Feedback for v1.21

/e/OS Smartphone Operating System Build Feedback
223

Hi. :bowing_woman:

Vendor Name: Fairphone
Device name: FP3+
Device CodeName: FP3
Previously: (1.19.1-s →) 1.20-s → 1.21-t
  (no extra reboot between the two updates,
  just the forced post-installation reboot; perhaps that was risky?)
Is the device Rooted / Not rooted: Whichever is the default when buying an FP3+ from /e/.

Updater

  • Could not find 1.21 from 1.19.1 without going through 1.20 first, but maybe normal.
  • I think that when applying the Andro11→12 update there was a warning saying to back up data because that was risky. I saw no such warning for 12→13, but again, perhaps that was intended.
  • I’m still paranoid and set Caffeine to “Infinity” when updating, because the only time I didn’t, I got a download error nearly as soon as the screen went off. :woman_shrugging:

Visual glitch

When swiping twice down from the top to display the menu with all the toggles (dunno if there’s a name for that), the top area often remains completely black for a while. This lasts for 0.5–12 s. It varies greatly; perhaps it is simply re-drawn when something, like the quality of the network signal, changes? Otherwise, touching it triggers a tiny animation which re-draws the whole area as well.

Edit: This seems to be linked to the fact that I use the “Remove animations” accessibility feature in the system settings. If I reactivate animations, it seems to works better (tons of refreshes as the clock and stuff gradually scales up).

Sometimes it displays a part of the clock (a random-ish rectangular portion starting from its top, I think) for that while. Trying to take a screenshot of it triggers an UI refresh or whatever, so I can’t show it for real, haha, but here are acceptable simulations:

image
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VLC seeing no non-directory file at all

I initially thought that my SD card (just storage, no apps installed on it) was unreadable (like Feedback for v1.21 - #80 by Asperamanca), but then noticed it was just VLC having issues, and not just with the card – also with the internal storage. The issue looked vaguely similar to VLC not scanning for media files on FP3 – VLC could find directories, but pretended every single one was empty (except for subdirectories, which were listed too).

Click to expand details
  • Clearing VLC’s cache and rebuilding the media database did nothing (well, anyway, even its “browse” mode could find no non-directory files).
  • It was still possible to tell VLC to open some media by using “Open with…” in the OS’ file browser, but it did so via an ugly file descriptor (fd://80 or something) and this did not display metadata such as the artist’s name and so on.
  • I ended up removing all VLC data and uninstalling-reinstalling the app.
  • For some reason, the newly reinstalled VLC lists the SD card twice in the “Select directories to include in the media library” menu (maybe it was always the case and I don’t remember? That not a menu I open every day…): one looks like a messed up version, while the other works better:

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  • After the initial VLC setup (during which I gave it the “All files access permission”, see below) and the first media scan, the album cover arts were not displayed, which seemed fishy, so I tried to play a track to check and I got this:

image

  • I exited VLC, launched it again, and it started working properly this time (but the SD card still appears twice in the preferences).
Potential reason? – Click for more details

I wonder if it’s related to the “Access all files” permission. This permission, I think, appeared when going from Android 11 to 12, and VLC asked me if I wanted to give it to it. I may have refused at the time (honestly don’t remember). Now I gave it to it, just in case.

(NB: It does not appear in the “normal” list of permissions in the system settings, you have to explicitly look for “All files access” in “Special app access”.)

… Yep, if I remove that permission, I get “Media cannot be played” errors, and those go away if I give back the permission.
Kinda scary, due to the “app may access files without your explicit knowledge” warning. And to the fact that this is not even the default setting in VLC, I think (but it seems to be in the default /e/ Music app). I can live with it, but that’s weird.

Fortunately, I have yet to come across anything similar in other apps. Aves Libre, for example, can still read my images, both on phone and SD. :woman_shrugging:

Well, I guess things could have been way worse with yet another Android upgrade. Thanks, everyone.
Will report if anything else occurs (installed just a few hours ago).