Wait…you can get Android 10 on an /e/ device?
The S9 and S9+ I purchased are still on 8.1. Do I need to do something to force the upgrade?
Hi HellsBells yes I bought I single SIM SM-G960F S9 on Swappa.com Exynos European chipset per the model
chip then followed the docs, here https://doc.e.foundation/devices/starlte/
There are upgrade instructions. S9 .https://doc.e.foundation/devices/starlte/upgrade. are you in the States? I am hoping e will be able to ship to states soon…
They do. Only the S9 and S9+ though.
Yup I’m Stateside. Did not know 10 existed. I suppose I can use my S9 as a test case and then try with my S9+!
@Manoj,
Sadly, in this documentation for a Samsung Device, the author talk about fastboot command when we have to use heimdall-flash command on a Samsung Device.
Wow that’s great. Getting into Developer settings and unlocking the boot loader is not to bad and heimdall works just fine. How long did it take to receive them? When I tried to order a month or so ago nothing was available.
Thanks for pointing this out . Will have the documentation updated.
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Not long at all. Few days, week tops. I’d recommended signing up for the mailing list to be notified of stock.
They do have 8.1 loaded, just for your info.
New /e/ user from the states here. I was impressed when I received my S9 from France in 4 days.
Now… getting used to all these user user limitations and hurdles based on over a decade of being a google fanboi… not so much fun.
I don’t know what the real hardcore /e/ users out there do to make their device as useful as a commercial device.
I’ve used adb and have rooted phones in the past but I don’t have as much time as I once did to deal with it on my own without support. Really I’m just getting started and want to upgrade to 10. Thanks for this post.
I’m pretty much just like you from when you started from the sound of things. I purchased an S9 and am having growing pains. I too will admit that I am feeling mighty gripey about some of the ambiguities I’m running across searching this forum. I’m somewhat used to a certain level of productivity and not having it is making me anxious.
If you are inclined to feeling generous… What are the things you wish you knew then that you know now? I would be grateful to follow in the footsteps of someone that has the same device. I’m trying to get an answer about being able to upgrade to android 10, am hating the bliss launcher, not seeing apps installed by Aurora, and don’t really want to go down rabbit holes if they’ve already been filled.
I wish I was psychic / had ESP powers. I would’ve just waited a few months for when /e/ officially offered the S9 to USA buyers, and wouldn’t of had to spend as much time/energy gettting to where I am now. But perhaps the circumstances were for the better - upgrading to stock 10 from the previous /e/ build, then back to /e/ Q might have been easier for me…? I don’t know how much of a hassle that is with the /e/ shop pre-loaded phones.
When I first tried /e/ I did not like Bliss at all, and I pretty much stopped there and went with Lineage for a while (with an Essential PH-1). Trying /e/ again with the S9 was much better once I switched launchers (Trebuchet), and disabled some buggy/redundant/useless apps.
There’s another adjustment that might be worth noting, i.e. the mentality / practice of de-googling and beyond. Certain time-wasting apps went out the window, and if I absolutely needed to access something that either wouldn’t install on /e/ or I didn’t feel comfortable using the app loaded with trackers, I’ll just use the browser/web version of whatever it is. I can get by 99% of the time.
Haven’t had much trouble other than the incredibly slow, to-the-point-of-non-existent sync with photos/videos (wondering if that will magically go away once I upgrade to a paid storage/cloud tier?). That and some minor finicky network/APN issues with Ting/T-Mobile that went away after a few resets.
Since then I’ve been daily driving it, and installed every OTA update without any real deal breakers.
Thank you very much for the reply and thoughtful comments @cornfarmer
When you’re like me and don’t even know what you don’t know that can making knowing the things I wish I knew kind of tricky hehe but I’ll do my best.
-About Trebuchet for one, along with how to install it (I will search after this).
-understanding the risks of using MicroG
-risks of using Aroura as a package manager
-do you sidechain apk’s / use ADB for setup?
-is going from Starlte 8.1.0 to Android 10/Q going to cause issues?
I can see from here https://doc.e.foundation/devices/starlte/upgrade that there is a note of caution
that makes me aprehensive.
-I also see this guide [HOWTO] Update /e/ that is different
-Do I need to install TWRP? How about about Heimdall?
-Is it correct for me to assume that I don’t need to unlock the bootloader?
-Is there any way to turn off vibration notifications globally?
-Is there a way to turn off vibration notifications for Mail all the time, outside of the “quiet time” or should quiet time be all the time?
Sorry for so many questions. They aren’t assignments and I don’t feel entitled to put my issues all on you. I’m not averse to work or research, I’m just trying to optimize my time and learning. At times I’ve spent months trying to get custom roms to work on other phones only to give up and go back to a stock rom. Any advice is good advice and you’re not responsible if I screw something up.
TBH I don’t remember what my exact process was from the start up to doing the Android 10 shuffle. It did involve using Odin and TWRP mostly with basic ADB commands (disabling stock /e/ apps, etc.) along the way too. I read a lot of the how-to threads here and pulled from both those and the scattered documentation, so it was a lot of trial and error. As to your specific questions:
- Trebuchet was easy, I found an APK of it somewhere and just downloaded/installed it.
- MicroG isn’t really giving me concerns (not sure what risks you are talking about), I get by with the stock /e/ App store and Fdroid.
- With Android 10, IIRC I found the stock ROM somewhere, and used ADB/TWRP to load it, rinse repeat for what was the latest Q at the time (maybe try searching my posts, I might have posted more details about it at that time. Also user @SuzieQ posts lots of good info ).
- Vibrations (my pet peeve too) are in several different places and totally defeatable - but some are within the apps themselves, not affected by the global setting. There is an additional one in System->Languages&Input->Virtual Keyboard also.
Your best bet is keep searching/reading here. It’s not really fresh on my mind the exact detailed steps with installing 10/Q.
I was going to use this on Verizon, but no matter what I do, no device I flash the GSI to sees the SIM card
I ended up finding my way back here because I found no way to install Venmo.
Slightly inconvenient, but you can always just use a browser/web portal no? I do this for PayPal, it’s a few extra steps but liveable.
Venmo only allows for transfers to bank from the Browser. It’s in the Aurora Store now though