Related
So the Root thread was starting to get out of hand.
If you want to "talk shop" or "shoot teh $hit", let's do that here and keep the Root thread clean for development headway.
Got a few thoughts on the V10 myself.
1) Battery life is not the best, leaves me desiring more.
2) When wearing a case, the Volumptuous10 has a very "specific" spot it likes to be touched. (we are talking about the fingerprint reader here... get your mind outta the gutter)
3) General performance is pretty good, but graphic prowess is severely lacking. Wished LG had used something other than the 808
4) Speaker is a bit weak for my uses. I often work in loud environments where using speakerphone on calls is necessary just to hear the other party
5) I miss having dual cellular radios. Means no simultaneous data and voice calls unless using your Carriers "advanced calling" app/feature. Not an ideal solution
6) Second screen is useful, but too restricted. I hope LG opens this up more to 3rd party apps that can expand its usability 100 fold
7) Picture quality for me is softer on the V10 when compared to the G4 in side by side shots. I have tested this under many different conditions
8) WOULD CARRIERS STOP LOCKING DOWN OUR DEVICES AND LOADING THEM UP WITH CRAPWARE ALREADY ???? damn.....
9) Love the design. Looking at it reminds me of Star Wars imperial designs. I have officially named my V10 " TIE-Fighter X " . And I guess the relation to the Dark Side is fitting seeing that Verizon just had to brand the back plate.
That brings me to TAG LINES. If you have one bouncing around in that noggin of yours, let it loose here...
1st point on my list above spawned this thought.
Tag line reads: " V10 battery life got you down? Could've had a V8 "
Needs to have an image to go along with this. Someone make me one??
And my feelings about the battery life and design of this spectacular device come with a development request.
SOMEONE PLEASE MAKE A STAR WARS ROM FOR THIS BEAST!!! I beg of you.
Call it something like "Star Destroyer", or "Vader's Vain". Maybe even "DeathStar". Get creative.
As you can see by the title of this thread and the content within... ANYTHING GOES.
Have at it !!!
Why in the bloody hell does the default camera app have to sharpen every image. I think LG wants to compensate on everything *wink wink*
Battery life is ... Meh... ok though.. two batteries / fast charging is a nice option...
also, and probably the bigger topic. I can talk and use data (either on the device itself or tethering via Foxfi) at the same time. I'm not doing anything special but it works for me.
Development for this phone it's pretty much non existent. I should have kept my nexus 6 or bought the newest note.
The second screen is a total waste at this point and a awful gimmick that managed to suck me in to buy the phone. ( that was one of the reasons I bought it).
This is my first and probably last LGv phone.
Battery life is less than desirable but so are most Android phones.
TheRealKingSen said:
Development for this phone it's pretty much non existent. I should have kept my nexus 6 or bought the newest note.
The second screen is a total waste at this point and a awful gimmick that managed to suck me in to buy the phone. ( that was one of the reasons I bought it).
This is my first and probably last LGv phone.
Battery life is less than desirable but so are most Android phones.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is your name Nancy by chance?
I like the second screen. use it to control pandora (or music app) while in another app or while screen is off, quick apps to launch (from anywhere), answer or ignore phone calls without it taking over your screen. I extended the text notification to ten seconds so if i see one come in I have time to click on it to bring it up or swipe it away. anyhow. just my opinion. Hope it grows on you and if not that you are able to trade someone for a phone you like better.
ke5pcv said:
Why in the bloody hell does the default camera app have to sharpen every image. I think LG wants to compensate on everything *wink wink*
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tested my V10 side by side with my mothers G4. Her G4 takes a sharper shot on almost every attempt. This is testing them literally side x side taking shots in various conditions.
So either the software on the V10 need tweaking, or I bought my Mom a killer G4. LOL Just my $.02
kaluna00 said:
I can talk and use data (either on the device itself or tethering via Foxfi) at the same time. I'm not doing anything special but it works for me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Log into your Verizon account online and look on the right side of the page. You should see "Plan Management" in red letters. Right under that are 2 red buttons. Click on the [My Products and Apps].
On the next page under the Get Products tab, click on "Free Products". You should see HD Voice. If that is enabled already, that might be why you can do that.
Now the feature that originally allowed you to use data and voice simultaneously used to be listed here under the name Advanced Calling 1.0. It does not appear there any more, but it was there just a month ago. I am not sure if it has been rolled up into the HD Voice or not, but it's probably baked into all current Verizon phone Roms (official). And probably enabled by default.
What it does is call over your data connection (basically like VOIP) thus you are not really using voice and data simultaneously. You are making calls over LTE while still using LTE.
Try going out to an area where there is no LTE and you will find that you cannot use the Advanced Calling while on 3G. AC can also drop calls if you are in an area where LTE signal is weak, or you are moving around a large distance at a time (driving, etc.)
Its a compromise, but it certainly does not make up for the true capabilities of separate radios.
TheRealKingSen said:
Development for this phone it's pretty much non existent. I should have kept my nexus 6 or bought the newest note.
The second screen is a total waste at this point and a awful gimmick that managed to suck me in to buy the phone. ( that was one of the reasons I bought it).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Gimmick.... eh, maybe somewhat. "Eye of the beholder" I suppose. I think it would have made more sense on the bottom, but then it just would have been a longer screen.
The way I see it being useful is having it on the bottom where your nav bar would be, and allowing it to swipe and change to something else beside the nav buttons. And this would give you back the screen space that you are loosing to the nav bar. But like I said, then you just have a longer screen overall.
Custom Roms already have features like this, so it wont be anything revolutionary except to those that didn't know such a thing existed.
I think it will gain more traction when LG decides to let devs expand on the 2nd screens functions and 3rd party support.
But the phone is beautiful right? The Note used to be my favorite phone line, but now it is in the dumpster along with the whole Galaxy line-up. It lays right there next to the iFone slopped in decaying banana guts, just beneath the rotting apple.
I've had Samsung phones back to the Captivate, and I REALLY like what LG has put out with the V10. For me it isnt so much a drastic change in the GUI/Software, that's all really just a change in the "theme". GUI wise, it's a bit refreshing to get away from Sammy. Hardware wise, I LOVE what LG did with this device, it's far more solid feeling than my Note III. It has a great weight. It did take a little getting use to the button placement, but after a month or 2 it's really MUCH more intuitive than the placement on the side rails. I suppose the bump to a higher rated processor would've been really nice, but for my usage I see zero lag/performance issues.
So to carry over from the Root bounty thread, and I KNOW this will cause a fury of discussions on device lock down/Root/locked bootloaders
I've mentioned this before in other areas, and unfortunately, I believe this is the way things are going to continue to move.
One of the things I think we (here at XDA) fail to realize is the full scope of a devices impact in the market versus the size and scope of XDA's "footprint". Take the S6 and S6 edge as an example. Estimated combined device sales figures are somewhere around 45 million (as of June 2015). XDA's current membership is close to 7 million in total, for ALL devices. If you (generously imo) estimate that 10% of all XDA members own a S6 or S6 edge, that would account for around 1.6% of the devices total sales.
As someone said in the other thread, that "we" should boycott the carries that are locking devices down...... under 2% of total sales(again for the S6/S6 Edge as the example)? I think they would barely even notice
It just makes really good business sense to cater sales to large scale corporations who require a secure device. Which is why I think Big Red and Big Blue are locking the devices down. This model, is really just securing all of the business that they ripped away from Blackberry.
T-Mo, seems to be moving in a different direction by catering to the "younger generation"/family's, etc. Which doesn't really "require" a locked system.
I think that we are still very lucky to have some really talented folks who are still able to dig in and get things done. Unfortunately, I fear this is going to become more and more difficult to do
This is all "what I think", not "what I know" so take it with a grain of salt
@fire3element
Log into your Verizon account online and look on the right side of the page. You should see "Plan Management" in red letters. Right under that are 2 red buttons. Click on the [My Products and Apps].
On the next page under the Get Products tab, click on "Free Products". You should see HD Voice. If that is enabled already, that might be why you can do that.
You were right... It was enabled on my line. I have been able to do this since I had my Rezound though (also on my G2). I still have an UDP and could talk while tethering or surfing... don't know why (rooted, custom ROM???) anyway. glad it is still working and I'll try it if I get into a place without 4G and report back. anyway..
kaluna00 said:
You were right... It was enabled on my line. I have been able to do this since I had my Rezound though (also on my G2.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am pretty sure that the Rezound had separate data and voice radios. Let me clarify that. LTE radio is separate from the 3g/1x radio. The Note 3 and I believe up to the S5 have separated raidos. Think that changed with the Note 4 and other phone that came out around that time.
Note 3 had the 801 chipset, so most phones around that time had the same radio setup.
Snapdragon and other manufactures started merging to single radio setups to conserve power. The result is hindered operation, which is trying to be solved with software. Seems ok till you don't have a strong LTE signal or no LTE at all. The call dropping is also very aggravating. Specially those that use their devices for business... _________________yeah
Hate to admit it.. But guess that was just dumb luck. I normally have week LTE @my brothers house. I'll try it out next time I'm there.
kangi26 said:
I've mentioned this before in other areas, and unfortunately, I believe this is the way things are going to continue to move.
One of the things I think we (here at XDA) fail to realize is the full scope of a devices impact in the market versus the size and scope of XDA's "footprint".
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, you are absolutely right. We are of little to no significance to the phone makers, but there IS a large market to influence with Unlockable devices. As has been proven with Nexus, One+, and Motorola sales.
On the subject of T-mobile, I think the majority of their decision to allow Unlockable devices is purely grasping at straws for more customers. That and the fact they realize the % of users that are even interested in this is just a small portion of the customer base, thus fairly irrelevant vs. being something that impacts their bottom line.
BUT WHY WON'T GOOGLE FORCE ALL MANUFACTURES TO ALLOW BOOTLOADER UNLOCKS FOR USERS THAT CHOOSE TO DO SO?? I mean it is GOOGLE's OS. They could make this mandatory.
And implement it the same way the Nexus line does. You can unlock your Bootloader, but you are forced to wipe the device in the process. Yes there could be ways around this, but so exist exploits to gain Root on devices without wiping.
I think Motorola has a good policy on this. You are allowed to officially unlock your Bootloader upon agreement that Moto is not responsible for your security thereafter, and your warranty is now VOID.
I see little risk allowing this with all devices. And this is what Android SHOULD BE.
