Overall love - Xiaomi Redmi 5A Real Life Review

Yes, yes, it's possible to love a phone. Heck, you sleep next to it, don't you? Rate this thread to indicate your love for the Xiaomi Redmi 5A, all things considered. A higher rating indicates that the Xiaomi Redmi 5A is an incredible phone that you enjoy tremendously. You love it.
Then, drop a comment if you have anything to add!

There and Back Again a Phone/ROM odessy
From the spec sheet the Redmi 5A is nothing to write home about. I was looking for a cheap phone at the time, having a nasty surprise bill which had to be paid. So my Sony Xperia had to go. :crying:
I had the device for a while and did my usual (rooted ROM, stay on stock, try XDA ROMS, get tired of the bugs/lagging, return to stock.
I have to say that while there is a plethora of content for miui and an enthusiatic user base, going back to a stock ROM was less than straightforward. Perhaps it is a symptom of being a China/India company first and foremost. I've started to sympathise with people who have english as a second language....
My road back to stock had a number of speed bumps. I had used a pie rom and after trying an incompatible kernel, the phone was soft-bricked. No problem for an experience ROM junkie right? Well the first stock rom was via fastboot which took the usual wrangling to get on Windows. After a day I realised the camera was not working. Nothing would fix it. I wanted at least Oreo and found what I thought was the solution, but turned out to require "developer permissions". Download the QI messaging app (or whatever it was) and request a developer account. Sadly it kept reverting to Chinese so I could not use it. Did I mention that the phone requires you to enter your MI account after re-flashing. I nearly had lost the password and after failing the challenge questions, they said "we'll get back to you in 3 business days(!). Fortunately I found the right credentials in my browser cache.
After flashing stock Oreo data stopped working completely. I then had to flash an update to the baseband and now happily all is well.
Android Pie is nice and I miss some aspects of it, however the stock ROM is faster and unlocks better with my Mi Band 3. So it looks like I'll stay on Rooted stock for the time being. Plus I do enjoy messing with the different themes :laugh:

Good device for the price! Very nice to test your nerves when you brick it!
As many fellows here on the forum, I just can't stay much time on stock ROM. It's fun to discover the features and bugs of those jewels the devs bring to us.
This Redmi 5A was very chalenging to get back to work after a wrong kernel flash. The soft brick needed to disassemble the device to make USB get recognized, and it make me go back to windows for a while to solve it (it lacks supported Linux tools to do the fastboot flash).
The stock is a very good ROM itself, but as it's stucked in 7.1 (the dev version is Oreo and can be used as daily driver as well).
It was my first cheap and all chinese phone bought from a chinese e-commerce site and it still is a very good user experience.
The themes in the store are very fun play with too. :laugh:

It's love

Back in mid 2018 I bought this phone as a back-up for my Galaxy S8. It was my first Xiaomi phone. For the price (€85) I did not expect much, but I was very surprised! Especially the screen quality is very good for this price, nice colors and good contrast. Because I liked it so much I have replaced my S8 with a Xiaomi Mi 9T as my main phone in mid 2019! Now the Redmi 5A is being used to control smarthome stuff and to experiment with. Even in 2020 as i am writing this mini-review I still like it a lot, and it is still up to date with a LineageOS 17.1 (Android 10) ROM, and it works flawlessly. Also the latest official Global and EU MIUI roms work smoothly, although Android isn't updated past 8.1 on those ROMS. This is one of the few budget phones I used that just 'work'. No annoying bugs or lags, just a phone that does everyday tasks as it should, even in 2020!

Related

next phone?

