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So new phones have come out like the ZUK Z1 and OnePlus2 etc
The Zenfone2 competes quite well with these, especially on price - however is it still worth buying considering how small the battery is and the draining issues?
Otherwise the Zenfone2 actually has some advantages over the newer releases like having MicroSD and NFC and FM Radio and even has a 128Gb model!
I got the 128 gb edition and my love for it, only grows daily. Battery life is good and its not exactly that bad, at 3000 mAh. I can get a day out of it easily and even if i drop below that? The Asus are among the fastest charging phones around. and even 20 mins on a charger will give 7-8 hours.
1 Day battery life (- 70-80%) on heavy usage, 2 days on medium / light usage. Everything as expected and better than my Galaxy Note before.
I am very happy with it. Worth buying, more than other brands, if you get it outside Europe.
Personally if i have to buy a phobe again i wouldnt buy the zenfone 2 again i wpuld wait for the nexus 5x
I couldn't stand the stock ROM but now that I've flashed something else I'm happy with it. Asus did include some nice extras in the stock ROM but there was bloat installed and the software gave me issues. Now that I have something else flashed I'm quite happy with my phone. It would be nice to get a pure Android experience without ask the the flashing, but for the price the phone if still quite good.
I highly recommend you buying this Zenfone, in my case it was the only phone for a low budget (212€) that has 4G for Latin america (something that was very important for me), its performance really competes with Snapdragon's high end chips and besides the bloatware and the not-very-bad software, Asus provide frequent updates, and moreover, they release their source. Most phones of this price lack of this personalization at this budget. The battery life measurement is very subjective, but in my case I always reach the end of the day, with almost 5hr SOT. The Oneplus and ZUK they are still much expensive (I'm using Z008).
Enviado desde mi ASUS_Z008 mediante Tapatalk
Depends on what you want it for and how long you're going to keep it. Personally I should have waited and bought something different. One thing they do have going for this phone is tons of bands. I needed a dual sim that works in the US and Europe and they had the bands. I like having 64gb plus a card though I never use that much space anyhow. I don't care about NFC to use android pay because it takes less time to pull out my cc. Don't use the FM radio because I have my music plus amazon prime. So those things are immaterial for me when looking for a phone. I liked the Zuk however both of the phones listed above have very limited bands turned on. I usually keep my phones about 2-3 years before buying a new one, since the Zenfone used subpar and outdated hardware I'll be looking for a new one next year. Money not well spent this time around.
That is always a good question about phones... As far as the Zenfone 2, I have to say yes it is still a contender in its price range. $199 for the 2g/32g model is amazing. $299 for the 4g/63g model is also impressive but at the $300 price range Motorola starts to edge in. The biggest problem with the Asus, is the bloatware. I think a pure android version would be the cat's meow.
On a personal note, I always had issues with the Bluetooth working correctly. I just gave mine to my daughter (upgraded her S4). I bought a Moto X PURE and have not looked back but then again I have $450 in my new phone so when you look at it money wise the Asus wins hands down but for $150 more I got 4k screen a better camera and the bluetooth WORKS flawlessly. So based on my experience, I would save up and spend the extra $150 for that phone.
I'm happy with my purchase and I think it's a very very solid phone. Performance is absolutely top notch on stock or any custom rom. Battery is hit or miss, but generally good on stock. It feels pretty good in the hand, and the plastic on the back is surprisingly high quality. Screen is good, though obviously not the best. It's got good colors though, especially on CM or if you crank up the saturation a bit on stock. I'd buy the phone now if you're just looking for a relatively future-proof phone. It's got specs at a great price that'll get you through the next couple of years pretty easily and the fast charging on this thing is insanely fast.
That being said, personally, I'd like to switch to something with a fingerprint scanner. I really want a fingerprint scanner. If there's a ZF3, I'm hoping it has one.
what you pay what you get. i think it is a better phone than iphonelol
While I really do like the phone, and my complaint level is very small, if you're a true Android lover, your best bet is the new Nexus 5x or 6P. Latest and greatest OS, and functionality. Plus you know the update model as soon as Google releases it.
Asus....Has been a little cloudy about whether or not we'll see 5.1 or 6.0....Yes, the argument of 5.0 works fine, but why wouldn't you want the latest and greatest features / bugfixes if the hardware is more than capable of running them?
goolac said:
On a personal note, I always had issues with the Bluetooth working correctly. I just gave mine to my daughter (upgraded her S4). I bought a Moto X PURE and have not looked back but then again I have $450 in my new phone so when you look at it money wise the Asus wins hands down but for $150 more I got 4k screen a better camera and the bluetooth WORKS flawlessly. So based on my experience, I would save up and spend the extra $150 for that phone.
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Hi goolac, im planning about buying ZF2 in a near future. However, i use, most of the time, bluetooth features, since i have a bt headset that i use to listen to music and make calls. Your personal note worried me about having bad experience listening to music. Could you, please, tell me more about what kind of problem you usually had while using bluetooth?thx in advance
Enviado de meu XT1069 usando Tapatalk
Sottam said:
Hi goolac, im planning about buying ZF2 in a near future. However, i use, most of the time, bluetooth features, since i have a bt headset that i use to listen to music and make calls. Your personal note worried me about having bad experience listening to music. Could you, please, tell me more about what kind of problem you usually had while using bluetooth?thx in advance
Enviado de meu XT1069 usando Tapatalk
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Sure... I use BT in my car, work, home and recreational. My ZF2 (4/64 ze551) always took nearly a minute to connect to my bt headset/earpiece. My Stereo bt headset sounded ok but would stutter a lot based on movement. So far with my moto X pure, I have had no issues. I even factory reset the phone to make sure it was not just a glitch but the issues remained. 4 of the past 5 patches have has some form of tweak for bt.
I have a ZF2 (2GB model) and I pair my phone with my Pioneer car radio, BT headphones and a BT speaker without any issues. I think the poster above may have a lemon.
If it was a wide spread issue there would be tonnes of threads on here and Zentalk regarding BT problems.
In the $200 price range, the only thing that comes close is the 2GB Moto G 3rd gen, but I agree that Zenfone's weakness is the bloatware.
One can dream a clean stock Android M build, don't we?
i have no issues with Bluetooth. works just perfect with everything i tried. i bought my device from alibaba "ebest shop". i paid only 235$ for 64gb version and it is brand new... great phone so far..
goolac said:
Sure... I use BT in my car, work, home and recreational. My ZF2 (4/64 ze551) always took nearly a minute to connect to my bt headset/earpiece. My Stereo bt headset sounded ok but would stutter a lot based on movement. So far with my moto X pure, I have had no issues. I even factory reset the phone to make sure it was not just a glitch but the issues remained. 4 of the past 5 patches have has some form of tweak for bt.
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Thx for the explanation! Im moving from a moto G second gen because of it is too limited and since 5.0 update it become worse. If i play some music on spotify and open any app it starts to slutter or even worse kill the player process due to lack of RAM. My fear is having bad experiences with ZF2... only one more question, which model of Moto X do you have?
lowridin_guy said:
I have a ZF2 (2GB model) and I pair my phone with my Pioneer car radio, BT headphones and a BT speaker without any issues. I think the poster above may have a lemon.
If it was a wide spread issue there would be tonnes of threads on here and Zentalk regarding BT problems.
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I hope its true since in my country the only worthy buying these days is the ze2. And i dont want to be frustrated while using bluetooth feature.