Users need to have the choice to do with their devices what they want. I have a feeling that there is a bigger player in this that is keeping the Gubermint from forcing manufactures to abide by this like they did to Verizon with the Carrier unlocking.
fire3element said:
Yes, you are absolutely right. We are of little to no significance to the phone makers, but there IS a large market to influence with Unlockable devices. As has been proven with Nexus, One+, and Motorola sales.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think that if we look a little at the device sales for last year,
Samsung sold 392 million
Lenovo, Motorola sold 84 million
LG sold 76 million (this would include Nexus)
and so on and so on(sales numbers get smaller). I think what were looking at is complete dominance in the handset market. Even Apple only sold 191 million, not even close to Sammy!
So to me, it's a "Do what you can to stay a viable device manufacturer", and to do that you have to get as many sales as you can. Being in IT in the Healthcare industry, I know what the company I work for requires. The more secure the manufacturer can make the device, the more likely they'll be in the running to get a sale/contract
fire3element said:
On the subject of T-mobile, I think the majority of their decision to allow Unlockable devices is purely grasping at straws for more customers. That and the fact they realize the % of users that are even interested in this is just a small portion of the customer base, thus fairly irrelevant vs. being something that impacts their bottom line.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think you're spot on here! I've thought that for a while too
fire3element said:
BUT WHY WON'T GOOGLE FORCE ALL MANUFACTURES TO ALLOW BOOTLOADER UNLOCKS FOR USERS THAT CHOOSE TO DO SO?? I mean it is GOOGLE's OS. They could make this mandatory.
And implement it the same way the Nexus line does.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think that it's because Google is in the market to sell it's OS, and if they can provide a product that will sell and ship on well over 500 million devices in 2014. That's what I call makin' money!
To be honest, I've always thought that the reason Google came out with the Nexus line was to maintain a platform that was "Pure Google" knowing full well that the rest of the industry was going to be changed. And keep it the way the first rolled out and hoped it would be. I think that's really cool
I enjoyed the dialog you two posted and agree with it all and the parts in the middle.
Thanks Kangi26 and Fire3Element, good stuff.
This is my first LG device and in happy that I purchased it. I've read all through the forum people are complaining about things that could've been avoided before you left the carrier store or where ever the device was purchased. When I went in I had three devices in mind, this device the note 5 and Samsung Galaxy S6. I tested all three over an hour and half time frame and ended up choosing the LG V10. I've even dropped it or its been knocked off my counter to tile flooring about 4 or 5 times with no issues. The only thing that I've found that I don't like is the LG keyboard so I switched to the Google keyboard... Problem solved. I have good battery life, so I'm happy
Overall, I am happy with this phone. Yes there are some nitpicks, but ALL devices have them.
The fact that I still get a removable battery and microSD card slot more than make up for the rest of the V10's issues.
But I will say I am still a Note fan. If the Note 5 had kept the removable battery and SD card, I'd most likely have bought the Note 5. My Note 3 has been an absolute beast, and still is to this day.
Unfortunately, the LTE reception issues have been getting so bad that I was forced to upgrade to a new phone. Otherwise, I would still be using my Note 3 until SamSmug got their $tuff together. If the V10 gets Root, I will be more than happy. Hope for a Bootloader unlock as well.
this thread is what we needed to vent and just bs. thanks bud.
fire3element said:
Overall, I am happy with this phone. Yes there are some nitpicks, but ALL devices have them.
The fact that I still get a removable battery and microSD card slot more than make up for the rest of the V10's issues.
But I will say I am still a Note fan. If the Note 5 had kept the removable battery and SD card, I'd most likely have bought the Note 5. My Note 3 has been an absolute beast, and still is to this day.
Unfortunately, the LTE reception issues have been getting so bad that I was forced to upgrade to a new phone. Otherwise, I would still be using my Note 3 until SamSmug got their $tuff together. If the V10 gets Root, I will be more than happy. Hope for a Bootloader unlock as well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I really loved my Note 3 as well, and was really on the fence with the Note 5. I loved the size and how small the screen bezels are, but there were a couple things that I really didn't like at all. The removable battery/no SD slot wasn't the straw that broke the camels back, it was oddly the glass back. I had that thing in my hand at the AT&T store, and it was WAY too slick for me
And really when I got the V10 in my hands, it just felt so much better than even my Note 3, I bought it on the spot (I had been looking at the specs for a while too)
kangi26 said:
The removable battery/no SD slot wasn't the straw that broke the camels back, it was oddly the glass back. I had that thing in my hand at the AT&T store, and it was WAY too slick for me
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is where we differ the most then. I absolutely have to have a case on my phones due to working conditions. After having the Zero Lemon extended battery + case on several phones, there is no way I would ever sacrifice having a removable batt on my main device again. That is unless there are no longer any phones with removable batt.
I had contemplated building a design just like what Zero Lemon sells back when I had my LG VX8700 flip phone. A triple cell battery that covered the entire length of the phone just made sense to me. I pondered on it for a while, but did not see how I could get a manufacture to build them.
Then when I got my Droid X, I bought 3 batteries and attempted to build one. It seemed to work ok, but again my working conditions are harsh. I had to stop using it in fear that I would lose/drop them while working.
Now that there is a manufacture making these tri-cell batteries, I don't think I could ever live without one. Just so close to what I had envisioned years ago so I guess it means more to me than most.
Not everyone's idea of portable I suppose. But when you can tether for 48hrs straight and never have to worry that your battery is going to go dead... now THATS POWAR!!!
Prob could jump start your car off one of these. LoL
fire3element said:
But when you can tether for 48hrs straight and never have to worry that your battery is going to go dead... now THATS POWAR!!!
Prob could jump start your car off one of these. LoL
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
HAA!! That's a riot!!
You know, that gives me an idea! You could take a spare back for the V10, epoxy it to one of these, run a cable to the USB ports.
You could run FOREVER, and jump a car all at the same time!!
---------- Post added at 12:57 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:51 PM ----------
fire3element said:
This is where we differ the most then. I absolutely have to have a case on my phones due to working conditions. After having the Zero Lemon extended battery + case on several phones, there is no way I would ever sacrifice having a removable batt on my main device again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In the past few years, I've not been quite the power user I use to be, and also saw that the N5 had an option for larger memory (Not the BEST options, but I could've lived with it). And even my career changed too, so even a case isnt NEARLY as important as it use to be for me (I was in construction, so Otterbox was a MUST)
This very type of thread was created back when the device was launched here.
No need to start another.
Please carry on in the Lounge:good:
This thread has been closed
Thank you.
Hey guys,
It's been a long time since I bothered to post anything here but, I just wanted to make a post to say goodbye.
It's coming up to 2 years since this device was released and now a lot of people on 2 year contract cycles will finally be able to upgrade to a new and better phone.
I was lucky enough to be offered an early upgrade months ago and have been using the s7 edge for about 4 months now.
It's a fantastic phone and it's like heaven after using the G flex 2.
Don't get me wrong, it's certainly not without its own faults, I'm still figuring out how to hold it without constantly touching the edges of the screen.
I've finally traded in my flex 2 though, so I thought I'd share my final opinion of the phone with you all;
Even as I handed the phone over in exchange for a small amount of cash, the clerk commented on how good the flex 2 looks.
That's what I believe won me over to begin with.
It's a beautiful phone, the curved design just draws you in and wraps you up in the screen. It was always so pleasing to hold in your hand and sat very comfortably in a pocket without poking you.
The buttons on the back were (in my opinion) perfectly placed and never ever pressed by accident.
Even the default wallpapers showcased the definition of the screen perfectly with powerful imagery and vibrant colours.
I really wish I could say that such a pleasurable experience as that first moment lasted longer than said first moment.
Unfortunately, the first night I had my flex 2 I bricked it!
I tried to change the lcd density and must have done something wrong because it got stuck in a bootloop.
There was literally zero information on how to recover from this back then so, I took it back to the shop and was given a new one.
If I had had any idea of the future then I would have never accepted a second flex 2...
Over the years I broke another 2 G Flex 2's due to testing everything myself and all the other devs could possibly think of to just do even the simplest modifies on this phone.
In fact, after the 2 years I've had the flex 2, I've found that I'm so far behind the modding and roms scene that I cannot honestly call myself a dev anymore until I feel I've caught up.
As I don't have the kind of money some people do, I can only justify having one phone at a time.
This particular phone (again, in my opinion) has damaged the modifying community, not just because I've fallen behind (that would be a monumental ego trip if I thought that was true) but because so many people have given up truly great work due to lg's policies.
I won't go into it any further as I'm sure you get the point already.
Is anyone else due an upgrade, or are you in the process of dumping this phone anyway?
If you are then please, join me in sharing your final thoughts on the LG G Flex 2.
I'd love to see how other people have been coping with this device for the last 2 years.
TLDR: The LG G flex 2 Is just a pretty face!
Do not get this phone if you are after anything more than an overpriced burner.
X1ras said:
Hey guys,
It's been a long time since I bothered to post anything here but, I just wanted to make a post to say goodbye.
It's coming up to 2 years since this device was released and now a lot of people on 2 year contract cycles will finally be able to upgrade to a new and better phone.
I was lucky enough to be offered an early upgrade months ago and have been using the s7 edge for about 4 months now.
It's a fantastic phone and it's like heaven after using the G flex 2.
Don't get me wrong, it's certainly not without its own faults, I'm still figuring out how to hold it without constantly touching the edges of the screen.
I've finally traded in my flex 2 though, so I thought I'd share my final opinion of the phone with you all;
Even as I handed the phone over in exchange for a small amount of cash, the clerk commented on how good the flex 2 looks.
That's what I believe won me over to begin with.
It's a beautiful phone, the curved design just draws you in and wraps you up in the screen. It was always so pleasing to hold in your hand and sat very comfortably in a pocket without poking you.
The buttons on the back were (in my opinion) perfectly placed and never ever pressed by accident.
Even the default wallpapers showcased the definition of the screen perfectly with powerful imagery and vibrant colours.
I really wish I could say that such a pleasurable experience as that first moment lasted longer than said first moment.
Unfortunately, the first night I had my flex 2 I bricked it!
I tried to change the lcd density and must have done something wrong because it got stuck in a bootloop.
There was literally zero information on how to recover from this back then so, I took it back to the shop and was given a new one.
If I had had any idea of the future then I would have never accepted a second flex 2...
Over the years I broke another 2 G Flex 2's due to testing everything myself and all the other devs could possibly think of to just do even the simplest modifies on this phone.
In fact, after the 2 years I've had the flex 2, I've found that I'm so far behind the modding and roms scene that I cannot honestly call myself a dev anymore until I feel I've caught up.
As I don't have the kind of money some people do, I can only justify having one phone at a time.
This particular phone (again, in my opinion) has damaged the modifying community, not just because I've fallen behind (that would be a monumental ego trip if I thought that was true) but because so many people have given up truly great work due to lg's policies.
