>"for the debloating i used xda forums. they have a lot of forum posts about what is safe to remove from any device but as always be careful. don't try to remove gpu drivers or something"
Kinda bizarre to see much ado over what's ultimately just installing a music app. The concept of an edge to edge screen with a notch being an "old android phone" is also very bizarre. (that's before even getting into specs and the fact that this was a flagship phone so this is not "slumming it up" by any means, cause it's not a situation dealing with a truly old or weak phone either. like, there's genuinely no hardship there to overcome, besides shitty rom situation)
It's like a preview of some future generations idea of "old tech" and "accomplishing something". Ooh installing some apks. Using two phones, groundbreaking. (with such revelations as, using another phone with a 3500 mAh battery would save battery on some other phone likely with its own 4-5k mAh battery. great stuff.) And there could be a neat and useful writeup about using any and all kinds of phones as 'just a music player' or some other kind of focused device (some older phones may still have pretty good cameras), but this is just barely even instructive at all
I am using AIMP. I was specifically looking for apps with downloadable APKs for sideloading. I can't use the Play Store because I don't have a google account. Looks like PowerAmp also has an APK.
I'd also very strongly recommend F-Droid. TBH I can't really speak to the quality of music apps on it - I just use VLC - but it doesn't require an account and it has lots of good apps.
I use Auxio from F-Droid. It's quite simple (which to me is a benefit) and my only real complaint is how similar shuffle on and off look on Android Auto. It handles non ASCII titles correctly where some others didn't (from what I remember due to weirdness with the Android media store) and it picks up new media/edited quickly and reliably which can be a sore spot with others. I don't know how Android's media store is apparently so incompetent that most music apps don't work correctly using it.
Looks like they also allow you to buy with a credit card on their website, and they say Google Services aren't required if you buy that way. Very cool!
PowerAmp is an incredible app, used it and loved it before. I have a self-hosted streaming setup, so I've personally found Symfonium (1) to be my go-to. I'm glad things worked out for the author with this setup, and honestly the headphone jack is a sight for sore eyes.
>"for the debloating i used xda forums. they have a lot of forum posts about what is safe to remove from any device but as always be careful. don't try to remove gpu drivers or something"
Suggestion: Use the Universal Android Debloater
https://github.com/Universal-Debloater-Alliance/universal-an...
Kinda bizarre to see much ado over what's ultimately just installing a music app. The concept of an edge to edge screen with a notch being an "old android phone" is also very bizarre. (that's before even getting into specs and the fact that this was a flagship phone so this is not "slumming it up" by any means, cause it's not a situation dealing with a truly old or weak phone either. like, there's genuinely no hardship there to overcome, besides shitty rom situation)
It's like a preview of some future generations idea of "old tech" and "accomplishing something". Ooh installing some apks. Using two phones, groundbreaking. (with such revelations as, using another phone with a 3500 mAh battery would save battery on some other phone likely with its own 4-5k mAh battery. great stuff.) And there could be a neat and useful writeup about using any and all kinds of phones as 'just a music player' or some other kind of focused device (some older phones may still have pretty good cameras), but this is just barely even instructive at all
The author is using PowerAmp.
I am using AIMP. I was specifically looking for apps with downloadable APKs for sideloading. I can't use the Play Store because I don't have a google account. Looks like PowerAmp also has an APK.
I'd also very strongly recommend F-Droid. TBH I can't really speak to the quality of music apps on it - I just use VLC - but it doesn't require an account and it has lots of good apps.
I use the F-Droid apps Transistor to listen to streaming radio and Antennapod for podcasts on an old phone:
https://f-droid.org/en/packages/org.y20k.transistor/
https://f-droid.org/en/packages/de.danoeh.antennapod/
I use Auxio from F-Droid. It's quite simple (which to me is a benefit) and my only real complaint is how similar shuffle on and off look on Android Auto. It handles non ASCII titles correctly where some others didn't (from what I remember due to weirdness with the Android media store) and it picks up new media/edited quickly and reliably which can be a sore spot with others. I don't know how Android's media store is apparently so incompetent that most music apps don't work correctly using it.
can also vouch for Auxio - happy user of 5 years
Use Aurora Store to download apps from Play Store without an account (very trustworthy app IMO, has been around and working for years):
https://auroraoss.com/aurora-store
Looks like they also allow you to buy with a credit card on their website, and they say Google Services aren't required if you buy that way. Very cool!
Sidebar, PowerAmp is the app I miss most moving from Android to iOS. Nothing on iOS comes close, Doppler is the closest I've found and it's just OK.
It’s still nowhere near as good as Poweramp but I’ve found Jewelcase to be better than Doppler.
Wake me up when you start using a Lumia 820 in lockedown mode as a music player.
I have an old LG V-60 lying around which with its quad DAC is the perfect phone for this
I've been using an iPhone 5 as a standalone portable music player and an iPhone 3G (not 3GS) as an office music player daily since they came out.
Even the latest versions of macOS support them perfectly, down to the icons.
I just use VLC but I just play long sets not individual tracks
Now if Winamp was available for Android so I could use the Enhancer plugin...
https://winampplugins.co.uk/enhancer/enhancer.html
I've never found a sound processor that can make music sound so amazing somehow
I couldn't find a good player for linux, so am using Symfonium on my old android phone with music on raspberry pi with navidrome
PowerAmp is an incredible app, used it and loved it before. I have a self-hosted streaming setup, so I've personally found Symfonium (1) to be my go-to. I'm glad things worked out for the author with this setup, and honestly the headphone jack is a sight for sore eyes.
(1) https://www.symfonium.app/
Now I'm wondering if I can load plexamp on my ancient Nexus 5a...