About being a wide spread issue, i think differently. I had a LG L7 II. This device had a poor bt sink quality. It came configured from factory to set audio through bt quality to medium and nobody on xda had commented about that. That's why i came here before buying, in order to know the possible problems i may face when i buy ZE2.
i dont have battery issues. i suppose people with super heavy use would use up the battery in 10 hours or so. But for the average user, the battery will last 24 hours or more with no trouble. Charge it once a day and there is no issue at all. Plus the fast charger does the job in like 30 minutes. Such a non issue that all the $700 iphone dicks like to mention.
the zenfone 2 is fantastic. no doubt i would buy it again....as a matter of fact, i did for a xmas gift
So here is my dilemma, I have been able to root every devices I have hair I would not purchase the devices.
Now i have a HTC10, the audio through Bluetooth is not suffice without a mod, viper or otherwise.
So if i purchase a S8 through tmobile I need to figure root won't happen as a worse case scenario. Is the S8 audio good enough for a audio enthusiast to use the device and not have root.
By good enough i mean loud enough, decent bass, and at least avg clarity. Also money is tight enough that buying the international version isn't a possibility, also i need volte and wifi calling b/c of my location.
Appreciate feedback ASAP.
razrlover said:
So here is my dilemma, I have been able to root every devices I have hair I would not purchase the devices.
Now i have a HTC10, the audio through Bluetooth is not suffice without a mod, viper or otherwise.
So if i purchase a S8 through tmobile I need to figure root won't happen as a worse case scenario. Is the S8 audio good enough for a audio enthusiast to use the device and not have root.
By good enough i mean loud enough, decent bass, and at least avg clarity. Also money is tight enough that buying the international version isn't a possibility, also i need volte and wifi calling b/c of my location.
Appreciate feedback ASAP.
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I have used viper on all my phones over the last few years since my galaxy s4.
I have had my s8 for around a month now and don't feel the need for viper. I wouldn't say s8 audio is the best but it's pretty damn good. Also depends on the headphones you use but even with the AKG headphones that come with it it's still pretty decent. It has decent bass and clarity.
It's personal taste I guess :good: but I'm happy as it is
callumbr1 said:
I have used viper on all my phones over the last few years since my galaxy s4.
I have had my s8 for around a month now and don't feel the need for viper. I wouldn't say s8 audio is the best but it's pretty damn good. Also depends on the headphones you use but even with the AKG headphones that come with it it's still pretty decent. It has decent bass and clarity.
It's personal taste I guess :good: but I'm happy as it is
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Appreciate the feedback. This is definitely what i needed to hear.
Please anyone can comment still please do!!
I have a rooted S8. Without viper sound was good, but bass was too low for me (at least on stock AKG headphones). I prefer electronic music like deep house, edm, drum and bass etc so strong bass is a must for me.
With viper enabled the difference for me is huge, sound is much more alive and dynamic. But if you dont really need strong bass stock clarity is good enough I think, the most difference with viper for me is bass.
EDIT:
Just tried increasing Viper clarity and listen to some rock songs. Well the difference is big compared to stock. Previously Ive had viper clarity set almost to 0.
Exynos s8 here, audio through 3.5mm jack is good however through bluetooth its abit mute for my taste.
I would say bass is more pronounced than my s7, also the sound is much clearer.however my problem lies with not much high volume. The stock rom is really great when you disable stock samsung apps, that i dnt wana root to avoid the headaches that comes with that ( no recieving ota updates ).
Some ppl here are advising to disable sound alive app and replace with 3rd party ones and claims higher volume limits but again havent had the time to mess with that.
Verdict: exynos s8 sounds good on 3.5mm jack with good bass and just abt enough max volume. however on bluetooth they lack much volume IMO.
Appreciate all the feed back so far!!
You're going to miss viper, period. Get your Tmobile upgrade or whatever and sell it. Use that money to buy the international version.
Sent from my SM-G955F using Tapatalk
RuggedHunter said:
You're going to miss viper, period. Get your Tmobile upgrade or whatever and sell it. Use that money to buy the international version.
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Then lose advance calling volte or wifi calling? That's what kills that possiblity for me, i need US radio LTE bands i believe for volte.
Appreciate the feed back as well
I have been looking to buy a new mobile phone since my LG G3 bit the dust a few months ago. The one that piqued my interest is the Axon 7 due to the audio hardware (dual DAC and stereo front speakers) which is the one thing I use my mobile for above everything else. I have been looking at the LG G6 with its quad DAC also but the cost difference is hard to ignore especially if the Axon can give me what I am looking for.
I realise that ZTE have discontinued the manufacturing of the Axon 7 but they are still available from some vendors and rumours have arisen about its successor appearing soon. ZTE is allegedly also releasing Oreo to the 7 in April.
So due to an eventual show of the 8, do you think I would be better waiting through January for the Axon 8 or just pulling the trigger on an Axon 7 right now?
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What's your budget? If you're willing to go higher than $400, I'd say get one of the OnePlus phones. Released this year. They have an exceptional dev community (not that ours is bad but theirs is just incredible), and the phones are remarkably solid, especially given the price.
If you're on a budget, then yeah, get the Axon 7 or one of the older OP devices (OP3/3T). You wouldn't have the amazing audio you get with the Axon, but the phones are really, really good.
The Axon 7 is still getting dev support, which is great, but I don't think we'll get to see Android P on our device. Many devs are already losing interest and some people in the community are driving the ones that are left away.
Another option to consider is a used LG V20, which had amazing audio as well.
I am a poweruser so I tend to root my devices almost straightaway usually with magisk so I can use V4A.
I was tempted by the OnePlus 5T and it probably wouldn't be out of my budget, it looks like a really solid phone but with the reports of poor sound quality, lack of DAC and no SD card slot it just didn't fit the bill for me.
I did check out the LG v30 and the specs are an absolute beast on that but alas...so is the price being new on the market lol. The Samsung S8...ERM no...I vouched after they started the bit locking fiasco on the S4 I would never buy another Samsung.
The LG G6 is good for audio but even LG have started regionalizing features now.
These are partly the reason I decided mid to low tear was enough for me as they are easily obtainable from China sim free without ties to contracts and they have a habit of producing good value devices which compete with stupid money flagships.
I am trying to avoid going down the root of second hand devices as I am a big believer in you usually buy someone else's problems especially with manufacturer obsolescence being on the tongues of every techy these days. Its bad enough with the non replaceable batteries in devices!
Bang for buck the Axon 7 is still very desirable...its just the audio I can't ignore and for the price. Bit of a shame that the dev community is losing interest in the axon 7 though, seems a really solid device.
@Gases hope you don't think I am a whining my friend, just me obsessing about my next device lol
So do you think its worth waiting for the Axon 7's successor?
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My view from a value consious type is that the A7 is great hardware for the money and importantly, it still runs fast. Getting O may help keep a little development on it but stock is good anyway. I personally wouldn't buy an LG phone, too many successive devices with serious problems like bootloop which never seems to be fixed. LG don't want their phones to last long.
If you're not the sort of person who must have the latest, then for the price the Axon 7 is still a compelling buy.
If you only choose a phone from the list of Daydream certified devices you ensure a well rounded performance and decent sensors etc. It really comes down to how much you want to spend and nothing much can touch the A7 for value versus it's real world performance. Forget benchmarks and all that junk, it's all numbers and running an Axon keeps reliable performance unlike say, a Samsung which will get the stutters sooner or later. I'm keen to see the O update being closer to stock Android on my Axon, but even on B09N it is still smooth and responsive leaving no reason to even consider buying anything else.
