Develop Bugs

How does having the released mi5s kernel help in the camera department?

Hi.
I'm using EU MIUI 7.3.30 and it's not bad, but I would much prefer using a non-MIUI ROM such a LineageOS.
However, all the AOSP variants using the stock kernel (LOS,RR...) until now have had mediocre to faulty camera implementations and I've tested many camera apps at that - Piximod mark IV, stock LOS, stock RR, Google camera, a better camera, open camera, manual camera... None of them are able to hold a candle to the stock camera app under MIUI in terms of having everything (video,RAW,HDR,panorama...) working flawlessly under one app.
I'm not even sure if this will change now that we have the released kernel for the mi5s, so please help me understand the following:
1. Does having the released kernel potentially help in getting a better camera experience under LOS, RR or a similar ROM versus using the stock kernel from MIUI? How so?
2. Does having the released kernel potentially help in porting the stock MIUI camera app under LOS/RR?
3. Does having the released kernel potentially help in getting a *better* camera implementation than currently under stock camera app MIUI by better utilizing the camera2API (from my understanding the stock camera app in MIUI doesn't use V2 of the camera API)?
4. Does having the released kernel potentially allow one to port the Pixel camera app?
Thanks all

I think you should create this thread into the Question & Answer Section.
But for your question regarding the kernels and implementation for los / rr, yes indeed it'll help for dev to use new released kernel from xiaomi, since the kernel is made specifically for mi5s hardware optimization and function.
Yes and yes, the bottom line is the kernel will give us huge advantage rather than use stock kernel like we use right now if we use los / rr, for the camera of course there will be some improvements, not only the camera, fingerprint, ambient display, multi touch, etc will improve.

As far as I understand the source doesnt contain every information.
Open source sounds cool yeah. But take Amazons FireTV as an example. There is a source code available because of GPL, however they only share the source of the stuff they have to share and nothing else. So source doesnt mean, the source code of everything.
As a better example you can take the Google Pixel. You would expect that the VERY Android device itself should have source code of everything available. Like the Google Camera Software and algorithm that could be used for the Mi5S since both share the same Sony Sensor. Sounds awesome right? Sadly Google, doesn't share this particular piece of source code/drivers.
And when I talked with LuK about source, he was not very optimistic. It is because the Qualcomm Fingerprint reader is also closed. Which is why he said "Qfp will still be a mess"
So.. Long story short. It will still be a custom rom with its disadvantages. But I believe that it will contribute a lot in terms of stability. Phone calling , no force closes and sudden reboots.
I mean after all these years on xda , everyone should already got used to "everything works. Stable build. not working : camera etc"
This will not change I think. In fact it will get more complicated and the list of troublesome things will get longer as phones get more and more features with closed source. Fingerprint reader is such a thing for instance. and More advanced sensors in the future etc..
So there are two options:
1) Either you stick with your current phone and try to make it work and live with its downsides. Maybe after 3 to 5 years, almost everything will be supported or maybe not. Although by then the phone will most likely be obsolete and any 100$ phone will beat it.
Go back 5 years. Would you still bother with a Samsung Galaxy S2 or S3?
2) Just get a phone that has proper company support from the start and use the phone at its full potential right away. Like the Google Pixel. However it costs more. So you have to weigh the Pros and Cons. Do you want to spend more money or more time and headaches. Everyone has to make a decision there.
As for me: I know that I drop and break expensive stuff. So I buy cheap phones. xD

MIUI Pro Custom ROM

I was wondering if anyone has experience using the above custom ROM? The homepage is in Russian and I haven't been able to find out much more about it other than the fact that some people really seem to like it.
If anybody is running the ROM I would be interested in opinions. Is it worth flashing instead of using stock MIUI? Any problems using it in English or compatibility issues with US phone service?
I haven't unlocked my bootloader yet but have permission. I'm trying to figure out if there is a custom ROM worth flashing that offers some advantages over stock. My original plan was to flash LOS but some people seem to be experiencing bugs.
Any info on MIUI PRO (or even a different recommendation) would be appreciated.
I can't complain about performance on stock which is blazing fast but I do miss Google Smart Lock.

