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Free your Android - Alaverdi

What is it about?


This article is written as a continuation of the article Free your Android . What for? Very simple - that article is very detailed and well describes how to upgrade your smartphone to LineageOS. But she just needs to continue on how to live with this cross-linked smartphone later. A certain report from real life is simply necessary. This is the report I want to provide here.

A few stones in the garden


The article that prompted me to experiment and further to this publication is written in the style of instructions - do it once, do two, do three. But there is one caveat ...

First of all, after unlocking the bootloader, you will have to switch to the developer mode again on the smartphone, otherwise the laptop will not see it.

Further ... Unlocking is possible only when the smartphone is connected to the Internet. There is some kind of nuance with factory unlocking and first you need to press certain buttons on the smartphone, and only then use fastboot.

Further ... I quote ...
After the process is completed, we return to the previous menu. Click on the “Advanced Wipe” button and select “System” and “Cache”.

So, the menu item “Cache” does not exist there - instead of it there is “Dalvik / apk cache”. It seems like this is the only menu item with the word cache. But I, for example, as a person who is not far - from IT is not too far, in the sense - I know that caches are different. And this cache is the same cache that needs to be cleared? Or the wrong one?

I write these pebbles solely to show - if we are already writing instructions, it would be nice to give the menu items and steps completely as they really are. In the instructions there are no things that are taken for granted and obvious.

But to the point ...

Is there life after Android?


First of all, a key point. This is MY smartphone, and I use it the way I need. This does not mean that I use it correctly, to the fullest, etc. And, of course, this does not mean that what is good or acceptable to ME will be just as good, or at least acceptable to YOU.

How was it


I use my smartphone somewhat in a Luddian manner. Perhaps it will be easier to list ...

  • now a rare way - to make and receive calls, as well as send and receive SMS;
  • I had a client bank of my bank there; my style of working with finances implies that at the beginning of the day in a special account tied to the card there should be about the same certain amount that I spend during the day; here, to replenish this account from reserves, I use a client-bank so that the laptop does not open every time;
  • , , , ;
  • Firefox — ;
  • Google — , ..;
  • , , ;
  • — , ; , , ;
  • — , , ;
  • . — .

I won’t write about calls and SMS - it’s obvious that how it rang, it is still ringing. And with SMS the same story. Which is trivial.

Another significant point - so far I have had the Nokia N5 with a full-fledged full-time Android on board. And it is with him that I compare my cross-linked G7. I understand that such a comparison is not entirely correct, but in my case it is quite acceptable.

How did it become


What immediately caught my eye even hit the Internet.

I must say that where I live, communication, to put it mildly, floats. The signal regularly jumps from mode to mode, regularly disappears altogether. And these jumps were registered by both the old smartphone and the new one. Nevertheless ...

I, as they say, visually see that my Internet channel now - with all the instability of communication - belongs to me. In fact, it’s even loading what hung hopelessly on an old smartphone. I see only one reason - now on my wretched channel there is not a million spyware that is in a hurry to inform all the intelligence services and corporations in the world that the bashorg is open and even flipped through it a little.

Customer bank


Of course, he is not in the F-Droid. In general, the specifics of the F-Droid are somewhat discouraging, but about it below.

However, it turned out that the browser in the smartphone (not a regular one, which is also discussed below) perfectly displays the full-fledged Internet bank of my bank and allows me to do all the operations that I need in it.

Email


Of course, I use the K-9 Mail recommended in the original article. And it just works, there's nothing to say.

A wonderful feature is a bonus - all letters, regardless of their layout and embellishment, are displayed in readable font. It is necessary to clarify here ...

Today, all letters are sent in HTML and in the mobile client are often displayed in completely unreadable font in millimeter size. I had it in a regular client on Nokia, it was in GMail, it was in the Yandex.Mail application. K-9 resolves this issue.

The regular email client LineageOS was, to put it mildly, dumb. I displayed the first 25 letters in the folder (the most recent), reported that there was more, offered to display them, but did not display them.

Browser


Firefox was not detected in the F-Droid. Instead, it has been found Fennec - the same Firefox, only in hi more. UBlock Origin perfectly stood on it and all the lists that I had previously used.

An eared browser fits my needs perfectly. He perfectly displays the Internet bank of my bank, which was mentioned above.

The funny news is that in F-Droid the Ushastik was flagged as having dubious functionality. True, this functionality turned out to be support for add-ons with closed source code. Since I do not suffer from religious prejudices, this did not stop me.

By the way, such notes in F-Droid make a favorable impression.

Markdown


This app was discovered by F-Droid in search of an app for a shopping list. It turned out that this is a classic (a rarity these days) application that operates on files. Files are arranged in folders. The files themselves are either plain text or markdown text.

As a result, this application replaced me with a shopping list, recipe book, diary and a local pocket knowledge base. That is, Google Keep is no longer needed.

Rest other


With toys, frankly, the F-Droid is bad, sad and sad. Dozens of applications simulating a die roll - why? Applications in the style of "Turn your smartphone into a controller for XXX" - well, that’s what it’s for itself. Clients for counting points in the tables - no, well, are you serious, or what? Countless customers to view statistics in online games. In general, sadness.

As a result, I found a walker through the dungeons - I walk, I shoot flies from the bow.

Instead of Yandex.Taxi, a web version was discovered - you can specify the beginning and end of the path and order a taxi. As a result, it seems that they will call you, confirm the order and the car will arrive. But so far it has not been possible to test this possibility.

But with the password generator, everything is completely bad. I previously had a Smart Pass, and it was able to generate passwords consisting of two words and a certain number. Moreover, some words, it seems to me, do not actually exist. The advantage is obvious - passwords are meaningless enough for selection, but they can be pronounced and remembered.

So, in F-Droid, I could not find even just a password generator - only managers. And I, due to some natural features, consider the only acceptable password manager that the person attaches to the neck. But generators are sorely lacking.

Updates


Checking for OS updates led to the fact that I was given the whole list of releases with a proposal to poke into the one I want to install. This, compared to the classic android, is simply a masterpiece!

Well, imagine a fresh android came out, but you can’t put it on my Nokia - the vendor decided that it wasn’t necessary there. And here - here’s a fresh build, and if you want, then stale as you need, put it on. This is just a reason for unearthly, puppy joy.

Total


Based on the results of two weeks of operation, my previous Nokia was reset to factory settings and will be sent to a relative (he just had his smartphone covered). And I will continue to enjoy my LineageOS - my luddite soul is quite happy and can live with it normally.

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