I won't go into it any further as I'm sure you get the point already.
Is anyone else due an upgrade, or are you in the process of dumping this phone anyway?
If you are then please, join me in sharing your final thoughts on the LG G Flex 2.
I'd love to see how other people have been coping with this device for the last 2 years.
TLDR: The LG G flex 2 Is just a pretty face!
Do not get this phone if you are after anything more than an overpriced burner.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know where you are coming from.
I recommended the GF2 to the Mrs due to the great specs for the money, (about $250.) The phone looks great but you either have the choice of the H955 which doesn't have enough RAM, or the H950, which is held back by AT&T's crappy software that sucks the battery dry in no time. If I could turn the clock back, I'd never have suggested this phone to the Mrs and I feel a bit guilty as she is stuck with it, (Even guiltier now that I'm one the One Plus 3 which is everything the GF2 should have been.)
Let me join the party as well. Like the OP said, my 2 yrs contract is up and make me choose a new phone to continue with the contract. Well, call me stupid, but I choose the LG V20 (yet another LG). I didn't trade-in my H959 as it will continue to serve me as a backup phone.
There're reasons I choose V20 over other phones. Main reason is the QHD display, and another big reason for it is the replaceable battery.
So far, I also enjoyed the great double barrel shooters as well. I always shoot in manual mode if it is possible (if I have enough time to switch to manual mode). The wide angle lens is superb for group photos, as well as the landscape shootings. The normal lens is also very good for night-time shooting and macro photography. The lens-blur on that camera is awesome.
I'm only disappointed that the battery didn't last much longer than expected. But since the battery is replaceable, I don't mind it at all.
spiderx_mm said:
Let me join the party as well. Like the OP said, my 2 yrs contract is up and make me choose a new phone to continue with the contract. Well, call me stupid, but I choose the LG V20 (yet another LG). I didn't trade-in my H959 as it will continue to serve me as a backup phone.
There're reasons I choose V20 over other phones. Main reason is the QHD display, and another big reason for it is the replaceable battery.
So far, I also enjoyed the great double barrel shooters as well. I always shoot in manual mode if it is possible (if I have enough time to switch to manual mode). The wide angle lens is superb for group photos, as well as the landscape shootings. The normal lens is also very good for night-time shooting and macro photography. The lens-blur on that camera is awesome.
I'm only disappointed that the battery didn't last much longer than expected. But since the battery is replaceable, I don't mind it at all.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Interesting choice Spider,
When the Mrs's GF2 packs in, I will be advising her to go for the One Plus 3. In many ways the One Plus 3 is the opposite of the V20 as the hardware is inferior in pretty much every way. On the other hand, the software is just awesome and has given me the best Android I've ever experienced.
What I always wonder about the GF2 is how it would have performed running something like CM13. Would this have been the phone that we were always promised?
Masteryates said:
Interesting choice Spider,
When the Mrs's GF2 packs in, I will be advising her to go for the One Plus 3. In many ways the One Plus 3 is the opposite of the V20 as the hardware is inferior in pretty much every way. On the other hand, the software is just awesome and has given me the best Android I've ever experienced.
What I always wonder about the GF2 is how it would have performed running something like CM13. Would this have been the phone that we were always promised?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I could have choose OP3T, but unfortunately it's not available with my telco, so I've got to stick to LG again. On the other hand, the metal body, the QHD display and QDAC audio is too good to deny this phone. LG's customization to Nougat is also quite decent. The only thing I don't like is the new LG Launcher 5. I've never been a fan of "throw all your icons on the home screen" type launchers. That's one of the reason I don't like XiaoMi phones as well. Luckily, LG let me download the old Launcher 4 "Home & App Drawer" through the "Update Center" and the problem is resolved.
I always would like to run a stripped down version of MM on the GF2. Something like the Slim rom will be awesome. My GF2 H959 has already been on the V20A so I know it can run MM nicely. Just hope that it could run faster.
for my Mrs, I get her a Sony Xperia XZ becoz she's been complaining me a lot how bad the photos taken by her G3 is. Japanese built quality, dedicated shutter button, ip68 certified, and the awesome iA mode on the camera, she's quite satisfied with tha t phone as well.
spiderx_mm said:
I could have choose OP3T, but unfortunately it's not available with my telco, so I've got to stick to LG again. On the other hand, the metal body, the QHD display and QDAC audio is too good to deny this phone. LG's customization to Nougat is also quite decent. The only thing I don't like is the new LG Launcher 5. I've never been a fan of "throw all your icons on the home screen" type launchers. That's one of the reason I don't like XiaoMi phones as well. Luckily, LG let me download the old Launcher 4 "Home & App Drawer" through the "Update Center" and the problem is resolved.
I always would like to run a stripped down version of MM on the GF2. Something like the Slim rom will be awesome. My GF2 H959 has already been on the V20A so I know it can run MM nicely. Just hope that it could run faster.
for my Mrs, I get her a Sony Xperia XZ becoz she's been complaining me a lot how bad the photos taken by her G3 is. Japanese built quality, dedicated shutter button, ip68 certified, and the awesome iA mode on the camera, she's quite satisfied with tha t phone as well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'd always discounted One Plus from any decision due to it being a Chinese phone with Chinese support.
That changed here in the UK where they teamed up with O2 and sold it in there stores. What really sold the OP3 to me though was the 6GB RAM. Lets face it, for now and the future, you can never have enough RAM.
I agree with you regarding the Camera on the G3. Its the same camera as the GF2 and whilst good in decent lighting, in low lighting it gets its focus wrong time and time again. It's so bad on the Mrs's phone that my LG G2 used to take better shots.
The point of this post is just to share my thoughts about the direction Motorola has taken with flagships. After using this phone for more than a year I can conclude:
Besides near stock Android and Turbo charging, the phone is mediocre at best. I have never felt as good as what i felt with my previous flagships (a Oneplus One).
The Battery life is way below average. After using the phone for a year the battery has really started to show its age and its not lasting as long as it should.
Another annoying issue I noticed is the fact that Motorola implements almost the same design language for their lower end G series and X series. Apart from the size, someone who isn't a tech geek can easily mistake my Pure for a lower end Motorola phone. The new Z series has fixed this, but again it would be difficult for the uninitiated to tell the difference between a Moto Z Play and the more premium Moto Z. Samsung, LG, HTC, Xiaomi go to great lengths to ensure that their flagships stand out and look very different from the budget phones.
I dont think i need to mention the fact that ever since Lenovo has taken over, the update wait time has increased a great deal, new reports suggest that the Pure will only get Noughat in May 2017
The developers that choose to work on the Pure deserve a lot of credit, but the fact is that a lot of developers chose to develop for other devices rather than the Pure.
A lot of accessory manufacturers decided that the moto X Pure didn't deserve any attention. To find a decent case was not very easy, (I especially missed using a Spigen case) and the fact that there is not a single working tempered Screen glass protector proves this. (I know the Pleson works almost 100% but its not available freely in all countries neither is it perfect.)
In conclusion I'm pretty sure this will be my last Motorola phone simply because it would be smarter to spend a little more and get a Galaxy, and with phones like the Oneplus 3T it makes little sense to buy a phone like the Moto Z which is priced considerably higher.
Would love to hear from other people what they think and if they are going to stay loyal to Motorola.
Heavy weight
Easy to get heated
The point about sharing design with mid range Moto phones is dope. People often ask if it's a Moto X Play or a Moto G 3rd Gen and then we need to tell them it's X Style ??
Well ... I understand your point of view, but what I think is that you chose badly the device, since you found him "mediocre at best"
The points listed:
Comparing the most powerful AND STABLE 32-bit processor to the second in line of Qualcomm's 64-bit generation SOC's with new architecture and everything else, I believe to be extremely wrong, since after the SD810 fiasco the creation of the SD808 was the fix the company used (and i think it was a good one, but this is something mostly disagree with me '^^)
About the OnePlus One, it is really a beast phone with the SD801 (the 32bits GOD) and i understand that you had a remarkable experience with it, since i had (now it is with my girlfriend) an Xperia Z3 with the same SD801 as the OnePlus One i understand when you say it was a more fluid usage, since i think the same, but... I don't think you can compare something that is pretty stable with some new technology.
I never had any problems with the battery because i use as a normal phone and i play games only at home and waiting in lines (bank/medic/...), it gives me something next to 18 hours (stock ROM/kernel) of use with 3 hour SOT or 7 to 8 hours SOT when i use it to watch movies/series/animes in my bed, mostly at weekends. Through the week i unplug it from charger at 6:30, go to work, and at 18:00 i go back home (40 ~ 35% left), the weekend is always a mess for battery stats,
As for the design I don’t have much to say, because I find it very beautiful, and being same design language is a plus for me, i like to have a “invisible phone” in the croud, only people that asks me what is my phone should know the answer.
Now the two really bad points ...
As for Lenovo acquiring Motorola, I fully agree that it was dumb, at least it should keep Motorola working as it always did.
And the lack of smartphone accessories really is laughable
We can keep talking about it, but i really think is a good phone and the testing Nougat ROM's are amazing, i can't wait for the official Nougat update.
btw all samsungs look the same too, comapre new A series with S: very simmilar glass on glass design.
other than that, you're right there are some dissapoitments but it's not real flagship phone, it's more like very good mid-end device, It was never priced like a flagship so don't expect it to be real flagship - that's my opinion. OPO is a differen't story, they managed to get price down with other ways like it's distribution, services ect.
It is a flagship phone. Why would you think otherwise? SD 8xx, 5.7" 2K screen, 21 MP back camera, etc. Upon release the starting price for 16gb was $399, while most mid range phones hit at $250-$300. At this point, nearly 2 years later, it could be considered a mid range but that is because hardware moves forward.
As to my thoughts: I think this is a great phone, even now. I run unrooted stock and pretty much it is a Nexus device with a few extras for customization thrown via Moto apps. These apps are few and I appreciate that they add actual additional features and not just replicate what Android and Google actually does already. The phone runs smooth, has a good camera for good lighting, and handles everything I throw at it. I will admit that battery life could be better, but it is acceptable and at least the turbo charge makes up for this shortcoming. I don't regret this purchase, even if the update process is dismal.
Update: I have hit the end of my warranty period, so I unlocked the bootloader and rooted. I have applied my favorite rooted apps and settings (Xposed, amplify, Greenify, TiBu to disable/uninstall certain apps and services, BBS to track wakelocks, and AdAway) so hopefully I will see improved battery life.
