Google Pixel 3a (google-sargo)

Contributors

 * BlackEyedSquid

Maintainer(s)

 * Flamingradian

Entering Fastboot
Hold and  until device loads into Fastboot

Fastboot commands
Might be convenient for dual boot




 * and

Installation
You can follow a relatively typical installation using pmbootstrap as documented here (there are no pre-built images). There are a few things to keep in mind.

Flashing
If your device has Android 10 or later, you might get the following error when flashing the rootfs:

$ pmbootstrap flasher flash_rootfs Sending sparse 'system_b' 1/5 (261014 KB)         OKAY [  9.129s] Writing 'system_b'                                FAILED (remote: 'Partition should be flashed in fastbootd') fastboot: error: Command failed

This error occurs because Android 10 introduced dynamic partitions. There are different ways to flash the rootfs (see Different options of installation). Flashing to dynamic partitions via fastbootd is supported.

DTBO
Thanks to a hack in the kernel fork, you do not need to erase the DTBO partition. Keeping the DTBO comes with a few side effects. Instead of seeing "Google Pixel 3a" as the machine name, you might see something like "Google Inc. MSM sdm670 S4 PVT v1.0". You may also see a dmesg error complaining about a ramoops reserved memory region.

If you don't like these side effects, erasing the DTBO is simple:

$ fastboot erase dtbo

Charging
Support for charging was developed by the SDM845 mainlining community, with no thermals and only 1 A.

Display
The panel works. Note that the XL variant has 2 different panels.

The full panel driver is loaded late in the boot process so that unl0kr and osk-sdl work. This makes pbsplash small and makes it disappear.

Fingerprint sensor
This device has the FPC1020 fingerprint sensor. A driver is being worked on here but doesn't seem to be ready yet.

Haptics
The Pixel 3a doesn't use SPMI haptics. Instead, it uses the TI DRV2624. The driver included in the SoC kernel works with fftest, but is in bad condition. There is no feedbackd support either.

Full-disk encryption
Full-disk encryption works without 3D acceleration.

NFC
NFC card detection works. Nothing else was tested. The embedded secure element seems to have no driver support.

WiFi
You don't get the same MAC address as on Android, even though it is possible to detect the MAC address that Android uses (somewhere in /sys/firmware/devicetree/base/chosen/cdt/cdb2/wlan_mac1). Instead, it is generated with the serial number.

WiFi hotspots are on the same interface as the one used to connect to WiFi, so a hotspot cannot be set up over a WiFi connection.

Calls
It seems to be possible to initiate calls. However, this is useless because there is no call audio.

Audio
You can get audio over Bluetooth, but this isn't what the feature table entry represents. On-board speakers and the headphone jack currently don't work.

Flashlight
There is no flashlight support yet.