Samsung shipped 2 new major Android versions, 7 and 8.0 to the device. This seems to be the end, so in early 2019 I started to use LineageOS on the Galaxy S7.
LineageOS details:
https://wiki.lineageos.org/devices/herolte/install worked for me, with one difference: after flashing the recovery image with 'heimdall flash –RECOVERY ..', the doc asks to reboot into recovery with “Volume Up + Home + Power”. At that point, I can just switch off the device with “Volume Down + Home + Power”. After turning it on again (pressing “Power”), and then immediately pressing “Volume Up + Home + Power”, I was able to proceed.
I planned to go without any spying, but my dependency on google maps is stronger, so I installed gapps.
K-9 Mail, Syncthing, Tiny Tiny RSS, Tusky for Mastodon
FFUpdater (installs and updates firefox)
yalp store
This is in fdroid, it can act as proxy to fetch from google store - for apps which are not in fdroid
the Line app is not in fdroid repos
EBookDroid (pdf reader), EBPocket Free (Japanese dictionary reader), Musicolet Music (player, can also conveniently seek in podcasts), TWRP application, Sony Headphones
Yahoo!乗換案内 (Tokyo train connections), Yahoo Map
Google Japanese input
google playstore
I install the opengapps app and then pico opengaps (alternatives: MicroG, MindTheGapps)
Via playstore, I install the applications which I purchased on playstore.
PeakFinder AR
Tiny Tiny RSS unlocker
Google maps
file access
Android 4.2.2 on the s4 mini does not support USB mass storage. MTP is an option.
To use MTP
On the S4 mini, one has to activate “developer” (tap “system release” in device info seven times) and “debug”.