I bought the phone 6 months ago and I love it. I always used to be a android tinkerer. But recently most of the features that I used to root for have become stock. All I really need in a phone is stock android (although I wish we would get updates sooner) and the front facing speakers (because anything else is stupid). While I will probably be buying whatever google has out when I decide that it is time to upgrade in a year or two. It isn't due to anything motorola did wrong in particular. I also tend to keep phones a long time and upgrade to a tried and tested phone (which 6 months ago was the moto x pure, getting great reviews.) I upgraded from the Galaxy Note 2, and this was a wonderful step up.
I bought mine used last summer, upgrading from a Galaxy Note II. I'm a little disappointed in the battery life, but it gets me through most days. I agree about the lack of accessories and the slowing speed of updates. I'm also amazed at how well my Note II still stands up while running a custom MM Rom. I hope the X Pure works that well when it is that old.
But there are things that I really love about this phone too. I am amazed at how good the front speakers sound. I never thought I would care this much, but they are really good. I'm happy with the camera, since most of my photography is in good lighting conditions. This is my first phone with a camera that was good enough to not bother with a point and shoot. I'll move to a custom ROM if the updates stop altogether, but they haven't stopped yet. I'm happy that it still has a headphone jack, I use it all the time. Speed is fast enough to never annoy me, where my Note 2 was fast enough to rarely annoy me.
I choose this phone as an aging flagship instead of a midrange (Honor 5X, Asus Zenfone Laser 2, Moto G 3rd Gen) and I'm glad that I did.
Note2 versus Moto X Pure Edition
Znomon said:
I bought the phone 6 months ago and I love it. I always used to be a android tinkerer. But recently most of the features that I used to root for have become stock. All I really need in a phone is stock android (although I wish we would get updates sooner) and the front facing speakers (because anything else is stupid). While I will probably be buying whatever google has out when I decide that it is time to upgrade in a year or two. It isn't due to anything motorola did wrong in particular. I also tend to keep phones a long time and upgrade to a tried and tested phone (which 6 months ago was the moto x pure, getting great reviews.) I upgraded from the Galaxy Note 2, and this was a wonderful step up.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
smallmj said:
I bought mine used last summer, upgrading from a Galaxy Note II. I'm a little disappointed in the battery life, but it gets me through most days. I agree about the lack of accessories and the slowing speed of updates. I'm also amazed at how well my Note II still stands up while running a custom MM Rom. I hope the X Pure works that well when it is that old.
But there are things that I really love about this phone too. I am amazed at how good the front speakers sound. I never thought I would care this much, but they are really good. I'm happy with the camera, since most of my photography is in good lighting conditions. This is my first phone with a camera that was good enough to not bother with a point and shoot. I'll move to a custom ROM if the updates stop altogether, but they haven't stopped yet. I'm happy that it still has a headphone jack, I use it all the time. Speed is fast enough to never annoy me, where my Note 2 was fast enough to rarely annoy me.
I choose this phone as an aging flagship instead of a midrange (Honor 5X, Asus Zenfone Laser 2, Moto G 3rd Gen) and I'm glad that I did.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Note 2 holdout here too . I'm just finishing up my first week since the upgrade and am quite pleased so far. I have the feeling that the MXPE is going to be a good low maintenance, long haul phone that I can get a few good years of service out of without too much hand-holding, just like with the Note. And with a nice, bright LCD screen instead of Led, I won't ever have to worry about burn-in or custom kernels to help correct green tint; pretty much everything just works. In fact, there's a ton of features that used to require a special app or a custom rom on the Note 2 that are built right in to the X, so there was a lot less effort required out-of-the-box to get everything to work, and on the stock Rom, no less! Even tethering works on the stock rom, which is something that I've never seen on any smartphone in my life.
Comparing the battery life of the two devices, I have yet to conclude any formal tests, but so far, the Pure Edition looks like it's going to be delivering 3-4 hours of screen-on time at best, while the Note 2 delivered as much as 4-5 hours on a good day. That said, I used that phone much more conservatively, so that could have something to do with it, but overall, the runtime of the Pure Edition isn't looking all that great. I think it's just got too much power for its own good, and when you combine that with a ludicrously-high screen resolution, (which demands more effort to render those high-resolution fonts and animations) it strains the CPU and GPU more. Time will tell if things improve after I settle in with it.
Overall I am happy with my X pure, though I share some of the others gripes.
Pros
-Screen
-Above average camera
-Good front camera with flash
-Good CPU, 3GB RAM
-front speakers
-no complaint on call quality
-Sd card slot - I have a 64GB card split as 20GB adopted and 40GB external
-moto ROM is near stock
-Moto features are well done (lock screen notifications)
-Simple unlock/root process
-GSM & CDMA = yes on VZ
-Quich charge 2
-understated design (I like it, others not as much)
- PRICE for these features unmatched
Cons
-Gets hot under load
-Battery life could be better - depends on how much I use it. GPS OFF helps. QC is a necessity with this phone
- lack of choice for accessories
- curved back - one handed is a chore and can't use on the table face up. It does feel nice to hold for a call though.
Other
- upgrade cycle has been slower than some would like. However it still exists at least. Other phones would be dead by now, this one is still alive.
Overall, Pros outweigh the cons and there is a lot for me to love about this phone.
I think I have been spoiled, because I'm finding it hard to find a device to upgrade to without sacrifices. The only phones I would consider are the Pixel and Moto G4 and one is expensive and the other underpowered.
well, i did the poll but i did it as a yes i would buy another, with condition of course.
i came from the original disappointed motorola fans, the Photon 4G fan. back then... it was the photon of the era. It had the ability to work as a PC, GSM capabilities, 4G wimax and at the time was the best performance with dual core 1 gigahertz and qHD. really a prime of a phone at that time compared to the S2 and the evo. cyanogenmod came out and did wonders on that phone because moto blur was so trashy. Then... the worst happened. Sprint ordered motorola to lock down the bootloader to 2.3.6 which is severely locked and no modifications were allowed to be done anymore. those who were lucky to not have 2.3.6 were able to mod to ICS but those who had 2.3.6 had to bootstrap the phone to work with cyanogenmod and that even was a piss poor attempt at making it work.
now i buy the moto x pure with alot of resentment from the photon but after hearing the reviews is when i bought it. after plagues of hardware problems with hte nexus 5 i simply needed a way to go back and the best device was the moto x. i was so sure i wanted this phone i custom ordered it (after reading rave reviews), i ordered the black leather with red accent 64 gig with 2 years protection. with over a year on this phone... i will admit i still love it.
there were a few hardware problems but i do have the 2 year protection and they did repair it for me... replaced the screen and the battery and wireless modules. i since then have not had problems with it (and believe they remedied the issues that i had with the older devices). i own an HTC M9, and my sister has the s7 edge. the only thing i like about the m9 is the dolby atmos and the carrier aggregation (hoping for a wireless update for the X). other than that... my phone is still superior despite older technology.
why?
i love my moto x because of the moto display. my absolute favorite! i also love the flash light and camera gestures.
the camera works great, signal is still better than most other phones, it barely crashes, the speakers still work very well, still speedy, turbo charge is still an amazing product and i bought the car charger for it. battery had 90 mins on screen time and still has 41% battery and i like the fact its unlocked gsm. i tried freedom pop a few weeks ago and i put that sim in. switched over quickly and it worked great then when i was done... i put my sprint sim back in and it worked just as great too.
the reason i dont see much to switch to however is because samsung, LG, and HTC hasnt really enticed me yet as to why their phone is better. samsung i have to see what will make them different... but LG really hasnt enticed me and im curious on what HTC does, though im not a metal phone fan (feel the feraday cage idea disintegrates the signal, IMO). Pixel is nice... but i simply dont have the money.
what would make me switch to another phone...
1) 4 gig of ram (preferably 6 gigs)
2) HPUE has to be baked in for Sprint LTE at a minimum but 5 channel aggregation would be amazing, AND GSM UNLOCKED
3) best camera software
4) minimum 5.5 inch screen
5) battery that will last for full 24 hours without need of charge or quick charge 4.0 with dual pol
6) shatter resistance and waterproof
for now... the moto x meets my demands without incremental improvements until i see whats next. hopefully a moto z successor that actually works on sprint
In the 2 years it has been out the update cycle has been slower than Samsung's Motorola did not deliver on the support side the main selling point they had with this device was it was going to be similar to the Nexus upgrade cycle well my warranty was up before the first update came out... In addition to the fiasco that is accessories for this phone I am really regretting not going with the LG v10
I don't know why everyone still complains about the accessories. This was never a mainstream device since it was completely carrier independent and sold unlocked. The previous Moto X (and Moto G) line was sold as both branded and unlocked so they were actually seen at pretty much any company that sold cellular service. For those looking for contract or payment plan pricing, they could get it from the carrier. With limited visibility, and the lack of payment plans through carriers the Pure was just not that popular. Companies that make accessories are going to focus on popular selling phones first as that is where they will make the most money... At least we have some options.
I sold my Moto X Pure to buy a Google Pixel XL.
If I were to sell the Pixel XL, then the Moto X Pure is the only phone I'd consider buying.
It was the best all-around phone I've ever had.
I'd even go with it over the new OnePlus 3 second edition or Galaxy S7 variants.
Regardless of price.
Moto Z. lmao what a stinker that phone is compared to Moto X Pure.
Unless you want pretty. Then you shouldn't even be on XDA if that's all you care about.
Interesting comments. I've been a Nexus owner for years, with the 6P being my prior phone. It became my prior phone due to the all too common Boot Loop of Death (BLOD) that seems to be impacting more and more owners. While Huawei did replace it with a refurb'ed model, not in mint shape like the one I sent, but it did come back with 128g instead of the 32g I sent. The battery is terrible as compared with the MXPE, I've been through most of the custom roms/kernels and nothing has really helped and I don't do social media nor play games on it. The built in features of the Moto really impressed me, they are actually functional and add value. The Moto Display is excellent as is the voice recognition of the Moto voice. The bluetooth stack seems to have issues (with me at least), my cell signal is a bit worse and the lack of updates is sad.
I've considered the Pixel, but the price is insane and after having the Pixel features on the 6P I'm happy with the Moto.
When I got my 6P back, it took about a week to change my sim back to it from the Moto, I put it back in the Moto the next day and don't plan on taking it out.
I've had several issues with my Moto X Pure:
1. Frequent static emanating from the headphone jack, which puts a real damper on quiet classical music. I've read on discussion boards that this is a known problem with jacks on the Moto X.
2. Failure to recognize SD cards. I'm now on my third card, and the phone is less than a year old.
3. The camera now fails to operate because of a "lack of disk space" -- although I have more than 24GB available.
Like you, I will never buy another Motorola phone.
