So, I happen to have a bunch of old Huawei phones (Mercury and Ascend) and I want to use them for cameras for a security system. They are running Android 2.3.6, which we all know Google won't support and therefore it has become a major frustration to try and get any apps loaded on them. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to update them with a custom ROM that is Android 4.1 or newer where they can have the apps loaded? Or, if there is a way to get the apps loaded without an update to 4.1 or newer, I'm open to trying that as an option. It seems most of the custom ROM links don't work or were blocked by the a$$ 0's that want us all to pay for stuff that we already own.
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This seems like a long shot, but I'm wondering if there's any way to install an older version of the Android OS. I know it seems counterintuitive to want an OLDER version of Android, but it'd be really handy for app-testing purposes if I could switch between versions of the OS without resorting to emulators. Please let me known if you have any ideas.
P.S. I only have access to Nexus S and Galaxy S II phones right now, which both shipped with 2.3, so flashing an original, pre-update ROM isn't an option.
If you are rooted you should be able to find older ROMs for the nexus S based on android 2.2, so it would be easy to flash to that and revert to your backup when you are finished. As far as the SGSII it shipped with gingerbread, and I don't think a developer would take the time to port froyo to it...
I have a Rooted G'zone Commando. Apparently I can't get Android 2.3 because when I rooted my phone I uninstalled a bunch of crapware and that appears to be the cause of errors (I have narrowed down anything else) Is there anyway that I can force the 2.3 update by somehow downloading it and flashing it the same way users of other phones flash custom roms to their phones?
I have my Honor 6X and really enjoy. Furthermore its rooted fine with the stock rom intact otherwise. However I see it was to do the 4.1 to 5.0 EMUI update, so I wonder if I should or should not allow it to. A few reasons of concern is will it cause my to lose root, also as I am using Android 6.0 is this and update to 7.1 cause I frankly don't like some security issues Google added to Nougat, particularly the dm-verity crap, etc. I see some custom roms though for the device need the 5.0 EMUI to work, but I see people in threads trying to roll back to 4.1? So anyone have a good take on the best choice of what to do for the device to keep root, but keep the phone as awesome as it is now?
Personally, I'd update without thinking twice about. First of all, latest security patches ensure you from vulnerabilities like BlueBorn, KRACK, ecc. things that on Marshmallow you surely have not. Secondary, it's possible to root on Nougat too, so this isn't surely a problem... You update it, reflash Magisk/SuperSU and you're rooted again. Nougat have some more useful functions than marshmallow, like data saver for mobile data connection, a great ram management (i often have 2,25+GB free) and a better EMUI aspect.
Regarding custom ROMs argument, at the moment I'm still on stock to preserve better camera results, battery management and stability. There area few now, but everyone has some bugs here and there... So I'll remain on stock until there'll be stabler ROMs.
So, i have an LG K11 Plus (LM-X410BCW), released in 2018, the hardware of this phone is pretty good but, for some reason, while its CPU does supports 64-Bits, LGE installed an 32-Bits kernel on it (thank you for mistakes like that you always do, LGE.... ugh)
I searched for another root and custom kernel for this phone, and i could not find any. No rooting, no custom bootloader, and no custom kernel. Simply, nothing.
And for the most unfortunate, this phone is now completely abandoned by the manufacturer. Their official ROM and kernel are so bad, so glitched, so awful. The phone does not use the maximum power of its hardware, it keeps rebooting, it's stuck in Android 7.0 and even its camera app is glitched (my BACK flash doesn't work on the back camera, the app recognizes it as a "frontal" flash)
I know for rooting and installing custom kernel, i need another bootloader first
So i plan to make an unofficial bootloader for this model.
But i don't know where to begin, i know nothing about Android deep-modding and developing mobile custom kernels and bootloaders, i've no clues how to do that
I only know the basics of Android app developing, Android shell scripting and i'm more advanced in J2ME applications (completely useless for today's Android standards)
So, ¿where do i begin to do that?
My initial plans is making a unofficial TWRP bootloader for this model, but i don't know how i'll do that
I'd really help you if i knew how to, i also have this phone. I got it for a realtively high price and must say that it's absolutely unworthy of it's existance in our planet and modern society. The absolute maximum of modifications it allowed me to do was to remove bloatware packages using ADB, so i removed almost everything Google/Android related and now i'm working on a list of what you can/can't remove.
I removed the included launchers to only use Evie launcher, installed XDA's Navigation Gestures app (tho it made my phone lag a bit, as any overlay/draw-over-screen app will do), replaced Play Store by F-Droid, and etc... The phone is still bad, sub-entry level hardware even for it's time, has a Vulkan-capable GPU without Vulkan drivers included in the OS, and a 64-bit CPU running a 32-bit Kernel/OS, like you mentioned. But after that, the experience became a little bit smoother, at least!
I don't know nothing about this, but maybe you can get this phone's stock ROM in KDZ format, and start doing brute-force modifications to it, to flash it with LGUp, or LGFlashTool as if it was a stock ROM, but your modified version, because i don't think this phone checks the integrity of the ROM being flashed, or at least not in a way that can't be easily bypassed.
I have found its firmware on the internet, but i don't know how to modify it yet... But maybe i'll not delay much to learn it if i begin to. But i think i'll not be able to change its kernel nor the bootloader, as i want, from the firmware only, only the ROM... So it would be a bit useless as the LG's negligency was most on its software, with that lack of Vulkan and 64-bit support stuff
Not sure if this really should be going to the noob friendly thread, but since it is a couple of questions covering various Android related issues, I figured that I will make it a separate thread after all.
1. Sometime updating an Android version would also end up updating the bootloader, at time rendering it impossible to downgrade again. Can this also happen in custom ROM (e.g. Lineage). I am asking this because I am thinking of custom ROM with newer Android version on my Galaxy S7, but may want to revert to a relatively old Android 7.0 after I am done testing.
2. Do file systems (the way application, application data are stored in the system and other information) etc. tend to stay the same as stock for a given Android version? For example between stock Android 7.1 and Lineage 14.1.
3. Same question as question 2., but between major Android versions (e.g. stock 7.1 and stock 8.0).
4. On rooted devices, can you usually update major version update without losing any data, and is it usually trouble free?
Feel free to skip reading this part, but for some background information, the reason I am asking all those questions is because one of the app I tried to restore via Titanium Backup and Swift Backup both failed. The application itself launches properly, but as soon as I restore the data, it would instantly crash and close. My guess is that this is probably caused by attempt to go from Android 6.0 to 11.0. Maybe it is the backup software or maybe something changed in the way files are stored, but whatever the reason, it just won't work.
So I am thinking that my best option is to try it to restore it on an Android 7.0 phone that I have (also on the way to be retired, and if it works, update to Android 8.0. Since Android 8.0 was the last officially released major version for that phone, and I was thinking that if it does work, perhaps I could alternatively go for an early Lineage ROM, then make gradual updates up to Android 11.0 and see if it helps the app remain unbroken. And then if it does work, perhaps I could then make a backup then restore it on the other new Android 11.0 phone that I have.
All in all, it is a silly amount of work to do just for one app.. but it is important to me, so I will exhaust every option that I can think of to find a solution.
Thanks!