All that being posted, I would like to see the next flagship Axon but like all brands, ZTE will try to grow their price tag as public perception improves. Just look at Huawei as an example. Got too expensive and now put themselves beyond my price level. Wouldn't consider Samsung, HTC and all the others keeping prices double what they should be.
beastobadness said:
I am a poweruser so I tend to root my devices almost straightaway usually with magisk so I can use V4A.
I was tempted by the OnePlus 5T and it probably wouldn't be out of my budget, it looks like a really solid phone but with the reports of poor sound quality, lack of DAC and no SD card slot it just didn't fit the bill for me.
I did check out the LG v30 and the specs are an absolute beast on that but alas...so is the price being new on the market lol. The Samsung S8...ERM no...I vouched after they started the bit locking fiasco on the S4 I would never buy another Samsung.
The LG G6 is good for audio but even LG have started regionalizing features now.
These are partly the reason I decided mid to low tear was enough for me as they are easily obtainable from China sim free without ties to contracts and they have a habit of producing good value devices which compete with stupid money flagships.
I am trying to avoid going down the root of second hand devices as I am a big believer in you usually buy someone else's problems especially with manufacturer obsolescence being on the tongues of every techy these days. Its bad enough with the non replaceable batteries in devices!
Bang for buck the Axon 7 is still very desirable...its just the audio I can't ignore and for the price. Bit of a shame that the dev community is losing interest in the axon 7 though, seems a really solid device.
@Gases hope you don't think I am a whining my friend, just me obsessing about my next device lol
So do you think its worth waiting for the Axon 7's successor?
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Click to collapse
When you say that you use your phone for music, what do you really mean? Hi-res, or just FLACs? With V4A or stock?
The AK4490EN is capable of like 768 kHz/32 bit, but ZTE limited to a hideous 96 kHz/16 bit...
Still it sounds much, MUCH better than a standard Snapdragon DAC. Even on custom ROMs. And even more so on custom ROMs with V4A, if you're using MP3s.
I think you have to completely avoid midrange devices. The best choice is to get a high-end CPU even if it's one generation old. The SD6xx series are a world apart in terms of performance.
Also, why do you say that the dev community is losing interest? We lost 1 or 2 devs this year. It was always rather weak, but we're a cozy community and seemingly managed to push enough to get ZTE to get a working Camera2 API and some other stuff (time will tell).
RobboW said:
My view from a value consious type is that the A7 is great hardware for the money and importantly, it still runs fast. Getting O may help keep a little development on it but stock is good anyway. I personally wouldn't buy an LG phone, too many successive devices with serious problems like bootloop which never seems to be fixed. LG don't want their phones to last long.
If you're not the sort of person who must have the latest, then for the price the Axon 7 is still a compelling buy.
If you only choose a phone from the list of Daydream certified devices you ensure a well rounded performance and decent sensors etc. It really comes down to how much you want to spend and nothing much can touch the A7 for value versus it's real world performance. Forget benchmarks and all that junk, it's all numbers and running an Axon keeps reliable performance unlike say, a Samsung which will get the stutters sooner or later. I'm keen to see the O update being closer to stock Android on my Axon, but even on B09N it is still smooth and responsive leaving no reason to even consider buying anything else.
All that being posted, I would like to see the next flagship Axon but like all brands, ZTE will try to grow their price tag as public perception improves. Just look at Huawei as an example. Got too expensive and now put themselves beyond my price level. Wouldn't consider Samsung, HTC and all the others keeping prices double what they should be.
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Click to collapse
Totally agree on the LG thing, the G3 was a solid item on the outside but its internals were a different story...like I said manufactured obsolescence! Baking the motherboard on mine was its final death cry lol
Choose an username... said:
When you say that you use your phone for music, what do you really mean? Hi-res, or just FLACs? With V4A or stock?
The AK4490EN is capable of like 768 kHz/32 bit, but ZTE limited to a hideous 96 kHz/16 bit...
Still it sounds much, MUCH better than a standard Snapdragon DAC. Even on custom ROMs. And even more so on custom ROMs with V4A, if you're using MP3s.
I think you have to completely avoid midrange devices. The best choice is to get a high-end CPU even if it's one generation old. The SD6xx series are a world apart in terms of performance.
Also, why do you say that the dev community is losing interest? We lost 1 or 2 devs this year. It was always rather weak, but we're a cozy community and seemingly managed to push enough to get ZTE to get a working Camera2 API and some other stuff (time will tell).
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Sorry I should have made myself clear when I said mid to low tear phone, I was talking about price not internal specs. Totally agree the SD 820/821 chips might not be the latest and greatest but they are far from obsolete and still perform great... would be nice to have say an 835 but I am not in it for the numbers anyway.
As for my audio format, its a bit of a mix...minimum 320 Kbps to lossless, it really depends on where I got the files from. The max impedance on my best cans are 40 ohms so no studio level stuff.
As for the dev community losing interest...no offence intended, was only expressing my feelings on what I was told by Gases. Cosy is a good thing, its a powerful tool, means there is a passion for the product and if ZTE are listening...even better.
BTW happy new year!
Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk
beastobadness said:
Totally agree on the LG thing, the G3 was a solid item on the outside but its internals were a different story...like I said manufactured obsolescence! Baking the motherboard on mine was its final death cry lol
Sorry I should have made myself clear when I said mid to low tear phone, I was talking about price not internal specs. Totally agree the SD 820/821 chips might not be the latest and greatest but they are far from obsolete and still perform great... would be nice to have say an 835 but I am not in it for the numbers anyway.
As for my audio format, its a bit of a mix...minimum 320 Kbps to lossless, it really depends on where I got the files from. The max impedance on my best cans are 40 ohms so no studio level stuff.
As for the dev community losing interest...no offence intended, was only expressing my feelings on what I was told by Gases. Cosy is a good thing, its a powerful tool, means there is a passion for the product and if ZTE are listening...even better.
BTW happy new year!
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You'll be OK with the Axon 7's DAC -its soundstage is clearly better and it has a lower noise level. The community is nowhere near dying out since most devs maintain only a few devices. And the SD820 still works good.
I don't believe the Axon 9 (I think they'll skip 8, like 2019) will be released before at least May or June. They said absolutely nothing aside from 'there will be a successor to the axon 7'.
Happy new year
I would say yes, I bought mine in Nov last year and it was delivered in Dec. I am loving it every minute with zero issues that I am unhappy with. I bought it to replace a buggy Zenfone 3 (midrange) and I am totally pleased with it.
Cost is a major factor as I had already spent a load of money on the ZF3; it cost the same as a current midrange device (Xiaomi A1) and yet performance is twice of current midrange devices (double benchmark and QHD screen). Yes, it is nearly a 2 years old flagship, but the question is do I need that much firepower from a current flagship? My answer is not really, yours maybe different.
I do not root my phones, had a really bad experience when I hard bricked a device due to faulty instructions and then I got laugh at by the "community". So I only update my devices officially.
I also do not update my devices to the "last" update as I had bad experiences where a device became crap with the final update (likely due to it not able to handle the load?). So I update them once out of the box, and that it. My Axon 7 was updated from B11 to B09 when I got it and it is likely to stay on B09 until the day it dies, unless the feedback on future updates are very positive here. Again, you may use yours differently.
If you disregard all the numbers and technicalities and just want a good sounding phone to play your MP3 library off, you can't go wrong with the Axon 7.
I mostly use bluetooth but do plug in still.
