Why can't I install Folding@Home on my Nexus 5x?

[Nexus5x_User]

Hi,

I've used Folding@Home for Android for over 6 months on my old phone (Moto G1) and it worked well but when I tried to install it on my 5x (Android 7.1.2) it won't let me install it.

[Joe_H]

Please read the Where to Get Support posting. The Android client is provided by and supported by Sony.

My first guess is that either the Nexus 5x hardware is too different from any Sony issued Android phone, or that the version of the Android OS is one they have not yet done testing on.

[Nexus5x_User]

But is there a work around?

[Joe_H]

Probably not.

This is not the first time the that the Android client has been reported to not work on the Nexus 5x. There is an older topic here from a year ago on the 5x and a more recent report of issues running on Android 7.1. You can read the speculation in those topics, but the ones who know the actual answers are the app developers at Sony. Contacting them at least lets them know which phones people would like to use with the app.

[JimboPalmer]

if there was a workaround, we would most likely not know it here. The support is on Sony's site.

My best guess is that the Nexus 5x uses different CPUs in the same case, which Sony does not.

"The 5X uses the same with the same Snapdragon 808 processor with a 64-bit hexa-core CPU that's a combined 1.44GHz quad-core chip and 1.82 GHz dual-core chip." - http://www.techradar.com/reviews/phones ... 7/review/3

This technology called big.LITTLE has the good effect that powerful CPUs can be used only when needed, while power efficient CPUs run most of the time. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ARM_big.LITTLE

However F@H wants to use ALL the CPU power, and that may be the sticking point. Should Sony adopt big.LITTLE, they will have to program around it's quirks.

That is all speculation on my part, but many parts of F@H would be challenged by CPUs that could not be synchronized.

[bruce]

I expect that they would have to figure how to assign the fahcore to the powerful cpu (as long as they keep the restrictions in not folding o battery). They could run webcontrol on the everyday cpu if they choose to