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Been going through a lot of smartphones in the past few weeks doing the old "craigslist shuffle" - buy one, toy around with it, realize it's not quite everything I want, list it, sell it, take the proceeds and buy another, repeat ad nauseum and now I'm at it again. Here's my situation:
I currently have a Galaxy Note (I717 AT&T model), unlocked, in use with T-Mobile on that oh-so-awesome $30/month plan, and while I like this phone quite a bit, I have an opportunity to trade it (and all the accessories I have for it: 2 batteries, 2 cases, original box/cable/charger/manuals/etc) for an LG Optimus G + cable/charger + case.
Now, I need to point out that a) I'm well versed in ROMs and flashing having been doing so for nearly a decade now, and b) I made the offer to trade (straight up mine w/accessories for the LGOG as noted) with the intent - mind you, the intent of possibly putting that LGOG -> Nexus 4 hack to work, but I just spent the better part of 2 hours reading that Nexus 4 conversion thread and was saddened to see that even in spite of the hack working if it's done right, there are aspects to doing it that I'm not willing to tend with at this point: no microSD card usefulness, the 8GB storage limitation is not good (I don't keep stuff "in the cloud" unless I have no other alternatives), NFC is still useless with the conversion (and I do tend to use Google Wallet actually, and other reasons I find NFC useful), and potentially other things that, again, I need to have working.
So, considering the LGOG is a quad "beast," even at about 1 year old the fact that it's more powerful overall than the Galaxy Note I have makes it a potential device even in spite of not being able to do that Nexus 4 conversion I was interested in. And yes, I know I could probably find someone willing to dump their Nexus 4 for this Galaxy Note pretty fast but, the actual Nexus 4 has more limitations natively than the LGOG does, pretty obviously.
I suppose what I'm asking at this moment is if anyone else in this situation would consider the LGOG for the Galaxy Note a good trade. I use T-Mobile as noted so, I'll have to carrier unlock the LGOG if I do this, not really a big issue since I can buy an unlock code - I will attempt to get one from AT&T first (have a few friends that are AT&T customers and they can give it a shot for me) so using it with T-Mobile is a no brainer.
I know the bootloader is unlockable, that's a big plus of course, and yes there are custom ROMs applenty nowadays - I tend to prefer pure stock as much as possible with as little bloatware as can be stripped or gutted out. And of course with it being a newer device than the Galaxy Note it's considerably better in terms of battery life as well which is a big thing for me especially since the LGOG has a non-removable battery (it can be removed but it's not like the Galaxy Note of course, and I would be looking at getting a brand new battery for it since it's been in use most of this year according to the current owner).
I don't use the stylus aka S-Pen on the Galaxy Note that much; I do like that it's there as an option but the only time I take it out is usually just to show someone that it's got one and can be used for a variety of purposes.
Seems like the LGOG is better than a Nexus 4 in most respects; it's what the Nexus 4 should have been all along is what I see mentioned quite often, and aside from being able to just load pure Android factory images on it, I can't see why the Nexus 4 itself would be considered better in any respects aside from that one thing (it's a Nexus device).
So, if anyone has read this far I appreciate it, but the basic question remains: is the LGOG worthy of me trading away my Galaxy Note? Would any of you - if you had the Note and didn't make full use of everything it offers (S-Pen, etc) - go for this trade and then make the very best of what the LGOG has to offer?
Thanks for any advice, input, or opinions, they are appreciated.
Just as an update, I went ahead and took a chance on the LGOG and did the trade, got an unlock code from the freemyblackberry.com website in about 8 minutes for $4, can't beat that.
Now to get to some experimentin'...
I bought an LGOG a few months ago while I was looking for something to use on T-Mobile. Got it unlocked in a similar fashion and it works fairly well now. I love the speed thanks to the quad core and 2GB of RAM. The Micro SD slot is great as well. I think the previous owner had done the Nexus 4 conversion to the phone, but I went ahead and undid it so I could use the mSD slot. I've been using Houstonn's Rootbox rom for quite a while and it works well for the most part. My only complaints are that my Wifi MAC address randomizes on every boot (probably due to something not getting fixed properly when going back from the Nexus 4 conversion), the battery life isn't spectacular, and the phone doesn't support T-Mobile's 1700MHz 3G band or their Wifi Calling feature. But other than that, everything is great! Screen is beautiful, camera is good, everything is smooth, phone is sized well for your hand, etc.
