Android 12 works on the Samsung Galaxy S2 (sort of)

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Android 12 works on the Samsung Galaxy S2 (sort of)
Through the magic of software engineering, the 11-years old Samsung Galaxy S2 was able to run a modified version of Android 12. This hocus-pocus was performed by the software developer rlNanDO, who ported LineageOS 19.0 to the ancient Samsung flagship.

This OS is based on the open-source version of Android 12, and even though it’s a much lighter version of Google’s popular mobile operating system, it still requires substantial hardware resources. The Samsung Galaxy S2 debuted back in 2011 with a modest dual-core Exynos 4210 processor and 1GB of RAM.

All is not good with the port though - hence the (sort of) part in the title. Here’s the complete list of the current state of the port:

Working:
- RIL (Phone/SMS)
- Audio
- Bluetooth (audio & headset)
- Wifi
- IMEI
- Touchkeys
- Hardware encode/decoder
- Display
- DRM, for e.g. Netflix
- Selinux enforced
- BitGapps
- Magisk v23.0
- FM Radio (using Spirit2)

Working-ish/WIP:
- BLN
- Camera Pictures, one time only and crashes after second use until reboot.
- Sensors, sometimes works

Not working/known issues:
- AGPS
- Camera Videorecording
- PowerHAL
- LiveDisplay
- MicroG support



Looking at the list above, it’s still pretty amazing that a device that’s less powerful than a modern smartwatch can run Android 12. Normally, we strongly advise against such operations, and putting a custom ROM on your phone is almost always a bad idea tied to another string of bad ideas (rooting the phone and unlocking the bootloader, albeit not always), but in this case, we’re talking about a phone that’s 11 years old. So, if you want to take a shot, and you have a spare Galaxy S2 lying around, there are instructions on the XDA forum.
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