XT1687 - Bootloader Unlock, Yes or no - Moto G5 Plus Questions & Answers

Hi, I'm planning to buy a Moto G5 Plus from Newegg/Newegg's ebay
I need confirmation if this version of the phone's bootloader is Unlockable(https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16875209505)
Thanks

Yes it is able to have the bootlocker unlocked.
Still have not found a really justified reason to do mine, seems to break way more things reading this forum, and oreo update due next 3 months.
For the price found this to be a great phone as is, only mod is nova launcher.

I would agree... Unlocking the Bootloader, rooting, and custom ROMs have much less value and more drawbacks than it used to, and every incremented version of Android just proves to reinforce that more and more.

My thoughts exactly after having unlocked my bootloader at a reflex. There is no ROM's that are even close to stock, especially camera wise. If we get official Lineage OS, the unlock is justified for me. But that seems uncertain at this time. Moto g has always been supported by CM & LOS, so there is no reason we should not get official support.

I had a similar thinking until about a week ago. I had had this phone for about 6 to 7 months before it started getting unbearably laggy. It was starting to feel and run like the $200 phone it is. But I bought this phone with the unlockable bootloader as a contingency.
Just as stock Android has improved to the point of almost not needing to root/mod, the rooting and modding process itself has seemingly become far more accessible to the average bloke with the cross platform Electron app.
The battery life is incredible on 14.1 compared to the stock Nougat...not to mention quicker security updates from what I understand. Even this 'unofficial' lineage is leagues better in my humble opinion.
So while it may be hard to justify there are some decent advantages in my mind. It took me half a year to do it though, which is crazy considering I was addicted to rooting my OG Droid way back in the day.
Sent from my XT1687 using Tapatalk

roscoe2041 said:
I had a similar thinking until about a week ago. I had had this phone for about 6 to 7 months before it started getting unbearably laggy. It was starting to feel and run like the $200 phone it is. But I bought this phone with the unlockable bootloader as a contingency.
Just as stock Android has improved to the point of almost not needing to root/mod, the rooting and modding process itself has seemingly become far more accessible to the average bloke with the cross platform Electron app.
The battery life is incredible on 14.1 compared to the stock Nougat...not to mention quicker security updates from what I understand. Even this 'unofficial' lineage is leagues better in my humble opinion.
So while it may be hard to justify there are some decent advantages in my mind. It took me half a year to do it though, which is crazy considering I was addicted to rooting my OG Droid way back in the day.
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Click to collapse
No offense, but I'm curious if a cache wipe or factory reset would have righted the world with your phones battery anyway... Custom ROMs tend not to do as well in battery in unlocked/retail Moto devices when compared to stock. Moto can improve in a lot of areas, but they sure as heck know how to optimize a kernel and rom.

acejavelin said:
No offense, but I'm curious if a cache wipe or factory reset would have righted the world with your phones battery anyway... Custom ROMs tend not to do as well in battery in unlocked/retail Moto devices when compared to stock. Moto can improve in a lot of areas, but they sure as heck know how to optimize a kernel and rom.
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Click to collapse
I'm not too sure. You could be right, I bet a factory reset would have worked well to fix my unendurable lag. I use my phone for productivity, no games etc so I'm baffled as to how it got clogged down so quickly. The storage space wasn't an issue, either. Regardless the battery life doesn't seem to have suffered as a result of the switch to 14.1. In fact, it seems better than when I bought it off the shelf. Mileage may vary of course, but it seems like the pros barely outweigh the cons to me. I also have the 2gb RAM variant for what it's worth and it now feels way zippier than a $200 phone should be. That's not to say it didn't feel zippy off the shelf. The stock rom is mighty nice and stable so it's kind of fixing something that's not really broken.
I also am eager to move on to Oreo. It is frustrating that Moto's stock almost-vanilla Android takes so long to update.

I would always unlock and root. I could care less about custom ROMs, but being able to load apps like AdAway, Greenify, Viper4Android, Titanium Backup, Root Explorer, etc and being able to remove bloatware are two major reasons why I would root even if I didn't plan on using custom ROMs.

Related

Who will be moving on to a new phone soon?

