Question Privacy-Oriented Custom ROM Recommendations - Redmi Note 11S 4G / POCO M4 Pro 4G (fleur)

Hi everyone,
let me preface this with saying that I have searched for similar threads to avoid redundant threads, and I didn't find anything similar to this. I apologize in case I somehow missed it and am accidentally making a duplicate thread. That said, let's continue.
I recently got a Xiaomi Redmi Note 11S. I really love the hardware - it's pretty good for its price; the battery capacity is high, I like the 90Hz refresh rate and the AMOLED screen, decent storage capacity, and the 33W fast charging is really cool too.
The software, however, is another story. Firstly, there is a lot of bloatware. Various stores, games, etc. that I never asked for. And even worse, secondly, on every corner there is a privacy violation. Every time I clicked on a different app, I needed to accept a different user agreement, privacy policy, or something similar. The camera app literally requires an internet connection and yet another ToS agreement to use. And I've looked into such an agreement to see what they do, and apparently they reserve the right to look at your screen's displayed contents. What. The. F-
I would really like to use this device as it is an upgrade over my current phone, but man, I'm not using it with the default software. For this reason I came here to ask about which custom ROMs are good for my purposes. I would like something that has few invasive features and other spyware, and is also relatively open for customization and such as I like to be in control of the hardware I own.
Thanks in advance for any replies.

I have yet to find a device specific ROM for this phone. Apparently they're hard to develop because the chip manufacturer (Mediatek) doesn't release their source code? You could try a GSI but that's beyond my skillset.
To make me feel a bit better about my privacy I've used Debloater to uninstall the bloat that I don't want on the phone at all. I then use AFWall+ to block the apps that I want to use but don't trust from accessing the internet.
Note that this requires rooting your phone, but that's straightforward these days.

Hi, thanks for the reply.
I'm new to the community. Could you please explain me what a GSI is?
Those things sound like a good idea for the time being. I'll look into them when I have more time. As for rooting, I'm sure there's countless of guides out there. If you know a good one I'd appreciate it, but I'm sure that out of everything, this is the one thing I'll easily manage myself.
Though while this is a good temporary solution, I still feel uneasy about it as it's not necessarily specific apps, but the OS itself that does the spying, so I think I'll wait and see if someone else replies with more suggestions. Perhaps someone in this forum is some kind of custom ROM genius. Despite that, I really appreciate your reply and not getting judged for being new. Have a nice day/evening/morning (depending on your time zone).

A GSI is a Generic System Image - basically it's a ROM that isn't tailored to a specific device, but will broadly work on any device. However this means that it's likely to be a little bit buggy on most devices. I don't know much about GSIs, but I'm sure there are threads on here.
I believe that the only Android 11 GSI that is still maintained is the Google GSI. You'd want the aosp_arm64_ab build for this device I think. I have no idea how well this would work, I don't even know how you'd flash it!
This is my guide for rooting this phone, it's pretty straightforward I think, once you've got the bootloader unlocked.
Root POCO M4 Pro 4G (fleur) using Magisk
Rooting the POCO M4 Pro 4G (fleur) turned out to be quite straightforward. Note, I have a 2201117PG (EEA), you may have a different experience, it's not my fault if you brick your phone etc. Backup before you start as this will wipe your phone...
forum.xda-developers.com

Well, if - as it seems - the device support GSI builds, you can go with \e\ (aka deGoogled-Lineage):
Topics tagged gsi
Topics tagged gsi
community.e.foundation

No custom rom due to mediatek chipset , should have bought snapdragon device

Aj_$tyle$ said:
No custom rom due to mediatek chipset , should have bought snapdragon device
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
BTW Generic System Images works on *any* treble-compatible (= Android 8+) SoC...

forart.eu said:
BTW Generic System Images works on *any* treble-compatible (= Android 8+) SoC...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
GSI has bugs in poco m4 pro

Aj_$tyle$ said:
GSI has bugs in poco m4 pro
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What bug?

