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Hello fellow Nexus 4 users.
http://imgur.com/a/mDmv2
I replaced my N4 screen after an unfortunate drop with a replacement assembly available on eBay for approx £35 including frame, digitizer and LCD.
The colours of the screen were appalling. See images in the link. There are counterfeit screens circulating.
May our N4s live on forever more!
cookiem0nster said:
Hello fellow Nexus 4 users.
http://imgur.com/a/mDmv2
I replaced my N4 screen after an unfortunate drop with a replacement assembly available on eBay for approx £35 including frame, digitizer and LCD.
The colours of the screen were appalling. See images in the link. There are counterfeit screens circulating.
May our N4s live on forever more!
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Click to collapse
Sorry to hear that. Today you can get anything fake from ebay.
Though, it wouldn't be bad if you put link to that buyer or item
The seller has dealt with the issue well so far, I'm not sure they knew they were selling a fake screen. I will post further details if I am not compensated/refunded.
Are you certain it's a counterfeit and not a re-sold piece that had actually failed QA/QC?
I don't think it's possible for an authentic screen to be of such poor quality. You could be right - I dont know much about LCD manufacture
Wondering if it is even worth replacing these parts on a phone that's over 2 years old. Not sure about pricing in UK but here in the US you can pick up a mint or refurbished one for close to the price you paid. If I busted my N4 I think I would prob have to move on and get a newer phone although I would miss perhaps the most perfect phone ever made.
I'm actually debating what to do with a N5 I have with a cracked screen sell it as is or try and find a replacement. The problem I'm Runing into is finding a stock LCD that is not cracked and makes sense price wise. If only I had a screen seperator the stupid glass can be had for $5.
kgiri247 said:
Wondering if it is even worth replacing these parts on a phone that's over 2 years old. Not sure about pricing in UK but here in the US you can pick up a mint or refurbished one for close to the price you paid. If I busted my N4 I think I would prob have to move on and get a newer phone although I would miss perhaps the most perfect phone ever made.
I'm actually debating what to do with a N5 I have with a cracked screen sell it as is or try and find a replacement. The problem I'm Runing into is finding a stock LCD that is not cracked and makes sense price wise. If only I had a screen seperator the stupid glass can be had for $5.
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This is the sad truth I've just discovered. I dropped my phone a few months back and now have an unresponsive stripe across my screen...I went looking for a screen replacement to find out I'd only save about $30 as opposed to buying a used mint condition N4. It's not worth the aggravation of doing all that work just to save a couple bucks, IMHO.
Yes I agree. I'm now debating getting a LCD separation machine and try to salvage the digitizer and LCD. Anyone ever attempt such a job?
kgiri247 I know this isn't the place to talk about selling phones but if you do want to sell it I'll more than happily take it off your hands, inbox me if you want to talk numbers! What I do know about separating the LCD and Digitizer is that it's very risky, they're two very delicate pieces of hardware and any mistakes could lead to having an expensive paperweight until you could find a replacement screen for it!
Yeah, it's getting to be a tough decision for a home who has something go wrong on these. I love this phone though as well as the development community for it. I might keep this phone just because the development community is excellent.
However if I had to get a new phone, I saw Amazon is selling the Kindle Fire phone unlocked for $199
Sent from my Nexus 4 using XDA Free mobile app
as far i can see on your images, your screen is original and coming from LG, how many months do you have it? do you have any other synthom than yellowish colours??
Have you double a check for how many fingers you can press? The N4 is 10 right, but some of the really cheap screens only support 5. You'll know very quickly whether it's fake or not.
bought a replacement screen for the n4 and the screen is horrible. has 2 dead pixels and the viewing angles are the worst ive ever seen on a cellphone.
gaboempyrean said:
bought a replacement screen for the n4 and the screen is horrible. has 2 dead pixels and the viewing angles are the worst ive ever seen on a cellphone.
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If it's too good to be true, it usually is I'm afraid. The most expensive parts of a mobile phone are usually the screen and the battery, seeing as both are advanced pieces of technology. Processors, RAM, motherboards etc are cheap in reality, that's why you can buy a pretty powerful Android TV stick for cheap. No battery, no screen.
