How to revive a phone that was Android 6 and that takes several years without receiving security updates? Install a ROM cooked is the only optionas I’ve done with my Samsung Galaxy S5. After analyzing the phone such and how it was in its time, I have decided to cool it with LineageOS and Android 9 Foot. The experiment has proved to be better than expected.
Be one sick of the technology tends to awaken the desire to renew the mobile phone more often than necessary. It is what brings me to happening since I started to earn money by myself: it would be impossible to say from memory all mobile phones that have passed through my hands. The majority have been sold, others I gave them away to my family and friends. A few were in the drawer, waiting to have a new lifeas is the case with the Samsung Galaxy S5, a smartphone that, as tends to happen to old glories, was completely out-of-date. Luckily, it is possible to bridge the chasm of time with the help of the developers. In my case, thanks to LineageOS.
The Samsung Galaxy S5 updated to Android 9 Foot
Today it is still a mobile powerful for more than many middle-range smartphones current (and new) will exceed in performance. And the experience with LineageOS official version 16 (Android 9 Nightly) has proved to be very good: I have not missed anything. The aspect of the interface is stock (who would want to still have TouchWiz?), the operation is very fluid despite some slowdowns in the configuration and I have not run into errors to report. In short: it is surprising how well it continues to operate a phone outdated when you install a new software that adapts to your needs. Yes, do not forget that in its time was a high-end, that is why he has aged more or less well.
With Android 6 and TouchWiz the Samsung Galaxy S5 was not bad, but the look of the phone I felt terribly old. In addition, the huge amount of apps and services Samsung ralentizaban the phone, were left without security patches and on a version of Android for more than four years. Flashearle LineageOS 16 (Nightly) it has been a big soft drink, the greater the speed, security and the assurance that I can continue to install applications despite the fact that the phone is 6 years old. That is to say.
At a general level, the improvements are remarkable, both in performance as in speed, also in consumption of energy (is it that accuses the phone after living for years without being used). Yes, there is a problem that cannot be solved: despite the fact that the software that brings LineageOS 16 is recent, and that Android 9 Foot does not close the door to the apps and current games, the Snapdragon 801 is a 32-bit processor, an architecture already decrepit that prevents the installation of some applications. For example, I have not found a camera of Google that works, not even a Gcam that it was adapted specifically for 32-bit processors. Fortnite is not compatible, for example, nor benchmarks like Geekbench. It is not a serious problem taking into account the achievement of bringing Android 9 Foot to a mobile phone of 2014, but a drawback noticeable.
ROMs, the only recourse when the manufacturer fails
I would not recommend the installation of ROMs cooked up in today’s mobile since, in general, the software that bring of series usually be good enough to open the door to the best Android experience (there are always exceptions, of course), but it is recommended in those phones which were left without support and without the security updates. The case of the Samsung Galaxy S5 is a clear example: LineageOS has revived the entire phone, both in appearance and possibilities. Offers a style Pixel stock thanks to the Gapps that I installed, the operation is very fluid, the consumption with the screen off is minimal (nothing to do with the TouchWiz original) and LineageOS 16, with the latest Nightly, has updated the security patch to march 2020. This would not be possible to continue with the firmare original Samsung: stayed in August 2017.
He has changed so much the phone that no one would say that you have almost six years, a real brutality to a smartphone. But there it is: with Android 9 Foot, with all the extra features of LineageOS (multitude of display modes, sound effects, apps own camera and files…) and without running the risk of important applications such as WhatsApp stop working due to the age of the Android version. It is worth to revive a phone from that category to continue to use it dailyeven in minor tasks. How to use it for applications that deserve it the ROOT access, as a media server or a WiFi access point with which to take advantage of all these GB free that they are offering to the operators.
I thought that my Samsung Galaxy S5 would be as a collector’s item, but no: still has much life to offer. And all thanks to the developers who devote their efforts to the mobile not to die due to lack of updated software: long life to the ROMs cooked.
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The news
So relive the Samsung Galaxy S5 with LineageOS: the importance of the ROMs in mobile out-of-date
it was originally published in
Xataka Android
by
Ivan Linares
.