after having this phone since release i gotta say i was not disappointed, specially since we have a great community to give us the features that lenovo doesn't give us , thank you all very much
i will be moving to a galaxy s8+
unitz0mbie said:
after having this phone since release i gotta say i was not disappointed, specially since we have a great community to give us the features that lenovo doesn't give us , thank you all very much
i will be moving to a galaxy s8+
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Click to collapse
Not really digging on Sammy anymore. After having this phone I will never go back to a phone without front firing speakers and a "selfie" flash. I don't give two figs about Moto mods but give me a "refresh" of this phone with updated specs and I'm all in! Otherwise GoodbyeMoto.
unitz0mbie said:
after having this phone since release i gotta say i was not disappointed, specially since we have a great community to give us the features that lenovo doesn't give us , thank you all very much
i will be moving to a galaxy s8+
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Click to collapse
Not really sure why you're disappointed with the X, except battery life...
Hope you enjoy your S8+ at 2-3 times the price.
At this time my next phone is unknown...
acejavelin said:
Not really sure why you're disappointed with the X, except battery life...
Hope you enjoy your S8+ at 2-3 times the price.
At this time my next phone is unknown...
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Click to collapse
Very happy with it, it'll last me another year or two at least If I keep charging up to 90% to help with the long run, but I would have to say my next phone definitely would have front facing speakers and has a big screen, which the newer phones are having bigger screens so that's an easy mark to pass. The front facing speakers though, that's a dying breed now a days because of the new bezeless design of newer flagships.
Moto z with battery mod
Sent from my XT1572 using XDA-Developers Legacy app
I am waiting to see what the Nokia 9 spec are rumoured front facing stereo speakers have a nice big screen ?
Sent from my XT1572 using Tapatalk
For me it definitely won't be another motorola/lenovo phone.
Sent from my XT1575 using XDA-Developers Legacy app
I switched to an OnePlus 3T over a month ago and I couldn't be happier. It has really long battery life(6 to 9 hours Screen on time), depending if you are on WiFi or LTE/3G. The performance is the awesome. No Ram management issues (like the Galaxy Phones), everything is smooth and opens instantly. It's the first Android device in 7 years, since I'm using this OS, where my Device isn't modified, cause Oxygen OS is the stock Rom, which I would flash as a Custom ROM. You could modify the Screen density, you have gestures, network traffic monitor, battery percent, no bloatware...(except the gapps)...
The only things I could complain about is the camera in low light and front facing speakers would be nice. Otherwise if someone wants to buy a new phone: get the OP3T.
I recommend the phone to someone who isn't a nerd like me and had the S7 before. He had awful battery life on the S7 and the phone wasn't really faster then the MXP. He had nothing to complain after the switch. He hadn't called me once. I called and asked him what battery life he get's and he told me that his battery lasts 2 to 3 days, without charging.
I'll probably go over to lg g5, xiaomi mi6 ot oneplus 3t whichever gets cheaper
OCmylife said:
I switched to an OnePlus 3T over a month ago and I couldn't be happier. It has really long battery life(6 to 9 hours Screen on time), depending if you are on WiFi or LTE/3G. The performance is the awesome. No Ram management issues (like the Galaxy Phones), everything is smooth and opens instantly. It's the first Android device in 7 years, since I'm using this OS, where my Device isn't modified, cause Oxygen OS is the stock Rom, which I would flash as a Custom ROM. You could modify the Screen density, you have gestures, network traffic monitor, battery percent, no bloatware...(except the gapps)...
The only things I could complain about is the camera in low light and front facing speakers would be nice. Otherwise if someone wants to buy a new phone: get the OP3T.
I recommend the phone to someone who isn't a nerd like me and had the S7 before. He had awful battery life on the S7 and the phone wasn't really faster then the MXP. He had nothing to complain after the switch. He hadn't called me once. I called and asked him what battery life he get's and he told me that his battery lasts 2 to 3 days, without charging.
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Click to collapse
It is just a damn shame the OP3T is GSM only, for those of us in the US. I get it, though; it's an international device and the CDMA market is too small globally to be worth changing the whole design over. Other than that, it seems like as close to a perfect phone as you'll find in today's compromised market.
My next will be Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge or S8+. This probably won't happen until around Black Friday. I'm really fond of my Moto X but miss Touch Wiz.
I will try to go to iPhone. I'm really disappointed in Android and in Lenovo.
Feahnor said:
I will try to go to iPhone. I'm really disappointed in Android and in Lenovo.
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Click to collapse
Being disappointed in Lenovo is one thing. But in Android in general...a google phone is the only way to go to get consistent updates. Otherwise, there is no guarantees with any OEM. Nearly every OEM out there has pretty much pulls this same stuff. Typically devices within 12 months of release are updated quickly (relatively) and thereafter, the newest phones become priority. By 24 months support is non-existent.
aybarrap1 said:
Being disappointed in Lenovo is one thing. But in Android in general...a google phone is the only way to go to get consistent updates. Otherwise, there is no guarantees with any OEM. Nearly every OEM out there has pretty much pulls this same stuff. Typically devices within 12 months of release are updated quickly (relatively) and thereafter, the newest phones become priority. By 24 months support is non-existent.
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Click to collapse
I just don't like android anymore (and google phones don't work for me). Every OEM builds its propietary implementation of everything, no one want to "join" forces so they can make android a good, stable, securo and safe OS.
I'm tired of that. I just want something that works, that is built for the user (and not built so the user has to work to make things work).
I want the following:
1. Unlocked bootloader.
2. Works on Verizon.
3. uSDcard
4. Removable battery.
Suggestions?
I agree with the 3T if your on GSM get it I've also switched and man was it worth it I even relocked my bootloader and stayed on stock it's that good I get 4 or 5 hours SOT when I'm at work and I got terrible service there and don't even need to charge midday I'll have 15% before I plug in when I hit the bed when I'm not at work I'll get 2 days with 7 hr SOT it's a beast hands down no root or mods
matthelm said:
I want the following:
1. Unlocked bootloader.
2. Works on Verizon.
3. uSDcard
4. Removable battery.
Suggestions?
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Click to collapse
Only 3 current phones fit 3 of 4 of these requirements... All are LG, the G5, V10, and V20... But the LG G5 is the ONLY device available that fits all these requirements since it has an unofficial bootloader unlock, the others do not have an unlockable bootloader.
Not much of a choice in my book...
acejavelin said:
Only 3 current phones fit 3 of 4 of these requirements... All are LG, the G5, V10, and V20... But the LG G5 is the ONLY device available that fits all these requirements since it has an unofficial bootloader unlock, the others do not have an unlockable bootloader.
Not much of a choice in my book...
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Click to collapse
Yep. This is the reason why I have given in on the removable battery option, hence this phone. I'm not on a CDMA network now, but I want the option to switch should I so choose.
---------- Post added at 11:11 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:00 PM ----------
Feahnor said:
I just don't like android anymore (and google phones don't work for me). Every OEM builds its propietary implementation of everything, no one want to "join" forces so they can make android a good, stable, securo and safe OS.
I'm tired of that. I just want something that works, that is built for the user (and not built so the user has to work to make things work).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Then I say go for the iPhone. My general opinion is that Android was partially designed with the idea of customizing the user experience.
As far as being a secure OS, Android itself is secure. With security updates being provided regularly now, it is more so. Honestly, a Google phone, aka Pixel, will get timely updates, doesn't require mods to be usable, and has the option to customize should you choose to do so. And not to mention no proprietary software causing security issues (here's looking at you LG).
Feahnor said:
I just don't like android anymore (and google phones don't work for me). Every OEM builds its propietary implementation of everything, no one want to "join" forces so they can make android a good, stable, securo and safe OS.
I'm tired of that. I just want something that works, that is built for the user (and not built so the user has to work to make things work).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Apple is doing its proprietary implementation of everything too, it's even worse than android devices.
And why having each OEM making their UX for android make it unsecure, unstable and unsafe ?
User having to work to make things work ? isn't your phone working as the OEM intended it to be ? you bought your phone not knowing what it can or can't do ? I wont buy a phone that can't have a specific feature that i need and then complain that i have to implement it by myself
Your arguments to explain why you're moving to IOS are flimsy.
You can be bored of android, or wanting to try IOS, but man android unsafe, unsecure or unstable ? custom roms can be unstable, but it's not the OEM fault.
aybarrap1 said:
Yep. This is the reason why I have given in on the removable battery option, hence this phone. I'm not on a CDMA network now, but I want the option to switch should I so choose.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I gave up on CDMA and Verizon in general about 4 years ago with a Nexus 4... I've bounced between a few providers since then, will never go back to Verizon. I pay $36 per month per line for unlimited calls and texts, and 8GB of unthrottled AT&T LTE data per line. I'll deal with marginal service in a few rural areas I rarely go as a trade-off.