Nexus 4's are cheap nowadays, smash a screen, it probably isn't worth buying another screen unless you can be guaranteed of OEM'ness. It isn't all that hard to replace a digitizer though, so if your LCD panel is good, it might be worth giving it a try.
Where would you be able to buy a genuine part then?
Is this something you should bite the bullet and send to LG for repair to atleast be guaranteed a genuine part?
Edit
Sorry for bumping an old thread.
I just had mine replaced by LG for a defective ribbon cable which left the touch screen complete unresponsive. I went this route due to all the complaints about bad screens. $160 later, my N4 looks and works great! Pretty expensive though.
I had ordered a replacement from a seller within the US on eBay. I can't seem to find the sale anymore, but it was the real deal.
I had purchased a Nexus 4 and it came with a crappy replacement display, so I ordered a new one and did the swap myself.
It looks like a whole new phone.
Thanks for the info guys!
I'm from the UK like op and I was considering getting the replacement screen myself from ebay but I don't know if the seller replaced the part he gave to op and if it was genuine because they do have some good fakes on ebay.
I might just bite the bullet and do it myself I don't know the price for repair here Reeves360 but I'm sure it'll be similar to what you paid.
These phone manufacturers still charging extortionate prices on a nearly 3 year old phone.
I've long wondered about the legitimacy of the replacement screen I got off eBay. I bought from a seller that had sold a ton of them and had excellent feedback. But the screen always seemed like it was dim (had to crank it all the way up to be as bright as my other devices at 2/3-3/4 max brightness, plus the color is very cool/bluish. But it was always responsive and never had any ghost touches.
However, a couple days ago, it has started to freak out. Occasionally, after touching it, the bottom half or so flashes black. Somtimes it's one flash, sometimes it's a few flashes. It still responds perfectly while doing this, but it's obviously not normal. I disassembled it, gave the connectors a whack of Deoxit and ProGold, and reassembled it, but the glitching still remains, so it's not the connector. I need to try flashing something different (or maybe just dirty flashing LS again) to see if it's ROM or kernel related. I made some changes to Hellscore settings and I finally figured out why my battery life was so atrocious the last few months (it somehow got set minimum 2 cores online), so it's possible I screwed something else up.
If the problem is that it's a fake screen, I doubt the seller was aware.
It was the kernel (settings). Not sure what caused it, but I reflashed the kernel, reinstalled HK manager, and the screen hasn't glitched out since.
My Nexus 5 is getting worse and worse by the day when it comes to battery life. I have replaced the battery and factory reset but still am struggling. Plus, I'm not overly impressed with the HTC One M9 at this point, but I realize it's not on final software yet either. The Asus Zenfone 2 is also appealing, but who knows when/if it will be released in the US.
So, if you were to buy a phone today, would you still consider the OnePlus One? I know the next variant is expected in the upcoming months but curious what you think. I like the price point, especially for the 64gb of memory, but it looks like camera quality is still hit and miss.
I appreciate your thoughts!
Update: bought one on Swappa and should be getting it on 3/20.
I just ordered mine 64GB version for 299 Eur
Hmm Nexus5 to OnePlusOne maybe last year, but this year when OnePlus Two is near i wouldn't buy OnePlusOne, but if you totally need it buy it. It is smooth and looks so awesome.
I'd still buy it in a heartbeat.
Transmitted via Bacon
I bought a used one a few weeks ago off of swappa for $330. Came with a case and 2 glass screen protectors. Love it so far, decided to buy another used one for my GF too.
JJHunterx said:
I bought a used one a few weeks ago off of swappa for $330. Came with a case and 2 glass screen protectors. Love it so far, decided to buy another used one for my GF too.
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Same here. Replaced my S5 for about the same price, and would do it again in a heartbeat.
Yes!!! I'm loving everything about mine (still a new user).
[email protected] said:
Yes!!! I'm loving everything about mine (still a new user).