Gourdman said:
I've had several issues with my Moto X Pure:
1. Frequent static emanating from the headphone jack, which puts a real damper on quiet classical music. I've read on discussion boards that this is a known problem with jacks on the Moto X.
2. Failure to recognize SD cards. I'm now on my third card, and the phone is less than a year old.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. This is interesting and must be sample-specific. I'm a pretty avid music listener and haven't had any problems with the headphone output on either of my MXPEs (had to RMA my first toward the end of the warranty period). I'd definitely notice and complain if there were any perceptible noise.
2. This one I do have experience with. I bought a brand new Samsung EVO 64 GB mSD card at the same time as the phone, and it gave me fits, but seems to work in other devices. Tried an older SanDisk I had laying around and it's worked fine.
ominousnimbus said:
1. This is interesting and must be sample-specific. I'm a pretty avid music listener and haven't had any problems with the headphone output on either of my MXPEs (had to RMA my first toward the end of the warranty period). I'd definitely notice and complain if there were any perceptible noise.
2. This one I do have experience with. I bought a brand new Samsung EVO 64 GB mSD card at the same time as the phone, and it gave me fits, but seems to work in other devices. Tried an older SanDisk I had laying around and it's worked fine.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've had issues with static, but only on some select 3.5mm plugs. I just figure it was that specific plug itself.
Have had no issues with my SanDisk plus. I use it as removable storage and not as adopted storage. But going back to your statement, I have owned a multiple phones and have noticed some don't play well with certain brands of cards but do well with others. I'm not sure why this is but it does happen.
I really hope I don't get SD slot troubles. My Note 2 did that and it drove me crazy. Maybe next time I should just shell out for a 64+ GB phone.
Times have changed
smallmj said:
I really hope I don't get SD slot troubles. My Note 2 did that and it drove me crazy. Maybe next time I should just shell out for a 64+ GB phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Newer versions of Android (and their apps, along with the stock Rom apparently) are not nearly as frugal with the 16GB of storage as the Note2 was. I'm already at 7.8/9.6GB used with just a basic load of apps and data (music is on the card and camera photos are also directed to be stored there) on the MXPE.
For comparison, my Note2 has a massive load of software & data, plus a ton of camera photos, all on the main storage volume, and only 6.26GB out of the total 10.95GB available are used.
All that to say that 16GB used to be plenty, but "modern" software is just too bloated for that. If I do upgrade phones anytime in the next ~2 years, it'll probably be to a larger Moto X Pure Edition, but for now, that 64GB MicroSD card should be plenty adequate.
Note 4 Story
Why this thread? Short background - I am building a '61 Chevy Bubbletop, and have a thread in a Chevy fourm that I have been posting pics, etc. Have had a lot of interest and helpful feedback. I thought it would be fun, and maybe helpful to some (maybe even me), so here goes.
I will have the phone in hand Monday. So first, background on my Note 4, and what I'm hoping to experience with the V20.
I have come to the point that I prefer to not install ROMs. I find that typically, no matter how great and stable everyone says a ROM is, it always has some issue of some kind. (Of course even stock ones do to).
So I went a long time w/o rooting or applying a ROM. I finally just had to have root. So I sold my AT&T Note 4 (couldn't root it), and purchased a T-Mobile Note 4 which could be rooted. I rooted it and used like that for quite a while.
I am one that uses a LOT of apps. (The phone is to use, no?) And with that comes more memory use, and lag. The phone got so laggy I just had to try a ROM. I tried 2-3 with varying success. I finally tried Maximum Overdrive's ROM for the Note 4 (he is now working on a ROM for the V20).
It was like a different phone. Fairly fast, not near as much lag. It has allowed me to extend the life of the phone over the past year. In fact, it works well enough that I wonder how smart I am spending several hundred dollars for a new phone.
So why the new phone? I moved to Florida a year and half ago, and AT&T's data here sucks ripe lemons. I'm going to move to Verizon. (My daughter has them, and we have compared speeds etc., and Verizon is much better here).
Choosing the V20
It has been a few months that I have been on the watch for my next phone. I won't bore you with the long story of that...just a few details.
One of my 'must haves' for the next phone was to have 6GB of memory...due to my high application load. Over time my highest priority switch from 6GB of memory to capability to use a phone on both GSM and CDMA (read that AT&T/Verizon) networks. That way I can tergiversate regarding carriers.
So, some of my top phone choices dropped off the list. In fact, pretty much all of them except for the US996.
Concerns
I do have a few concerns about the V20 that I hope will be alleviated quickly:
Battery - I've been reading posts regarding battery and it does not sound good. Since moving to the Max Overdrive ROM on the Note 4, my battery is unbelievable. I'd hate to go downhill with this phone. This may be something that necessiates rooting.
Camera Lens - I'm sure everyone knows why this is a concern
Performance - I read, for the most part, that this phone performs well. But I also read a lot of complaints about LAG. Ugh...my high app use may make this a likely scenario for me
Camera - I see some complaints about low light pics. But I've seen a lot of praise for the camera as well
Initial Plans
Once I get all apps installed, and data imported/restored for those that need it, I plan to use it stock for at least 30 days and see how it goes. Depending on how it goes, especially related to the concerns above, I'll either keep it and move forward, or return it.
I'll start out with it on AT&T. May hold off moving to Verizon until I pass the 30 day return availablility.
Rooting
I would really like to root the phone. But, as that the only way to unlock the bootloader is via the LG site for this phone, I don't know if I will or not...at least this early with the phone. Why does that make a difference? Will lose warranty, as they indicate that on the LG site where you go to get it unlocked.
Apply Rom?
Given that there is a Maximum Overdrive rom for the V20, you'd think I would want to put that on. Actually, this is true...but he is only making one for the 918, as that is the phone he has. So, I will miss out on that honey.
I have read some positive info on a couple others out there, but do see constant issues, even with just rooting. It's not near as smooth as a Samsung (I base that opinion on the issues I see here vs. have experienced with the Samsung). So, I'm skittish about doing anything to it. Given the 996 unlocking flags the phone as out of warranty, I fear that a bricked phone will be a several hundred dollar loss.
Summary
So, looking forward to getting the phone and seeing how it goes, and having fun communicating here about the journey.
ewingr said:
Note 4 Story
Why this thread? Short background - I am building a '61 Chevy Bubbletop, and have a thread in a Chevy fourm that I have been posting pics, etc. Have had a lot of interest and helpful feedback. I thought it would be fun, and maybe helpful to some (maybe even me), so here goes.
I will have the phone in hand Monday. So first, background on my Note 4, and what I'm hoping to experience with the V20.
I have come to the point that I prefer to not install ROMs. I find that typically, no matter how great and stable everyone says a ROM is, it always has some issue of some kind. (Of course even stock ones do to).
So I went a long time w/o rooting or applying a ROM. I finally just had to have root. So I sold my AT&T Note 4 (couldn't root it), and purchased a T-Mobile Note 4 which could be rooted. I rooted it and used like that for quite a while.
I am one that uses a LOT of apps. (The phone is to use, no?) And with that comes more memory use, and lag. The phone got so laggy I just had to try a ROM. I tried 2-3 with varying success. I finally tried Maximum Overdrive's ROM for the Note 4 (he is now working on a ROM for the V20).
It was like a different phone. Fairly fast, not near as much lag. It has allowed me to extend the life of the phone over the past year. In fact, it works well enough that I wonder how smart I am spending several hundred dollars for a new phone.
So why the new phone? I moved to Florida a year and half ago, and AT&T's data here sucks ripe lemons. I'm going to move to Verizon. (My daughter has them, and we have compared speeds etc., and Verizon is much better here).
Choosing the V20
It has been a few months that I have been on the watch for my next phone. I won't bore you with the long story of that...just a few details.
One of my 'must haves' for the next phone was to have 6GB of memory...due to my high application load. Over time my highest priority switch from 6GB of memory to capability to use a phone on both GSM and CDMA (read that AT&T/Verizon) networks. That way I can tergiversate regarding carriers.
So, some of my top phone choices dropped off the list. In fact, pretty much all of them except for the US996.
Concerns
I do have a few concerns about the V20 that I hope will be alleviated quickly:
Battery - I've been reading posts regarding battery and it does not sound good. Since moving to the Max Overdrive ROM on the Note 4, my battery is unbelievable. I'd hate to go downhill with this phone. This may be something that necessiates rooting.
Camera Lens - I'm sure everyone knows why this is a concern
Performance - I read, for the most part, that this phone performs well. But I also read a lot of complaints about LAG. Ugh...my high app use may make this a likely scenario for me
Camera - I see some complaints about low light pics. But I've seen a lot of praise for the camera as well
Initial Plans
Once I get all apps installed, and data imported/restored for those that need it, I plan to use it stock for at least 30 days and see how it goes. Depending on how it goes, especially related to the concerns above, I'll either keep it and move forward, or return it.
I'll start out with it on AT&T. May hold off moving to Verizon until I pass the 30 day return availablility.
Rooting
I would really like to root the phone. But, as that the only way to unlock the bootloader is via the LG site for this phone, I don't know if I will or not...at least this early with the phone. Why does that make a difference? Will lose warranty, as they indicate that on the LG site where you go to get it unlocked.
Apply Rom?
Given that there is a Maximum Overdrive rom for the V20, you'd think I would want to put that on. Actually, this is true...but he is only making one for the 918, as that is the phone he has. So, I will miss out on that honey.
I have read some positive info on a couple others out there, but do see constant issues, even with just rooting. It's not near as smooth as a Samsung (I base that opinion on the issues I see here vs. have experienced with the Samsung). So, I'm skittish about doing anything to it. Given the 996 unlocking flags the phone as out of warranty, I fear that a bricked phone will be a several hundred dollar loss.
Summary
So, looking forward to getting the phone and seeing how it goes, and having fun communicating here about the journey.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
just so you know att only has a 14 day return policy
jerrycoffman45 said:
just so you know att only has a 14 day return policy
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know. I purchased from B&H Photo. Besides. AT&T doesn't sell the 996, I don't think.
But thanks for the warning. Had I purchase it from them, and expected 30 days, it would have been a pain to learn the hard way that I can't return it if I decide to.
I had the Note 3, 4 then 7 and this phone is larger than all 3. I just recently switched from Sprint and traded in my s7 edge for the V20 and I am happy so far. I purchased a OtterBox Defender case for the phone and with it installed I no longer have any worries of the camera glass, the case is very solid. Plus I left the factory plastic on the camera which people say will help if the phone was to be dropped.
Good luck!
I had been anxiously awaiting the Note 7. At the time 6GB memory was the top of my 'must have' list. So, when it came with 4GB, I was disappointed and decided to watch for a while. Then we know what happened.
