, android is open source, the way google make money is the OEM (original equipment manufacturer, HTC Samsung lg etc) makes the phones sells them, profit for OEM, and people buy apps movies music and books from the Google play store, profit for Google.
4. If you get a new android phone you are able to still use all the apps music etc you bought on your previous devices and use on future ones, you won't have to remove your gmail account from your old phone.
Welcome to the world of android mate
Closing apps and getting "battery saving" apps can potentially save you battery but in addition to the software aspect, you can also modify the hardware usage. By that I mean unlocking, rooting, custom kernel and ROM. Just installing them will likely optimize your phone better then stock but you can also manually set your min/max frequency, frequency governor, core activity, undervoltage, GPU governor/responsiveness, and more.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1736168
Related
scenario:
I wanna swap phones with my wife. BUT still share the apps that I bought under my gmail account.
on iOS, I can still share apps I bought but keep my contacts/iMessage separate as iCloud and appstore login are different parts of the OS.
Seems in Google ecosystem, it's either I share both my account and the apps I paid for? I know I can unticked "sync contacts" in the Google account setting on the phone. But it's easy to tick it again. I just want to install the apps and then have it updated automatically.
Thanks
ps. did search the net but nothing came up
You have to link the account you bought the apps on to the device. Its the only way to do this. If you untick the other sync options then contacts etc don't get synced. Thats the best you can do
Sent from my GT-N7000 using xda premium
Wow they need to make this process a bit better.
YounGMessiah said:
Wow they need to make this process a bit better.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why? If you pay for an app on your device, why should you have the right to stick it on someone else's device just because you feel like it?
What they need to make easier is the ability to migrate your entire user account to a new one and keep all your settings, purchased apps etc as that is, currently, not possible.
SimonTS said:
Why? If you pay for an app on your device, why should you have the right to stick it on someone else's device just because you feel like it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not talking about just anyone though. I can install apps I paid for on my son's and wife's ipad. He likes this music app I have on the ipad/4s. I bought a $200 app for my son 2 weeks ago. I would be VERY VERY annoyed if I need to buy it again just because I need to install it on the wife's ipad.
BUT I guess Apple allows a person to install an app on multiple devices that I manage (we got various iOS devices in the house and 1 HTC One X acquired last week just because I wanna try something different).
Seems google does not. Well google does too except privacy concerns can/might be a problem.
But I haven't bought much apps probably less $20 so buying them again is not a problem right now.
mrjayviper said:
I'm not talking about just anyone though. I can install apps I paid for on my son's and wife's ipad. He likes this music app I have on the ipad/4s. I bought a $200 app for my son 2 weeks ago. I would be VERY VERY annoyed if I need to buy it again just because I need to install it on the wife's ipad.
BUT I guess Apple allows a person to install an app on multiple devices that I manage (we got various iOS devices in the house and 1 HTC One X acquired last week just because I wanna try something different).
Seems google does not. Well google does too except privacy concerns can/might be a problem.
But I haven't bought much apps probably less $20 so buying them again is not a problem right now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Two things I can see with this - and feel free to say if my understanding is wrong ... but firstly, $200 on an app? F**k me
1) You can install the Apple app on up to three devices - but they all have to be linked to your Apple ID? How is that any different from using the same base Google account linked into multiple devices?
2) I can install my purchased apps on my HTC Desire S and my Nexus 7 tablet - because I use the same Google account on them both. I also have my account linked to the Play Store on my Dad's LG Optimus 4X, so I can install my paid apps on there, but because I don't set it to sync anything else (as pointed out by Zac) he only gets access to my apps, not my contacts, emails etc.
