[OFFICIAL] LineageOS 18.1 for the Essential Phone

[npjohnson]

I have encountered a really strange issue and I'm hoping one of you guys may be able to shed some light on it. I recently picked up an open box unused unit which came bone-stock with an older stock build, Android 8. It seems to be as from-scratch as one can possibly get here. I intended to use Lineage 18.1 on it, so I followed the following steps:

- Dev options > OEM Unlock > Reboot fastboot > fastboot flashing unlock
- Once unlocked and wiped I booted right back into the bootloader and flashed QQ1A.200105.032 (Feb 2020) with the flashall.sh script
- Once flashed I booted right back into bootloader and flashed lineage recovery
- Rebooted recovery
- ADB'd Lineage img
- Rebooted system
- System boots but refuses to detect SIM card. When a SIM is inserted, the phone soft reboots immediately and sends me to a recovery prompt. Paraphrasing, "Android couldn't start. Factory reset?"

I managed to (I think) solve the issue and I now have my SIM (Verizon) working by doing the following after the above:

- Reboot recovery
- Flash QQ1A.200105.007 (Jan 2020)
- Rebooted straight into bootloader
- Flashed recovery, rebooted recovery, flashed Lineage img, rebooted system

My question after all of the above is this: The device functions perfectly now, and I think I solved the issue. Is there a compatibility issue with the Feb build even though the Lineage img flashes all relevant partitions anyway? Do I need to fastboot flashing unlock_critical and redo the January flash? Does a Lineage OTA flash all the partitions like initial installation through fastboot or just boot/system etc?

I'm glad my phone is working, but I'm worried there's a firmware mismatch somewhere along the line and I don't want to encounter the issue again after an OTA.

Unrelated, but after reading the whole post chain: I have used and loved this ROM on my old PH-1 for quite some time and I love it. A big thanks to the devs and the maintainer(s) for their hard work!

you're fine, we flash everything needed.

 

[IronRoo]

So, your APN is correct? That's odd.

Also, LTE+, yeah that's mostly marketing fluff from carriers, you're still connecting to that band wherever you used to. Just doesn't differentiate the icon.

It's working now, strangely.

I added "mms" settings for MMS as well (defaults from SIM/network are blank), there was no change.
Then I selected IPV6/IPV4 (SIM/netwrok default setting is just IPV4), still no change.
Gave up as everthing semed to be working (bar assistant.)
Then later i noticed the little cross bottom right of signal strength bars was gone!!! Can't explain it, maybe my changes triggered some setting at my network provider and it took a little while to roll out?

 

[TDP95]

Hi npjohnson, the ongoing weekly releases of 18.1 have been great (particularly keeping the kernel up to date). The one issue that (for me) blocks 18.1 from being useful as a daily driver is that VoLTE doesn't work correctly. It is enabled and *#4636#* shows that it is Provisioned, Registered, and Available, however in-call audio either fails completely or "chipmunks".
Anay Wadhera says that this may be an issue when using t-mobile... (an audio encoding issue)?
My workaround has been to use Andy Yan's 18.1 GSI, which is built using phhusson's treble base. In Andy's builds (and all of the phhusson variants) VoLTE works correctly; hd audio is clear and very stable.
Can this be fixed in the Lineage builds? I could generate log files from GSI and Lineage 18.1 if helpful.

My PH-1 also experiences the chipmunk audio when trying to make a call using VoLTE. I've tried installing LOS 18.1 with either the stock February 2020 or January 2020 OS's originally installed on the device, but the issue persists. I haven't found a solution except to disable VoLTE. My MVNO carrier is Ting and I'm using the T-Mobile network. It looks like others are having this issue too since LOS 17.1, https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/chipmunk-audio-on-los-17-1-essential-ph-1-t-mobile.4193983/ https://www.reddit.com/r/LineageOS/comments/l1r8ez https://www.reddit.com/r/LineageOS/comments/kwatpy
I noticed however this doesn't occur on the January 2020 stock OS when I tested it. The audio with VoLTE enabled works fine.

Has anyone found a solution to this issue? T-Mobile is going to require devices to support VoLTE very soon as they're killing off their 3G network.