So it is coming on two years that this phone has been out, which means that a lot of people will have upgrades available. Who plans on upgrading to a new phone and what are you looking at getting?
At this time, I'm sticking with this phone. CM11 is giving me all I need. The phone still works well, and if I were to get a new phone, I'd have to purchase it at full price, lest I lose my unlimited data.
So, no moving to a new phone, nor do I have a reason to. Just because this phone is two years old doesn't mean it's no longer good. As long as you have an unlocked bootloader, this phone will continue to work well, especially with CM11 pumping out nightlies like crazy.
Lol, I just moved to the Razr HD from the Droid 3. I was using a Galaxy S2 HD LTE while I was stationed in Korea a few months back and the Razr is by far a superior phone to both. I'm the one that likes to tinker, so I like these older phones. I got the wife a Moto X a while back and that phone runs great. Far better battery life than my Maxx and has all the cool little functions, the coolest being the Active Display. The new Moto X looks great too but I'm sticking to the Razr. I just need basic functionality, the most important being the wifi hotspot which my iPad Air is always tethered to. Both the Moto X and Razr were purchased off contract, the Moto X was purchased off the Motorola website and the Razr through Amazon used. I am really enjoying this phone so far and was extremely happy that I was able to unlock the bootloader. Just need to wait for the unlock to be available for the Moto X and the world will be perfect! Yeah, I know about the China middleman but would prefer not to go that route. So bottom line, don't care about the new phones... Quite happy with my Razr running VZW 4.4.2 and ART Runtime. But if I was to look for a new phone, that new Moto X looks really good.
Edit: back to dalvik, phone was running stupid with art enabled on the drive to the mall and back. Couldn't run any music player Bluetooth'd to the car without the music being choppy. Don't know if it is a Bluetooth issue or art issue but didn't happen again on a short drive after switching back to dalvik. Oh well, I can run xposed again, so all is not lost!!!
I lost mine and still got another one. Had mine for one year, plan on sticking to this one for at least one more, or until something a lot better comes around.
With cm11 on it, it does everything I need to, with headroom. Dont care about new phones, at least for now.
Maybe can consider if they release a good phone with earth-shattering battery life, but I really dont see it happening so soon..
Edit: Also:
iBolski said:
Just because this phone is two years old doesn't mean it's no longer good.
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Click to collapse
Let's put it this way - I'm getting at least 1.5 days of battery if not more. This morning, I'm at 77% with over 13 hours not charging. I've received and sent texts, played a game or two of Madden Mobile, read email, made and received phone calls. Battery life on my non-maxx RAZR HD is awesome under CM11 with Xposed modules Greenify, Unbound and AppOpsXposed. Never got this under stock.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk
iBolski said:
Let's put it this way - I'm getting at least 1.5 days of battery if not more. This morning, I'm at 77% with over 13 hours not charging. I've received and sent texts, played a game or two of Madden Mobile, read email, made and received phone calls. Battery life on my non-maxx RAZR HD is awesome under CM11 with Xposed modules Greenify, Unbound and AppOpsXposed. Never got this under stock.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk
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Click to collapse
I agree, greenify and unbounce are amazing apps. The fact that notifications are still available while hibernated with greenify is awesome. Well worth the extra few bucks!! With unbounce, I'm running the old version before he went all fancy with the ui because it became too much. Just want something simple that does the job on its own like greenify. I unfortunately bricked my phone when I accidentally flashed a RAZR M ROM. I was so pissed that night that I literally went to the Best Buy page and ordered a Droid Maxx. I also ordered a new motherboard that night so now I have the RAZR Maxx HD as a backup. I plan on switching in between the two often!!
All of the new phones are going the way of obnoxious.
Screen too big, 4.7 is just right
No microSD slot, 8GB (ugh if ya haveta 16GB) base is fine...let me add my 64GB
No MHL, I want to connect an MHL to HDMI adapter and watch the movie(s) I loaded on my 64GB card on the hotel's LCD TV when I travel
No Miracast, would be much better than MHL port
No 3300maH+ battery, I like the juice time I have with my Franken XT925. The newer processing power would only greatly increase the runtime available
Too thin, The RAZR MAXX HD is just about right, just needs to be a little more sculpted like the Moto X
No Car Dock, I like an easy way to connect the charger to the phone while in the car...oh oh and I have a GPS if I want it
So basically there needs to be Generation 1 Moto X with the 805+ processor, 3300maH+ battery, microSD slot, removable back with replaceable battery (if design needed, I'm okay with putting the SD and SIM back inside with battery), 8GB onboard storage and 4GB RAM to keep up with OS upgrades for at LEAST 2 years.
not until may next year, i do want a new phone due to specs and such. android L snapdragon 810 deserve a wait and see reviews/prices of devices.
cm11 runs fine with me, just the random crash but i get 4 hours of screentime easy.
basically ill upgrade to 3000+mah 32/64GB + microSD S810 phone with 1080p/QHD under $650 USD. sony z4, lg g4 and htc m9 are on the shortlist due to their nice phones, but if sammy gets their act together with the ui in the s6 (comeon, just root, unlock bootloader and we're set with stock android L) and i might consider them. the s810 will support all lte bands so unlocked is a must. i pay $10 USD every 2 months for 100 min/texts/mb and that's all i need, no contract.
I'm looking at getting the Galaxy S5. I'm sick of Motorola being so restrictive with their bootloaders. Custom ROMs are the reason that I want an Android phone.
cschuck320 said:
I'm looking at getting the Galaxy S5. I'm sick of Motorola being so restrictive with their bootloaders. Custom ROMs are the reason that I want an Android phone.
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Click to collapse
You think Samsung on VZW is any better? On Verizon right now, the M8 is probably the best bang-for-buck if you want a non-dev model that can be modded.
Sent from my HTC6525LVW using Tapatalk
RikRong said:
You think Samsung on VZW is any better? On Verizon right now, the M8 is probably the best bang-for-buck if you want a non-dev model that can be modded.
Sent from my HTC6525LVW using Tapatalk
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Click to collapse
After looking into it some more, I realized that it was being restricted by Verizon. Honestly, I'm going to wait for the Nexus 6
Droid Turbo or the corresponding GSM variant are starting to look real good.
Really liking the new Nexus 6 and the Droid Turbo, but...
Without a procedure for unlocking the phone, I'm not buying the Turbo. Without the Xposed Framework being updated to work with 5.0, I'm not buying the Nexus 6. I've become too dependent on root and Xposed (among other things root is good for) to go back to a locked down phone without rooting capabilities and no Xposed support. Also I'd much prefer the 5.2" screen to the 6" screen. Not ready to jump that high (yet...)
I am hoping a dev works his/her magic and figures out a way to unlock that bad boy Turbo before long. I've become so heavily dependent on Xposed to make this phone do every single thing I want it to that the RAM and processing power are sadly just not enough. And with the Turbo on 4.4.4, I could block (freeze, disable, whatever) the updates so as to not be bothered with 5.0 until Xposed is updated to run on it.
...plus I think the KitKat Moto built for this phone was half-a$$ thrown together, and the update did nothing to correct anything (made things worse from my own perspective). I may have to take the plunge into the world of Cyanogen or another custom ROM.
EDIT: Switched over to the new DirtyUnicorns ROM for my phone and everything is head and shoulders better than before - won't be updating to a new phone for a long long time now.
...instead of a new thread
It's been a roller-coaster trying to get good performance out of the XT926 and XT907. My wife and I picked them up about 6 months after they came out, and I've been following CM for most of that time. When my 907 died, she picked up a galaxy s6 edge. I kept the 926.
CM11 was great at first. Fast and snappy but missing some features and small issues. No big deal.
CM11 became bloated and slow leading up to the transition to LP. Battery life went down the drain. The phone was slower than dirt.
CM12 seemed great at first, but quickly deteriorated after a month or so of nightlies. I suffered through this for way too long before beginning the hunt for something new.
Dirty Unicorns 9.7 seemed like an improvement right after the first bootup but quickly revealed serious performance issues. I understand some older versions of Dirty Unicorns were great.
CM11 is still being maintained unofficially! Rejoice. Buttery smooth so far. Keeping my fingers crossed.
Wish I'd bothered to look back at CM11 sooner... I wonder at what point in the last 6 months the unofficial updates were able to get it running well, again. I think I'll have this phone for quite a while longer.
radiopayola said:
It's been a roller-coaster trying to get good performance out of the XT926 and XT907. My wife and I picked them up about 6 months after they came out, and I've been following CM for most of that time. When my 907 died, she picked up a galaxy s6 edge. I kept the 926.
CM11 was great at first. Fast and snappy but missing some features and small issues. No big deal.
CM11 became bloated and slow leading up to the transition to LP. Battery life went down the drain. The phone was slower than dirt.
CM12 seemed great at first, but quickly deteriorated after a month or so of nightlies. I suffered through this for way too long before beginning the hunt for something new.
Dirty Unicorns 9.7 seemed like an improvement right after the first bootup but quickly revealed serious performance issues. I understand some older versions of Dirty Unicorns were great.
CM11 is still being maintained unofficially! Rejoice. Buttery smooth so far. Keeping my fingers crossed.
Wish I'd bothered to look back at CM11 sooner... I wonder at what point in the last 6 months the unofficial updates were able to get it running well, again. I think I'll have this phone for quite a while longer.
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Click to collapse
I may be on a jbbl, but its gotten smoother since 12.1 kernel commits started coming in. At least thats my perception of things based off of my experience. And you nailed it right on the head with 12, thats why i downgraded to 11
Sent from my ATRIX HD using XDA Free mobile app
Has anyone looked at the "Marshmallow" update for the XT926? Google pulls it up and there are a ridiculous number of surveys to fill out but ultimately it says to look around on xda dev.....yet I see nothing Marshmallow related here for our, now legacy, devices.