Android Pie officially announced on the LG V20

UPDATE: Official Pie now rolling out on Korean variants (F800K/L/S)
Good news LG V20 owners, it looks like your handset will receive Android 9.0 Pie in the not too distant future after all. While the South Korean company pushed the roll-out of Pie to its successor from Q2 to Q3, there is promise of the V20 receiving its last OS update this quarter with LG reportedly testing a beta build internally.
The LG V20 has had a checkered history of OS updates. The first smartphone to ship with Android 7.0 Nougat has only received one major OS update, with it still being stuck on Android 8.0 Oreo. It took LG until October last year to roll-out Oreo to some V20 variants like the H990DS, with the company then announcing it planned on ending software support the device.
LG subseuently u-turned and promised to deliver Android 9.0 Pie in Q3 2019. The V35 and V40 ThinQ have since received Pie, with the roll-out for the V30 slipping from Q2 to Q3. Beta builds for the V30 and G6 have now appeared online, demonstrating that LG is actively testing Pie for these devices, with people being able to flash these early builds to their handsets if they are feeling brave.
My LG Phones reports that LG is doing the same with the V20, specifically for the South Korean model (F800L). The beta build, called LGF800LAT-V27b-IOT-KR-JUL-08-2019+0, is unavailable to download though, with My LG Phones claiming that it is "not fully optimized". Naturally, this comes as no surprise considering that it is a beta build.
Unfortunately, there is still no word on when LG plans to release a stable Android 9.0 Pie build for the V20 this quarter. While we cannot verify the claims of My LG Phones, the website is often accurate and one of the first to report on LG issuing software updates for its smartphones. Expect LG to stagger the roll-out of Android Pie 9.0 though, with South Korean devices likely receiving the OS update a few weeks or months sooner than other variants. Still, it is promising to hear that LG is actively testing Android 9.0 Pie for the V20, seemingly alongside the V30 and G6. Fingers crossed, V20 owners!
Source: https://www.notebookcheck.net/Android-9-0-Pie-is-on-the-horizon-for-the-LG-V20.427936.0.html
I'll believe it when i see it.. i'm still on stock 8.0.0... I have added a 4000Mah battery so i can last 2 days with everything on now but still on 8.0.0
drchip42 said:
I'll believe it when i see it.. i'm still on stock 8.0.0... I have added a 4000Mah battery so i can last 2 days with everything on now but still on 8.0.0
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Click to collapse
Same...
But there was a leaked beta pie firmware that is currently for the Korean variant, and it's ongoing
So there's still a big chance to receive one
And if there isn't well at least we have LOS 16 as our option for pie
After having run my v20 stock for years I took the plunge and went lineage 16. The difference between stock and lineage is night and day. While it's great for people unable or unwilling to go the custom rom path, I don't intend to go back to the bloated mess that is "stock" on my H918
rivethead23 said:
After having run my v20 stock for years I took the plunge and went lineage 16. The difference between stock and lineage is night and day. While it's great for people unable or unwilling to go the custom rom path, I don't intend to go back to the bloated mess that is "stock" on my H918
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lineage is so boring imo. no stock camera and I'm also not sure if the DAC is working properly.. Was on lineage two hours and immediately flashed back the stock Rom. But I have to admit that the LG is only my second device now. But this time I didn't flash a custom kernel and no root. Just stock.. It is so much better now. But S9+ is my daily driver now.
That's the beauty of Android we can have the same device and completely different experiences... Now if there was a miui Rom to play with I would be trying that out.
Jogg3r said:
Lineage is so boring imo. no stock camera and I'm also not sure if the DAC is working properly.. Was on lineage two hours and immediately flashed back the stock Rom. But I have to admit that the LG is only my second device now. But this time I didn't flash a custom kernel and no root. Just stock.. It is so much better now. But S9+ is my daily driver now.
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Click to collapse
The DAC works on LOS as long as you flash Gamma kernel, although I've heard it's enabled in the stock kernel. I use Gamma + V4A and it's amazing.
My experience with Lineage... or rather Resurrection Remix has been less then stellar. I'm considering going back to stock and then upgrading to Oreo, if it's usable. I'm just worried of getting stuck there if the LG firmware turns out to suck (which wouldn't surprise me...).
I've been able to use several other phones a couple of months at a time, and they have all been much better experiences than I've had with LG, custom ROM or not.
kadajawi said:
My experience with Lineage... or rather Resurrection Remix has been less then stellar. I'm considering going back to stock and then upgrading to Oreo, if it's usable. I'm just worried of getting stuck there if the LG firmware turns out to suck (which wouldn't surprise me...).
I've been able to use several other phones a couple of months at a time, and they have all been much better experiences than I've had with LG, custom ROM or not.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for sharing your experience. I was considering moving to RR because of the lagginess and battery inefficiency of stock Oreo, but was wary of the bad second screen utilization and the lack of the LG cam. When you say your experience with RR was less than stellar, what all do you have in mind?
Lebatman said:
Thanks for sharing your experience. I was considering moving to RR because of the lagginess and battery inefficiency of stock Oreo, but was wary of the bad second screen utilization and the lack of the LG cam. When you say your experience with RR was less than stellar, what all do you have in mind?
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Click to collapse
Ok... so I was mostly on Android 8 based Resurrection Remix. It was laggy as hell, but... out of nowhere. Like it would be smooth one second and then completely collapse the other. So bad, that unlocking the screen became impossible. Or I could turn on the screen, but it wouldn't react to any input. Taking photos, especially with Gcam, was nearly impossible. It might save the photo, or not. It might take a photo if you press the button, or not. It might take it relatively immediately or it could take up to 10 seconds. Or well, not happen at all. Sometimes you could take a photo, then close the app completely, then take the next photo. Rinse repeat. The behavior was completely random and unreliable, with decent sized crashes along the way. Charging the phone via USB (and some chargers/cables) was impossible, because doing so would drain the battery more than not being plugged in. Sometimes the phone would turn into a space heater for no apparent reason. Second screen support wasn't really worth it either IMHO, because the implementation wasn't as polished as on the stock firmware (mind you I never got past 7).
I'm now on the latest RR (as Lineage just wouldn't boot from a fresh install), and it's... sort of better? The second screen is now just the regular screen, with the left corner being treated as a supersized notch. That's a great use of the space, though I wish on video players it would try to avoid the notch as much as possible. It won't... it's centered. But that's a Google thing. Oh yeah, and Waipu, which I use for TV, won't run properly. Some stations work, some stations (the ones I expect to put more security measures in place) don't.
It ran smooth for the first few hours. Now it has turned into a laggy nightmare again. Well, sometimes. Sometimes it's also smooth and performs as good as you can expect a Snapdragon 820 to perform (which isn't too bad!). But other times... Part of the lag seems to be the notification system, which is currently running amok as I have imported my old SMS and it is keen on showing me every single one of them (to be fair, my last phone, the HUAWEI P30 Pro, did the same after every reboot and it just would not stop). As soon as I put the phone on DND, it seems to perform significantly better.
This is the depressing part. It has decent hardware, I mean, I just got an AnTuTu score of (though the screen froze during a loading screen). This should still be a decent mid range phone. But it behaves like a giant heap of junk. Like a phone that was outdated 10 years ago.
Coming from the P30 Pro, this thing is nothing but frustrating. And while it wasn't so much at the start, it really is now.
I might imagine that the memory is damaged. As in some memory cells behave badly and take a while to read. When it does, the phone essentially locks up.
kadajawi said:
Ok... so I was mostly on Android 8 based Resurrection Remix. It was laggy as hell, but... out of nowhere. Like it would be smooth one second and then completely collapse the other. So bad, that unlocking the screen became impossible. Or I could turn on the screen, but it wouldn't react to any input. Taking photos, especially with Gcam, was nearly impossible. It might save the photo, or not. It might take a photo if you press the button, or not. It might take it relatively immediately or it could take up to 10 seconds. Or well, not happen at all. Sometimes you could take a photo, then close the app completely, then take the next photo. Rinse repeat. The behavior was completely random and unreliable, with decent sized crashes along the way. Charging the phone via USB (and some chargers/cables) was impossible, because doing so would drain the battery more than not being plugged in. Sometimes the phone would turn into a space heater for no apparent reason. Second screen support wasn't really worth it either IMHO, because the implementation wasn't as polished as on the stock firmware (mind you I never got past 7).
