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[Q] Seriously considering buying GS6 but I have questions regarding UI mods & roms

[Q] Seriously considering buying GS6 but I have questions regarding UI mods & roms
First off, a huge thank you to anyone who takes the time to answer these. This might be the first non-AOSP phone i've ever bought.
I know all of the answers will be somewhat speculation since the GS6 is still new but mostly I'm just looking for what's been done in the past with the Samsung Exynos processors. And if I do get one I most likely will be getting a T-Mobile branded one as there does not seem to be a Samsung unlocked version sold in the US, if I'm wrong please correct me there.
So essentially my question is, will these changes be most likely possible.
1) Removing AM/PM from 12 hour clock.
2) Disabling capacitive button light and remapping buttons back to left, multitask to right. or
3) Getting nexus-style soft keys and disabling capacitive buttons.
4) Installing the AOSP Google Dialer and contacts.
So second part is about ROMS.
Now to my understanding the Exynos essentially means no stable 100% working AOSP roms ever. That has been my understanding and part of my reason for staying away from Galaxy S phones. Recently I've seen many places where people are saying just put CM12 on it but then in my own research CM12 or anything similar either seems to not be available or has serious bugs. So is it possible, lets say more than 50% chance that the GS6 will get a 100% stable bug free AOSP rom.
As a follow up to that, if it is possible, based on earlier phones and AOSP roms, does the camera suffer or does it retain the same quality. Sony phones for example, the camera breaks badly if you unlock the bootloader and install AOSP. It requires a locked bootloader and Sony rom to function properly. Also anyway for the fingerprint reader to still work on AOSP?
Second question regarding modded touchwiz roms. Can things like my above questions, and more AOSP like mods be done in these custom roms? Such as full AOSP theming of Samsung apps, stock google apps, and would apps like T-Mobile WiFi calling still work in modded touchwiz roms.
Once again a huge thanks in advance to anyone who helps out with these questions.

1.) Yes, I have done that on my S5.
2.)Once again yes, I have done that on my S5.
3.) I'm sure there's an app for that lol
4.) Idk but I've been wondering the same thing!
Check out MOAR ROM for the Sprint S5, that's what I'm running right now, just to give you an idea of all the mods possible.
From what I've heard, AOSP build will be damn near impossible on the S6, and also from what I've read, the camera does take a major hit in quality. AOSP themeing can be done once Samsung releases the theme SDK that is built into the new TouchWiz in the S6!

JoeFCaputo113 said:
1.) Yes, I have done that on my S5.
2.)Once again yes, I have done that on my S5.
3.) I'm sure there's an app for that lol
4.) Idk but I've been wondering the same thing!
Check out MOAR ROM for the Sprint S5, that's what I'm running right now, just to give you an idea of all the mods possible.
From what I've heard, AOSP build will be damn near impossible on the S6, and also from what I've read, the camera does take a major hit in quality. AOSP themeing can be done once Samsung releases the theme SDK that is built into the new TouchWiz in the S6!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That rom seems perfect for what I would want, hope the GS6 gets something on par. I love AOSP but luckily Samsung has actually done a pretty decent job with TouchWiz on lollipop and since I simply don't trust Google to make a Nexus phone with a good camera or battery anymore after the N6 I'm really considering the GS6 and I've really been enjoying playing around with it at best buy but obviously coming from 7 years of AOSP it's tough to leave.
Glad 1 and 2 are a yes. Probably my biggest annoyances. Though you mention the S5, that's on a snapdragon correct? I assume from your yes those should still be possible regardless of chipset.
I really hope 4 is possible. I've done a lot of searching but haven't found anything unfortountly. I could live with the Samsung dialer, but I would much prefer to have the Google one.
If the camera quality will degrade with AOSP than I just wouldn't even bother. Camera is probably my biggest reason for the S6 over a new Nexus.