Still Worth Getting?

Just wondering if the Note 4 is still worth getting, just sold my Note 3. So I have around 350 euro to play with.
So the question stands buy Note 4 or something else.
Thanks for reading!
Hello Suhkoi,
I'll try to give you an honest opinion here, but keep in mind this is totally personal experience. I've had this phone for around a year and a few months now, it is quite easy to mod around with it - plenty of kernels nowadays, good amount of little system modifications, however there aren't as many ROMs as I would like to see (Exynos owner here), but if you're getting the Snapdragon version you'll want someone else to comment on that. If you're not interested in customizing your phone, here's about the phone itself: the screen never ceases to amaze me even after all this time, battery life was never that good for me unfortunately, I've tried various kernels and roms with various configurations, but it just never really impressed me. Usually get around 3-4 SoT, if lucky and no stupid wakelocks pop out of nowhere. As you probably know, we're all still stuck with sluggish and disappointing lollipop and its performing terrible on an octa-core, 3GB monster phone (well not so monster anymore, but still strong in today's standards), UI hiccups everywhere, RAM management is basically non-existent. There is a solution of installing unofficial CM 6.0.1 roms (oh god it was so smooth and buttery before I got fed up of glitches and rolled back), but they're quite too unstable for now to serve as dailies for longer amount of time. You probably have an idea of other general things as well like camera, s-pen and so on - they're all great on this phone. I still love it though, hopefully the long-awaited MM update from Samsung will resolve performance issues and we'll get to re-experience our phones like Note 5 did.
Didn't make the jump to N5, because there's literally no reason to, but if I were you, I would wait until August/September, when N6 should come out. By that time, MM should already be out for this phone and if god forbid Note 6 comes out without microSD card support, you might wanna get this one. For now though, stay away from the Note side and wait. Hopefully this was helpful, good luck!
quadlt said:
Hello Suhkoi,
I'll try to give you an honest opinion here, but keep in mind this is totally personal experience. I've had this phone for around a year and a few months now, it is quite easy to mod around with it - plenty of kernels nowadays, good amount of little system modifications, however there aren't as many ROMs as I would like to see (Exynos owner here), but if you're getting the Snapdragon version you'll want someone else to comment on that. If you're not interested in customizing your phone, here's about the phone itself: the screen never ceases to amaze me even after all this time, battery life was never that good for me unfortunately, I've tried various kernels and roms with various configurations, but it just never really impressed me. Usually get around 3-4 SoT, if lucky and no stupid wakelocks pop out of nowhere. As you probably know, we're all still stuck with sluggish and disappointing lollipop and its performing terrible on an octa-core, 3GB monster phone (well not so monster anymore, but still strong in today's standards), UI hiccups everywhere, RAM management is basically non-existent. There is a solution of installing unofficial CM 6.0.1 roms (oh god it was so smooth and buttery before I got fed up of glitches and rolled back), but they're quite too unstable for now to serve as dailies for longer amount of time. You probably have an idea of other general things as well like camera, s-pen and so on - they're all great on this phone. I still love it though, hopefully the long-awaited MM update from Samsung will resolve performance issues and we'll get to re-experience our phones like Note 5 did.
Didn't make the jump to N5, because there's literally no reason to, but if I were you, I would wait until August/September, when N6 should come out. By that time, MM should already be out for this phone and if god forbid Note 6 comes out without microSD card support, you might wanna get this one. For now though, stay away from the Note side and wait. Hopefully this was helpful, good luck!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah I understand the flaws of the phone, with the software and all, but what else is a good contender to the Note. I can't seem to find a better phone in this price range. I'd really want to root it and all but it'd be still covered under warranty tripping KNOX. Sadly waiting isn't an option I'm too intimidated in getting a new phone.

Is Pixel XL even worth the trouble to root and flash on?