SimonTS said:
1) You can install the Apple app on up to three devices - but they all have to be linked to your Apple ID? How is that any different from using the same base Google account linked into multiple devices?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
because the contacts/calender/etc syncing (iCloud) and AppStore can be different Apple IDs. I could login on the AppStore as [email protected] and use [email protected] for iCloud/iMessage/Facetime. Even iMessage can use [email protected] if I choose to do so. maybe Facetime too (not really sure I haven't looked at the Facetime settings much but I'm sure about iMessage)
SimonTS said:
2) I can install my purchased apps on my HTC Desire S and my Nexus 7 tablet - because I use the same Google account on them both. I also have my account linked to the Play Store on my Dad's LG Optimus 4X, so I can install my paid apps on there, but because I don't set it to sync anything else (as pointed out by Zac) he only gets access to my apps, not my contacts, emails etc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did mention privacy concerns. It's easy enough for your dad to tick sync contacts on his device. Or maybe use some other Google services like Google+/etc. haven't really used those so I qualified my reply to maybe.
mrjayviper said:
because the contacts/calender/etc syncing (iCloud) and AppStore can be different Apple IDs. I could login on the AppStore as [email protected] and use [email protected] for iCloud/iMessage/Facetime. Even iMessage can use [email protected] if I choose to do so. maybe Facetime too (not really sure I haven't looked at the Facetime settings much but I'm sure about iMessage)
I did mention privacy concerns. It's easy enough for your dad to tick sync contacts on his device. Or maybe use some other Google services like Google+/etc. haven't really used those so I qualified my reply to maybe.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I fail to see the difference really. If you create a Google account specifically for purchasing the apps and don't use it for email or anything else then you can just use that on the other person's device - yes, they would be able to sync contacts (which don't exist) or send email (so what). If you are planning on sharing your apps with a person who you trust that little then you probably shouldn't be doing so in the first place.
it's not about trust but the flexibility in the OS. seems Google isn't as flexible as it seems. It's flexible in some areas (having other keyboards/themes/etc) but in this case, it seems it's not at least compared to what the other major competitor can do.
I plan to have another account I will be using to purchase apps. It was suggested in another forum.
mrjayviper said:
it's not about trust but the flexibility in the OS. seems Google isn't as flexible as it seems. It's flexible in some areas (having other keyboards/themes/etc) but in this case, it seems it's not at least compared to what the other major competitor can do.
I plan to have another account I will be using to purchase apps. It was suggested in another forum.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not trying to be picky, but that argument doesn't stand up. The way that the ability to share apps works has absolutely nothing to do with the OS. Google is NOT the OS - Android is. Android is massively more flexible than iOS is, but Google don't implement some things as well as they could - partly because they don't make as much money from the OS, partly because of the very nature of the open-source structure and partly because they don't go round suing the backside off everybody else on the planet.
When I said Google, I actually meant android. I just got my 1st Android device last week and my terms aren't as polished as yours.
and let's not bring the lawsuits into the topic. don't really care much for them and VERY much off-topic. I'll buy whatever suits my fancy and in this instance, the HTC One X won.
Hi,
Shield is not the smartphone, so many services/apps can be disable in order to rise the performance. I already disabled:
Browser (I use Chrome)
Calendar
Calendar Storage
Currents
Drive
Earth
Email
Exchange Services
Google Contact Sync
Google Play Books
Google Play Magazines
Google Play Movies
Google Play Music
Google Search
Google+
Hangouts
Hulu Plus
Youtube
Now my free memory is from 800 to 1300MB. What else can I disable?
There is any app that will close the apps when you run games? (right now I use Advances Task Killer, there is something better?).
Thanks
ps. one more question, do you typically shut down your console or just put it in sleep mode? Can I put sleeping console to it's case? Or it'll overheating?
Some good questions! I always power my device down fully. I'm not sure that it will make any heat when sleeping though.
I also would like like to know about "unnecessary" processes...
No idea why Nvidia using the stock android with all it's app for the phones. Shield isn't a phone.
We need some light version of Android with more free memory.
I disabled all the apps/services described above without any problems.
I can say I understand where Nvidia is coming from on this one. I use my Google+ account to sign into all the games, so I need that service. I also use the device to watch movies while on the road (via HDMI cable), so the Hulu+ useful to me. It appears to me that Nvidia pulled all the hardcore phone items like the "phone" service, but left in the things different people might use like calendaring and mail depending on how they choose to use the device. I personally have an iPad for calendaring and mail, so I disabled those in this device, but I can see how someone else might use them. My thought would be to create a sticky documenting what each service or item is used for and if it's safe to disable, then folks can choose for themselves. Just my 2 cents.
