I’m looking for a de-googled device with a AOSP based fork and settled on “Nothing CMF Phone 1” and /e/OS. Murena store currently is out of stock of this phone, so I’m planning to get one from Amazon which is running Nothing OS 2.6 (Android 14).
To maximize my success and not start a new hobby (android modding), I’m planning to do the following. Please ack and advise what I got wrong.
DO NOT allow “Nothing OS” to upgrade to 3 (Android 15)
do not insert SIM card and do not connect to Wifi until completing next step
go to System Menu > Updates → Disable automatic updates
this prevents auto-download and auto-install of new “Nothing OS 3” which COULD happen when you are about to reboot to install /e/OS !!
DO exercise Nothing OS 2.6 with a SIM card,
to let cellular provider provision the phone
make sure to send and receive SMS and MMS messages and make voice calls
DO remove SIM card before /e/OS install
DO use a brand new USB3 data cable from reputable vendor plugged into motherboard
not via usb-hub, also don’t use cables intended for charging, look for USB3 and 5Gbps rating
If using Windows, DO keep device manager open to install Windows drivers as needed
prolonged waiting for device and/or ‘!’ next to ?fastboot? or ?recovery? device
DO download and prepare Official manual installer in case Web Installer does not complete
DO be patient and do not restart the phone until explicitly called for by the installer.
Alternatively, when will Murena have CMF1 pre-flashed in stock??
Thanks, Mike
[edited to keep instructions clean and easy]
closed questions
“Official” builds are NOT limited to Murena prepared devices and are what Web Installer uses
so if Web Installer does not complete, one should finish using “Official” manual installer of the same version.
Android version is not mentioned on install page as the Fastboot ROM method is expected to be able to handle Android version change.
The installer will effectively “self test” your browser; more importantly some introductory steps are covered by the installer before it commits. It would be great if you would give feedback if any important item (as you have asked) is not covered. Any potential user can run that intro with no device or an unsupported device.
I prefer SIM card inserted so that it runs at First boot, gives best chance of being fully discovered first time. Some do say install without SIM. For sure IMS registration with initial calls on stock ROM can be essential for certain device/carrier combinations.
The installer will install official without offering a choice of the Different Build Types.
Availability requests can be made from the “Buy Murena handsets” shop link at the top of forum pages.
The installer is quite new; critical feedback appreciated.
I’ve just buy on Amazon a CMF 1 and install /e/OS yesterday from linux Mint. Before i just start the phone without connected it on internet, so /e/os installation was made before any update os Nothing.
The installer blocked at step 13/16 so i restart and follow the manual install, choosing the latest official version (3.1).
All processes take 10 to 20mn approx (don’t remember) and everything seem’s ok, except this bug for oversatured colors with is very not cool (temporary solution can be found on forum but it’s not fixed yet)
I am able to run the web installer on Brave under Linux Gnu/Debian 12 and on Chrome under Windows 11. Both were able to get to step 7 which tries to detect the CMF1 (which I don’t have yet).
I am open to running the manual installer, have downloaded it, and have examined the steps it takes in flash_factory() from factory.common.
Q. If the Web Installer were to fail, is it obvious which step failed and how it maps to manual steps?
Thank You for confirming the Web Installer uses the Official built - I’ll use the same Official manual bundle should I need to do that.
Q. How aggressive is Nothing OS in attempting to upgrade?
I assume it is a substantial download and user needs to approve it before it proceeds. From forums, it appears the process is “pushy” but can be delayed.
Q. Could you comment how pushy it is and confirm delay-ability?
I understand you installed before internet connection (no SIM and no Wifi I take) and inserted the SIM card for the first time on /e/OS.
Q. Did you have any issues with calls/SMS/MMS after installing /e/OS?
Q. Which cellular provider?
I ask as I’m on Mint Mobile (ie. T-Mobile network) which I understand is the most favorable based on bands available on CMF1.
Thank You for a very recent installation success confirm!
There is no documented way for the user to collect a log. So it does make it difficult to support on the forum. However if you are a bit familiar with the install page you can guess where you are perhaps up to the start of the script.
I never used the eosinstaller, but from reports once the install script starts it runs silent. You will have noticed the flashing script includes (approximation) slot a plus b or abort per partition, few sleep rests.
On terminal partitions as flashed are reported, abort would be recognisable to an experienced user; eosinstaller just fails silently.
Speculation; (assuming eosinstaller uses a very similar script) a script for “Factory install” may be hard work for some home PCs especially with a browser running ??
At first start up of the new CMF phone i didn’t connect to cellular or wifi like you notice so no attempt to update. Made some test today (french provider) mms ans sms seems working but with some delay (10 to 20mn), don’t know if it’s about /e/os or provider (live in a small village ) Call seems ok.
You may get a notification (which I guess could link to the instsaller) which one would dismiss. Otherwise one must navigate to the System updater. This may report an update available or you spam the refresh button if impatient. Furthermore it is always a staggered release so the update will appear sometime during the course of the update week – you then install it when you feel like it.
