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Just curious how everyone is enjoying their Moto X Pure Editions since they've been out for a little over a year now. I've left mine stock the entire time I've had it which is something new for me. As far as the phone itself is concerned I really like it. Love the screen, the size, shape, etc. However, really looking to get something else or rooting as I've had a ton of software issues. Apps not responding the way they should or crashing repeatedly . This is the first phone I've had that's actually acted this way so kind of turned off by it.
Stock here, 11 months of use, 2 updates (5 to 6.0 and the last security update) never a issue.
Just one time, the screen shows a rare horizontal lines, 1 reboot and back to normal.
The heat you ask? Yes, in chrome and YouTube, the heat is an "add on" not specified in the manual...
Great phone, but my next one is a OnePlus 3, not a Lenovorola
Enviado desde mi XT1575 mediante Tapatalk
Screen cracked on first one and had to play endless games with the repair department, including reporting fraud on my credit card. Both speaker grills are working on their second time falling out. Screen and glass coating are better than average on the replacement. I like the LTE bands, high res screen, and the ability to use a big microSD card. The lack of software support is the worst I've seen of an OEM phone. I had to switch to CM13 but there's nobody there who can completely fix the drivers - VoLTE breakup, proximity sensor bugs, speaker fade-out bug, no WiFi calling, poor low light camera performance, etc. I don't see myself trusting Lenovo again for many years to come.
Stock Style
Kept it still in stock. No major issues. Been using the phone with the stock Moto Screen cover plastic still in place (all moto phone have nice plastic screen guard which I never peel. Use it heavily for 3-4 days post unboxing and remove the logo, which has now dried due to screen heat, with a coin). Waiting with finger crossed for Andorid 7.
Camera app and camera as hardware was real disappointment. unlike G4 plus camera app, this phone camera app is very basic in nature. Also the camera is not comparable with other phone's of this budget. Otherwise this was an awesome deal.
Altomugriento said:
Stock here, 11 months of use, 2 updates (5 to 6.0 and the last security update) never a issue.
Just one time, the screen shows a rare horizontal lines, 1 reboot and back to normal.
The heat you ask? Yes, in chrome and YouTube, the heat is an "add on" not specified in the manual...
Great phone, but my next one is a OnePlus 3, not a Lenovorola
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Much the same experience for me. Very happy with the phone for the price (I paid UK £300 in December 2015). Still amazed at the sound quality from the speakers. Fast charging too.
I also had the horizontal lines problem about a month ago - thought the phone had died but a reboot solved it. Has only happened once.
Issues ? For me :
would like wireless charging
wish Lenovo were better with updates
maybe a bit too big - but that's my problem , not the phone's - I wanted a big display.
Bought it approx. 2 months ago (15th July, 2016) and really enjoying it all over except the display, my display is bit warmish when compared to other phone and also has a slight bleeding in left corner. I wish it had AMOLED display as the previous series. Camera gives really good pics so happy with it. Would like to know if anyone else has the same display concern as mine.
Stock rooted EU Style at 6.0.1 - so far there are no issues with the phone
Picked it up on the Prime Day sale.
It does the job and is better than my previous phone, a Nexus 4.
Minor gripes. If it gets the update to Nougat I'll be happy with what I paid for it.
It will soon be my girlfriends phone and I'm getting an iPhone 7 or Pixel X. That iPhone is just a screamer. Fast, and good looking. Would be my first Apple product.
Used to like the phone, now I'm extremely indifferent about it. I haven't had any hardware problems, but the lack of software support is extremely disappointing. The camera takes OK pictures, the battery rarely provides more than 2.5 hours SOT, and from what I can tell every custom ROM for this phone blows chunks (I've tried all the popular ones, but the CM base sucks). I've had sporadic issues with cell service, which I believe are software related, and to top it off, my phone somehow nuked itself while I was on vacation in June (I was able to get it back but I lost a bunch of stuff and had to re-setup my phone while on vacation)
I was at Disney world all day, battery died about an hour before I left the park. I got in the car, plugged it into the car charger, and while it was coming up to the battery screen it went haywire and rebooted. Then the charging screen came up and I shrugged it off. About 30 minutes later I tried to turn it back on, and it just bootlooped endlessly. So I had to pull out my laptop, use the slow hotel wifi and download the firmware, then use fastboot to re-flash everything. Luckily I use Google photos to back up pics, so I didn't lose any of the vacation photos.
For the first time in years I'm considering an iPhone. Never had to deal with this kind of crap with my old iPhone 5.
Love my Style, changed 2 screens on it, been stock since I purchased it brand new, not through choice, can't root this phone at all, I've tried every combination possible but the remote server times out requesting the token I'd so I've given up any hope of rooting it.
Apart from that the phone has been flawless, the odd heating up with certain apps which I can put up with.
Not really impressed with the way Moto/Lenovo have treated this supposed flagship in terms of updates and still no solid word from the company if our device will get nougat. It probably will get it but I would have bought a pixel xl by then.
Sent from my XT1572 using XDA Free mobile app
No major issues really (bar the obvious update void). Still love the fact that the phone is smaller than my friend's iphone 6 plus, yet the screen is larger.
First phone I've ever owned that still does not have a single scratch on the screen even though it has been naked since day one, got the phone October 17th. In fact there are very few marks on the phone overall and I've dropped it from knee height onto the road a couple of times.
I often think about wanting a new phone (only because I have G.A.S (Gear Acquisition Syndrome) but then I realise that anything I get won't really do anything that this one doesn't already do.
Waiting patiently for Nougat!
I bought the Style with extreme enthusiasm since it ran "stock" android and had an SDcard slot. My initial impressions were hopeful... it was a little laggy but other than that, it was okay, and the speakers, OH GOD the speakers. But after a month or two of using it and unlocking the bootloader, it was obvious that there were some serious issues with the phone. Lenovo/Motorola obviously didn't know what they were doing when they made the stock ROM for the device. It was always laggy for me and there were other issues as well. After tons of attempts to find an AOSP or stock rom that fixed these issues... i gave up. I just accepted that TruPureX was the best i was going to get. It made me miss my LG G2 and HTC M8. Anyways after a little under a year i did a lot of thinking and eventually made the decision that i was tired of feeling the need to flash custom firmwares, bootloaders, recoveries, etc. just to get my phone to function in the manner that I feel it should. I ended up buying a (very expensive) iPhone 6S Plus. I understand that people will most likely bash this decision and i respect your views, so respect mine. I still believe android as an OS is superior, but the OEMs just can't properly implement it into their devices in the way that Apple can. I don't regret my decision and now i have amazing battery life and everything "just works". Which isn't something i've been able to say about an android phone. I'm not advising anyone to do what i did, i respect all technology as well as your views, i'm just sharing my experience. Owning this phone annoyed my so much i switched sides (at least for a while).
Sent from my iPhone 6S Plus using Tapatalk
elite001mm said:
I bought the Style with extreme enthusiasm since it ran "stock" android and had an SDcard slot. My initial impressions were hopeful... it was a little laggy but other than that, it was okay, and the speakers, OH GOD the speakers. But after a month or two of using it and unlocking the bootloader, it was obvious that there were some serious issues with the phone. Lenovo/Motorola obviously didn't know what they were doing when they made the stock ROM for the device. It was always laggy for me and there were other issues as well. After tons of attempts to find an AOSP or stock rom that fixed these issues... i gave up. I just accepted that TruPureX was the best i was going to get. It made me miss my LG G2 and HTC M8. Anyways after a little under a year i did a lot of thinking and eventually made the decision that i was tired of feeling the need to flash custom firmwares, bootloaders, recoveries, etc. just to get my phone to function in the manner that I feel it should. I ended up buying a (very expensive) iPhone 6S Plus. I understand that people will most likely bash this decision and i respect your views, so respect mine. I still believe android as an OS is superior, but the OEMs just can't properly implement it into their devices in the way that Apple can. I don't regret my decision and now i have amazing battery life and everything "just works". Which isn't something i've been able to say about an android phone. I'm not advising anyone to do what i did, i respect all technology as well as your views, i'm just sharing my experience. Owning this phone annoyed my so much i switched sides (at least for a while).
Sent from my iPhone 6S Plus using Tapatalk
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Sean89us said:
Used to like the phone, now I'm extremely indifferent about it. I haven't had any hardware problems, but the lack of software support is extremely disappointing. The camera takes OK pictures, the battery rarely provides more than 2.5 hours SOT, and from what I can tell every custom ROM for this phone blows chunks (I've tried all the popular ones, but the CM base sucks). I've had sporadic issues with cell service, which I believe are software related, and to top it off, my phone somehow nuked itself while I was on vacation in June (I was able to get it back but I lost a bunch of stuff and had to re-setup my phone while on vacation)
I was at Disney world all day, battery died about an hour before I left the park. I got in the car, plugged it into the car charger, and while it was coming up to the battery screen it went haywire and rebooted. Then the charging screen came up and I shrugged it off. About 30 minutes later I tried to turn it back on, and it just bootlooped endlessly. So I had to pull out my laptop, use the slow hotel wifi and download the firmware, then use fastboot to re-flash everything. Luckily I use Google photos to back up pics, so I didn't lose any of the vacation photos.
For the first time in years I'm considering an iPhone. Never had to deal with this kind of crap with my old iPhone 5.