neok44 said:
That rom seems perfect for what I would want, hope the GS6 gets something on par. I love AOSP but luckily Samsung has actually done a pretty decent job with TouchWiz on lollipop and since I simply don't trust Google to make a Nexus phone with a good camera or battery anymore after the N6 I'm really considering the GS6 and I've really been enjoying playing around with it at best buy but obviously coming from 7 years of AOSP it's tough to leave.
Glad 1 and 2 are a yes. Probably my biggest annoyances. Though you mention the S5, that's on a snapdragon correct? I assume from your yes those should still be possible regardless of chipset.
I really hope 4 is possible. I've done a lot of searching but haven't found anything unfortountly. I could live with the Samsung dialer, but I would much prefer to have the Google one.
If the camera quality will degrade with AOSP than I just wouldn't even bother. Camera is probably my biggest reason for the S6 over a new Nexus.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah man, that ROM made my S5 the amazing phone that I love haha, so much freakn customization within the ROM.
Yes the S5 is on Snapdragon, but MOAR is a TouchWiz based ROM, not AOSP.... and TouchWiz based ROMs won't be a proble, regardless of the chip that's used. And I also would love to see #4 too, but I'm guessing it would have to somehow be ported to work with the S6 & TouchWiz.

Some info on camera quality:
I've had every galaxy phone since the Note 2 / S3.
The camera is always MUCH worse on AOSP/CM roms. Worse than the difference on a Sony going from stock to AOSP.
However now with the new camera API and better 3rd party apps coming out I think it may not be an issue.
I tried the "Snap Camera" app on my Galaxy S6 today and it seemed just as good as the stock Samsung app but I'll have to do more testing.

play2lose said:
Some info on camera quality:
I've had every galaxy phone since the Note 2 / S3.
The camera is always MUCH worse on AOSP/CM roms. Worse than the difference on a Sony going from stock to AOSP.
However now with the new camera API and better 3rd party apps coming out I think it may not be an issue.
I tried the "Snap Camera" app on my Galaxy S6 today and it seemed just as good as the stock Samsung app but I'll have to do more testing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ouch. Well no need to really worry about AOSP now though it would be nice one day. Always the hope Google actually makes a good Nexus 5 again though :laugh: . I would hope that third party apps would retain quality though the new Camera app from Samsung is excellent from my experience demoing it.

JoeFCaputo113 said:
1.) Yes, I have done that on my S5.
2.)Once again yes, I have done that on my S5.
3.) I'm sure there's an app for that lol
4.) Idk but I've been wondering the same thing!
Check out MOAR ROM for the Sprint S5, that's what I'm running right now, just to give you an idea of all the mods possible.
From what I've heard, AOSP build will be damn near impossible on the S6, and also from what I've read, the camera does take a major hit in quality. AOSP themeing can be done once Samsung releases the theme SDK that is built into the new TouchWiz in the S6!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
where have you heard aosp will be impossible?

nflwideout86 said:
where have you heard aosp will be impossible?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exynos is not as open (or open at all?) like Qualcom is. Therefore it is REALLY dang hard to get AOSP ROMs.

What are pros and cons of flashing a stock Android on the S7?

so i haven't had a samsung phone since 2003 until the S7. the last few phones i had were running stock android, without all the crap and i loved it. now, i know that samsung ui brings with it some benefits. what would i lose (and gain) if i flashed a stock android rom on my S7? thanks

1) not sure there already is a stock rom for S7 ...
Pros:
+ Getting stock android
Cons:
- Loss of some/most/all "samsung" features (possibly also some fingerprint support and so ... )

im not sure if you know the home screen launcher (called samsung touchwiz) can be replaced with better ones like nova launcher and such... is that what you mean by Samsung UI?
changing roms actually change the functionality of the Android system wide functions/features, its different to the home screen UI.
the rom that came with your s7 is stock samsung you could say. Samsung made it, so everything, all the hardware works with the rom... some people want more software features or less features and so flash other roms, like vanilla stock roms or asop/cm roms, even though it may mean some software features wont work and even some hardware functions.
Every rom dev will tell you what's on offer and what the issues are.
the s7 is quite fast now, so you could just root the current rom (once root is available for your model) and remove/freeze apps known not to be required to clean the rom of Samsung junk. also install xposed to add new system wide changing features and such, but the more you mod the more risk of having issues.

