Samsung Galaxy A5 2015 (samsung-a5)

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Samsung Galaxy A5 (2015)
Samsung Galaxy A5
Samsung Galaxy A5
Manufacturer Samsung
Name Galaxy A5 (2015)
Codename samsung-a5
Released 2014
Category community
Original software Android
Original version 4.4.4
postmarketOS kernel Mainline
Hardware
Chipset Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 (MSM8916)
CPU 4x 1.2 GHz Cortex-A53
GPU Adreno 306
Display 5 inch 16:9, 720 x 1280 AMOLED
Storage 16 GB
Memory 2 GB
Architecture aarch64
Type handset
Unixbench Whet/Dhry score 912.7
Features
USB Networking
Works
Flashing
Works
Touchscreen
Works
Display
Partial
WiFi
Works
FDE
Works
Mainline
Works
Battery
Partial
3D Acceleration
Works
Audio
Works
Bluetooth
Works
Camera
Broken
GPS
Works
Mobile data
Works
SMS
Works
Calls
Works
USB OTG
Partial
NFC
Works
Sensors
Accelerometer
Works
Magnetometer
Works
Ambient Light
Broken
Proximity
Broken
Hall Effect
Works
Barometer
Power Sensor
Misc
Camera Flash
Keyboard
Touchpad
USB-A
HDMI/DP
Ir TX
Ir RX
Stylus
Haptics
Ethernet
FOSS bootloader



This device is based on the Snapdragon 410.
See the SoC page for common tips, guides and troubleshooting steps

Contributors

Users owning this device


Architecture

Some variants are released with Kitkat 4.4, which doesn't boot arm64 kernel, so upgrade to Lollipop 5.0 or later first.

Installation

There are several ways to install postmarketOS on Samsung Galaxy A5 2015. All of them require you to flash lk2nd.

First, install lk2nd:

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.

  1. Download lk2nd-msm8916.img from Releases page on Github.
  2. Boot your phone to bootloader (Odin/Download) mode by holding Volume Down and Home while powering up.
  3. Follow lk2nd instructions to install lk2nd. Basically flash it to boot partition (heimdall flash --BOOT lk2nd-msm8916.img)
  4. Follow Qualcomm_Snapdragon_410/412_(MSM8916)#Installation to install postmarketOS.
Note Note: Enter lk2nd fastboot mode by pressing only Volume Down + Power (without Home). Pressing Home additionally will bring you to the Samsung Download mode.

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.

Audio

Icon 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!

Screen

Screen works partially. While displaying the UI works fine, adjusting the brightness doesn't work.

Touch keys

See Tm2-touchkey.

Charging

rt5033-charger driver is not available, so the charging is not controlled and there is no charging status reporting. There was a forgotten patch[1] from 2015 on the kernel mailing list. Jakko picked up the work on top of that, and the review started in February 2023 [2].

USB OTG

Another rt5033-charger driver issue. It's currently unable to power up a USB device in mainline; in some cases, it may be possible to use OTG with an USB hub that supports an external power supply.

Flash LED

Currently WIP. It can be controlled with SG Micro SGM3140 charge pump LED driver[3].

Battery

Somehow the battery can be charged to 102%.

samsung-a5:~$ cat /sys/class/power_supply/rt5033-battery/uevent 
POWER_SUPPLY_NAME=rt5033-battery
POWER_SUPPLY_TYPE=Battery
POWER_SUPPLY_VOLTAGE_NOW=4390000
POWER_SUPPLY_VOLTAGE_AVG=4393750
POWER_SUPPLY_VOLTAGE_OCV=4395000
POWER_SUPPLY_PRESENT=1
POWER_SUPPLY_CAPACITY=102

Ambient Light/Proximity Sensor

The driver for tmd3782 ambient light/proximity sensor is not available.

Mobile Data

2G and 3G working. 4G not working. Need to got to Setting, Mobile Data, Network Mode and select 2G, 3G (Preferred)

Photos

See also

References