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Sounds like we have similar experiences. I've never owned an Iphone but have had multiple Ipods and Ipads. I think I've grown out of the flashing game myself. I look at all the roms available for the Pure and I'm just not impressed at all. I've come from a long line of Android devices that have all had excellent development and this one has been a bust. I have also been thinking about going with an Iphone but I'm pretty terrified of getting away from the Android environment lol. I'm just to a point in my life where I want my phone to function flawlessly the majority of the time. I wasn't impressed at all with my Galaxy S5 so that's kind of turned me away from Samsung in general. I really liked my HTC devices so I may give them another look in the near future if I don't end up giving Apple the go ahead.
Mnorton1228 said:
Sounds like we have similar experiences. I've never owned an Iphone but have had multiple Ipods and Ipads. I think I've grown out of the flashing game myself. I look at all the roms available for the Pure and I'm just not impressed at all. I've come from a long line of Android devices that have all had excellent development and this one has been a bust. I have also been thinking about going with an Iphone but I'm pretty terrified of getting away from the Android environment lol. I'm just to a point in my life where I want my phone to function flawlessly the majority of the time. I wasn't impressed at all with my Galaxy S5 so that's kind of turned me away from Samsung in general. I really liked my HTC devices so I may give them another look in the near future if I don't end up giving Apple the go ahead.
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Yes our experiences are indeed very similar. The phone i was most impressed with was my HTC M8. The battery life that it gave with the "small" battery was amazing at that time, but my 6S+ has a similar battery, bigger screen and more powerful processor and it somehow manages to demolish the M8s battery life. I find it extremely impressive. I'm a college student and i just decided i didn't have the time to keep flashing things, etc. The only thing that i hate about iOS is the fact that you have no access to the file system. I may jailbreak and fix some things but for now i'm trying it unmodified. At least on ios you're guaranteed good software support for a good while.
Sent from my iPhone 6S Plus using Tapatalk
Doktaphex said:
I often think about wanting a new phone (only because I have G.A.S (Gear Acquisition Syndrome) but then I realise that anything I get won't really do anything that this one doesn't already do.
Waiting patiently for Nougat!
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Click to collapse
This. Exactly this.
A couple of white spots on my LCD. Not a huge deal.
LCD cracked- without cracking the glass, which is a first for me.
It took a ton of work to get the battery where I needed it.
Development is dildos. ONE (brilliant) stock rom, and its developer left. All the AOSP roms have issues.
I can't believe with only 3 unlocked phones on Verizon, we don't have an abundant choice of roms. Ridiculous.
Had mine since Christmas eve. I replaced the battery thinking it was dying, turns out I just use a lot of battery-consuming apps. Aside from that, hardware has been top-knotch. No issues with software (still running Lolipop), but I rooted the day I got it and disabled updates because I heard the MM update was having tons of issues and causing pops in the speakers and battery drains, etc. and never got around to going MM.
Convinced 2 friends to get Moto X pures as well, and they both love it.
I've had the Pure since November 2015: rooted and spent most of the time on stock. Right now, I'm running Dirty Unicorns 10.6 official, which has the September 2016 update. My overall impression is: 5.5 out of 10 (10 being the best). It's a decent, middle-of-the-road phone.
PROS
Unlocked (no carrier BS)
Bright screen
Two speakers with decent sound
CDMA and GSM antennas
Decent call quality
Motomaker configured to taste
CONS
So-so battery life. My LG G3 lasted about 48 hours after full charge. My MXP lasts about 18 hours.
So-so camera. Forget about low light pictures. (Missing my LG G3 camera...)
Mediocre level of enthusiasm about the phone, i.e., it took a long time to get decent cases/screen protectors, ROM development is OK but there are more devs for other phones
Lack of Android updates from Motorola. (I prefer stock due to stability and battery life.)
Heavier than a comparable Samsung Galaxy phone for it's size.
No "wow" feature to the phone: everything is just meh.
why is it nobody mentioned about its ram.. ram management on mm is so poor. i get 600 to 800 sometimes 500 ram free with no other apps installed. pure stock no root.vthats why its so laggy at times... bought it last month for $260 with 32gb on best buy.. i thought it was a deal but cant help notice the lag sometimes. i have a lg g pro 2 3 gb ram with snapdragon 800 on 2014 model... i get 1500 free ram so why is moto x pure on 2015 model only gets 600 to 800 free ram with 3gb phone. will motorola lenovo can still fix this great phone ?
After loving my Moto X and Moto X 2014, I gave the Moto X 2015 a try. On stock It lags a good amount, battery life is below average, sound is loud but quality is bad, also when I receive notifications the sound lags in the middle of it, and the phone ran extremely hot just using social apps or playing light games.
CM13 was the only rom to bring this phone back to life for me. I underclocked the cpu and gpu because of heat and battery power increased dramatically. Notification sounds sound normal and even when underclocked, the phone is still snappy on CM13.
My gf have a Samsung Galaxy s6 with apps I use plus more and her phone didn't nearly get as hot as mines with also better battery life than I was on stock.
I am trying to convince myself that I am wrong or somehow biased, but I don't think I am in this situation. I am a phone junkie and I bounce between devices quickly. In the last 6 months I have had the Axon 7, HTC 10 (still have, S-off'd with Unlocked GSM firmware/ software), Nexus 6P, HTC M9, s7 edge, s6 edge+, iphone 7 plus, Droid Turbo, and now the V20. I will say that over all, the V20 is built beautifully and performs well. The battery life is a bit weaker than I was hoping, just like the HTC 10, the quick charge 3.0 almost covers that short coming. The things that are making me disappointed though are as follows:
LG Skin / UI : Feels a little off, made up a bit by using Nova launcher, but everyone knows it won't remove it all...
Performance: I might be expecting a bit much, but I have had my device slow down (to unbearable lag / waiting on apps to switch/come up) more than a handful of times requiring a reboot
Battery Life: As stated above, the battery life is pretty week and I find myself having to top up a towards 6 pm, it does charge quickly, but find that a little sad.
Camera: This is where I am shocked. The camera overall doesn't live up to what I expected or how it was advertised. In ideal situations, it can take good photos, and I mean GOOD, not Great. If you don't switch to manual and tweak everything out, you will be sadly disappointed. Auto focus has a hard time locking in, can get a bit of grain / noise, and if there is movement or action, good luck. In video mode or if you flip into manual mode, you can get much better results, but in the heat of the moment, not everyone will be quick to get it ready in time to get that shot. In low light situations, it has been very disappointing. The lag time between the flash / focus and getting a picture off, I end up with a blurry out of focus picture most of the time. I am basing this off pictures I take of my young daughter. The camera on the HTC 10, Axon 7, iPhone 7 plus, S7 edge, and S6 edge+ all out perform in these situations. For a phone/device that is supposed to be built around photography and video, it has been a major disappointment. the Main camera/sensor is decent, but the zoom/cropped area is a bit small. The wide angle does cover a lot more at the cost of resolution. I am hoping that LG does something to address this in software/firmware updates, but as of now, it is a huge let down.
Audio: The single firing speaker does an admirable job for playing music, speaker phone on the other hand is a somewhat weak and sometimes hard to hear, even when driving in silent vehicle with the windows closed. The Quad DAC has also let me down. After the DAC in the Axon 7 and the HTC 10, I am not impressed. It does improve the audio, but not as well as the competition. With the DAC enabled and audio all the way up, the volume level is weak. With the same headphones that I used in the Axon 7 and the HTC 10, I have no problem hearing the outside noise. I also don't feel that it is nearly as tweakable / noticeable as the HTC 10. When I had the DAC on the HTC 10 on, I could immediately tell the difference and the Highs, Mids, and Lows were way easier to notice / spot changes on. Again, maybe software updates may resolve this, but definitely a let down for me.
Overall: The phone is beautiful. For a phone with removable battery, it honestly feels like a unibody device. I am a bit disappointed in all phone manufacturers currently going to this 2.5D curved glass for no good reason, making getting tempered glass protectors a joke majority of the time. The software overall is fairly smooth. The screen is above average and the secondary screen has become second nature to me. Being able to snap a wide angle shot when others can't definitely something that has lead to people asking me what phone I am using. Had I not gone through all the phones I have in the last 6 months, I may have been way more impressed. As a flagship device, I will say it comes close to delivering what was promised. Had the Note 7 not failed miserably with the exploding issue, I think the V20 would have easily been eclipsed. This phone gets so close in many departments, but doesn't quite nail them down. Considering there is nothing else in the market that draws my attention, I will try and see if it makes it through the initial growing pains that might be solved with software updates.
Before anyone wants to say I forgot about the Pixel, no, I didn't. After having the HTC 10 (which I still have and love as a backup device) and playing with the Pixel, I see absolutely no reason to waste the money on the sad excuse of a flagship device at the same taxing price as an apple product. How google basically took the HTC 10, made it ugly , went with onscreen buttons and a whole lot of bezel, and took away removable storage but is still succeeding with it is beyond me. Yes it has an "amazing camera", assistant (you can get with root on the v20 and nexus 6p), and can charge the battery super fast, but the price tag and lack of innovation is a deal breaker.
So, please, let me know if you agree or disagree. I have been trying to be unbiased and love this phone. Am I being unreasonable, or is it really just a device that got close to the finish line and just gave up?
