Samsung Galaxy A5 2015 (samsung-a5)
This page is about the dedicated port of this device. There is also an optional generic port available for this device - see Generic MSM8916 (qcom-msm8916). |
![]() Samsung Galaxy A5 | |
Manufacturer | Samsung |
---|---|
Name | Galaxy A5 (2015) |
Codename | samsung-a5 |
Model | SM-A5000 - SM-A500W |
Released | 2014 |
Type | handset |
Hardware | |
Chipset | Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 (MSM8916) |
CPU | 4x 1.2 GHz Cortex-A53 |
GPU | 400 MHz Adreno 306 |
Display | 5 inch 16:9, 720 x 1280 AMOLED |
Storage | 16/32 GB EMMC 4.5 |
Memory | 2 GB 533 MHz LPDDR3 single-channel |
Architecture | aarch64 |
Software | |
Original software The software and version the device was shipped with. |
Android 4.4.4 |
Extended version The most recent supported version from the manufacturer. |
Android 7.0 |
FOSS bootloader | yes |
postmarketOS | |
Category | community |
Pre-built images Whether pre-built images are available from the postmarketOS Installation page. |
no |
Mainline Instead of a Linux kernel fork, it is possible to run (Close to) Mainline. |
yes |
pmOS kernel The kernel version that runs on the device's port. |
Mainline |
Unixbench score Unixbench Whetstone/Dhrystone score. See Unixbench. |
1028.8 |
Optional Generic Port | Generic MSM8916 (qcom-msm8916) |
Device package |
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Kernel package |
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Firmware package |
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Flashing Whether it is possible to flash the device with pmbootstrap flasher . |
Works
|
---|---|
USB Networking After connecting the device with USB to your PC, you can connect to it via telnet (initramfs) or SSH (booted system). |
Works
|
Internal storage eMMC, SD cards, UFS... |
Works
|
SD card Also includes other external storage cards. |
Works
|
Battery Whether charging and battery level reporting work. |
Works
|
Screen Whether the display works; ideally with sleep mode and brightness control. |
Partial
|
Touchscreen |
Works
|
Multimedia | |
3D Acceleration |
Works
|
Audio Audio playback, microphone, headset and buttons. |
Works
|
Camera |
Broken
|
Camera Flash |
Broken
|
Connectivity | |
WiFi |
Works
|
Bluetooth |
Works
|
GPS |
Works
|
NFC Near Field Communication |
Works
|
Modem | |
Calls |
Works
|
SMS |
Works
|
Mobile data |
Works
|
Miscellaneous | |
FDE Full disk encryption and unlocking with unl0kr. |
Works
|
USB OTG USB On-The-Go or USB-C Role switching. |
Works
|
Sensors | |
Accelerometer Handles automatic screen rotation in many interfaces. |
Works
|
Magnetometer Sensor to measure the Earth's magnetism |
Works
|
Ambient Light Measures the light level; used for automatic screen dimming in many interfaces. |
Broken
|
Proximity |
Broken
|
Hall Effect Measures magnetic fields; usually used as a flip cover sensor |
Works
|
Haptics |
Works
|
This device is based on the Snapdragon 410. See the SoC page for common tips, guides and troubleshooting steps |
Contributors
- minecrell
- maccraft123 (only wiki page)
Users owning this device
- Alexeymin (Notes: SM-A500F (not FU) replaced battery, almost like new now)
- ArMor (Notes: SM-A500H Dual Sim)
- Baonks81 (Notes: 3G SM-A500H Dual Sim 2GB/16GB)
- Blender Addict (Notes: SM-A500FU, previous daily driver)
- Bolilingmeng89006 (Notes: a5ltezt)
- Citrullin (Notes: (4x SM-A500FU available to borrow in Berlin))
- Danct12 (Notes: SM-A500H Dual Sim - dead)
- Darkness (Notes: SM-A500M)
- Debiansh (Notes: Notes: SM-A500FU Running postmarketOS with Phosh, not working display brightness, Camera and USB-OTG. I made a polish review: https://www.internet-czas-dzialac.pl/recenzja-postmarketos/)
- Exkc (Notes: Dead)
- Ferenc- (Notes: SM-A500FU)
- Grimler
- KenOokamiHoro (Notes: SM-A5000 (China), Boot from SD card not works.)
- Knuxify (Notes: (SM-A500FU))
- LayerDE (Notes: keyboard burned in)
- Lewis Collard (Notes: A5U (EUR))
- Maccraft123
- Madhaxbro (Notes: SM-A500FU, runs lk2nd + pmOS v25.06 + TWRP. Repartitioned for pmOS. Ready for testing. Looks more like a Sony, if you ask me. Well supported.)
