Database Users

And They Wonder Why G4 Sales Suck...

LG says no plans for G4 Android 5.1.1 update at the moment
Are we going directly to Android M? When I had my G3 we had the same issue, no 5.1.1
Given all of the issues with Lollipop, this may be a blessing in disguise but
the negative publicity from this may further impact the already poor sales.

Actually
I am eager to buy a new phone. I do have the cash. I do not like Touchwiz, and no SD Card is a no go. So no S6.
The Nexus 6 is way to big and no SD Card. HTC M9... oh well.
So, the LG G4 is the only option. Why am I not holding this phone in my hands?
It is available for nearly a month now (give or take depending where you live) and no root method available, without LGs unlock code. ....No bootloader unlock. No XPOSED because of that, and no CM Mod or anything even possible because of that.
Coming from a Nexus which I love (despite the camera, the battery, the missing SD Card and the terrible GPS) I am not willing to buy a piece of expensive phone which is not mine.
So maybe, just maybe that is a reason why sales are not that great...
There are other reasons I am fully aware, but this is the deal breaker for me...
By the way: I visit here daily. I can not really tell where we are in terms of a unlocked bootloader and easy root method? Anyone here that could sum it up?

fpsq said:
I am eager to buy a new phone. I do have the cash. I do not like Touchwiz, and no SD Card is a no go. So no S6.
The Nexus 6 is way to big and no SD Card. HTC M9... oh well.
So, the LG G4 is the only option. Why am I not holding this phone in my hands?
It is available for nearly a month now (give or take depending where you live) and no root method available, without LGs unlock code. ....No bootloader unlock. No XPOSED because of that, and no CM Mod or anything even possible because of that.
Coming from a Nexus which I love (despite the camera, the battery, the missing SD Card and the terrible GPS) I am not willing to buy a piece of expensive phone which is not mine.
So maybe, just maybe that is a reason why sales are not that great...
There are other reasons I am fully aware, but this is the deal breaker for me...
By the way: I visit here daily. I can not really tell where we are in terms of a unlocked bootloader and easy root method? Anyone here that could sum it up?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
We are no where unless someone's keeping it hush hush. I check daily too.

The xda and tweak people are just s handfull of users ... Most buyers are regular and they don't even know xda .... If you want a phone that get every update then buy a Google phone, or a iphone. If you want a unlocked bootloader now then buy a Samsung. If you don't want those phones , then stop whining and buy a G4 or any other phone with Android on it instead of complaining. Sales are not depending on if a bootloader is unlocked or not !
Verstuurd vanaf mijn LG-H815 met Tapatalk

fpsq said:
I am eager to buy a new phone. I do have the cash. I do not like Touchwiz, and no SD Card is a no go. So no S6.
The Nexus 6 is way to big and no SD Card. HTC M9... oh well.
So, the LG G4 is the only option. Why am I not holding this phone in my hands?
It is available for nearly a month now (give or take depending where you live) and no root method available, without LGs unlock code. ....No bootloader unlock. No XPOSED because of that, and no CM Mod or anything even possible because of that.
Coming from a Nexus which I love (despite the camera, the battery, the missing SD Card and the terrible GPS) I am not willing to buy a piece of expensive phone which is not mine.
So maybe, just maybe that is a reason why sales are not that great...
There are other reasons I am fully aware, but this is the deal breaker for me...
By the way: I visit here daily. I can not really tell where we are in terms of a unlocked bootloader and easy root method? Anyone here that could sum it up?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why is it essential for you to have an unlocked bootloader and root? I don't understand why its a dealbreaker - obviously you buy a phone based on its spec and features and no phone comes with 'unlocked bootloader' and 'root' as features.
XPosed is a heaving pile of **** which is buggy and unstable even at the best of times and if you start installing custom ROM's you start losing features.
I and plenty others bought this phone as it meets what we were looking at at the time. Root would be a bonus, but even then two weeks in I still can't think of anything I need root or a custom ROM for...

dontpannic said:
... but even then two weeks in I still can't think of anything I need root or a custom ROM for...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Really? [emoji58]
Sent from my G4 whilst wishing for root

dontpannic said:
but even then two weeks in I still can't think of anything I need root or a custom ROM for...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ads. Mothereffin' ads everywhere. In apps, in web pages, on YouTube. Blocking ads alone is worth gold.

Alright, ads is a good one. Not a lot else though to be fair!

dontpannic said:
Alright, ads is a good one. Not a lot else though to be fair!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Really?
GravityBox is a HUGE one. It controls the look and behavior of everything on your phone.
Downloads2SD for remapping hardcoded folders like Downloads from internal storage to the SD card.
DisableFlagSecure for taking screenshots in apps that forbid it.
XHangouts for configuring image quality and other things in Hangouts.
NotifyClean for suppressing annoying system notifications that cannot normally be disabled.
The list can go on, I'm sure others use a lot more than this.