I'm sure a lot of people will disagree with me, especially if they are on one of the very few custom Roms available for this phone and it has some feature not included in stock that the user can't live without. But after going through all the trouble of rooting and installing a custom kernel and Rom and getting the Pixel XL to pass Safety Net I came to the conclusion that the benefits didn't outweigh the inconvenience and after about a week I went back to full stock.
The thing that really disappointed me after I rooted was that even on a custom kernel I still had to use the Google stock governor sched. The other governors are still there but they really shouldn't be since they don't actually work on the Pixel XL--using anything other than sched as the governor results in serious battery drain, overheating and performance issues. Not being able to change the governor to customize the performance of the phone took away one of my favorite reasons for rooting in the first place.
Then there's the fact that there will probably never be an official version of Magisk for the Pixel XL and that almost no modules work on the unofficial Pixel XL version. Or that TWRP will likely never work as well on the Pixel XL as it does on other phones. Or the fact that there is virtually no development for the Pixel XL compared with other popular flagship or mid priced phones. Or that Google seems to be using its monthly security updates to break root or cause flashing issues for people who didn't stay on stock.
I just came to the conclusion that the main benefit of a custom Rom for me on this phone was the ability to apply a dark theme with Substratum but that it wasn't ultimately worth the headaches and limitations involved with custom flashing and maintaining root on this phone. But like I said. I'm sure a lot of people disagree with me and would like to hear other opinions on the matter.
At this point I think it's very safe to say that a vibrant developer community is never going to develop for this phone. My favorite custom Rom (DU) is available for the Pixel XL and after they update to Android O maybe I will give flashing a custom Rom another go. Right now I'm just going to stay on stock.
Anyone else have any thoughts on this matter?
I don't think Google is doing anything in spite of users that like to root. They're doing their best to create a secure OS and with the exception of the effect on rooting/romming, their new dual partition update process is brilliant.
As far as the trouble to root, rom, etc, I generally agree that it's not worth the hassle, mostly because the Pixel functions so we'll out of the box and the frivolous customizations available with custom ROMs aren't worth the bugs and clunky updating process that goes with using unofficial firmware.
To me, absolutely.
1. Custom kernel settings including display color control.
2. High brightness mode for outdoor viewing.
3. Modifying system sounds, emojis, adblock
4. Viper4Android
The XL is the first Android of the many I have owned that I did not root. For quite some time I have had freezing and reboot issues with my XL. I decided to jump on the O beta release, and these issues have gone away completely. I am back to being a happy camper.
Nitemare3219 said:
To me, absolutely.
1. Custom kernel settings including display color control.
2. High brightness mode for outdoor viewing.
3. Modifying system sounds, emojis, adblock
4. Viper4Android
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
None of those things actually matter to me. I've also read that the functionality of Adaway o.n a rooted Pixel XL is pretty spotty, but I don't have and personal experience there. What would matter to me is being able to choose a less aggressive kernal governor to keep the phone running cooler but because of the lack of development for this phone that seems to be impossible. Even in kernels made for the Pixel none of the governors have been rewritten so they will actually function properly on the Pixel. If someone knows of a custom kernel where this isn't the case I would like to know about it. I tried L Speed and that offered no noticeable improvement in the way the kernel settings were implemented or in the CPU or battery temperatures the Pixel operates at.
Hosehead said:
The XL is the first Android of the many I have owned that I did not root. For quite some time I have had freezing and reboot issues with my XL. I decided to jump on the O beta release, and these issues have gone away completely. I am back to being a happy camper.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Liked Android O as well but when my phone overheated Pixel Support blamed O and said they couldn't help me further unless I downgraded to Nougat. Phone is still running too hot so I might go back to O. Got better battery life on it and my phone booted much faster.
I think under normal circumstances the time anyone would consider rooting and flashing a custom Rom is when Android is no longer officially updated for the device. I kept my Galaxy S3 updated to newer versions of Android long after Samsung stopped supporting the device. Unfortunately I think there is zero chance the Pixel will last as long as older smartphones like the Galaxy S3 or S6.
Two separate Nexus smartphones by two different manufacturers started failing in large numbers within two years because of the long term damage caused by heat. LG had the same issue with their flagship smartphone. I think that's the beginning of a trend that is going to become very familiar. I own a Nexus 6P which is one of the failing devices and there is nothing short of putting it in an oven that will make the internal temperature as high as what the Pixel operates at. If you read the XDA article on the One Plus 5 optimizing it's settings for specific benchmark applications you might have noticed the writer saying that while performing GPU intensive tasks the review version of the phone reached a SURFACE TEMPERATURE of 130F. All the writer seemed concerned about regarding that temperature is that it would make the phone uncomfortable to operate. What about what those high temperatures do to the electronic components inside the phone?
I think these expensive smartphones operate at high temperatures that are ultimately unsustainable and that we are going to be seeing a lot more of these phones failing much more quickly than people were accustomed to in the past. I expect the Pixel XL to eventually die just like the Nexus 6P did. Whether people will willingly accept paying a small fortune for electronic devices that will only work for a couple years before failing remains to be seen. I can't see myself ever buying another flagship phone like the Pixel XL that seems to be designed to fail so you will be forced to purchase a new device.