"Stock" android is called AOSP okay? It's a little confusing when you say it like that.
Anyhoo, AOSP is faster than TW, and you will have constant update even when S7 is not supported by samsung anymore. However, Samsung made sure that TW is best compatible with their devices so you wouldn't notice any difference at all when it comes to speed. Also when flashing AOSP, you will lose almost all features TW has.

I wouldn't recommend flashing a stock android. Reasons:
1. you'll have to void your warranty and trip the Knox counter. This is a one way street, there is no known method to "untrip" this counter, so Knox will be disabled on your phone (even some samsung services like samsung pay MIGHT be disabled)
2. the s7 hase plenty of power and enough ram, so "having more free ram" or "faster app opening speeds" isn't hardly an argument nowadays anymore.
3. Bloatware removal? Well, at least my s7 (exynos version with dtm german telekom image) came surprisingly clean. Microsoft Office, the usual google apps and the usual samsung apps. No Bild.de, hrs hotels or such crap anymore. And you can disable the apps you don't want easily via the app manager or via another android app called psp (or similar, just search the s7 subforum a bit, you'll find it).
4. optimization: as the posters stated above: the s7 rom is designed for the s7, and just the s7. so all the hardware is probably supported the best under this rom. in the early days of android one just had to cope with the 2g/3g modem, acceleration/light sensor, wifi and perhaps gps. nowadays there is tons of stuff more: fingerprint, special bluetooth low energy functionality, special camera sdks (mostly not public), magnetometer, some people also believe there is a fm radio chip in the s7... and so on and so on... this is making things difficult to implement for the developers of rom bundles as cyanogenmod or aosp.
---> if your only concern is the newest android in case of security: the s7 has android 6.0.1 now, this version has a decent capability to get SECURITY updates from google directly. Meaning the most crucial android wide security loopholes will be fixed. no more "stagefreight will never be patched for my 2,5 year old phone" anymore.
---> if you always want the newest roms for the newest pure android features: I assure you, samsung is sometimes ahead of those. the 5.x rom I am currently using on my xperia mini pro is actually pretty similar in case of functionality/usability with the 4.x rom of my s5. many of the features I missed in the pure 4.x which samsung implemented are now standard in the 5.x "clean android".
I guess you should just lay low and wait for your guarantee to be over OR reconsider once a good rom is available which has features that you urgently want.
I'm also currently waiting for a rooting method which doesn't trip knox to appear so that I can root my s7 and start using it. It's just in the original packaging right now waiting...
-acid

AcidBurns said:
I wouldn't recommend flashing a stock android. Reasons:
1. you'll have to void your warranty and trip the Knox counter. This is a one way street, there is no known method to "untrip" this counter, so Knox will be disabled on your phone (even some samsung services like samsung pay MIGHT be disabled)
2. the s7 hase plenty of power and enough ram, so "having more free ram" or "faster app opening speeds" isn't hardly an argument nowadays anymore.
3. Bloatware removal? Well, at least my s7 (exynos version with dtm german telekom image) came surprisingly clean. Microsoft Office, the usual google apps and the usual samsung apps. No Bild.de, hrs hotels or such crap anymore. And you can disable the apps you don't want easily via the app manager or via another android app called psp (or similar, just search the s7 subforum a bit, you'll find it).
4. optimization: as the posters stated above: the s7 rom is designed for the s7, and just the s7. so all the hardware is probably supported the best under this rom. in the early days of android one just had to cope with the 2g/3g modem, acceleration/light sensor, wifi and perhaps gps. nowadays there is tons of stuff more: fingerprint, special bluetooth low energy functionality, special camera sdks (mostly not public), magnetometer, some people also believe there is a fm radio chip in the s7... and so on and so on... this is making things difficult to implement for the developers of rom bundles as cyanogenmod or aosp.
---> if your only concern is the newest android in case of security: the s7 has android 6.0.1 now, this version has a decent capability to get SECURITY updates from google directly. Meaning the most crucial android wide security loopholes will be fixed. no more "stagefreight will never be patched for my 2,5 year old phone" anymore.
---> if you always want the newest roms for the newest pure android features: I assure you, samsung is sometimes ahead of those. the 5.x rom I am currently using on my xperia mini pro is actually pretty similar in case of functionality/usability with the 4.x rom of my s5. many of the features I missed in the pure 4.x which samsung implemented are now standard in the 5.x "clean android".
I guess you should just lay low and wait for your guarantee to be over OR reconsider once a good rom is available which has features that you urgently want.
I'm also currently waiting for a rooting method which doesn't trip knox to appear so that I can root my s7 and start using it. It's just in the original packaging right now waiting...
-acid
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks for the post. i'm not worried about the warranty. i've rooted the last 3 phones i had and never needed warranty claim. i just like running aosp as its very clean and when rooted gives me more customization options. i could care less about samsung pay or fingerprint scanner and such. so i'm ok with losing it. buying the s7 i was really looking for great hardware which it has and flashing aosp on it. the only reason i didn't go with nexus 6 is because there's no sd card.

