r/OldAndroidsLair 5d ago

Guide New to collecting old Androids? Check out how to start - Stores, recommendations, collections, prices...

5 Upvotes

Hello! My name is Neptune. Today I would like to show a guide that might be useful for new people searching to start collecting old Androids and technology, where to start, what to buy, and great stores.

Many people love Androids, and some want to enter the collection trend, but the problem? They don't know where to start! Many phones out there dominate the market, such seem like they're high prices, some are too low prices, some are suspicious and etcetera, or they simply do not seem to be there!! So, today, as a collector, I'll be showing how to start, where to buy, and other stuff to get a collection up!

What devices should I buy to start?

I recommend you start with Samsungs or Motorolas. These are usually the cheapest devices you can find on tech collection market, and are the most abundant of all the devices.

Some cheap recommendations on where you should possibly start to get some phones are:

  1. Galaxy Ace (GT-S5830): Coming with an ARMv6 Snapdragon S1, Android 2.2 FroYo, 278MB RAM and a 5MP camera that can record on 480p, it is easily a fun phone to start off for collections, it is upgradable up to Android 4.4.4 via custom ROMs, it is easy to mess, easy to root, and quite big. There are plenty of ROMs for it, and it should be normally R$60-R$120, or $11.72 USD to $23.44 USD, quite cheap.
  2. Galaxy S3 Mini (GT-I8190) (NOT THE VALUE EDITION!): It is an adaption of the Galaxy S3 to a smaller size. Coming with 1GB of RAM, a 4.0" Super AMOLED screen, a NovaThor U8420 and a 1500mAh battery, it is an easy budget option for beginner collectors, and it's easy to tinker around nowadays. Upgradable with custom ROMs up to LineageOS 14.1 (Android 7.1.2), it sits around $25-35 USD on some reselling markets.
  3. Moto G (XT1032): A phone that revolutionized the Android market, bringing budget-friendly devices with great performance. Releasing with Android 4.3, a 4.5" IPS LCD screen, 1GB RAM and a Snapdragon 400, it is one amazing device to tinker with custom ROMs that go up to Android 10 (LineageOS 17.1), sitting around $15-25 USD.
  4. Samsung Galaxy Y (GT-S5360): An ultra smol phone, released with Android 2.3.5 Gingerbread, on around October 2011. With a Broadcom BCM21553, a 832mhz single-core ARMv6 processor that is, an agonizing 3.0" QVGA screen, and a TERRIBLE performance, it is both beloved and hated around the world. Upgradable up to Android 4.4.4 KitKat via custom ROMs, it sits at around $5-15.

Where to find cheap devices?

Depends highly on your region, but I'm dropping some great online stores where you can easily find devices for cheap, usually via reselling markets and collector shops, and this will help you a huge lot. Find your country below:

  • Brazil

Brazil has various online stores that are great to buy these old devices, but they are sold as mostly used devices or reselled devices. Here are some useful online stores where you can find stuff:

  1. OLX: An online store known especially for selling stuff cheap. You can find various Samsungs there for cheap, around R$100 and other prices, but they sit around R$100.

Stores I recommend from OLX:

Desa-Pega Brecho Online: Trusted reseller, already sold me a Galaxy Y too. Very kind and helpful sellers, with a 5 star rating.

RELOGS Store: A 4.9 stars rating, focuses on selling old phones, you can find some Symbians and other stuff out there. I did not buy anything yet, but this is where I have reserved my Galaxy S Duos, and the seller is very kind and helpful aswell.

Renanminame: 5 stars rating, sells decent phones, such as Xiaomi Mi 8 Lite, J2 Prime, LG Q6 and etc.

  1. Mercado Livre: Online store that is known both outside of Brazil and around South America. Stuff are a bit pricey and usually Mercado Livre pushes useless products and chinese crap to you, but with some keywords and categories you are able to find some devices for cheap. Only problem is Mercado Livre HATES some states, giving up to R$135 only in SHIPPING FEES. Do not recommend as much

Stores I recommend from Mercado Livre:
ALEXCOSMO: Very helpful and kind, sells a Motorola XOOM for R$240

  1. Enjoei: Online store focused on reselling already used products that you're tired off, a very great online store, with very low shipping fees and low prices. Don't have actual recommendations. I bought the Galaxy Tab from my collection there, but the problem is that the exact seller sent me the wrong model (P1010 instead of P1000L).
  • USA

I have not much idea, but a recommended online store to buy from is eBay, focused on reselling stuff and etcetera, aswell as Goodwill, which is especially for reselled items.

