At this point I’m not even picky about which custom ROM I run.
What I’m looking for is a phone that has a very small form factor and there’s any custom ROM that officially supports it.

Ideally, with a 3-4" screen
Must be <5"
Must be officially supported. (for unsupported builds, I know of a few options already)

Are there any? Thanks for any suggestions or help!

  • root@aussie.zoneEnglish
    1·
    9 months ago

    Excellent points. As an ex-user of the XZ1C, I like to surprise people when I show them that I don’t need a sim card ejector when travelling. The sim card tray is such a neat feature.

    Since it is now my spare phone, i’m a little tempted to try one of the many custom roms out there. However the rooting / downgrade procedure has always kept me away.

    How do you find the camera quality? I remember reading a long time ago about drm keys being wiped during the rooting process. Is it still the case?

    • DynamoSunshirtSandals@possumpat.ioEnglish
      1·
      9 months ago

      It turns out that the DRM keys only matter on Android 8 (Oreo) – on 9 (Pie) and on all custom ROMs, they don’t matter. I think. Camera quality certainly seems fine to me – comparable to my 2016 iPhone SE, that is, acceptable but not beautiful.

      It seems nobody really cares about the DRM keys any more unless you’re hellbent on reselling your XZ1C with the capability of taking high quality photos on Oreo. A pretty niche thing these days!

      Because the DRM keys don’t matter any more, no need to root or downgrade. You probably have to factory reset, but you should be able to take a backup and install a custom ROM. Lineage 17.1 and 20 have both treated me well, and introduce some nice new features and conveniences along with improved app compatibility now that Pie is so old. A tough sell on a daily driver, I know, but if you’re contemplating a phone upgrade anyway, this might get you a couple more years out of the XZ1C!

      • root@aussie.zoneEnglish
        1·
        9 months ago

        Thanks for the detailed explanation. I doubt I’ll ever need to downgrade it to Oreo so it’ll be nice to try out a cuatom rom. I have heard quite a bit of /e/ os and it might be interesting to try it for myself.

        The XZ1C has a lot of features I value. The small size, a 3.5mm plug and a camera shutter button. I’ve since upgraded to the Asus Zenfone8, but I still find it to be too big unfortunately. :(