Quest for finding a new daily phone

Published: 20.05.2022

New-old phone in compact format?

As the year goes by so does hardware and batteries embedded inside (there is a sliver of hope for revival of glorious time with user-replaceable power cells - it depends on UE regulations). Old & faithful Samsung S7 was my daily companion for over 3 years (and at least 1-2 years for first owner). From the performance/features point of view this smartphone is still enough for my usage (web browsing, emails, music, occasionally movies) - that is a good perk of older flagship phones. The issue was SOT (screen-on-time). The cost of replacing battery/parts is around ~1/4 of my target budget for next phone. That is why I decided that it is time for change. Requirements look quite simple but it is not exactly true…

small dimensions (surely <150 mm height)
better (at least 50%) scores in synthetic tests
camera with at least the same resolution of videos (modded S7 was able to record 4K 30FPS) and OIS
mini jack
good community support

The winner is Samsung S10e, it fulfilled all requirements and except fingerprint sensor placement all changes are almost negligible from user perspective. Also flagship models receive a bunch of (un)official accessories. I really liked Samsung Led Cover - wallet-like case with slim profile (in opposition to generic ones).

To ensure better privacy and to gain full control (easier backups, ad blocking using hosts file etc) I needed to gain root access. There were a few steps, things get a little more complicated in newer android versions. Below necessary steps are described in laconic manner.

Note: Instructions found below should be used only as general overview - it worked in my specific case (phone revision, region, no ramdisk etc). I do not take any responsibility - everything can happen (as always during such low-level operations). And say goodbye or rather hello to Knox flag!

Entering phone modes

Now to enter proper mode specific procedure is necessary:

Download: turn off, bixby + vol down + plug cable
Recovery: turn off, plug cable, wait for %, vol up + bixby + power until in recovery
Magisk enable (no ramdisk): turn off, plug cable, wait for %, vol up + bixby + power until first samsung splash + vibration, then release

Changing firmware region, unlocking bootloader, adding magisk and TWRP

Unlock bootloader -> programmers settings oem unlock; power off, bixby + vol down + plug cable, unlock (get ready for factory reset)
Freja download XID firmware (change CSC features to enable region locked settings), flash with ODIN
Install Magisk manager apk, push over adb unpacked AP, patch using Magisk Manager, pull over adb
Install ‘real’ Magisk using patched magisk AP (and all of images), may be bootloop - enter recovery and factory reset
Replace recovery.img with twrp.img in AP.tar.md5. Push image to phone
1

adb push "C:\Samsung S10e\Root and Recovery\unpacked\ap.tar" "./storage/emulated/0/ap_xid.tar.md5"
Patch again this file with TWRP recovery inside using Magisk manager. Pull image, flash once again using ODIN
Result: magisk (if started correctly phone - depends if has Ramdisk) and TWRP on A12

Fix smaller data partition:

Boot into TWRP
Go to Wipe / Advanced wipe
Select Data
Select “Repair or change file system”
Select “Resize file system”
Confirm, then reboot

Useful links:

Custom roms worth attention:

Marek Pawlak