Saving Nexie
We own a first generation Nexus 7 from 2012, which my wife affectionately calls Nexie because of its compact form factor. It impressed me with its high build quality, particularly considering its modest price point of €199. It's performance was more than satisfactory with the stock Android 4.1, but when it got updated to Android 5.1 in 2015, it was reduced to an unresponsive brick, no matter what I've tried (including a factory reset). We finally decided to retire it and to use it as a, well, wall clock. But recently, the time on the Nexus was often running slow by more than an hour. The reason were resource-intensive background processes updating the various Google apps installed by default.
Can we resurrect the Nexus by flashing it with an alternative ROM such as LineageOS? That's at least what I'm going to try. Note that I'm fairly ignorant with respect to Android and its devices. But anyway, let's get going.
1st step
I search the web for “Nexus 7 (2012) LineageOS”. To my relief, there's general agreement that our Nexus can run LineageOS 14.1, corresponding to Android 7.1. I thus download the image for our (GSM free) version of the Nexus 7. I also find some instructions regarding the installation. I learn from them that I have the option to install the Google Apps (particularly the play store) or not.
2nd step
I'm in favor of installing a pure LineageOS system free of Google Apps, and to use F-Droid instead of the Google play store, but my wife pleads for the latter. Since she's the primary user, I look at the options on OpenGapps and download the pico build for ARM 32 bit, Android 7.1.
3rd step
To install the custom ROM and the Google Apps, I need a custom recovery image such as the one provided by TWRP. I download the latest version for my Nexus.
4th step
Prepare your device, they say. All right, I tap the 'Build Number' under 'About Phone' in 'Settings' seven times and thus become a developer (not a joke, it really works that way 😲). I then scroll down and enable USB debugging.
5th step
The instructions mention the commands adb and fastboot, which I find to be contained in the package android-tools. I thus install these tools on my Fujitsu Lifebook:
sudo pacman -S android-tools
6th step
I use the USB cable of my Kobo reader (a conventional microUSB-to-USB cable) to connect the Nexus to my Lifebook, and chose MTP in the USB dialog on the Nexus.
7th step
All right, now it comes. (On hindsight, I could certainly do better when I would try a second time. But anyway: it worked. 😎)
# adb reboot bootloader
Yup, the Nexus boots and is now in a kind of repair mode. 😊
Now as root:
$ fastboot oem unlock $ fastboot flash recovery twrp-3.3.0-0-grouper.img
A subsequent 'adb reboot bootloader' doesn't work (I now believe that 'fastboot reboot' would have). I reboot the Nexus manually by navigating with the volume and power keys. I then switch in the same way to recovery mode, upon which TWRP starts up.
# adb push /home/cobra/Downloads/lineage-14.1-20171122_224807-UNOFFICIAL-aaopt-grouper.zip /sdcard/ # adb push /home/cobra/Downloads/open_gapps-arm-7.1-pico-20190426.zip /sdcard/
Next, as found in the instructions, I navigate in TWRP to the Wipe menu. For some reason, wiping fails, and I'm stuck in a boot loop. 😨
I search the web and find that boot loops are rather common. A recommended solution is to either erase or format the userdata:
$ fastboot erase userdata $ fastboot format userdata
but that doesn't do anything (just telling me that it's <waiting for device>). Only after I hold power/volumedown for 10 s, I see the repair menu, and when going to recovery mode, TWRP seems to finish what it has tried to do. pooh
I have no idea what went wrong there, nor precisely how it was corrected. But I found one statement in the web that gave me courage: “as long as your device does anything when switching it on, it is NOT bricked.”
The rest is easy: I go to install, select LineageOS and Google Apps, install and reboot.
The result
Much better than I had hoped for. The interface reacts instantaneously, animations run smoothly, and apps start fast. It feels as good as new. Well, my wife says: even better. ☺