Aj_$tyle$ said:
GSI has bugs in poco m4 pro
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Please report @ \e\ community then:
GSI
Find details about the work done and progress made on Generic System Image (GSI) for /e/ in this section.
community.e.foundation

Gliese 832 c said:
Hi everyone,
let me preface this with saying that I have searched for similar threads to avoid redundant threads, and I didn't find anything similar to this. I apologize in case I somehow missed it and am accidentally making a duplicate thread. That said, let's continue.
I recently got a Xiaomi Redmi Note 11S. I really love the hardware - it's pretty good for its price; the battery capacity is high, I like the 90Hz refresh rate and the AMOLED screen, decent storage capacity, and the 33W fast charging is really cool too.
The software, however, is another story. Firstly, there is a lot of bloatware. Various stores, games, etc. that I never asked for. And even worse, secondly, on every corner there is a privacy violation. Every time I clicked on a different app, I needed to accept a different user agreement, privacy policy, or something similar. The camera app literally requires an internet connection and yet another ToS agreement to use. And I've looked into such an agreement to see what they do, and apparently they reserve the right to look at your screen's displayed contents. What. The. F-
I would really like to use this device as it is an upgrade over my current phone, but man, I'm not using it with the default software. For this reason I came here to ask about which custom ROMs are good for my purposes. I would like something that has few invasive features and other spyware, and is also relatively open for customization and such as I like to be in control of the hardware I own.
Thanks in advance for any replies.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The most privacy friendly rom is GrapheneOS but it only supports Pixel devices sadly.