Forget about trying to free memory in android. It doesn't give any advantage. Is not like windows.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app
For the last month or so I've been having various problems with my phone and have flashed different versions of Cyanogenmod multiple times. Normally I then immediately login to my Google account, download Titanium Backup, restore all my apps, and go from there. But last week when I restored to CM 11 I decided not to do that right away. I'd noticed that Google Play Services, or Android System were constantly the top users of my battery, and I'd also been getting lots of force closes of system apps. So I figured why not try life without a Google account for just a little bit. My restore actually had one of the minimal GAPPS packages with it, but I haven't signed into Google and have disabled all of the Google packages I could.
I installed both F-Droid and the Amazon App store, and that got me to about 80% of the apps I actually use on a regular basis. I then went on to use my apps to see what if I really missed. The answer to that is, so far, not all the much. I'm using a really minimalist search based launcher, which is great...but I do miss having some information readily available via a widget. Some apps I used weren't available in either Amazon or F-Droid, but I did find an HTML5 app on the Fireplace Market...which seems to be totally fine for my needs.
The biggest surprise has been the battery life. From the time I first got my phone 3 years ago, even when it was running stock with only a few apps, it was a bit of a struggle to get a full days use out of my phone. And the variability was crazy, some days it seemed like I could run through a full battery in about 4 hours, while other times I'd get almost a full 24, both with similar usage patterns. I used battery monitor apps to look into it and sometimes they'd give me some useful information, but a good chunk of the usage always seemed to be core Android functionality. But this week my battery life has been measured in days instead of hours. The first time I went about 72 hours before plugging my phone in, and it was still showing 48% battery remaining. And this was a period where I was using my phone probably more actively than normal, installing and configuring a lot of apps, browsing the web, a couple of hours reading books, etc... I've seen similar life over the last 3 days, but I haven't let it go as long this time before topping off.
So I can't say for certain that this is exclusively due to a lack of GAPPS, I have far fewer apps than I previously did, and any or all of them could have been responsible for excessive usage, and I'm using a minimalist launcher, with no widgets, etc... But still, overall I'm really amazed at the dramatic difference. I didn't even know it was possible to get 4+ days out of a normal smartphone battery, this puts it pretty much on par with my old dumb phones.
So has anyone else run without a Google account for very long and seen similar results, or is this just an anomaly?
Nice to find an ally
I decided running my Moto G (CM12.1) without GAPPS about one week ago using F-Droid and Aptoide as alternative stores and Cal/CardDAV via DAVdroid for syncing. So far I do not miss much. Battery life increased substantially, at least since then!
Did you encounter any issues due to missing Google Cloud Messaging (GCM) or maps API? This was actually my major concern, eventually even decreasing battery life because every app needs to pull the messages on its own. However, this seems not to be the case ...
One tip: If you use the AOSP keyboard and like to swype .. you'll need the libjni_latinimegoogle.so lib in your /system/libs/ folder.
Glad that I'm not totally alone here.
I've been having some problems with the email client pulling in new Exchange messages, it works sometimes, but stops pretty regularly. That might be related to GCM I guess? Exchange services has also started taking up the majority of my battery life. I'm still getting respectable life off a charge, but it's down to about 2 days vs. the 4+ days I was seeing originally. For maps I'm using Here, and haven't noticed any problems in my offline searches. I haven't done any navigation with it yet though. Will need to give that a try soon.
The AOSP keyboard worked fine for me out of the box, including swiping. I'm running CM 11 instead of 12.1 though, so maybe that's the difference?
I also need to look into what's required to setup my own CardDAV server, or maybe OwnCloud? Is DAVDroid just used for syncing, or does it become a new contact app? I'm currently having trouble keeping my personal and work contacts separate, since the personal contacts are stored only on the phone and not associated with an account. Definitely want to find a better way to handle that.
All in all I'm still liking the experience. I haven't missed anything from the Play Store yet. My biggest issues have been because I also switched to the Search Based Launcher, which takes some getting used to. I'd like to find a more "normal" homescreen type launcher so that I can use some widget based apps, but so far haven't found much to my liking on F-Droid. CM's Trebuchet feels severely lacking in customization and ADW is buggy almost to the point of being unusable. The couple of other launchers I've found on F-Droid that are based off of Trebuchet or AOSP won't install on my phone. So still experimenting there.
