I purchased the Teracube 2e with E/OS preflashed on the device because I thought I would be able to control the entire phone. I haven’t used Android in a long time (I’ve been on an old BBOS10 device for a very long time) and I can’t even figure out how to remove icons off of my desktop. Nor can I seem to remove the suggested App and Weather widget.
Did I make mistake in purchasing this thing? I figured this entire thing would be under my control and I could remove almost anything from it and run it almost like a linux computer in my hand.
After using BBOS, you will have some bad time with android. I wish this OS has been still supported. You didn’t make mistake with your purchase however, there’s nothing closer to BBOS on the market then /e/OS and SailfishOS in the moment IMO.
Anyways, about the Apps and widgets. Your phone’s ‘desktop’ is being handled by something called launcher. /e/OS is using Bliss Launcher which sadly can not have it’s recomended apps and weather widgets removed. I know, it sucks…
But hey! You can use any launcher you want, there’s plenty of them and many are opensource. Try look after some you like at F-droid repos. Good luck!
Thank god someone replied to me. I was so worried for a moment I actually bought some expensive vaporware. I have sent two emails to the official support channels of eFoundation and have not received a single reply. I also did not get an email notification from your response, despite setting my notifications as such. I’m starting to wonder if the e foundation mail server doesn’t like @protonmail.com addresses. Might explain some things.
So, if I remove this Bliss launcher all of the programs that are currently installed on the phone will get uninstalled with them? I pretty much don’t want any of it. I’d rather pick and choose what I want and I have no problem manually moving .apk files over on the SD card.
Have no worries, your launcher is standalone apk and if you remove it, every other apk stays unaffected. You can even instal multiple launchers to try every single out. The phone will ask you every single time you go to your homescreen which one you would like to use. You can then make one of your choice primary one, delete all unused launchers or keep them there for later.
You can chose your primary launcher in system settings if you change your mind anytime later.
There are some apps pre-installed like mail, browser, gallery and a few others that can’t be removed. Afaik you can’t remove the default launcher as well, all you can do is install an additional launchers.
Most Android roms cone with some apps pre-installed, /e/ is one of the better with shipping only a few.
If you wan’t complete control over what is installed on your device you’d need to build your own custom Android roms or go for a mobile linux distribution, which currently have their own bunch of problems.
Appreciate the help. I suppose I can always just disable all of the pre-installed romware. I shall do that and try out a different launcher. What do you suggest? I just want something extremely clean and fast.
I did learn to live with Bliss Launcher in the end, it supports notification dots. I just have to ignore that suggested apps widget But from what I heard, Lawnchair2 shouldn’t be bad.
That’s just your bootloader being unlocked. Don’t worry much about that. Otherwise custom ROM like /e/OS couldn’t ever be instaled on your device. It however makes it easier for possible attackers to hack your phone.
Right now your device shouldn’t have root and it’s only needer for some advanced stuff.
I like OpenLauncher. It’s very customizable, gives you the choice of displaying itself as an app in your grid, and has lots of options, including “Hide Apps.” With that setting you can remove the apps you don’t like from view, as well as display the widgets you want.
You didn’t make mistake with your purchase however, there’s nothing closer to BBOS on the market then /e/OS and SailfishOS in the moment IMO.
But from what I heard, Lawnchair2 shouldn’t be bad.