Related

Community development strength

You're a power user. Can the honor 5X keep up? Rate this thread to express how "healthy" the development scene is for the honor 5X. A higher rating indicates available root methods, kernels, and custom ROMs.
Then, drop a comment if you have anything to add!
Hoping for more love to be given to this KIWI devices
How can there be any development for Android 6.0 without the gorram Sources and Binaries. Honor is still holding out, saying they need to beta-test their proprietary ****e. Somehow I kind of doubt that we'll see official Marshmallow/EMUI4.0 before the friggin' year is up.
jadephyre said:
How can there be any development for Android 6.0 without the gorram Sources and Binaries. Honor is still holding out, saying they need to beta-test their proprietary ****e. Somehow I kind of doubt that we'll see official Marshmallow/EMUI4.0 before the friggin' year is up.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am a beta tester and I would guess another month or so. Software is pretty close. So patience, they aren't holding out. They have actually been very forthcoming and helpful to folks here at XDA.
I hope someone with knowledge about kernels would step up and create a custom kernel so that we can overclock and optimize.
Developement is below average. To compare, my HTC HD2 had excellent custom roms available, my Samsung Galaxy Note I had a fair ammount of roms available with most functionality working properly. The Honor 5X currently has no rom with all the basic hardware working (mainly the fingerprint reader). Whatever the reason is, I can say that currently you should not buy this device if you want a custom rom as your daily driver.
Check the custom roms section if you want to see the recent developements. Check out the CyanogenMod roms, since all the others are based upon that AFAIK. If there is still stuff listed as not working (hardware) then wait a little longer or go for another device if you want to have custom roms.
Do not agree with KoeWaffle at all, with exception of fingerprint. Good choice of main custom roms, does not matter if cm based, that can be used as daily drivers... way better than stock!
Sent from my KIW-L21 using Tapatalk
nrpetonr said:
Do not agree with KoeWaffle at all, with exception of fingerprint. Good choice of main custom roms, does not matter if cm based, that can be used as daily drivers... way better than stock!
Sent from my KIW-L21 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
All current custom roms are CM based. There is pretty much 1 custom rom with many variations available. The device has been out for less than half a year, so it is really not a surprise nor an attack to this community.
This phone offers a slick design and a fingerpint sensor as major selling points. One of it is not working. How does it offer more than a similar phone from another brand then? Despite what others may think of it, I personally really like the fingerprint sensor and do not want to sacrifice it for a more vanilla experience (plenty of other phones offering that from the get go at a lower price). People should just be mindful of it. If they want a different software experience with the samd phone it is just not ready yet...
KoeWaffle said:
All current custom roms are CM based. There is pretty much 1 custom rom with many variations available. The device has been out for less than half a year, so it is really not a surprise nor an attack to this community.
This phone offers a slick design and a fingerpint sensor as major selling points. One of it is not working. How does it offer more than a similar phone from another brand then? Despite what others may think of it, I personally really like the fingerprint sensor and do not want to sacrifice it for a more vanilla experience (plenty of other phones offering that from the get go at a lower price). People should just be mindful of it. If they want a different software experience with the samd phone it is just not ready yet...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I for one wouldn't say development is "below average". What would you consider average, for starters? The 5X was, as you said, released quite recently, and we already have bootloader unlocking, TWRP, and root access available as additional options here in the forums, not to mention a (small, ok, but still) number of different custom ROMs including CyanogenMod. To me, there's really not many other "important" things beyond this, except for custom tweaks for every model (the Honor has some as well).
Really, the only "big thing" we'd be missing here on regards to modding would be an easy Xposed install - I say easy because many users have already got it, but afaik it's not a simple flashable .zip but system file editing as well. Not a big deal for a truly tech-savvy person like those who roam the XDA forums, though.
I'm not arguing the selling points; it's true, the fingerprint sensor was a major differentiator considering this phone's market range and price, and many phones have followed the (its?) example. But then again, it's just one feature, and it's already been mentioned multiple times that its implementation is close in time.
I wouldn't advise people to get another phone just because of a lack of fingerprint support on custom ROMs or a kind-of difficult Xposed installation. That is, unless they want to get another phone for like, a month, before coming back and buying the 5X - lol!
Of course, not an attack, just my humble opinion.
ElBerretin said:
I for one wouldn't say development is "below average". 1 What would you consider average, for starters? The 5X was, as you said, released quite recently, and we already have bootloader unlocking, TWRP, and root access available as additional options here in the forums, not to mention a (small, ok, but still) number of different custom ROMs including CyanogenMod. To me, there's really not many other "important" things beyond this, except for custom tweaks for every model (the Honor has some as well).
2 I'm not arguing the selling points; it's true, the fingerprint sensor was a major differentiator considering this phone's market range and price, and many phones have followed the (its?) example. But then again, it's just one feature, and it's already been mentioned multiple times that its implementation is close in time.
3 I wouldn't advise people to get another phone just because of a lack of fingerprint support on custom ROMs or a kind-of difficult Xposed installation. That is, unless they want to get another phone for like, a month, before coming back and buying the 5X - lol!
Of course, not an attack, just my humble opinion.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1 - Maybe a poor choice of words, what I am implying is the availability of complete and sound roms is below my average experience (that being the HTC Leo / HD2, DesireHD and N7000). In due time we might see complete custom roms, but that time is not now and I do not think we can say yet whether it will happen for sure (the developers are not paid to do this).
2 - It has been close for months now, they're waiting on Huawai to release the sources. Some say the sources have already been released but I haven't checked them out myself. For now it is not available and thus I say the available roms are incomplete.
3 - I would, if they want to buy a phone now and have a custom rom as a daily driver (/w all functionality) then it just isn't ready yet. Most people want a custom rom to get rid of the EMUI completely. And no, once you buy that other phone you probably stick with it. So if you want a more vanilla Android experience and don't care about the fingerprint sensor, pick the cheaper phone.
KoeWaffle said:
1 - Maybe a poor choice of words, what I am implying is the availability of complete and sound roms is below my average experience (that being the HTC Leo / HD2, DesireHD and N7000). In due time we might see complete custom roms, but that time is not now and I do not think we can say yet whether it will happen for sure (the developers are not paid to do this).
2 - It has been close for months now, they're waiting on Huawai to release the sources. Some say the sources have already been released but I haven't checked them out myself. For now it is not available and thus I say the available roms are incomplete.
3 - I would, if they want to buy a phone now and have a custom rom as a daily driver (/w all functionality) then it just isn't ready yet. Most people want a custom rom to get rid of the EMUI completely. And no, once you buy that other phone you probably stick with it. So if you want a more vanilla Android experience and don't care about the fingerprint sensor, pick the cheaper phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1-Now that's something I can agree with
2-The sources were released iirc, but as you said developers are not paid for this so it's a game of wait and see
3-I would suggest people give EMUI a try for a while after buying the phone. It's not like I love it, but come on; the specs aren't anything out of this world, I know that, so if you so desperately want a custom ROM that you can't wait for a day- just get another phone, don't even consider the Honor 5X, or any phone that comes with a skin for that matter. Besides, the wait makes it more worthwile imo, how can you know how much better a ROM is than EMUI if you haven't actually run EMUI to begin with? Again, just my opinion...
update
not happy with honor..... and dont even know if update comes or not think like jst making fool.......
using honor 5x and 6p from last 4 months have got any update even security patch in honor while in 6p it comes every month...... wer saying that we will get update of android 6.0 in last may but its naw june and no responce.................
disappointed
Matter of opinion, I respect yours and fully agree with huawei ****ty update policy. At least they open bl and share some sources,which are, at least on qualcomm based huaweis, usable to some extent. I have different opinion on development strength, I see no problem with using crpalmers base (cm) for other ROMs as it working well w/o bugs mentioned by u. The last real things that are to be fixed are fingerprint (on the way,fixed by surdu petru ) and HDR mode on camera.
Sent from my KIW-L21 using Tapatalk
Lol, where r good old times when LEO development started and bricks and following recoveries of thosr were daily practice
Yes, huawei update policy is...
Sent from my KIW-L21 using Tapatalk
i was kinda afraid of development due to the fact that it is an honor device,bt now am happy that it has official cm13 and other cm based roms.
Very premium feeling phone for the price range, good features. Don't care that much for EMUI though, it's a bit iPhone-y and limited.
CM12 and CM13 ROMS are well represented here, and hope to see some Nougat/CM14 love here soon
Good support considering its huawei
A lot of ROMs hère so one for every taste.
If you are flasholic, you can get drunk with your honor5x : )
Sent from my KIW-L21 using XDA-Developers mobile app
im a flashaholic!!
I made more than 10 ROMs. I hope that's good for everybody.