I did this afternoon in the car. Feeding music to the car hifi by wire sounds awesome, for sure it's better than bluetooth and louder too. I just use MP3 and can still clearly hear a difference.
You don't need to be swallowing up 50Mb a song with hi res FLAC files to justify owning the phone.
I've got my Axon7 last month to replace dying Meizu MX4Pro. Few thoughts on the buy.
A7 is fantastic mid-range phone, I've managed to get it quite cheap in almost new condition (~€230).
Performance wise it is brilliant, no hiccups or anything (bear in mind I was coming from Android 5.0 2014 phone )
Now, the sound. I have mixed feelings on this. I'll tell you why.
The speakers are great, but when I say sound quality I mean the headphone out. I didn't have much time to compare it to MX4Pro and my DAP (Cayin N3 - same DAC chip as A7) but I still feel that A7 is lacking a bit. Defo less power than my old phone (or the DAP), I need to crank up the volume to get the detail and dynamics level I want. I'll be trying it with my old C&C amp to see if it will improve.
Don't get me wrong, sound quality is very good, I think it is just the power. But again, my only reference is DAP which has lot more power and one of the most musical phones that was manufactured to date (MX4 Pro has ESS9018 DAC and OPA1612 as an amp).
To sum up - lovely phone with good sound, sound is definitely better than 99% phones out there. If you can get it cheap(-ish) and don't mind 2 year old hardware go for it.
Well it is done...Axon 7 EU version is on it's way! Oooo new shiny's lol and the wait begins
And I put a sneaky order in for the BOBOVR Z5 daydream headset just to test the water with VR and daydream.
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docentore said:
I've got my Axon7 last month to replace dying Meizu MX4Pro. Few thoughts on the buy.
A7 is fantastic mid-range phone, I've managed to get it quite cheap in almost new condition (~€230).
Performance wise it is brilliant, no hiccups or anything (bear in mind I was coming from Android 5.0 2014 phone )
Now, the sound. I have mixed feelings on this. I'll tell you why.
The speakers are great, but when I say sound quality I mean the headphone out. I didn't have much time to compare it to MX4Pro and my DAP (Cayin N3 - same DAC chip as A7) but I still feel that A7 is lacking a bit. Defo less power than my old phone (or the DAP), I need to crank up the volume to get the detail and dynamics level I want. I'll be trying it with my old C&C amp to see if it will improve.
Don't get me wrong, sound quality is very good, I think it is just the power. But again, my only reference is DAP which has lot more power and one of the most musical phones that was manufactured to date (MX4 Pro has ESS9018 DAC and OPA1612 as an amp).
To sum up - lovely phone with good sound, sound is definitely better than 99% phones out there. If you can get it cheap(-ish) and don't mind 2 year old hardware go for it.
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What version of the A7 did you get? Is it on Nougat OS? If it's A2017G on Marshmallow it should improve on stock Nougat.
beastobadness said:
Well it is done...Axon 7 EU version is on it's way! Oooo new shiny's lol and the wait begins
And I put a sneaky order in for the BOBOVR Z5 daydream headset just to test the water with VR and daydream.
Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk
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Got mine yesterday in the post from gearbest as a reluctant replacement for my Nexus 6 .
Reluctant, as I wanted to 'upgrade' so had to be amoled, stereo speakers, qhd etc to at least match the beast of a Nexus 6.
Just been using today and smaller screen size takes a bit of getting used to, but sound via speakers is on par with Nexus 6 I'd say not yet tried plug in headphones. Screen is much better and the build quality too.
Very pleased so far.
This weekend may see me attempt boot loader unlock, TWRP, Magisk and Lineage install; although I must say the ZTE implementation isn't half bad, and thats on Marshmellow.
May I ask where you found it for sale? Seems most places out of stock now, and felt quite lucky to snap one up.
8eaker said:
Got mine yesterday in the post from gearbest as a reluctant replacement for my Nexus 6 .
Reluctant, as I wanted to 'upgrade' so had to be amoled, stereo speakers, qhd etc to at least match the beast of a Nexus 6.
Just been using today and smaller screen size takes a bit of getting used to, but sound via speakers is on par with Nexus 6 I'd say not yet tried plug in headphones. Screen is much better and the build quality too.
Very pleased so far.
This weekend may see me attempt boot loader unlock, TWRP, Magisk and Lineage install; although I must say the ZTE implementation isn't half bad, and thats on Marshmellow.
May I ask where you found it for sale? Seems most places out of stock now, and felt quite lucky to snap one up.
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Fasttech had it listed...missed all the holiday discounts though and I think the fact that every other company have sold out has driven the price up on FT slightly but I am not really bothered...I am now hoping it slips past the folks at customs discreetly lol.
I need this to get here asap as my 5 yr old S4 is on its last legs...I think it must have caught something off my deceased LG G3 haha!
Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk
I've had mine 2 weeks, and absolutely love it. It replaced a Sony Xperia Z4 (with the 810 which allowed the phone to double as a hot plate, foot warmer or small space heater.) The sound is everything I expected from the Sony and never got. The screen is beautiful. Battery life is amazing. The Z4 had a max of 3 hours life, and this Axon 7 has seen me through 10 hour days listening to bluetooth most of the day, with 35% batttery left. I found mine on Amazon for $317, the box was scuffed up, but everything inside was pristine and untouched. I'm rooted with WRP, Substratum and Xposed. I have not felt the need to leave stock 7.1.1 as of yet.
Stock Nougat is quite good. I find that here a lot of people are way too trigger happy on the flash custom ROM scene. I only do it if the phone needs it. Custom ROMs usually have issues.
ZTE will release an official and reasonably light Oreo for it this year too.
I think after that, good custom ROMs will follow as they released O sources to a well known dev. I personally wouldn't be bothered with any current Nougat customs seeing as O is coming.
I will probably upgrade and run the axon 7 stock for a few months same as I did with my G3.
ZTE have certainly extended the axon 7's presence in the market though bringing Oreo to it, all the major brands would have EOL'ed support to a device by now especially with it starting on Marshmallow.
Has anyone had the need to swap the battery out yet?
I know there are a couple of good teardown vids on YT and it doesn't look too bad.
Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk
RobboW said:
What version of the A7 did you get? Is it on Nougat OS? If it's A2017G on Marshmallow it should improve on stock Nougat.
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Click to collapse
its A2017G on Nougat, it starts to grow on me. I've sold my DAP already because I like the sound so much.
RobboW said:
Stock Nougat is quite good. I find that here a lot of people are way too trigger happy on the flash custom ROM scene. I only do it if the phone needs it. Custom ROMs usually have issues.
ZTE will release an official and reasonably light Oreo for it this year too.
I think after that, good custom ROMs will follow as they released O sources to a well known dev. I personally wouldn't be bothered with any current Nougat customs seeing as O is coming.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
With my previous (pre MX4Pro) Android phones I was first to flash custom ROMs. But with A7 I'm happy so far with stock Nougat. Miss the root for few things, but I have too much stuff on the phone and too little time to bother with unlocking bootloader and rooting it as I understand I will loose all present data.
Now, when the Oreo comes, that might change
Hi, long time XDA user here. I'm currently using a OnePlus X. I was considering springing for the new OnePlus 6, but I really shouldn't spend that much money right now. I saw that the V20s (a phone I was interested in previously) are very affordable now and I imaging for 200 bucks I can push my upgrade down the road for a bit, maybe until the OP6+ comes out. I've had an LG phone before and liked it , but it's been quite a few years.(Windows Mobile fellas, not even Windows Phone)
1. Is the V20 still viable, does it run well with current apps and networks?
2. How is the ROM support doing nowadays, and is the rooting process in general still possible from the firmware that currently ships on the phone? (I'm not sure what LGs stance on bootloader locking is)
3. Do custom roms make use of the secondary screen at all?
4. What are the phone's weakest points or biggest annoyances today? As in, what hasn't really stood the test of time?
Thanks for any info you can provide me.
