I have to ask this. I needed a new phone a month ago, and I chose to wait for this one instead of getting a Note 9, and now I still don't have a usable phone and have less than 20 days to return this one. When I did my research about my next phone I was told that Sony phones are developer-friendly and tend to have a clean Android experience, on top of that, this phone has a 3.5mm jack with a great DAC. Now I come to find out that not only does this phone come with bloatware/spyware, even though you can root it, in Android 10, OEMs have the system locked down as read-only, and while Magik can gimmick /system to remove apps, there is no way to delete apps installed in /oem.
Placing apps in a directory that is impossible to change is inexcusable, especially when they are:
1) A game no one wanted which will be irrelevant in 6 months
2) A FREE TRIAL APP
3) A social media application not everyone uses
It isn't by mistake that Sony did this, and it tells me that the pittance they get from Activision, Jay Z, and Microsoft matters more to them than I do as a customer. Some will say that it is possible to simply de-activate the apps, at least unlike Facebook, there are no background services still running and collecting your data, but I say that is irrelevant. I own my phone; I should be able to control what's on it.
I was still running Android 8 on my One Plus 3T that recently died, so I'm not familiar with how Android works today. We went from simple to hard, to harder. There is A/B, no more stock recovery, and apparently fastboot is dead and is replaced by a blank bootloader flash mode that only lets you know you are in it with a tiny blue LED? I don't know how viable TRWP and Linage are on a phone like this, which is why I am asking. There is only one thing I know for sure right now: I don't have much time to wait for custom ROMs built from the ground up to develop and mature.
You can disable verity and delete them. However, even if you could remove them, they'll just keep coming back with updates. Just disable them and move on with life.
LineageOS is pointless because you're going to lose the Sony camera. Why spend $1,200 if you're going to do that? At that point, just get a Pixel 4a for $350.
Some will say that it is possible to simply de-activate the apps, at least unlike Facebook, there are no background services still running and collecting your data, but I say that is irrelevant. I own my phone; I should be able to control what's on it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You totally can. Again, this is about dm-verity, which most custom roms disable and spoof to appear enabled. However, if you're gonna do this on the official rom, it'll be your job to pretty much delete every single piece of bloatware every time you update your phone. It's much easier to simply disable the packages because the disable setting is retained through updates.
There is A/B, no more stock recovery
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Welcome to pretty much every single device since Pixel 3. This is a Google thing, and has nothing to do with Sony.
apparently fastboot is dead and is replaced by a blank bootloader flash mode that only lets you know you are in it with a tiny blue LED?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Okay, I'll give you this one. Sony did a piss-poor job here. It took me several hours to figure out that:
Vol. Up + Insert USB cable = blue led = fast boot, for which you need to manually install the Google fastboot driver.
Vol. Down + Insert USB cable = green led = download mode, for NewFlasher flashing.
The only indicator is the blue/green LED, which indicates the various modes.
For future reference, I flashed the RU region firmware and it only came with 1 bloatware: Yandex. Best thing about it is, you can uninstall Yandex. So basically I have the 1 II without bloatware! (Except Facebook, but I use it anyway)
YandereSan said:
You can disable verify and delete them. However, even if you could remove them, they'll just keep coming back with updates. Just disable them and move on with life.
LineageOS is pointless because you're going to lose the Sony camera. Why spend $1,200 if you're going to do that? At that point, just get a Pixel 4a for $350.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First of, thanks for being cool with your response
Second, I bought this phone for a few reasons, and the camera isn't one of them. For any given phone I want:
1) For it to be unlockable so I can install whatever recovery/kernel/OS I want on it. There aren't many phones like that anymore, at least not in the US.
2) Hardware that will last me at least four years.
3) A 3.5mm headphone Jack with a good DAC.
4) A good, large, color-accurate display.
5) Fingerprint reader.
5) Expendable storage (or a LOT of onboard storage and OTG as a compromise).
I have been using the menu button on the left and back button on the right for eight years now, and I can't fix that on this phone
You totally can. Again, this is about dm-verity, which most custom roms disable and spoof to appear enabled. However, if you're gonna do this on the official rom, it'll be your job to pretty much delete every single piece of bloatware every time you update your phone. It's much easier to simply disable the packages because the disable setting is retained through updates.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Honestly, the only updates I care about are security updates. If we get lineage or some other mature ROM that can do most of what I want, I'll ditch stock., I only need stock for now. If I do end up updating stock and getting those apps back, I don't mind spending another 5 minutes removing them after the update. I don't like disabled apps for three reasons:
1) If it doesn't disable background services. If you just disable Facebook, Facebook's other services will still keep tracking you and selling your personal information.
2) They still appear in the app menus and stuff, which I hate. It pisses me off seeing COD and a TRIAL for something I'll never, ever, use.
3) I am 99.9% some vulnerability can't exploit them, but I can be 100% sure if they aren't there.
As for why this is all the way it is, I did learn after the fact that it is mostly Google's BS and not Sony. Still, it sucks. I hope I can maybe flash DM variety and disable it on stock.
If I can disable DM variety I'm keeping the phone. If I can't and it doesn't seem like we'll get TWRP and Lineage then I guess I'm getting an Exynos Note 9. I really don't want to though, but those OEM apps WILL haunt me every time I use my phone, touch my phone, think about my phone, or am otherwise reminded I own this phone. Maybe I'm crazy, but that's irrelevant, because that's how it is.