To Root or Not To Root

i am buying a new phone, the S8+ to be exact, and there have been a lot of new developments (problems) when it comes to rooting your device. i've been rooting my smartphone devices for over 10 years because i love the freedom it brings (er, brought). Now i read things like Netflix, Snapchat, and AndroidPay not working on rooted devices. So i am wondering what people's experiences have been like. Any regrets? Are the trade-offs worth it to you? Is it worth being able to uninstall bloatware and install custom ROMs if a lot of other features and apps will stop working? i know most of this is personal preference but would like to know more about what other people have experienced.
billybag said:
i am buying a new phone, the S8+ to be exact, and there have been a lot of new developments (problems) when it comes to rooting your device. i've been rooting my smartphone devices for over 10 years because i love the freedom it brings (er, brought). Now i read things like Netflix, Snapchat, and AndroidPay not working on rooted devices. So i am wondering what people's experiences have been like. Any regrets? Are the trade-offs worth it to you? Is it worth being able to uninstall bloatware and install custom ROMs if a lot of other features and apps will stop working? i know most of this is personal preference but would like to know more about what other people have experienced.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First and foremost, if you plan on getting a US variant, meaning it will have a SD835 in it, Root is unlikely to come soon for it, This doesn't mean it won't happen, just not soon. Now if we're talking international, the ones that ship with an Exynos in it, they're rootable now.
Now, with that out the way let's get into the questions you've asked. There will indeed be a selection of apps that will not work when rooted these days because of "SafetyNet" check failure. Some of the biggest would be Snapchat and Android pay, However they will work with the assistance of Magisk which will allow SafetyNet to pass it's check, Same goes for most apps that fail to work because of root presence.
Heading back to what I first mentioned now, Rooting a Samsung device of recent years comes with some pretty notable cons to it, These would include loss of KNOX, I'm not sure what your stance on security is but if security is a concern to you, losing KNOX is not good. Another big and notable con is you will lose all Samsung pay support permanently, Actually to be honest both of the latter are permanently lost once rooted. If these things aren't a concern for you then by all means root away.
On to other things now, Rooting these days doesn't present as many attractive things as it use to, especially on a Samsung device. Most OEMS have given alternatives to many of the things a user couldn't do without root before. Currently there is no Xposed on Nougat and above, it's being worked on but there is no foreseeable date that can be given on when it will be completed.
So all in all, Until root is achieved for the Snapdragon variants, I'd hold off on a purchase of an S8. If we're talking Exynos variants then by all means get one, as I've said they're rootable right now. But don't let that be the ray of sunshine, though they're rootable, They're in infact an Exynos and Samsung is unwilling to provide source code to their Exynos chipsets. Which basically means to you that custom ROMs will be limited to rehashes of the stock ROMs with a couple mods if possible, AOSP such as Lineage and others like it are next to impossible to happen on Exynos without​ a source code to work from. It has been done before but the resulting roms took a long time to develop and either were extremely buggy or were just simply not usable for daily use.
I'm pretty sure I've hopefully covered every aspect I could but if you've got any more questions I'll surely answer them.
I apologise for this being so long lol.
Perfect. Thank you, this helped a lot.
billybag said:
Perfect. Thank you, this helped a lot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Glad I could help, Again sorry it was a lengthy response but it was necessary to cover all of it.