You will not see any AOSP roms available for Exynos variants. Snapdragon variants have locked bootloader so unless Samsung unlock it (which I think may be a possibility) you will not see any roms for Snapdragon variants.
Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk

If you want custom roms, the S7 isn't the phone for you.
Gesendet von meinem SM-G900F mit Tapatalk

Was never a fan of flashing aosp over touchwiz unless the S7 had a gpe counter part and a port was made or something. I hade the m8 on verizon but there was also a m8 gpe as well so that was a great experience because that was just ported over and all the features were still there the boomsound, HTC camera app ect. Usually you lose on a lot of factory features that were made for that phone and what I realized when flashing aosp Roms was the drastic downgrade in camera quality, that was during the s3 and note 3 for me.
I mean I'll definitely give a aosp rom a shot no doubt about that. if we even make it that far with the s7. We still need root and unlocked BL first to even be thinking about all that. Unless you got the exynos version.

One big thing for me usually is the camera...
Somehow the stock camera is always easiest, best, flexible and most comfortable. Never really found a camera which could replace it (either not all functionality available, or just not working as smooth). But yeah, it's not as if there is (or likely will be) an AOSP rom for the S7...

Is Nexus 5 worth buying for using till Q2 2018?

Hey Guys , so after selling my Xiaomi Redmi 2 a week back I was looking for a new phone with great community support. I am getting the used Nexus 5 (32GB) for around 80$ in my country India. So my question is the device still worth it ?
How is the battery life , camera (both front and back) and gaming performance with nougat roms ? Can I get the camera samples ?
Thanks in advanced.

I believe the new Pixel camera wont function on the N5 due to some technical difficulties and hardware limitations, and the Nougat ROMs are all ports since there was no official release for the N5, which has a limitation regarding CDMA, I.E. - Sprint and Sprint MVNOs will NOT work on any of the Android 7 ROMs. As for battery life, the N5 was never known to be very good in this department, although many custom kernels address this issue, amd as far as the N5 rear camera, lets just say it was always said that it could have been better, and now, 4 years after the release of the N5, it is definitely obsolete. But the N5 was a phone aimed to give flagship performance at a bargain price, so corners HAD to be cut in places... No SD card is one more such area. My thoughts are this.... It has a Snapdragon 800, 2Gb RAM, and either 16 or 32Gb memory... These 3 facts are the biggies, and the N5 STILL outperforms almost ALL bargain phones today. Just the processor alone makes it worth the money, as well as the cordless charging, unlocked BL, and MultiROM custom recovery. One last thing though, the N5 was made back when the OS was less than 1Gb, much less, so you could install lots of system apps, the current Android 7 OS is barely under 1Gb WITHOUT any of the bigger GAPPS zips. The N5 is capped at 1Gb for your OS files, sooooo, you wont be able to flash an OS/GAPPS that is over 1Gb in size, you might want to take that into consideration before you buy a phone which still outperforms most new non-flagship devices, but is nontheless still obsolete. Good luck, hope this helped.

