New android for old mobile
Installing /e/os on my old Samsung S7 Edge.
Short Story
How to install /e/foundation android on Samsung S7. Tools:
- Samsung S7 Edge (old device)
- Nexus 5 (even older device)
- Laptop (Linux Mint 20.2) (some computer with only OS making sense)
Install the new android on your older mobile (here: Nexus 5) and make it production ready: 2FA apps, banking, contacts, messenger. Install now the newer mobile (here: Samsung S7 Edge). Afterwards, install apps on S7 as you had previously learned from your Nexus 5. Use Nexus 5 and your email account to authenticate apps and service accounts on S7.
Long Story: Motivation
I hate buying phones. It’s like buying a gaming PC in the 90s. It will work ok-ish for the current season, but will cripple in performance within 2 years. With mobile phones it is even worse. Even when you “just want to do a little internet”, it would probably handle the internet 10 years in the future, but most vendors won’t publish software updates after a few quarters.
So my motivation purchasing a mobile is pretty low. I probably want one of the better ones, which will fail and deteriorate after 2 years, forcing me to buy a new one. And there is so much choice of almost the same, that I constantly suspect making the wrong decision.
And climate wise? I am generation Y, planted trees after forest fires in my youth, learned to identify edible plants in city parks. Being responsible for exploiting more resources although my technically-good-enough-mobile should still be usable, screams “WAAAAAASTE!!!” in head.
And economy wise? We are in a surreal crisis. Although life goes on almost as normal, pandemics and wars let to failing supply chains and lack of resources. Chips are rare and expensive. Try to find a Raspberry Pi to purchase. Good luck! And make sure you sit when you find one, because the prices for those little awesome DIY computers are enormous. I already think about selling my unused Raspi 4 and bet on buying 2 or 3 new ones once everything is “back to normal” (as if). So, when resources and production do not meet global demand: how good can a new phone really be. It probably is only a compromise of the resources available, charging me the price of a premium product.
I have a Samsung S7 Edge. Yes. From 2016. It was a present from people who do buy a new mobile every 2 years. The phone is ok, but annoyed me since a long time for not receiving updates anymore and running only Android 8. Recently, websites were mocking me, my operating system would be too old. Although, I don’t see how a website would be affected by my OS. Maybe, they want to trick me in to buying a new phone.
But no! I decided to go for an alternate android from /e/foundation. According to the list of devices, my Samsung S7 Edge would run on Android 10, which still might get updates. What hold me back for a long time was porting critical apps like 2FA, banking or messengers.
First: test on even older mobile
I tested /e/foundation first on my old Nexus 5 which ran on an very old version of MaruOS (Android + Linux desktop). That was the phone I dumped for the S7, because I went to a conference in 2018 and needed a better camera.
Installation was not trivial, but when I read every step in the manual carefully and did not try to jump ahead, it worked flawlessly. The operating system works smoothly, although Nexus 5 can only run Android 7. It comes with MicroG, which encapsulates Google sniffing backdoors and provides you a weird mix of a free degoogled experience, but with all apps you are used to.
From the app store, I experimented with porting the 2FA, banking, messenger apps and contacts from S7 to Nexus 5. Once that worked, I had a backup phone that I could use, in case anything catastrophic would happen to my S7.
Second: Install on S7 Edge
To my surprise, /e/foundation offers an “easy installer” for few devices — including Samsung S7 Edge. And unexpected challenge was installing snapd on Linux Mint, since installing it is disabled by default. Once I had installed the easy-installer with snapd I could run a wizard. Again, the hardest part was to read and acknowledge each an every single step and not jump ahead.
Setting up S7 Edge
For each and everything you require authentication from a second device. Porting 2FA and banking require a second device for authentication. Messengers require some data and proof that it is me — which I all had on my backup phone, Nexus 5. I knew that, so every time the old phone saved me, I was proud about my foresight.
What I had not foreseen was Google’s safety net. Since Google is encapsulated in MicroG I was required to authenticate mutiple times: for the app store, for my google account, for google drive, contacts, fotos etc. And google sent the authentication requrest to all android devices it knew — which were now degoogled! Luckily, I still have a very very old Lenovo tablet. Yoga 2, which has a projector for kids bed time stories, but really not enough hardware for the internet. But it has original android and does receive my authentication requests. I later found out, that I could also have authenticated via e-mail. Anyway: expect Google to call home when you log-in from a new device.
Experience: First day 24 hours
Its smooth, its slick, it feels good. I am glad I got rid of all the bloatware that annoyed me since I got my hands on a Samsung phone. But I also realize that Samsung did do some nice tweaks on the home screens. Integrating widgets, having several layers for primary and all apps. /e/foundation has one screen for widgets and then normal screen for the rest. But since I never got my widget screens under control anyway, I am fine with the simplistic approach. Still: I expected a more modern OS, and got one — that looks older than the bloated one I had before.
The most annoying issue is connection to me Bluetooth headset. Only the first app playing audio streams audio to my headset. When I, for example, decide to switch from Spotify to Youtube audio is muted or not played. I do not know, the volume is, but I do not hear anything. Only after reconnecting the device, I can enjoy audio.
Slightly annoying are In-App purchases. Purchased apps are working great. They show the price, even when I already bought them in the official play store. But when I “buy them again”, they are just installed without charging me. Great. What isn’t great is that some of my apps require In-App purchase and that does not work. The buttons for “purchase” simply do not respond. But I assume they can be fixed somehow. I guess, with the degoogeling there is some magic required to in-app-purchase something from the play store.
Summary
I am happy. Yes, the bluetooth audio is annoying and it will drive me mad at my next business trip, when I need to use wires. I can live without In-App purchases,
The very few disadvantages I consider to be the burden I have to carry if I do want to use my 6 year old smartphone a little longer. Now I have a more modern operating system, that still receives updates and patches. And on top, I got rid of many apps, that I did not use that often and forgot what they were, so I cannot re-install them. Except one that I remember: I did not install Whatsapp! I realized I haven’t used it in months, so let’s see!
And most of all: I did not buy a new phone which is the most effective act you can do economically and ecologically.