I am also missing a few features that I can only use with root. AdAway, AirAudio to stream my sound to other devices, etc...

siraltus said:
Really?
GravityBox is a HUGE one. It controls the look and behavior of everything on your phone.
Downloads2SD for remapping hardcoded folders like Downloads from internal storage to the SD card.
DisableFlagSecure for taking screenshots in apps that forbid it.
XHangouts for configuring image quality and other things in Hangouts.
NotifyClean for suppressing annoying system notifications that cannot normally be disabled.
The list can go on, I'm sure others use a lot more than this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Everyones usage is different remember - I just want to use a phone and from previous experience with my S4 introducing xposed to it turned it into a buggy mess, I don't want that happening to this phone.

dontpannic said:
Why is it essential for you to have an unlocked bootloader and root? I don't understand why its a dealbreaker - obviously you buy a phone based on its spec and features and no phone comes with 'unlocked bootloader' and 'root' as features.
XPosed is a heaving pile of **** which is buggy and unstable even at the best of times and if you start installing custom ROM's you start losing features.
I and plenty others bought this phone as it meets what we were looking at at the time. Root would be a bonus, but even then two weeks in I still can't think of anything I need root or a custom ROM for...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
99% agree with you there. I got this device for the ability it has without any root/unlock. Fully agree that Xposed has never done anything good for me in my experiences...usually end up having bugs and ending up factory resetting rom I'm on.
Also confused as to why people expect that the G4 would already be unlocked or rooted. This device has been out for just over 3 weeks, fellas. Sure, there are other manufacturers (HTC which I LOVE save for their inability to understand that a good camera is a requirement in 2015) that are able to be unlocked like 30 seconds after you open the box. LG is NOT that way. The G3 was a pain in the butt last year for this from what I understand and this device is running a newer processor and supposedly more secure version of android.
In the end, I would like to have root, so I can get rid of the T-Mobile stuff...and yeah, while I can DISABLE it, that doesn't get rid of it, it's just lying dormant...I still have a disabled app taking up space on my device.

siraltus said:
Ads. Mothereffin' ads everywhere. In apps, in web pages, on YouTube. Blocking ads alone is worth gold.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes this times 1000. Plus getting rid of bloat (although the LG does not have nearly as much as my Samsung devices had) plus I really want to be able to use Titanium Backup again.

Also...Not sure why everyone is so set on being on the latest version of Android at all times. I learned my lesson on that the hard way. Last device I was on was the Note 4. We were extremely irritated that we were getting Lollipop so late compared to all the other Sammy devices. Boy was I wrong to wish for it. It came with more bugs than new features, most of which made the device nearly unusable to me, resulting in my spending $280 to get the device half paid off so I could JUMP to the G4.
Rather than rolling out a new version of Android, I'm sure many users would prefer that LG work on the number of bugs that some users have experienced thusfar. That being said, 5.1 seems to be doing me pretty well for this device for me

A free wifi tethering method would be nice to have again.

I don't see the link between 5.1.1 and bad sales. If someone refused to get G4 because they won't update it to 5.1.1, I find this hilarious. 5.1.1 is a maintenance update, nothing major as I am aware, so LG can include the most important fixes from the latest available android version through OTA update, and there is no need to show you the latest android build number. 5.1 can include everything 5.1.1 got.

dontpannic said:
Why is it essential for you to have an unlocked bootloader and root? I don't understand why its a dealbreaker - obviously you buy a phone based on its spec and features and no phone comes with 'unlocked bootloader' and 'root' as features.
XPosed is a heaving pile of **** which is buggy and unstable even at the best of times and if you start installing custom ROM's you start losing features.
I and plenty others bought this phone as it meets what we were looking at at the time. Root would be a bonus, but even then two weeks in I still can't think of anything I need root or a custom ROM for...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you even used Xposed recently? Root itself is fantastic, and does not harm usability. You can use apps like Greenify and Titanium Backup to remove apps and improve battery life, modify the tethering provisioning check to use the hotspot, etc. I also use Xposed on 5.1.1 and on 5.0, 4.4, etc., and I don't have any issues at all. the 10+ modules I use never have problems.
I'm keeping my rooted G3 until we can root the G4, as I need root in some form or another.

dontpannic said:
Alright, ads is a good one. Not a lot else though to be fair!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The phone is is great all on its own but I am looking forward to no ads and a tweaked Rom to hopefully get rid of the awful lagging and missed touch issues

Give the devs time. There's a lot of money pledged in the bounty board which should attract some top devs, so short of JesusFreke coming out of retirement I doubt it'll be in the next month.

Actually revisited
fpsq said:
By the way: I visit here daily. I can not really tell where we are in terms of a unlocked bootloader and easy root method? Anyone here that could sum it up?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you purchase the open EUR H815 handset, you can officially unlock the bootloader through LG's Dev website, and from there install TWPR and flash SuperSU for root.
This method is not (yet?) available to other models, however.
You're correct that there are currently no unofficial methods to unlock the bootloader or root the device, yet.

Cyanidem for klte?

CyanideL was extremely feature rich and stable& possibly one of the best roms I I've used and had a strong following before development stopped. CyanidM is back in action but so far there is no support for the klte. They're have been intermittent builds for the Sprint S5 but I was hoping a developer would step up and bring this awesome rom back to our community. I know there is alot oof work involved in becoming a maintainer but we have some awsome devs and I would gladly make a 25$ donation to compensate for the work to be able to use this rom again.