rocketrazr1999 said:
I believe the new Pixel camera wont function on the N5 due to some technical difficulties and hardware limitations, and the Nougat ROMs are all ports since there was no official release for the N5, which has a limitation regarding CDMA, I.E. - Sprint and Sprint MVNOs will NOT work on any of the Android 7 ROMs. As for battery life, the N5 was never known to be very good in this department, although many custom kernels address this issue, amd as far as the N5 rear camera, lets just say it was always said that it could have been better, and now, 4 years after the release of the N5, it is definitely obsolete. But the N5 was a phone aimed to give flagship performance at a bargain price, so corners HAD to be cut in places... No SD card is one more such area. My thoughts are this.... It has a Snapdragon 800, 2Gb RAM, and either 16 or 32Gb memory... These 3 facts are the biggies, and the N5 STILL outperforms almost ALL bargain phones today. Just the processor alone makes it worth the money, as well as the cordless charging, unlocked BL, and MultiROM custom recovery. One last thing though, the N5 was made back when the OS was less than 1Gb, much less, so you could install lots of system apps, the current Android 7 OS is barely under 1Gb WITHOUT any of the bigger GAPPS zips. The N5 is capped at 1Gb for your OS files, sooooo, you wont be able to flash an OS/GAPPS that is over 1Gb in size, you might want to take that into consideration before you buy a phone which still outperforms most new non-flagship devices, but is nontheless still obsolete. Good luck, hope this helped.
Click to expand...
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Thanx for your reply mate.

i will say go for it.. The only thing i had against the phone was its battery.. in the stock os, battery life is terrible.. But since flashing the unofficial hammerhead caf lineage os by phoval, i hav started loving the phone again coz the battery life has become manageable.. i plan to keep it atleast till 2019.. @Battlecreed5

neojith said:
i will say go for it.. The only thing i had against the phone was its battery.. in the stock os, battery life is terrible.. But since flashing the unofficial hammerhead caf lineage os by phoval, i hav started loving the phone again coz the battery life has become manageable.. i plan to keep it atleast till 2019.. @Battlecreed5
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm a long time user but getting really annoyed with the worsening battery life. Where can I find out more about unofficial hammerhead caf roms and how to install them. Does it allow using Xposed?

Switched on My N5 after a long time. It still runs smoother & faster than some of my 2016 mid-range devices. I'm loving the performance:victory:. For me the only con is it's camera(Lol I didn't bought N5 for camera) & battery backup (managing somehow):silly: The device is good but you can get better devices than this at this time!!:highfive:

neojith said:
i will say go for it.. The only thing i had against the phone was its battery.. in the stock os, battery life is terrible.. But since flashing the unofficial hammerhead caf lineage os by phoval, i hav started loving the phone again coz the battery life has become manageable.. i plan to keep it atleast till 2019.. @Battlecreed5
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Agreed, changing to a battery conservative ROM will help, as will a custom kernel. Unfortunately I made too many performance enhancements with Ex Kernel, like over clocking the CPU from 2.2 to 2.3, which negated any battery saving settings. Now I just Fast Charge it and let Ex Kernel do its thing in Battery Saver mode when it gets low.

I just did the same thing - last month I bought a N5 for dirt cheap and it runs great. I just yesterday put PureNexus ROM on it so that I can have 7.1.1. I am amazed at how smoothly it runs. While it will not replace my N6 as my daily driver, it is a more than capable phone still.

Fvolfrine said:
I just did the same thing - last month I bought a N5 for dirt cheap and it runs great. I just yesterday put PureNexus ROM on it so that I can have 7.1.1. I am amazed at how smoothly it runs. While it will not replace my N6 as my daily driver, it is a more than capable phone still.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Please help me out. I have a rooted nexus 5 running stock 5.1.1 but I have no experience with other roms. Where do I find them? PureNexus ROM and others.