custom rom for oppo find x

hii, I first want to apologize for my bad english, it isn't my native language. secondly i wanted to ask if anybody here knows if lineageos or anything like these custom (nearly stock) roms is going to be available for the oppo find x and how long it would take before they will be released. I'm considering buying a OPX and i am pretty new to buying chinese phones, I heard a lot of complaints about not getting a notification of whatsapp or anything like this, I really don't like the idea that I would have to open whatsapp every time to see if i got a notification or not.
thanks for your help.
maikonor said:
hii, I first want to apologize for my bad english, it isn't my native language. secondly i wanted to ask if anybody here knows if lineageos or anything like these custom (nearly stock) roms is going to be available for the oppo find x and how long it would take before they will be released. I'm considering buying a OPX and i am pretty new to buying chinese phones, I heard a lot of complaints about not getting a notification of whatsapp or anything like this, I really don't like the idea that I would have to open whatsapp every time to see if i got a notification or not.
thanks for your help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No apologies needed,make yourself at home @maikonor ........... :good:
While I can't speak regarding Whatsapp,you can get timely notifications for email/other SMS/MMS messaging apps,but,a lot of digging around in the settings is involved. Nothing beyond most users expertise,it's just a lot of redundancy & repitition,but,once set-up,my notifications come through just fine.
As for development,it's not unheard of on Oppo devices,but,is it possible with this phone ? IDK if the current firmware/software will support it.
If the promise of root/ROMs is a must,it's probably gonna be a while before development takes grip,if it ever does.
I'm hoping once the phone becomes available in more markets (international release/ROM),we'll begin to see some hint of what the future holds.
KOLIOSIS said:
No apologies needed,make yourself at home @maikonor ........... :good:
While I can't speak regarding Whatsapp,you can get timely notifications for email/other SMS/MMS messaging apps,but,a lot of digging around in the settings is involved. Nothing beyond most users expertise,it's just a lot of redundancy & repitition,but,once set-up,my notifications come through just fine.
As for development,it's not unheard of on Oppo devices,but,is it possible with this phone ? IDK if the current firmware/software will support it.
If the promise of root/ROMs is a must,it's probably gonna be a while before development takes grip,if it ever does.
I'm hoping once the phone becomes available in more markets (international release/ROM),we'll begin to see some hint of what the future holds.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks for your reply, root/custom ROM is not a must for me if, I (in the netherlands) at least can change my home launcher.
Hey buddy, This is my second OPPO variant. From my previous experience on R11P, it was pretty nasty. Nothing was released from OPPO to support unlocking or Root the device. However, with Find X, OPPO has launched globally. It might change its perspectives regarding playing around with the systems. who knows. I hope they do, I love flashing ROMs, lolz!
xstormli said:
Hey buddy, This is my second OPPO variant. From my previous experience on R11P, it was pretty nasty. Nothing was released from OPPO to support unlocking or Root the device. However, with Find X, OPPO has launched globally. It might change its perspectives regarding playing around with the systems. who knows. I hope they do, I love flashing ROMs, lolz!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for your reply, I hope they do change perspective and otherwise I will buy an oneplus 6.
The Find 7 was unlocked and they provided a rudimentary support for unlocking and rooting, this is the last vairiant that I'm aware of that saw wide release. Realistically that's all we need to obtain root, which is pretty easy via magisk. The Chinese launcher restrictions wont exist on the international handsets, those are for the Chinese market only and you'll be able to use the phone pretty much as normal in the Android world. It's all about whether or not the bootloader is unlocked. If yes we should be able to get root ourselves without special skills. From there it's just a matter of whether anyone with skills decides to pick up the phone and develop for it and then you've got TWRP and possibly a rom or two to play with.
I hope Oppo could release international version of the Find X rom
The chinese rom is pretty much unusable in North America
If it's like OPPO's other phones from the last few years, it will have a locked bootloader with fastboot removed and they won't release any kernel source.
Chinese OPPO fans tell you,It is very hard to request a root access or source code from OPPO,or just wait a loooong time:crying:,OPPO has always been like this,and sorry about my bad English,i want say more but i do not known how to
Explain in eglish(+_+)
Hard to do in China, there are rules there prohibiting that very thing and even when those don't apply Chinese companies are rightfully afraid to do something their dictator doesn't want because their executives would like to remain among the living. Chinese leaders are pragmatists however who enjoy the riches they deny the masses which means their products need to sell on a global market so they can keep enjoying all the things their populace is denied. The last product Oppo released in the world market was bootloader unlocked and they provided support for rooting. This does not mean the same will happen now but have no doubt they are well aware that their practices with Chinese phones will kill any hope at all of selling in the international market. Something to think about; One+ is owned by Oppo. They are unlocked and fully supported.