Uhm, no clue about Exchange messages, sorry. But same here with the e-mail app draining battery (about 30 %). However I'm still experimenting with IMAP IDLE (push) vs. regular polls. Maybe that does the trick ..
DAVdroid is basically a syncing adaptor for the regular contacts and calendar. If you don't wanna set up your own server, you may also use an owncloud provider or an e-mail service providing these features, e.g. posteo.de or openmailbox.org.
When I first set up K-9 for my personal mail my battery use spiked, but it settled down the next day even though I've kept it set to push. I wouldn't mind so much the Exchange Services battery drain if it would reliably fetch my work emails, which is probably 90% of the reason I even have a smartphone in the first place.
My email provider has said that CalDAV/CardDAV is the next feature on their list to build and rollout but no estimate on when to expect it. Do contacts synced via DAVDroid show up as an "account" in Android? Does the contact app recognize that they are separate from other contacts on the phone if you go into contacts to display? For me I only have Exchange listed and if I deselect that then no contacts show in the list.
dmcgregor said:
Do contacts synced via DAVDroid show up as an "account" in Android? Does the contact app recognize that they are separate from other contacts on the phone if you go into contacts to display? For me I only have Exchange listed and if I deselect that then no contacts show in the list.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, it's exactly like that. Same with my synced posteo contacts.
rzac said:
Yes, it's exactly like that. Same with my synced posteo contacts.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Great. That's exactly what I want. Thanks!
I lasted a couple of days but nearly every app needs Google Play Services so I got GAPPS back.
Fupri said:
I lasted a couple of days but nearly every app needs Google Play Services so I got GAPPS back.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Which ones e.g.? I haven't run into such problems yet. But maybe my app "portfolio" is rather minimal.
Thanks for the experiment documentation. I started running my OPO without Gapps and use Candysix its CM based.
Are you using WhatsApp or Signal Messenger, both are Gapps based, are there any limitations or is it impossible to use em?
Its possible to use WA. The message delivery ist not perfect in standby but if you open the app you'll get your messages. In "chat mode" the messages are sent instantly in both ways.
I wasn't able to test Signal till now, at first i have to compile the source to get the apk.
how about google allo?
Trying to make up my mind which ones do you, Outlook or Gmail, keyboard, excetera. Samsung likes to have a ton of duplicate apps oh, I'm curious as to which ones you think are extremely useful and which ones are the ones you get rid of first?
I use Outlook, alternate between keyboard. I use samsung calendar, health and messages because of watch. I use samsung file manager. I do not use their video player or music player. I do use samsung internet for browser.
Sent from my SM-N986U1 using Tapatalk
Thank you, I think watching. I am mostly happy with the stock Samsung keyboard compared to SwiftKey but I keep going back and trying it. I missed the Gmail app after having all of my accounts on Outlook. I might be willing to try it again.
All those samsung apps are just pure leaches. It's clear to me that samsung is challenging google in a few areas of the business. For nearly every google process app , there's also a samsung version also running or installed. Gradually increasing their own eco system. Pi$$ take.
Outlook, never again. It was a terror on my XP machines. It was always the weak link.
Just the name puts a shiver down my spine.
Gmail stopped the malware/virus/spam carnage cold.
In 12+ years I've never had a malware issue with Gmail other than Google screwing it up; that they do quit well.
For me it's simple and obvious after a few days of use of Samsung phone, VS years of experience with anything else.
Samsung apps are rubbish. Period.
The keyboard junk? unable to uninstall it, even after installing GBoard. It's full of links to other junkware from Samsung like these emoticons apps and garbage. Those ones are gone.
The "File manager app"? lol. junkware with "added feature" like "analyse storage", and other unwanted useless garbage.
Even in the customization, theres's some link to junk shop to buy some theme related custom junk. Paying 3 USD to get a stupid picture on my phone?
I want to use the features, without my phone turning into an ads device. I want in the themes to select some, eventually from my own media, without having to go to Samsung junk. I want my keyboard to be a useful keyboard without being a link to paying garbage and other apps.
I did not buy that junk phone, got it free from work. Good experience, there is no way I would even pay more than 100 USD for that garbage. No wait, I should even be paid to use that junk which attempts to make me pay for using my own phone, my own device at every single steps.