I think it all depends on what your needs are. We know it doesn't have the best camera. It's very competitive, but not the best. Performance can be fixed with updates. I suspect that LG rushed the ROM to be the first to have Nougat, which was one of their selling points for this phone. Battery life depends on your usage. LG's Quantum displays are horribly inefficient, so the screen is your primary battery drain, but my understanding is that idle drain is very good. Then you have fast charging and one of the few phones that you can instantly go to 100% on by swapping batteries.
For me, this is the only phone that checks all of my requirements: Functional always-on-display, IR blaster, 5.7"+ screen, good camera, removable battery and SD card. So, I'm buying the complete package, not because it's the best at everything. Every single phone has shortcomings. You need to decide which ones you can live with and buy your next device based on that criteria.
I'm with you, I thought the camera was quite a disappointment when shooting in auto mode. I liked the phone a lot (coming from a Nexus 6p) and if the camera had been good it would have been a no-brainer for me, because as greyhulk says it checks most, if not all, the boxes. But I need a camera that shoots good pics in auto mode. Sent it back.
Also disappointed with the camera. Especially after coming from the Note 7..
Settings/Developer Options/ Tick on "Force GPU Rendering" should make your beast smoother/snappier. So any kind of lag should disappear!
If root available try L Speed/Entropy/fstrim apps found on Play Store!
LG V20 & LG G5 are snappy beasts and are well optimised with the Snapdragon 820 and is better than Samsung!
Battery is my main disappointment. Even with minimal use I have only made it an entire day once. Something keeps eating battery while the phone is idle and I have yet to track it down. I suspect it is an app that needs a Nougat update. Same usage and set of apps on the S7 Edge and Note 7 would usually leave me near 50% at the end of the day.
Have to say I disagree.
The Hi-Fi is plenty loud enough and noticeably changes on the go. I have noticed though, it depends on the headphones that you are using. I have used 4 different sets. And each pair gave different results.
The camera is great. Video is turning out to be exactly as expected. As for the camera, it doesn't grab the shot in the first try every time and its nothing a tap of the screen and refocus hasn't been able to fix. But than again I haven't had a camera phone that has been able to take the shot first time every time.
Battery, that's a user to user base question. The other day I was able to get 32 hours out of my battery. But than on the other hand with very heavy use I only got 6.5 hours.
Weird I get about the same battery life as I did with my note 7. When at work I use the phone about the same amount every day 12 hr shifts and I am between. 50 to 70 percent
Sent from my LG-H910 using Tapatalk
I think your disappointment stems from using so many current generation phones, lets face it most years the hardware upgrades (specifically processors) match each other.
The HTC 10 runs the same hardware as the LG v20, so you've experienced it already. S7 has the same processor as well (assuming its the Qualcomm version) so it's not a big difference compared to someone coming from last generation phones.
Like for me I am coming from a v10 which had an outdated processor out the gate (others were using 810 while the v10 had the 808 due to overheating issues with the 810). The phone is literally over twice as fast as the v10 so I would certainly see a difference compared to you coming from the same generation of processors.
I don't own the phone yet but I will say it's a disappointment to see the camera being a letdown in reviews when you consider that the camera was the big feature of the v10.
Battery doesn't sound all that great either but it's got to be better than the v10. I am sure this will be remedied by 3rd party extended batteries that we will hopefully see. My v10 battery sucked until I upgraded to a 9000 mAh Zerolemon battery pack.
Sent from my LG-H901 using XDA-Developers mobile app
Ali Mirza said:
Settings/Developer Options/ Tick on "Force GPU Rendering" should make your beast smoother/snappier. So any kind of lag should disappear!
If root available try L Speed/Entropy/fstrim apps found on Play Store!
LG V20 & LG G5 are snappy beasts and are well optimised with the Snapdragon 820 and is better than Samsung!
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Hello! What specifically does the "Force GPU Rendering" option?
I think you will settle with the Porsche Design Mate 9. Just a feeling lol
Why's there no option for ambivalence or just predictable? Just look at the stats and you pretty much know what you're getting. I'm happy with this phone after the $200 off and assuming I get the ~$150 headphone offer. I would be unhappy for full list price without those promos. For the price w/promos there just isn't anything comparable.
The display is the worst part of this phone for me. AMOLED just beats LCD anyway you slice it, this phone looks badly washed out and the auto brightness does weird things. Also the viewing angles are wonky, I was used to being able to use my phone at extreme angles but now I find myself lifting the phone up more. If this phone had AMOLED it would be a solid 9.9/10 for me, of course I knew I wouldn't like the screen when I bought it I just couldn't find a solid AMOLED phone. I don't particularly like the fingerprint reader position, have to pick it up off a table to use it and I've found my finger accidentally turns the screen on sometimes when I put it in my pocket. The second screen is nice for changing tracks or seeing what track is playing (or seeing the time at night without going blind), but it sucks for notifications. I miss my notification LED and my Qi charging.
Other than that this phone is pretty solid. I'm getting almost identical battery life that my Note 7 got, namely about 2 days. The standby battery life is phenomenal, I usually lose 1-2% overnight even with the second screen on. I love the removable battery so I don't have to worry about the battery dying before I'm ready to get rid of the phone. I'm no audiophile, so to me this phone is the best audio experience I've ever had with a phone hands down. Even streaming at just 192kbps this phone really makes my Shure SE215's sing. The camera is noticeably worse than the Note 7 at low light but it's still the 2nd best camera on a phone I've seen. Close up pictures have lots of nice detail and that's the kind of pictures I usually take. It focuses quickly and locks focus down better than the Note 7 did. For the kinds of the pictures I take in fact this camera is better, unlike my Samsungs this phone's auto white balance mode works correctly. The whole phone feels quick and snappy, comparable to the Note. I'm getting slightly better signal than I've ever gotten, in fact the wifi is much stronger than either of my Note 7's were.
I like the look of the phone and it feels great in my hands, which although not as great as the all glass Note 7, it feels like I could drop it and have nothing to worry about. I don't find the UI intrusive or laggy, eventually I'll swap over to nova prime once I'm tired of stock. For me it ticks all the right boxes of keeping old features rather than heading the apple direction and removing everything. Removable battery, SD card, IR Blaster, headphone jack, USB C, etc For that reason alone I think it's worth supporting LG
I agree
Main reasons I am keeping it are the $200 off, switched to T-mobile from VZW, and they are paying off the ETF so saving that money and the headphones makes the phone ideally almost free to me. For the full retail, I would return it in a heartbeat. People have hit it on the head that it really might be the fact the the Snapdragon 820 and the 4 GB ram is now getting long in the tooth. The camera can produce some nice pictures in manual mode, so I try to jump to that right away, but just a bit of a hassle to be on the ball to take a simple pic. With moderate light and close up, it does perform well. I can't really control lighting at all times and try and get my daughter up close and still when a picture moment comes though, the s7 handled it much better. I am going to try some different headphones to see if it is just the main pair I use that is letting me down. For the money / hardware, I think the Axon is the better bang for the buck with the AMOLED screen and the all carrier support. The speakers on that are ridiculous and the DAC was solid. This phone over all falls somewhere in the 7.5-8 /10 for me. Between the V20 and the HTC 10 I'll be good til the next wave of Flagships hit. I just have the feeling that LG pushed it out in a hurry to capitalize on the Note 7 flop and they could've polished it up a lot more. I can see them making the camera more responsive in low light and possibly addressing the battery life / hifi-dac customization / volume in the updates. It does a lot right but overall I was expecting and hoping for more from LG when they have had the perfect shot to grab the market. So far I am seeing the responses that seem line up with my expectation. Thanks everyone for taking the time to read and respond!
bishmaster5000 said:
Why's there no option for ambivalence or just predictable? Just look at the stats and you pretty much know what you're getting. I'm happy with this phone after the $200 off and assuming I get the ~$150 headphone offer. I would be unhappy for full list price without those promos. For the price w/promos there just isn't anything comparable.
The display is the worst part of this phone for me. AMOLED just beats LCD anyway you slice it, this phone looks badly washed out and the auto brightness does weird things. Also the viewing angles are wonky, I was used to being able to use my phone at extreme angles but now I find myself lifting the phone up more. If this phone had AMOLED it would be a solid 9.9/10 for me, of course I knew I wouldn't like the screen when I bought it I just couldn't find a solid AMOLED phone. I don't particularly like the fingerprint reader position, have to pick it up off a table to use it and I've found my finger accidentally turns the screen on sometimes when I put it in my pocket. The second screen is nice for changing tracks or seeing what track is playing (or seeing the time at night without going blind), but it sucks for notifications. I miss my notification LED and my Qi charging.
Other than that this phone is pretty solid. I'm getting almost identical battery life that my Note 7 got, namely about 2 days. The standby battery life is phenomenal, I usually lose 1-2% overnight even with the second screen on. I love the removable battery so I don't have to worry about the battery dying before I'm ready to get rid of the phone. I'm no audiophile, so to me this phone is the best audio experience I've ever had with a phone hands down. Even streaming at just 192kbps this phone really makes my Shure SE215's sing. The camera is noticeably worse than the Note 7 at low light but it's still the 2nd best camera on a phone I've seen. Close up pictures have lots of nice detail and that's the kind of pictures I usually take. It focuses quickly and locks focus down better than the Note 7 did. For the kinds of the pictures I take in fact this camera is better, unlike my Samsungs this phone's auto white balance mode works correctly. The whole phone feels quick and snappy, comparable to the Note. I'm getting slightly better signal than I've ever gotten, in fact the wifi is much stronger than either of my Note 7's were.