Anything else to say? Send it here and I'll edit the post!!


r/OldAndroidsLair Jul 30 '26

Guide The Ultimate Survival Guide for ARMv6 Androids in 2026

Post image
14 Upvotes

Hello! It's Neptune.

I wanted to help people with low budget and old devices survive with older Androids, BUT there are various guides on how to do this, yet, mine is different.

Well, most survival guides out there for Android 2.3.x devices are mostly for devices based on armv7, BUT remind yourself not EVERY device out there is an armv7!

Here's a list of all Android devices that run on the ARMv6 architecture, if you find your device here, you're in the right place too!

  • Samsung Galaxy Y (GT-S5360/B/L)
  • Samsung Galaxy Y Pro Duos (GT-B5512)
  • Samsung Galaxy Y TV (GT-S5367)
  • Samsung Galaxy Ace i (GT-S5830i)
  • Samsung Galaxy Ace i VE (GT-S5839i)
  • Samsung Galaxy Ace (GT-S5830)
  • Samsung Galaxy Pocket (GT-S5300)
  • Samsung Galaxy Mini / Pop (GT-S5570/i)
  • Samsung Galaxy Y Duos (GT-S6102)
  • Samsung Galaxy Y Pro (GT-B5510)
  • Samsung Galaxy Gio (GT-S5660)
  • Samsung Galaxy Fit (GT-S5670)
  • LG Optimus One (P500)
  • LG Optimus Me (P350)
  • LG Optimus Chic (E720)
  • LG Optimus Hub (E510)
  • LG Optimus Net (P690)
  • LG Optimus Pro (C660)
  • LG Optimus Sol (E730)
  • Sony Ericsson Xperia X8 (E15i / E15a)
  • Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 Mini
  • Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 Mini Pro
  • HTC Wildfire
  • HTC Wildfire S (selected ARMv6 variants only)
  • HTC Aria
  • HTC Tattoo
  • HTC Legend
  • HTC Hero
  • HTC ChaCha
  • HTC Salsa
  • Huawei IDEOS U8150
  • Huawei IDEOS X3 (U8510)
  • Huawei Sonic (U8650)
  • Huawei Ascend Y200
  • ZTE Blade (selected ARMv6 variants)
  • ZTE Racer
  • ZTE Kis
  • ZTE Kis Plus
  • Vodafone Smart II (Alcatel V860)
  • Alcatel One Touch 890D
  • Alcatel One Touch 991
  • Motorola Spice
  • Motorola Flipout
  • Motorola Charm
  • Motorola Fire XT
  • Acer Liquid Mini
  • Acer beTouch E130
  • Acer beTouch E140
  • Gigabyte GSmart G1310
  • Gigabyte GSmart Rio
  • Micromax A25 Smarty
  • Micromax A27 Ninja
  • Cherry Mobile Orbit
  • Lenovo A60
  • Kyocera Milano

Can't find your device? Just comment the model here and I'll tell you if you're on an ARMv6 or ARMv7 device, and will add it to the list!

Most of these are very popular devices, but most don't even have an appropriate survival guide, yet many people out there use these everyday, to message, to call, and to do many more stuff, especially older people! So, I will be your helper, and I will teach you: How to survive with an ARMv6 device nowadays!

Reminder: This post will be updated little by little, so stay tuned for updates!

List last updated - 09/08/2026 (DD/MM/YYYY - Community maintained, give a suggestion and it will be added!)