I'm now on the latest RR (as Lineage just wouldn't boot from a fresh install), and it's... sort of better? The second screen is now just the regular screen, with the left corner being treated as a supersized notch. That's a great use of the space, though I wish on video players it would try to avoid the notch as much as possible. It won't... it's centered. But that's a Google thing. Oh yeah, and Waipu, which I use for TV, won't run properly. Some stations work, some stations (the ones I expect to put more security measures in place) don't.
It ran smooth for the first few hours. Now it has turned into a laggy nightmare again. Well, sometimes. Sometimes it's also smooth and performs as good as you can expect a Snapdragon 820 to perform (which isn't too bad!). But other times... Part of the lag seems to be the notification system, which is currently running amok as I have imported my old SMS and it is keen on showing me every single one of them (to be fair, my last phone, the HUAWEI P30 Pro, did the same after every reboot and it just would not stop). As soon as I put the phone on DND, it seems to perform significantly better.
This is the depressing part. It has decent hardware, I mean, I just got an AnTuTu score of (though the screen froze during a loading screen). This should still be a decent mid range phone. But it behaves like a giant heap of junk. Like a phone that was outdated 10 years ago.
Coming from the P30 Pro, this thing is nothing but frustrating. And while it wasn't so much at the start, it really is now.
I might imagine that the memory is damaged. As in some memory cells behave badly and take a while to read. When it does, the phone essentially locks up.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for your detailed answer. An SD 820 certainly shouldn't perform THIS badly. Oneplus devices with the same work as smooth as butter, the difference is night and day. Whatever LG's software team's done to this, is a piece of ****. I'm amazed that they still have their jobs despite creating this hunk of junk. The software is like and obese cow plonked on a sports motorcycle causing it to huff and puff during simple activities.
The worst part is that LG didn't even have the decency to open up sources and make rooting/romming easy, so that others might pick up their slack.
Lebatman said:
Thanks for your detailed answer. An SD 820 certainly shouldn't perform THIS badly. Oneplus devices with the same work as smooth as butter, the difference is night and day. Whatever LG's software team's done to this, is a piece of ****. I'm amazed that they still have their jobs despite creating this hunk of junk. The software is like and obese cow plonked on a sports motorcycle causing it to huff and puff during simple activities.
The worst part is that LG didn't even have the decency to open up sources and make rooting/romming easy, so that others might pick up their slack.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, but the thing is... the custom ROM isn't exactly better either. I think there hardware might be at fault here. Because while the stock ROM performs badly, so do custom ROMs (on the same phone). Unless the software that is at the root of it is used by both, the hardware is simply defective.
I'm getting 104117 in AnTuTu with the V20. Now that isn't spectacular - the P30 Pro did 240k, but it's not too shabby. It's on par with a brand new Samsung Galaxy A30, which I'm pretty sure doesn't break down as badly as the V20.
kadajawi said:
Yes, but the thing is... the custom ROM isn't exactly better either. I think there hardware might be at fault here. Because while the stock ROM performs badly, so do custom ROMs (on the same phone). Unless the software that is at the root of it is used by both, the hardware is simply defective.
I'm getting 104117 in AnTuTu with the V20. Now that isn't spectacular - the P30 Pro did 240k, but it's not too shabby. It's on par with a brand new Samsung Galaxy A30, which I'm pretty sure doesn't break down as badly as the V20.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmm.. when you say hardware, the same SD820 is used by others as well like the Oneplus 3, and that's a buttery smooth phone to use even after years of using it, so are there other components that seem to be ****ting the bed in this case?
Lebatman said:
Hmm.. when you say hardware, the same SD820 is used by others as well like the Oneplus 3, and that's a buttery smooth phone to use even after years of using it, so are there other components that seem to be ****ting the bed in this case?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah. Other components. The internal memory perhaps, which may be worn down? I've had a fast SD card that had areas where it'd slow down considerably, as in 300 kB/s instead of 90 MB/s. Maybe they went with low quality memory chips and implemented them poorly, with no wear leveling. Otherwise perhaps some drivers, that custom ROMs also have to use? It's quite weird.
Oh btw., Bluetooth calls aren't working on Resurrection Remix (both based on Android 8 and 9). It's quite annoying...
LG V20 in manufactured very poor, as wvidence..
My LG V20 is produced back in 2016 and known as one of the early production of this device, I can say that this device tend to heat very fast and have a really poor heat management.. Even my full of hatred Ip6S can last longer than my V20.. this is really pathetic..
Before I've move on to V30 and finally got stuck with these Huawei, I intended to dissamble the device and I found out that the thermal paste has dried out.. Even worse, there is only a very little amount of thermal paste placed on top of SoC.. I knew by replacing the paste should fix my issue but my V20 ( not my iP6S ) is my main device atm and I don't have spare time to do this..
I don't what LG thinking back then but for sure, V20 is one of the device I think that have a potential since it have some of the feature that won't exist nowadays such as a useful second screen ( for me at least ), removable battery, a 3.5mm jack, IR blaster, expandable memory and more..
but yes, LG is stupid..
Enough with hardware, I'm going to rant about software..
I don't have any issue with LG UX, I'll love the LG UX actually compared to UX2, 3 and 4.. UX5 and above is fitted with my taste..
The home have a capabilities to make all icon unified if you choose rounded square, then everything will be a rounded square which this option doesn't exist on my Huawei P30 Pro ( I'm miss this option )..
the Camera is easy to navigate with swipe option and second screen.. everything comes in handy, also those manual control interface.. I'll loved it !
Not bothering to implement the portrait feature on this phone is okay since we have Gcam here.. Even V30 doesn't have that.. So, I keep my eyes closed on this one..
BUT.. too bad. Here's come another LG stupidity.. The first phone to be manufactured with Android Nougat is the last one to receive the Android Oreo.. and now Pie.. They even stated so many f**kin time to stop maintaining this device.. How could they do this? LG, why are you keep making stupid decision as you do for LG G4 with only South Korea receiving Nougat, LG G Flex 2 stuck on Lollipop, LG G5 that won't even have a chance to get pie eventhough it used the same SD820 and now this? A flagship device only received ONE major update? Seriously?
But now they mentioned Pie is on the way to LG V20, I'll still have my V20 around but I only put 50% faith on this Pie update since I've been played so many times by LG before..
Errgghhhh...
Anyway, have you see the new LG phone? The phone got SD821 on it.. like seriously? 821 on end of 2019? OMG..
Ok, so I've managed to get Lineage running (maybe I picked the wrong Gapps version). It works a lot better than ResurrectionRemix. For example Bluetooth works, with only tiny break-ups versus RR, which made me sound like I was an a WWII-era tank calling for support. The brightness slider works. The performance so far is smoother. etc. For some reasons the changes in RR seems to have broken the underlying Lineage. Fingers crossed it stays this way.
I'm still not going to buy another LG phone though... I think. Even if they fix the software. Mostly for the camera, because I think they've screwed up there.
https://www.phonearena.com/news/lg-v20-official-android-9-0-pie-update-rollout_id120083
Shouldn't be too long now...
https://lg-firmwares.com/es/lg-f800l-firmwares/#tab=firmwares
F800lV30e.....kdz
kadajawi said:
Ok, so I've managed to get Lineage running (maybe I picked the wrong Gapps version). It works a lot better than ResurrectionRemix. For example Bluetooth works, with only tiny break-ups versus RR, which made me sound like I was an a WWII-era tank calling for support. The brightness slider works. The performance so far is smoother. etc. For some reasons the changes in RR seems to have broken the underlying Lineage. Fingers crossed it stays this way.
I'm still not going to buy another LG phone though... I think. Even if they fix the software. Mostly for the camera, because I think they've screwed up there.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What model you have?
I just receive the f800k pie update via ota 1.9gb file. Update in progress
---------- Post added at 12:55 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:53 AM ----------
https://www.mylgphones.com/lg-v20-f800k-firmware-android-pie.html
KDZ file here