I like the look of the phone and it feels great in my hands, which although not as great as the all glass Note 7, it feels like I could drop it and have nothing to worry about. I don't find the UI intrusive or laggy, eventually I'll swap over to nova prime once I'm tired of stock. For me it ticks all the right boxes of keeping old features rather than heading the apple direction and removing everything. Removable battery, SD card, IR Blaster, headphone jack, USB C, etc For that reason alone I think it's worth supporting LG
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Ali Mirza said:
Settings/Developer Options/ Tick on "Force GPU Rendering" should make your beast smoother/snappier. So any kind of lag should disappear!
If root available try L Speed/Entropy/fstrim apps found on Play Store!
LG V20 & LG G5 are snappy beasts and are well optimised with the Snapdragon 820 and is better than Samsung!
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Please stop posting this everywhere
Sent from my LG-H910 using Tapatalk
You also forgot to mention the locked bootloader
Sent from my LG-LS997 using Tapatalk
I came from the LG Nexus 5x and I loved that phone. While it's only been a few days, I am more than happy with the V20.
I get a phone through work, but upgraded on my own last year to the 5x. So when I cracked my screen a few weeks ago, I went through work this time. Options were limited on AT&T and since I'm gonna be stuck with a phone for 2 years I wanted the newest phone I could get without "compromising" what I'd wanted in a phone. I also didn't want to settle for a year old phone or switch to the iPhone (Android since 2010 and likely forever).
Anyway, I say all that to say that the V20 was never on my radar, mostly because of the size, even though I'd previously had the Note 2, 3 and briefly 4. I'd been very happy with the size and feel of the 5x, but the battery life was horrendous. Basically anything would have been an upgrade, and the V20 does more than I need in the battery department. If I can get to my bed before needing a charge, I'm a happy man, since I'd be charging around lunch on a daily basis before.
I was already used to the fingerprint sensor and love the fact it's on the back on the V20 as well. I can deal with the volume buttons swapped and the power button moving to the fingerprint sensor. It was a little odd at first but I'm used to it already.
Again, the camera and screen on the 5x was mediocre so anything would be better. And again the V20 checks both of those boxes; huge, vibrant screen, and pictures that look beautiful to my eye. If you're going from newest flagship to newest flagship an argument can be made on those points, but if you're upgrading after a year + the hardware is always going to be better, even if you find some flaws, and IMO the V20 does great in both categories.
The removable battery does have its pros. A few years ago it was a 'must-have' for me, but nowadays I'd taker water/dust proofing over it. Not a deal breaker though. The SD card slot IS however a wonderful thing. Despite the 64 GB internal, I love being able to add and not worry about space. I've had my local music library backed up to an SD card for quite a while and it's so convenient to have that at my disposal locally (no network connection needed).
The software. Not much better than PURE Android and rooting has always been a priority for me. BUT, stability ultimately is the most important thing on a phone to me now. Being able to lower DPI via adb shell is huge. Really not having TiBu or the ability to remove some carrier apps is about the worst left we can't do. And to be honest, it's easily overlooked. Is it annoying AF we can't remove everything we don't want? Absolutely. But said apps can be hidden with certain launchers, and I've come to just ignore them in the app drawer, forgetting they're even there.
Add in the FM radio (so novel yet so great), Second Screen (which I actually could use some tips on getting the most out of) and I'm digging this phone. Is LG's UI a little clunky? Yea, but I'll live. And using something new is refreshing, honestly.
It's only been a few days but I'm happy with this device and have no regrets. The V20 may also get me back on the Phablet train, being unable to use something smaller as they feel like toys. I've not gone a full 2 years without upgrading in quite some time. This phone is going to be the test.
/ rant
Sent from my LG-H910 using Tapatalk
I agree with what you say. I think my let down is from moving from flagship to flagship all into the same time frame. The coming from any device before the snapdragon 820 and a quad HD screen, this thing is a major upgrade. I agree that the fingerprint scanner is best on back... Loved it on the nexus 6p and the axon 7. I just sold my htc 10 so I'm committed to the v20. Holding out til something amazing comes this way...
bishmaster5000 said:
Why's there no option for ambivalence or just predictable? Just look at the stats and you pretty much know what you're getting. I'm happy with this phone after the $200 off and assuming I get the ~$150 headphone offer. I would be unhappy for full list price without those promos. For the price w/promos there just isn't anything comparable.
The display is the worst part of this phone for me. AMOLED just beats LCD anyway you slice it, this phone looks badly washed out and the auto brightness does weird things. Also the viewing angles are wonky, I was used to being able to use my phone at extreme angles but now I find myself lifting the phone up more. If this phone had AMOLED it would be a solid 9.9/10 for me, of course I knew I wouldn't like the screen when I bought it I just couldn't find a solid AMOLED phone. I don't particularly like the fingerprint reader position, have to pick it up off a table to use it and I've found my finger accidentally turns the screen on sometimes when I put it in my pocket. The second screen is nice for changing tracks or seeing what track is playing (or seeing the time at night without going blind), but it sucks for notifications. I miss my notification LED and my Qi charging.
Other than that this phone is pretty solid. I'm getting almost identical battery life that my Note 7 got, namely about 2 days. The standby battery life is phenomenal, I usually lose 1-2% overnight even with the second screen on. I love the removable battery so I don't have to worry about the battery dying before I'm ready to get rid of the phone. I'm no audiophile, so to me this phone is the best audio experience I've ever had with a phone hands down. Even streaming at just 192kbps this phone really makes my Shure SE215's sing. The camera is noticeably worse than the Note 7 at low light but it's still the 2nd best camera on a phone I've seen. Close up pictures have lots of nice detail and that's the kind of pictures I usually take. It focuses quickly and locks focus down better than the Note 7 did. For the kinds of the pictures I take in fact this camera is better, unlike my Samsungs this phone's auto white balance mode works correctly. The whole phone feels quick and snappy, comparable to the Note. I'm getting slightly better signal than I've ever gotten, in fact the wifi is much stronger than either of my Note 7's were.
I like the look of the phone and it feels great in my hands, which although not as great as the all glass Note 7, it feels like I could drop it and have nothing to worry about. I don't find the UI intrusive or laggy, eventually I'll swap over to nova prime once I'm tired of stock. For me it ticks all the right boxes of keeping old features rather than heading the apple direction and removing everything. Removable battery, SD card, IR Blaster, headphone jack, USB C, etc For that reason alone I think it's worth supporting LG
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I agree. Top tier amoled should've been here. Probably would've improved the already great battery life another 20%ish. And notification LED would've been awesome. Yeah yeah. I know we have second screen, but I don't use it. Probably why I get 6h+SOT all the time. 8h 1m was my best and I had 3% left. I get 7h+ often. Standby time is incredible. Hasn't been consistent for me but probably lose 1% about every 5h average. Need to root and get adblocking. That will probably improve battery life even more. Hoping a custom kernel with only modification of voltage settings will help too. Tired of all these unstable kernels with features I don't use or care.about. haven't stuck with a custom kernel since...maybe note2. It has been awhile. Just roll with stock kernel since no dev wants to make a simple kernel with voltage adjustments. Not paying anymore devs on kernels until they deliver. I've paid upfront twice and font nothing in return. Scumbags.and I hope the fingerprint scanner has features. Features like being able to use as track pad or minimum that uses swipes for shortcuts like the pixel. That would be friggin' awesome. And aside from camera on auto not being consistent the phone otherwise is almost flawless. I've gotten accustomed to the camera on auto though. Multiple pictures and using focus at different spots has helped tremendously. I've been able to tweak my screen close to accurate by eyeballing it so pictures look like the scenery on screen now. Got to test video and bi def recording today at veterans day parade. Both exceeded my high expectations. Just need slmevody to find binning of chips which I made a dedicated thread for but nobody answered. I've looked everywhere. And one of first things I do when I root is customize the boot up screen. Boring. Very boring and.typical of T-Mobile. I've only had to reboot for sim or micro SD reasons though. Very very stable. Micro SD isn't up to par unless I have root. Nonetheless I've been able to work around it. Just had to take care out. And everybody keeps saying IR blaster. I think our IT is a transceiver. Supposedly it can learn but I haven't tried yet. R.I.P. remotes if it indeed can learn. LG did good. Seems rushed but this is truly a flagship phone in many ways. Swappable battery in 2016on a flagship. Say what? LG needs to step it up on the accessories. Ready to buy a 6 pack of batteries. I got in on the $51 deal for the BCK-5200 package on Amazon. Now just need a good sale on batteries.
Coming from a note 7 I have mixed feelings. It ticks a lot of the boxes but I miss waterproof, the great samsung screens and I knew about those when I bought. The camera really disappointed me though. I was expecting it to take way better pics than it does. Spoiled from the note 7 I suppose. I didn't realize before buying it that it had the IR blaster and I had really been missing that from my s5. Nice to not have to hunt for remotes anymore. Its not ideal, but for someone like me that over 5.7" screen is a requirement it really is the best second choice to my old note 7. The bootloader sucks too. I had gotten out of the habit of reroming phones since samsung pay and now that I am off samsung I thought it would be fun to start that again. But nope. I have a sprint one and it seems to be non rootable at the moment.
