Hello
I recently installed e OS on my refurbished S9 (with lots of help from here - thank you!).
I now want to set up a phone for my dad, and would appreciate it if somebody would tell me if there is any reason why one type of the ‘stable’ Samsung phones is better or worse than any other?
An S7 refurbished phone is around £60 cheaper than an S8, so I am thinking of getting the S7. Any good reason not to?
Thank you!
Regain your privacy! Adopt /e/ the unGoogled mobile OS and online services
I never used an S8, but the S7 holds up quite well. I used one myself for about 3 years until I replaced it about 6 months ago.
The camera’s very good.
Hi Ludix.
Thanks for sharing your experience. I was wondering if there was any difference between the way the e OS behaves with one phone as opposed to the other, but it seems not? I will go ahead and get the S7 then, as my dad will probably use it very lightly.
I made the mistake when I was installing e on my S9 of not having upgraded to Android 10 first. Do you know what I would have to upgrade the S7 phone to before using the Easy-Installer? Maybe I am looking in the wrong place, but I don’t see this information written up anywhere.
Thank you!
Latest Samsung software seems to be based on android 8 Oreo for the Galaxy s7
Super. Thank you, piero.
It’s like @piero said. Stock ROM and /e/ are both based on Android 8. So nothing special to care for.
Android 8 seems old with Android 12 Beta released, but as long as it’s supported by /e/ and gets security updates it’s alright.
for Galaxy s7, Also Pie and Quince tart Community Unofficial Builds based on android 9 and 10 are available on this Forum…
On S7, I just installed the unofficial Pie build available on the forum, and it works even better than the official Oreo build (0.19 dev).
I run an inofficial 10 build on my S7, but I don’t daily drive it anymore.
As inofficial builds require manual updates it’s cool for playing around, but not for gifting the device as it’s the topic of this thread.
Runs great tho
Thanks for all the replies.
I am new to smartphones, let alone phone operating systems. Like with the Linux Mint operating system I use on my laptop, I am not interested in getting very involved in the system itself - I just want to use it as a PC, or in this case, as a phone I can rely on.
Your responses have prompted me to ask this: Is a phone with e installed on it an appropriate choice for a man in his 80’s who also has never used a smartphone before?
We want him to have a phone because he is about to live on his own in a city 70-odd miles away from the rest of the family, and we thought we could teach him how to use some of the features of a smartphone, so that he has some kind of help when he is out and about: Emergency details on his phone; being able to take photos/videos as evidence; apps that might help alert others that he is in trouble (if these exist); as well as being able to contact us wherever he is/if he gets locked out.
Thank you for your recommendations.
I can see this is a difficult decision 
In your shoes I might share an /e/ phone with him for a short period to find out his level of real interest (or resistance). He might find it quite stimulating!
I can imagine you would want to be able to spend some time introducing him to it, but on the other hand, if you are doing zero modifications, /e/ may be quicker to pick up than some Android versions.
(Mobile asda dot com in the UK still have a mobile for £14 with which some family members might feel more secure.) No, I would not like to be given one of those when leaving my home town! 
Compared to an intrusive commercial OS with tones off inutiles apps, the /e/ interface will be simlplier to discover and appropriate.
Unfortunately, I don’t think it is the best choice: I’m a great fan of /e/, and I use it in my daily driver but, it is definitely still beta software. Too many bits are not quite as good as they should be and require a level of ‘working around’. Most people want / need a phone where everything ‘just works’, and there are several things in /e/ that don’t quite do that yet.
In your situation, I would look for a device which has a well-known and mature custom ROM which is officially supported by the ROM maintainer. Personally I would choose one with an officially supported LineageOS ROM because Lineage is very well supported and maintained, doesn’t seem to depend on a single developer, and provides OTA updates. I would then install an appropriate GApps package (because, in my opinion, in this use case, functionality is more important than lack of privacy).
However, the S8 and S9 are no longer supported by LineageOS so, if you definitely want one of those phones, then I would look on the XDA Forums for S8 and S7 and pick a ROM which looks to be well supported and which supports the installation of GApps (or already includes them).