Bump
Bumping hoping to get attention for this rom. It's already built for the sprint gs5 it shouldn't be too much work to build it for the other variants.

killablack said:
Bumping hoping to get attention for this rom. It's already built for the sprint gs5 it shouldn't be too much work to build it for the other variants.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
and i thought i knew most roms... While this can serve as a bump, I'm hoping to spark a mini exchange of experiences with roms.
After trying every single rom there was out there for the s5 (and gotta say, most were), i settled for aicp, for stability and usefulness, not just your regular dice hanging from your rear view mirror... I will gladly donate as soon as i get back on my feet, and while I'm at it let me say thanks to all the devs worldwide, since theyre the real reason android is what it is, wouldn't have it any other way. Consider my use of my phone as a taxi, patrol car, or delivery vehicle, while your phones resemble more a household vehicle. It wouldn't be possible to that degree without ppl such as @Rovo69, @Chainfire, and countless others including the TWRP guys, the teams and individuals behind all things (custom) roms, and the micro G guy, although i can't remember out of the top of my head just now.
Lol seriously veered off track there, pardon me.
Anyways, back to the topic at hand, can you tell me a bit about this rom you speak of?
---------- Post added at 07:06 AM ---------- Previous post was at 07:03 AM ----------
Of course i could just google it up, but in this case i don't want a review from a, most likely, wether for good or bad, biased article. Rather just ask a user who seems to want to keep it alive, know what i mean?
---------- Post added at 07:30 AM ---------- Previous post was at 07:06 AM ----------
@killablack, the following is a suggestion for you to start asking about the possibilities and/or possible consequences, it is not an advice to actually go ahead and do what i once did.
Another thing, i can kill an Android and revive it, but only if i kill it. I didn't go to school for this or had a tutor sitting next to me, i simply learned everything i know, which is not much because there's always something new to learn, scouring thru xda... Didn't even ask questions, just good old search and research, trial and error, BUT, I'm not a developer, so i could be hinting you blow up your device while meaning no harm.
I had an s4 before the s5 came out, it was a cdma phone, namely, none other but sprint, one of the world's most difficult phone to uicc unlock... I don't know if you're from the United states, so I'll tell you a bit about them. The phones are not, i'm assuming, difficult as in, take it to a shop and pay and voila! But as in the carrier coming up with a million reasons as to why they (sprint) shouldn't, couldn't, or wouldn't do it for you, going as far as telling the customer that their phones are not unlockable, even if they wanted to, which is, of course, a big fat lie... AND, if you are one of the few who do get "your way" with them, you better drop everything and go buy a lotto lol jk, it will only be for overseas use, not domestic. (if you're from Europe, then you know how the European carriers (supposedly) don't lock the customer (and phone) down). Welcome to America the land of the free.
I neither tried to go thru them nor used a shop, since it was a personal goal to do it myself and the path to learning. Well, eventually, i achieved it, and "turned" it into a gsm phone. At this point, i flashed a custom rom, don't remember which one, but it would be something like you describe: a rom running in the "same" device, different carrier, but now we would be looking for the "other way around" version, with the difference that these (yours and mine) are kltes... Not jfltesprs... Needless to say, everything was right on the money, except that you would get "H" instead of 4G or even LTE (post-device flashing-unlocking issue, not a rom bug)
what could you add to this endeavor of mine, or what do you think our stance should be on trying something similar? since nowadays, i assume, google has changed a few things here and there under the hood since i did this i just told you about.

H820 OTA Update Aug 18

E: The Unsolicited OTA Update, or Why I'm Leaving This Phone. See post 3 for details.
I got a notice that there is an update for at least the ATT 820 variant of the G5 today. I'm not going to flash it until someone else does or we have a changelog, I dont want to ruin any potential root capabilities we might be looking into at the moment. Does anyone have any information on it? Guessing it's an attempt to close up some of the QuadRooter vulnerabilities, but that's just a guess.
Any info here?
E: Contacted both LG and ATT. Supposedly it's just to enable wifi calling and nothing else, but they didn't offer a changelog or anything so I'm not going to flash it as I don't care about that functionality.

I updated for the hell of it.
3 out of 4 vulnerabilities have been patched. Along with this, I've immediately noticed they added the normal launcher with app drawer. Much nicer.
Figured I'd take one for the team on this one...so if you want root, I'd suggest blocking this update as long as possible.

Update time. So, I didn't initiate the update. I didn't want to install it at all. I look down at my phone this afternoon and it says update on progress... Nice. OK, fine whatever.
Now there's a persistent notification in the pull-down whenever you don't have mobile data enabled. And you can't get rid of it unless you turn on mobile data.
Sorry, but **** this. I'm getting rid of the phone. This is ridiculous.
Screenshot attached. Returning the phone and probably just going to get another G3 that I "upgraded" from. Pity, I liked this phone, lots of potential but I can't handle no root, bootloader lock, ads, ads, ads, ads, and persistent notifications. I just honestly don't see how anyone can handle a phone without root and adblock these days. I also can't understand how if a consumer spends $600+ for a device that they cannot do whatever they wish to it. Brick it, throw it in the ocean, root it. Imagine if computers all came with a locked administrator account. Absurd.

Lol i will never root my device, last time i did, i ****ed it up, so i am happy with my stock lg g5, i will never root anyphone

I'm also not digging the H82011K OTA as it rendered my favorite data saving app unusable.
I was very happy with my rooted/rom'ed G3 until a bad CM13 nightly fried the motherboard. Now I've been suffering the life of G5 over a month and while it's not terrible (Adguard helps) it's just not the same. I'd still like to repair that G3 someday if I ever get the time/ patience to get around to it...