Is the V20 still worth buying for <$200 USD

Hi, long time XDA user here. I'm currently using a OnePlus X. I was considering springing for the new OnePlus 6, but I really shouldn't spend that much money right now. I saw that the V20s (a phone I was interested in previously) are very affordable now and I imaging for 200 bucks I can push my upgrade down the road for a bit, maybe until the OP6+ comes out. I've had an LG phone before and liked it , but it's been quite a few years.(Windows Mobile fellas, not even Windows Phone)
1. Is the V20 still viable, does it run well with current apps and networks?
2. How is the ROM support doing nowadays, and is the rooting process in general still possible from the firmware that currently ships on the phone? (I'm not sure what LGs stance on bootloader locking is)
3. Do custom roms make use of the secondary screen at all?
4. What are the phone's weakest points or biggest annoyances today? As in, what hasn't really stood the test of time?
Thanks for any info you can provide me.
Kevin1a said:
Hi, long time XDA user here. I'm currently using a OnePlus X. I was considering springing for the new OnePlus 6, but I really shouldn't spend that much money right now. I saw that the V20s (a phone I was interested in previously) are very affordable now and I imaging for 200 bucks I can push my upgrade down the road for a bit, maybe until the OP6+ comes out. I've had an LG phone before and liked it , but it's been quite a few years.(Windows Mobile fellas, not even Windows Phone)
1. Is the V20 still viable, does it run well with current apps and networks?
2. How is the ROM support doing nowadays, and is the rooting process in general still possible from the firmware that currently ships on the phone? (I'm not sure what LGs stance on bootloader locking is)
3. Do custom roms make use of the secondary screen at all?
4. What are the phone's weakest points or biggest annoyances today? As in, what hasn't really stood the test of time?
Thanks for any info you can provide me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The v20 is basically end of life, bootloader unlocking and root, is dicey depending on the variant you buy, development slowed down to a trickle for some time, common issues include, poor cell reception, screen retention, bad mics, the v20 is still waiting for Oreo and the phone was released over two years ago and probably will never see another os upgrade after that. Currently second screen only works on stock based roms.
Sent from my LG-H910 using XDA Labs
cnjax said:
The v20 is basically end of life, bootloader unlocking and root, is dicey depending on the variant you buy, development slowed down to a trickle for some time, common issues include, poor cell reception, screen retention, bad mics, the v20 is still waiting for Oreo and the phone was released over two years ago and probably will never see another os upgrade after that. Currently second screen only works on stock based roms.
Sent from my LG-H910 using XDA Labs
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Click to collapse
Thanks for the info. This is exactly what I was looking for.
cnjax said:
The v20 is basically end of life, bootloader unlocking and root, is dicey depending on the variant you buy, development slowed down to a trickle for some time, common issues include, poor cell reception, screen retention, bad mics, the v20 is still waiting for Oreo and the phone was released over two years ago and probably will never see another os upgrade after that. Currently second screen only works on stock based roms.
Sent from my LG-H910 using XDA Labs
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Click to collapse
I wouldn't say that with the active development of Lineage OS and Any Kernel.
Sent from my LG-LS997 using Tapatalk
cnjax said:
The v20 is basically end of life, bootloader unlocking and root, is dicey depending on the variant you buy, development slowed down to a trickle for some time, common issues include, poor cell reception, screen retention, bad mics, the v20 is still waiting for Oreo and the phone was released over two years ago and probably will never see another os upgrade after that. Currently second screen only works on stock based roms.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This sums it up. Seems the v20 is dead. Maybe oreo will bring more development but I doubt it since a lot of people have moved on
WhiteWidows said:
I wouldn't say that with the active development of Lineage OS and Any Kernel.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh yeah lineage that half baked os that's unofficial and you lose main features of the phone and have to flash constant updates or use work arounds to have basic functionality, yeah that's development right there.
Sent from my LG-H910 using XDA Labs
LG V20 Still A good Phone
Well maybe you would like a different perspective. I fist laid eyes on the LG V20 in a Verizon store about a month ago but they would not sell it to me because it is not made anymore. So I just purchased an unlocked version from B&H in New York. My first attraction to this phone is the second screen which i think is extremely useful. Then i noticed that the LG V20 has a removable back panel so you can replace the battery. I have been looking for that ever since my NOTE 4 bricked two years ago. in the interim I had a Motorola Pure X which took a look for me to part with. SO that was all I needed to make the choice to buy it. now i do not have to carry a battery brick or make sure i am near a charger all day. i can carry a spare battery in my pocket. Next fringe benefit was finding out that this phone has 3 cameras, 1 front facing and 2 rear, one of them being a wide angle lens. But the love keeps getting better... add to that a removable SD card up to 256 GB or more when they come out with one, fingerprint censor, 64 GB phone and you have a pretty serious contender. I love this phone. I love it so much i but another one. Actually at the moment i have 3. Oh and yes, probably one of the only phones left that has both a 3.5 mm headphone jack and a type C charging port. The Audio and DAC units in this phone is better than most high end audio gear that you would find in a music studio, and i am a musician. I have heard of complaints about the camera quality, but to that i say if you want pictures with that kind of quality, go out and buy a Nikon! Also i have heard that manufactures are moving away form 3.5 mm jacks and removable batteries because they want to make the phones more water proof. Bull Hockey!! Are people so obsessed with phones that they cannot leave the thing alone for a 10 minute swim. The real reason is because the manufacturer doesn't want you keeping a phone more than 2 years so they make the batteries last only that long and if you cannot replace the battery, you need a new phone. (or you can go the route of trying to put a new battery in your phone and butcher it to death).
Long story to say do not count the LG V20 out yet. it is a superb phone, has many features that a lot of other phones just do not have. I am very pleased with both of mine and i love the second screen.
The only bad experience i have had is that in order to get Verizon's Visual Voice mail, i had to purchase a Verizon version, and the front camera crapped out after a week. It was supposed to be new, but the box looks like it has been ridden around the world, so i doubt it was new. SO i am sending that back but still have both of my unlocked US996's.
cnjax said:
The v20 is basically end of life, bootloader unlocking and root, is dicey depending on the variant you buy, development slowed down to a trickle for some time, common issues include, poor cell reception, screen retention, bad mics, the v20 is still waiting for Oreo and the phone was released over two years ago and probably will never see another os upgrade after that. Currently second screen only works on stock based roms.
