LCD Phone Veterans Never Die: A Day of Downgrading the iQOO Neo5 Lite to OriginOS 1

Preface

Hi everyone, I'm Xiyuan.

I already complained in my moto g75 unboxing post: wanting to buy a decent LCD phone these days is a pipe dream. Newly released LCD models are basically all low-end, and their performance can't even beat the iQOO Neo5 Lite (Snapdragon 870) I bought in 2021 🤣

(This phone only cost me 1,500 yuan back then ⬇️)

So guess what? Four years later, I'm still sticking with this phone

Not only is the hardware aging + the new system negatively optimized, it stutters like crazy every single day 🤣

I happened to see that vivo service has a battery replacement promo recently—only 69 yuan for a new battery—so I figured I'd go to the service center and take care of it, and while I was at it have them downgrade me to the factory system version.

I've also packed up all the tools used in this article. Friends who need them can reply "vivo降级" in the backend of the WeChat official account "曦远Life" to get them.

Backing Up Data

Whether you're planning to downgrade yourself or go to the service center, you must back up first.

A downgrade will wipe your data, and service repairs may also reflash the system. Preventing data loss and leaks is the most important thing.

The backup method is simple:

1. Install vivo Share for PC
2. Turn on Developer Mode + USB debugging
3. Connect to the computer via USB and follow the prompts

Once you enter the backup screen, photos, contacts, and app data can all be backed up.

After backing up, factory-reset the phone, then take it to the service center. That's the safest approach.

Restoring Data

When restoring, you can also choose what you need:

DIY Downgrade

vivo officially provides a downgrade tool:

After backing up your data, you can use the downgrade tool to downgrade the system yourself

But here's the problem

The available versions are very limited. Based on my testing, this Neo5 Lite of mine can only downgrade OriginOS 4 to OriginOS 3

In other words, "self-service downgrade" can only fix a tiny bit of stuttering; it can't get you back to the smoothest original system

That's also why I wanted to go to the service center for the downgrade

Service Center Experience

OK, back to the main topic

After work yesterday I went straight to the nearest vivo service center

The service environment was pretty OK

I scanned the QR code to take a number as instructed. The service guy was very friendly and poured everyone a cup of water. Service gets a thumbs-up 👍

I had two goals for this visit:

1. Replace the battery
2. Downgrade the system (the main goal)

The staff first showed me a "User Notice," confirming that I would bear the downgrade risks myself. After I signed, I explained why I was there: if they could downgrade the system, I'd replace the battery while I was at it

Battery Replacement: Talked Out of It

After inspecting my phone, the service guy said: "Your phone's battery still has 75% health. No need to replace it. Even if you did, it wouldn't improve battery life much. The fast drain now is because the hardware can't keep up."

In that case I won't replace it. Save where you can.

The Downgrade

Here's the key part. I asked for a downgrade.

The service guy's first words were: "No need to downgrade. It won't get any smoother. This phone is too old."

(??? I came here precisely because it's lagging, bro 😭)

He also looked at the system version and said I was already on a very old OriginOS 3 (I'd already done a downgrade before coming to the service center, but I could only get down to OriginOS 3 myself), and very seriously repeated that downgrading could damage or brick the phone, and I'd have to bear the risk myself.

After I insisted again and again, he finally agreed to check whether a downgrade was possible.

Five minutes later he came back and said they could help me downgrade to version 1.x. I gladly agreed.

I sat in a chair nearby and waited a few minutes, then the service guy handed the still-booting phone back to me

Waited another five minutes or so, the phone booted normally into the system. OK, mission accomplished for this trip. Time to go home~

Downgrade Successful

Excellent. Successfully downgraded at the service center to the oldest major version, OriginOS 1

The version number is 1.19.2

Not a particularly old version. I've seen people on 1.6, which is probably the factory version

But compared to current OriginOS 4.x it's still much better. At least it's a lot smoother

Impressions:

• Animations are smoother
• Scrolling doesn't stutter anymore
• App switching is noticeably snappier
• Power consumption after the downgrade is also more stable

The service guy still wanted to fool me into thinking a downgrade wouldn't make it smoother. I think the new system is just negatively optimized 😤

Uninstalling Built-in Bloatware

After getting home I kept tinkering with the phone setup

Used adb commands to uninstall some of vivo's built-in junk apps

For example: i Music, i Video, the browser, plus things like live wallpapers, the data plan store, Game Park, and so on. If people are interested I'll write a detailed article later and put together a list of commonly uninstalled package names.

Using Old Versions of Apps

OriginOS 1.x comes preinstalled with a lot of Chinese apps

Besides deleting some I don't need, the ones I use day to day—Alipay, Taobao, Pinduoduo, JD.com, and the like—I kept. These are old app versions from several years ago, which saved me the trouble of hunting them down.

WeChat wasn't preinstalled. When I restored my data earlier I restored WeChat and its data, but this WeChat is the current new version, 8.x—bloated and laggy. It's fine on a new phone, but on this old 870 chip it's already struggling

To make the old phone smoother, I found an old version of WeChat to downgrade to. To still be able to use mini programs, based on experience shared by other users, I chose version 7.0.22, which is also the last version of 7.x

Using an old version of WeChat takes some technique. Some people may install it and still not be able to log in

The general idea is to log in with the new WeChat first, then uninstall while keeping the data, then install the old WeChat. At that point it's already in a logged-in state by default—just open it and you're done 😄

I've also uploaded this old WeChat installer package to a cloud drive. Friends who need it can reply "微信7" in the backend of the WeChat official account "曦远Life" to get it.

Wrap-up

If your old phone has also been getting laggier over the past couple of years, you might as well try asking the service center whether a downgrade is possible.

As long as you can get down to one of the early versions after leaving the factory, it can basically get a second wind and last a few more years no problem.

Honestly, phone performance has long been overkill. Chips like the Snapdragon 870 and 888 from three or four years ago are still perfectly adequate today. A lot of people feel their phone is "old and slow," but more often it's not that the hardware can't cut it—it's that system updates keep getting heavier, animations keep getting fancier, and background policies keep getting more baffling.

At the light end it's negative optimization and cloud control; at the heavy end it's cameras going backwards and inflated battery ratings. All kinds of combo punches with just one goal: making you feel like you should buy a new phone.

Add in OLED burn-in, frequent price hikes, and spec-sheet stuffing, and the way phone makers have been playing the game these past few years is honestly pretty off-putting. Consumers who aren't careful easily fall into the "replace every year" trap, spend the money, and the experience isn't even necessarily better than the old phone in their hands.

So if it can be repaired, repair it. If it can be downgraded, downgrade it.

As long as the hardware is still okay, with a little "tuning," an old device can still keep you company and live on happily.