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Just got mine today, loving it. I'd get a one plus two if it was exactly the same as the one in every way, ie 5.5" 1080p (dont need higher), 64gb of storage, great battery life and cheap. Rumours all point to none of this, along with the 810 being a hot chip. Even the M9 is a hot running device.
I have a HTC One m8, but seeing as the M9 is disappointing and I want a new phone so I bought it today, can't wait to get it! If I don't like it, well theres always toy phones to have
Yes. Got mine few days ago. So far, it's great. Now I have both Nexus 5 32gb and OnePlus One 64gb. It's so great in such a small price tag that you won't regret even if the Two comes in few months.
So if u consider to buy a phone today, definitely go for OnePlus 1.
Sent from my OnePlus One via Tapatalk.
Thanks for all the comments! I just purchased one on Swappa, now to sit and wait.
No, I wouldn't. The missing feature of mhl makes it almost completely useless with my app radio which I used heavily with HTC one m7.
Sent from my A0001 using Tapatalk
Lol I got mine 2 days ago. And I must say, pros>cons on this phone. I absolutely love it. I don't care about the customer service and that it doesn't work as quick as people would like them to work. For the price of this phone and the specs, you have no right to complain about anything tbh?
I bought one , Broke it . . Tried the OPPO FIND 7.. broke and returned that.. now i just got another ONEPLUS . Love the easy customization and the ONEPLUS ROM Scene is busy..
oneplus one will be brilliant choice!
OnePlus Without second thought.
He had everything you have in Nexus 5 and so MUCH more, plus with this price tag it's a no brainer.
Just bought one a few days ago, coming from a fairly beaten up Galaxy S3 (no screen cracks, just dinged around the edges and crashes a random app once every other week or so) one big reason I switched is that even the new batteries I bought don't seem to last long.
I got the tempered glass screen protector with it and I love that, never going back to plastic.
I was worried if it would seem too big in my pocket - I would say, the S3 is a little more comfortable to have in pocket, but the OPO is OK. I basically wear jeans every day and they're not too tight, otherwise, it could be a problem.
It feels like a good solid quality device and I'm glad it doesn't get hot running Clash of Clans the way my S3 does.
The ghost touches on this thing are driving me crazy, it's going back up on Swappa.
I wouldn't buy a phone with Snapdragon 810 so I'm not looking forward to any of the flagship (and killer) this year.
yiyi28 said:
I wouldn't buy a phone with Snapdragon 810 so I'm not looking forward to any of the flagship (and killer) this year.
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Can I ask you why?^^
Hello,
I am going to buy a new smartphone soon and I only have £100 to spend on it. What I want from it is to have a big screen (Maybe 5"?) with a a quiet large battery so it would work a bit, maybe dual sim and to be able to root it easily and put custom Android on it such as CyanogenMod etc. The rest stuff like camera, NFC etc I don't really care about, The most important for me is the screen size and battery life and various modifications I can do with such smartphone. What do you guys think and what would you recommend to buy ? I have found Samsung Galaxy S4 SGH-I337 16GB 13MP Unlocked from Hong Kong for a £100 on Ebay but I think that price for such device is suspicious, what do you people think about it ? The eBay item number is 111849677878.
Many Thanks !
B4N1K said:
Hello,
I am going to buy a new smartphone soon and I only have £100 to spend on it. What I want from it is to have a big screen (Maybe 5"?) with a a quiet large battery so it would work a bit, maybe dual sim and to be able to root it easily and put custom Android on it such as CyanogenMod etc. The rest stuff like camera, NFC etc I don't really care about, The most important for me is the screen size and battery life and various modifications I can do with such smartphone. What do you guys think and what would you recommend to buy ? I have found Samsung Galaxy S4 SGH-I337 16GB 13MP Unlocked from Hong Kong for a £100 on Ebay but I think that price for such device is suspicious, what do you people think about it ? The eBay item number is 111849677878.
Many Thanks !
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Click to collapse
A good phone for 100 quid is hard to find. They will start most likely around 200 quid. Try looking for the OnePlus One. If not new maybe used and it will save you some money. I see the OnePlus one starting at 200 quid atm.
Help for contents and box of "new" S4 Black Edition i9505. Is it new or refurbished?