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Like, how is December 2016 is more that 2 years ago? Kid, are you sane? More so, Shap 820 even didn't existed more than 2 years ago, it is still actual chip not legacy like some 810, and 835 is pretty much == 820 rebranded and repainted
---------- Post added at 06:15 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:09 PM ----------
Kevin1a said:
1. Is the V20 still viable, does it run well with current apps and networks?
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Yes, because it's powered by SD820, not Snap 430 or 600 or something
Kevin1a said:
4. What are the phone's weakest points or biggest annoyances today? As in, what hasn't really stood the test of time?
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Click to collapse
The weakest point is battery somewhat degraded over time, I could have like 7hrs SOT on Wifi on the start but now after cold winters it shows its age and gives me around 4.5...5 SOT on same router. but battery is exchangeable easily and I hope to buy more fresh one
Some people claim they got screen retention, it's more visible the more southern country you live and more brighter you must set you screen to
I still am keeping it as a backup phone but I am using a different DD. I did take it on a trip though with the 10800 ma battery I have for it. I'm running a stock 918H and it still fairly fast. The SD card and headphone jack are nice too. Still a good buy at $150 or so
I love the second screen and the DAC but being forced to run the stock ROM is a PITA as it's very sluggish. I have a Mi A1 that runs circles around the V20 in terms of performance, which is sad. Meanwhile, if you try to solve the lag, running Lineage OS defeats the purpose and outweighs the benefits of the phone as you won't have the DAC, second screen nor full camera functionality.
Absolutely it is worth it. You can pick up a V30 with a slightly faster processor, and slightly better camera (and that is debatable) for $250. However, you will lose the replaceable battery, the second screen, the IR blaster.
The people that say they are having performance problems have hardware issues. Even stock non-rooted, runs plenty fast, but if you use Alpha ROM, and debloat all the carrier bullsh** then it runs like a beast.
-- Brian
runningnak3d said:
Absolutely it is worth it. You can pick up a V30 with a slightly faster processor, and slightly better camera (and that is debatable) for $250. However, you will lose the replaceable battery, the second screen, the IR blaster.
The people that say they are having performance problems have hardware issues. Even stock non-rooted, runs plenty fast, but if you use Alpha ROM, and debloat all the carrier bullsh** then it runs like a beast.
-- Brian
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Click to collapse
I don't have hardware issues. The stock ROM (de-bloated or not) is well known to be sluggish. As I stated in my post, the phone is completely different if running Lineage at the cost of the unique functionality. Aside from many people complaining of the performance under stock as being sluggish, this guy describes it perfectly:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZl2GpxekrQ&t=3s
So I have a slow phone? Holy crap! I had no idea!
Stop spreading FUD, and learn how to do things like disable rctd, ccmd, logging, CPU throttling...
-- Brian
runningnak3d said:
Absolutely it is worth it. You can pick up a V30 with a slightly faster processor, and slightly better camera (and that is debatable) for $250. However, you will lose the replaceable battery, the second screen, the IR blaster.
The people that say they are having performance problems have hardware issues. Even stock non-rooted, runs plenty fast, but if you use Alpha ROM, and debloat all the carrier bullsh** then it runs like a beast.
-- Brian
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Click to collapse
runningnak3d said:
So I have a slow phone? Holy crap! I had no idea!
Stop spreading FUD, and learn how to do things like disable rctd, ccmd, logging, CPU throttling...
-- Brian
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Click to collapse
Your sarcasm isn't appreciated and I'm not spreading fud - this is fact. I've done lots of tweaking and no amount of it will fix what LG did to the stock ROM. You're acting as if I'm the only person who has pointed out the shortcomings of the V20. The fact is, it is a fantastic phone with bad execution of the OS by LG. To be clear, I still use mine but it will soon be retired to secondary usage as my Mi A1 is way better as a DD.
No, I am sure there are plenty of others out there complaining as well -- that also don't know the first thing about how to get the most out of their phone.
Is the V20 the end-all / be-all? Nope, but it is the last great flagship phone that was released. Everything since is just a waste of money.
-- Brian
We just bought our T-mobile V20's this year. Great phones for about $150 in excellent used (hard to tell they were used) condition. Great photos and DAC, among other things. We couldn't find anything comparable for that price, new or used.
Mine is still great. Stock, unrooted, H990DS with a zerolemon 10000mAh extended battery. The image retention doesn't bother me - it's not permanent. I use the widescreen camera a lot, and charge the device once every 3-4 days. The IR transmitter sees plenty of use too, as does the DAC and the dual SIM.
There's nothing else that fits my needs. Dreading when it dies.
I just got me V20 H918 in excellent condition with 3 batteries and 4 cases for $185 shipped. I've come from G4 which started to have GPS lock issues, sometimes. My LG G3 GPS is no longer working at all. lol. Not sure what's up with that. Was this fixed in v20 or is this just tear and wear on GPS chip or something?
My main attraction point is camera manual controls and i mean white balance K numbers and mic for loud concert recording as well as removable battery and i prefer bigger screens and 5.7 upgrade from 5.5 on G4 is welcomed too. Oh and DAC was other feature that attracted me as well. What's weird that G4 concert recording was terrible but G3 was fantastic. Never distorted. Hoping V20 has great mic like G3 did. Let me know your thoughts.
I will NOT buy a phone if it doesn't have removable battery as i refuse to spend $800 on phone every few years and be forced by manufacturers due to profit.
Don't know any other manufacturer that lets you do white balance in K values. I wish aperture would be f=1.6 or f1.5 but had no complains with 1.8 on G4. Kinda sucks wide angle is f2.4, as it should be 1.8 or lower. It seems ppl use that camera more often. I guess night shots in standard angle is to use.
Thought about pixel but don't have manual control like LG does. If you guys have any suggestions on used phone <$250 that blows V20 out of water please let me know. I use to be Samsung Galaxy lover but since LG introduced manual controls i switched. There was pro photographer article on G4 camera so ppl that think iphone or samsung has better camera u should read that article. But let me know if there is something better.
P.S
In process of rooting it as i need it for kernel auditor for screen colors profiles (Vomer DeepRich) and kernel i/o scheduler control and kin screen and lux too, among few more other apps. Came with 10u so downgraded to 10p, bootloader unlocked already. Next will be laf exploid root method.
I just reflashed the excellent Alpha ROM on my V20 and managed to rid myself of a significant portion of the sluggishness I mentioned by getting rid of Magisk. I'm not sure what was going on but Magisk was definitely slowing everything down on my V20. Recommend if you buy this phone to stay away from Magisk or at least keep this is mind if you intend to root.
im on Mi A1 right now and im planning also to switch to V20.