I tried to flash dm variety and disable verification, etc, and it didn't unlock the system, so until TRWP comes to Android 10, it looks like stock in the US is out.
iArvee said:
For future reference, I flashed the RU region firmware and it only came with 1 bloatware: Yandex. Best thing about it is, you can uninstall Yandex. So basically I have the 1 II without bloatware! (Except Facebook, but I use it anyway)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are a god. I looked at the Russian firmware and it doesn't look like it's been dirtied by crazy Putin. You can systemlessy remove all the apps you don't want. I got Magisk and Xposed working on it. I also have 4G on t-mobile, and it lists 5GNR as an option, which the US version did not. To note, I do not have VoLTE or Wifi Calling (not that I care).
I'm going to try and flash the HK dual sim variant just to see if I can unlock the mythical sex sim slot, and also if also fits the bill. I realized that to test dual sim you need a dual sim tray. There is no way to get the Q51 tray to work for this. It doesn't seem that people are selling replacement parts for this phone yet, so right now I can't buy a Q2 tray to test it. I'll circle back around to this in a few months when it becomes time to flip the phone for a Q2, just to see if maybe I don't have to do that.
Thanks everyone for the replies. We could maybe use this as a general TRWP/LineageOS update thread, though I suspect someone will make a new thread as those pass certain milestones.
Related
I've read through reviews, and this looks like a great phone, and the fact that it is a small phone makes it better. But will I be able to have at least root & TWRP without any major downsides?
The camera apparently loses quality, but is there a Gcam HDR+ yet?
If you stay on stock rom, the camera quality will stay the same if you use the DRM-fix.
You'll loose the ability to do OTA updates, tho.
YeshYyyK said:
I've read through reviews, and this looks like a great phone, and the fact that it is a small phone makes it better. But will I be able to have at least root & TWRP without any major downsides?
The camera apparently loses quality, but is there a Gcam HDR+ yet?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The DRM fix made by sToRm// works on any firmware (next release) and any XZ device.
The DRM that sony installed is broken when you unlock your bootloader and sToRm//'s fix enables it. So there is no loss of quality with the camera, it's exactly as stock. The DRM is fixed or broken, the camera is fixed or broken, there is no half way 'dodgy' pictures that people imagine.
Yes, you won't receive any OTA updates if your phone is rooted, but there is Xperiafirm and Newflasher, to keep you up to date. Then reflash with sToRm//'s app and you're good to go.
In the old days you wanted to root your phone to control all the battery eating apps, but Google/Sony have been aware of the drive to extend battery life for a long time now and with a few exceptions, changing the configuration of the services will probably make your battery worse not better. The battery life on the XZ1 compact is the best of any phone I've had, straight out the box, no tweaking required.
The only other main driver for rooting your phone was to be able to customise it and change the framework colours, but you can do that without root now.
Be sure you want to root you phone for the right reasons, not because it's fashionable, or because you want Xposed installed so that when you press the volume the flash comes on.
There's a chance you'll break your phone in the process, so is what you want to root your phone for important enough to have to buy a new phone for?
I'm not trying to put you off, but if you read sToRm//'s thread, there's loads of people getting into a real mess trying to root when they don't even know what ADB is. They've unlocked their phones, broken the camera, but now stuck unable to get the fix to work. Don't go there.
If you want the Google +HDR camera, check out russel5's [XZ1C,G8441,Lilac]AOSP_8.1 rom, which comes with it baked in
Didgesteve said:
Yes, you won't receive any OTA updates if your phone is rooted, but there is Xperiafirm and Newflasher, to keep you up to date. Then reflash with sToRm//'s app and you're good to go.
In the old days you wanted to root your phone to control all the battery eating apps, but Google/Sony have been aware of the drive to extend battery life for a long time now and with a few exceptions, changing the configuration of the services will probably make your battery worse not better. The battery life on the XZ1 compact is the best of any phone I've had, straight out the box, no tweaking required.
The only other main driver for rooting your phone was to be able to customise it and change the framework colours, but you can do that without root now.
Be sure you want to root you phone for the right reasons, not because it's fashionable, or because you want Xposed installed so that when you press the volume the flash comes on.
There's a chance you'll break your phone in the process, so is what you want to root your phone for important enough to have to buy a new phone for?
I'm not trying to put you off, but if you read sToRm//'s thread, there's loads of people getting into a real mess trying to root when they don't even know what ADB is. They've unlocked their phones, broken the camera, but now stuck unable to get the fix to work. Don't go there.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There are a few apps that require root that I'd like to use, and a lot of tweaks via TWRP flashing. The main reason really is underclocking the XZ1C, because I really don't need that much power, even if the battery life is already insane.
Thanks a lot though!
Hi, after using the Mi 10 Ultra now for some weeks I will share some thoughts.
In short: The hardware (everything from charging to the cameras are simply Amazing) - however, I would not encourage anyone to use it as their "real" phone or phone used for work - at least not if things does not get better with firmware updates.
There are simply to many bugs or limitations that makes it impossible for me to be productive with the phone.
A few examples:
* Google assistant keeps be replaced by Xiaomis own assistant so I have to set it back to my preference several times a day. Not a dealbreaker but very annoying.
