u/basketballsteven

I have carried this phone solo for 2 days now and she does everything but her battery needs some recharge in late afternoon.

I am not done determining the best combination of browser and stand alone apps to do everything my other phones do and so far Netflix seems to be the only thing that does not work.

My best process for apps for this phone has been has been to use apk mirror on my computer which allows me to search an extensive set of older app versions (easily) and download the apk and then transfer to my phone's microsd card for installation. By far Firefox (opera mini works but less well) seems to be the best choice for accessing many things in place of the dedicated app (amazon, ebay) but some older versions of apps work just fine (audible), it's a mixed road to success.

Hey to those of you who like this phone, I just recently bought one from Ebay and am working to a path of restoring it to a useful state. When I received this phone it was in very bad shape (listing said unlocked, restored, good condition)...um no. Upon arrival the battery was completely discharged, after getting enough charge in the battery, the power button woke the phone not to a setup screen but to the home screen, after a reboot the phone boot looped for about 30 minutes until I finally got into the settings to reset/restore to new. I spent a day trying out the android 6 with apps but unfortunately after a bit the phone boot looped 2 more times.

I decided the best path was to unlock the bootloader and do a custom rom but unfortunately the phone was carrier locked! Over a few days I got the phone carrier unlocked, unlocked the bootloader, installed TWRP, and flashed the android 11 AICP rom, root, and gapps (see pictures).

The phone is useable, Wi-Fi, BT, texts/calls but for a reason I cannot yet figure out the phone can connect to my cell service make calls and text but will not do a LTE data connection (still trying to get that working). Apps are no problem but 2 gigs of ram means apps one or two at a time.

I just bought an HTC One M8 and have plans to unlock the bootloader and install lineage OS on it. Prior to transforming it with lineage i though i might use it for a few days with the stock android 6. I've used the Hermit lite apps application (version 23 only require android 5) with a number of other phones and i am interested to see how much can be done generating web based lite apps with this phone.

I am open to suggestions of what else might be "fun" to try or at least successfully installed under the max stock android 6.

Once I have had some time to try this phone with android 6 then I plan to get lineage with android 10 or 12 installed and again try hermit (the current paid version) and alpha native for some sandboxed web apps. I may also try pairing the phone with my clicks power keyboard when it arrives in late May as this is a nice sized phone for that add on.

I am open to suggestions or pitfalls/caveats. First time unlocking a bootloader and installing Lineage OS so cross your fingers!