Nowadays people don't root often your phones because the software is getting better. If this is your first priority, you should get something like the Oneplus 3.

jreed3786 said:
3 out of 4 vulnerabilities have been patched. Along with this, I've immediately noticed they added the normal launcher with app drawer. Much nicer.
Figured I'd take one for the team on this one...so if you want root, I'd suggest blocking this update as long as possible.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
mrhizzo said:
Nowadays people don't root often your phones because the software is getting better. If this is your first priority, you should get something like the Oneplus 3.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Really wondering which oem (and when ?) will jump first on kernel_version 4.x with possible "Live Patching"...

oF2pks said:
Really wondering which oem (and when ?) will jump first on kernel_version 4.x with possible "Live Patching"...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As far as "Live Patching" is concerned, I hope none of them do - ever. If I wanted my devices hijacked and tampered with behind my back I'd use Windows 10. This sounds bad for freedom within the Android community (why many chose it over iOS in the first place).

PHYCLOPSH said:
I'm also not digging the H82011K OTA as it rendered my favorite data saving app unusable.
I was very happy with my rooted/rom'ed G3 until a bad CM13 nightly fried the motherboard. Now I've been suffering the life of G5 over a month and while it's not terrible (Adguard helps) it's just not the same. I'd still like to repair that G3 someday if I ever get the time/ patience to get around to it...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Shouldn't take more than a half hour. I replaced the broken screen and digitizer on my G3 after I dropped it on its face. Pretty easy really, the hardest part of getting the screen off was just getting the adhesive separated from the screen > body. Not bad at all. The board would be easier, it comes out as a piece.
Reason I downgraded to a G5 from my G3 is because even though the replacement screen was LG branded, it still had quirks... I'd be typing something and suddenly "This is a sentence I'm typinng aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa"
Super annoying. But honestly, not as annoying as the newest G5 update + ads ads ads ads...

ZTE Blade X Max Z983 Request

Hi, all!
I bought the Blade X Max from Cricket, as it's got 32GB internal storage, a bigger screen, and seems a very hip machine.
Since Cricket seems to have instructed the various vendors, LG, Alcatel, and now ZTE to not only just make it difficult to root, but near-impossible, at least for someone without extensive knowledge as an Android dev, it's an annoyance...
There are legit, non-bootleg apps for which I spent good money (Titanium, Apps2SD Pro, FlashFire and others), which require root... Unlocking codes tend to be expensive, and the sites that offer them seem more spam-generators than anything else, and the Dr.Fone Root tool doesn't seem to even know the device exists, and, it's as yet not on their supported list, that I can see.
The device was released a month ago, so I'm not expecting immediate miracles, but wondering if anyone else owns the device, and if anyone with the dev chops would be interested in exploring the possibility.
Thanks for reading, and have a great day!

I own the ZTE Blade X Max as well, I havent tried root or anything else yet, I was a little surprised though when searching through XDA and this thread was all I found in relation to the ZTE Blade X Max.

XperianceIT said:
I own the ZTE Blade X Max as well, I havent tried root or anything else yet, I was a little surprised though when searching through XDA and this thread was all I found in relation to the ZTE Blade X Max.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, since the device has only been around a few months, it's understandable that not a lot of the devs have access to one, but, yeah... All over the web, it's referred to as a carrier-branded phone, and people seem to not want to fiddle with it...
I don't need a custom ROM, but there are legit apps that I bought from the Play Store, and they require root...
I blame Cricket for being paranoid that someone would dare to customize her/his phone and tweak it... Times past, Cricket made it difficult to root a phone, but the LG G-Stylo was pretty much unrootable... I have a few paperweights of that model in my storage... The Idol 3 was able to be rooted, the 6055U Idol 4, not so much... and now this one... It seems that Cricket is trying to have the various manufacturers leave some things out of their flavors of Android, so that even someone who reasonably is willing to take the risk is sh!t out of luck... <sigh>

Yeah Cricket has been making it real hard to root any of their phones. I also have the Stylo 2, and they had lg remove the entire bootloader and stock recovery, how the hell that was possible is beyond me. Get used to this trend in Android, it's not just Cricket, allot of flagships are doing what they can to get rid of the ability to root, cause if we root we have control not them, and the manufacturers are making way to much in terms of ad revenue to allow us to have total control. My Blade X Max will sometimes randomly download apps and games without my permission, that's how they ( manufacturers ) make the money they do, we are basically walking billboards for them. So unless enough people get together and complain about the blatent abuse of the GPL Linux has laid out, it will never change, open source my ass, try getting the real source code for this phone, won't happen. I downloaded the source for the max x 2 and dug into the files, wasn't even the full code, and had junk files from dead devices. The Android world is not what it's supposed to be, get used to it.