* Could not choose my own choice of launcher (Nova) but here I'm a bit grumpy because this turned out to be quite easily solvable (in case it does not give the same annoying behaviour as the assistant-thing)
* Does seem impossible to get RELIABLE notifications to the computer from SMS, Whatsapp etc, no matter what I do with both app specific settings (lik turn of battery optimizations, giving different permissions to the app, allouing autostart etc) AND putting general settings for restriction of mobil OFF, the phone keeps stopping data when display is off
* I have missed an enormeus amount of meetings because somehow the phone does not work with teams and intunes in a good way so all of a sudden I can not log on to intunes or onenote and has to spend 20 minutes on deletion of cach and app data, restarting the phon, sync of principples etc and then it works a few hours again. Completely useless for work. Also here I have gone trough and given permissions for almost everything to see if it helps (and it does not help). To be looked out of online-meetings several times a day because messing with the phone simply just does not work.
* Bluetooth is a trial and error thing when connectring different speakers and handsfrees, tok 3 days until I all of a sudden could pair my WF-1000XM3 with the phone for example. This was however a "one off" and now it works so I can live with that.
The things mentiones above that is connected to work is absolutely no problem on any other phones or tablets I have tried it on (Sony, Samsung, Huawei).
So for now I will put my SIM back in my old phone and use the Mi 10 Ultra as private phone and mainly like a good camera and videoeditor.
I realise it might (with the headline I posted) be posted in the wrong part of the forum.
I guess what I really was hoping for is some input to solutions of the problems I mention because I really WANT to be able to use the phone as my phone.
Install the .EU rom. It solved most of these issues for me:
+ Mi assistent is not in the rom, so Google's assistant will then stick. Overall, all google apps and services work way better when neatly made part of the eco system prior to setup.
+ notifications work out-of-the-box on this rom just about flawlessly. Had problems getting them immediately and on the lockscreen with the original Chinese rom, they work perfect with the EU rom.
+ Teams works fine here, as does contact sync, calander sync, location history etc.
Had no issues with bluetooth in either rom version. Don't use custom launchers, so can't comment on that.
Love this phone!
There's a lot of issues there. Some fixable, but overall it you want a solution... Flash the Xiaomi.eu rom..
Basically I got this phone myself realising it would be a project. Spending around 1k, on a foreign device not guaranteed to work in my country. I knew going in I would almost certainly want to change it from stock. I only mention now because it's possible to do something about it. It's silly to live with so many tiny software problems with such a majestic piece of hardware. To make your phone your daily go-to I think this phone requires a bit of extra work. I consider it a small tax for having the best phone there is.
Nice headphones btw I have the same ones. I cannot cope without them working
One more vote for xiaomi.eu ROM. It is basically the go-to ROM when purchasing a Xiaomi device.
A lot of what OP mentioned is user error combined with the software being a little odd out of the box (but totally fixable). I'm using Lawnchair no problem. Use miui hidden settings to change it.
The notification issue is annoying but all you have to do is open the app settings and mess with the notification settings a little bit. Turn on all the options and set priority to high, you'll never have a problem again.
Google assistant was on my phone and I didn't even install it... In fact I had to go out of the way to tell it to f off.
My bluetooth has worked absolutely fine zero issues. Excellent range and low battery drain.
I love this phone, it can certainly improve in some ways through software updates but the way it is I'm happy with my purchase, even spending $950 for it. Which is the most I've ever spent on a phone by a mile.
Someone's definitely going to reply to me saying "it should just work out of the box". Maybe, but if you want something that "just works" and don't value the extra features buy an iPhone.
I agree.
I don't have any problems at all.
No ads.
Google assistant works perfect, mi assistant I removed through adb
No bluetooth issues aside from the metà data not showing on my car radio.
Pretty happy here.
The thing that could be better would be some notifications icons in the always on display
Can you point me to a guide to remove miui assistant?
My issues are the right swipe notification I would like to be google feed not Chinese.
Swipe up from bottom, same thing, Chinese
Sent from my M2007J1SC using Tapatalk
AerationCheese said:
A lot of what OP mentioned is user error combined with the software being a little odd out of the box (but totally fixable). I'm using Lawnchair no problem. Use miui hidden settings to change it.
The notification issue is annoying but all you have to do is open the app settings and mess with the notification settings a little bit. Turn on all the options and set priority to high, you'll never have a problem again.
Google assistant was on my phone and I didn't even install it... In fact I had to go out of the way to tell it to f off.
My bluetooth has worked absolutely fine zero issues. Excellent range and low battery drain.
I love this phone, it can certainly improve in some ways through software updates but the way it is I'm happy with my purchase, even spending $950 for it. Which is the most I've ever spent on a phone by a mile.
Someone's definitely going to reply to me saying "it should just work out of the box". Maybe, but if you want something that "just works" and don't value the extra features buy an iPhone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi, I have actually put all settings to "high", "allowed" or "off" (when it comes to powersaving), but getting notifications or not having apps closed down is still a lottery (although the changes has made the situation a bit better it has not solved the problem).
Has anyone of you that DO NOT have problems tried to use the phone for work with apps like "intunes" and "teams" (because this is the biggest problem to have to reinstall apps like teams, it feels like it must have been to go to war with a "mouth charger" back in the days. Parts of theese problems I have had with Huawei phones also but there it just took some tweaking to get rid of the problems).
AerationCheese said:
Someone's definitely going to reply to me saying "it should just work out of the box". Maybe, but if you want something that "just works" and don't value the extra features buy an iPhone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This phone is exclusive to the Chinese market and not built with the west in mind at all.