maybeme2 said:
Please help me out. I have a rooted nexus 5 running stock 5.1.1 but I have no experience with other roms. Where do I find them? PureNexus ROM and others.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Deep inhale....
Ok, here we go. The Nexus 5 Android Development section of the forums is the best source of information for that. Here you will find popular original ROMs like PureNexus, Resurrection Remix, Nitrogen OS, and more. As to which one to use, that is kind of a personal preference. Each ROM offers a unique experience.
Additionally, more ROMs can be found in the Nexus 5 Original Android Development section of the forums. Here you will find ROMs based on other ROMs, primarily stock-like ROMs like LineageOS (previously Cyanogenmod), as well as custom recoveries and kernels.
You can also stick with stock, 6.0.1 is available directly from Google - it is a nice upgrade over your 5.1.1 stock setup.
If you are unfamiliar with flashing ROMs, might I suggest starting with this guide on how to unlock your bootloader (which you probably have already done since you have root), how to install a custom recovery like TWRP. Once this is done, you are open to the world of customization.
Please let me know if I can be of any more help.
Deep exhale....

Thank you. That's what I needed. Where I should go to find out more.
I'm already rooted. Just have not tried other roms.

maybeme2 said:
Thank you. That's what I needed. Where I should go to find out more.
I'm already rooted. Just have not tried other roms.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Visit each ROMs thread. Watch YouTube reviews. Or just flash some for yourself and try different ones out. I loved cyanogenmod nut haven't tried out LineageOS yet. I'm on PureNexus on this N5 I am currently using because a lot of people on XDA recommended it.
What kind of thing now are you looking for in a ROM?

Something that would give me more battery life and yet be stable. I also use xposed which may be a hindrance as it only works with pure stock Android.

maybeme2 said:
Something that would give me more battery life and yet be stable. I also use xposed which may be a hindrance as it only works with pure stock Android.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As xposed is not currently available to Nougat, you'll probably be best sticking with a Marshmallow based ROM, maybe even stock.
I can tell you that a ROM like Pure Nexus has a lot of features built into the ROM similar to what many modules from xposed offer - for me, it is a no brainer to have the text in place of a battery icon in the status bar. Also, Nougat has a restart built-in to the ROM, so that solves the other problem I had with stock Android. Just give it a whirl!

Custom Rom Questions

I have been using a FRD-L14 running EMUI 4.1 (B150) for a few months and while I love having such a long battery life, I am starting to get frustrated with how much of my apps the system automatically kills in the background (alarm apps, text delay send, etc). I am considering trying out a custom ROM but have a few questions before proceeding.
1. If I make a TWRP nandroid backup, can I just reflash that at any time and revert back to my current rom without any hiccups if I have regrets?
2. I remember reading somewhere that I have to first upgrade to EMUI 5.0 before using a custom rom, this will not cause any issue with potential rollback?
3. What is the best currently available custom rom to try if I am looking for longest battery life and fewest bugs? Will the battery life come anywhere close to EMUI 4.1?
Thank you in advance!

Aren't there any official updates for the premium H8s?
Also that's quite the lengthy question and I know it's been asked before somewhere, please use the search function.
(Plus i can't remember the exact details as well)
Also battery life is **** with custom,(won't last me a day so i went back to stock) especially compared to MM (Even stock nougat is a worse) and all of them are somewhat buggy, but it depends on what you use.
Sent from my HUAWEI FRD-L09 using XDA Labs

I'm a new user of the Honor 8 with the exact same problem...
Also have the FRD-L14... wondering if any improvements/insights?
Would love to root, remove bloat, and even install a custom ROM, but all I've seen is that it can be a complete clusterf*#@ to do so. I'm just about to return this phone, its quirks are really ruining it for me.

anoukaimee said:
...... Would love to root, remove bloat, and even install a custom ROM, but all I've seen is that it can be a complete clusterf*#@ to do so. I'm just about to return this phone, its quirks are really ruining it for me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i recommend that you return it asap! there are other phones that are way better. the good thing is that most new phones will have oreo and treble by default which is going to be mandatory in android from now on.
at worst, users will get AOSP. at best, custom ROMs that have much better functionality. i recommend saving for either a oneplus, or maybe a nokia.