jhs39 said:
I was wondering if anyone has experience using the above custom ROM? The homepage is in Russian and I haven't been able to find out much more about it other than the fact that some people really seem to like it.
If anybody is running the ROM I would be interested in opinions. Is it worth flashing instead of using stock MIUI? Any problems using it in English or compatibility issues with US phone service?
I haven't unlocked my bootloader yet but have permission. I'm trying to figure out if there is a custom ROM worth flashing that offers some advantages over stock. My original plan was to flash LOS but some people seem to be experiencing bugs.
Any info on MIUI PRO (or even a different recommendation) would be appreciated.
I can't complain about performance on stock which is blazing fast but I do miss Google Smart Lock.
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Would actually also appreciate any information on this ROM. I have used LineageOS, MIUI Stable, Developer, Nightly Beta, EpicRom, RR but not this one solely because the site is Russian as you stated. Would love a bit more info...Figured I'd reply to this in hope to revive it.
As for LineageOS, you might as well try it out now. The third release (most recent one) has had a LOT of fixes and optimizations done to it.

I've been using it for more than one Xiaomi phone and I think it's a great rom. Very fast, smooth, without lag and with an excellent battery life. It also has a face unlock and other settings that you can't find in other roms...I try Epic Rom,Xiaomi Eu,Lineage...
I don't know about US phone service because I'm from Europe...not from Russia but I use Miui Pro without problems or fear also if they are from Russia
Try it:good:

3o3ulka76 said:
I've been using it for more than one Xiaomi phone and I think it's a great rom. Very fast, smooth, without lag and with an excellent battery life. It also has a face unlock and other settings that you can't find in other roms...I try Epic Rom,Xiaomi Eu,Lineage...
I don't know about US phone service because I'm from Europe...not from Russia but I use Miui Pro without problems or fear also if they are from Russia
Try it:good:
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Thanks! I shall look into it. What kind of modifications/differences are there compared to the stock MIUI?

For example you can encrease at 6 number of toggles... double tap where do you want to wake up or turn off the screen...choose the colour the battery when is 100% or 80%...etc

MIUI Pro has had very bad battery backup for me
I switched to Mi-Globe ROM

Kaji said:
Would actually also appreciate any information on this ROM. I have used LineageOS, MIUI Stable, Developer, Nightly Beta, EpicRom, RR but not this one solely because the site is Russian as you stated. Would love a bit more info...Figured I'd reply to this in hope to revive it.
As for LineageOS, you might as well try it out now. The third release (most recent one) has had a LOT of fixes and optimizations done to it.
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I tried LOS. I was excited at first to have stock Android back but then I experienced issues with poor call quality and my mobile data reception became erratic so I ended up going back to MIUI Global with the MI Flash tool and not paying close enough attention allowed it to lock my bootloader again.
My skepticism about MIUI PRO goes beyond the Russian website. There is no information about the ROM in English anywhere I could find. The only review on YouTube is in Hindi. None of the Xiaomi threads on XDA, Google+ or Reddit has information about the ROM. I know Xiaomi phones are primarily sold in China and India but that doesn't really explain why there seems to be no information anywhere about the ROM.
But the fact that the ROM is based in Russia does seriously concern me. I had an issue with Kaspersky Anti-virus (which used to be first rate) not flagging Russian malware on my computer. And that happened a full year before Russian hackers helped Trump become president. Using a Russian operating system on a phone just doesn't seem like the smartest idea.
If you try MIUI Pro post what you think of it.

jhs39 said:
I tried LOS. I was excited at first to have stock Android back but then I experienced issues with poor call quality and my mobile data reception became erratic so I ended up going back to MIUI Global with the MI Flash tool and not paying close enough attention allowed it to lock my bootloader again.
My skepticism about MIUI PRO goes beyond the Russian website. There is no information about the ROM in English anywhere I could find. The only review on YouTube is in Hindi. None of the Xiaomi threads on XDA, Google+ or Reddit has information about the ROM. I know Xiaomi phones are primarily sold in China and India but that doesn't really explain why there seems to be no information anywhere about the ROM.
But the fact that the ROM is based in Russia does seriously concern me. I had an issue with Kaspersky Anti-virus (which used to be first rate) not flagging Russian malware on my computer. And that happened a full year before Russian hackers helped Trump become president. Using a Russian operating system on a phone just doesn't seem like the smartest idea.
If you try MIUI Pro post what you think of it.
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Well said my friend, and kudos for using the flash tool....just feels so much more..genuine. Can't say I haven't accidentally locked my bootloader too but that's how we learn.
I found the LOS to be, well, an absolute stock experience. But like you and I'm sure many others, it just isn't at the point where it should be used as a daily driver. I'm currently running the 11th of May beta but honestly has more bugs than LOS at this stage so will be reverting back to the latest official developer ROM from the MIUI site (fastboot ver of course).
Gave this MIUIPro some extra thought and seeing as though it sounds very limited in extras (you can mod the number of toggles in the quick settings with packages already available on XDA if you wished to do so) I'll stick with builds straight from Xiaomi.
Sorry for the let down