Kevin1a said:
Hi, long time XDA user here. I'm currently using a OnePlus X. I was considering springing for the new OnePlus 6, but I really shouldn't spend that much money right now. I saw that the V20s (a phone I was interested in previously) are very affordable now and I imaging for 200 bucks I can push my upgrade down the road for a bit, maybe until the OP6+ comes out. I've had an LG phone before and liked it , but it's been quite a few years.(Windows Mobile fellas, not even Windows Phone)
1. Is the V20 still viable, does it run well with current apps and networks?
2. How is the ROM support doing nowadays, and is the rooting process in general still possible from the firmware that currently ships on the phone? (I'm not sure what LGs stance on bootloader locking is)
3. Do custom roms make use of the secondary screen at all?
4. What are the phone's weakest points or biggest annoyances today? As in, what hasn't really stood the test of time?
Thanks for any info you can provide me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The v20 is basically end of life, bootloader unlocking and root, is dicey depending on the variant you buy, development slowed down to a trickle for some time, common issues include, poor cell reception, screen retention, bad mics, the v20 is still waiting for Oreo and the phone was released over two years ago and probably will never see another os upgrade after that. Currently second screen only works on stock based roms.
Sent from my LG-H910 using XDA Labs
cnjax said:
The v20 is basically end of life, bootloader unlocking and root, is dicey depending on the variant you buy, development slowed down to a trickle for some time, common issues include, poor cell reception, screen retention, bad mics, the v20 is still waiting for Oreo and the phone was released over two years ago and probably will never see another os upgrade after that. Currently second screen only works on stock based roms.
Sent from my LG-H910 using XDA Labs
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the info. This is exactly what I was looking for.
cnjax said:
The v20 is basically end of life, bootloader unlocking and root, is dicey depending on the variant you buy, development slowed down to a trickle for some time, common issues include, poor cell reception, screen retention, bad mics, the v20 is still waiting for Oreo and the phone was released over two years ago and probably will never see another os upgrade after that. Currently second screen only works on stock based roms.
Sent from my LG-H910 using XDA Labs
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wouldn't say that with the active development of Lineage OS and Any Kernel.
Sent from my LG-LS997 using Tapatalk
cnjax said:
The v20 is basically end of life, bootloader unlocking and root, is dicey depending on the variant you buy, development slowed down to a trickle for some time, common issues include, poor cell reception, screen retention, bad mics, the v20 is still waiting for Oreo and the phone was released over two years ago and probably will never see another os upgrade after that. Currently second screen only works on stock based roms.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This sums it up. Seems the v20 is dead. Maybe oreo will bring more development but I doubt it since a lot of people have moved on
WhiteWidows said:
I wouldn't say that with the active development of Lineage OS and Any Kernel.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh yeah lineage that half baked os that's unofficial and you lose main features of the phone and have to flash constant updates or use work arounds to have basic functionality, yeah that's development right there.
Sent from my LG-H910 using XDA Labs
LG V20 Still A good Phone
Well maybe you would like a different perspective. I fist laid eyes on the LG V20 in a Verizon store about a month ago but they would not sell it to me because it is not made anymore. So I just purchased an unlocked version from B&H in New York. My first attraction to this phone is the second screen which i think is extremely useful. Then i noticed that the LG V20 has a removable back panel so you can replace the battery. I have been looking for that ever since my NOTE 4 bricked two years ago. in the interim I had a Motorola Pure X which took a look for me to part with. SO that was all I needed to make the choice to buy it. now i do not have to carry a battery brick or make sure i am near a charger all day. i can carry a spare battery in my pocket. Next fringe benefit was finding out that this phone has 3 cameras, 1 front facing and 2 rear, one of them being a wide angle lens. But the love keeps getting better... add to that a removable SD card up to 256 GB or more when they come out with one, fingerprint censor, 64 GB phone and you have a pretty serious contender. I love this phone. I love it so much i but another one. Actually at the moment i have 3. Oh and yes, probably one of the only phones left that has both a 3.5 mm headphone jack and a type C charging port. The Audio and DAC units in this phone is better than most high end audio gear that you would find in a music studio, and i am a musician. I have heard of complaints about the camera quality, but to that i say if you want pictures with that kind of quality, go out and buy a Nikon! Also i have heard that manufactures are moving away form 3.5 mm jacks and removable batteries because they want to make the phones more water proof. Bull Hockey!! Are people so obsessed with phones that they cannot leave the thing alone for a 10 minute swim. The real reason is because the manufacturer doesn't want you keeping a phone more than 2 years so they make the batteries last only that long and if you cannot replace the battery, you need a new phone. (or you can go the route of trying to put a new battery in your phone and butcher it to death).
Long story to say do not count the LG V20 out yet. it is a superb phone, has many features that a lot of other phones just do not have. I am very pleased with both of mine and i love the second screen.
The only bad experience i have had is that in order to get Verizon's Visual Voice mail, i had to purchase a Verizon version, and the front camera crapped out after a week. It was supposed to be new, but the box looks like it has been ridden around the world, so i doubt it was new. SO i am sending that back but still have both of my unlocked US996's.
cnjax said:
The v20 is basically end of life, bootloader unlocking and root, is dicey depending on the variant you buy, development slowed down to a trickle for some time, common issues include, poor cell reception, screen retention, bad mics, the v20 is still waiting for Oreo and the phone was released over two years ago and probably will never see another os upgrade after that. Currently second screen only works on stock based roms.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Like, how is December 2016 is more that 2 years ago? Kid, are you sane? More so, Shap 820 even didn't existed more than 2 years ago, it is still actual chip not legacy like some 810, and 835 is pretty much == 820 rebranded and repainted
---------- Post added at 06:15 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:09 PM ----------
Kevin1a said:
1. Is the V20 still viable, does it run well with current apps and networks?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, because it's powered by SD820, not Snap 430 or 600 or something
Kevin1a said:
4. What are the phone's weakest points or biggest annoyances today? As in, what hasn't really stood the test of time?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The weakest point is battery somewhat degraded over time, I could have like 7hrs SOT on Wifi on the start but now after cold winters it shows its age and gives me around 4.5...5 SOT on same router. but battery is exchangeable easily and I hope to buy more fresh one
Some people claim they got screen retention, it's more visible the more southern country you live and more brighter you must set you screen to
I still am keeping it as a backup phone but I am using a different DD. I did take it on a trip though with the 10800 ma battery I have for it. I'm running a stock 918H and it still fairly fast. The SD card and headphone jack are nice too. Still a good buy at $150 or so
I love the second screen and the DAC but being forced to run the stock ROM is a PITA as it's very sluggish. I have a Mi A1 that runs circles around the V20 in terms of performance, which is sad. Meanwhile, if you try to solve the lag, running Lineage OS defeats the purpose and outweighs the benefits of the phone as you won't have the DAC, second screen nor full camera functionality.
Absolutely it is worth it. You can pick up a V30 with a slightly faster processor, and slightly better camera (and that is debatable) for $250. However, you will lose the replaceable battery, the second screen, the IR blaster.
The people that say they are having performance problems have hardware issues. Even stock non-rooted, runs plenty fast, but if you use Alpha ROM, and debloat all the carrier bullsh** then it runs like a beast.