- Minecrell (Notes: SM-A500FU, with weird replacement screen :))
- Omame
- Operachi (Notes: PostmarketOS Server)
- Oreeeee
- Pojntfx
- Powwu (Notes: Sxmo)
- Rich Morin (Notes: compatibility and deployment testing)
- RoDen (Notes: SM-A500F/DS, Plasma Desktop & Mobile)
- Sado1
- Samcday
- Stupidenbyace (Notes: SM-A500FU, No OS Flashed)
- UltrasonicMadness (Notes: SM-A500FU, daily driver)
- ValPackett (Notes: Headless (no display panel), runs pmOS as a server)
- Wann (Notes: broken touch screen, but working)
- WonderfulShrineMaidenOfParadise
- ZBookCMD (Notes: Reserve phone; for porting)
Model variants
Galaxy A5 2015 (Duos)
- SM-A5000 (China, 3G?, Dual SIM) - SD issue?
- SM-A5009 (China, 4G?)
- SM-A500F (Global, 4G)
- SM-A500FD (Global, 4G, Dual SIM)
- SM-A500FQ (Turkey, 4G?)
- SM-A500FU (Europe, 4G) - Working.
- SM-A500G (?, smaller system partition?)
- SM-A500GD (?, Dual SIM)
- SM-A500H (3G variant?)
- SM-A500HD (3G variant?, Dual SIM)
- SM-A500HQ (?)
- SM-A500M (Peru/Colombia, 4G?)
- SM-A500MD (Peru/Colombia, 4G?, Dual SIM)
- SM-A500Y (Australia/New Zealand, 4G?)
- SM-A500YZ (Taiwan, 4G?)
- SM-A500F1 (Korea, ?)
- SM-A500K (Korea, ?)
- SM-A500L (?)
- SM-A500S (Korea, ?)
- SM-A500W (Canada?)
Note: Only 4G variants should have NFC. Please add the info for your variant if you have one. Needs testing. |
Firmware
Architecture
Some variants are released with Kitkat 4.4, which doesn't boot arm64 kernel, so upgrade to Lollipop 5.0 or later first.
Boot modes
Fastboot (lk2nd menu) - hold $ fastboot reboot bootloader
on a connected USB host, or (also lk2nd) - select it on the bootloader menu by pressing or three times, then confirm using
Recovery (using lk2nd) - hold
during boot, or - enter Fastboot mode and select it on the bootloader menu by pressing twice, confirm usingRecovery (using Samsung bootloader) - hold Home+Volume Up+Power, or (with USB debugging enabled) - execute $ adb reboot recovery
on a connected USB host
DFU (Odin/Download) mode - hold Home+Volume Down+Power, or (with USB debugging enabled) - execute $ adb reboot download
on a connected USB host
Hard reset - hold Volume Down+Power
Installation
WARNING: Be careful when testing undocumented variants! Remember, we are dealing with Samsung here. |
lk2nd is a secondary bootloader that provides a standard fastboot interface, which can be used to boot postmarketOS without Android boot
flashed or pmbootstrap flasher flash_kernel
.
- Download lk2nd-msm8916.img from Releases page on Github.
- Boot your phone to bootloader (Odin/Download) mode by holding and while powering up.
- Follow lk2nd instructions to install lk2nd. Basically flash it to the boot partition (
heimdall flash --BOOT lk2nd-msm8916.img
) - Follow Qualcomm_Snapdragon_410/412_(MSM8916)#Installation to install postmarketOS.
Note: Enter lk2nd fastboot mode by pressing only | + (without ). Pressing additionally will bring you to the Samsung Download mode.
Audio
Only PulseAudio is working. Automatic device switching is unreliable when using it. See Systemd/audio for more details on PulseAudio.
Note: Playback issues may occur when playing FLAC files at high bitrates. Needs more testing/investigation. |
Audio input devices
- Primary microphone (Mic1) - Works.
- Secondary microphoe (Mic2) - Works.
- Headset input (3.5 mm) - Works. (?)
Audio output devices
- Earpiece playback - Works.
- Speaker playback - Works.
- Headset output (3.5 mm) - Works. (?)
Note that the pop up volume bar is always empty in phosh. Could be a UI bug.
WARNING: The speakers are rather loud on 100% volume and may produce distorted sound that may damage your speakers after long use. Please make sure to use reasonable volumes - your ears and your speaker will thank you! |
Bluetooth Audio
Works. Has no known? issues.
DSP
See Qualcomm_Snapdragon_410/412 (MSM8916)#Audio.
Display
Screen works partially on this device. While displaying the UI works fine, adjusting the brightness doesn't work. Needs a driver.
Brightness
Currently unsupported.
WARNING: Beware "burn in" when using an (AM)OLED display on high brightness! Permanent discoloration can occur after consistent long use. Especially on some low quality OLEDs. |
Touch keys
See Tm2-touchkey for instructions.
WARNING: Touch keys may not work on Duos variants. Confimed not to be working on SM-A5000. Needs testing. |
Camera
Currently unsupported. You are welcome to try it!