Why is there a lack of development for Oneplus 6t?

Hey guys, Ive noticed that older devices like oneplus 5t and newer devices like oneplus 7 have better developer support . However, OP6T does not seem to get such love from the devs. Why is that so??
https://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=80538403&postcount=3533
I'll do my best to explain my understanding:
In this current month, OnePlus is pushing out two new phones (7T and 7T Pro) and working on supporting the smart TV they just released in India. The OnePlus 6T is not their primary focus by any standard. They're busy keeping the 7 and 7T series as current as possible to push their sales. I'm not a software developer, and I don't know how big OnePlus' development team is, nor do I know what they're tasked with. I was eager to experience Android 10 on the 6T myself, but the newer devices come first in terms of software support. That's part of the reason why you don't see development moving along very quickly. For the 6T, we don't have official Android 10-based firmware or proper sources to build with. What kinda development is gonna pop up when you have no sources to work with? Not much, I'll tell ya that.
I think op is asking about custom rom support and if so there is one simple answer. There is no need because oos is THAT GOOD! Put that in your survey. And as far as custom roms go the OP 6T has quite a few good choices when compared to the 7 which has almost zero.
Short answer? It's almost a year old. In the "smartphone" world...that's old
Indisplay FP was a massive hold up on top of their quick model releases hence op6 having more options
Hi, I'm just sign in to say calm down, guys, android 10 will officially come this month, check the oneplus telegram channel. Why is this late? 3 reasons here:
Oneplus 7
Oneplus 7t (yes, newer devices always come first when it is about updates)
officially claimed errors in developing the ROM and they don't want to release a piece of sh** as other manufacturers do in order to rush updates --> they want to release an update that can give us that buttery smooth user experienxe we all got used to
Maybe this is a little shortsighted, but I think the wiping the entire device and losing your data thing scares a lot of people away from switching back and forth on this phone and probably slowed the demand down for more custom ROMs. It's very time consuming and easy to screw up if you don't do it all the time. The slow data speed of the USB-c port also plays a role in how slow it is to back up stuff to your PC and then load everything back up after.
I know other OP phones have this issue too, but combine that with the fingerprint problem and the quick release of OP phones since the 6t came out, I think you have a perfect storm of people just happy enough with OOS, and maybe jumping to the beta program.
Having come from a lot of other phone brands in the past, there is a lot less clamoring for certain custom ROMs because people actually like OOS, versus whatever Samsung, LG, or HTC put out in years past. Just my opinion though.
Google implementation is not always the best Devs try to do the best but sometimes things not help in this case the encryption by hardware plus partitions a/b and the massive headache for most people and devs trying to make things a lot easier for example look here OP6T Custom Roms everyone has different flashing instructions……make sense? And maybe One Plus is to pay the Google failures implementing things that in the long run need be reverted well this is my opinion in Android world
xgerryx said:
Maybe this is a little shortsighted, but I think the wiping the entire device and losing your data thing scares a lot of people away from switching back and forth on this phone and probably slowed the demand down for more custom ROMs. It's very time consuming and easy to screw up if you don't do it all the time. The slow data speed of the USB-c port also plays a role in how slow it is to back up stuff to your PC and then load everything back up after.
I know other OP phones have this issue too, but combine that with the fingerprint problem and the quick release of OP phones since the 6t came out, I think you have a perfect storm of people just happy enough with OOS, and maybe jumping to the beta program.
Having come from a lot of other phone brands in the past, there is a lot less clamoring for certain custom ROMs because people actually like OOS, versus whatever Samsung, LG, or HTC put out in years past. Just my opinion though.
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Click to collapse
I personally hate OOS - crappy UI and battery guzzler.
I cant change fonts , no theme support etc without root unlike many manufacturers like Huawei and Samsung.
Plus, the so called "speed" is not there on my phone - stock oos is laggy af
The only custom ROM that seems to work in a stable fashion (except fingerprints) is cr droid - other roms dont seem to work and always fail to install on my Oneplus 6T.
I regret buying this phone - i had the oneplus one earlier and it still has better rom support despite being obsolete.
I shall never buy a OnePlus again - maybe Samsung or Huawei it is for the next time..
chcheetah said:
I personally hate OOS - crappy UI and battery guzzler.
I cant change fonts , no theme support etc without root unlike many manufacturers like Huawei and Samsung.
Plus, the so called "speed" is not there on my phone - stock oos is laggy af
The only custom ROM that seems to work in a stable fashion (except fingerprints) is cr droid - other roms dont seem to work and always fail to install on my Oneplus 6T.
I regret buying this phone - i had the oneplus one earlier and it still has better rom support despite being obsolete.
I shall never buy a OnePlus again - maybe Samsung or Huawei it is for the next time..
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Click to collapse
I have to respectfully disagree. I know everyone's experience is their own and all have varying opinions on software.
However, OOS is highly regarded as one of the best "stock" Android operating systems on the market. It's very close to vanilla Android as what the pixel devices run. I've been a Nexus/pixel user since the Nexus 5 and left the Google line to check out this whole OnePlus hype that came with a smaller price tag.
I regret nothing about purchasing this phone. OOS is phenomenal. It's basically vanilla Android with subtle improvements in the UI that just make sense and create a more fluid experience without thinking about it. The RAM on this phone is ridiculous and has a ton of speed. My pixel use to get hot all the time with intense use....I can't remember the last time my 6t heated up on me (keep in mind I don't game on my phone).
As for third party development, I think we have it pretty good. There's at least 5 stable custom ROMs to choose from and hell I lost count on the kernels. I'm running skydragon ROM and easily push over 7hrs of SOT daily. Easily change system fonts and colors.
Not to mention edXposed is a thing now. You can run Xposed on stock OOS install gravity box (the king of themeing) and make your phone look ENTIRELY different.
All I'm trying to say is, we have it pretty damn good. I'll be running and crack flashing this phone for at least another year.
Pain-N-Panic said:
I have to respectfully disagree. I know everyone's experience is their own and all have varying opinions on software.
However, OOS is highly regarded as one of the best "stock" Android operating systems on the market. It's very close to vanilla Android as what the pixel devices run. I've been a Nexus/pixel user since the Nexus 5 and left the Google line to check out this whole OnePlus hype that came with a smaller price tag.
I regret nothing about purchasing this phone. OOS is phenomenal. It's basically vanilla Android with subtle improvements in the UI that just make sense and create a more fluid experience without thinking about it. The RAM on this phone is ridiculous and has a ton of speed. My pixel use to get hot all the time with intense use....I can't remember the last time my 6t heated up on me (keep in mind I don't game on my phone).
As for third party development, I think we have it pretty good. There's at least 5 stable custom ROMs to choose from and hell I lost count on the kernels. I'm running skydragon ROM and easily push over 7hrs of SOT daily. Easily change system fonts and colors.
Not to mention edXposed is a thing now. You can run Xposed on stock OOS install gravity box (the king of themeing) and make your phone look ENTIRELY different.