Anyone saying it should just walk out the box, well, unless they're living in China they're being naive and wrong. This is not a device for where we are, it is not supposed to be.
So in that mind I come back to xiaome.eu rom - why would one not take a step to make the phone work better than stock?
tusenkonstnar said:
Hi, I have actually put all settings to "high", "allowed" or "off" (when it comes to powersaving), but getting notifications or not having apps closed down is still a lottery (although the changes has made the situation a bit better it has not solved the problem).
Has anyone of you that DO NOT have problems tried to use the phone for work with apps like "intunes" and "teams" (because this is the biggest problem to have to reinstall apps like teams, it feels like it must have been to go to war with a "mouth charger" back in the days. Parts of theese problems I have had with Huawei phones also but there it just took some tweaking to get rid of the problems).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In tune works fine with the EU ROM
If I want to flash the eu rom, can I back up my apps so I don't have to re enter all my log ins ?
Sent from my M2007J1SC using Tapatalk
Sathelp said:
In tune works fine with the EU ROM
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, then I have to go with the EU rom, This thing of spending an hour a day missing meetings and having to reinstall apps, reapprove permissions etc to be able to log in just does not fly.
Guess step one for me then is to unlock the phone.
70challenger said:
If I want to flash the eu rom, can I back up my apps so I don't have to re enter all my log ins ?
Sent from my M2007J1SC using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I used the xiaomi cloud for this and was delighted
---------- Post added at 05:04 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:03 PM ----------
tusenkonstnar said:
Thanks, then I have to go with the EU rom, This thing of spending an hour a day missing meetings and having to reinstall apps, reapprove permissions etc to be able to log in just does not fly.
Guess step one for me then is to unlock the phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Absolutely. Unlocking it will threaten to wipe your phone so go through with it as if you're gonna do it.
Because it needs to show you the countdown and then it's a week til you can do anything even if you wanted to
Appelsap said:
Install the .EU rom. It solved most of these issues for me:
+ Mi assistent is not in the rom, so Google's assistant will then stick. Overall, all google apps and services work way better when neatly made part of the eco system prior to setup.
+ notifications work out-of-the-box on this rom just about flawlessly. Had problems getting them immediately and on the lockscreen with the original Chinese rom, they work perfect with the EU rom.
+ Teams works fine here, as does contact sync, calander sync, location history etc.
Had no issues with bluetooth in either rom version. Don't use custom launchers, so can't comment on that.
Love this phone!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
how easy is it to get a bootloader unlock these days?
gb155 said:
how easy is it to get a bootloader unlock these days?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Read the comments in this thread leading up to yours. It's explained multiple times.
gb155 said:
how easy is it to get a bootloader unlock these days?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Very.
Hi. I was wondering how did you guys get the google pay to work? When I try to pay, miui card readee is trying to launch. And the assistant, "hey google" doesn't seem to work for me. I am waiting to unlock the bootloader, but made the phone to my liking 80%. Great device but needs some tweaking.
---------- Post added at 11:20 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:19 PM ----------
AerationCheese said:
A lot of what OP mentioned is user error combined with the software being a little odd out of the box (but totally fixable). I'm using Lawnchair no problem. Use miui hidden settings to change it.
The notification issue is annoying but all you have to do is open the app settings and mess with the notification settings a little bit. Turn on all the options and set priority to high, you'll never have a problem again.
Google assistant was on my phone and I didn't even install it... In fact I had to go out of the way to tell it to f off.
My bluetooth has worked absolutely fine zero issues. Excellent range and low battery drain.
I love this phone, it can certainly improve in some ways through software updates but the way it is I'm happy with my purchase, even spending $950 for it. Which is the most I've ever spent on a phone by a mile.
Someone's definitely going to reply to me saying "it should just work out of the box". Maybe, but if you want something that "just works" and don't value the extra features buy an iPhone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you have google feed working with lawnchair?
Woke up in he morning, launcher went back to the system one, all 5he settings (widgets and folders) from lawnchair are gone. Cannot wait to get the xiaomi.eu firmware, because chinese is really bad.
boober78 said:
Woke up in he morning, launcher went back to the system one, all 5he settings (widgets and folders) from lawnchair are gone. Cannot wait to get the xiaomi.eu firmware, because chinese is really bad.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had this with Nova,I think I ended up.. wait for it.. setting every permission for Nova I could find
The EU ROM uses the same permission style but the reigns are off. I'm glad you know you need to move to that ROM!
Trust me, you don't get these problems with the EU ROM. It's Xiaomi security being a bit too zealous.
They don't officially let you use another launcher. Obviously you get around it by setting it in the launcher you want itself.. but yeah the EU ROM doesn't do this.
i have a display issue with my note 8 (N950f), the screen gets greenish and messes up the colors making it very unpleasant to look at (started happening right after september 2020 update) i could fix it by pressing the power button, taping the screen to turn on always on display but then it would switch back to that annoying green display after seconds or minutes (weirdly enough the Always On Display is always good and never shows any green), so i tried to fix it by : Factory reseting, clearing cache, flashing stock os, custom roms pie, 10, 11, nothing worked until i tried flashing a custom kernel (Phantom Kernel for Pie) on a stock os. that fixes the green screen issue temporarily (2 to 3 weeks) i mean it's still there but it gets green very rarely, until it starts to gradually get worse overtime. And also im not the only one! i found another user @B3anbeanbean who has the EXACT problem and he fixes it like i do with the phantom kernel. This can't be a coincidence.