I've actually been very interested in chasing some of the better priced competitors, such as Axon 7 or OnePlus 3t. But both the cameras were rated poorly, and then are GSM only.
But, I'm getting tired of these $800 prices. Rumor now is 1K for the Samsung 8.
I ended up purchasing an open box V20 from B&H, has full factory warranty. Got it for 675, no tax, no shipping.
ON the case, I have been using a Bestbuy PLatinum case, which comes with a belt clipped holster, and a kickstand in the case itself. Been great for me. Coming from IT and needing the phone on my at all times, and not wanting to fight the pocket, I used that.
Turns out it is made by Seido, and they have the same for the V20. It arrived from Amazon today. I'll add some pics when I get the phone and get it set up.
This story will continue. Hopefully it will be a pleasant one.
ewingr said:
Note 4 Story
Why this thread? Short background - I am building a '61 Chevy Bubbletop, and have a thread in a Chevy fourm that I have been posting pics, etc. Have had a lot of interest and helpful feedback. I thought it would be fun, and maybe helpful to some (maybe even me), so here goes.
I will have the phone in hand Monday. So first, background on my Note 4, and what I'm hoping to experience with the V20.
I have come to the point that I prefer to not install ROMs. I find that typically, no matter how great and stable everyone says a ROM is, it always has some issue of some kind. (Of course even stock ones do to).
So I went a long time w/o rooting or applying a ROM. I finally just had to have root. So I sold my AT&T Note 4 (couldn't root it), and purchased a T-Mobile Note 4 which could be rooted. I rooted it and used like that for quite a while.
I am one that uses a LOT of apps. (The phone is to use, no?) And with that comes more memory use, and lag. The phone got so laggy I just had to try a ROM. I tried 2-3 with varying success. I finally tried Maximum Overdrive's ROM for the Note 4 (he is now working on a ROM for the V20).
It was like a different phone. Fairly fast, not near as much lag. It has allowed me to extend the life of the phone over the past year. In fact, it works well enough that I wonder how smart I am spending several hundred dollars for a new phone.
So why the new phone? I moved to Florida a year and half ago, and AT&T's data here sucks ripe lemons. I'm going to move to Verizon. (My daughter has them, and we have compared speeds etc., and Verizon is much better here).
Choosing the V20
It has been a few months that I have been on the watch for my next phone. I won't bore you with the long story of that...just a few details.
One of my 'must haves' for the next phone was to have 6GB of memory...due to my high application load. Over time my highest priority switch from 6GB of memory to capability to use a phone on both GSM and CDMA (read that AT&T/Verizon) networks. That way I can tergiversate regarding carriers.
So, some of my top phone choices dropped off the list. In fact, pretty much all of them except for the US996.
Concerns
I do have a few concerns about the V20 that I hope will be alleviated quickly:
Battery - I've been reading posts regarding battery and it does not sound good. Since moving to the Max Overdrive ROM on the Note 4, my battery is unbelievable. I'd hate to go downhill with this phone. This may be something that necessiates rooting.
Camera Lens - I'm sure everyone knows why this is a concern
Performance - I read, for the most part, that this phone performs well. But I also read a lot of complaints about LAG. Ugh...my high app use may make this a likely scenario for me
Camera - I see some complaints about low light pics. But I've seen a lot of praise for the camera as well
Initial Plans
Once I get all apps installed, and data imported/restored for those that need it, I plan to use it stock for at least 30 days and see how it goes. Depending on how it goes, especially related to the concerns above, I'll either keep it and move forward, or return it.
I'll start out with it on AT&T. May hold off moving to Verizon until I pass the 30 day return availablility.
Rooting
I would really like to root the phone. But, as that the only way to unlock the bootloader is via the LG site for this phone, I don't know if I will or not...at least this early with the phone. Why does that make a difference? Will lose warranty, as they indicate that on the LG site where you go to get it unlocked.
Apply Rom?
Given that there is a Maximum Overdrive rom for the V20, you'd think I would want to put that on. Actually, this is true...but he is only making one for the 918, as that is the phone he has. So, I will miss out on that honey.
I have read some positive info on a couple others out there, but do see constant issues, even with just rooting. It's not near as smooth as a Samsung (I base that opinion on the issues I see here vs. have experienced with the Samsung). So, I'm skittish about doing anything to it. Given the 996 unlocking flags the phone as out of warranty, I fear that a bricked phone will be a several hundred dollar loss.
Summary
So, looking forward to getting the phone and seeing how it goes, and having fun communicating here about the journey.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
About Battery>> Remember that a) you will be dealing with a phone with IPS screen instead of AMOLED (this has a huge impact on the battery). b)the amount of apps that you have (specially those that requires to sync in the background are often part of the issue of battery drainage (my v20 used to last up to 7+ or 8+ with screen on with just about 7 user apps and the rest system apps, now i have 85 user apps + the system apps which make my phone last about 5+ hours screen on). On the other hand, The Doze mode of this phone is INSANE!!!! OUTSTANDING! With screen off your phone can easily last a day or even two (if you like to listen to music with pandora or Spotify >>> it will still last a lot with screen off).
About Camera Lens>> This is just an opinion but im starting to believe that the camera lens sensitivity is just to a small percent of the stock. Believe me when i tell you that i have throw my phone so hard to the wall (by accident) and with that kind of pressure (even with the poetic revolution cover) it should have made the glass of the camera crack (not to mention my phone has fell a lot). On the other hand, do not remove the plastic it comes with , just to be safe.
About Performance>> The phone is fast but just like any other phone, regardless of the processor, or the amount of ram, it has its limits. Thus, at the beginning i had a blazing fast LG V20. But put 85 user apps inside any phone and see how this will change lol. IT still fast. But every once in a while i experience a little lag. But that is just when i have only 500+mb left of ram. ( how can i know my ram quickly? OvrDrive Rom has the ram bar)
About Camera>> The camera does become slower when you are at very dark environments. But many report, including me, that using manual mode and adjusting it to your liking will make it very fast. I believe the issue is the automatic mode. Although sometimes for me the automatic mode in the dark works great. Also, some people report their photos looking like water paint (it does happen to me only with the wide angle camera. Not very often, but it does)
Now, if you are looking for developments and all that, this phone seems to be going in the right direction. We pretty much have root for every variant, we have some custom stock roms, and also we have LineageOS, Resurrection Remix, and AOKP among others so far for almost every variants.
Appreciate the input. We'll see how my experience goes.
I have a comment/reply or two in blue down in the quote of your response.
jinkerz9430 said:
About Battery>> Remember that a) you will be dealing with a phone with IPS screen instead of AMOLED (this has a huge impact on the battery). b)the amount of apps that you have (specially those that requires to sync in the background are often part of the issue of battery drainage (my v20 used to last up to 7+ or 8+ with screen on with just about 7 user apps and the rest system apps, now i have 85 user apps + the system apps which make my phone last about 5+ hours screen on). On the other hand, The Doze mode of this phone is INSANE!!!! OUTSTANDING! With screen off your phone can easily last a day or even two (if you like to listen to music with pandora or Spotify >>> it will still last a lot with screen off).
Yup. All understood. My comparison will be to my almost 3 year old Note 4. It has all the apps I will have on the V20, Doze mode (Max Overdrive ROM), etc. This has a just barely smaller battery than the Note 4 (which is disappointing...would prefer a fatter phone with fatter battery). So, I would hope the processer is more efficient, and in the end, at least as good on battery as my Note 4.
About Camera Lens>> This is just an opinion but im starting to believe that the camera lens sensitivity is just to a small percent of the stock. Believe me when i tell you that i have throw my phone so hard to the wall (by accident) and with that kind of pressure (even with the poetic revolution cover) it should have made the glass of the camera crack (not to mention my phone has fell a lot). On the other hand, do not remove the plastic it comes with , just to be safe.
I will definitely have the phone in cases. Hopefully I'll have same experience as you.
About Performance>> The phone is fast but just like any other phone, regardless of the processor, or the amount of ram, it has its limits. Thus, at the beginning i had a blazing fast LG V20. But put 85 user apps inside any phone and see how this will change lol. IT still fast. But every once in a while i experience a little lag. But that is just when i have only 500+mb left of ram. ( how can i know my ram quickly? OvrDrive Rom has the ram bar)
I'm sure it has it's limits. I do abuse them, with lots of apps. MOre than 85, I'm sure. I do have a tendency to freeze apps I don't use often. But of course that requires root. With the Maximum Overdrive ROM on my Note 4, the lags aren't too bad. I'm thinking (hoping) that this phone will shine in comparison to my Note 4 with the better specs.
About Camera>> The camera does become slower when you are at very dark environments. But many report, including me, that using manual mode and adjusting it to your liking will make it very fast. I believe the issue is the automatic mode. Although sometimes for me the automatic mode in the dark works great. Also, some people report their photos looking like water paint (it does happen to me only with the wide angle camera. Not very often, but it does)
I use some modes other than automatic on my Canon. I'm excited to see the capabilities of the camera on this phone. With an understanding of shutter and aperture as an advantage, maybe I'll be very happy with it.
Now, if you are looking for developments and all that, this phone seems to be going in the right direction. We pretty much have root for every variant, we have some custom stock roms, and also we have LineageOS, Resurrection Remix, and AOKP among others so far for almost every variants.
If only Overdrive developed for the 996, I would know what ROM to use. I will likely hold off on ROMS for a while. I still see lots of folks struggling with the ROMS and reporting issues or help needed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Tomorrow...the journey begins
SHAMELESS PLUG, to remind everyone that not everyone has 800$ to throw at a phone upfront.
I was in your boat. I had my eyes dead set on the US996.
Did my research and ended up on the H918.
Look at the ROM development, it's flooded with H918 support.
Will the US996 pick up traction and have as much support as the H918? Who knows.
I even wanted the dual sim, but that isn't even rooted if my memory serves correctly.
Regardless, this phone is stellar.
WETA rom has an US996 version, which I'd definitely recommend. I have my eyes on Max Overdrive, NATF and Resurrection remix, but after flashing WETA, i wouldn't change a thing.
Best of luck to you, m9.
Thanks for the best luck wishes.
I am seeing more dev for the 996. I am hopeful that I'll be happy with it stock. Although, I really want Root, so I may give in.
One thing for sure, it is confusing having all various models in the same forums, and most folks don't indicate which model they are on.
ewingr said:
Appreciate the input. We'll see how my experience goes.
I have a comment/reply or two in blue down in the quote of your response.