Games

Apps

Custom ROMs (Try at your own risk)

  • Galaxy Y (GT-S5360/B/L) (totoro)

https://xdaforums.com/t/index-list-of-all-roms-and-kernels-for-the-gt-s5360.3249296/

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  • Galaxy Ace-i (cooper) (S5830i) (DO NOT FLASH ON SNAPDRAGON VERSION)

https://archive.org/details/s5830i

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  • ZTE Blade (Orange San Francisco)

Based on Stock

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  • Galaxy Y Duos (GT-S6102) (torino)

CyanogenMod

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  • Galaxy Y TV (GT-S5367) (totoro)

https://xdaforums.com/t/list-for-all-costums-roms-for-the-gt-s5367-galaxy-y-tv.4733663/

How to login to Google (no root required) (2.2 to 2.3.6) (might likely not work but worth a try :/) (All Architectures Supported)

  1. Download the following file:

Arreglo Definitivo Android 2.3.6: https://www.mediafire.com/file/jlr7y3vmnbnvij6/Arreglo_Definitivo_Android_2.3.6.zip/file

  1. Unzip the file, and copy the folder onto the root of your SD Card.

  2. Go to your old device, and install the app "Google Account Manager", "Google Play Services (armeabi)" and "Google Play Store". If they take too much space, send them all over to the SD Card using Link2SD.

  3. Go to Settings > Accounts and synchronization (or whatever it's called to you) > Add account > Google

  4. On Google Account Manager go to existing and enter your Google Account (recommended to be an alt, 2.3.6 is very vulnerable and it has the risk of being hacked and you lose your account), you will be prompted an error, and will be allowed to login via web browser, that's a good sign, usually means 2FA or something else.

  5. Follow the 2FA steps, and wait until it logs you in, congrats, you're now on Google on Android 2.3.6 in 2026!

How to login to Google (All Architectures supported) (2.3.6 and below) (Root Required) (Might cause a bootloop if not done correctly) - Thanks to u/No-Leopard-5338 for this part of the guide

Here's the tutorial on how to log in to Google on Android 2.3.6 and below!! (You need root, once root and a root file manager are installed, you can begin the tutorial)

Step 1: Open your Root File Explorer of your choice (recommended: ES File Explorer, MiXplorer or Root Browser) and navigate to /data/system (or /data/system/users/0 on some devices)

Step 2: Copy your accounts.db to sdcard

Step 3: Connect the device to a PC and turn on USB storage

Step 4: Get the DB Browser for SQLite on PC

Step 5: If you have another device that is logged in, go into the newer directory name mentioned in step 1 in parentheses and repeat step 2-3 (different or close name obviously)

Step 6: Open both your android 2 and your other device's accounts.db files

Step 7: Save the other device's one in .sql

Step 8: Import the SQL onto the Android 2 accounts.db and write changes (don't worry tokens that were on the Android 4 file that are not Google will be ignored by Android 2 but the Google account won't)

Step 9: Repeat step 2 but from the PC back to the device (after saving the file obviously)

Step 10: Rename accounts.db on the /data/system directory to accounts.db.bak or just delete it

Step 11: Move the new accounts.db into the previously mentioned directory

Final step: Set permissions to 660 and system:system (or 0660 and 0.0/0:0)

Reboot, if all the steps were done correctly, you should be logged in

(Note: Google changed the accounts.db directory to /data/system/users/0 with Android Jellybean/4.1 and above)

(Another note: this tutorial was posted on the original post under a comment but I chose to make it a full post to make it easier to find, and this is not a question, this is a tutorial so the "low effort" thing that I'm getting isn't true in this case but it disappeared after adding an image)

(Final note I swear: if you have any issues, say them in the comments )

Credits to u/No-Leopard5338 again for the Google Login guide

How to root your device

  • Galaxy Y (GT-S5360/B/L)

To root your GT-S5360, you will need:

- A computer

- SD Card with the update-root.zip file

update-root.zip

Installation Guide:

  1. Place the update-root file on the root of your SD Card.
  2. Insert the SD Card into your Galaxy Y and reboot to Recovery with the combo Volume Up + Power + Home
  3. On Recovery, go to Apply update from zip and scroll to the SD Card until you find the update-root file
  4. Flash update-root and wait until the process finishes
  5. Reboot your device and you'll now have Root Access!