Hi,
I've just bought online in UK a brand new Samsung S4 Black Edition i9505.
However in the box S/M/L sizes eargels are missing (but earbuds are ok and sealed) and the UK charger is a ETA0U70XBE with only 1A output instead of 2A and it's missing its film wrapping. I also noticed that the small seal was not well applied outside the box so it's not clear if the box was sealed or unsealed. I've also found finger prints on the front sticker/screen protector (but not on the screen) and on the camera lens. The metal-plastic terminal of the usb cable is also a little dirty (but comes with plastic wrapping).
OS installed is already 5.0.1 but I thought that S4 comes with 4.4 preinstalled. Or maybe it is due it was assembled recently? Battery was also completely empty.
And I also found this sticker that seal the outside of the box with strange letters: A, B ,C (see attachment). What do they mean?
I would like to know if someone else has similar experience or maybe they sent me a refurbished/open box?
It probably is a refurbished or returned phone.
The box should contain the phone, the USB charger and USB cable (black), in-ear headphones with replacement buds, a manual and I think that's it.
If the box has been tampered with, then I would worry more about the phone itself than the contents.
I also have a black edition (or so it says on the box).
Mine's got a leather-like back cover and the whole phone is pure dark black. The original model had a brighter black tone and it was spotted.
Hi,
thanks for the answer. The only thing missing are the replacement buds but also rest is suspicious as written above.
The charger for example had no plastic wrapping but most of all it's only a 1 amp model. How many amps has your charger? Which model? An EU model (long and slim) or a UK model (bulkier and short)? See attachments. Mine is a UK model but looks like an S3 charger which is slightly different from S4 charger and has only 1 amp output. Does anyone else got a 1 amp charger with its S4???
Mine's a 2.0 Amp EU model, black. It also had wrapping around it.
Did you get any warranty with the phone?
GDReaper said:
Mine's a 2.0 Amp EU model, black. It also had wrapping around it.
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While mine is a S3/S4-Mini charger at 1.0 Amp with no wrapping...
Did you get any warranty with the phone?
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The seller said it has 2 year UK/European warranty but it had to say this because he's selling them as new. Of course I had the invoice but it's just a piece of paper printed from internet.
I found a new strange thing: as you can see in the first picture there is a EAN code on the sticker. I searched that code on Google and the result was: Samsung S2 (TWO!).
Does the EAN on your box match with Samsung S4 on Google?
I can't check because my box was sealed on 3 sides, and one of those seals had the number on it and it is now torn apart.
But I don't have any reason to believe it would correspond to anything other than an S4.
The phone was bought from one of the biggest electronics store in my country.
GDReaper said:
I can't check because my box was sealed on 3 sides, and one of those seals had the number on it and it is now torn apart.
But I don't have any reason to believe it would correspond to anything other than an S4.
The phone was bought from one of the biggest electronics store in my country.
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Click to collapse
I checked some pictures of S4 boxes that I found on Youtube, reviews, Google and all the EAN on them match the ones of a S4! So probably the second seal (the one in the attachment of my first message) is a FAKE seal!!!
I found another strange thing: the protective plastic on the front of the S4 was the colored one of S4 white and black mist (see attachment). But on unboxing video on Youtube the Black Edition always have a transparent one!
Which one did you find?
I think that A,B,C has some mean to it.
A- IMEI remains on the box
B- Seller(Vender) keeps it with them so that non can complain whether or not it was steal product,in short security reason
C- Buyer get it stocked on warranty card/ Billl to claim for warranty.
Now that phone is old, it usually stays as was. Nothing to worry about as long as device is fully functional.
dr.patron99 said:
I think that A,B,C has some mean to it.
A- IMEI remains on the box
B- Seller(Vender) keeps it with them so that non can complain whether or not it was steal product,in short security reason
C- Buyer get it stocked on warranty card/ Billl to claim for warranty.
