Unihertz Jelly2

Still waiting for /e/ for the Poco F2 pro I found another phone instead. The Poco sometimes is too big at work. I will not replace it. But sometimes tiny is more useful…
So I found the really small unihertz Jelly2. It’s biggest fail so far is that there fits no micro SD while using two SIMs and another launcher ist needed to show more symbols in a row and get a usefull “Desktop” without the mass of icons…

But without google it would be even better…
The Atom L (4" rugged phone) and Atom XL (same but with additional DMR) would be interesting to. But I tried the smallest… (less expensive and with IR-Remote funktion…)
As they all offer 6/128GB they should be nice with a longer support without google. :wink:

Hope others would be interested in using it with /e/…

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Yes, I would love the Jelly 2 on /e/ !

The newly-released official GSI works just fine on the Jelly 2, aside from VoLTE.

For the beginners here, what does GSI mean? Does that mean /e/os can work on the Jelly 2?

Yep! It does. You can find some more general info here in the /e/
developer blog post titled “Introducing /e/ OS Generic System Images
(GSI)”.

But, to skip to the end, what I did to install it was:

  1. Enable developer options in Settings.

  2. Choose “Allow OEM unlocking” and enable “USB debugging” in the same
    place.

  3. Install Android Debug Bridge and plug phone into computer.

  4. Run: adb reboot bootloader

  5. Run: fastboot flashing unlock (and accept prompt on phone)

  6. Run: fastboot reboot fastboot

  7. Download the official firmware from Unihertz and grab “vbmeta.img”
    out of the zip file:
    https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1PNL1x0I2vsLoofGzOhTPwx97GpnNJA_t

  8. Run: fastboot flash --disable-verity --disable-verification vbmeta
    vbmeta.img

  9. Follow (roughly) the directions here from
    https://doc.e.foundation/how-tos/install-GSI (you need Arm64 A/B),
    abridged as follows:
    a. Download the ARM64 A/B image from the install guide linked above.
    b. Open the zip file
    c. Run: fastboot flash system system.img
    d. Run: fastboot -w (this will delete everything on your phone, so
    back up first)

  10. Reboot the phone

If you need to install updates – /e/ isn’t providing OTA updates yet –
just repeat steps 9 and 10 with the newer version of the OS. Steps 1-8
are one-time things related to installing a non-stock OS. If you want to
go back to the stock firmware (I didn’t), there is a guide on Unihertz’s
website.

Enjoy!

2 Likes

Thanks a lot for that. Having done it, how does it run on the phone? I’m thinking specifically about it have a lower resolution than most other phones, has that caused an issue? I would be interested in seeing some pictures or screenshots of it if is not too much trouble.

Don’t have any screenshots or photos handy right now. It works fine, with no real trouble from the small screen. I replaced the launcher with a different one, though. The keyboard is a little small, but that’s a general issue with the phone and on-screen keyboards.

The only major issue is that VoLTE does not work – I’ve reported a separate issue for that and am hopeful it gets resolved soon, as it seems to be just a minor bug in the build rather than a serious long-term problem.

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I bought this phone thinking I’d be able to load a custom ROM without Gapps.

However, I’m now reading that GSI and other custom ROMs lack the magic needed for Verizon.

Anyone know if GSI works with Verizon (US Mobile)?

when you did this, did you get a message on boot saying ‘orange state, your device has been unlocked and can’t be trusted’?

Also, google play protect is uncertified?

Yes, you get that message every time. It’s basically harmless. I haven’t used any apps that want Google Play Protect, so no clue there unfortunately.