Kaji said:
Well said my friend, and kudos for using the flash tool....just feels so much more..genuine. Can't say I haven't accidentally locked my bootloader too but that's how we learn.
I found the LOS to be, well, an absolute stock experience. But like you and I'm sure many others, it just isn't at the point where it should be used as a daily driver. I'm currently running the 11th of May beta but honestly has more bugs than LOS at this stage so will be reverting back to the latest official developer ROM from the MIUI site (fastboot ver of course).
Gave this MIUIPro some extra thought and seeing as though it sounds very limited in extras (you can mod the number of toggles in the quick settings with packages already available on XDA if you wished to do so) I'll stick with builds straight from Xiaomi.
Sorry for the let down
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I was thinking about trying the MIUI Developer ROM. Is it stable enough to use as a daily driver? I looked at posts about the beta but that seemed to be to buggy for me. I value stability since I'm using the Mi Mix 2 as my main phone. That wasn't my original plan but the signal reception is so superior to my Essential PH-1 I couldn't justify using it daily instead even though there are many things that I prefer about that phone.
Maybe LOS for this phone will get better eventually but that was what I kept telling myself when I had an OP5. I hated the stock OS but after trying every custom ROM that existed I found only 1 Nougat ROM (Viper) and 1 Oreo ROM (Phoenix) that I considered good enough to use as a daily driver. I'm not a programmer but I think the quality of custom ROMs has gone down the toilet because they are almost always being made now by people who don't use the phone as their daily driver. The only non-OOS ROM made by a developer who actually used the OP5 daily was Phoenix and you could tell the difference the developer actually using the phone made.
Cyanogenmod was the first custom ROM I ever used that always had bugs, probably because they were trying to be compatible with as many phones as possible. My experience with LOS on 2 previous phones has been exactly the same. I love that they are trying to bring stock Android to phones that don't have it but I wish they were doing a better job.

jhs39 said:
I was thinking about trying the MIUI Developer ROM. Is it stable enough to use as a daily driver? I looked at posts about the beta but that seemed to be to buggy for me. I value stability since I'm using the Mi Mix 2 as my main phone. That wasn't my original plan but the signal reception is so superior to my Essential PH-1 I couldn't justify using it daily instead even though there are many things that I prefer about that phone.
Maybe LOS for this phone will get better eventually but that was what I kept telling myself when I had an OP5. I hated the stock OS but after trying every custom ROM that existed I found only 1 Nougat ROM (Viper) and 1 Oreo ROM (Phoenix) that I considered good enough to use as a daily driver. I'm not a programmer but I think the quality of custom ROMs has gone down the toilet because they are almost always being made now by people who don't use the phone as their daily driver. The only non-OOS ROM made by a developer who actually used the OP5 daily was Phoenix and you could tell the difference the developer actually using the phone made.
Cyanogenmod was the first custom ROM I ever used that always had bugs, probably because they were trying to be compatible with as many phones as possible. My experience with LOS on 2 previous phones has been exactly the same. I love that they are trying to bring stock Android to phones that don't have it but I wish they were doing a better job.
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Hey man. I had been using Developer builds up until now and I can tell you they are easily stable enough for daily use. I cannot confirm this is 100% correct but I'm fairly sure Developer ROMs are just the in-between ROMs where all the minor adjustments happen. The change logs have all included things like "Improved system stability", "removed unnecessary files for [insert app here]" etc. So you never know, they could actually be more stable than any of the "Stable" releases you've used so far, you'll have to be the judge of that. I don't travel much, nor do I require any very advanced function of Android at this stage so for sure there could be something I've missed but I have never had a force shut-down, lack of signal, graphical bug or force-close of app with any of the developer builds.
I never owned a OP5 but I did have a OP3 and OP3t which I used FreedomOS on both but eventually came around to LineageOS only because they all seemed about as optimized as eachother. I'm all for custom MIUI ROMs if they are going to actually improve on something but at this stage all they do is debloat which can be done by anyone and add a few features which actually make the system less stable and battery hungry. My plan is to try the occasional Beta to see what new features Xiaomi is bringing to the table, stick with the latest developer the rest of the time, and when they finally make a stable I'm happy with then stick with that until the next wave of software upgrades is due.
How is the Essential by the way? Apart from the signal. Never met anyone who owned one.