If you have a fast, stable platform that fulfills its mission, leave it be.
My 10+ is still running very well on Pie and will be for the life of the device.
If Samsung doesn't break it, Gookill Android surely will. What applies to MS XPx64, W7 applies more so now with Android.
For all those "upgrades" what did you gain?
Rather than enjoying the device how much time did you lose? Which bring me back to my original statement.
Play games and don't let the game play you.
blackhawk said:
If you have a fast, stable platform that fulfills its mission, leave it be.
My 10+ is still running very well on Pie and will be for the life of the device.
If Samsung doesn't break it, Gookill Android surely will. What applies to MS XPx64, W7 applies more so now with Android.
For all those "upgrades" what did you gain?
Rather than enjoying the device how much time did you lose? Which bring me back to my original statement.
Play games and don't let the game play you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
mate, i would've never touched the phone, i love pie and i dont mind using it, the problem occurred on itself on stock os i hadn't touched anything. i did those "upgrades" in hopes of fixing the display.
omae_wa said:
mate, i would've never touched the phone, i love pie and i dont mind using it, the problem occurred on itself on stock os i hadn't touched anything. i did those "upgrades" in hopes of fixing the display.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If it running right when first purchased it's likely hardware if a factory reset wouldn't resolve it.
When you start changing firmware rather than find the root cause you throw more variables into the mix. Making it more difficult.
blackhawk said:
If it running right when first purchased it's likely hardware if a factory reset wouldn't resolve it.
When you start changing firmware rather than find the root cause you throw more variables into the mix. Making it more difficult.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
if it's an hardware problem then why would flashing a different KERNEL fix it? there's no way this can be an hardware issue. please read what i said and dont throw useless opinions if you can't explain them or fix them.
omae_wa said:
if it's an hardware problem then why would flashing a different KERNEL fix it? there's no way this can be an hardware issue. please read what i said and dont throw useless opinions if you can't explain them or fix them.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ever wonder what happens when one or a couple dozen of the billions of transistors in the processor fails?
Firmware doesn't just of a sudden fail, hardware does.
Firmware can get corrupted. Did you ever reflash the original stock firmware version back onto it?
You know verify the firmware load was intact?
You probably lost some digital pathways and/or memory cells in the CPU or another chipset.
The current firmware for whatever reason(s) doesn't use them.
Major carriers like AT&T, Verizon etc are partnered with Samsung and actively dictate what software and firmware goes in those phones to Samsung.
What could go wrong?
I personally never update, rooted and up... well (actually downdates) turned off for all its days.
although to answer the question directly, in my opinion yes spammy ruins stuff for more sales (aka rips off it's customers) then inturn they eventually never want to see a spammed cell again. so realistically they loose money, not a smart choice obviously, but when blinded by greed all kinds stuff will happen.
Since upgrading my Samsung S10e OTA, the Home and Recent App buttons disappear, and also I can't swipe the Notification pane down. The only fix seems to be a restart. The problem happens reliably after charging for a while, and occasionally during normal use as well.
I have tried wiping the cache and pretty much every other setting I can think of. Any idea how to fix this so that I at least don't have to reboot!?
any ideas anyone?
I am wondering if your launcher/home app is crashing? I think that even if you use a third-party launcher (eg, I use Nova) these buttons are still handled by Samsung's launcher/home app? If that is sleeping or crashing, it may be why these are disappearing? That would be my only guess at the moment.
On older phones, when this kind of thing happened, I would put a launcher icon on the screen, so I could relaunch it. But I don't see an icon available for the OneUIHome app on my phone... but if you can find some way to get that it may allow you to restart it, and test this theory?
schwinn8 said:
I am wondering if your launcher/home app is crashing? I think that even if you use a third-party launcher (eg, I use Nova) these buttons are still handled by Samsung's launcher/home app? If that is sleeping or crashing, it may be why these are disappearing? That would be my only guess at the moment.
On older phones, when this kind of thing happened, I would put a launcher icon on the screen, so I could relaunch it. But I don't see an icon available for the OneUIHome app on my phone... but if you can find some way to get that it may allow you to restart it, and test this theory?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am not using a 3rd party launcher. However I have tried using Nova (free) and it seems to have the same problem.
I have also installed Assistive Touch that puts a little floating button on the top that acts as home/last used/notification panel. Only the Home function works however so I still can't access the notification panel.
I really don't want to do a factory reset! Maybe the next update will fix it but this phone is quite old now so I don't know how many updates are yet to come....
Sorry, I don't have any other ideas. I have heard of people having issues with A12 in general, but not this one particularly. That said, if you do a FDR then you may consider going back to A11 and seeing if that resolves it. The FDR might do it as well, but you can't go back to A11 from A12, so you could do that and see how it fares... then do the A12 update (without FDR) and see if it comes back - in which case you'd know it's something to do with A12 on your phone...?
Sorry I don't have better ideas!
Thanks - do you know if there are any large updates in the pipeline after the update to A12? I ask since I had this problem when I first bought the phone and I think it went with the next large update. Back then (2 years ago or more) I could fix the problem without restarting by clearing the cache in Android settings which somehow got the buttons & notification pane back. Unfort there isn't an option to clear the cache in A12 (I have tried doing it in recovery which made no difference).