If I had to choose myself, I would probably go for the Official HavocOS ROM for S8, as I have used Havoc OS on my Sony ‘daily driver’ before I managed to build /e/ for it. It doesn’t mention OTA support, but it does include GApps, so updates would just involve flashing a single ROM image.
(Of course, If I really had to choose I wouldn’t go for a Samsung device, I’d choose a Sony e.g. the Xperia Z3, which is supported officially by LOS, and is my wife’s ‘daily driver’. I’ve been a fan of Sony phones since my days of working for Ericsson and then Sony Ericsson, so I am not completely impartial 
)
I hope that helps you find the right phone and OS for your father.
Or DORO, a spécial brand developped for old peoples 's childrens (not open sources)
Just to “second” the answer from @piero on “latest version” (and I do not want to influence you towards Samsung again, but having survived one roller-coaster you should be in a good position to install /e/ on another).
So if you had an https://doc.e.foundation/devices/herolte you would need to double check your model and country: but for a UK SM-G930F, here we see https://www.sammobile.com/samsung/galaxy-s7/firmware/SM-G930F/H3G/download/G930FXXU8EUE1/1558139/
|Version|Android 8.0.0|
|Build Date|Wed, 26 May 2021 08:15:16 +0000|
|Security Patch Level|2021-01-01|
This gives a big clue to the device being “end of life” as far as Samsung is concerned, but Easy Installer should work fine and you can upgrade to [UNOFFICIAL BUILD] Unofficial Pie Build for Samsung Galaxy S7 (herolte) - #207 by LaurentG quite easily.
Thank you again for all your replies. You are all so brainy and kind. A great combo!
The reason I chose /e/ for myself was because it allowed me access to the Relay UK app, which I need because I am deaf. I otherwise might have gone for Ubuntu Touch.
My dad has fabulous hearing, so he won’t need Relay UK on his phone. I am going to look over the links you have provided here, @petefoth , and determine if I have enough competence/confidence to install Lineage OS on an X3 myself. I am not at all attached to having any one handset over any other, as long as it works out for my dad. I don’t think privacy will be a big issue because my dad is already paranoid when it comes to paying for things, and generally sticks with cash for as much as he can get away with. I doubt he will use a phone for paying for anything. I expect he will be a very light user indeed.
I did wonder about just putting him onto iOS or Android, but I would prefer not to. I agree, @piero , that /e/ is nice and clean to use.
We already have a Doro phone, and I might give him that as well, or in the meantime, but I find these push-button phones a bit laborious for drafting texts, compared to smartphones anyway.
Again, many thanks to you all.
Just to be clear, the Sony device I mentioned is the Xperia Z3 not X3
What keeps me from distributing /e/ phones to my family members is mainly the update process.
If your dad keeps the device offline, I wouldn’t think twice about it and get him the S7 with /e/.
If the device is online, updates are a concern and necessary for keeping it safe.
In this case you should install the S7 via the distributed Easy Installer, that’s the easiest way to get on the stable build. The updates are tested by the developers and users this way, versus the developers-only test on the dev channels.
I think /e/ is in a perfectly working state and the interface isn’t as cluttered as the OEM Android versions and thus easier to use.
I personally wouldn’t worry about this, but that’s just my opinion.
I can’t say the difference among the two, because I only have experience on S8.
I’m using it as my daily driver with /e/ since one year and half.
Stable and usable.
@Ludix - That’s interesting.
I confess I didn’t really know what the ‘stable’ was about in any detail, but I opted for that with my own phone as it sounded desirable. I see on my phone that I got an update yesterday, so I assume that the Easy-Installer allowed for that to happen, according to what you say? When I was installing /e/ via the Easy-Installer it suddenly cut off, and I think it’s because my PC overheated and shut down, and I had to continue the process myself. So I am hoping that my phone is stable despite my intervention, but - are you able to confirm that for me somehow?
So, you are saying that as long as I install /e/ on an S7 via the Easy-Installer, then all will be well, without my dad having to deal with the ‘inner workings’ of the phone, and having to update it himself? That sounds okay.