The camera subsystem requires a lot of work. Needs more investigation. |
Flash LED
Currently WIP. It can be controlled with SG Micro SGM3140 charge pump LED driver[1].
Note: Driver seems to be abandoned as of 2025. Needs to be completed. |
Image sensors
Needs more research.
ISP
See Qualcomm Snapdragon 410/412 (MSM8916)#Camera.
Storage
- EMMC 4.5 - Works.
- micoSDXC - Works.
- USB 2.0 - Works. Requires OTG adapter.
Works. Supports microSD Cards and USB 2.0 storage devices.
Partition layout
Disk /dev/mmcblk0: 14.68 GiB, 15758000128 bytes, 30777344 sectors Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes Disklabel type: gpt Device Start End Sectors Name /dev/mmcblk0p1 8192 38911 30720 apnhlos /dev/mmcblk0p2 38912 156543 117632 modem /dev/mmcblk0p3 156544 157567 1024 sbl1 /dev/mmcblk0p4 157568 157631 64 ddr /dev/mmcblk0p5 157632 161727 4096 aboot /dev/mmcblk0p6 161728 162751 1024 rpm /dev/mmcblk0p7 162752 163775 1024 qsee /dev/mmcblk0p8 163776 164799 1024 qhee /dev/mmcblk0p9 164800 170943 6144 fsg /dev/mmcblk0p10 170944 170975 32 sec /dev/mmcblk0p11 170976 192511 21536 pad /dev/mmcblk0p12 192512 212991 20480 param /dev/mmcblk0p13 212992 241663 28672 efs /dev/mmcblk0p14 241664 247807 6144 modemst1 /dev/mmcblk0p15 247808 253951 6144 modemst2 /dev/mmcblk0p16 253952 280575 26624 boot /dev/mmcblk0p17 280576 311295 30720 recovery /dev/mmcblk0p18 311296 337913 26618 fota /dev/mmcblk0p19 337914 352231 14318 backup /dev/mmcblk0p20 352232 358375 6144 fsc /dev/mmcblk0p21 358376 358391 16 ssd /dev/mmcblk0p22 358392 374775 16384 persist /dev/mmcblk0p23 374776 393207 18432 persdata /dev/mmcblk0p24 393208 5275639 4882432 system /dev/mmcblk0p25 5275640 5685239 409600 cache /dev/mmcblk0p26 5685240 30777303 25092064 userdata
Plasma Mobile
Plasma mobile currently works on A5 2015, but you should set custom scaling factor to 2.
kscreen-doctor output.1.scale.2
should work.
To run this command from ssh session add the following env variables to the above command:
XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=/run/user/10000 QT_QPA_PLATFORM=wayland kscreen-doctor output.1.scale.2
Plasma works smoothly, but there are some graphical glitches sometimes.
Ambient Light/Proximity Sensor
The driver for tmd3782
ambient light/proximity sensor is not available.
Mobile Data
- 2G (EDGE) Data - Working.
- 3G (HSPA) Data - Working.
- 4G (LTE) Data - Broken.
Partial. You will need to got to Settings > Mobile Data, then select "Network Mode", then select 2G, 3G (Preferred)
for Data.
Note: This could be caused by firmware/drivers/userspace not being configured for the 4G variant. The 4G connection does work on A500FU, but only if you have a SIM with no active data plan inserted. More research is needed, could be fixed if this really is the cause. Also see #Similar devices, serranove has a different 4G issue. |
Photos
-
Weston
-
Phosh Apps menu
-
Phosh About
-
Phosh Wi-Fi settings
-
Plasma Mobile Home screen
-
Plasma Mobile top bar
-
Plasma Mobile About
-
Plasma Mobile Lockscreen
-
Unixbench
Useful software
Bootloader builds
- Latest official lk2nd build Required to boot mainline. Can also boot Android.
Recovery builds
- Latest official TWRP build Unsure if all of them are supported. Your call.
Device support
device-samsung-a5 Device support.
linux-postmarketos-qcom-msm8916 Mainline kernel.
firmware-samsung-a5 Firmware.
See also
- Samsung Galaxy A5 2015 (samsung-a5)/Custom Partitioning Repartitioning.
- A review from the polish technology channel "Internet. Czas działać!" - PeerTube link, YouTube link
Specifications
Similar devices
- Samsung Galaxy A3 2015 (samsung-a3) Same SoC. Very similar. Well supported.
- Samsung Galaxy A7 2015 (samsung-a7) Same SoC. Very similar. Well supported.
- Samsung Galaxy E5 (samsung-e5) Same SoC. Also similar. Not packaged yet.
- Samsung Galaxy E7 (samsung-e7) Same SoC. Also similar. Well supported.
- Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini Value Edition (samsung-serranove) Same SoC. Smaller housing and display. Well supported.