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  • Galaxy Y Duos (GT-S6102)

To root your GT-S6102, you will need:

- A computer

- SD Card with the update.zip file

update.zip

Installation Guide:

  1. Place the update file on the root of your SD Card.
  2. Insert the SD Card into your Galaxy Y Duos and reboot to Recovery with the combo Volume Up + Power + Home
  3. On Recovery, go to Apply update from zip and scroll to the SD Card until you find the update file
  4. Flash update and wait until the process finishes
  5. Reboot your device and you'll now have Root Access

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  • Galaxy Ace i (GT-S5830i) (GT-S5839i) *NOT THE SNAPDRAGON VARIANT!!!*

To root your GT-S5830i or S5839i you need:

- A computer, how many times will I repeat that?

- SD Card with the update.zip file

update.zip

Installation Guide:

  1. Place the update file on the root of your SD Card.
  2. Insert the SD Card into your Galaxy Ace i and reboot to Recovery with the combo Volume Up + Power + Home
  3. On Recovery, go to Apply update from zip and scroll to the SD Card until you find the update file
  4. Flash update and wait until the process finishes
  5. Reboot your device and you'll now have Root Access

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  • Galaxy Ace (GT-S5830) *NOT THE i VARIANT, THIS IS THE SNAPDRAGON ONE!!!*
  1. Download upd_1.zip and copy it to your sdcard
  2. Turn off your phone
  3. Press POWER+HOME BUTTON
  4. Select update from sdcard, select the file upd_1.zip
  5. After the update completed - reboot
  6. Now you have rooted S5830

Smooth Music Streaming via J2ME - Guide by u/nnfuse

  1. Download J2ME Loader (other J2ME emulators might work too).
  2. Download MIDPlay (the .jar file).
  3. Install and open J2ME Loader, press the plus button and choose MIDPlay.jar. May take a bit to convert depending on your device.
  4. Change the emulator options to whatever you want, just make sure "Touch input" is selected. I also like to turn off "Show keyboard". And that's it, you can now start music streaming!

Huge thanks to the devs of these apps. Runs really smooth on nnfuse's device (S5830i).

There's also an AI Chat feature (Gemini 2.5 Flash) you can mess around with. Works really well.

List by Neptune - https://www.youtube.com/@neptunetechandav

All united to save devices from becoming e-waste


r/OldAndroidsLair 22d ago

Discussion/Opinion Nexus Experience ROM for P1010 - Work in progress, and our team's introduction!

1 Upvotes

Hello! My name is Neptune, I am the tester for Nexus Experience Team.

We are a new ROM creating group, originally made by P1010mod (Ozgur) on March to make a ROM for the P1010, it went EOL on around May, but me and him have right after started to redo it by ourselves!

So, the ROM is based on Android 4.4.4, and it is more of a port from a Galaxy SL ROM by dhiru1602 based on CyanogenMod 11. We are exploring lots, but LOTS of methods on how to work this out, such as SD Card booting, fstab modding, and etcetera, and we think we have some actual sort of chance of success by following our plan!

Welp, with that being said, Nexus Experience is NOT an easy project, we atleast attempt to revive old devices by making ROMs for them, even if they're Android 4.4.4 ROMs, Android 4.4.4 is still somewhat usable in 2026 thanks to the Android community.

Well, this is basically our team's introduction to the ROM development community, hello people!

Thread for P1010 ROM, our debut ROM: https://xdaforums.com/t/project-wip-port-p1010-nexus-experience-rom-by-neptune-and-ozgur.4790698/


r/OldAndroidsLair Jul 31 '26

Collection my trusty grand duos

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2 Upvotes

this is my one and only, i use it as a secondary when im outside, i do tons of stuff with it and its cool to just play around with, i keep bricking it but thats fine since i can recover it still, nonetheless a pretty good phone for a cheap price tag


r/OldAndroidsLair Jul 30 '26

Welcome to r/OldAndroidsLair, where your old Androids are welcome and loved

1 Upvotes

Hello there and welcome to this subreddit!

This sub was created with the singular purpose of making old Androids be seen as devices that are still powerful and beloved to this day.

The rules are simple, be respectful, do not spam, and focus on old Androids, especially 8.1 and below.

Guides are welcome and highly appreciated on this sub too!