Every so often we hear from users who never knew updating was a thing.
Having installed official, OTA Android version upgrade is expected after a lag; manual Android version upgrade as a fresh install is an option.
To alleviate any USB related issues, I just bought a fresh USB3.1 Gen 2 1m data cable from reputable manufacturer and I will use it on the motherboard USB3 port (not hub).
Also, I dug into the Web Installer a little bit and am reporting that Javascript Developer Console does show which steps (which appear to be CLI equivalents) are being ran.
aibd, I was actually asking if “Nothing OS” update is forceful or pushy, how easy is it to avoid “accidentally” getting Nothing OS 3 (ie. Android 15) when connected to the Internet.
Upon exploring the code of the CLI installer, understanding its operation and thinking about the installation process, I decided I’m much more comfortable using the CLI installer on GNU/Debian Linux (bookworm) than using the Web Installer on Win11 for following reasons:
all install files are downloaded ahead of time (vs during installation) removing one source of failures
easier to track progress and monitor CLI installer
with set -x added to flash_tetris_factory.sh I was able to see every function/command ran with full arguments
I don’t trust Windows and its drivers situation, Linux has a big advantage here.
I don’t trust browsers to not crash or run into issues, CLI has a big advantage here.
The CLI installer took at most 10min and completed without issues on first try. I did follow my notes above wrt not upgrading Nothing OS and exercising the SIM card/provisioning.
The one area where Web Installer was helpful is good pointers on unlocking the device. Of note is that build could not be searched for on Nothing OS 2.6 → no results. Instead, clicking on the giant image of the phone in About Phone is where Build → “developer unlock” is found (web instruction did not match my phone).
Thats it for the CLI installer - I’m super happy with how smoothly it worked out and recommend this path.
Overall, I feel having a web installer suggests to non-technical users that the flashing process is ready for non-technical users. Unfortunately based on what I’ve learnt, if the process doesn’t complete the only recourse is to run CLI installer which may be beyond capabilities of many users. For those users, they may be in unrecoverable situation. I feel they would be better served by buying a Murena flashed phone (if it was only in stock).
while CMF1 has only USB2, using a brand new USB3 5Gbps cable is advantageous as these spec cables are most shielded and can help avoid signal issues during data transfers
certainly don’t use a random old USB2 cable intended primarily for charging - which technically has data wires, but is NOT as robust
while downgrading base Android can lead to problems on most phones, this is not an issue on CMF1
for example Nothing OS 3 is Android 15, while /e/OS 3.1.1 is Android 14 - this would be a no-no on a Pixel phone, but ~should work fine on CMF1, just remember this for other phones, CMF1 is atypical in this regard!
The high saturation is pretty high, fortunately running two commands from one’s desktop cures it unil next reboot
The color correction being off, effectively prevents one from switching color profiles in Setting and using Extra Dim mode, as the over-saturation will return
UI hang during fingerprint scanning (1-time)
during 48h of intense usage and testing (-some sleep), I got one UI freeze when training my second thumb for the fingerprint. Hopefully this is rare under normal unlock usage
will try to ssh-in (via termux+sshd) to hanged UI phone to confirm this is only UI
will try to see if I can unhang via ADB root
CMF1 8+256 model for only $209 is an amazing deal
screen is large, crisp, high contrast and high dynamic range - definitely above its pay-grade
the device is very snappy, benchmarks I’ve read place it above Samsung S10 performance which I have and CMF1 is a noticeable upgrade
this is a big device compared to S10, I knew that ahead of time, still was surprised, but like it
the battery life is amazing, 48h on single charge down to 10%
included flashing, copying all my data over, setting up, migrating settings, experimenting and playing around
I’ve never had a phone with this much battery life - amazing!
the 4G+5G converage on Mint Mobile (T-Mobile infra) is much better than my S10’s 4G-only
more bars and better connectivity with CMF1
no NFC - fine
I don’t put all my eggs in one basket and have a wallet with <sic!> cash and cards inside of it…
I’m OLD, get off my lawn!!
/e/OS and LineageOS and AOSP A14 notes:
frame of reference: I came from stock Samsung S10 (A12) with up-to date apps (brave, signal, etc) and many F-droid apps.
everything works amazingly well, expectations EXCEEDED
between App Lounge (logged in to goog for a few paid apps), Aurora Store (anon) and F-droid (majority of tools) I got ~everything working
afterwards locked down micro-G cloud notifications to only those apps absolutely needing them (2 apps)
ability to lock down network access for apps not needing it is great!!
really just full control over any permission
ie. no background use, nice fine grained controls, etc…
I’ve been using Organic Maps for a long time, aside from lack of traffic it is great!
Brave works great
Signal works great
obviously everything from F-droid is fine
even my bank app works fine
only failure is: Blink Camera app - can’t get it to login with it’s stupid oauth web redirect
excuse to replace it with motionEyeOS
In summary - if you are technical and privacy > convenience|games oriented then DO IT!
Now I shall set aside some money and donate to those projects I rely on to help them continue - we need them!
) Call seems ok.