All I'm trying to say is, we have it pretty damn good. I'll be running and crack flashing this phone for at least another year.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well maybe your phone won the silicon lottery- cuz my phone doesn't seem to be as fast as its competition.
I have the 8 gig ram model - just below the McLaren edition. It has had issues from the time I've bought it - constant lag , overheating while on oos.
I took.it.for diagnosis to oneplus service centre - they had no clue as to what was happening!
Then, what i decided to.do was to search for custom ROMs . I found that there were no stable ROMs and i had to bear the stock rom till i found a semi stable build of cr droid. What i feel is that ever since oneplus has released this specific phone, they have gone lax on software and have stopped actually innovating (not in terms of hardware, in terms of their initial outreach for solid budget friendly nexus esque devices that have unfortunately imo now bloated into the expensive POS gimmicks they sell now.)
Just in case you want to know what oos i had , i had oos 9.0.10. I couldn't even play any YouTube or audio, forget phonecalls.
But that might not.be the case for you - chinese phones tend to follow this trend of lottery and maybe the way people use their phones varies.
Haha, there is plenty of development. Those talking about Huawei and Samsung, buy one of their new phones and see how much development there is....
OhioYJ said:
Haha, there is plenty of development. Those talking about Huawei and Samsung, buy one of their new phones and see how much development there is....
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Click to collapse
Atleast their phones can play youtube on stock rom ha ha
chcheetah said:
Well maybe your phone won the silicon lottery- cuz my phone doesn't seem to be as fast as its competition.
I have the 8 gig ram model - just below the McLaren edition. It has had issues from the time I've bought it - constant lag , overheating while on oos.
I took.it.for diagnosis to oneplus service centre - they had no clue as to what was happening!
Then, what i decided to.do was to search for custom ROMs . I found that there were no stable ROMs and i had to bear the stock rom till i found a semi stable build of cr droid. What i feel is that ever since oneplus has released this specific phone, they have gone lax on software and have stopped actually innovating (not in terms of hardware, in terms of their initial outreach for solid budget friendly nexus esque devices that have unfortunately imo now bloated into the expensive POS gimmicks they sell now.)
Just in case you want to know what oos i had , i had oos 9.0.10. I couldn't even play any YouTube or audio, forget phonecalls.
But that might not.be the case for you - chinese phones tend to follow this trend of lottery and maybe the way people use their phones varies.
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Click to collapse
Hi, McLaren user here.
Before buying this device I was using Pixel 2XL, my 6T destroys it completely in performance, I know 835 vs 845 isn't a fair comparison, but the difference is too much to blame the processor, a thing as simple as taking a picture is an extremely slow process in my Pixel because when I open the camera app I have to wait 3-4 seconds to take the picture (The app opens, but the viewfinder is black and the shutter button can't be pressed) while with this device it's: open the camera and the app is ready to take the picture, and the performance in general (Transitions, apps opening, etc, etc) is much better on this device, I don't remember having lag or some kind of slowdown on this device (You should never say never, but I think that this case could be an exception), I'm not a "light" user, I use my device for work, studies and life in general.
I only remember one episode of overheating and it was my fault (Summer, the device was charging and I had the great idea of playing asfalt 8, yes you can call me dumb lol). Maybe it's a hardware problem? It seems too strange to me, I know many people with this device and the only problems in common are: The terrible memory management that OOS does, and the quality of the camera.
Regarding custom roms: for almost two months I was using AOSIP 9 + Neutrino, and I was very happy, I even had the feeling that the fingerprint sensor worked better in that rom than in OOS and the memory management great (A huge amount of apps loaded in memory without any problem, that was a pleasure), a week ago I flashed AOSIP 10 and I was quite surprised, obviously it was not as stable as 9 but I was expecting something worse sincerely, I went back to OOS because the safetynet failed and I use Google Pay quite often, but ignoring that problem I think I could use it as a daily driver without major problems.
I think my comments seem very pro-OnePlus but my experience with this device is very good, and as I said before I find the problems you have very strange, maybe you should send the device to OnePlus again, saying that you have some super strange problem or something so so weird like: hey, my device starts lagging and then shuts down randomly, I don't know, maybe you are lucky and they send you a new one.
Edit: Answering the main thread question:
The OnePlus 6 had many users, and the 6 > 6T change was not a great evolution, then the 7 and 7Pro were released, so many switched to that device.
In addition, the on-screen fingerprint sensor was something new, Android did not support it natively and each OEM opted for its own implementation, OnePlus made a somewhat strange implementation by calling it somehow, phhusson did reverse engineering of the Xiaomi HAL and made great contributions to this device, that helped a lot, but perhaps those contributions came too late, OnePlus 7 was very close to being launched and many people were waiting for it to make the swtich.
onliner said:
Hi, McLaren user here.
Before buying this device I was using Pixel 2XL, my 6T destroys it completely in performance, I know 835 vs 845 isn't a fair comparison, but the difference is too much to blame the processor, a thing as simple as taking a picture is an extremely slow process in my Pixel, and the performance in general (Transitions, apps opening, etc, etc) is much better on this device, I don't remember having lag or some kind of slowdown on this device (You should never say never, but I think that this case could be an exception), I'm not a "light" user, I use my device for work, studies and life in general.
I only remember one episode of overheating and it was my fault (Summer, the device was charging and I had the great idea of playing asfalt 8, yes you can call me dumb lol). Maybe it's a hardware problem? It seems too strange to me, I know many people with this device and the only problems in common are: The terrible memory management that OOS does, and the quality of the camera.
Regarding custom roms: for almost two months I was using AOSIP 9 + Neutrino, and I was very happy, I even had the feeling that the fingerprint sensor worked better in that rom than in OOS and the memory management great (A huge amount of apps loaded in memory without any problem, that was a pleasure), a week ago I flashed AOSIP 10 and I was quite surprised, obviously it was not as stable as 9 but I was expecting something worse sincerely, I went back to OOS because the safetynet failed and I use Google Pay quite often, but ignoring that problem I think I could use it as a daily driver without major problems.
I think my comments seem very pro-OnePlus but my experience with this device is very good, and as I said before I find the problems you have very strange, maybe you should send the device to OnePlus again, saying that you have some super strange problem or something so so weird like: hey, my device starts lagging and then shuts down randomly, I don't know, maybe you are lucky and they send you a new one.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmm your suggestion sounds right - lemme try contacting the OnePlus service centre again.
I honestly love the look and feel of the OnePlus 6T ( i have the mirror black- almost similar to McLaren except for the lack of orange shimmer) but the constant lag and overheating made me write such a negative view of the device.
Plus , sadly the dev scene is not so hot as their older phone ( Remember OnePlus One - how cool the modding scene was for that phone )

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