[Galaxy S 4 Mini Android Development] lorn10:
Okay folks, here follows a somewhat more detailed feedback regarding the latest official nightly AOKP serranoltexx release 2020-05-15 with low RAM (aka "Android Go Mode") enabled. Sorry to hi-jack this thread [MENTION=5416372]csendre[/MENTION]. ;)

At first it must be said that this so called "nightly" build is a fully stable Android 9 version for the Galaxy S4 Mini LTE. It runs in almost all regard error free. The performance is AMAZING if you take into account the old old hardware from 2013.

So far, only the power consumption can be seen somewhat critical. It is not entirely bad, but when the phone is loading and installing around 40 apps in one sequence it becomes quite warm and the battery power level is falling down perceivable. I can confirm this for the fresh installed official AOKP Pie 9.0 build 2020-05-15 which replaced the originally Samsung stock Android 4.4.2. At the beginning the battery was at 100%. After a clean new installation and complete migration including recovery of all data and apps from the Google cloud the battery had around 55%. However, in normal operation and when the phone can go into standby mode, the battery consumption seems to be at a good level and is comparable with the stock ROM.

It is important to note that I didn't install the regular GApps. Instead of them I have used the Google Go apps. These are the

perfect choice

for older custom ROM based devices. To make this possible, it is necessary to install only the Pico Pie 9 package of the Open GApps. Every other includes the regular Google (search) app which is a heavyweight and slowdowns the phone. Also the regular Gmail app is quite resource hungry. The Gmail Go app has near the same functionality but has a far smaller footprint. Furthermore it is not possible to install the Gmail Go app when the regular Gmail app is present. So that's the reason why I recommend to start with the smallest possible GApps package,

it keeps all options open

. It's possible to install the Google Go or the normal Google apps.

Well, it is clear that the S4 Mini

remains an old phone

. But with this nice Pie 9.0 build it can be absolutely compared with some newer entry level Android Go phones like the Nokia 1. It can be said, with this official AOKP Android 9 Pie build the Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini LTE outperforms a Nokia 1 Android Go phone in most aspects.

My exact steps were:

1.) Install the latest available TWRP release (from 2019) which is the official version 3.3.1. It is avaiable here: https://dl.twrp.me/serranoltexx/

I have used Odin 3.09. More help can be found here: https://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2678420

2.) Copy the ROM, the pico GApps package and the low ram enabler (and disabler) to a SD card. The low ram enabler is avaiable here: https://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=79708833&postcount=344

3.) Boot into TWRP recovery and follow the instructions of the first page of this thread. It is recommended to install the GApps package right after the ROM and the low RAM enabler at the last.

That's it, - the first boot up takes a while. As already mentioned, the low ram enabler sets the phone into some type of "Android Go mode". This signals the installed apps that they should run in a more basic way. This results in a somewhat less stylish UI. But the optical differences are not really big, - while the difference in the performance is noticeable. With the low ram disabler it is possible to activate again the "normal Android mode", - just boot into TWRP and execute the zip.

Regards

lorn10