That's weird... I don't believe we can expect A13... so the only thing I'd expect is continued security updates...
I have avoided A12 because of the many issues I read about on the forums and elsewhere. I have no issues with the phone today, so I figure why bother, you know?
I've actually never encountered this behaviour, strange. Mine have a bright line on the bottom part of the screen and sometimes it shines more then other. But that's purely hw issue not software.
Regarding updates, Samsung is updating now with May 22 security patches, I heard they moved us to 3months cycle of updates, but seems they still comes out monthly. That's cool!
kayuz said:
I've actually never encountered this behaviour, strange. Mine have a bright line on the bottom part of the screen and sometimes it shines more then other. But that's purely hw issue not software.
Regarding updates, Samsung is updating now with May 22 security patches, I heard they moved us to 3months cycle of updates, but seems they still comes out monthly. That's cool!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There are one or quite old posts about the same problem, and the suggested fix is to enter the following in ADB
adb shell am start -n com.google.android.setupwizard/.SetupWizardTestActivity
But on my S10e there is no SetupWizardTestActivity option available when I go into ADB.
Any idea?
drb01 said:
There are one or quite old posts about the same problem, and the suggested fix is to enter the following in ADB
adb shell am start -n com.google.android.setupwizard/.SetupWizardTestActivity
But on my S10e there is no SetupWizardTestActivity option available when I go into ADB.
Any idea?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Any ideas anyone? The problem seems if anything worse since the last OTA update from Samsung !
Have you tried a different launcher app? Is the OneUI app being killed by something? I would think it should be eliminated from battery optimization in the stock ROM by default, but make sure it is. Beyond that, if you're using any battery-saving apps that could be killing it?
schwinn8 said:
Have you tried a different launcher app? Is the OneUI app being killed by something? I would think it should be eliminated from battery optimization in the stock ROM by default, but make sure it is. Beyond that, if you're using any battery-saving apps that could be killing it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The OneUI Home app was "Optmised". I changed it to Unrestricted which made no difference.
In a previous version of Android when I had this same problem I could just clear the app cache in Settings and the buttons would reappear. There doesn't seem to be a way to do this in Android 12. I have tried wiping cache in recovery which made no difference.
Do you have other battery optimization apps installed? Greenify, etc? These may be killing it as well.
You can still wipe cache in Android 12: https://mobileinternist.com/clear-cache-android
If you had a workaround in A11, I might suggest going back to that - you should be able to (for a while, at least... once the BL changes you won't be able to).
schwinn8 said:
Do you have other battery optimization apps installed? Greenify, etc? These may be killing it as well.
You can still wipe cache in Android 12: https://mobileinternist.com/clear-cache-android
If you had a workaround in A11, I might suggest going back to that - you should be able to (for a while, at least... once the BL changes you won't be able to).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
V happy to go back to a11, but Is there a way to go back to a11 without doing a factory reset?
And excuse my ignorance but what is BL?
No, you can't go backwards without resetting.
BL = Bootloader. Samsung has been updating this and if you're on a later version, you cannot backtrack it (at least not on a Snapdragon phone). I realize now that I'm not sure which phone you have, so if you're on Exynos then the situation could be different.
As long as the A11 you're flashing has the same BL version as the one you have now, you can flash backwards that way. 5th digit from the end of the version number (eg G970U1UEU6IVD2) tells you the BL version. You'll need to get an A11 with the same version there, and it should be doable.
What's your full version number?
schwinn8 said:
No, you can't go backwards without resetting.
BL = Bootloader. Samsung has been updating this and if you're on a later version, you cannot backtrack it (at least not on a Snapdragon phone). I realize now that I'm not sure which phone you have, so if you're on Exynos then the situation could be different.
As long as the A11 you're flashing has the same BL version as the one you have now, you can flash backwards that way. 5th digit from the end of the version number (eg G970U1UEU6IVD2) tells you the BL version. You'll need to get an A11 with the same version there, and it should be doable.
What's your full version number?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The full build version is SP1A.210812.016.G970FXXUFHVE1.
If there is a way to go back to a11 without doing a reset I'd love to know! Or of course just any way to fix this problem ..
Sorry, I should have chased this down first - you have an Exynos phone, so you may have other options. You'll need to re-post and say you have an Exynos phone, and ask people about this again... maybe others who are more familiar with Exynos can chime in. Sorry for wasting your time with my Snapdragon-related info.
In the future, it's important to mention you have an Exynos phone... or say you have a G970F... the "F" means the same thing.
hello
i've never downgraded/flashed any firmware on this device before, so before i do something that might be fatal/result in bricking my phone i would like to ask is it possible to downgrade a S20 FE android 13 to android 11? while my one ui version is 5.1 i haven't updated the security patch to the april one (the one that changes your binary) it's currently the 1 march 2023 one
i've already checked & downloaded a firmware with the correct binary number so now all i need to do is flash it
Welcome to XDA.
You're limited by the bootloader version to how far you can roll it back. If the bootloader was upgraded too, you're boned. The 5th digit from the rear is the significant digit that determines that. If the rom's 5th digit is the same or higher value you can flash it. If lower, no go.
kiyan_ said:
hello
i've never downgraded/flashed any firmware on this device before, so before i do something that might be fatal/result in bricking my phone i would like to ask is it possible to downgrade a S20 FE android 13 to android 11? while my one ui version is 5.1 i haven't updated the security patch to the april one (the one that changes your binary) it's currently the 1 march 2023 one
i've already checked & downloaded a firmware with the correct binary number so now all i need to do is flash it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi, I downgraded my S20 FE several times from 13 to 12 with the same binary (obviously) with no issues at all, so you can downgrade easily.