-- Brian
runningnak3d said:
Absolutely it is worth it. You can pick up a V30 with a slightly faster processor, and slightly better camera (and that is debatable) for $250. However, you will lose the replaceable battery, the second screen, the IR blaster.
The people that say they are having performance problems have hardware issues. Even stock non-rooted, runs plenty fast, but if you use Alpha ROM, and debloat all the carrier bullsh** then it runs like a beast.
-- Brian
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't have hardware issues. The stock ROM (de-bloated or not) is well known to be sluggish. As I stated in my post, the phone is completely different if running Lineage at the cost of the unique functionality. Aside from many people complaining of the performance under stock as being sluggish, this guy describes it perfectly:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZl2GpxekrQ&t=3s
So I have a slow phone? Holy crap! I had no idea!
Stop spreading FUD, and learn how to do things like disable rctd, ccmd, logging, CPU throttling...
-- Brian
runningnak3d said:
Absolutely it is worth it. You can pick up a V30 with a slightly faster processor, and slightly better camera (and that is debatable) for $250. However, you will lose the replaceable battery, the second screen, the IR blaster.
The people that say they are having performance problems have hardware issues. Even stock non-rooted, runs plenty fast, but if you use Alpha ROM, and debloat all the carrier bullsh** then it runs like a beast.
-- Brian
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
runningnak3d said:
So I have a slow phone? Holy crap! I had no idea!
Stop spreading FUD, and learn how to do things like disable rctd, ccmd, logging, CPU throttling...
-- Brian
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your sarcasm isn't appreciated and I'm not spreading fud - this is fact. I've done lots of tweaking and no amount of it will fix what LG did to the stock ROM. You're acting as if I'm the only person who has pointed out the shortcomings of the V20. The fact is, it is a fantastic phone with bad execution of the OS by LG. To be clear, I still use mine but it will soon be retired to secondary usage as my Mi A1 is way better as a DD.
No, I am sure there are plenty of others out there complaining as well -- that also don't know the first thing about how to get the most out of their phone.
Is the V20 the end-all / be-all? Nope, but it is the last great flagship phone that was released. Everything since is just a waste of money.
-- Brian
We just bought our T-mobile V20's this year. Great phones for about $150 in excellent used (hard to tell they were used) condition. Great photos and DAC, among other things. We couldn't find anything comparable for that price, new or used.
Mine is still great. Stock, unrooted, H990DS with a zerolemon 10000mAh extended battery. The image retention doesn't bother me - it's not permanent. I use the widescreen camera a lot, and charge the device once every 3-4 days. The IR transmitter sees plenty of use too, as does the DAC and the dual SIM.
There's nothing else that fits my needs. Dreading when it dies.
I just got me V20 H918 in excellent condition with 3 batteries and 4 cases for $185 shipped. I've come from G4 which started to have GPS lock issues, sometimes. My LG G3 GPS is no longer working at all. lol. Not sure what's up with that. Was this fixed in v20 or is this just tear and wear on GPS chip or something?
My main attraction point is camera manual controls and i mean white balance K numbers and mic for loud concert recording as well as removable battery and i prefer bigger screens and 5.7 upgrade from 5.5 on G4 is welcomed too. Oh and DAC was other feature that attracted me as well. What's weird that G4 concert recording was terrible but G3 was fantastic. Never distorted. Hoping V20 has great mic like G3 did. Let me know your thoughts.
I will NOT buy a phone if it doesn't have removable battery as i refuse to spend $800 on phone every few years and be forced by manufacturers due to profit.
Don't know any other manufacturer that lets you do white balance in K values. I wish aperture would be f=1.6 or f1.5 but had no complains with 1.8 on G4. Kinda sucks wide angle is f2.4, as it should be 1.8 or lower. It seems ppl use that camera more often. I guess night shots in standard angle is to use.
Thought about pixel but don't have manual control like LG does. If you guys have any suggestions on used phone <$250 that blows V20 out of water please let me know. I use to be Samsung Galaxy lover but since LG introduced manual controls i switched. There was pro photographer article on G4 camera so ppl that think iphone or samsung has better camera u should read that article. But let me know if there is something better.
P.S
In process of rooting it as i need it for kernel auditor for screen colors profiles (Vomer DeepRich) and kernel i/o scheduler control and kin screen and lux too, among few more other apps. Came with 10u so downgraded to 10p, bootloader unlocked already. Next will be laf exploid root method.
I just reflashed the excellent Alpha ROM on my V20 and managed to rid myself of a significant portion of the sluggishness I mentioned by getting rid of Magisk. I'm not sure what was going on but Magisk was definitely slowing everything down on my V20. Recommend if you buy this phone to stay away from Magisk or at least keep this is mind if you intend to root.
im on Mi A1 right now and im planning also to switch to V20.
Looking at purchasing a V20 and just wanted people's opinions on the phone (those who already own it and are using it). I can get a new one for $230 from a legit seller on eBay so I'm seriously considering it. Right now I have an iPhone 8+ with AT&T but I'm missing my Android and it would be nice to have a user replaceable battery and not be stuck with a phone whose battery dies after 2 years or so.
I'm also wondering which model to buy? The new one on eBay is a H190, but I've read in places that the US996 is also a good model. I might actually consider rooting this phone so which model would be easiest to root?
Thanks.
dougdraws said:
Looking at purchasing a V20 and just wanted people's opinions on the phone (those who already own it and are using it). I can get a new one for $230 from a legit seller on eBay so I'm seriously considering it. Right now I have an iPhone 8+ with AT&T but I'm missing my Android and it would be nice to have a user replaceable battery and not be stuck with a phone whose battery dies after 2 years or so.
I'm also wondering which model to buy? The new one on eBay is a H190, but I've read in places that the US996 is also a good model. I might actually consider rooting this phone so which model would be easiest to root?
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Honestly, I would never suggest someone to buy the LG V20. And since you're currently an iOS user owning an 8+ this would reinforce me to not suggest the phone even more. I own a V20 (H990DS AME) & I'm using it to write this. It's been with me for almost 2 years & boy it throttles A LOT. I'm still on Android nougat waiting for the Oreo update. Other V20 models have gotten the Oreo update (Verizon, AT&T, All international H990DS except AME I think etc.). So to summarize things up, I do not recommend this phone as it will be a pain most of the time i.e. cons >>>>>>>>>>> pros. Screen burn ins, too much lags, bad battery life, slow performance, extremely slow software support, laggy camera, outdated design (at least that's what I think now), and the useless second screen that LG THINKS they implemented the software correctly for it (Oreo doesn't change the way it works, meaning it's still the same) >>>>>>>>>>>> Hi-Fi Quad DAC (The only good thing I can think of in the V20).
PS: NO root for Android Oreo on the V20 since it just came out 1 year late woohoo! So you'll have to wait until a root comes out.
dougdraws said:
Looking at purchasing a V20 and just wanted people's opinions on the phone (those who already own it and are using it). I can get a new one for $230 from a legit seller on eBay so I'm seriously considering it. Right now I have an iPhone 8+ with AT&T but I'm missing my Android and it would be nice to have a user replaceable battery and not be stuck with a phone whose battery dies after 2 years or so.
I'm also wondering which model to buy? The new one on eBay is a H190, but I've read in places that the US996 is also a good model. I might actually consider rooting this phone so which model would be easiest to root?