I would recommend you give his ParanoidAndroid or Carbon ROM a try here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2228880
Paranoid seemed to work very well for me, but for some reason the mic and earpiece on my phone don't work during calls with that ROM.
Edit: The mic and earpiece work now after applying the LTEhybrid33-84.zip modem.
Good luck!
I currently have an S4 32GB, but want the extra display space, since notice web and gaming are better experiences with the Note 3. Was considering the G3, but the Qhd/801 combination is too much of a compromise for me: dimness, battery life / throttling with heavy use.
Question now is would the Note 3 be good, or better to wait for the Note 4? Current perspective:
+ Note 3 performs great and 1080p appears to be a better fit for current display tech and 28nm chipsets. Next year should be the year for Qhd with 20nm chips.
+ Note 3 is easy to root with Towelroot, so can freeze bloat and re-enable sd card writes (KitKat evil). I do NOT want to bother modding beyond that.
- Note 3 signal reception issues since the most recent update. Common issue? Been fixed if it is?
- Note 4 could be special and MAYBE the 805 has enough battery management tricks to offset some of the Qhd power draw. Plus the display will likely be more power efficient than the G3's.
- Note 4 might be locked down and not have root, take long time, or be very complex if can be rooted. Note 3 is simple NOW and I need a device with sdcard writes enabled for third party apps. This is more important to me than freezing bloat with TB.
I would normally just decide to wait, but am concerned VZW will update to kill rooting on the Note 3. I could see being happy with the Note three for two years- assuming no signal reception issues.
Note 4 would be my choice without thinking twice. it always gets better and i expect too see better camera, waterproofing (big for me) better screen, etc.....
also it has been noted the Android L (coming soon) had corrected the write to SD from KK.
i do appreciate root for sure but i notice i go less and less with needing it and my list shrinks as Android moves ahead. i freeze all the unremovable stuff i dont use on N3 that cant be removed with Stock but honestly i dont have an internal SD space issue so its not for clearing space. i would do it for space as a challenge but i have plenty so who cares anymore.
as far as freezing the stuff i dont want that is forced on me i find that most of it i can disable anyway in stock and on my Tab Pro 10.1 just for curiosity i left it completely stock with only disabling a few annoying things like TripAdvisor and i have not seen a performance or battery difference from when i first got it and did all that removing etc.. i usually do
so i vote Note 4
If L allows card writes, I would definitely wait. Not seen that mentioned in spite of that being the number one pushback issue from users with Kitkat.
rushless said:
If L allows card writes, I would definitely wait. Not seen that mentioned in spite of that being the number one pushback issue from users with Kitkat.
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here ya go
Yep and here is a summary:
Better Storage Framework:
In KitKat, Google introduced a few radical changes to the way storage in general and, in particular, SD Cards worked. Developers complained about the restrictive new storage framework, which broke SD Card support for a bunch of apps and overall was just more limited and not as robust. The good news is that the storage framework is getting a few enhancements in Android L which should take care of this problem for developers, granting full read/write access to directories and subdirectories, and allowing developers to group together file operations. This potentially adds more solid SD card support and may very well fix the current annoyances that developers have with the OS. Seeing as Android will be officially supporting devices with SD Cards in the future, it’s expected to see more and more robust support as the framework keeps getting better.