---------- Post added at 05:19 AM ---------- Previous post was at 05:13 AM ----------
I do think a little bit of my dissapointment in the camera is not genuine. I am mainly comparing shots taken with this phones camera viewed on this phones screen to shots taken by the note 7 on the note 7's screen. The same photo would of course pop more on the amoled screen even if it was the same camera so thats part of the disappointment. But even still I think the note 7 took way better pics.
I love the phone other than no root, the camera I'm not really disappointed because I'm no photographer, the IR blaster is a must thank you LG, Samsung what are you thinking. The removable battery isn't a big deal since the battery does pretty good. If it was water proof that would top it off.
Sent from my LG-LS997 using Tapatalk
How are you V20 owners feeling about the phone now that it's been out a while? I'm looking for a new phone and the options with Sprint suck, so it seems like it's either the S7 Edge or the V20. Both have good reviews, but those reviews are always done after maybe a few days or a week of use, and right at the phone's release, so I wanted to get some real world opinions from every day users.
I have an LG G3 right now (came to this from a Note 2) and I've been pretty unhappy with it for a while. It was okay (but nothing special) for the first year, then really went to crap--laggy, restarting itself, losing data connection. So I'm a little leery of going with another LG product, but this phone does have my interest.
I had a Note 2 and 4 prior to the V20 here and I love this phone. Even before root, I thought it was excellent. I find it fast and snappy, it doesn't seem to carry the lag that Samsung phones do. And the second screen is pretty awesome, I use it way more than I ever used the s-pen (never had an edge phone, so I can't compare it with thag).
Having said that, there are a couple downsides. I don't like the lcd screen - Samsung's amoleds are far better looking. And I feel like the camera on the Note 4 was better. But otherwise I'm really pleased with this phone. It's a great phone in and of itself, but it's the stuff that differentiated it from Samsung, the removable battery and ir blaster, that put me over the top.
And now that we have root? Oh yeah, I would definitely recommend this phone.
I too shared the concern of lag after using a G3, but this V20 is one of the fastest phones I've ever used (owned it since release). It's still snappy, no weird crashes or restarts, battery still lasts 2 solid days, wifi is still stronger than my Note 7 was. The more I use it the less things like the lack of notification LED bother me, and I'm more and more impressed with the audio that this phone delivers. However I still miss AMOLED, if this V20 had an OLED display it would be 10/10 for me.
Personally, both my dad and I want to throw our devices out a window. Mine regularly locks up, and both of our devices occasionally heat up, and drop 20% or more battery life in 5 minutes. I'd like this phone a lot if these issues didn't exist but as it stands they outweigh the incredible audio quality that this phone provides
Sent from my LG-H910 using Tapatalk
I got the V20 when I had to give up my Note7. The note 7 was hands down my favorite phone I've ever owned, but the V20 is good. I also owned the V10, which was okay, the V20 is a vast improvement though. Good performance, decent battery life (not getting a secondary with charging kit would defeat the purpose), and the camera is pretty good (but not on par with Samsung as far as I'm concerned). I like the second screen, but it's a trade for the edge screen function. Honestly I would have gotten the S7 edge, but after the note 7 debacle, I refused to support Samsung this year. Will upgrade to the next note though as soon as I can.
Nick281051 said:
Personally, both my dad and I want to throw our devices out a window. Mine regularly locks up, and both of our devices occasionally heat up, and drop 20% or more battery life in 5 minutes. I'd like this phone a lot if these issues didn't exist but as it stands they outweigh the incredible audio quality that this phone provides
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That's interesting - did you use dirtysanta on your phone? If so, use the Konverged kernel. It helps significantly (using it on my H910).
If not, you can also do these couple of things to help you out - turn off/disable Lookout. That is terrible to have on the phone and drains battery like no other. Go into your developer options menu in Settings, change all the different scales like animation scales, etc. to 0.5x. There's a couple of other small things you can do - like disabling the bloatware installed on your phone. But those will help out the most I believe.
Twisted
twistedvip said:
That's interesting - did you use dirtysanta on your phone? If so, use the Konverged kernel. It helps significantly (using it on my H910).
If not, you can also do these couple of things to help you out - turn off/disable Lookout. That is terrible to have on the phone and drains battery like no other. Go into your developer options menu in Settings, change all the different scales like animation scales, etc. to 0.5x. There's a couple of other small things you can do - like disabling the bloatware installed on your phone. But those will help out the most I believe.
Twisted
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Click to collapse
Nope I already always disable all possible bloatware and my phone is stock. Changing the window speed also will not help because my problem isn't sluggishness, it's the fact that the phone becomes unresponsive.
Sent from my LG-H910 using Tapatalk
Overall I would have to say I'm kinda disappointed with the lg v20. Coming from the note 3, I don't know if I expected too much, or was looking to be blown away, but for the price, I expected so much more. If the phone would've been like $400-500 maybe I wouldn't be so disappointed. I had to send my v20 to lg because of the speaker problem, so I have been using a ZTE z958, a $50 go phone from att. Honestly I can't really tell the difference between the v20 and the ZTE. Not enough to justify the $800 difference. The only two things I miss from the v20 are the finger print sensor and FM radio. Think I'm going to stick with my ZTE. Luckily my wife got an iPhone 7 plus and she didn't like it very much and wants to switch back to Android, so I think I'm just going to give her the v20 and sell the iPhone 7 plus. Much more easier to sell iPhone and not loose that much money, than to try and sell v20.
Sent from my Z958 using Tapatalk
Thanks to everyone for all of the info.
I know this is the LG section so I might get a biased answer, but if I could get the V20 and the Galaxy S7 for the same price, which one should I go for?
Sprint has a deal on the S7 right now until 12/28, and I was told by a rep in the forums that the same deal is going live for the V20 on 12/29. Both will come down to about $6.50/month after the sale plus my loyalty credit.
Coming from note 3, 4 and 7 - I am very pleased with the V20. Not rooted yet as I'm not sold that root will gain me much of anything and the more I read, the less I am interested in rooting. Bad battery life, no fm radio, worse signal, loss of sound improvement from quad dac and no means of reverting to stock unrooted.
I miss the look of the super amo-led a little bit, but I don't miss the screen burn on every samsung amoled screen I have owned or seen with many family members samsungs.
Love the second screen, sound quality with and without headphones. Happy with the camera using manual mode. Love the removable battery, sd slot, ir blaster, fm radio. The fact that I can disassemble and repair the phone if the need arises. Something the samsungs can be hard or even impossible to do.
Hi folks. I've been on a T-mobile Note 4 for a long time now, and love it- no problems yet and an 8000 maH battery keeping me quite happy.
Thinking forward to buying a new phone soon. Lots of new stuff coming out soon, but the V20 still looks attractive to me (being able to get a 10,000 maH zerolemon battery is a BIG factor). IR blaster and SD card availability is big to me too.
Couple of questions:
1) Thinking about what's coming out, and having lived with the V20, would you wait for what's coming out this spring, or even sit back until the "V30"?
2) I love taking pictures with the Note 4, and they turn out well. Low light, well, not so much. Flowers on a sunny day are great. Are you happy with the main and selfie cameras, or do you find yourself wanting "just a bit more" (for the average user... I'm not a full time amateur photographer).
Your comments would be much appreciated. I just retired, so I have more time to play with things these days- so I'm sure I'll be using the next beast I buy extensively especially for reading, nice photos, and the ir remote (oh, I got a great e-z chair for tv time ).
Thanks much!
Steven.RN
I like my V20 but unfortunately I do not "love" it like I did with my OG Motorola Nexus 6.
The stock battery is utter crap and I am on my 2nd LG battery after having to recall the 1st one. The 2nd one greatly improved but not by much. Rooting this phone has saved me from returning it. If it wasn't for Root I would of returned the phone.
1. Other than the G6 or the S8 coming out - what other phones are coming out (T-Mobile Wise)? Nothing right now seems to give me that "wow" factor like the Pure Android experience from the Nexus 6 did (yes, as you can tell, I loved that phone) The Pixel phones are a complete joke to me...horrible design....
2. The camera is okay for an average user. I do find myself liking the fact I have two lenses to choose from. Wide angle and normal angle. Very helpful in the Security field that I am in. But be warned the pictures are not amazing like Samsung devices.
If I were you, kinda wish I was right now. I would wait for the Note 8!
But other than that the 2nd Screen is incredibly helpful, to me. The removable battery and SD card is a great addition. The IR Blaster is cool but I do not use it at all. I have enough "Universal" remotes. LG's UI is pretty neat I like it a lot better than Samsungs ugly TouchWiz UI.
To each their own, I suppose.
I think the phone is awesome, the smart phone market has peaked advancements aren't going to be as neat as they used to be.
The snapdragon 820 is about 3 times faster than the 805 in your note 4 (assuming you've got the snapdragon variant).
The camera is snappier than the note 4 and takes pretty good photos (better than the note 4).
If you like the stylus though I'd wait it out 6 months for the note 8.
It's a worthy upgrade and it'll probably be a phone that would carry you through two years if not longer.
Sent from my LG-H918 using XDA-Developers Legacy app
Absolutely the best phone I've ever had.