Now that phone is old, it usually stays as was. Nothing to worry about as long as device is fully functional.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the answer. But another problem with the seal was that there was printed a EAN of a Samsung S2 (TWO!) instead of one of a S4. So it was clearly a fake seal. And I've never saw in any unboxing photo or video a seal like that for Samsung S4. I also contacted Samsung UK which confirmed me that the phone was not in proper condition. They also checked the serial number of the device and told me that it was invalid! So it was a refurbished unit.
However I sent the phone back to the seller and received a full refund. Last week I bought a new S4 Black Mist from another seller and this one is perfect. New, sealed (seal with a S4 EAN on it) and with all accessories and plastic wrappings. The OS installed is still Android 4 as expected and not already 5. And a 2A charger. It works very well. :good:
How much did you pay? If it was a good price then ignore the fact it's not new. My S4 was second hand, and I specifically chose it for that reason.
skezza said:
How much did you pay? If it was a good price then ignore the fact it's not new. My S4 was second hand, and I specifically chose it for that reason.
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I paid it 267 euro with shipping. Too much for a used one with missing parts and the wrong charger (only 1A instead of 2A). So I sent it back to the seller.
For the one I bought last week I paid 275 euro with shipping but it's new and sealed (with all accessories and a 2A charger which 2 times faster than a 1A one).
Alfhw said:
I paid it 267 euro with shipping. Too much for a used one with missing parts and the wrong charger (only 1A instead of 2A). So I sent it back to the seller.
For the one I bought last week I paid 275 euro with shipping but it's new and sealed (with all accessories and a 2A charger which 2 times faster than a 1A one).
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Oh wow, yes that is a lot for a used one. I paid £120 for mine last February. It's in pretty good condition (only a few marks on the silver bezel, no scratches on the screen) but it came only with a single generic charger, and a crappy USB cable. No headset or anything, but I wasn't overly bothered because the phone itself is where the money goes and £120 for an S4 is a bargain, even today. 267 Euro's is over £205, which is absolutely top money, even for a brand new model, so to be told it was used, I would be sending it back tbh.
skezza said:
Oh wow, yes that is a lot for a used one. I paid £120 for mine last February. It's in pretty good condition (only a few marks on the silver bezel, no scratches on the screen) but it came only with a single generic charger, and a crappy USB cable. No headset or anything, but I wasn't overly bothered because the phone itself is where the money goes and £120 for an S4 is a bargain, even today. 267 Euro's is over £205, which is absolutely top money, even for a brand new model, so to be told it was used, I would be sending it back tbh.
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And most of all the seller was selling it as "new". I even emailed him before buying to be sure and he answered it was new and sealed... And the one he sent me had missing parts and a S3 charger (with only 1A output)!
Anyway 275 euro for the one I bought last week from a different seller is a good price for a really new and sealed S4. It is still a very good mid-range device. I was also considering a Samsung A3-310-2016 which came out in January this year for 240 euro with shipping but the S4 has still better specs and a huge XDA and custom rom support!
Alfhw said:
And most of all the seller was selling it as "new". I even emailed him before buying to be sure and he answered it was new and sealed... And the one he sent me had missing parts and a S3 charger (with only 1A output)!
Anyway 275 euro for the one I bought last week from a different seller is a good price for a really new and sealed S4. It is still a very good mid-range device. I was also considering a Samsung A3-310-2016 which came out in January this year for 240 euro with shipping but the S4 has still better specs and a huge XDA and custom rom support!
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It's an extremely good mid-range device. The way I like to look at it, is like this:
You can see from my phone history (in my signature), that I go from an i9000 to an LG N4 to a Xiaomi Redmi Note 4G, which is quite a deviation. The i9000 was a premium device at the time and it felt like one. The N4 was a premium device and it really really felt like one (and still does to this day). The Xiaomi was a great phone, but you could tell it was manufactured for the Indian market. It wasn't that it was cheaply made. I actually think Xiaomi are quite nicely made, it was the fact there was never any commitment to updates. Getting Lollipop was a bit like playing a game of roulette. Are they going to get it? Who knows? Kind of thing..... eventually some devs ported it, but rather than the 100's that work on Samsung and the Nexus devices, there were a few kids in their bedrooms doing it. I simply didn't have time to get stuck into any ROM development at that point in time either. The Xiaomi was let down by the lack of devs, the poor camera and the general unreliability of updates and software fixes etc.
