Having realised I’d not had any Android updates for a while, I worked out it was because I was still on v 6 not v 7. Instead of just installing v 7 I took the brave step (if I was going to have to work out how to back things up anyway) to switch to Fairphone Open Source instead (having been living, as far as possible, without Google since getting my Fairphone, never creating a Google Play account and downloading all apps via F-droid or various apk websites).
This has been mostly successful so far!
As a self-confessed technonumpty, afraid of such things as “Root” and “TWRP” and strings of command line code gibberish, I was a bit apprehensive about the back up process.
I was unable to download Helium to create a (full-ish non-root) back up because I couldn’t get the driver to install (How to Backup Apps and Data without Root using Helium Android App).
However, by connecting my phone to my laptop with a USB cable, I was able to copy to my laptop all the folders from the SD card and internal storage on my phone, including my photos, documents and downloads, to my laptop.
I then used https://apkpure.com/sms-backup-restore/com.riteshsahu.SMSBackupRestore to save a copy of my SMS messages to the SD card on my phone, put the card in my laptop, copied the SMS messages to my laptop.
I exported my contacts as a vcf to my laptop.
I took a deep breath and followed the instructions here Fairphone 2 Installation Guide — FAIRPHONE open source documentation including the black screen scary bit of flashing (wiping everything off) my phone.
Much to my surprise, the new OS installed, and I was able to import my contacts, use the SMS Backup & Restore to recover my SMS and phone call history. Until I redownloaded Amaze I couldn’t see the previously downloaded APKs so ended up redownloading via F-droid and various APK sites the apps I’d previously used.
However there are 2 apps which, having downloaded, now stubbornly refuse to install, and say they don’t work on my phone: WPS Office (https://apkpure.com/wps-office-word-docs-pdf-note-slide-sheet/cn.wps.moffice_eng), and the Hyperdia app (https://apkpure.com/hyperdia-japan-rail-search/com.hyperdia.android.activity) for planning Japanese rail journeys (I’m visiting Japan later this year).
Any recommendations as to how to get those apps to install? I can use the Hyperdia website instead of the app if the worst comes to the worst, but I do want to be able to open edit and view spreadsheets & word processor documents. Any recommendations for alternative open source Libre Office type packages if WPS office won’t work would be appreciated.