zMILWAUKEE said:
Yeah Cricket has been making it real hard to root any of their phones. I also have the Stylo 2, and they had lg remove the entire bootloader and stock recovery, how the hell that was possible is beyond me. Get used to this trend in Android, it's not just Cricket, allot of flagships are doing what they can to get rid of the ability to root, cause if we root we have control not them, and the manufacturers are making way to much in terms of ad revenue to allow us to have total control. My Blade X Max will sometimes randomly download apps and games without my permission, that's how they ( manufacturers ) make the money they do, we are basically walking billboards for them. So unless enough people get together and complain about the blatent abuse of the GPL Linux has laid out, it will never change, open source my ass, try getting the real source code for this phone, won't happen. I downloaded the source for the max x 2 and dug into the files, wasn't even the full code, and had junk files from dead devices. The Android world is not what it's supposed to be, get used to it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Indeed...
Next time around, going to buy a pre-unlocked device (hell, even our local Walmart Super-aircraft hangar sells 'em), and just have the device ported over... if the vendor (Cricket, Metro, whomever) won't do it, they don't need my business... I'm a write-off from years back with Verizon, and, although my credit rating is much better these days, I worked for a Sprint call-center, and they sucketh verily and forsooth, and I don't know much about AT&T proper, or many other vendors...
But there are some vendors that are generally pretty hip, if a bit expensive, and I'm looking into seeing if, even if this is a vendor-branded device, there's a way, or just a straight-up trade for a device I can work with... Cricket's Android Nougat flavor is buggy as hell, and this is just kinda silly.
<sigh>
What the hell...
"Oh, Brave new world that hath such people in it.."

Wow are you serious? No root method? I'm going to have to sell this phone? WTF I just liked it.
Sent from my Z983 using Tapatalk

justlovejoy said:
Wow are you serious? No root method? I'm going to have to sell this phone? WTF I just liked it.
Sent from my Z983 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, apparently the bootloader's crippled, as Cricket seems to have insisted things be removed from ZTE's source code...
But, I'm wondering (though I might just be talking out my butt), if the code module could be extracted from ZMax Pro, as that's apparently its non-Cricket branded twin...
My coding chops are limited to old XBASE and a bit of Delphi/FPC, so I'm not the guy to do it, but am I in the ballpark with my idea?

Never really messed with the bootloader. I've always been developing from code tho. Haven't tinkled too much in about a year but need a laptop power cord before I can try anything. Bootloader isn't always a root blocker. It's more of a custom rom blocker if memory hasn't been affected by times changing
Sent from my Z983 using Tapatalk

justlovejoy said:
Never really messed with the bootloader. I've always been developing from code tho. Haven't tinkled too much in about a year but need a laptop power cord before I can try anything. Bootloader isn't always a root blocker. It's more of a custom rom blocker if memory hasn't been affected by times changing
Sent from my Z983 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, again, my chops are decades old, and tend to involve xBASE and Delphi coding, and I know very little about C/C++ and Java, and plead ignorance of what Cricket has insisted on having crippled in the source, and I lean on the expertise of devs here and elsewhere for that reason...
Just that it's one helluva device, or would be if it could be at least rooted.... I just don't know how... :laugh:

pauljulian said:
Well, again, my chops are decades old, and tend to involve xBASE and Delphi coding, and I know very little about C/C++ and Java, and plead ignorance of what Cricket has insisted on having crippled in the source, and I lean on the expertise of devs here and elsewhere for that reason...
Just that it's one helluva device, or would be if it could be at least rooted.... I just don't know how... [emoji23]
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Facts!
That's what the kids say today, lol. It's a beauty. Had to get mine swapped out for another due to the fingerprint reader and camera being intermittent between reboots. Not much I can say wrong about this device. Waiting on the key to the mailbox for my laptop charger still. Can't promise anything yet but I'm hopeful that our resources will get us started, even if it's just a long list of what doesn't work. Lmfao
Sent from my Z983 using Tapatalk

Is there anything we can do to this phone? Any thing
Sent from my Z983 using XDA-Developers Legacy app

Yes I have z982 and would like a forums section

Bootloader and recovery
zMILWAUKEE said:
Yeah Cricket has been making it real hard to root any of their phones. I also have the Stylo 2, and they had lg remove the entire bootloader and stock recovery, how the hell that was possible is beyond me. Get used to this trend in Android, it's not just Cricket, allot of flagships are doing what they can to get rid of the ability to root, cause if we root we have control not them, and the manufacturers are making way to much in terms of ad revenue to allow us to have total control. My Blade X Max will sometimes randomly download apps and games without my permission, that's how they ( manufacturers ) make the money they do, we are basically walking billboards for them. So unless enough people get together and complain about the blatent abuse of the GPL Linux has laid out, it will never change, open source my ass, try getting the real source code for this phone, won't happen. I downloaded the source for the max x 2 and dug into the files, wasn't even the full code, and had junk files from dead devices. The Android world is not what it's supposed to be, get used to it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First off they can't remove the bootloader as android WON'T boot without it, and recovery is needed for factory resets. Cricket has never been helpful about supporting their phones, but of you do a search you can find out how to get into the recovery. (And it's the ZTE Blade ZMax, not X Max, X Max is just crickets version of the Blade ZMax)
To get into recovery you can go to this link for instructions
http://www.hardreset.info/devices/zte/zte-blade-x-max-z983/recovery-mode/