Tomorrow...the journey begins
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah i would say that Max ovrdrive and Weta are the 2 most stable ones regarding stock roms. Have you tried to talk with OvrDrive ? The h918 and US996 are pretty much alike in all the aspects except some frequencies added to the us996. Maybe you can be a tester for the us996 version. But yeah, first try the phone for a while without any root until the 14 days or possibly some more days are over. If you decide to keep it, then you can jump into the v20's board lol . By the way, you said that you rather a fatter phone? I have seen some battery replacements from third party brands such as zero lemon (which is usually a great brand that produces great batteries) their batteries have way more mah than the original battery from the v20. But it comes with a cost that you might get along with them. It requires to put a very fat case to the phone. I personally dont like it but if you dont care about how fat it looks then you coupd go for it.
I didn't personally talk to Overdrive, but it was asked in his thread of his ROM would work on the 996, and his reply was he would not be supporting it as he does not have one. I too have noticed that ROMs are working on more than one model.
I'll wait and see how the stock battery works out before I go try a fatter one. I'm hoping to stay in the Seido case and belt clip I had already purchased.
Good news/Bad news
Bad news first...but not that bad
I won't have the phone in hand until late Thursday, instead of today
Now the great news
I'll have a brand new phone instead of open big phone, and will sane $175.
I went to Phandroid a bit ago and they announced a sale of the V20 at B&H for $499.99. I had paid $675 for the open box. I called B&H to see if they would refund the difference. Nope. Buy the sale phone and return the open box phone.
Fine with me ?
ewingr said:
Bad news first...but not that bad
I won't have the phone in hand until late Thursday, instead of today
Now the great news
I'll have a brand new phone instead of open big phone, and will sane $175.
I went to Phandroid a bit ago and they announced a sale of the V20 at B&H for $499.99. I had paid $675 for the open box. I called B&H to see if they would refund the difference. Nope. Buy the sale phone and return the open box phone.
Fine with me
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
my v20's price was practically speaking $331 dollars Brand new sealed . Because of the promotion of the $200 off and the earphone of $149 plus an extra earphone ($149) sent to me from the defective lg v20 returned. I think im going to finish of paying by the 27 of this month
tl;dr version: If I see a US996 for sale that says it "only works with US Cellular" do I take the seller's word for it, or do I know better that the US996 is unlocked for all carriers if you have the right SIM card?
"I've got time" version:
I too am considering a journey from a Note 4 to a US996.
I'm on Verizon, and I just dropped my Note 4 Dev Edition (not that the DE means anything now that the BL unlock was released), cracking the LCD and rendering the digitizer useless. A new(ish) Note 4 is around $200... so I wouldn't bother replacing the screen on my otherwise well-used phone. PS... The phone was in a case, in a belt holster (Spigen Slim Armor / Seidio respectively) and a tempered glass screen protector. ugh.
If it wasn't obvious from my owning a Developer Edition phone... I like to have an unlocked bootloader and root. I had CM13 installed on the Note 4 because TouchWiz was so far behind in a lot of ways. So, I'm considering a V20. I'd rather spend a little more and get a phone that has a SUPPORTED BL unlock method. The Verizon V20 version can be BL unlocked via a hack with a debug bootloader, but it's irreversible and that may lead to issues with being painted into a corner. Enter the US996.
So, I started researching the V20, making sure that there was stable bootloader unlock method, the dev base for ROMs is strong, the reviews are good, etc... and I came across some sales that say that the phone is ONLY for US Cellular. Is this true? The US996 is the unlocked version, correct?
I tried to navigate LG's and USC's websites to get a model number and some info... but I'm not seeing it. Could US Cellular have somehow SIM-locked the phone so that only USC's SIMs work in it? Or... does the seller just not know any better, or wants to play it safe by saying it will only work with the carrier listed?
Thanks for the help! Also... anyone switching from the Note 4, please let me know what you miss. I use my stylus a lot for drawing or annotating on pictures and screenshots... so I think it will be the hardest thing to give up if I go to a V20 or other stylus-less phone.
DrPhant0m said:
tl;dr version: If I see a US996 for sale that says it "only works with US Cellular" do I take the seller's word for it, or do I know better that the US996 is unlocked for all carriers if you have the right SIM card?
"I've got time" version:
I too am considering a journey from a Note 4 to a US996.
I'm on Verizon, and I just dropped my Note 4 Dev Edition (not that the DE means anything now that the BL unlock was released), cracking the LCD and rendering the digitizer useless. A new(ish) Note 4 is around $200... so I wouldn't bother replacing the screen on my otherwise well-used phone. PS... The phone was in a case, in a belt holster (Spigen Slim Armor / Seidio respectively) and a tempered glass screen protector. ugh.
If it wasn't obvious from my owning a Developer Edition phone... I like to have an unlocked bootloader and root. I had CM13 installed on the Note 4 because TouchWiz was so far behind in a lot of ways. So, I'm considering a V20. I'd rather spend a little more and get a phone that has a SUPPORTED BL unlock method. The Verizon V20 version can be BL unlocked via a hack with a debug bootloader, but it's irreversible and that may lead to issues with being painted into a corner. Enter the US996.
So, I started researching the V20, making sure that there was stable bootloader unlock method, the dev base for ROMs is strong, the reviews are good, etc... and I came across some sales that say that the phone is ONLY for US Cellular. Is this true? The US996 is the unlocked version, correct?
I tried to navigate LG's and USC's websites to get a model number and some info... but I'm not seeing it. Could US Cellular have somehow SIM-locked the phone so that only USC's SIMs work in it? Or... does the seller just not know any better, or wants to play it safe by saying it will only work with the carrier listed?
Thanks for the help! Also... anyone switching from the Note 4, please let me know what you miss. I use my stylus a lot for drawing or annotating on pictures and screenshots... so I think it will be the hardest thing to give up if I go to a V20 or other stylus-less phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not sure what to say. Can you link the one you are looking at? I think by only work with US Cellular, they MAY (I don't know) mean a U.S. Carrier, ie. Verizon, AT&T, Sprint or T-Mobile, as opposed to the company US Celluar.
One thing you need to be aware of for the US996...the only way, right now, that it can be bootloader unlocked is by going to a LG site to get an unlock code from them. At that point it will lose warranty. Due to that, I'll be holding off on unlocking for a while. At least, that is my current plan.
Only thing I miss is the stylus going from the note 3 to the v10.
Though I suppose I don't miss the stylus that much since I jumped from the v10 to v20 instead of going back to the note series.
I would love to see lg put some effort into it and make a stylus based top end model instead of putting a stylus version as a middle model. I was hoping the v series would feature a stylus and the g series be a non stylus version but alas it hasn't happened.
Sent from my LG-H918 using XDA-Developers Legacy app
evo4g63t said:
Only thing I miss is the stylus going from the note 3 to the v10.
Though I suppose I don't miss the stylus that much since I jumped from the v10 to v20 instead of going back to the note series.
I would love to see lg put some effort into it and make a stylus based top end model instead of putting a stylus version as a middle model. I was hoping the v series would feature a stylus and the g series be a non stylus version but alas it hasn't happened.
Sent from my LG-H918 using XDA-Developers Legacy app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But i think that LG is trying not to copy other brands such as samsung. For this reason they should limit the amount of resemblance between the features of each phone. Thus, there are just a handful of LG's with stylus in comparison to the note series . After all i doubt LG wants to experience the same thing that happened with samsung been sued by apple, and then apple been sued back by samsung (quite a hilarious story though lol) but if i had a company such as LG, i would definitely not want to even put a step in court for a battle that can easily last more than a month of constant interventions and proofs and etc... and could easily cost me 100+ or 200+ millions. In a lg v20 , i believe the stylus is not a necessity (Even for people that would love to have stylus for the v series). On the other hand, one could buy one of this or similars:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1xTouch-Scr...485550?hash=item33c8e075ee:g:0RkAAOSwIgNXmXla
and see if there is an application that resembles what one can do with the note's stylus. you will definitely wont find one that will be exactly the same. But maybe similar and who knows maybe better.
DrPhant0m said:
tl;dr version: If I see a US996 for sale that says it "only works with US Cellular" do I take the seller's word for it, or do I know better that the US996 is unlocked for all carriers if you have the right SIM card?
"I've got time" version:
I too am considering a journey from a Note 4 to a US996.
I'm on Verizon, and I just dropped my Note 4 Dev Edition (not that the DE means anything now that the BL unlock was released), cracking the LCD and rendering the digitizer useless. A new(ish) Note 4 is around $200... so I wouldn't bother replacing the screen on my otherwise well-used phone. PS... The phone was in a case, in a belt holster (Spigen Slim Armor / Seidio respectively) and a tempered glass screen protector. ugh.
If it wasn't obvious from my owning a Developer Edition phone... I like to have an unlocked bootloader and root. I had CM13 installed on the Note 4 because TouchWiz was so far behind in a lot of ways. So, I'm considering a V20. I'd rather spend a little more and get a phone that has a SUPPORTED BL unlock method. The Verizon V20 version can be BL unlocked via a hack with a debug bootloader, but it's irreversible and that may lead to issues with being painted into a corner. Enter the US996.
So, I started researching the V20, making sure that there was stable bootloader unlock method, the dev base for ROMs is strong, the reviews are good, etc... and I came across some sales that say that the phone is ONLY for US Cellular. Is this true? The US996 is the unlocked version, correct?
I tried to navigate LG's and USC's websites to get a model number and some info... but I'm not seeing it. Could US Cellular have somehow SIM-locked the phone so that only USC's SIMs work in it? Or... does the seller just not know any better, or wants to play it safe by saying it will only work with the carrier listed?
Thanks for the help! Also... anyone switching from the Note 4, please let me know what you miss. I use my stylus a lot for drawing or annotating on pictures and screenshots... so I think it will be the hardest thing to give up if I go to a V20 or other stylus-less phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've been thinking a bit. I know I saw in a thread somewhere about the US996 being the same model for the Unlocked and for a carrier (don't recall if it was US Cellular). I think the key is 'Unlocked'. Maybe you should put your question in it's own post. May bet more input, from someone who knows for sure.
Thanks for the replies. Take a look at this auction: http://www.ebay.com/itm/381960164377
The seller says they are an authorized US Cellular reseller… so it seems they'd know. And I doubt that they'd distort the truth about the phone being unlocked just to keep USC customers. So maybe there are US996s out there that are locked to USC. It doesn't make sense that there'd be a carrier-locked version of the US996 sold by LG… so maybe USC is locking them. Perhaps I'll ask the seller.
I ended up ordering a "like new" note 4 for $200 before I found out that B&H was selling the US996 for $300 off retail, and now I've missed that deal. So hopefully this Note4 really is in new condition and it will serve long enough for me to try out a V20 while the price drops again somewhere else.