Very well built, great reception, zero lag, large screen....and I have to disagree about the battery. I've had nothing but FANTASTIC life, and this is with two different batteries, one just for backup just in case. Fast charging works great...volume is perfect, removable battery, rootable and TWRP-able...honestly, I wouldn't even think about "upgrading" from this phone right now. Samsung who?
I came from the note 4 also. This phone is much faster (no Lag). I didn't think there was any lag with my note until I got this phone. With that said, I am rooted with a custom rom and that did speed things up a little. My note was also rooted with a very nice custom rom.
When the note 7 came out, the were a lot of people on XDA saying they wished there was a flat screen version, i.e. not the curved screen. You can bet the note 8 will have a curved screen which makes finding quality screen protection tough. The v20 does have slight curving at the top and bottom, but people here have found tempered glass solutions that work.
You can also bet the note 8 won't have a removable back, so replacing the back plate with a bigger battery and cover won't be an option.
The camera takes very good pictures and if you understand the options in manual, you can really optimize it. Is it as good as the note 8 will be? No.
Sammy screens are also the best looking. The V20 screen while it has the specs, just doesn't look as good as a sammy. If you use a kernel with kcal support, you can get close.
Good luck.
I also came from a Note 4.
I personally never used the stylus for anything except taking screen grabs. I fount it easier than remembering the button combo for a screenshot.
My gps stopped working due to a known defect in the note 4. I broke the display trying to take it apart to fix it.
I love my V20 so much more than my note 3 or 4 or 7 even.
I won't buy note 8 as like all Samsungs -
1. The sound will most likely be horrible.
2. You probably will never be able to root it.
3. As nice as the amoled looks - everyone I've owned as well as my wifes, bil's, sisters all suffer bad screen burn in.
4. If they force that curved edge screen again. I hated that on the Note 7.
I'm done with Sammy. LG V20 is the best I've ever had so far
I also came from the Note 4. I got the s7 edge which i gave to my wife. The buttons(or lack of) take a little getting used to, but the ability to root determined my buying the V20 and I think it is on par with my note feature wise(minus stylus\plus FM radio) just faster and maybe a bit lighter. If Note 8 is rootable, i might jump but i doubt it. I could keep this phone for awhile.
Love it
But dont love the front cam is really bad
And rear cam
My old nexus 6p was better
But performance is great and second screen is great
Battary is ****
Charge is 3 times at day
Hi dac is fantastic
Screen is good but not great
---------- Post added at 01:22 AM ---------- Previous post was at 01:21 AM ----------
For me
Camera
At day light 10/10
At night 9/10
Indoors craaap 2/10
Another perk with LG is that the amount of garbage software that it comes with is minimal when compared to Samsung. I know the note 3 and note 4 were filled with Samsung garbage apps.
The other consideration is there is no know so warranty shouldn't be a issue since there is no knox switch that gets flipped when you root it, you can (in most cases) reverse the rooting without any problems.
Of course I turned in my v10 rooted and they didn't even care (T-Mobile) so I am not sure if this is a real issue with warranty or not.
I say go for it, its going to beat the note 4 in just about everything. The only perk for the note 4 is the amoled display which saves quite a bit of battery. Of course you can always get aftermarket battery packs to off set it with the LG v20.
The v20 battery life is much improved over the v10, I typically have about 30 percent battery by the end of the day (this is with spotify and Bluetooth running during the work day).
Sent from my LG-H918 using XDA-Developers Legacy app
I really do like it a lot, although it had to grow on me a little bit. In term of pictures, I think it takes rather nice pictures (at least for me). The wide angle lens is pretty cool too. My note 5 broke so this is why I have this phone. The second screen is really useful and I like that it doesn't have a notification light. The screen is nice and big for reading also. I don't use the IR blaster at all so i can't really tell you what its like.
I hope this helps!
The v20 is OK but my note 7 was far superior. Better camera, screen, battery life, only thing the v20 had over the note 7 was the DAC. Personally I would wait until newer phones comes out. I'm looking FWD to the note 8.
Sent from my LG-H910 using Tapatalk
As someone who have had a wide variety of samsungs and LG .... I believe i will be keeping this phone for at least 4 years easily. There are just not way too many cons and there are way to many pros. The battery can sometime be a pain but that's just like any other phone since nothing last forever. But hey, the dozen mode!!! OUTSTANDING! my V20 consumes 1% of battery in 8 hours with screen off and 2nd screen on. so, it might not last more than 5:30-50's+ hours with screen on, full brightness, wifi on, gps on, and a video in 1440p. But,,,, as far as dozen mode goes.... It is outstanding! And if the promotion stills on, you can get the phone for 600+ instead of the 800+ by exchanging any 4g crap phone ($19 dollars at walmart should do lol). Im happy with the phone (sometimes pictures if zoomed in can look like waterpaint style but it doesnt happen that often (At least to me)). And as far as waiting for the V30 or note 8 ... Well, that is truly up to you. However, if you are hoping for root , there is just not guarantee given the fact that they are truly patching up every door from nougat 7.0 and up. So... you could wait for the V30 or note 8 but if you wish for root or developments.... i dont recommend to buy them before someone finds the way to root it.
I was one of the ones that was coming from an S6 edge instead of something newer, so obviously it's a bigger upgrade for me than it was for most others. I am pretty happy with the camera. I miss having the double-tap home button from the Samsung for the camera launch, but that's about it. I took it with me to Colorado and took some quite lovely pictures in the sunshine. Most people will concede that the low light performance leaves some to be desired, but I usually don't take any in conditions that are that bad, where that I would complain afterwards. I kind of figure that in sub-optimal conditions, I'll have sub-optimal results.
My battery seems to be quite fine, BUT, I'm also rooted and running a debloated ROM (the US996 stock deodexed, on my 995 Verizon model). The battery under whatever kernel it's running, is quite fine, and it is removable for people needing more length. I wish it had wireless charging, but that's just how it is. But for example, 8 hours on standby, and I was still at well over 75% today at work. And I can usually get through a good 3 hours of straight video playback at least. But the way people use their phones varies so much, it's hard to say. I do get better life rooted than when it was stock.
It also is plenty snappy, and I've had no issues, no overheating, no weird battery drain, no lag, or the like. I would say that coming from what you have now, it might be a step up but you might feel it won't be a big enough one yet. But the LG G6 being rumored out might be worth holding out, assuming you aren't looking to root. That might get tricky as Nougat (mentioned above) starts getting locked down. I have faith in the community - after all, it didn't take long for the V20 to get opened up, though there are some that worry that it'll continue to get harder as exploits get patched.
For what it's worth, I love mine. I miss a couple weird tricks from other phones, but on the whole, I am very satisfied with my decision.
CharlzO_2000 said:
I was one of the ones that was coming from an S6 edge instead of something newer, so obviously it's a bigger upgrade for me than it was for most others. I am pretty happy with the camera. I miss having the double-tap home button from the Samsung for the camera launch, but that's about it. I took it with me to Colorado and took some quite lovely pictures in the sunshine. Most people will concede that the low light performance leaves some to be desired, but I usually don't take any in conditions that are that bad, where that I would complain afterwards. I kind of figure that in sub-optimal conditions, I'll have sub-optimal results.
My battery seems to be quite fine, BUT, I'm also rooted and running a debloated ROM (the US996 stock deodexed, on my 995 Verizon model). The battery under whatever kernel it's running, is quite fine, and it is removable for people needing more length. I wish it had wireless charging, but that's just how it is. But for example, 8 hours on standby, and I was still at well over 75% today at work. And I can usually get through a good 3 hours of straight video playback at least. But the way people use their phones varies so much, it's hard to say. I do get better life rooted than when it was stock.
It also is plenty snappy, and I've had no issues, no overheating, no weird battery drain, no lag, or the like. I would say that coming from what you have now, it might be a step up but you might feel it won't be a big enough one yet. But the LG G6 being rumored out might be worth holding out, assuming you aren't looking to root. That might get tricky as Nougat (mentioned above) starts getting locked down. I have faith in the community - after all, it didn't take long for the V20 to get opened up, though there are some that worry that it'll continue to get harder as exploits get patched.
For what it's worth, I love mine. I miss a couple weird tricks from other phones, but on the whole, I am very satisfied with my decision.
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Random FYI... Double press down volume when screen is off opens camera. (options in settings to open and immediately take pic or just open)
I figure you already know and just miss the convenience of the home button location but... Just in case...
planetbeen said:
Random FYI... Double press down volume when screen is off opens camera. (options in settings to open and immediately take pic or just open)
I figure you already know and just miss the convenience of the home button location but... Just in case...
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Yup, there is that one. But it's also a little more awkward that way. It's just as easy to double-tap the screen and swipe into the camera app. The home key on the Samsung was perfect, because I could bring the phone to landscape orientation, double tap, and bam, ready to go. It's rare that I need to get a picture THAT fast that I need to, but it was really convenient.
I love almost everything about it, but If this thing had a brighter or amoled screen I would never get another phone.
slayerh4x said:
I love almost everything about it, but If this thing had a brighter or amoled screen I would never get another phone.