samsung from china and spyware question

Greetings,
I'm interested in getting an Galaxy Folder2 (SM-G1650), I see that the phone comes from china and the fw is from china too.
I wonder, can there be an spyware issue with that phone? is so, is there anything I can do to remove them?'
ideally I'd like to run mircog on it without google services at all.
Thanks,
Dagg.
Lineage OS.
The best would be to flash a Custom Recovery and a Custom ROM also gapps.Unless you can't do anything.The Software that comes preinstalled is 1.5-2.5GB while the lineage is 300mb only and works faster with security updates forever.
Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk
Greetings,
Atifbaig786 said:
Lineage OS.
The best would be to flash a Custom Recovery and a Custom ROM also gapps.Unless you can't do anything.The Software that comes preinstalled is 1.5-2.5GB while the lineage is 300mb only and works faster with security updates forever.
Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can't seem to find any reference that Lineage OS supports this device, how can I be sure it will work?
does gapps allows me not to connect to google services?
I've seen that there is a Lineage OS bundled with microg, what's the diff?
Unless you're e.g. an investigative journalist, a (human) rights activist etc., the best solution in my personal opinion is to follow @Atifbaig786's valid suggestion. However; if you belong to one of the groups I've mentioned in the beginning, this might not be sufficient as you can't exclude that spyware rests very deep inside of the device but outside of the ROM. Anyhow, I've also my doubts that VR China would raise such efforts for a device like the SM-G1650.
In one respect, I'm not with Atifbaig786's recommendation: For me personally, I consider all services and applications coming from Google as spyware, and in turn don't suggest GApps but a GApps-free device.
Maybe one of the threads I opened are of interest for you: https://forum.xda-developers.com/search.php?searchid=451896749
Greetings,
Oswald Boelcke said:
Unless you're e.g. an investigative journalist, a (human) rights activist etc., the best solution in my personal opinion is to follow @Atifbaig786's valid suggestion. However; if you belong to one of the groups I've mentioned in the beginning, this might not be sufficient as you can't exclude that spyware rests very deep inside of the device but outside of the ROM. Anyhow, I've also my doubts that VR China would raise such efforts for a device like the SM-G1650.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm neither of them, I just value my privacy enough to care abut such issues.
hw hardware are things I cannot address, thus I don't care much regarding this.
Oswald Boelcke said:
In one respect, I'm not with Atifbaig786's recommendation: For me personally, I consider all services and applications coming from Google as spyware,
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
same here.
Oswald Boelcke said:
and in turn don't suggest GApps but a GApps-free device.
Maybe one of the threads I opened are of interest for you: https://forum.xda-developers.com/search.php?searchid=451896749
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
GApps-free device? I thought microg allows such feature.
I really don't need any of the google apps.
neither whatsapp and such.
I'm using my phone as dumb as possible.
daggs1 said:
...
GApps-free device? I thought microg allows such feature.
I really don't need any of the google apps.
neither whatsapp and such...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Affirmative, GApps-free through the use of µG! I tried to describe my way to GApps-free powered by µG from the very beginning up to now in this thread: GApps free - microG is all you need!
It's certainly easiest achievable by a custom ROM that comes absolutely without GApps. However, I haven't heard about your device before, and I don't know if any custom ROM is available. But you could certainly debloat a stock ROM (there are tools available via XDA, just search for it) or try NanoDroid (my current favourite choice) or this microG unofficial installer. This is what ale5000 says about his tool uninstalling GApps; and this is out of the NanoDroid documentation regarding that issue. Shadow53's website might also be of interest.
Last but not least because I see your approach is very similar to mine, "How did I enhance battery duration, privacy and security?" might be of interest to you, too.
Oswald Boelcke said:
Affirmative, GApps-free through the use of µG! I tried to describe my way to GApps-free powered by µG from the very beginning up to now in this thread: GApps free - microG is all you need!
It's certainly easiest achievable by a custom ROM that comes absolutely without GApps. However, I haven't heard about your device before, and I don't know if any custom ROM is available. But you could certainly debloat a stock ROM (there are tools available via XDA, just search for it) or try NanoDroid (my current favourite choice) or this microG unofficial installer. This is what ale5000 says about his tool uninstalling GApps; and this is out of the NanoDroid documentation regarding that issue. Shadow53's website might also be of interest.
Last but not least because I see your approach is very similar to mine, "How did I enhance battery duration, privacy and security?" might be of interest to you, too.
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here is a thread on the device: https://forum.xda-developers.com/general/rooting-roms/root-twrp-galaxy-folder-2-dual-sim-sm-t3785752
from what I can see, there is no custom rom of this device
For those who are wondering I work for a government Health agency and mostly handle very sensitive data.For which I use a Pixel 3 XL whose hardware the agency approved recently.In my field if my phone gets stolen or hacked I'll be leaking 50-100 projects which will effect only the poor competition.So,for the past 7 years I've been teaching myself to be careful and too careful.And the chinese have sometimes holes in their hardware that helps them and others to exploit them.I have removed all the google apps along with the boot loader and the whole firmware except recovery partitions and replaced it with my own.I have an encrypted debian installation on it which runs natively and Quite well.
Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk
Atifbaig786 said:
For those who are wondering I work for a government Health agency and mostly handle very sensitive data.For which I use a Pixel 3 XL whose hardware the agency approved recently.In my field if my phone gets stolen or hacked I'll be leaking 50-100 projects which will effect only the poor competition.So,for the past 7 years I've been teaching myself to be careful and too careful.And the chinese have sometimes holes in their hardware that helps them and others to exploit them.I have removed all the google apps along with the boot loader and the whole firmware except recovery partitions and replaced it with my own.I have an encrypted debian installation on it which runs natively and Quite well.
Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk
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my issue with the Pixel 3 XL is the size, too big for my taste, I hate big phones.
Perfect for me.
daggs1 said:
my issue with the Pixel 3 XL is the size, too big for my taste, I hate big phones.
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I am a big man who needs big stuff.I love big phones but hated battery usage but this one is decent enough.
Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk
Atifbaig786 said:
For those who are wondering I work for a government Health agency and mostly handle very sensitive data.For which I use a Pixel 3 XL whose hardware the agency approved recently.In my field if my phone gets stolen or hacked I'll be leaking 50-100 projects which will effect only the poor competition.So,for the past 7 years I've been teaching myself to be careful and too careful.And the chinese have sometimes holes in their hardware that helps them and others to exploit them.I have removed all the google apps along with the boot loader and the whole firmware except recovery partitions and replaced it with my own.I have an encrypted debian installation on it which runs natively and Quite well.
Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk
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I'd personally immediately cancel any coorporation or affiliation with an agency that allows and not clearly prohibits my personal sensitive and/or confidential data to be stored or handled on an Android or iOS device. Actually, it'd be sufficient for me to react this way if I become aware that this agency approves hardware in that respect.
Yeah But
Oswald Boelcke said:
I'd personally immediately cancel any coorporation or affiliation with an agency that allows and not clearly prohibits my personal sensitive and/or confidential data to be stored or handled on an Android or iOS device. Actually, it'd be sufficient for me to react this way if I become aware that this agency approves hardware in that respect.
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I don't use Android or Apple OS.I use debian as my OS so I am safe and sound.
Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk

Is the P20 lite worth it for 160€?

I'll have the chance to buy this phone for 160€. Normally I investigate around if the community enjoys the phone if there's development for it in custom roms and what's the status on the bootloader but it's getting complicated.
From what I've heard, Huawei stopped offering the chance for unlocking the bootloader for its phones, it is still possible with this one? If yes, completely? Can we do whatever we want or are we limited? I've browsed and seen treble support for it, is it working well? If you are using a P20lite with a treble rom, what works and what doesn't for you?
I'll still be looking for info to my own questions and even more but if you have some spare minutes, own the phone and have the answers I'm looking for, care to help please?
If it's worth it? For that price and as of right now, definitely yes. It's a well built phone for the price, the glass on the back is a bit bad of course in terms of durability but allows for better network possibilities which plastic does not. In terms of ROMS and recoveries the phone already has them which at this time is amazing, although development always depend on the true developers that stay up to date and that give their best to keep projects up to date.
Boot loader is a problem as of right now for those who have no key to unlock it. There is some paid software that can do it like Funky Huawei and others...Although I think Huawei might change it or find a better solution to developers trying to develop some ROMS to their phones. Huawei only does this because of security since Android is full of vulnerabilities and they are not risking to lose against other companies like Apple.
Once you have a boot loader unlock code, yup you are free to do anything on your phone
As for the treble ROM's, in my humble opinion I think they have a lot to evolve right now due to bugs (talking in general, not only for our device), I think they are good alternatives to normal ROM's though, simpler to install and smoother.
What works and doesn't work you can see it at github, I can give you a link for a treble ROM created by phhusson developer at github https://github.com/phhusson/treble_experimentations/releases/tag/v108, look on the issues tab if you have any issues yourself. I personally love his work.
Resuming, it's still a perfect deal since the phone only launched a few months ago at 400 euros.
Although if you want full control of your phone and at the same time receive a lot of updates I honestly recommend Nokia - Android One phones
You probably already know but, don't let Chinese phones fool you, their build quality sucks, they might have more a bit powerful but after 1 or 2 years it's dead
Cheers,
AS

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