revjamescarver said:
First off they can't remove the bootloader as android WON'T boot without it, and recovery is needed for factory resets. Cricket has never been helpful about supporting their phones, but of you do a search you can find out how to get into the recovery. (And it's the ZTE Blade ZMax, not X Max, X Max is just crickets version of the Blade ZMax)
To get into recovery you can go to this link for instructions
http://www.hardreset.info/devices/zte/zte-blade-x-max-z983/recovery-mode/
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Have always been able to get into the stock recovery, and the download mode... those are not the issues, friend....
Whatever Cricket specified be done to their stock ROM by ZTE, we're blocked from doing those things that would enable us to actually use legit apps that we paid real money for.
I don't care about any sort of custom ROM, as these days, I really don't have the time to **** with it... But I've been an Android user for years... I've no problem rooting a device, given a workable method, and at least nutshell instructions, and doing a few things, as a user... As long as there is a way to get back to Square 1, should I screw up, I'm not afraid to explore, and, again, I believe in supporting good developers... If an app does what I want it to, I buy it, as long as it doesn't break the bank... in that case, I uninstall and find something better or cheaper...
But Cricket, in their either paranoia, or control freak attitude has been progressively making their devices less and less possible to do what we bought them for, unless we happen to be Cricket employees, sworn to secrecy regarding those codes beneath and behind the *# ones that really don't do much, at least not the ones we need to use, such as the menu option for "unlock" which doesn't without other input...

pauljulian said:
Have always been able to get into the stock recovery, and the download mode... those are not the issues, friend....
Whatever Cricket specified be done to their stock ROM by ZTE, we're blocked from doing those things that would enable us to actually use legit apps that we paid real money for.
I don't care about any sort of custom ROM, as these days, I really don't have the time to **** with it... But I've been an Android user for years... I've no problem rooting a device, given a workable method, and at least nutshell instructions, and doing a few things, as a user... As long as there is a way to get back to Square 1, should I screw up, I'm not afraid to explore, and, again, I believe in supporting good developers... If an app does what I want it to, I buy it, as long as it doesn't break the bank... in that case, I uninstall and find something better or cheaper...
But Cricket, in their either paranoia, or control freak attitude has been progressively making their devices less and less possible to do what we bought them for, unless we happen to be Cricket employees, sworn to secrecy regarding those codes beneath and behind the *# ones that really don't do much, at least not the ones we need to use, such as the menu option for "unlock" which doesn't without other input...
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... and just to say that I know that "unlock" and "root" are two different things... was just an example.

pauljulian said:
Have always been able to get into the stock recovery, and the download mode... those are not the issues, friend....
Whatever Cricket specified be done to their stock ROM by ZTE, we're blocked from doing those things that would enable us to actually use legit apps that we paid real money for.
I don't care about any sort of custom ROM, as these days, I really don't have the time to **** with it... But I've been an Android user for years... I've no problem rooting a device, given a workable method, and at least nutshell instructions, and doing a few things, as a user... As long as there is a way to get back to Square 1, should I screw up, I'm not afraid to explore, and, again, I believe in supporting good developers... If an app does what I want it to, I buy it, as long as it doesn't break the bank... in that case, I uninstall and find something better or cheaper...
But Cricket, in their either paranoia, or control freak attitude has been progressively making their devices less and less possible to do what we bought them for, unless we happen to be Cricket employees, sworn to secrecy regarding those codes beneath and behind the *# ones that really don't do much without other input...
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I'm not sure how you would root that particular phone, but I'm sure there is a way, or will be once the phone is out there longer, being without root access is a pain in the a**

revjamescarver said:
I'm not sure how you would root that particular phone, but I'm sure there is a way, or will be once the phone is out there longer, being without root access is a pain in the a**
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When I originally started the thread, yep... I know the thing's not been out long... like since May (and I know crap all about the "Z" model used by other vendors... Obviously there's a drastic difference in the firmware, though...)...
Given time, I'm certain someone will work it out... There's a gentleman on another thread that seems to be working on it, and I'm going under the thing of "no news is good news" :laugh:
I've no doubt there's a way... I did a short stint at a call-center for Sprint, and there are always ways... It's a matter of having the right set of input codes, to get to the means to do the real deal...
I really dig the phone, although Cricket's flavor of Nougat isn't the most stable in the world... but, with the legal and legit apps I bought and continue to support, that's less of an issue.
It's frustrating when a company knows what a pain in the ass it is without allowing the user to administer it as really needs be... and they still refuse to permit it... I get that turning it into a paperweight can get tedious, but, given the means to get it back to factory standard in a reasonably simple way without sending it in, or buying another is just what I would see as normal... It's my own fault if I haven't backed up my data, but, if I somehow hose the firmware, just give me a means to get back to the start... It worked with their edition of the the Alcatel Idol 3... the Idol 4 (6055U)... I just gave the hell up.

pauljulian said:
When I originally started the thread, yep... I know the thing's not been out long... like since May (and I know crap all about the "Z" model used by other vendors... Obviously there's a drastic difference in the firmware, though...)...
Given time, I'm certain someone will work it out... There's a gentleman on another thread that seems to be working on it, and I'm going under the thing of "no news is good news" :laugh:
I've no doubt there's a way... I did a short stint at a call-center for Sprint, and there are always ways... It's a matter of having the right set of input codes, to get to the means to do the real deal...
I really dig the phone, although Cricket's flavor of Nougat isn't the most stable in the world... but, with the legal and legit apps I bought and continue to support, that's less of an issue.
It's frustrating when a company knows what a pain in the ass it is without allowing the user to administer it as really needs be... and they still refuse to permit it... I get that turning it into a paperweight can get tedious, but, given the means to get it back to factory standard in a reasonably simple way without sending it in, or buying another is just what I would see as normal... It's my own fault if I haven't backed up my data, but, if I somehow hose the firmware, just give me a means to get back to the start... It worked with their edition of the the Alcatel Idol 3... the Idol 4 (6055U)... I just gave the hell up.
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I don't mean to freak out anyone that "Holy Cr*p! Someone's doing something"
.... But I'm just wondering if anyone's doing something.... ?

