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Chromium based browser for armeabi-v7a (lemmy.ml)

submitted 4 months ago by GolfNovemberUniform@lemmy.ml to c/opensource@lemmy.ml

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Chromium... I'm so getting downvoted with this one.

Anyways,

I have an old Android 6 phone that is still not completely unusable and my older family members want to use it as a backup phone (in fact, they already do). They can't live without Facebook (obviously) so I installed Firefox on it and made a PWA for Facebook. It works surprisingly well but Firefox itself is quite sluggish and slow to open on that piece of hardware. So I'm thinking of installng a Chromium browser on it, as well as on my other old devices to make them run a bit better and just out of my extremely unhealthy curiosity.

But the problem is they all do not support modern arm64 apps that most Android phones use nowadays. Instead they need this other type called armeabi-v7a. There were Chromium based browsers that had a v7a version (Bromite for example) but they all suspiciously died at the same time more than a year ago. Does Chromium really not support the old architecture (or whatever it is) anymore or I'm just not searching well enough?

P. S. Advices to buy a newer device will not be accepted and will be treated with appropriate level of hostility.

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[–] lemann@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

Chromium... I'm so getting downvoted with this one.

Why? Anyone is free to use whatever browser floats their boat 🤷‍♂️

Firefox itself is quite sluggish and slow to open on that piece of hardware

Do you get the same issues on an older version of Firefox for that device? If yes, proceed with caution - your device's internal EMMC might be nearing EOL considering how old Android 6 is

But the problem is they all do not support modern arm64 apps that most Android phones use nowadays. Instead they need this other type called armeabi-v7a

They probably just stopped building for Android 6 devices. The SDK and various third party libraries continue to add new features all the time, and unlike Firefox, the majority of devs do not have the time or resources to manually code-in the missing bits to retain compatibility with old versions of Android. As a side effect, these custom implementations may have bugs or issues that go unnoticed due to the shrinking install base.

One of the more noticeable bits that changed is the Share API, which is why Firefox's one looks so different vs every other app. There are other things like enhanced battery optimization and the storage API, which have changed a lot since Android 6.

IMO your best option is an older version of FF, or install Lineage (etc) on that device and use another browser

Edit: change "age of device" to "shrinking install base"

[–] GolfNovemberUniform@lemmy.ml 2 points 4 months ago

The people that are using the phone click malicious links almost every day. Old versions are out of question because of security.

I don't think the phone has eMMC health issues. It's just too slow for modern browsers.

and use another browser

What can you recommend? WebView browsers will have security patches from 2016 on that device.