Samsung Galaxy A41 - no XDA-Forum, no Community, no Custom ROMs

What's the deal with the Samsung Galaxy A41?
For reference:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samsung_Galaxy_A41
https://www.samsung.com/A41
There is no XDA-Forum for this smartphone
There also seems to be no community for this phone.
Searching the internet for A41 compatible Custom ROMs ends in less than nothingness even in the darkest corners.
What's going on? The phone is on the market since March 2020. The phone is pretty good in specs (middle-class).
AND it is the ONLY phone under 200 bucks today that is NOT larger than 150mm in length and therefor usable in pockets.
I don't get it why it doesn't get the same attention as the other competitors in the same price class.
Can anybody enlighten me what's happening?
Please XDA mods and admins, if this is just a mistake, please open a samsung forum for the A41!
yepp - I have such an 'outbreak of hell' product - still struggling to root this beast. 90% of the references in the i-net are fake/copied from other Axx or just bla-bla.
Up to now odin (different versions) seems only to be able to flash Samsung CRAPROM (needed it several times after ended bricked)
- magisk patched boot img not working/ending up in boot-loop,
- magisk patching AP dies before finishing (img is 3.5GB instead 4GB)
Samsung - not a success story
avalanche1609 said:
Up to now odin (different versions) seems only to be able to flash Samsung CRAPROM (needed it several times after ended bricked)
- magisk patched boot img not working/ending up in boot-loop,
- magisk patching AP dies before finishing (img is 3.5GB instead 4GB)
Samsung - not a success story
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
omg.. I was hoping to be able to root the phone at least with magisk.. but what you say doesn't sound well. I saw all those copy-paste tutorials for A41 on the internet too.. thought at least something gotta work.
I still don't get it. this should be a popular phone by its smaller size, low price and good super amoled display.
unbelievable there is no community, roots, custom roms, or at least discussion threads.
friends are getting a few A41 phones.. now that'll be a funny mess to root and handle. :/
@avalanche1609 just curious, you said you let magisk patch AP and it dies before finishing (3.5gb/4gb).. why did you let it patch the 4gb AP file? isn't the way to root the phone with magisk like:
-> get the same original firmware that is currently installed on the phone and extract the boot.img.tar from it.
-> copy that to you phone, let magisk patch the boot.img.tar (about 20mb in size)
-> copy patched_boot.img.tar to you pc
-> flash patched_boot.img.tar from pc with odin back to your phone in download mode (using AP(!) not BL in odin) and that file is about 20mb, not more!
shouldn't that be it?
why did you let magisk patch a 4GB AP?
also: which odin3 version did you use? 99% floating around are fake and malicious, all these 3.14.4 verisons are fake.
If you can unlock the bootloader you're already half way there. Then boot into a TWRP using fastboot boot recovery.img and flash Magisk from there. You might also have to disable DM verity somehow.
Good luck
lebigmac said:
If you can unlock the bootloader you're already half way there. Then boot into a TWRP using fastboot boot recovery.img and flash Magisk from there. You might also have to disable DM verity somehow.
Good luck
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
unlocking the bootloader should be no problem as far as I heard. but I also heard there is no TWRP version that actually really supports the device (and encryption afterwards). installing twrp with fastboot could be possible, also booting TWRP with fastboot could be possible, but for what? just for installing magisk that way? Isn't the other way easier? -> installing magisk manager, patch the boot image, and flash it back? especially when there is no fitting TWRP version anyway?
Zirila said:
unlocking the bootloader should be no problem as far as I heard. but I also heard there is no TWRP version that actually really supports the device (and encryption afterwards). installing twrp with fastboot could be possible, also booting TWRP with fastboot could be possible, but for what? just for installing magisk that way? Isn't the other way easier? -> installing magisk manager, patch the boot image, and flash it back? especially when there is no fitting TWRP version anyway?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The samsung brick is rooted now - one successful act of self defense !
- the newest magisk from github (21410) is able to do the job of patching.
(feeding magisk only with an extracted boot.img doesn't work! six different odin versions (<3.14.4) are not able to flash the created boot-image tar file)
- Magisk definitely needs the complete extracted 4GB AP file from the stock firmware - and the canary/github version of magisk is able to patch it (without crashing) and created 4GB patch.tar-file which odin accepts.
fastboot isn't an option - the device is detected but nothing else works/is implemented by samsung
If there is a suitable TWRP around - let me know.
avalanche1609 said:
The samsung brick is rooted now - one successful act of self defense !
Spoiler
- the newest magisk from github (21410) is able to do the job of patching.
(feeding magisk only with an extracted boot.img doesn't work! six different odin versions (<3.14.4) are not able to flash the created boot-image tar file)
- Magisk definitely needs the complete extracted 4GB AP file from the stock firmware - and the canary/github version of magisk is able to patch it (without crashing) and created 4GB patch.tar-file which odin accepts.
fastboot isn't an option - the device is detected but nothing else works/is implemented by samsung
If there is a suitable TWRP around - let me know.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's great news! So there actually is a way to get root on A41 and I'm glad it worked out fine for you so far.
I'm eager looking forward to root one of them for myself, I guess in a few days I'll have the chance to do so (I'll report then).
I'll take your advice and look for the latest magisk build from github.
It still looks very strange to me that magisk requires more than the boot image to patch. maybe it has something to do with dynamic partitions/ram disk the phone might use or the like. idk. maybe it then needs these files also. or probably the firmware is a little bit different from the one installed on the phone. I'm just guessing, not knowing. At least it works and when it takes to patch a 4gb file, well, then let it take that much.
That's the point where it'd be fine to have a XDA A41 forum with community and already people with experience, since it's a phone almost 1 year old now..
regarding the suppported TWRP version.. idk.. I would just trial and error things out. maybe it works with the latest version already. But better check it out before you plan to use the phone regularly..
I also don't know much about the fastboot options, I thought it works like usual as long as the bootloader is unlocked.. but flashing TWRP with odin or the twrp app itself could work too.
oh and the original question from the opening thread still remains open:
where is the community? where are the custom roms?
avalanche1609 said:
[...]
fastboot isn't an option - the device is detected but nothing else works/is implemented by samsung
If there is a suitable TWRP around - let me know.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh right. I forgot that Samsung intentionally cripples the fastboot for its users... How awesome.
Hi all!
I have one of these since a couple of days and I have to say it is a really nice phone with a really bad issue: the jpg compression is super aggressive and photos that should look great given the lens and sensor look bland and smudgy. As far as I understand, there is no camera api2 exposed at all by default. All camera apps that I have tried produce worse images and gcam does not work (I have tried about 20 different ones, for Mediatek and otherwise). If Samsung could just let me bump up JPEG quality to 95% I would be completely satisfied with this phone, but I guess that would never happen.
I therefore wonder, is there any chance that your success rooting the phone could lead to bumping up the JPEG quality of the stock camera app, eventually expose camera api2 or somehow allow us to install a version of gcam down the line?
Cheers!
I bought a new Galaxy A41 for 180€ and I'm just setting it up.
I want to share my thoughts so far about:
the hardware, the software, things like rooting.
The Installation and Software:
The phone starts and already wants to trick you into signing data collection agreements (Terms of Service (not optional), marketing, analytics, 3rd party shares (3 optional)).
If you select by common sense and only check ToS you'll get fooled when you check the last radio button which says "I've read all of the above and agree (..)" which enabled all optional radio buttons again right before you click next. What a dirty play.