In my experience on samsung devices (literally I flashed a hundred times on different devices) it's very unlikely that you brick your device with odin, even if you use a wrong firmware for your device....the only thing that it may brick a device is because it has a hardware damage
rgrapow said:
Hi, I downgraded my S20 FE several times from 13 to 12 with the same binary (obviously) with no issues at all, so you can downgrade easily.
In my experience on samsung devices (literally I flashed a hundred times on different devices) it's very unlikely that you brick your device with odin, even if you use a wrong firmware for your device....the only thing that it may brick a device is because it has a hardware damage
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hello
This will depend on your variant.
on the G780G (binary 3) and G781B (binary 4)
You can download to android 11.
since it has the same binary.
Of course, you should do it from 0.
do not install via CSC_HOME.
The installation must be clean.
before all make backup.
blackhawk said:
Welcome to XDA.
You're limited by the bootloader version to how far you can roll it back. If the bootloader was upgraded too, you're boned. The 5th digit from the rear is the significant digit that determines that. If the rom's 5th digit is the same or higher value you can flash it. If lower, no go.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes it is the same value
mine G780GXXU3EWB2
the firmware i downloaded G780GXXU3AUH5
which would make both binaries '3' right? would this be okay?
rgrapow said:
Hi, I downgraded my S20 FE several times from 13 to 12 with the same binary (obviously) with no issues at all, so you can downgrade easily.
In my experience on samsung devices (literally I flashed a hundred times on different devices) it's very unlikely that you brick your device with odin, even if you use a wrong firmware for your device....the only thing that it may brick a device is because it has a hardware damage
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thank you for your answer & sharing your experience, this is what i've been looking for
kiyan_ said:
yes it is the same value
mine G780GXXU3EWB2
the firmware i downloaded G780GXXU3AUH5
which would make both binaries '3' right? would this be okay?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
since it has the same binary.
Of course, you should do it from 0.
do not install via CSC_HOME.
The installation must be clean.
before all make backup.
rgrapow said:
the only thing that it may brick a device is because it has a hardware damage
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Or if the battery has insufficient charge or capacity. Any time you flash a device you take some level of risk. A power outage with no or insufficient battery backup for the PC would also end badly.
The risk is also greater with Androids because it's not a small couple dozen MB flash that's done in seconds. Lots more time and data for things to go wrong. If my Canon pro cam had a bad flash, Canon would likely repair for free or a reasonable charge. Samsung will do neither of these... repair cost plus a new mobo loaded with the latest firmware. perfect.
mezacorleehone said:
on the G780G (binary 3)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes that is my phone variant
mezacorleehone said:
do not install via CSC_HOME.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
may i ask why is that?
kiyan_ said:
yes that is my phone variant
may i ask why is that?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
the CSC_HOME file
comes in the software you just downloaded.
unlike normal CSC.
The CSC_HOME is used to only update the system, without deleting anything.
in your case you are going to downgrade, use the normal CSC without _home.
thank you everyone for the help & answers
kiyan_ said:
thank you everyone for the help & answers
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are welcome.
where possible we collaborate.
blackhawk said:
Or if the battery has insufficient charge or capacity. Any time you flash a device you take some level of risk. A power outage with no or insufficient battery backup for the PC would also end badly.
The risk is also greater with Androids because it's not a small couple dozen MB flash that's done in seconds. Lots more time and data for things to go wrong. If my Canon pro cam had a bad flash, Canon would likely repair for free or a reasonable charge. Samsung will do neither of these... repair cost plus a new mobo loaded with the latest firmware. perfect.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm referring about samsung devices based on my experience (trial and error), I had a lot of bricks, soft bricks and I was able to solve it with odin.
kiyan_ said:
yes it is the same value
mine G780GXXU3EWB2
the firmware i downloaded G780GXXU3AUH5
which would make both binaries '3' right? would this be okay?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, exactly. Why do you want to roll it back?
If it's a specific issue finding a work around may be easier.
Android 11 is no picnic either. I prefer Pie, Android 10 is ok; I'm running both and will likely never upgrade them.
Regardless you will need to lock it down so it can't do OTA upgrades/updates. That's the first thing I do on my Samsung's... once bitten, twice shy Upgrades and updates can and do break Samsung's... then you have find work arounds and fixes.
blackhawk said:
Yes, exactly. Why do you want to roll it back?
If it's a specific issue finding a work around may be easier.
Android 11 is no picnic either. I prefer Pie, Android 10 is ok; I'm running both and will likely never upgrade them.
Regardless you will need to lock it down so it can't do OTA upgrades/updates. That's the first thing I do on my Samsung's... once bitten, twice shy Upgrades and updates can and do break Samsung's... then you have find work arounds and fixes.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
other than battery run out faster & the phone feeling a bit sluggish nothing specific....it's just i've already debloated my phone & disabled many features of the phone that i dont use and dont plan on updating my phone anymore and while that does help improve things quite significantly i just thought at this point why dont i just might aswell downgrade the phone
before i had this phone i was fine staying years with a phone that stopped receiving updates after android 6 lol just that it eventually ran its course and after several hardware problems & the phone giving up by itself (every 3 weeks or so it'll get stuck on bootloop for no reason) i assume it was time for me to buy a new one...too bad
rgrapow said:
I'm referring about samsung devices based on my experience (trial and error), I had a lot of bricks, soft bricks and I was able to solve it with odin.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm glad that's working well for you. I use to always be playing with my PC's like that. With Androids I took a more conservative approach; less down time, more play time.