Kaji said:
Hey man. I had been using Developer builds up until now and I can tell you they are easily stable enough for daily use. I cannot confirm this is 100% correct but I'm fairly sure Developer ROMs are just the in-between ROMs where all the minor adjustments happen. The change logs have all included things like "Improved system stability", "removed unnecessary files for [insert app here]" etc. So you never know, they could actually be more stable than any of the "Stable" releases you've used so far, you'll have to be the judge of that. I don't travel much, nor do I require any very advanced function of Android at this stage so for sure there could be something I've missed but I have never had a force shut-down, lack of signal, graphical bug or force-close of app with any of the developer builds.
I never owned a OP5 but I did have a OP3 and OP3t which I used FreedomOS on both but eventually came around to LineageOS only because they all seemed about as optimized as eachother. I'm all for custom MIUI ROMs if they are going to actually improve on something but at this stage all they do is debloat which can be done by anyone and add a few features which actually make the system less stable and battery hungry. My plan is to try the occasional Beta to see what new features Xiaomi is bringing to the table, stick with the latest developer the rest of the time, and when they finally make a stable I'm happy with then stick with that until the next wave of software upgrades is due.
How is the Essential by the way? Apart from the signal. Never met anyone who owned one.
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It's a nice looking phone. Great build quality and excellent QHD screen. It's smaller than other phones I've owned over the past 5 years bit doesn't feel like a small screen phone because of the high screen to body ratio. It's much more comfortable to handle than the Mi Mix 2 although I'm getting used to this one. It's not as smooth or snappy as the Mix 2. But the weak signal reception is a big problem. I used it on T-Mobile (erratic signal), AT&T (poor signal), Sprint (poor signal) and Verizon (very good signal). Unfortunately Verizon's MVNO (Straight Talk) is way more expensive than the ones available for T-Mobile so it made more sense to use a different phone than pay a higher cell service bill every month just so I could keep using the Essential. I should have returned it for a refund but fell in love with it which was why I tried every network. I'm just using it as a backup with very cheap T-Mobile. The signal at home is crap but since WiFi calling works it doesn't matter.
Maybe I'll try the dev ROM then. Thanks for the info.

Kaji said:
Hey man. I had been using Developer builds up until now and I can tell you they are easily stable enough for daily use. I cannot confirm this is 100% correct but I'm fairly sure Developer ROMs are just the in-between ROMs where all the minor adjustments happen. The change logs have all included things like "Improved system stability", "removed unnecessary files for [insert app here]" etc. So you never know, they could actually be more stable than any of the "Stable" releases you've used so far, you'll have to be the judge of that. I don't travel much, nor do I require any very advanced function of Android at this stage so for sure there could be something I've missed but I have never had a force shut-down, lack of signal, graphical bug or force-close of app with any of the developer builds.
I never owned a OP5 but I did have a OP3 and OP3t which I used FreedomOS on both but eventually came around to LineageOS only because they all seemed about as optimized as eachother. I'm all for custom MIUI ROMs if they are going to actually improve on something but at this stage all they do is debloat which can be done by anyone and add a few features which actually make the system less stable and battery hungry. My plan is to try the occasional Beta to see what new features Xiaomi is bringing to the table, stick with the latest developer the rest of the time, and when they finally make a stable I'm happy with then stick with that until the next wave of software upgrades is due.
How is the Essential by the way? Apart from the signal. Never met anyone who owned one.
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Programming on OnePlus phones has gotten way worse since the OP3/3T days. Oxygen was programmed by a team in Europe back then. But to save money OnePlus fired the European programmers and transferred the ROM to the Hydrogen team in China. That's when the coding started to go completely to hell.
Software engineers in China and India analyzed the OnePlus version of Oreo and reported that a lot of the code was actually Nougat. They also said the coding overall was very sloppy and unprofessional.
If you follow software devs on their Telegram channels (outside of XDA) it doesn't take long to discover that the poor programming on OnePlus phones is a running joke with many of them.
Running a custom ROM doesn't completely fix the problem either because the custom ROMs still need to use OnePlus firmware which is a mess.
OnePlus phones are so poorly programmed there is no way to use TWRP safely unless you decrypt the data on your phone and keep it permanently decrypted.