Also it is not possible to skip the WiFi selection screen ("skip" is greyed out) making it impossible to setup the phone without internet access. This has nothing to do with FRP, this is before anything google related is setup. Samsung clearly states it requires internet to setup the phone and install necessary provider software. Once it gets internet it gets activated and the "skip" option becomes clickable after the next factory reset. This practice makes me really angry. It's obviously the price you pay when you buy a low- to mid-range class phone - you'll pay the rest with your personal data.
I setup the phone without creating google and samsung accounts (I never got one of these anyways) and got to the home screen. If you havent enabled WiFi yet, there aren't many apps at all pre-installed, just a few useful and a few bloatware apps (like Facebook, MS Office, etc).
If you give it WiFi however, it kinda explodes with leeching, loading and updating Apps you never asked for. Only some of these can be "disabled" and only some of them can be "uninstalled" the normal way. Some of the unwanted you can't uninstall nor disable. (This is where you wish you had root access)
The phone had Security Patch Level installed from August 2020. Making OTA firmware updates 3x (about 1-3gb) will get you to Sec.Patch Level November 2020 which is the latest available OTA (we have February 2021 now). That's not a good sign IMO.. so it's already a few month behind the patch cycle..
So, software wise there aren't many useful apps for me installed, really just the utter basics and much more 3rd party bloatware and Samsung nonsense apps. It's not as much as with the Poco X3, but still much...
The Hardware:
The super amoled display is the biggest feature of the phone. and it's really great, the colors, the viewing angle, the brightness.. all top notch.
Battery is with only 3500mA/h not that big, but it's astonishing strong and it holds up the uptime it promises so far. I can only hope it stays like that even after a few years.
The size of the phone is what actually made me buy this phone. its the only phone under 6.5" under 200€ and not older than a year. all newer phones are bigger. The size is great, it's slim, but long. (6,1" ~15cm long)
I didn't expect it to be that heavy, though. well, the weight is not really heavy, but compared to older phones it is a good bit heavier.
The Camera is just Mediocre, I already knew this from reviews before but playing around with it and seeing the results underscores it. The final pics alltogether look always a bit washen out if you zoom in. There aren't enough professional advanced settings in the camera settings compared to open camera or mx camera. you have to stick with what you get. The Sensor of the camera is despite 48mpixels only mediocre. the widescreen lens is a nice feature but quality wise not that good either. Selfie cam is subjectively good enough though.
HDR setting and results are a joke compared to mx camera.
Rooting:
I actually planned to root the phone with magisk and installing TWRP. However, I ended up not rooting or installing TWRP at all. The reasons are various.
First, It's possible to unlock the bootloader in developer settings (after the phone called home..). You'll get a nagscreen every time you boot the phone up after it's unlocked. From this point on you might be able to root the phone with Magisk (following the advices a few posts above), but it'll probably trigger and brick KNOX status.
I decided to NOT do that and relocked the bootloader, because there seems to be no lively community for this phone, there are no Custom ROMs available nor any custom bootloaders. And I might want to sell the phone again if it doesn't fit my likings and that'll be more difficult with broken KNOX status. Also that way I can get OTA stock updates as long as the phone is supported.
There is also no supported version of TWRP for the A41. And TWRP on phones like this is tricky as you can read at the A40 TWRP page: TWRP A40 read chapter "This device uses system-as-root in an A-only partition configuration." Also the device is using File Based Encryption and not Full Disc Encryption. I don't know if TWRP works with that environment at all yet.
So currently the only benefits of getting root would be to be able to completely uninstall some bloatware. The rest (firewall, adblocker, backups, etc) is pretty much possible without root access.
I really hope this phone is able to get custom ROMs and community in the future, though.
korpenkraxar said:
Hi all!
I have one of these since a couple of days and I have to say it is a really nice phone with a really bad issue: the jpg compression is super aggressive
Spoiler
and photos that should look great given the lens and sensor look bland and smudgy. As far as I understand, there is no camera api2 exposed at all by default. All camera apps that I have tried produce worse images and gcam does not work (I have tried about 20 different ones, for Mediatek and otherwise). If Samsung could just let me bump up JPEG quality to 95% I would be completely satisfied with this phone, but I guess that would never happen.
I therefore wonder, is there any chance that your success rooting the phone could lead to bumping up the JPEG quality of the stock camera app, eventually expose camera api2 or somehow allow us to install a version of gcam down the line?
Cheers!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I exactly know what you mean as I watch the pics I just made with the same phone. I don't know if you could change anything in this regard after rooting but it actually looks to me like it's rather the built in camera sensor that makes the quality not that good and not so much the jpeg compression. It doesn't really look like jpeg artifacts, it's more like a washen out painting. I doubt you'll get anything better by rooting the phone, but thats just guessing. Also: did you check out the Image format options? "4:3" vs "4:3 48mpixels"?
Hi!
I checked out all the various formats and played around with the ISO settings grabbing some indoor pics in a relatively poorly lit environment.
First, it is a shame that the HDR is inactivated when using the "4:3 48mpixels" mode or PRO mode because I kind of like that HDR effect otherwise. It seems to me like the aggressive compression automatically kicks in on ISO levels 400 and above, while levels 100 and 200 look alright to me: edges with high contrast look more natural and I find the "natural" pixel noise more tolerable than the washed out smudge effect from the compression.
A "4:3 48mpixels" photo with ISO 200 looks acceptable IMHO and with a little bit of tweaking in Snapseed, I was quite pleased with the result. More grain and a bit darker than what I get from a Zenfone 5 with GCam, but tolerable for a modern phone.
With "4:3 48mpixels" ISO 200 we get quite large file sizes and there is no pixel binning or HDR, but for those random pics that I would like to share with friends in social media, this mode is ok.
Overall, the screen and form factor of the phone is great and it is a fun and comfortable one to use, aside from the camera snafu. I suspect there are some artificial configuration restraints here put in by Samsung. I stand by my original remark that a higher JPEG compression ratio would be great. No idea if it can be configured via root.
As a side note, coming from a Pixel 1 and then a Zenfone 5, it is amazing how well GCam captures photos...
Has anyone rooted successfully?
Reading elsewhere, it's hinted people managed to do it.
Zirila said:
the ONLY phone under 200 bucks today that is NOT larger than 150mm in length
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The A40 is even better in this regard, but is sadly underspeced.
Zirila said:
currently the only benefits of getting root would be to be able to completely uninstall some bloatware.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And call recording, I believe?
Got the phone yesterday (about 120$) and got it rooted with Odin and Magisk took a little back and forward.. been a while sines I have been on Samsung phone.
I like this small cheap compact phone, tired of the big bricks.
Was installing from a new phone with latest update from Samsung.
So wrote a small guide to help out..
Everything on phone will get wiped/factory reset , so take backup , you have been warned.
Take no responsibility of brick etc. (or typos!)
!PLEASE CHECK WHAT VERSION PHONE YOU HAVE MINE IS SM-A415F AND THE GUIDE WAS WRITTEN FOR THAT PHONE!
Quick guide:
1* On PC or phone download you stock firmware for you region: https://samfw.com/firmware/SM-A415F
My was NEE witch is Nordic Europe.
Unpack or Transfer the AP_* file to you phone, i used microsd so didn't unpack on phone.
(sd card need to be exFAT , you can format to that in Windows, so it cant handle big files over ~4GB)
2* Install lates Magisk manager from https://github.com/topjohnwu/Magisk/releases/latest (Used v22.0) on phone.
Install Magisk patch the AP_* file from before
Transfer it back to PC, we will use this later!
3* Start phone, (if new phone don't bother sign in google/samsung etc.. it will all be wiped/factory reset!)
Enable Developer mode:
Setting, about device tag 7 times on Build..
(If its not shown connect to the internet and wait ~5min..)
Check "OEM unlocking" , "USB debugging".
4* Turn off the phone, press volume +/- while you connect PC to Phone with USB-C.
When screen "WARNING...Custom OS can cause problems.." press and hold Volume +, and press Volume + to confirm what you are doing!
Let it reboot.
5* Enable Developer mode:
Setting, about device tag 7 times on Build..
(If its not shown connect to the internet and wait ~5min..)
Check to see if "OEM unlocking" is greyed out enabled , check enable"USB debugging".
6* Turn off the phone, press volume +/- while you connect PC to Phone with USB-C.
Press Volume +(don't hold like last time.)
7* On PC open latest Odin (used v3.14.4) from https://odindownloader.com/ (no sure it that the official site but what i used, please let me know if there is a better one.)
Unpack the folder to your PC hard drive and start Odin3*.exe, uncheck "Auto reboot" make sure "F.Reset Time" is checked.
Use the original firmware files from (1*) "BL, CP, CSC" BUT the AP_* that you transferred from Phone.
Press start and hopefully you will get a "<OSM> All threads completed. (succeed 1 / failed 0)" when it's done!
Restart phone.
I had to download magisk and install it again but everything seems to be working..
Cheers
Minuz said:
Got the phone yesterday (about 120$)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Only $120 ?!
hkjo said:
Only $120 ?!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
128$ to be exact.
Samsung - Køb nyeste Galaxy telefoner her - CBB Mobil
Samsung har nogle af de mest populære mobiler. Find bl.a. Samsung Galaxy i stort udvalg, og få en ny mobil til Små Priser her.
www.cbb.dk
Don't think you can order from out side of Denmark. you can always move
@Minuz
Half the price? The ad there might actually be truthful: 800 DKK instead of the normal 1800. Not bad, unless you have to commit to the operator. Are they clearing the stock to make room for the disappointing A42?
Is Samsung's call recording enabled on the NEE firmware? Any idea if one can flash stock firmware from other regions?
@hkjo​They have similar deals every month, getting customers, cleaning storage for "older/cheap" phones witch are flooding the market atm.
No binding of to the cellphone company, but i'm pretty sure you have to be a danish citizen.
Can see any record options in call settings or phone options, but with root it should be possible to find a app.
-
Regarding of the experience so fare on the phone is great.. coming from a Xiaomi Note 9 Pro , Samsung S10+.
I really like this compact phone, it does everything i need.
The sound is not the best and the plastic back tend to vibrate with the sound from the speaker, but a case will help that.
Update : Had some problems with a danish authentication app Nemid but got it working!
Having some ustabile crashes witch is all on me trying to get a authentication app to work on root phone.. doing some less stable solution.
Got the authentication app working on previous rooted phones, but something is triggered on this phone/software.. With may be the reason for me not using this phone in the future.
(App Nemid)
Hopefully there will come some custom roms or workaround.
Well hello you all!
Actually I'm lucky to now finally find some other people with the same phone...
So about my little story in the Android universe:
--- Skip if not interested ---
Spoiler: Little story
Coming from a Samsung S3 to an OnePlus 3T. I rooted the OP3T and installed Lineage OS some years ago.. I traded it in for an iPhone 6S from my mom and giving the OP3T to my sister.. I just had enough of this Android because you often get stuck with something, the apps are less mature and it just all feals like you always need to be enthusiastic about the phone.. So I had a lucky year with the iPhone but somewhat I wanted to get an Android device again. Then I found a refurbished Google Pixel - 1st Gen, 2 years ago and bought it for 200€. The battery seemed to be pretty ripped since the phone had to be in the package for months or even years.. Since I didn't want to have the reseller sent me a new phone with maybe similar problems I decided to repair it on my own..
I then damaged the display in the process, needed to replace it as well with the battery and in the end spent about 350€ for the Pixel... I was kind of pissed but it was a nice phone.. Until I dropped it and the display was completly dead but wasn't shattered last year.. So then I just thought I had enough of smartphones and went with a rework of the Nokia 8810 (the 4G edition) and my iPad until I then decided in September 2020 that I needed a new phone. I somehow could still get the Pixel to work but didn't want to spend 150€ again for replacement parts. For the same phone which wasn't better since then.. But the chip the Snapdragon 820 is pretty neat, 4GB RAM enough and the camera great. Just the Display isn't that nice and modern looking... Maybe I should have gone that way..
--- End of my story what was before my A41 ---
So then I did some research - which phone looks nice for less than 300€, isn't big - since big screen phones are just bulky and you need two hands and I don't like that..
I found the A41 and thought since I don't do gaming and stuff on the phone, just a bit Twitter and messaging, it should be fast enough. Turns out after now several months of use since September 2020 it feels often slow.. I as well didn't like many Samsung Bloatware stuff but somehow got it configured that I don't bother that much now.. But I always wanted to have a custom ROM and it's just frustrating to do research on the device and just finding crappy articles as someone before mentioned.. You just get redirected etc... or find websites with auto generated content.
So to my experience so far:
Coming from the Pixel (and the iPhone 6S) I just have to say the camera is crap. I just don't like it and I think they shouldn't have gone with the trend and go for dual or even triple cameras. But with one lens and doing that one great. I share the criticism that the 48MP mode is somehow the one you want since the images look blurry when not using this mode. But then you don't have HDR as said, cant zoom in (software design isn't great here - you could switch to not 48MP here but now...) and images need to be taken with a calm hand because they often are blurred otherwise. And even then: The images are just in every point then those from the 12MP pixel. (In general this is easy to be explained bc each pixel has less light and is smaller resulting in less quality of the information per pixel. And if this is just really bad you need great software and often bigger sensors to don't just shrink the pixel size on the sensor..)
The chipset as mentioned: Ok, but somewhat sluggish... It feels pretty slow and everything in the UI seems to be a bit delayed on the screen.. But you just get used to this.. (Which still doesn't make this a good point)
I then had issues for months with my GPS module which often seemed to not work but then suddendly worked and I don't know why... Since then everything seems to be working fine regarding to locations.. It did work sometimes before and was pretty accurate but it just didn't work in 90% of the situations I tried it..
I actually like the display and battery. Both are great, I get maybe 60-70% usage per day and this is great. The display is also pleasing and I like the size although it could be a bit smaller..
The reason why I found this thread now is my latest problem though..
Since 2 months or so I tried to install an update but it just doesn't work. I somewhere found a OTA file (I think sammobile and I hate it that I needed to register there and Samsung isn't providing the files on their own).. And after booting into recovery and starting to sideload it... It just keeps stuck there as well with just 0%... I just hate this phone now and don't want to use it anymore since it just has no community, it feels sluggish sometimes, the camera isn't great and it's a Samsung phone with no possibility for a custom ROM...
What are your thoughts? Where do you agree - should I maybe try to just wipe it, sell it for 100€ on ebay and repair my old pixel? I just thought I might be luckier with that one ... Or maybe get an iPhone again but then.. those are even used that expensive, but just are so good usable in everyday use.. I am a pretty technical competent person, used Linux for like 3 years on the Desktop with no windows on dual boot don't have any problems solving most problems with software what so ever.. But I just don't want to run into problems with the devices I use daily and need to be reliable. If I want projects to waste my time I find them. I install software on servers and configure them.. But this phone and android in general... I sometimes like it, but then I feel like I need a brake and use something that has less bugs.. (up to the point that I like it again.. I'm pretty ambivalent on that topic)
@atriom
If it's working now, why waste time on trying to update?
Minuz said:
Can see any record options in call settings or phone options, but with root it should be possible to find a app.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I thought it'd be easier to use semi-official means to enable recording, rather than root.
Found a thread listing Samsung country codes where recording is enabled, but the list is pretty slim. Intersecting it with the list of countries in which this phone is available (based on one of the firmware sites), I think there's actually no official version with recording enabled.
I'm not sure if that rules out official recording. Maybe CSC selection is generic and not per phone, so all countries would be available.

