mods and apps on an old F3/F3Q

$40-55 (+16 hrs if unfamiliar with concepts below)

This year, first-responders begin receiving ATT cellular devices operating on the FirstNet secure, priority, communication network, and all for free. The average citizen brings home several times less than first-responders, and can expect to pay $300-400 (and up), for a phone, as well as another $70 per month for an unsecured, questionably reliable service plan. If a citizen is lower-income, say an educator or a student, elderly fixed income, etc, even the device price becomes out of reach, not to mention phone plans. This post suggests one workaround for the device price, though it requires some work, perhaps 8 hrs worth. The service plan issue cannot be solved without massive PUC intervention. Good luck on that.

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As I write (2018), excellent condition, legally unlocked, T-Mobile LG F3 and F3Q Android phones can be purchased for $40. The phones operate NFC, Bluetooth, WiFi, and GPS. Screen size is 800x480 WVGA, and it records in HD 1280x720. F3/F3Q's contain a 3.5mm headphone jack and natively play MP3's.

Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean) phones such as the F3 or F3Q, or later, accommodate micro memory cards (SDHC's) up to 32GB(29.7 usable). 32GB U1 micro-SDHC's run ~ $11 (2018)¹. If we root the phone, we can configure the memory card to reliably run all recent apps (Uber, Slack, whatever). So far, we're at $51, and there's an additional $4 app below, though a person can also get-by with the free version. They also might have a spare micro-SDHC available, keeping the cost to just the unlocked phone.

root and mod (20 mins to root)

Rooting doesn't unlock a phone, yet a phone must be unlocked to properly root it. Accordingly, I purchase unlocked phones or take them to my service plan provider to unlock. Once unlocked, the rooting process will provide much greater freedom inside the phone's Android OS. For example, rooting give apps such as Apps2SDPro ($4)² the authority to move other apps onto the micro-SDHC card. This frees up memory inside the phone. Further efficiency can be gained by modding or replacing the Android OS itself. A stock-based, or custom ROM is needed. Modding has benefits and drawbacks (see below), whereas rooting the phone is entirely positive.

For the phone here (F3/F3Q), two types of root software can be used: earlier release F3's have a software version prior to "c", and can be rooted with motochopper or Saferoot. Software version "c" or later phones can be rooted with Saferoot (installs a free version of SuperSu ADB). Again, Phones are not unlocked by simple rooting.

Here were the Linux rooting steps I used (Note: Windows users can Google and install the saferoot EXE; the second and third bullet points below still apply):

• install/verify lib32-ncurses, since older ncurses5 emulation is required for these rooting programs from 2014. You might need the PGP key from here.

  # pacman-key --populate archlinux
  # pacman -S multilib-devel lib32-glibc
  $ yaourt lib32-ncurses5-compat-lib

  It still barked at me about keyring, so I knew gpg (runs at user level) was hung and I just did a # pacman -U [localfile and location] on the file made by yaourt.
• in the phone, verify USB debugging is on (Settings -> Developer Options)
• connect phone via USB
• in the phone, cd to saferoot directory containing install.sh, or motochopper directory containing run.sh. Verify the files, along with any associated BAT, ADB, PWN, etc. files, all have 755 permissions.
• from the PC,

  $ ./install.sh

• I answered "y" to installing BusyBox during the root process. It's an old small version.
• reboot phone and look for SuperSu app in Apps

troubleshoot/saferoot
If the the PWN binary fails (the actual rooting portion), yet the phone reboots OK and you see a Superuser app, then saferoot (or motochopper) and your USB configuration are working well and haven't damaged the phone. The PWN binary is likely outdated. Remove the Superuser app and run a newer version of Saferoot. This Saferoot post includes a phone compatibility list.

Nota bene: Rooting should, should provide no risk of losing MMS, phone, contacts, etc. Saferoot went smoothly and I was also able to quickly install Apps2SDPro from the Google store and move bulky app, including their data and libraries, to the microSD card. A mod/ROM, however, is a further step than a root; it's an actual OS modification. Before a person tries a ROM, they'll likely want the capacity to bring the phone back to factory specs if things go haywire. OK, on with the post-root work.

phone apps

I considered these 3 the core rooting apps, and didn't move them to the SDHC. Around 40Mb total, and used concurrently, they provide the ability to free 100's of MB's used by other apps. All are available in the Google Play Store.

Apps2SDPro (28Mb)	$4	Allows partitioning and automatically sets-up 2nd partition for extra system memory for linking moving. Don't link/move the ADB app (eg. SuperSu), but most others can link or move. Trial and error.
SuperSu (7Mb)	--	Free version runs a sufficient ADB, but can pay $2 for one with a few more features. Saferoot installed an older version via the USB cable, then it easily upgraded via Google Play
Trimmer (5Mb)	--	Free, works quickly on the NAND to delete orphans. Very useful and no ads or nags.

making memory space (5 mins)

Using Apps2SD, I planned to reserve 20GB for Android space (apps) and retain 9GB for photo files, etc. Files storage is VFAT, and I've read that Android uses ext4. During the Apps2SD setup (left, click to enlarge), I learned the 2nd partition would automatically be formatted ext4 and mounted as phone memory. I used the blue slider to select about 9GB of FAT32 for photos/files, entered 800MB for swap, and hit the thumbs-up for the partitions to be created. All three virtual drives were created smoothly.³

custom ROM

I have had such good results with rooting and three apps above, that I'm not sure I'll ever mod the OS until entirely bored. Modding runs risks for losing the phone's "data connection" (necessary for MMS pic send/receive), phone quality, and battery life. Modified stock ROMs, as opposed to full custom ROM's, usually have better camera quality. There's some talk about that here. Also discussed is the need for running Trimmer as all these customs apparently begin to lose speed. However, if I do ever mod the phone, I will finish this portion of the post, or do a new post on the topic.

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¹ The phone's highest video recording resolution is 16:9 HD:1280x720, so this is the reason we can get away with less expensive U1-SDHC's. Incidentally, the phone records at 1280x720, but the screen is 5:3 WVGA -- 800x480. That means video playback on the device, YouTube/Netflix are at 480p, small but clear.
² Apps2SDPro is an entire suite of tools, for example it includes a partition manager for setting up the SDHC card.
³ If the card is removed, can it be re-linked to the apps? Complex unmounting/remounting steps might be necessary if one removes the micro-SD from the phone.