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here's the deal. If you plan on rooting your phone...get it. Custom ROMs really make this phone shine. Us996 is unlockable and rootable. The H910 is rootable up to a certain point, double check on that as it's not my model. If you're going to keep the phone stock..it's OK. You're going to get some lag over time. I'm on an LS997, rooted it was great (broke that one), and now I'm on stock ? Oreo. It's good for a daily driver for the most part. Love that I can pop and swap batteries as well as sd cards -- quad DAC and ir blaster are also a big plus. Long story short, it's ok stock but you will deal with screen burn (pretty much fixed if rooted) and lag. I know iOS is pretty solid and is fluid, but the things I CANT do with that phone drive me absolutely nuts. That's why I always go back to Android. If you root your phones definitely get it. Can't beat the features for that price brand new. You can pick them up even cheaper used. The guy above me obviously didn't root his phone and I'm sure he'd be singing a different tune about the phone if he did. I say get it, especially if you're gonna root it. If not it's a decent option for the price.
Foreigner1 said:
Honestly, I would never suggest someone to buy the LG V20. And since you're currently an iOS user owning an 8+ this would reinforce me to not suggest the phone even more. I own a V20 (H990DS AME) & I'm using it to write this. It's been with me for almost 2 years & boy it throttles A LOT. I'm still on Android nougat waiting for the Oreo update. Other V20 models have gotten the Oreo update (Verizon, AT&T, All international H990DS except AME I think etc.). So to summarize things up, I do not recommend this phone as it will be a pain most of the time i.e. cons >>>>>>>>>>> pros. Screen burn ins, too much lags, bad battery life, slow performance, extremely slow software support, laggy camera, outdated design (at least that's what I think now), and the useless second screen that LG THINKS they implemented the software correctly for it (Oreo doesn't change the way it works, meaning it's still the same) >>>>>>>>>>>> Hi-Fi Quad DAC (The only good thing I can think of in the V20).
PS: NO root for Android Oreo on the V20 since it just came out 1 year late woohoo! So you'll have to wait until a root comes out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree with this. Wouldn't recommend it either. You'd be better off with another device.
Foreigner1 said:
Honestly, I would never suggest someone to buy the LG V20. And since you're currently an iOS user owning an 8+ this would reinforce me to not suggest the phone even more. I own a V20 (H990DS AME) & I'm using it to write this. It's been with me for almost 2 years & boy it throttles A LOT. I'm still on Android nougat waiting for the Oreo update. Other V20 models have gotten the Oreo update (Verizon, AT&T, All international H990DS except AME I think etc.). So to summarize things up, I do not recommend this phone as it will be a pain most of the time i.e. cons >>>>>>>>>>> pros. Screen burn ins, too much lags, bad battery life, slow performance, extremely slow software support, laggy camera, outdated design (at least that's what I think now), and the useless second screen that LG THINKS they implemented the software correctly for it (Oreo doesn't change the way it works, meaning it's still the same) >>>>>>>>>>>> Hi-Fi Quad DAC (The only good thing I can think of in the V20).
PS: NO root for Android Oreo on the V20 since it just came out 1 year late woohoo! So you'll have to wait until a root comes out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you even considered a custom ROM? All of your gripes are pretty much eliminated by using one..
---------- Post added at 12:54 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:52 PM ----------
aakashverma0007 said:
I agree with this. Wouldn't recommend it either. You'd be better off with another device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're on stock?
zeusofyork said:
Have you even considered a custom ROM? All of your gripes are pretty much eliminated by using one..
---------- Post added at 12:54 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:52 PM ----------
You're on stock?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No. I've tried custom roms. Things are a lot better with them.
zeusofyork said:
Have you even considered a custom ROM? All of your gripes are pretty much eliminated by using one..
---------- Post added at 12:54 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:52 PM ----------
You're on stock?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No actually I haven't tried custom ROMs, and I don't know much about them. However, recently I did start looking into them, but as I can see that installing custom ROMs will remove some functionality in the V20. Things like the second screen &/or the fingerprint scanner (Also what about the Hi-Fi Quad DAC? Will it still work?).
What custom ROM would you suggest as the best one for the V20 (H990DS)?
Thanks for the replies everyone. So if I wanted to go back to Android can you recommend a good phone? I hate the new curved screens on everything and it seems all the phones are starting to look alike. I should have stuck with my Note 5, but oh well live and learn, lol. I was only considering the V20 because of the replaceable battery, SD card and of course Android.
Just out of curiosity, what's your opinion on the V30?
Foreigner1 said:
No actually I haven't tried custom ROMs, and I don't know much about them. However, recently I did start looking into them, but as I can see that installing custom ROMs will remove some functionality in the V20. Things like the second screen &/or the fingerprint scanner (Also what about the Hi-Fi Quad DAC? Will it still work?).
What custom ROM would you suggest as the best one for the V20 (H990DS)?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Those only apply if your using an lineage/resurrection/aikp ROM and from the last I read lineage has second screen support ...ish. I think there's a way to get quad DAC working in lineage too. You'll have to read it though. I can't root my phone because of ARB but before I broke my last v20 I loved running custom ROMs . If you use a stock rooted ROM you can debloat and tweak the system for performance. Again on custom stock based ROMs all features still work. Go through the ROM recovery thread and look to see what works best for you.
---------- Post added at 03:48 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:47 PM ----------
dougdraws said:
Thanks for the replies everyone. So if I wanted to go back to Android can you recommend a good phone? I hate the new curved screens on everything and it seems all the phones are starting to look alike. I should have stuck with my Note 5, but oh well live and learn, lol. I was only considering the V20 because of the replaceable battery, SD card and of course Android.
Just out of curiosity, what's your opinion on the V30?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No second screen no removable battery...meh I'll stick with my v20. Like I said if you root it and put a custom ROM on it's in my opinion a far better phone than those available. The newer ones may have water resistance fingerprint scanner in screen etc...but those arent what made me choose a phone. The v20 has everyhing i wanted. As the v30 I hear it's a decent phone.
zeusofyork said:
No second screen no removable battery...meh I'll stick with my v20. Like I said if you root it and put a custom ROM on it's in my opinion a far better phone than those available. The newer ones may have water resistance fingerprint scanner in screen etc...but those arent what made me choose a phone. The v20 has everyhing i wanted. As the v30 I hear it's a decent phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How difficult is it to root the V20? I'm a complete n00b when it comes to rooting and from little I have read on it, it seems quite daunting.
dougdraws said:
How difficult is it to root the V20? I'm a complete n00b when it comes to rooting and from little I have read on it, it seems quite daunting.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's not incredibly difficult. There's literally a thread with step by step instructions. It was harder than rooting my note 5 and note 4, but impossibly so.
zeusofyork said:
It's not incredibly difficult. There's literally a thread with step by step instructions. It was harder than rooting my note 5 and note 4, but impossibly so.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Would you have a link to that thread?
dougdraws said:
Would you have a link to that thread?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can't search cause I'm on mobile but if you go to the news and development threat you can search the dirty santa rooting g method or laf method depending in the variant.