Question Should I buy iqoo 7 for long term use?

We all know there's no custom rom support for iqoo 7. Should I still buy this phone for long term use?
Lala🇧🇩 said:
We all know there's no custom rom support for iqoo 7. Should I still buy this phone for long term use?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Going by iQOO track record do not expect any development or custom roms in future. It would be good for 2 years then you'll have update to new phone. Do not expect any development. Like LOS, Even simple bootloader unlock and root will not be possible.
This is actually true for almost all Android phones these days. I want able to use my S9+ Street 2 years because it's battery decayed pretty fast. My wife's phone's displayed died. She had the S9 and we bought both phones together.
Updated and custom ROMs aren't that great these days because of plethora of phones and great devs of this forum also can't keep up with whether to fix issues with current build or to push next update build.
I used to own an HTC Wildfire S and its devs were pretty mind blowing. It used to have great ROMs which were much faster than stock. But these days stock ROMs are also good enough if you disable some bloatware and irrelevant system apps.
I have disabled some system apps using adb and am not facing any kind of adware notifications and the phone is smooth as ever.
I never even tried to root my S9+ also since I never found any good reason to lose Knox and DRM capabilities just for a little bit faster but still bugged ROM since I had the Exynos version.
With stock I prefer the peace of mind.
I've shared all my thoughts with you on this, now choice is yours.
Quite right. And will there be something significant better then screen 120hz, 12gb ufs 3.1, incredible fast charging, 120 watt 18 minutes fully charged, exceptional good battery management, at least 36hrs with full use of phones possibilities. Processor SD 888, good for the next 4 years I think.
With the increasing complexity of hardware, various chips (additional display chip in Iqoo 7), multiple cameras, etc. it will be difficult for custom rom devs to keep up with future of android. We will have to learn to live with Stock ROMs.
I suggest to keep full backup of each stock ROM before upgrade so that you have option to roll back incase you dont like performance/features of upgraded ROM.
Every android phone will have a life span of 2 years then it will slow down with software updates. My suggestion is to update your phone only if your device has some serious bugs and the update will fix it or ignore the annoying update pop-ups. Your device will last longer. This is from my personal experience
It's also important to protect the device from external fall damages I recommend using good quality protective gears from good brands or if you drop your phone and get it fixed it will be never good as a new one. I use a screen and body protector from {Mod edit: Please no commercial advertisement}.
The device's heating issue is a major concern. if a gaming phone gets toasted frequently it won't last longer
Gad0 said:
Every android phone will have a life span of 2 years then it will slow down with software updates. My suggestion is to update your phone only if your device has some serious bugs and the update will fix it or ignore the annoying update pop-ups. Your device will last longer. This is from my personal experience
It's also important to protect the device from external fall damages I recommend using good quality protective gears from good brands or if you drop your phone and get it fixed it will be never good as a new one. I use a screen and body protector from {Mod edit: Please no commercial advertisement}.
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I agree but I change my device every 6 to 8 month so no worries and I get try new features comes with an update
Lala🇧🇩 said:
We all know there's no custom rom support for iqoo 7. Should I still buy this phone for long term use?
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Always have an external storage or Hardisk to save your files or if you loose your device you might miss a lot of data. I always back my data and keep my device free

In us but allways got exnos version cause I require root but hated the lack of carrier aggravation. Now seems snapdragon is root able. Whitch to get

Just wanted to find some opinions on what to get basically it's been awhile since I was on her and my note ten is having the cold battery can't charge issue so Im looking what to replace it with and need root and loved the functionality of a fully unlocked bootloader but I missed the great speeds of a US phone since I'm in the US so wonder what I shoud do?
Too cold, won't charge?
You think it's a mobo failure on the 10+?
I've never seen that warning. Use something like DevChek to view all the sensor temperatures.
May just be a battery failure. They're good for about 2 years on a heavily used phone, my lasted 1.5 years and failed.
I'm looking at getting a second Note. My choices are another 10+ or a new 20U. It will likely be another 10+; it a solid, stable, fast phone with no glaring issues. If still running on Pie, that's a huge plus, Android 10 and especially 11 just suck. I don't have high hopes for 12.
So if it's the battery or C port PCB*, just replace and wait for the 2022 Note release.
From what I've read the Snapdragon has a better chipset architecture and instruction set.
They seem to be notoriously hard to root. Probably not a good choice for rooting.
I know you can optimize a stock 10+/Pie, not sure how well that will go with Android 10 and above. Some of the functionality isn't there for valuable 3rd party apps like Karma Firewall's logging feature. You can still use Package Disabler or ADB edits to kill the bloatware though.
On newer high dollar phones is many ways rooting is a liability especially with warranty/insurance and you lose Knox, Samsung Pass etc if you use that junk. There are those especially on this forum that swear by it but won't acknowledge their cost in time (which can be and typically is huge) and inconvenience.
Stock Androids/roms are easier to troubleshoot and more secure. If there are issues with a stock setup there will be thousands or more with the same issue making solutions more likely and easier to find. With a custom setup you are on your own which can quickly implode into a time sucking blackhole in more ways than there are stars.
If I was going to root it be an older Note... not a brand new one... risk/time vs reward.
*the C port PCB may have a temperature sensor, not sure. It can cause a lot of bizarre issues in seemingly unrelated systems like internet connection, I know that for a fact. Make sure if you do replace it you get the exact PN that on that PCB or it will not function properly! Both the battery and C port PCB are relatively easy to replace with the proper tools and skillset. Both are cheap, under $50. Make sure you replace the back cover OEM seal with the same or equivalent if you open it up. Do not use generic double sided adhesive tape!
And the award for Longest Post Title and Longest Run On Sentence In A XDA Post goes to...
*Nervously opens envelope*
@ressegger !!!
*Raucous applause*
ressegger said:
Just wanted to find some opinions on what to get basically it's been awhile since I was on her and my note ten is having the cold battery can't charge issue so Im looking what to replace it with and need root and loved the functionality of a fully unlocked bootloader but I missed the great speeds of a US phone since I'm in the US so wonder what I shoud do?
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Click to collapse
Yes ,
i had this same issue of yours ,
"to cold to charge" can't charge ,
notice/issue .....many years back .
Can't remember which device of mine it was , think it was a Samsung Tablet A 2016 .
Anyway ,
Took devices to Samsung Service Centre.
It was the USB charging port .
They did not charge me much for the repairs .
Got it fixed and device charging normally / working fine afterwards.
My point is whatever you do or decide do not "throw/give "device away .
It's a small fix.....!
good luck
I am running the US snapdragon spammy 20 - ultra rooted up with boot loader unlocked thanks to afane and his advanced bros, although due to the lock down on many features such as scoped (controlled) storage preventing apps from being installed outside of the control room (googel store), did I mention notification sound got locked down too?

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