It's not going to happen my best advice to you is get another phone. I have the z982 the z981,982,983 all of them are unrootable ZTE had a bad hack a few years back that almost shut them down root was giving full access to those phones through apps. I hate this phone and can't wait to get a new one. Never again will I buy ZTE

adambomb_13 said:
It's not going to happen my best advice to you is get another phone. I have the z982 the z981,982,983 all of them are unrootable ZTE had a bad hack a few years back that almost shut them down root was giving full access to those phones through apps. I hate this phone and can't wait to get a new one. Never again will I buy ZTE
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Well, for damned sure I'm sick of Cricket's control freak practice...
But it seems there are too many vendors that undercut legitimate developers whose products require root access...
I don't really need a custom ROM, but I bought Apps2SD Pro, Titanium and some others because I found them to be well-written, well-designed, and they did what I needed them for... But, since I can't root this otherwise pretty cool device, I've basically wasted my $$... I'll get another device at some time, preferably from a vendor that is less paranoid about users actually using their devices to their potential, but for right now?
This is one of the most stupid situations I've found myself... A device that is capable of being a laptop replacement, but the vendor only insists on our using them as they dictate...
So, is disgust an applicable word?
... mind you, not at those among us who were suckered into buying a hip but crippled device.
(although I've the idea that those who actually work for Cricket but are sworn to secrecy by potential lawsuits and loss of employment actually have an idea as to whatever *# commands actually go deep enough to do what's needed)
But I have no issues with those such as I that found a really hip little machine, yet have found ourselves locked away from its potential...
My issues are with the control-freak assholes that set the policies for the companies we pay entirely too much to remain in necessary communication.

Getting the V20 Now (US996), still recommended? What's your opinion?

Hi Everyone,
I'd love to hear opinions from first hand owners of the LG V20, and if you'd buy it again.
I'm pretty set on getting either th LG V20 or the Pixel XL. I'm pretty aware of the specs of both but I wanted the Pixel XL for CopperHeadOS (supposedly more secure, but they only support Google phones for the most part, Pixel XL being one of them). As for the LG V20, I like it more, specwise (bigger screen, better DACs for audio, removeable battery, expandable memory, just better all around in my opinion- where it counts... and better price), but there doesn't seem to be any super secure ROMS out there, which is why I wanted to get the Pixel despite it's price (costs about double right now), and lack of expandable memory.
Otherwise, with my own research, the V20 seems to be a decent phone.
I'm coming from an Xperia Z2, decent phone, but horrible microphone (everyone says they can't hear me), also horrible speaker phone (not loud enough, if I'm driving I can't hear anything).. those are examples of quirks about the Z2.
Any input? Any quirks/annoyances you have about the V20 (specifically for the US996 model, no bootloops hopefully?)? Any input on secure ROMS available for it? To be honest, I'm kind of weary of the whole rooted process, it probably got easier by now, but I used to root and put custom roms on my old android devices, was such a process and always had risks of bricking it etc... only ones I'm willing to hassle over for are secure ROMs (like Copperhead OS)... oh yeah, how is the LG V20 out of the box? Is it pretty decent? Or is it frustrating with the bloatware where you "have to" unlock/root/install custom firmware+rom to make it "useable"?
Thanks in advance!

Was also wondering, anyone else with a USS996 try tethering with At&t, does it work?

I went with v20 this week, the Pixel XL was my first choice... however, I picked up a refurbished Sprint compatible v20 for $299 on Amazon. Luck for me, the software version on it was old enough to unlock the bootloader with DirtySanta.
Overall I've been a fan of LG since the G2, and the v20 is my favorite LG phone so far. I'm glad I didn't spend far more on a Pixel XL. That said, if the unlock had failed, I wouldn't have been as happy.

ssnova said:
Was also wondering, anyone else with a USS996 try tethering with At&t, does it work?
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Just tried blue tooth and wifi tethering on my LG-US996 on AT&T worked fine for me. Connected my ipad pro in both modes to it no problems.
---------- Post added at 03:25 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:16 PM ----------
As for your other questions. Just got mine today and have been messing with it so take what I say with a grain of salt cause I've only had one day to play with it. I moved from a ZTE Axon 7 which kept having poor connection issues for me.
No issues so far with boot looping on my LGV20 US996. The power/unlock/lock button being the finger print scanner threw me off of a bit as I kept searching for it but its actually kind of nice where it is. The second smaller screen is great (not sure why many reviews called it a gimmick, I really like being able to see the message of texts etc while reading on reddit or something). The charger that comes with it feels a bit slow but I also have a pixel charger that I use with my Switch which seems to work fine with the v20.
The unlocked version which i got off amazon (which reading the reviews seems to be a gamble which one you get) but the version I got is unbranded and had no carrier bloatware. It did come with a few such as Evernote, Facebook, Instagram, and a few other LG apps. No real complaints on bloat tbh, its not as clean as say stock android but its nowhere near as bad as a branded samsung (Though your mileage may vary if you end up with a carrier version of the phone O_O).
Haven't tried any rooting or installation of any custom ROMS I don't think I will this time around either as the phone seems to be fine with out it. I did however install Nova Launcher and downloaded the apk for Google Now integration so now the launcher feels almost like Google's but better.
Let me know if you have any other questions, I'm pretty happy with my purchase would likely make it again but again I've only had a day with it so far.