So here's the point I'm making. You can own a brand new Xiaomi, which for the money seems decent and performs okay and stuff and yeah, they're decent enough phones, if you're going for a new model....
OR, you can get yourself a second hand S4, which will blow away the majority of Xiaomi phones because here's the thing. It's not just about specs on paper. The camera destroys the Xiaomi camera's, the screen destroys the majority of Xiaomi screens and the fact there are 100's of devs knocking out great ROM's means this phone will last a lot longer than the Xiaomi ones ever will.
My modus operandi has now changed. I will never buy a new device again. Every 2 years, I will buy a last gen Samsung (or other brand) device when they become cheap and enjoy all the benefits of XDA devs and what not
skezza said:
It's an extremely good mid-range device. The way I like to look at it, is like this:
You can see from my phone history (in my signature), that I go from an i9000 to an LG N4 to a Xiaomi Redmi Note 4G, which is quite a deviation. The i9000 was a premium device at the time and it felt like one. The N4 was a premium device and it really really felt like one (and still does to this day). The Xiaomi was a great phone, but you could tell it was manufactured for the Indian market. It wasn't that it was cheaply made. I actually think Xiaomi are quite nicely made, it was the fact there was never any commitment to updates. Getting Lollipop was a bit like playing a game of roulette. Are they going to get it? Who knows? Kind of thing..... eventually some devs ported it, but rather than the 100's that work on Samsung and the Nexus devices, there were a few kids in their bedrooms doing it. I simply didn't have time to get stuck into any ROM development at that point in time either. The Xiaomi was let down by the lack of devs, the poor camera and the general unreliability of updates and software fixes etc.
So here's the point I'm making. You can own a brand new Xiaomi, which for the money seems decent and performs okay and stuff and yeah, they're decent enough phones, if you're going for a new model....
OR, you can get yourself a second hand S4, which will blow away the majority of Xiaomi phones because here's the thing. It's not just about specs on paper. The camera destroys the Xiaomi camera's, the screen destroys the majority of Xiaomi screens and the fact there are 100's of devs knocking out great ROM's means this phone will last a lot longer than the Xiaomi ones ever will.
My modus operandi has now changed. I will never buy a new device again. Every 2 years, I will buy a last gen Samsung (or other brand) device when they become cheap and enjoy all the benefits of XDA devs and what not
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Click to collapse
Agree! :good:
As the title says, I'm looking for a device that has great storage for my music files and does root, so I can install audio mods on it....preferably cheap and reliable. Thanks in advance.
Sent from my SM-G928V using Tapatalk
I just bought an AT&T Galaxy S4 Mini. $110 off eBay, brand new (supposedly - it's in perfect condition, but came in a generic box, but I don't care). Rooted it within minutes. It's light, thin, and tiny. 16gb built-in storage, and those 200gb SanDisk microSD cards work in it. There's an unbelievable amount of AT&T and Samsung garbage on it, but you can disable it. It's snappy and powerful enough to do what you expect it to. If that's too expensive, look at a Galaxy Avant or Light from T-Mobile/MetroPCS. The Avant is bigger, but cheaper. The Light is roughly the same size (give or take a dimension or 3), but an inferior device - I was extremely dissatisfied with mine.
For months I contemplated on this very thing, with some other considerations. I wanted something small, but it had to be powerful enough for the task. And in those months I looked at practically every damned possible option that exists. Those other considerations were that it'd be my internet mule (wi-fi and USB tethering). A Sony Z1 or Z3 Compact would have been a much better phone, if only I could swap the battery. The S4 Mini has a swappable battery, and a new one is cheap. Other accessories are cheap too, because nobody wants this phone anymore yet accessory suppliers still have volumes of unsold inventory.
I'm late, but thanks for the suggestions. Although, 100 is a bit steep atm. However, I would like something smaller & I do have an SD card lying around for the extra storage. I was thinking an old nexus device or something perhaps.
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I think the best device I trust is the One Plus 3 with 60GB storage and 6GB RAM. Id's available in all countries.
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