Long live LineageOS, PixelExperience, and the likes: Android native roms without parasite apps at every single steps.
I removed around 50 junks from Samsung, I should even be more aggressive next time (when Android 11 will be there) because it's horrible.
It would have been much easier to even start from scratch (ie custom rom) rather than trying to take back control from that Samsung horrible ROM, since it's soo many dependencies and unwanted junk.
Samsung surely make money that way. I find this phone and junk installed offensive. It's so bad it's beyond anything acceptable. And I'm the fool on the "purchasing side" (well again, I did not pay for that). I mean it's Samsung device or mine? Certainly gives me a very bad opinion of Samsung, their business model and quality is very clear, so are their intentions. Not for me.
Hmm, oddly enough I use all Google apps. I've learned on my previous phone that if you want the best performance, use all Google apps haha.
I've already removed just about every Samsung app from this phone, all the way from the phone and message apps through the utility apps (clock, calculator, calendar etc).
I was having problems with my Note 20 Ultra since I got it two days before launch, but after finally getting to do a factory reset, it looks like most of those issues have been resolved and weren't related to the Samsung app removal.
I prefer Google Messages, Google Calendar, Google Phone, and GBoard. Using ADB, I was able to uninstall most Samsung bloat. The Samsung Contacts and Calculator apps are the only ones I find superior to the Google ones. Using HEX Installer, I was able to install an AOSP theme to get a more clean look and get rid of Samsung's overly rounded UI.
Hello.
I plan to turn my phone as "dumb" as possible, leaving only apps that are absolutely necessary and practical, essentially making my phone as minimalistic, simple and distraction free while at the same time maximizing the hurdle to install new apps due to the lack of willpower aswell as the general battery life.
I have the POCO F1 with LineageOS 19.1, root is currently enabled via Magisk.
I considered just buying a regular dumb phone, but unfortunately I do not feel they are worth it; plus I'd want to still use Spotify.
I'd greatly appreciate ideas/solutions for this particular project. Thank you in advance!
EnigmaticLife said:
Hello.
I plan to turn my phone as "dumb" as possible, leaving only apps that are absolutely necessary and practical, essentially making my phone as minimalistic, simple and distraction free while at the same time maximizing the hurdle to install new apps due to the lack of willpower aswell as the general battery life.
I have the POCO F1 with LineageOS 19.1, root is currently enabled via Magisk.
I considered just buying a regular dumb phone, but unfortunately I do not feel they are worth it; plus I'd want to still use Spotify.
I'd greatly appreciate ideas/solutions for this particular project. Thank you in advance!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What you'd like to do isn't really "dumbing down" XD - it is simply making a "barebones Android" phone with only the apps/functions you need without usual bloat that comes preinstalled on the new devices. This is in fact something a lot of people on XDA are passionate about, as it helps optimize for space, speed, battery life and privacy.
For the Android phone to be considered usable in modern day and age, it needs a handful of apps:
Dialer
SMS messenger
Contacts
File manager
Gallery
Clock
Calendar
Calculator
Web browser
Camera
Installing vanilla LineageOS rom (or any other rom with no GoogleApps) will give you this default Android experience. For 99% of tasks that do not involve Google this is enough.
However, most people want something more than just a dialer, and so phone manufacturers pre-install some other stuff for them: Google (play store, chrome, maps, drive, mail), Payment (Samsung Pay), Gallery/Music apps, social media apps, fancy wallpapers etc. This is what makes the phone "smart" for you, I guess?
In case you want to cut it down further, you can use adb to remove certain apps from this list. This includes certain system apps too, like unnecessary fonts or accessibility services (web search is your friend here). Theoretically the phone can serve as a GSM calling brick only with the following:
Dialer
SMS messenger
Contacts
But then you'd be doing the hardware a misservice - why lug around Octa-core 8GB RAM 4000mAh HD TFT6.1" 999GB device if you could achieve the same with a Nokia 1100 or 3310? These are still being sold
UPDATE: Just saw your additions about Spotify. If you only want to use the phone for Calling/Web browsing/YouTube/Spotify, go with the "Install No GApps LineageOS -> Sideload apps you need and nothing else".
Word of WARNING though: a lot of popular messaging/steraming/quality of life (maps) apps APSOLUTELY DEPEND on google ecosystem (i.e. GApps like google play, google play services and google services framework).