Sent from my SM-N900V using Tapatalk
Update… this is the response I got from the seller:
Thank you for your question. We are not selling the phone as compatible with other carriers or carrier-unlocked. We can't guarantee that the phone will work with an another carrier. We are only saying the phone will work with the carrier US Cellular. We can only guarantee that it works with US Cellular.*
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What do you all think?
Sent from my SM-N900V using Tapatalk
So I am getting sick of the battery life of this device and charging twice a day just to get by... the QC helps but it isn't always a viable option for someone who is on the road/travels a lot. I am probably going to go back to my Moto G 2015 for the time being as I could get a full days use most of the time on a single charge and just selling my MXPE.
But now the question comes up as what to replace it with... Moto G 5th gen, Blu Pure XR, ZTE Axon 7 Mini, or ???
My requirements are simple, or so I think...
1) 4+ hours SOT, preferably 5+, in mixed signal environment of WiFi/LTE/3G and sometimes without the best signal strength (for reference, I currently get about 2.5 hours on MXPE)
2) 5.2"-5.7" screen with 1080p minimum resolution
3) Stock Android, "near" stock, or simple UI (no TouchWiz, EMUI, ZenUI, or other bloated UI) that allows easy use of replacement launcher
4) 64GB internal storage or 32GB internal+microSD
5) 3GB or more of RAM
6) Full AT&T network compatibility (GSM 850/1900 and LTE Band 2/4/5/12/17 and optionally 29/30)
7) Nougat or Marshmallow with a Nougat upgrade "guaranteed"
8) 3.5mm headphone jack
9) Dual band WiFi - 2.4 & 5Ghz
10) $300USD or less
Would be nice, but not essential...
1) Unlockable bootloader (implies root/custom recovery/ROM development community)
2) Front facing speakers
3) NFC
4) USB 3.0
Absolute no no's are Samsung, Asus, or Huawei/Honor devices.
What else fits these requirements that I am not considering?
I believe the one phone that comes to mind that would fit most of your requirements is the Axon. I took a break from the MXPE (when it flew off my roof and died a horrible death in a rain storm) and had the Axon 7 (normal size) for about a month. You will get NEAR 4 hours of SoT, a qhd screen, 5.5 inches, relatively light for metal body. Unlockable bootloader and decent dev for it, last I checked. Things that bothered me/ pissed me off were that DTTW was laggy and slow, the actual cell service seemed to be really bad, possibly because of the full metal body phone, and the biggest annoyance - no backlit capacitive buttons, so you were left sort of blind in the dark trying to hit buttons. There is also no way through the build.prop to enable the on-screen buttons to bypass the issue at night, last I checked.
LG V20 could be an option too since it has a bootloader unlock now, 3.5-4.5 hours of SoT. I think it has a bottom bezel speaker though, which is a little weird, and as always the LG software has complaints. The dev is good enough to get around that though.
I'm in the same boat as you though. I've been looking pretty hard to find a new phone and the V20 is the only one I am really considering right now.
Get the OnePlus 3T it meets all your needs I get easily 6 to 7 HR sot
datchico305 said:
Get the OnePlus 3T it meets all your needs I get easily 6 to 7 HR sot
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Would love to... tell me where I can get a new OP3T for under $300... That one is a hard stop requirement.
@xgerryx Same for LG V20 and Axon 7 (which never goes on sale, although the Mini does often), the $300 price point is a big deal
This phone has been a little disappointing. It's good, but definitely not great. It's a night and day difference from the Galaxy S3 I was using, but I wish I had held out a little longer for the SD 820 phones instead of buying in 2015.
It sounds like you've already got a pretty inclusive list for phones that are sold in the US and meet your requirements.
I just checked swappa, and if you're willing to go used, the OnePlus 3 is starting to get down towards the price point you're looking for. It has the same size battery as the MXP, and between the more efficient SoC than this godawful 808/810 generation and an FHD AMOLED I'd think you should get better screen on time out of it. It's a OnePlus so it has loads of good development, so you'll have all kinds of kernel/rom/tweaking available to really squeeze every erg out of it.
jason2678 said:
This phone has been a little disappointing. It's good, but definitely not great. It's a night and day difference from the Galaxy S3 I was using, but I wish I had held out a little longer for the SD 820 phones instead of buying in 2015.
It sounds like you've already got a pretty inclusive list for phones that are sold in the US and meet your requirements.
I just checked swappa, and if you're willing to go used, the OnePlus 3 is starting to get down towards the price point you're looking for. It has the same size battery as the MXP, and between the more efficient SoC than this godawful 808/810 generation and an FHD AMOLED I'd think you should get better screen on time out of it. It's a OnePlus so it has loads of good development, so you'll have all kinds of kernel/rom/tweaking available to really squeeze every erg out of it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That actually could be an option... I will investigate further.
acejavelin said:
Would love to... tell me where I can get a new OP3T for under $300... That one is a hard stop requirement.
@xgerryx Same for LG V20 and Axon 7 (which never goes on sale, although the Mini does often), the $300 price point is a big deal
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you happen to be SUPER interested in the V20, I have seen some go for like 310-320 on Swappa in good to mint condition. You gotta hound the seller though and keep track of it all damn day for when the price drops. Not an awesome experience but I'm waiting for the same thing myself.
xgerryx said:
If you happen to be SUPER interested in the V20, I have seen some go for like 310-320 on Swappa in good to mint condition. You gotta hound the seller though and keep track of it all damn day for when the price drops. Not an awesome experience but I'm waiting for the same thing myself.
Click to expand...
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I'm not really interested... TBH, my experience with non-Nexus LG Android devices has been... well... lets just say less then wonderful.
Although I would have to say that the LG enV from years ago probably ranks up there as my favorite phone of all time, back when you could actually get DAYS of usage out of a cell phone on a single charge. I remember I would charge it twice a week. lol
acejavelin said:
I'm not really interested... TBH, my experience with non-Nexus LG Android devices has been... well... lets just say less then wonderful.
Although I would have to say that the LG enV from years ago probably ranks up there as my favorite phone of all time, back when you could actually get DAYS of usage out of a cell phone on a single charge. I remember I would charge it twice a week. lol
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Yea I agree. After my terrible experience with the buggy LG G4, I'm very skeptical about going back again. At the same time I am running out of companies to try out! Haha. Gotta circle back eventually, especially on Verizon.
xgerryx said:
Yea I agree. After my terrible experience with the buggy LG G4, I'm very skeptical about going back again. At the same time I am running out of companies to try out! Haha. Gotta circle back eventually, especially on Verizon.
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NEVER AGAIN!!! I refuse to drop $140 plus taxes and fees (realistically $160) for the service level I get now for $72 per month. Plus the limitations on devices, I would have to buy at least one new phone and/or go under contract. Nope, not happening. (Can you tell I have a grudge against Verizon, lol)
I would look around swappa for a OnePlus 3 or 3t it's worth it no bugs lag free and monthly updates it's already on nougat 7.1.1 and the beta builds they offer are great as well and development is great lots of greats ROMs and kernels and unlocking bootloader will not void warranty
TBH...I think you will have a hard time meeting all of your requirements right now. The market looks pretty dismal which is very unfortunate. I personally will hold out a little longer. I'm really looking hard at what Nokia/HMD are coming up with and hoping their roadmap for US devices includes a mid range device soon. So far their line up seems decent and if they are true to their word about expedient updates for Android, and they will sell devices with unlockable bootloaders at decent prices, I'll be sold.
moving to a galaxy s8 plus, comes tomorrow
unitz0mbie said:
moving to a galaxy s8 plus, comes tomorrow
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Like @acejavelin stated, Samsung is not an option, and I agree with him. Yes they have great hardware for the most part, but a less powerful processor running vanilla, our near vanilla Android will run just as well considering the lack of heavy handed UX. I will admit the phone looks great hardware and looks wise, but I personally don't like the look and feel of Samsung TW.
unitz0mbie said:
moving to a galaxy s8 plus, comes tomorrow
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Sammie's are to bloated... Every Samsung devices we have ever had has been problematic... Hope you enjoy yours though but I would never spend that kind of money on a phone.
I have a moto g5 plus as well, its pretty good. It's fast and smooth. Screen and camera are good too, but obviously not as good as the X style.
Yes mxpe battery sucks. I have to charge 2-3 times a day and am not even a heavy user. I know its more than your actual budget but better wait, save a bit more and probably the price will drop also and go for a OP 3T.
i know your problem man.. but why don't you wait for a nougat update?? why not? maybe they might fix up the battery drain issue!
there are barely very less phones which have dual front facing speakers.. market has got very saturated.. all look for flagship but they just don't think that having a good speakers is also a part of flagship project!
as per my personal opinion... this phone is just the best phone ive ever used (till 2015) but in upcoming era you will see more and more features
i will recommend you to wait and not hurry up to get a phone...
if you need a pure stock surely get nexus but just wait for new nexus phone.. maybe they might consider it as a flagship and the value might be cheap??
anyways if you're just asking for all the requirements my opinion (AXON 7) not just only for dual front facing speakers but also for the processor(sd 820),storage(64gb,6gb ram) expandable ovbio (256gb)
plot twist: has hybrid sim XD
but im legit that it'll be upgraded to android 'O'
but it cost around $350
think man.. public reviews are also good
it meets all the requirements but is as costly as mxpe
Sagar_1401 said:
i know your problem man.. but why don't you wait for a nougat update?? why not? maybe they might fix up the battery drain issue!
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Nougat can't "fix" our battery issue... Radio and display panel are hardware issues and that's where 75% of all battery drain is. It isn't even issues, it's just how much power they use normally. The SD808's radios are terribly inefficient, and the display panel uses more power than some small towns. If you think Nougat is going to noticably improve active use time, your kidding yourself.
To be honest, I might just pull my old Nexus 5 out if the drawer and switch to it... The battery life can't be much worse.
The sound aspect is less important. FF speakers are nice, but as long as I can hear a YouTube video in an average room and turn the ringer up enough u don't care.
I bought the MXPE as an upgrade to my G 2015 and it was on sale for under $250, and for the most part it is, I just didn't realize how bad the battery was, it is easily half of my G.
I got Axon 7 after X and can't be happier. I've had the A7 since August. Has the front speakers i wanted, nice beautiful Samsung screen. Battery is definitely better then X. Software was buggy at the beginning but they have improved it a lot. Axon 7 has been getting a lot of updates, doesn't mean it'll continue, we were the 1st ones to receive 7.0 with the exception of Google devices, and we are the only ones so far (afaik) to receive 7.1.1 with also the exception of Google devices.
It has its flaws but i love the phone. For the money you can't beat it. It's on sale now on newegg for $330.