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Do not bring AMOLED INTO IPS!!! Every single phone i had with AMOLED screen (10 to be precise), all of them developed burn in image. LOL I will never buy another phone with AMOLED screen. Unless..... They A) fix the issue with the burn in image, and B) they manage to make it last at its full potential for at least 5 years and then after 5 years the pixels can start dying. Not to mention that many of the AMOLED screens from nowadays have removed soooooooo many important features in a phone such as removable battery and sd card slots. That alone makes me move within an instant to LG G or V series (AKA Large Giraffe as some people call it LOL)
jinkerz9430 said:
Do not bring AMOLED INTO IPS!!! Every single phone i had with AMOLED screen (10 to be precise), all of them developed burn in image. LOL I will never buy another phone with AMOLED screen. Unless..... They A) fix the issue with the burn in image, and B) they manage to make it last at its full potential for at least 5 years and then after 5 years the pixels can start dying. Not to mention that many of the AMOLED screens from nowadays have removed soooooooo many important features in a phone such as removable battery and sd card slots. That alone makes me move within an instant to LG G or V series (AKA Large Giraffe as some people call it LOL)
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Hahaha Yeah it would have to be a revised version of that hardware. I just find that the screen is way too dim outside. I even used that adaptive display mod which does help, but washes out the colors.
I literally just went from a note 4 to v20 and its amazing. The phone is so much more intuitive . tap screen to wake .fingerprint scanner unlocks phone faster than I can swipe. So much more. All around it just works better. I feel like all Samsung phones are the same. Bc I've had only Sammy past 8 years. I love this v20
Sent from my LG-H910 using Tapatalk
Yes, yes, it's possible to love a phone. Heck, you sleep next to it, don't you? Rate this thread to indicate your love for the Moto Z2 Force, all things considered. A higher rating indicates that the Moto Z2 Force is an incredible phone that you enjoy tremendously. You love it.
Then, drop a comment if you have anything to add!
The best Android phone I've owned to date.
I love the phone enough to buy it multiple times, searching for the combination of carrier compatibility, unlockable bootloader and color.
I also love the phone enough to overlook its main shortcomings (no headphone jack, not truly waterproof, small battery) I love the hardware enough to use an unrooted phone. *gasp* literally every Android device I've ever owned has been rooted within a week, my first was a Nexus one.
This is a bit of a monumental device for me. It's my first ”phablet." My last daily driver was a Sony Z3 compact and a Z1 compact before that. I dropped my Sony trying to put it in my pocket while juggling keys, a backpack and my water bottle. The back glass shattered and the front has a hairline fracture.
Initially I was going to get the Z5 compact but I decided maybe I'd try something a little bigger, so I ordered an Xperia XZ from Amazon. It was a nice phone, but I hated the purplish color of the "black" model and I found myself constantly worrying about it after my last drop, so back it went in about a week.
The thing is, I hate using cases. What's the point in buying a phone you like the look and feel of just to cover it up? Enter the Z2 force. When I first saw promos talking about the shatter proof screen I was intrigued. I was never miffed by the easily scratched screen because an $8 screen protector is all you need to solve that problem.
Between the piece of mind of an unbreakable screen, stupid fast experience, solid aluminum body and gorgeous OLED display this phone is a keeper.
It's one of those phones that got shoved under the rug the second everyone saw the battery specs on paper, myself included. My previous long term daily driver was a Nexus 6 for the most part and that was the last high end, highly customizable Android phone I've used before briefly dailying a Nextbit Robin and then switching to Essential PH-1 for a few months. Both of those have great custom ROM support, but the battery life on both and signal strength on the PH-1 with T-Mobile were barely tolerable, so the only other sub $500 flagship/high end device with an up to date hardware feel was the Z2F from T-Mobile ($375 new), and glad I took the plunge despite the smallish battery capacity. From my experience, Motorola (at least as of their 2013 and newer models) have had a great track record for keeping close to stock Android experience, superb cellular signal, and great battery life and efficiency (despite often using smaller batteries, ie Moto X2, Moto G2, Moto E2). Somehow their devices always had awesome standby to screen on time efficiency. Essential didn't do this for me as much as I wanted to like it (although those on Verizon had a completely different perspective of that device).
This device gets some seriously great battery life (I've managed 8+ hrs sot with 20+ hrs total discharge from 100% charge capacity), excellent signal strength (probably why the battery doesn't suffer too much), solid screen (for those that do lots of accidental drops), front facing flash (with forward facing torch option in Moto camera flash settings), useful Moto gestures to enable main torch and camera with simple chop and twist gestures even when screen is off, solid and super thin build (Jerryrigeverything on YouTube approved it in his infamous bend test, it passed!), and because it's so thin, a simple tpu case gives this phone a perfect grip and thickness. There's a lot to like about this phone, it certainly checks all the right boxes. Most of all, it's the Android device with a Nexus/pixel-like experience; unlockable bootloader, easy to root, custom ROM availability (although from what I gather it currently works best in it's Motorola stock factory firmware form, custom ROMs are currently suffering from weaker cellular signal, failing safetynet due to the current state of selinux being set to permissive, and no sound in default video recording, also on some ROMs WiFi calling and Moto mods have issues), and to be quite frank, this device is very livable with stock firmware, just add root via Magisk and customize from there. Nexus 6 was by far my favorite device, but it is starting to feel a bit dated at this point, it had (and continues to have) some of the best third party dev support, and everything almost always works as good or better than what Google offered in it's stock Android form, that device was truly ahead of it's time and just like this device, was criticized and thrown under the bus numerous times, but low and behold a year or so after it's release, it was one of the best, if not the best device to mod. Of course with this device it's a bit finicky to mod or convert to another carrier firmware (if at all possible), but when it comes to working in it's native firmware for the carrier they were configured to run on, it truly doesn't miss a beat. You get a lot for the asking price, and until another developer device like Nexus 6 comes along, this will serve as a perfect successor for the time being. Yeah I'd love to have the dual front facing stereo speakers, and I'd love to have tons of custom features found in Resurrection Remix ROMs, but not at the cost of battery, cell signal, and failing safetynet check. Many of the custom ROM features can be manually added on stock firmware with root access enabled. Custom firmware just makes it easier to do so and also implements its own features, but often takes away features that are only available on stock firmware, for this reason, Nexus 6 was superior on every front in its time, everything was open source and easy to carry over to a custom firmware. Essential phone is like that, but unfortunately it doesn't play well with all carriers, despite being compatible with every carrier like the Nexus 6.
Some other cool and useful features include:
-Ability to remove navigation bar and allow fingerprint sensor gestures to navigate in the essence of Android P (swipe left for back, right for recents, short tap for home)
-fingerprint scanner also doubles up as a power button (normal tap for turning on to bypass screen lock, and normal press for screen off)
-voice assistant via long press on fingerprint scanner
-Moto voice for useful info on the fly, even with screen off
-Moto display, which unlike ambient display, doesn't waste much battery and is very precise when hovering your hand over and lifting vs keeping face down or in pocket (to keep screen from accidentally lighting up))
-dual rear facing camera with a dedicated rear facing black and white (monochrome) camera as one of the lenses
-twist gestures can double up as front/rear camera swapping
-lift to silence ringtone
-flip device onto screen to mute calls
-built in phone video calling
-power button to end call
-double chop for flashlight
-double twist for camera
-front facing torch through stock selfie camera
-night display (adjusts screen tint based on time if day)
-announce calls while driving
-and last but not least, water repellant nano coating, which is something I can't thank Motorola enough, my Nexus 6, Moto G2, Moto X2, Moto E2 all have this coating and I can confirm it works because the G2 owned by my grandma and my friend's Nexus 6 both fell into a tub and sink full of water, both devices worked without issue after removing them from water. Sure they're not water proof per say, but water proofing requires seals/gaskets and adhesives, both of which are compromised over time due to excessive heat from the internal hardware components and when screens or back glass (where applicable) break. So in essence a repellant nano coating may not be as water resistant as gaskets and adhesives, it does it's job most of the time when accidents happen and can surely withstand rain and shower splashes (just don't go plugging headphones or power cables before drying the ports and device as that may cause a short) and best of all, it doesn't get compromised because your screen broke or because of excessive heat and wear and tear.
The only cons I see are the few carrier and Motorola bloat apps most of which can be disabled (or frozen if rooted).
I enjoyed this device so much that I got one for a friend who had issues with her Nexus 6 charging port. Truly an underrated device that will hopefully get more attention from third party devs sooner than later. Personally, I will go as far as to say that this device should be looked at as a benchmark to beat. I've yet to see a device as well optimized, efficient, and as easy to manage right out of the box for such an awesome price.
Syndrome666 said:
snip
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All the developers for the Nash have been working on getting things fixed. You know good things are coming when LOS might be official soon™
Uzephi said:
All the developers for the Nash have been working on getting things fixed. You know good things are coming when LOS might be official soon™
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I definitely do, this phone's technically a successor to what used to be the Moto X series before the Z line took its place, and those had awesome third party dev support. I'm sure I'll get flashing on the Z2F once I get some free time to mod this thing. Any clue if RR is in the works for this phone?
Syndrome666 said:
I definitely do, this phone's technically a successor to what used to be the Moto X series before the Z line took its place, and those had awesome third party dev support. I'm sure I'll get flashing on the Z2F once I get some free time to mod this thing. Any clue if RR is in the works for this phone?
