So I need a new phone, my current Nexus 6P is basically dead because of the battery issue. I don’t have the money to spend on a high end device like the Galaxy S8 not even a One+ device.
I want it to have USB C, good camera and a good battery. Specwise a Snapdragon 630 will do fine, 3GB of RAM is a must but more is always welcomed, as well as, 32GB is a must of storage. OS Updates is a huge deal to me. And if ROM support is good I will consider myself well-served.
Changing the battery on my N6P is not a choice because most replacement batteries don’t have temperature sensor, neither work well enough to justify the hassle of repairing the phone.
$350 is the maximum I plan to spend. I’ve been considering swappa but I’m not convinced by the fact that they are used.
Any suggestions?
LG V20. 270 bucks, 4K dual camera, great battery. I love mine and lineage is getting installed tonight.
How long have you had it?
I’ve heard of people’s LG phones having terrible battery overall. Granted, it was somebody’s V30, but it should be an improvement, right?
Don’t bother with the V30. I don’t like it, at least. The V20 gives you a small utility screen at the top and the battery, for me at least, isn’t that bad. ATM I’m at 43% and I got up at 7 this morning and have been listening to music most of the day. I also leave the built in DAC on all the time. Its up to you, but to me this is probs the most premium phone that I have ever had. You can turn stuff off obviously to save battery, and the back comes off and its easy to replace the battery. Huge selling point to me as a hacker.
Owned the V20 for a year now. Battery life can be inconsistent at times but generally pretty good if you keep it free of trouble apps. There are also options for extended battery packs since it is removable… if you’re into that.
Stuck on android 7.0 with no sign of updates coming. Could be end of life. This could be a deal breaker for you. I also don’t think there is currently a root method for the U.S. versions.
On stock rom that is the case, but you supposedly can install lineage on V20 with this guide here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1NOjELyq__UStiZAWbTJMENUsoqtvGHIFyRQqZuooFLI/edit
It has nothing to do with the hardware, LG devs are just uber lazy.
I was interested in your comment about lineage. I’ve been using rooted devices since the HTC Evo days. I was disappointed that I could not root the V20 and have been checking XDA forums ever since I bought it for a root method. Haven’t had any luck. I’d be interested to hear if you have any luck @FaunCB.
(Don’t mean to hijack the thread…)
PM me for further discussion.
yeah hi-five! We’re in the same club!
Gonna tell you in advance for the camera, personal experience, it’s gonna be really difficult to have a phone that would be able to at least go toe-to-toe with the Nexus 6p, unless you go in the high end.
You could always go used, but there is always the risk link to it. If you don’t mind a downgrade in the camera, then you can always look for the Xiaomi Mi A1, or the HTC U11 Life (try to get the Android One edition), so you don’t have to leave the comfortable vanilla android nest.
Unfortunately for me, only Google’s phone can cut it for me, so don’t know what to do because damn the Pixel 2 is expensive.
I was thinking on getting the HTC U11 Life with Android One or the Sense version but what holds me back is the small battery and the plastic/semi-gloss shell, other than that is seems like a $350 pixel. My other option is the Moto X4 which is down to $340 on Newegg.
Yeah… I wish google came back to the old Nexus 5 days. Those were the good days…
The thing is that update are a must with my devices, and the V20 will only see 7.1 at much, I know it can be rooted and ROM’d, but, the hassle to do it in such a device, specifically when it come unlocked form AT&T, is just not worth it to me. But that price is very compelling.
If Google could make a refresh of the Nexus 5 with an AMOLED screen, pixel camera and 128 GB that would be magical. 
I quit my Nexus 5 because I wanted better photo quality and 32 GB was becoming too small for me.
Look also for the Xiaomi one, it’s an Android One phone also, it’s aluminium, and got a bigger battery (400 mAh more).
Yeah! I would buy it right away!
I don’t really know what Android 8 even offers TBH. I just want my cameras to all work and to be able to use them in combo with firefox youtube VLC and an ssh terminal.
How has the V20 been treating you? I’m really interested because of the price.
Aside from some X crashes in the last few days, I like it a lot. I take regular pictures and video with it, the battery lasts for my amount of use every day (2-3 5-20 minute calls, lots of texting, telegram, an IRC client, some camera use, twitter, firefox, VLC / spotify) starting from 7 or 8 AM and ending in average use at 7 to 9 at night. A heavy day involves a half hour of video, lots of youtube, lots of downloading and uploading, so instead of my 12-16 hour battery average it goes down to about 8.
Screen brightness is good, though I have a habit of turning the screen all the way down on almost every device that has a battery in it. I leave the quad channel DAC on all the time in the phone and I’m constantly using it for music or podcasts, almost any time I’m not at my desk actually. I don’t need to use the DAC, I don’t have those sorts of headphones, but it forces a set of headphones that are bass heavy like my Sony MDR-XB950B1’s to have a flat sound, which I prefer (more similar to my previous Sony MDR-V22J’s). Turning the dac off gets me above 16 hours of average battery life and the phone comes with a quick charger so a half hour on that and I have 20% back if I’m going somewhere or something like that. Actually probably closer to like 45% gained back.
Its USB C so if you have that, great. Cable is good quality too, unlike past cables I’ve had [EH HHEM IPHONE]. Cases are pretty easy to find. I have some 10 dollar thing that has done the job just fine. Give some grip, space for the screen if I drop, all that jazz.
CPU / GPU performance is pretty good. Games run OK, though I normally play emulated games. The PSP release of the initial D arcade game runs at a full 60 with correct sound, and loading times in retro arch seem to be rather quick on the built in memory. If I had a big SD card in it I’d go crazy with more roms and stuff but I’m waiting for a nice sale to do that. I also do SNES games and they run great too. No emulation issues thus far.
Other than that you’ll get annoyed by the built in antivirus called lookout. IDK how to use it but its about as annoying as desktop software is. Also theres a custom settings menu put in by LG and if you’re in the android menu and hit the back button in that menu, not the bottom bar, it puts you in the LG settings, but if you hit the soft key back button it puts you in the normal settings… After 5 minutes of fiddling with it you’ll figure it out.
Those are quick thoughts, and I really have to stress I have not had battery issues like at all. If you want I can write a full review and have it up in the next few days and let you know about it.
I think the Moto X4 is your best option,
satisfactory overall specification, good camera, decent battery and iirc its an andoid one phone with project fi support too.
I’ve used Moto phones before
( Moto E and Moto G5S+) and they age well.
I have actually seen things that show the v30’s battery lasting longer than Samsung’s offerings and the like.
If budget really is of concern and you want to get the best bang for your buck the best way would be to get your new phone directly from China.
Something like the DOOGEE MIX might be the type of thing you might find good.
The MIX 2 will be out soon, but it’s a little more expensive.
Anyhow you can find a cool phone on banggood.com
This just landed in my inbox as a email offer.
email offer $199.99