WITHOUT GOOGLE THESE APPS WILL LIKELY CRASH or won't work as intended. I.e. Whatsapp will not give you "New message" notifications and will not ring UNLESS you have it open in your face right when the call comes in. Delivery/Ride sharing apps that need google maps will not show you the map. Facebook messenger will has the same problem as Whatsapp. List of risks is far too long, and you will need to have an idea of whether the app requires google and whatsnot.
Therefore Make absolutely sure that barebones phone is what you want. If it is, a lot of apps that reliably work with the barebones setups can be found on Fdroid.
Despite having "dumb" in the name, this procedure requires one to be amazingly smart about it
To conclude, you have the following ways of achieving this:
1. Install no-Gapps (i.e. "vanilla") lineageOs, delete what you wont need, sideload .apk of apps you are after
2. Install stock android rom, then Degoogle and Debloat it. Guides for your particular model can be found here on XDA
3. Install SlimROM, a custom Android distro whose developers had the same idea as you did, i.e. optimized for simplicity.
Totesnochill said:
What you'd like to do isn't really "dumbing down" XD - it is simply making a "barebones Android" phone with only the apps/functions you need without usual bloat that comes preinstalled on the new devices. This is in fact something a lot of people on XDA are passionate about, as it helps optimize for space, speed, battery life and privacy.
For the Android phone to be considered usable in modern day and age, it needs a handful of apps:
Dialer
SMS messenger
Contacts
File manager
Gallery
Clock
Calendar
Calculator
Web browser
Camera
Installing vanilla LineageOS rom (or any other rom with no GoogleApps) will give you this default Android experience. For 99% of tasks that do not involve Google this is enough.
However, most people want something more than just a dialer, and so phone manufacturers pre-install some other stuff for them: Google (play store, chrome, maps, drive, mail), Payment (Samsung Pay), Gallery/Music apps, social media apps, fancy wallpapers etc. This is what makes the phone "smart" for you, I guess?
In case you want to cut it down further, you can use adb to remove certain apps from this list. This includes certain system apps too, like unnecessary fonts or accessibility services (web search is your friend here). Theoretically the phone can serve as a GSM calling brick only with the following:
Dialer
SMS messenger
Contacts
But then you'd be doing the hardware a misservice - why lug around Octa-core 8GB RAM 4000mAh HD TFT6.1" 999GB device if you could achieve the same with a Nokia 1100 or 3310? These are still being sold
UPDATE: Just saw your additions about Spotify. If you only want to use the phone for Calling/Web browsing/YouTube/Spotify, go with the "Install No GApps LineageOS -> Sideload apps you need and nothing else".
Word of WARNING though: a lot of popular messaging/steraming/quality of life (maps) apps APSOLUTELY DEPEND on google ecosystem (i.e. GApps like google play, google play services and google services framework).
WITHOUT GOOGLE THESE APPS WILL LIKELY CRASH or won't work as intended. I.e. Whatsapp will not give you "New message" notifications and will not ring UNLESS you have it open in your face right when the call comes in. Delivery/Ride sharing apps that need google maps will not show you the map. Facebook messenger will has the same problem as Whatsapp. List of risks is far too long, and you will need to have an idea of whether the app requires google and whatsnot.
Therefore Make absolutely sure that barebones phone is what you want. If it is, a lot of apps that reliably work with the barebones setups can be found on Fdroid.
Despite having "dumb" in the name, this procedure requires one to be amazingly smart about it
To conclude, you have the following ways of achieving this:
1. Install no-Gapps (i.e. "vanilla") lineageOs, delete what you wont need, sideload .apk of apps you are after
2. Install stock android rom, then Degoogle and Debloat it. Guides for your particular model can be found here on XDA
3. Install SlimROM, a custom Android distro whose developers had the same idea as you did, i.e. optimized for simplicity.
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This is really interesting. I am thinking of trying to do this with a Google pixel 4a. Would I be able to do the lineage OS with that? I haven't found other threads that speak on this topic, am I right? Thinking that I would like to customize exactly what apps I have on the phone etc.
LineageOS for Google Pixel 4a exists:
LineageOS Downloads
download.lineageos.org