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No clue about RR but @npjohnson pretty much stated how everything is for LOS, unless something "goes sideways" Lineage will be official VERY shortly. @erfanoabdi also stated fingerprint nav now works with selinux enforcing so very few bugs left now. Pretty sure just a few gerrit reviews and everything before LOS ships official. (Red tape and all)
Uzephi said:
No clue about RR but @npjohnson pretty much stated how everything is for LOS, unless something "goes sideways" Lineage will be official VERY shortly. @erfanoabdi also stated fingerprint nav now works with selinux enforcing so very few bugs left now. Pretty sure just a few gerrit reviews and everything before LOS ships official. (Red tape and all)
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Nice, sounds tempting. I'll have to give it a shot
I like my Z2F a lot! So much I bought a second one, a Sprint version. I enjoyed flashing ROM’s and stuff since the Motorola Droid days before 4G. I’ve had Safe strapped RAZR’s and then the RAZR M with the bootloader unlocked, that was fun till I bought a Moto Z Droid. Fast phone but being on Verizon, no root and no playing with ROMs.
I think the Z2F is a great phone, lots of ram so the bloat apps don’t matter much but I miss flashing ROMs. So I purchased a Sprint Z2F and as soon as the UPS guys delvers it, I’m going to activate it on Sprint, Unlock the boot loader, root it and tryout some ROM’s. And after a month or so I want to unlock it and add it to my Verizon account. Should be fun.
Still Loving the performance of this device 5 months later. I think my next device will be the z3 force.
A nicely packed set of features, still a mixed bag
Just got this device couple weeks ago, because: seemed a nicely packed set of features, I needed a new one after 3 years, and it was on sale locally for ~240€, about a third of the 2017 MSRP of 799€. So am happy with seeing and getting that bargain!
However, with the previous device being a Moto X Pure, which had just gotten tediously slower and slower over the last year or so, I find the differences in specs add to it not feeling like the real thing. Like that nightly purchase impulse this posting is severly subjective. I'll mark the so-sos with o and plusses and minusses (where it compares favourably or less than to my previous Moto experiences) in the list below.
o Moto X Pure has stereo speakers, the Z2 Force has 1 mono speaker. Watching the occasional video it certainly feels ok, but definitely "lopsided", thinner, inferior to front-facing stereo speakers. Yes, why, Captain Obvious told me, how did you know?
+ For telephone calls both call quality and, in quiet environments, the speakerphone functionality is just about right. People understand me well and I can hear everyone clearly.
+ Bluetooth connections work well and are quicker to establish. It seems as if the bluetooth range has also increased slightly.
o As of yet, the lack of a 3.5mm headphone jack hasn't actually bothered me. Since I'm on the traditionalist side I would have liked one, and sorta expect a hi-def moto mod for this some day.
- The main camera is meh when used with the vanilla Moto app. Really sorry to say that, but I am disappointed. 12MP does not mean much on paper, but the artificial sharpening puts me off. Probably I compare too much with the X Pure's 21MP and subjectively much better image quality, but in low light and less-than-ideal light conditions and when seeing strong contrasts I am unhappy with the Moto camera app. Maybe I have just gotten used to the X's quirks, but still. Disclaimer: need to take more pictures; I might set up a public album for this.
+ Using OpenCamera though I am getting different and better results. So overally I tend to use this now. Suggestions? Should I try FV-5 or Ektacam?
+ Using the Vignette camera app (as I did on all previously used devices) I can get proper results, even though I suspect it does not use the 2nd camera.
+ The snapdragon 835 is superfast, and the Z2 force with these recent price drops in Europe possibly one of the cheapest devices having it
+ the 6GB memory means I can multitask as hell and there indeed is very little reloading an app
+ I got used to having a fingerprint sensor quickly, position on front is fine
+ GPS works much better than on the old Moto, even indoors I typically get a fix both a) faster and b) at all
+ Display, having that crisp 2560x1440p resolution. Colours in saturated mode are strong, bright and I'm impressed.
+ Display colour settings can be set to "standard", which means colours come across as subdued, thinner, and erm less artificial. I use this mode.
+ Touch interactions have that very immediate feel to it, like zero lag and precise positioning. Like!
o the plastic shatterproof feature, well, it comes with a plastic layer on the screen that seems to have a blueish, almost milky tint to it, and that makes it look like plastic very much. Visually speaking it looks plastic when viewed from the side.
+ Connectivity in 4G was good.
o Using two LTE sim cards at the same time though it seems as if only the first one inserted makes use of 4G, the second one can't. Disclaimer: did only test this first evening and unsystematically.
+ Wifi is fast, holds both connections properly on 2.4 and 5 even when in offices or places with more than 40 available networks.
o Using it on commute though it seems as if, even when arrived on destination, it takes those very long extra seconds to connect to a known network. Need to fiddle with a scan interval setting I guess.
+ Built-in battery capacity is smaller, but as of now it lasts me almost two full days, and won't ever go below 20% really. The X Pure's battery is far from dead, but using it heavily means recharging it three times a day.
Overall love after these couple of weeks: an "acceptable meh" Yes, everything works, but I really needed something new and had hoped for something to give me that sensational thrill, but now feel unsatisfied. Had I bought it last year that would have been a serious disappointment.
With all this I think I am in sort of in line with many reviewers who see the oh so revolutionary mods concept as meaning well and ending up mediocre. While I intend to get that Incipio battery mod some day, that might well be the only mod I'll be getting.
mookiexl said:
Still Loving the performance of this device 5 months later. I think my next device will be the z3 force.
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the z2 is the last force edition they will make.
jasperbastianrain said:
the z2 is the last force edition they will make.
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I saw that and it made me cringe. I guess moto figured they couldn't put the price in the range of the Samsung and other more popular manufactures and compete. I still hope they release a device with the SD845 or one with OIS.
Love this phone at all. Just the backside has scratches from the first day on. Never complained, but was there out of the box. More important for me is that the screen has no scratches, even after months. No monday device, absolutly perfect, love this plastic screen. Very sad to know that we don't get any newer model of this force stuff. Battery is very good, too. That's very good at all. But additional screen protector isn't needed, at least at my model the screen isn't scratching. Maybe I have to do it with harder stuff? Don't know how the people get scratches in the screen
I'm absolutely in love with this phone. Obviously everything comes down to value, and for the original $700 or whatever asking price, there were better options. For $260 though (with the projector mod included), it's a downright steal. The phone is blazing fast and the only complaints are no headphone jack and a relatively weak camera. The very un-2017 screen ratio is also a negative, but considering the price you can find the phone for these days it's nothing to me.
ROM support is straight up bad unfortunately (huge thanks to the devs that do support it), but the phone works very well stock. I've always ran my phones with ROMs, but I don't really feel like I even need one.
Yeah I have this phone as well. I don't have any real issues beside poor signal but that's from where I live. Even with the booster T-Mobile sent me from Cel-Fi it can pickup 3 bars and 6 on the booster box I get 4G LTE and 5 bars. I can hear all my friends now. GF she has the same cell as well her's has issues like with most women when it come to cells. Data Mode drops can't do anything except remove the sim but not only that the screen is peeling off. So T-mobile is doing a warranty exchange with a brand new one. Not factory nonsense excuse for a cell. Brand new. Mine is like new!
01/2019 Real user review Great phone, super fast, great size, look outdated due to its form factor (big chin, no notch) Great battery life, super fast charging. Overall great phone, a little slow on updates
Update 01/17/2020. I've had my black, unlocked Sprint version since my last post in 2017. I've been using it flawlessly on Mint mobile for a couple years. It is positively Boba Fetted out with scratches all over the aluminum body. I am on my 3rd IQ shield screen protector. My wife has the white Verizon z2 force and we have almost all the mods.
A few months ago I noticed my battery life take a nose dive. Even after a complete wipe and clean install I struggle to make it through a day with moderate use. I've never had a phone long enough to experience battery degradation.
I went to Best Buy to check out the current crop of new phones. I handled the z3 and z4 and while nice they just seemed kinda..."meh" I didn't notice any speed difference or screen clarity between either of those phones and my 3 year old z2 and I'd be giving up shattershield. I thought about trying something new and was seriously tempted by the S10+ but a case would be a must. It is crazy
My daughter has a pixel 3 so I checked out the 4 and was a little underwhelmed. I ended up leaving with the phone I came with. I got home and started shopping online. I stumbled upon a nib unlocked gray T-Mobile Z2 for $150. Considering the Samsung cost almost 5x as much and would need to be babied I pulled the trigger on the Motorola.
So in summary I love this phone enough to buy it again despite it being old as dirt in the tech world. I plan on riding the gray one until the wheels fall off or until some new hotness comes out that I see and just have to have.
Sent from my Moto Z (2) using Tapatalk
Owner of one of the first Z2 Force XT1789-06 dual sim with Nougat, since of reduced battery life and screen a bit "impressed" I decided to buy a new phone.
I decided for a "brand new" Xt1789-06 dual sim that I set up with Pie. Need I to add something?
enetec said:
Owner of one of the first Z2 Force XT1789-06 dual sim with Nougat, since of reduced battery life and screen a bit "impressed" I decided to buy a new phone.
I decided for a "brand new" Xt1789-06 dual sim that I set up with Pie. Need I to add something?
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Yeah, there is no better phone on the market with unbreakable screen. I would buy it again, too. Costs 399€ (very much, but high end for many years) at the moment. More than 2018 here in europe.
Set Up should be Lineage OS 16 and then it's perfect.