I leave the firmware be on my 2 stock N10+'s. They run very good, fulfill their mission and it's simply not worth the risk or time. I don't allow firmware upgrades or updates. This N10+ in my hand is still running on Pie, firmware is 3.5 yo, and the current load will be 3 yo this June. No malware in all that time; security isn't an issue. Still fast, very stable with minimal maintenance. It's also heavily optimized and running well; I have zero incentive to change the playing field by altering the firmware.
My SQlite scores are lower than they should be in spite of my fast disk r/w scores so eventually I may do a factory reset to try to resolve that. Lol, that's the full extent of my ambition at the moment.
blackhawk said:
Upgrades and updates can and do break Samsung's... then you have find work arounds and fixes.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yep. i learned the hard way
i'm quite green at this stuff and at first i just thought "more upgrades & updates means good! i should get the most out of this device" but alas after some serious overheating & battery draining problems over loads of features i dont even use.....
kiyan_ said:
other than battery run out faster & the phone feeling a bit sluggish nothing specific....it's just i've already debloated my phone & disabled many features of the phone that i dont use and dont plan on updating my phone anymore and while that does help improve things quite significantly i just thought at this point why dont i just might aswell downgrade the phone
before i had this phone i was fine staying years with a phone that stopped receiving updates after android 6 lol just that it eventually ran its course and after several hardware problems & the phone giving up by itself (every 3 weeks or so it'll get stuck on bootloop for no reason) i assume it was time for me to buy a new one...too bad
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Anything below Android 9 is suspectable to partition worming nasties like Xhelper. Run Android 9 or higher. Android 9 is relatively secure unless you do stupid things.
All Samsung's should be optimized. You will still have scoped storage running on Android 11 anyway. If you don't mind the UI of Android 13 I would try to find what's causing the issues.
Disable global power management then go after the power hogs on an individual case by case basis. A logging firewall is useful in finding them. Cloud, and social media apps are prime offenders. Try temporarily disabling Google play Services and see if this helps; Google backup Transport, Gmail and Playstore are dependencies of it. Enable as needed. 5G can also suck a lot of power and is inefficient when doing small bandwidth transfers. Wifi isn't needed if you have an unlimited data plan. Use Package Disabler or abd/ladb edits to take out the really problem apps that can't be resolved in settings. Don't go too nuts though; target the hogs and totally worthless apps like Digital Wellbeing. Most of the dozens a small Samsung system apps are best left alone as many modify the UI and consume very little resources. Understand what the app does and it's dependencies if any before disabling whenever possible.
Play with it...
blackhawk said:
Anything below Android 9 is suspectable to partition worming nasties like Xhelper. Run Android 9 or higher. Android 9 is relatively secure unless you do stupid things.
All Samsung's should be optimized. You will still have scoped storage running on Android 11 anyway. If you don't mind the UI of Android 13 I would try to find what's causing the issues.
Disable global power management then go after the power hogs on an individual case by case basis. A logging firewall is useful in finding them. Cloud, and social media apps are prime offenders. Try temporarily disabling Google play Services and see if this helps; Google backup Transport, Gmail and Playstore are dependencies of it. Enable as needed. 5G can also suck a lot of power and is inefficient when doing small bandwidth transfers. Wifi isn't needed if you have an unlimited data plan. Use Package Disabler or abd/ladb edits to take out the really problem apps that can't be resolved in settings. Don't go too nuts though; target the hogs and totally worthless apps like Digital Wellbeing. Most of the dozens a small Samsung system apps are best left alone as many modify the UI and consume very little resources. Understand what the app does and it's dependencies if any before disabling whenever possible.
Play with it...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i've done all that hahahah
other than youtube i don't have any other social media apps installed and i've already got rid of chrome & switched to a lighter browser
yep i like to experiment, i suppose the flashing stuff is the next step after all of that (yes have tried factory reset several times too, i don't mind as there aren't any important data in my phone but still, possibly getting a priceful item bricked over my messing around isn't something i'm too excited about, that's why i still like to ask around)
also what got me the idea was that i've also read from several people with the same device saying that with every android updates the phone gets even more sluggish
kiyan_ said:
yep. i learned the hard way
i'm quite green at this stuff and at first i just thought "more upgrades & updates means good! i should get the most out of this device" but alas after some serious overheating & battery draining problems over loads of features i dont even use.....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I learned the hard way with Samsung's too.
After the upgrade to 13 did you do a factory reset? If not, now is the time. Don't use SmartSwitch; do a clean load by importing all the critic data yourself.
At the very least clear the system cache.
I use Package Disabler to disable about 70 apps. It's not as bad as it first seems. Android 10 literally has about 100 more new system apps than 9. Most of those new ones should be left alone. My disable list for the Android 9 N10+ vs the Android 10 one is almost identical though.
Samsung's do lots of cool things so don't be too concerned until you learn more about the features. Bixby got killed right out of the gate; it's a hog and it's EULA is one of the worst I've ever read.