 

[malerocks]

I reinstalled the ROM from scratch and now if I go into my Google account settings to check what it's syncing, Contacts doesn't even show up as an option (see screenshot). Any clues how do I fix this?

Will I have to remove the Google account and set it up again? Or worse, have to reset the phone?

 

[malerocks]

I reinstalled the ROM from scratch and now if I go into my Google account settings to check what it's syncing, Contacts doesn't even show up as an option (see screenshot). Any clues how do I fix this?

Will I have to remove the Google account and set it up again? Or worse, have to reset the phone?

In fact, contacts from my exchange account aren't syncing as well.

 

[chanh2018]

In fact, contacts from my exchange account aren't syncing as well.

What build did you try? Maybe you can go back one build and see if it's still missing.

 

[malerocks]

What build did you try? Maybe you can go back one build and see if it's still missing.

It was the 27th Dec build. I reset the phone and it's brought the contacts syncing back. Let's see how everything else goes. Setting up the phone again.

 

[chanh2018]

It was the 27th Dec build. I reset the phone and it's brought the contacts syncing back. Let's see how everything else goes. Setting up the phone again.

Let use today release, see if it fixed all of your issues.
I use it as secondary device so I don't know if it's fully operated.

 

[malerocks]

Let use today release, see if it fixed all of your issues.
I use it as secondary device so I don't know if it's fully operated.

I had faced some other issues as well. Some settings were missing and device was showing as uncertified. I reset the device and all seems to be ok now.

 

[chanh2018]

I had faced some other issues as well. Some settings were missing and device was showing as uncertified. I reset the device and all seems to be ok now.

My device is always uncertified with LOS from beginning (even in 17.1)

 

[malerocks]

My device is always uncertified with LOS from beginning (even in 17.1)

This is the first time I have installed the rom on the Essential phone. Previously I had it on a different device. That was always registered as certified from 17.1 onwards. I was even able to use Google pay. Can't seem to do on this one.

 

[malerocks]

My device is always uncertified with LOS from beginning (even in 17.1)

FYI, my device is now showing as certified when I check the play store.

 

[malerocks]

Does anyone know if there is a way to keep phone vibration off when the alarm goes off? I am one of those that will snooze the alarm 5-6 times before I wake up and all that vibration ends up draining the battery unnecessarily. Phone vibrating when the alarm goes off is unnecessary IMO.

 

[ziddey]

Anyone have Widevine L1 support? From what I remember, it doesn't require the bootloader be locked on the PH1. Only seeing L3 here.

 

[Pedro2NR]

Just installed nightly 18.1-20220124 with mind the gaps. I noticed my phone reboots randomly and boots into recovery stating: "Can't load Android System".
I select "try again" and it boots up but randomly happens.
Any suggestions?

 

[chanh2018]

Just installed nightly 18.1-20220124 with mind the gaps. I noticed my phone reboots randomly and boots into recovery stating: "Can't load Android System".
I select "try again" and it boots up but randomly happens.
Any suggestions?

Try fresh install from Jan stock rom and don't root. Let see if it happens again. Mine is ok no problem at all.

 

[malerocks]

Just installed nightly 18.1-20220124 with mind the gaps. I noticed my phone reboots randomly and boots into recovery stating: "Can't load Android System".
I select "try again" and it boots up but randomly happens.
Any suggestions?

I have the random reboots too. For me, it typically happens when I am in a location where the network keeps jumping between 3G/4G. Not sure why are facing the loading error though.

 

[Pedro2NR]

Try fresh install from Jan stock rom and don't root. Let see if it happens again. Mine is ok no problem at all.

Thanks for your input. I have been on stock for a while and had no issues of rebooting. I'll keep an eye out for more issues. Thanks again.

 

[Pedro2NR]

I have the random reboots too. For me, it typically happens when I am in a location where the network keeps jumping between 3G/4G. Not sure why are facing the loading error though.

Very interesting. I"ll keep an eye out for that. Thanks for your input.

 

[IronRoo]

Does anyone know if there is a way to keep phone vibration off when the alarm goes off? I am one of those that will snooze the alarm 5-6 times before I wake up and all that vibration ends up draining the battery unnecessarily. Phone vibrating when the alarm goes off is unnecessary IMO.

can be set for each alarm when setting alarm up