jhs39 said:
Programming on OnePlus phones has gotten way worse since the OP3/3T days. Oxygen was programmed by a team in Europe back then. But to save money OnePlus fired the European programmers and transferred the ROM to the Hydrogen team in China. That's when the coding started to go completely to hell.
Software engineers in China and India analyzed the OnePlus version of Oreo and reported that a lot of the code was actually Nougat. They also said the coding overall was very sloppy and unprofessional.
If you follow software devs on their Telegram channels (outside of XDA) it doesn't take long to discover that the poor programming on OnePlus phones is a running joke with many of them.
Running a custom ROM doesn't completely fix the problem either because the custom ROMs still need to use OnePlus firmware which is a mess.
OnePlus phones are so poorly programmed there is no way to use TWRP safely unless you decrypt the data on your phone and keep it permanently decrypted.
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You make me really appreciate the fact I chose my Mi Mix 2 over the OnePlus 5t. Coming from the OnePlus 3T it was a difficult decision but I'm glad I made the switch.
Honestly this is the first I've heard of this but that's so bad, they are becoming one of the most popular high end smartphone manufacturers and they struggle to make solid, secure advancements in their software which can potentially lead to massive breaches of privacy via exploits.
Actually I remember not too long ago, wasn't there a big issue where users could access root from within the hidden developer settings of the OS? Without even an unlocked bootloader.
Gotta love that this is an entirely different topic from what this thread was made for.

Kaji said:
You make me really appreciate the fact I chose my Mi Mix 2 over the OnePlus 5t. Coming from the OnePlus 3T it was a difficult decision but I'm glad I made the switch.
Honestly this is the first I've heard of this but that's so bad, they are becoming one of the most popular high end smartphone manufacturers and they struggle to make solid, secure advancements in their software which can potentially lead to massive breaches of privacy via exploits.
Actually I remember not too long ago, wasn't there a big issue where users could access root from within the hidden developer settings of the OS? Without even an unlocked bootloader.
Gotta love that this is an entirely different topic from what this thread was made for.
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For whatever reason tech sites in the United States allow themselves to be shills for OnePlus. Reviews for the latest OnePlus device frequently sound more like shameless promotion than honest analysis because they often are. OnePlus solicits reviews in exchange for free phones and places the reviews on accommodating tech sites. I received an invitation to apply for a free OnePlus 6 phone and help to influence tech buyers. To apply OnePlus wanted a full length sample review of a tech product I already owned. The people who submit the most professional sounding reviews get the free phones and send their reviews to OnePlus. OnePlus then cherry picks those submissions and publishes the reviews it likes on various tech sites.
Pretty much the only two places you can get accurate information about OnePlus phones is on Telegram and Reddit.
Here's what happened with spyware in the 8 months I had an OP5. Someone discovered that a system process in Oxygen was secretly transmitting a lot of detailed user information to servers in China. This was separate from the User Experience Program that owners could opt out of.
An explanation of how to disable the spyware process was published and when asked to comment OnePlus promised to remove the spyware.
Nothing was done at all until the next scheduled monthly update. It appeared that OnePlus removed the spyware but it was discovered that OnePlus instead changed the name of the spyware process and that it was still transmitting the same user information to servers in China.
OnePlus apologized again but still left the spyware functioning until the next scheduled monthly update.
Shortly after it was discovered that an app in Oxygen allowed anyone with physical access to a OnePlus phone to unlock and root it by connecting it to a computer. OnePlus claimed that it was a Qualcomm test app that had been accidentally left on the phone. There actually was such an app but when Qualcomm examined the app found on OnePlus phones they said it definitely wasn't theirs.
It took OnePlus two months to remove the app from Oxygen.
Then in December a new type of spyware was discovered in an Oxygen beta build for the OP3/3T--a clipboard app that was transmitting contents to a server in China. OnePlus insisted that the clipboard app wasn't spyware but was actually a feature intended for its Chinese customers even though OnePlus sells virtually no phones in China.
Also in mid November OnePlus started to receive reports that customers who used their credit cards to make purchases on the official OnePlus site were seeing unidentified charges on their accounts. OnePlus didn't shut down credit card processing on its website until January. By that time over 40,000 OnePlus customers had their credit card information stolen.
OnePlus is not a good company so the fact that American tech sites continue to shill for them is nauseating.
I'm definitely much happier with my Mix 2 than I was with the OP5. This isn't a perfect phone but it's very good for the cost. The OP5 had crummy build quality and felt like cheap junk.