The v20 is a very nice phone. In fact I bought another one. It has a SD slot, 64gb onboerd, IR blaster and removable battery. It's worth it just for those features. Mine does not throttle. Neither one does. I just wish people would not buy phones that take away features, it just encourages the phone makers to keep taking them away. As a result, next time I buy a phone, I'll be forced to but an inferior product to my v20's [emoji852]️
Sent from my [device_name] using XDA-Developers Legacy app
The V20 is a fine device, yes even today so the naysayers and ne'er-do-wells in this thread automagically telling anyone to avoid it - considering everything it offers that can't really be found on most if any of the flagships available today - is a bit ludicrous. It gets the job done just fine, Oreo is now available for it (save for the US996 but that could become available any day now whenever LG gets around to it), and of the variants out there I would say - if you're in the US - the best variant to get is the T-Mobile H918 model which allows for easy bootloader unlocking, Oreo is now out (and we just got our first security patch for that a few days ago), it has some custom ROMs available that get good reviews (but you will lose some functionality, the second screen support is barely there but it does exist to various degrees, both Nougat and Oreo), and of course all the other good things about the phone are great.
The Snapdragon 820 even in spite of being a lowly quad core SoC is still damned powerful and fast. The 4GB RAM is more than enough today, there are a multitude of tweaks and custom kernels to improve things, TWRP is actively developed for the V20, and the device just works. Yes it has some screen retention issues at times, on some people's devices it's more noticeable, on others - like on mine - it's just not something to focus on nearly as much as some people do. The 820 does hardware accelerated h.265 8 and 10 bit decoding too so that's a plus if you're a media hound like a lot of people too.
$230 for a used V20 is kinda steep - I paid $110 for my H918 from an eBay seller and it was shipped to my door for that much, no issues so far aside from the rear camera having some focus issues but I resolved that by buying a new camera module and I'm good to go so I've put $138 into my V20 and it works damned near flawlessly at this point.
H918
- Easily unlocked bootloader
- Installing TWRP is fairly idiot proof as well
- Rooting is possible but a bit more complex in methodology, it's actually easier to just flash a pre-rooted stock ROM and probably faster too
- Stock rooted Oreo 20g and you can roll back to Nougat with no issues (at least up to the present time, nobody knows if T-Mobile might alter the ARB variable at a later time)
- Latest Vulkan GPU drivers (I don't really need them since I don't play games or do much that ever even kicks the GPU into action but I figured it can't hurt to install 'em)
- High Impedance mode for the DAC is enabled permanently because I changed a variable in build.prop so it was always on regardless of the headset/IEMs I use
- I use UAPP (USB Audio Player PRO) to always use the ESS DAC (and not the Snapdragon DAC as part of the SoC) for all audio playback of local files and streaming audio from Shoutcast-capable streams
- IR blaster is something I use quite a bit - my Wife is deaf and sometimes we'll go to places that have TVs like a doctor's office lobby or something similar and they rarely enable the closed captioning or subtitles on their TVs so, I do it myself so my Wife can keep up with what's going on even in spite of their inconsiderate attention to details
- Modified thermal config file to ensure I get minimal lag and throttling - using the CPU Throttling Test app I get no less than 83% throttling (not much at all really) after 15 minutes of testing, with the stock thermal conf it'll throttle down as low as 45% depending on temps
- mk2000 kernel which improves performance and battery life (modified stock kernel)
It just works for me, but as I said, you can find a great V20 for a lot less than $230, absolutely. Hell, Woot.com was selling refurbs a few weeks ago for $140 iirc, a lot of people pounced on those when it happened according to what I had read about the deal.
It's a fantastic piece of hardware, but not it's not perfect, nothing ever is. For the price, and for what it offers, it's still pretty damned hard to beat even today.
dougdraws said:
Thanks for the replies everyone. So if I wanted to go back to Android can you recommend a good phone? I hate the new curved screens on everything and it seems all the phones are starting to look alike. I should have stuck with my Note 5, but oh well live and learn, lol. I was only considering the V20 because of the replaceable battery, SD card and of course Android.
Just out of curiosity, what's your opinion on the V30?
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Just out of curiosity, what's your opinion on the V30?[/QUOTE]
I actually have a v30 plus at home and it's amazing. Display is gorgeous and an AMOLED panel. Battery life is good. Camera's great. Has HiFi DAC. Doesn't have screen retention issues.
The reason I'm not recommending v20 is because it's a 2016 flagship that doesn't really perform like a flagship on stock rom in terms of performance. It probably won't be getting Pie update.
For 230 dollars, if you don't mind rooting, it's a good device.
What's the cost at which you're getting V30?
Though it doesn't support removable battery.
dougdraws said:
How difficult is it to root the V20? I'm a complete n00b when it comes to rooting and from little I have read on it, it seems quite daunting.
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Rooting on the H918 (T-Mobile) version isn't that hard. You use a FWUL (Linux) and run 3 commands. Really easy and safe. The other models can vary but if you know how to use cmd even a little bit, it shouldn't be that hard. If you need help just ask on here.
Foreigner1 said:
I own a V20 (H990DS AME) & I'm using it to write this. I'm still on Android nougat waiting for the Oreo update. Other V20 models have gotten the Oreo update (Verizon, AT&T, All international H990DS except AME I think etc.). Screen burn ins, too much lags, bad battery life, slow performance, extremely slow software support, laggy camera, and the useless second screen that LG THINKS they implemented the software correctly for it (Oreo doesn't change the way it works, meaning it's still the same). Hi-Fi Quad DAC (The only good thing I can think of in the V20).
PS: NO root for Android Oreo on the V20 since it just came out 1 year late woohoo! So you'll have to wait until a root comes out.
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FYI: https://forum.xda-developers.com/v20/development/rom-h990ds-oreo-flashable-t3853735
There's flashable Oreo stock and custom rooted ROMs available for almost every variant.
Also, all of those problems are eliminated by a custom ROM and Kernel. It's a process, yes, but the phone essentially becomes something else entirely.
Also also, we've got second-screen support on ResurrectionRemix (this is most up to date) and LineageOS, both with the stock ROM kernel or a custom one (I maintain the second-screen Gamma kernel).
The DAC/Camera/etc. all work as they do on stock.
got it for 2000 hkd. still using wetarom....is fast as hell and the battery last forever... the only down side is it requires some tweaking and tuning..
masondoctorjt said:
The v20 is a very nice phone. In fact I bought another one. It has a SD slot, 64gb onboerd, IR blaster and removable battery. It's worth it just for those features.
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Bottom line
I just wish people would not buy phones that take away features, it just encourages the phone makers to keep taking them away. As a result, next time I buy a phone, I'll be forced to but an inferior product to my v20's [emoji852]️
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Amen
What's happened is at some point the customer stopped mattering any more only the company stock holder. All these companies copy things that make Apple suck they never try to emulate what makes Apple great.
dougdraws said:
Looking at purchasing a V20 and just wanted people's opinions on the phone (those who already own it and are using it).
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I'm on stock since i didn't want to bother with rooting. The phone does what i want. I don't have screen retention since i have brightness down. I suspect its caused by high brightness all the time. Some people can't see the screen unless its 70% bright. Mine is usually in the 20s or 30s unless its outdoors
I got it because of the camera i had on the G4. Liked the interface. The wide angle is useful. Starting to be copied by Samsung & Huawei
I don't use headphones but I hear its got a good DAC. Reason i don't have headphones is because increasingly where would i plug them into in the future
Still on N, and everything works fine. I avg 4-5h SOT on wifi and a spare will double that in a snap. No high end phone can match that and likely never will. Mid rangers with 600 series CPUS & thick batteries might.
I find the second screen useful. Only way to quick launch the camera while listening to something
I'm not too bothered with speed. Computers spend most of their lives waiting for people to tell them what to do. This phone runs cool maybe its because it throttles past a certain temperature. That's good as i live in the tropics and it can get warm here.
I'm actually nervous about Oreo that it might break something so i'm not in the slightest bit bothered about not having it yet.