I just got mine as well on July 25th, Coming from the droid turbo the sound fried on that phone couldn't make calls or listen to music. As for this phone it runs great only issue I'm finding is being that it is unlocked and can use on any carrier I'm finding I can't update the phone says phone is not registered I wrote LG to find out why and I have not heard back yet,if I'm not mistaking there is a 7.1 now or maybe even higher, I don't know if I should root and take a chance on it, I'm starting to use android pay and I like it if I go for rooting I won't be able to use it but some say you can tweaking this and that so it will work. I don't know and as for Roms, I don't know what is here yet for the V20....

Same I haven't been able to receive an update either, will you please post back when you find out?
Also after a day of use the one thing I do suggest is the moment you get your phone turned on go and disable "Mobile Service Manager" if you got the US Cellular unlocked version this is the the app that carrier used to push bloatware, at least it doesn't come pre installed.

Hey thanks a lot for the feedback Srenyti! Did the tethering/hotspot work out of the box? Did you have to play with any APN settings or anything? How's it call quality on it?
Good to hear that it seems to be decent out of the box, I was getting tired of fooling around with android phones to get it to work "right". Only downside is getting security updates for the phone in the future....
Someone mentioned earlier about getting an older firmware, do they not all unlock if you wanted to go custom?
Srenyti said:
Just tried blue tooth and wifi tethering on my LG-US996 on AT&T worked fine for me. Connected my ipad pro in both modes to it no problems.
---------- Post added at 03:25 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:16 PM ----------
As for your other questions. Just got mine today and have been messing with it so take what I say with a grain of salt cause I've only had one day to play with it. I moved from a ZTE Axon 7 which kept having poor connection issues for me.
No issues so far with boot looping on my LGV20 US996. The power/unlock/lock button being the finger print scanner threw me off of a bit as I kept searching for it but its actually kind of nice where it is. The second smaller screen is great (not sure why many reviews called it a gimmick, I really like being able to see the message of texts etc while reading on reddit or something). The charger that comes with it feels a bit slow but I also have a pixel charger that I use with my Switch which seems to work fine with the v20.
The unlocked version which i got off amazon (which reading the reviews seems to be a gamble which one you get) but the version I got is unbranded and had no carrier bloatware. It did come with a few such as Evernote, Facebook, Instagram, and a few other LG apps. No real complaints on bloat tbh, its not as clean as say stock android but its nowhere near as bad as a branded samsung (Though your mileage may vary if you end up with a carrier version of the phone O_O).
Haven't tried any rooting or installation of any custom ROMS I don't think I will this time around either as the phone seems to be fine with out it. I did however install Nova Launcher and downloaded the apk for Google Now integration so now the launcher feels almost like Google's but better.
Let me know if you have any other questions, I'm pretty happy with my purchase would likely make it again but again I've only had a day with it so far.
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Tethering/hotspotting worked for me directly out of the box on AT&T also did not have to make any APN setting changes. I just put in the sim, turned it on and it found everything fine. I did double check and it found AT&Ts APN just fine. I have network mode set as global and tried to test out between global vs late/gsm directly but didn't really seem to make a difference.
Call qaulity seems pretty good to me, it's more crisp and clear than my axon 7 which is the only one I've used in recent memory.
As for finding old firmware I believe that would depend on the firmware package you find. If it's straight carrier OEM version it may not be unlocked (unsure about this as anytime I've ever bothered to get a custom rom it's never been carrier firmware). Custom ROMs are always unlocked in my experience.
Yeah security updates are def lacking. And bloatware is fine as long as you disable that app I mentioned before it gets a chance to do anything.
When setting up the phone yesterday it didn't feel as snappy as it does now, so expect some settling in time for the phone it seems.

I don't want to complicate things too much, but Woot has the Pixel 5" 128 on sale for $429:
https://sellout.woot.com/offers/goo...?ref=eml_w_nd_4_img&ref_=pe_3185080_248419990

Jawbox said:
I don't want to complicate things too much, but Woot has the Pixel 5" 128 on sale for $429:
https://sellout.woot.com/offers/goo...?ref=eml_w_nd_4_img&ref_=pe_3185080_248419990
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Verizon version, most likely locked bootloader .

I bought a vs995 coming from a moto x pure 2015. My moto had such diminished battery life I could not make it a full day without charging 3 times if I used the phone at all... It was good for maybe 2 long phone calls... I wanted a phone I could replace the battery on if I wanted atm I believe this is the newest one to still have the feature.

tstack77 said:
Verizon version, most likely locked bootloader .
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Yeah, I'd want to stay away from the Verizon version. I thought I'd take any unlocked Pixel XL, to one day load CopperheadOS on there, but turns out they only release roms for the older Nexus phones and you have to buy a Pixel XL directly from them (like $1100 or so), I'd still consider it, but all in all I'll probably pass on that phone(Pixel XL) for right now, kind of expensive for me now.