I tried MIUI Pro for a couple days. I wasn't all that impressed with it. MIUI Pro is less smooth and fluid than the latest official Global Dev Build despite having almost all of the Xiaomi MIUI apps removed.
The default keyboard is from Sony Experia for some reason. The only added feature than I personally found worthwhile was the expanded boot menu.
These are the other differences I noticed:
1) There is a smart network function that allows you to choose a specific type of network connectivity when making or receiving phone calls. You can have the phone switch to a specific network type and also automatically shut off WiFi, data or Bluetooth when on a call.
2) Menu options to change the system font and animations and their speed.
3) Built in charging alarm that would have been way more useful if you could customize the low charge/full charge values.
4) Option to use LTE instead of 4G in status bar as well as more options to disable/enable icons that appear there.
5) Three status bar settings (stock, aosp & IOS) that sound promising but all they did was change the arrangement of the status bar icons.
I'm sure there's more I'm forgetting. The Google Play Store comes pre-installed but nothing else--not even the Google app. That makes setting up Google Assistant with voice commands much more of a hassle but it's doable--the menus to make that happen in MIUI Pro aren't intuitive but that's probably because it's based on the China ROM.
It's also more of a hassle to get Google apps working properly in MIUI Pro compared with Official Global because you need to download everything from the Play Store and also manually grant the permissions for each app.
Since there are very few pre-installed apps you do have more free storage but I expected the ROM to be way faster and smoother since it's so stripped down. Performance of the ROM definitely isn't bad but for some reason it's inferior to stock.
Even though I chose English as the install language a couple of notifications came up in Russian. What they said I don't know.
I also don't know if any spyware or malware was written into the OS.
I missed stock after using MIUI Pro for just a few hours but ran it for 2 days anyway to give the ROM a fair chance.
I could see someone running MIUI Pro on a device where there was no official global ROM but it didn't do much for me.

Preinstalled 3rd-party apps in XA2 stock ROM (POS: Europe)?

Currently debating whether to include the XA2 in my list for a phone replacement, and I'd like to use the XA2 vendor support / OTA updates for as long as possible before hopping on the LineageOS release train. A requirement for that would be that the stock ROM is clean.
I'm fine with native Xperia apps (whatever they are). My issue is with stuff that has nothing to do either Google or Sony, like Facebook, Whatsapp, whatever else's hot these days.
The Sony forum has some posts saying that the XA2 may come with crap like Facebook preinstalled with such apps being un-uninstallable, only disableable, but also that the set of preloaded apps may vary by market. The GSMarena review and e.g. Techrador has some screenshots showing Facebook and Amazon preinstalled, or say that stuff like antivirus software may come preloaded.
Could an European buyer confirm what the situation is like with phones sold in Europe, specifically Germany if possible? Could such apps be installed using a shell via adb?
Much obliged.

aeolist said:
Currently debating whether to include the XA2 in my list for a phone replacement, and I'd like to use the XA2 vendor support / OTA updates for as long as possible before hopping on the LineageOS release train. A requirement for that would be that the stock ROM is clean.
I'm fine with native Xperia apps (whatever they are). My issue is with stuff that has nothing to do either Google or Sony, like Facebook, Whatsapp, whatever else's hot these days.
The Sony forum has some posts saying that the XA2 may come with crap like Facebook preinstalled with such apps being un-uninstallable, only disableable, but also that the set of preloaded apps may vary by market. The GSMarena review and e.g. Techrador has some screenshots showing Facebook and Amazon preinstalled, or say that stuff like antivirus software may come preloaded.
Could an European buyer confirm what the situation is like with phones sold in Europe, specifically Germany if possible? Could such apps be installed using a shell via adb?
Much obliged.
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Hi aeolist
I brought my Sony Xperia XA2 in UK.
My experience of Stock Sony ROM is that it has even more Facebook apps installed then in my last Sony phone (Sony Xperia M2 also from UK), some twitter related apps are installed, Kobo e reader is installed, Amazon app is installed, AVG is installed and there are some other non Google/Sony apps installed and they are installed as system apps.
Also Sony does have some ads in software updates app updates section, where they display non Google/Sony apps for you download and install.
You can disable these apps through ADB commands but not uninstall them.
Sent from my Sony Xperia XA2 using XDA Labs

sieghartRM said:
Hi aeolist
I brought my Sony Xperia XA2 in UK.
My experience of Stock Sony ROM is that it has even more Facebook apps installed then in my last Sony phone (Sony Xperia M2 also from UK), some twitter related apps are installed, Kobo e reader is installed, Amazon app is installed, AVG is installed and there are some other non Google/Sony apps installed and they are installed as system apps.
Also Sony does have some ads in software updates app updates section, where they display non Google/Sony apps for you download and install.
You can disable these apps through ADB commands but not uninstall them.
Sent from my Sony Xperia XA2 using XDA Labs
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Thank you for replying.
This is disappointing to hear.
It seems the Android OEM ROM situation is only getting worse rather than better since 2013 (year of my last buy). The situation is similar to the XZ1C about which I asked elsewhere. Looks like iOS is the only way to get an acceptable default smartphone software package these days without tinkering.