thanks, I think you're right, just such a headache shopping for a bargain again. do you have any recs for phones that are similarly fast but without the intrusive bloat and which hopefully are easily rooted/support magisk mods etc? I wish the xiomi 5 series worked in the US, they sound great for the money. maybe another Chinese brand (Oppo, Meizu) that has better specs than the going rate here but can also be modded? I don't need to get it back to Amazon until the end of February (thank you, extended holiday returns), so I can wait for shipment from China. Or else a Motorola or even Nokia? need to keep under $350; significantly less would be much better.
appreciate it if you have any ideas.
---------- Post added at 03:20 AM ---------- Previous post was at 03:12 AM ----------
droidbot1337 said:
i recommend that you return it asap! there are other phones that are way better. the good thing is that most new phones will have oreo and treble by default which is going to be mandatory in android from now on.
at worst, users will get AOSP. at best, custom ROMs that have much better functionality. i recommend saving for either a oneplus, or maybe a nokia.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
sorry, just saw that you HAD recs. kind of intrigued by Nokia because I think they're selling at a discount to get their name out there. is there a specific model?
and is there anywhere you can still buy a OP3?

anoukaimee said:
............. do you have any recs for phones that are similarly fast but without the intrusive bloat and which hopefully are easily rooted/support magisk mods etc? I wish the xiomi 5 series worked in the US, they sound great for the money. maybe another Chinese brand (Oppo, Meizu) that has better specs than the going rate here but can also be modded?.......... and is there anywhere you can still buy a OP3?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
okay, so now that you informed me about your location (US) it seems that you and i are in the same situation. i was waiting to get a 1+5t after buying a few 1+5s for various family members. they all needed updates. after thinking about it i decided to wait because 1+ lacks the one thing i desperately rely on.... EXPANDABLE STORAGE!
sadly, this is the one area where huawei really excels at. they include expandable storage on most of their phones. after htc decided to skip a US release of the U11+ it seemed that i would be forced to settle for the 1+ but thankfully there have been leaks of many new devices.
the one im looking forward to is the new redesigned sony line. from what i have read they will keep the 16:9 which i love and adopt a rear fingerprint scanner plus small bezels. the huge bezels are the only thing keeping me from buying a sony as they keep their android ROM clean with no horrible UI.
aside from sony, xiaomi is said to be releasing a few phones in the us as well. these combined with a redesign of the LG flagships. that makes for many options but, you will need to set aside a bit of money. imho, it will be worth it because all of these phones will come with oreo and treble.
for those devices that have a horrible stock rom, you can just install AOSP or any of the treble based custom ROMs. it will be great since all the latest phones have more longevity thanks to their hardware. the only limitation is software but treble will take care of that.
as far as a 1+3/t, you can find them on swappa. if bought 2 a few weeks back for $215 shipped. both were 64GB models that only needed the screen repaired. the total ended costing me about $170 each. if you have any kind of experience with repair, i recommend taking that route. i hope this helped, if you have any questions, dont hesitate to pm me. we gotta help each other out some way or another. cheers!

[Q] Worth buying when coming from 6s Plus ?

Hi,
I left Android years ago and switched to an iPhone 6s Plus I still have today.
One feature that I miss a lot from my old Android phones is FM Radio. I definitely want to return to Android world and Galaxy A8 is on my list (as it have FM Radio, as long as RDS and recording that interests me a lot).
Is it worth buying an A8 today or should I wait a bit for 2019 A phones ? Is the phone not too slow or buggy with latest updates ? And last thing, is Snapchat usable ? (I know it used to be a pain in the ass using Snapchat in Android, is it still the case ?)
Thanks by advance for your answers

I kmow with the A5 anyone can have an FM radio with the hades rom. Not sure if the A8 was made with the same hardware across the board.
It performs well and if you want it just for FM and you know it works in your region, sure.
But as far as roms it's on its own... not sure if other phones are coming out with the csc structure changed like this one is, so that is another thing.
Also you're only going to get pie i believe. So, a few months from now and that is all you may ever see unless a rom is in the making.
I'd look at something more mainstream so you get good use out of it. Up to you.

Ab+ 64gb 6gb ram I will have this phone for a long time.