I’ve tried to read up on how to switch your OS in the guides around here, but it’s all still very confusing to me.
First things first, i read somewhere else (i unfortunately can’t find the post anymore, it’s been a while) about replacements for Google Play Store Apps under a different OS (i think Sailfish?), does this mean by default most Apps won’t run on different OSes? If i think about it, that makes a lot of sense, but can i expect at least some overlap, such as most Android Apps running under most Android OSes?
The reason this is so important to me is because i sadly basically require most Messenger Apps (WhatsApp, Telegram and Signal at the least) to work to keep using the phone. What OSes are around that could fulfill that?
The reason i want to switch in the first place is because after it’s 7 years of use, it’s slowed down significantly. Apps can take up to a minute to open. Displaying long lists of things (e.g. the Files contained in a Folder, a Playlist in VLC, or the search results within GMail), scrolling through a website too fast, or opening the on-screen keyboard, sometimes take even longer and can cause the Screen or the entire Phone to freeze. Simple inputs and single taps on the screen sometimes take multiple seconds, sometimes more than 10, to be recognized. The battery life has also become rather short.
I have read that some of these issues may be due to the connection/contacts between Core and Screen Module worsening, but i can’t imagine it’s all of them. The reason i want to try switching is because i assume a more lightweight OS could make it run faster. But, is this even true? And if it is, would trying Sailfish or any other one from the above guide help there? Or am i better served by rather trying to simply get an older version of Android to run? To my limited understanding, that wouldn’t suffice because modern Apps would still require more powerful hardware than the FP2 has.
I would much appreciate any help in this!
Thanks to everyone who even read the entire post itfp, no matter if i can be helped or not.
I’d recommend you take a quick look into Settings > Storage. How much of your storage is already used? I’d keep 15-20 % free all the time, the system needs some wiggle room.
Sailfish is really different. So Android apps won’t run. It has its own app source.
But on most other OS options in the guide (nearly) all the apps from Google play store will run.
They will all run on divestOS, /e/OS and lineageOS.
In addition to what Urs said you might consider a factory reset (which deleted all your data and apps). This might help against slowness. But still the hardware may lag on modern apps needing lots of resources…
True, however I was surprised to see how well my good old FP2 performed again after switching from FPOS to e/OS (and with this resetting) just yesterday. Okay, currently there are no messengers and no SIM card installed, but still.
And I was also surprised to see that even some proprietary features of the M$ Authenticator (which made me switch from LOS 18.1 to FPOS just before the support ended) work on e/OS.
Thank you very much! I have moved over a bunch of Files to the SD card, and will try and observe during the next few days if it helped anything. Would be kinda embarrassing if the fix is this easy, but if i don’t have to buy a new phone, i’ll gladly take that lol.
i had already tried that twice, to mediocre effect, sadly.
But might be because first thing i did was load the music library back on it…
ooo, that’s very cool to hear! So if simply making space doesn’t suffice, i do have a silver lining to look out for.
Speaking of, should i take anything generally into account when considering the three Volker pointed out definitely fit my purposes, /e/ vs Lineage vs Divest? Do I have to worry about how stable things run for any of the three?