Agreed, the stock ROM is absolutely ****, at least here in Germany.
The original ROM comes with a lot of bloat like a trial version of AVG that is installed as a system app and cannot be removed. It also automatically downloads 10 new apps after the first boot. Some kind of movie maker and different things I don't need. Facebook shouldn't even be mentioned, since everyone these days seems to preload this junk (FaceSlim is much better and smaller if you really need that service).
If you buy it from Telekom, it gets even worse. They put some of their own pink apps on top and get on your nerves with ads in the notification bar for things like answering machines etc.
The device is absolutely wonderful with LineageOS, though! So if you're willing to lose the warranty and unlock it to get a better operating system - just do it.
You can also root the stock ROM with Xperifix and really uninstall everything you don't need afterwards:
https://www.xperifix.com/
Looks like iOS is the only way to get an acceptable default smartphone software package these days without tinkering.
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Maybe. But Apple forces you into their ecosystem and prevents useful features like system-wide ad blocking, receival of MP3's from your friends or just using your phone as a USB drive.
It's overpriced hardware with a massive vendor lock-in, I would never buy one of those expensive fruit phones.

sieghartRM said:
It's overpriced hardware with a massive vendor lock-in, I would never buy one of those expensive fruit phones.
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Click to collapse
Thank you for your comment.
This is less of an issue if they support the hardware for 6 years with software. Though if it's Apple, from reading around, there's always the question whether those fancy phones will survive 6 years anyway…phone price of 600€ / 5 would come out to 120€ per year and 10€ per month of "phone cost" though, which looks acceptable.
I've just found out that the Google Pixel 1 XL is available for about ~273€ while the XA2 is 264€ though. With the Pixel being on P already and getting official security patches till October 2019, and with LineageOS 15 being available for this device too, I'll probably order the Pixel 1. I'll spend one more evening on researching possible caveats, but hopefully that concludes my phone search.

aeolist said:
Thank you for your comment.
This is less of an issue if they support the hardware for 6 years with software. Though if it's Apple, from reading around, there's always the question whether those fancy phones will survive 6 years anyway…phone price of 600€ / 5 would come out to 120€ per year and 10€ per month of "phone cost" though, which looks acceptable.
I've just found out that the Google Pixel 1 XL is available for about ~273€ while the XA2 is 264€ though. With the Pixel being on P already and getting official security patches till October 2019, and with LineageOS 15 being available for this device too, I'll probably order the Pixel 1. I'll spend one more evening on researching possible caveats, but hopefully that concludes my phone search.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you haven't already ordered the pixel, I thought I'd drop my two cents in and say that the xa2 is a very nice phone. Great size and battery. Granted I got it on a flash sale for the equivalent of EUR 200 (normal price is about 340 in my region), but still.
Since you're asking about OS features, YSK that SailfishOS is slated for an official release on the xa2 later this year, if that's of interest. This is the reason I got this device. In the meantime, LOS 15.1 is running quite smoothly and the dev has started work on 16.1 too.

Just to conclude this thread:
Because of seemingly more frequent issues with Pixel 1 hardware lately, Apple iOS 11 battery woes, and DRM tomfoolery with the XZ1C and so on, I went with the XA2 after all since the price went down to 230€ making it the 'best value and lowest risk'' option overall and because LineageOS is going to offer some safe heaven sort of OS where I can expect things to work like I want and like they have for me for the past few years.
Thanks for the input.

Terrible experience with treble on multiple devices...

I miss the old days of Android, specifically the galaxy S3 days. A major update to Android would be released and there would be countless roms that work with no issue on the device. I haven't had that experience in a long time. I thought that treble would bring that back (and even make it better), but that's certainly not the case. With every device needing a modified vendor image, treble doesn't circumvent the issue that when developers either don't exist for a device or leave a device, that device will be left in the dust at some point. The devices I used with treble either a. will have issues with sensors, vibrations, etc. or b. just don't boot. It seem like treble will work fine up the point where a manufacturer stops updating the device, so that the official drivers, etc. are available for that version treble. But as soon as the developer stops updating, and you want to use the next iteration of Android though treble, it won't work unless some dev puts in in work and makes it compatible. Otherwise, you're just left with treble roms at the same Android version where the manufacturer stopped updating at. Sure, you'll get security updates, but that is not good enough for me. I want a device to give me android updates for years.
Basically, I'm just venting about how disappointing this all is. Is there anything on the horizon to make any of this better?

Does anyone use this OS as their daily driver? What are your experiences and thoughts with the OS?

My Samsung A3 is almost 5 years old and I still use it as my daily driver, I'm thinking about flashing Lineage OS to the device and I'm wondering what anybody's experiences were with using the OS as their daily driver. I will use it mostly for calling, texting and journaling. I also listen to music quite frequently. I don't intend on installing any of the popular apps.

I've been using LineageOS and Cyanogenmod forever. It works wonderfully and I do anything I can with the stock OS and more.

I run LineageOS on my Samsung Galaxy S5 Duos and use it as my daily driver. It's running Lineage 17.1 which is Android 10 (18.1/11 has just become available too) - not bad for a phone launched in February 2014, which is now over 7 years ago!
If it wasn't for this phone only having 2GB of RAM onboard a lay person probably wouldn't notice much difference compared to a more modern mid range phone.
With LineageOS there's a lot less bloat so Storage, RAM, CPU Performance, and Battery Life are all improved.
I went the whole way and the phone is rooted as well and to be honest I wouldn't look back. I bought this phone all those years ago specifically to do this and it's really paid off.
But remember the LineageOS ROMs are specific for each phone. So the first thing to do is to find the support thread here for your particular model and read through it for points relative to your specific device.
I really like the freedom that LineageOS and Root gives me to do whatever I like with my phone, all while getting monthly updates and having a support thread of like minded users (well actually many of them are way more power users than me). Daily driver performance is excellent.
When I buy a new phone it will again be a model that can run LineageOS and be rooted. And I'll do this immediately after purchasing the device. These days that also makes some chinese model phones a good option as they often have a good hardware to price value ratio, but terrible support and updates. So it's possible to use this good value hardware but combined with an excellent LineageOS ROM, support, and updates instead.
Hope that helps

eu7tFeTyT7vfPy said:
My Samsung A3 is almost 5 years old and I still use it as my daily driver, I'm thinking about flashing Lineage OS to the device and I'm wondering what anybody's experiences were with using the OS as their daily driver. I will use it mostly for calling, texting and journaling. I also listen to music quite frequently. I don't intend on installing any of the popular apps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's OK if you have A3 2016. But what's your motivation? Playing around? Avoiding Google spying? Impressing friends with new android version?

kurtn said:
It's OK if you have A3 2016. But what's your motivation? Playing around? Avoiding Google spying? Impressing friends with new android version?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Avoiding google spying No friends to impress lol!

jmh2002 said:
I run LineageOS on my Samsung Galaxy S5 Duos and use it as my daily driver. It's running Lineage 17.1 which is Android 10 (18.1/11 has just become available too) - not bad for a phone launched in February 2014, which is now over 7 years ago!
If it wasn't for this phone only having 2GB of RAM onboard a lay person probably wouldn't notice much difference compared to a more modern mid range phone.
With LineageOS there's a lot less bloat so Storage, RAM, CPU Performance, and Battery Life are all improved.
I went the whole way and the phone is rooted as well and to be honest I wouldn't look back. I bought this phone all those years ago specifically to do this and it's really paid off.
But remember the LineageOS ROMs are specific for each phone. So the first thing to do is to find the support thread here for your particular model and read through it for points relative to your specific device.
I really like the freedom that LineageOS and Root gives me to do whatever I like with my phone, all while getting monthly updates and having a support thread of like minded users (well actually many of them are way more power users than me). Daily driver performance is excellent.
When I buy a new phone it will again be a model that can run LineageOS and be rooted. And I'll do this immediately after purchasing the device. These days that also makes some chinese model phones a good option as they often have a good hardware to price value ratio, but terrible support and updates. So it's possible to use this good value hardware but combined with an excellent LineageOS ROM, support, and updates instead.
Hope that helps
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for the detailed response, and for reminding me to check the support thread for my model! I also noticed that the less popular Chinese model phones had better price to hardware ratios and the only thing stopping me was exactly what you mentioned, though I'm doing this to an A3 I'll probably consider buying something of the sort in the future for when I want an upgrade. From your response, Lineage is looking hopeful!