Looks like Android has reversed their Apple-like course. I am still ticked that ART uses 25% more storage space, but everything is give and take.
fletch33 said:
Note 4 would be my choice without thinking twice. it always gets better and i expect too see better camera, waterproofing (big for me) better screen, etc.....
also it has been noted the Android L (coming soon) had corrected the write to SD from KK.
i do appreciate root for sure but i notice i go less and less with needing it and my list shrinks as Android moves ahead. i freeze all the unremovable stuff i dont use on N3 that cant be removed with Stock but honestly i dont have an internal SD space issue so its not for clearing space. i would do it for space as a challenge but i have plenty so who cares anymore.
as far as freezing the stuff i dont want that is forced on me i find that most of it i can disable anyway in stock and on my Tab Pro 10.1 just for curiosity i left it completely stock with only disabling a few annoying things like TripAdvisor and i have not seen a performance or battery difference from when i first got it and did all that removing etc.. i usually do
so i vote Note 4
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Not to be nitpicky but if the Note 4 is like the S5 it will be water resistant, not waterproof. I won't be getting the Note 4 until I see that it can be rooted, there are just too many advantages to having a rooted device over a non-rooted device. 2¢
I'd say all of your pros/cons are spot on. Just be aware that the S4 and Note 2 are generally considered Samsung's pinnacle at producing radios. I replaced my Note 3 due to signal issues, and while the replacement is a lot better, it is nowhere near as good as my Note 2 (which I went back to using during the replacement process). Several places where I thought Verizon just didn't have signal in fact turned out to be due to the phone. When I have -90dbm 3G on the Note 2, it equates to -115dbm of unusable 1X on the Note 3. You may live in a good signal environment (unlike me), but just be aware of what you may be getting into.
The S5 also has poor signal, from my experience and from others' posts, so I won't hold my breath for the Note 4.
Personally I would wait till the Note 4 is announced. It should be in September. There are many rumors about the Note 4, but so far no officially confirmed features. Android L may not come with release but would instead be an update, much like this past year with kitkat as Google may not allow another company to officially release a phone with the new Android before they do. If releases follow last year's pattern the new Nexus (or possible new Google flagship phone) would release about a month after the N4. Not to mention the rumors about the Nexus 6 with a 6 inch screen. Rumors about the Note 4 include possible form factor changes including a version with curved glass. The N4 may be overshadowed by the expected fall release of Samsung's future flagship Samsung F.
As for the N3 it is a powerful device and with root there is plenty of added potential. From everything I've read about the radios, the newer N3's actually have better signal than the original releases, however there is certainly no consensus in the community other than that most report poor signal & dl speed. We may see yet see a significant improvement in this department over the next year as Verizon continues to roll out XLTE across the country. The other benefit for N3 is our developers. While I'm sure once the N4 is released it won't be very long before root is gained and developers start to get to work, ATM we have a few dedicated devs that are looking to keep the N3 alive and feeling new for a good time to come. With an S5 port, maybe an N4 port in the future, and the upcoming Alliance rom, if you ever get to the point where you want something fresh and decide to go custom there would likely be support for at least a year after the release of N4 (maybe I'm wrong, but from talk from the devs I don't think I am).
No matter what you decide, I know that for me if I jumped the gun and a month or two later the next BIG thing came out I would probably kick myself, especially considering the price tag on our phones. Good luck deciding (or waiting lol).
September is not that far away. Wait for the official N4 announcement and decide then.
There is a thread in the stickies to discuss upgrading and other devices
Thanks
FNSM
How's it going guys I currently have the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 and in 15 days I'll be able to jump to a new phone. I have a question for you guys... What are some pros and cons on the s5? I'm huge into flashing roms don't want to be stuck with another phone where the development is kind of dead.(Not knocking on the devs for the T-Mobile note 2 but development was pretty much non extent)
I recently made the jump both to T-Mobile from Verizon and the Galaxy S5 from the S3. I really liked the LG G3, but development there seemed to move at a snail's pace and there's still not much happening. For me it helped that I always ran Beanstown (Alliance) ROMS on my Verizon Galaxy S3 and seeing that team move to T-Mobile was a huge incentive. I like to tinker and maybe somewhere out there people are cooking up some good stuff for the LG, but the T-Mobile Galaxy was both familiar and easy to root, put a recovery on and flash new "available" ROMS. The phone it's self gets the job done and there are even some nice surprises once you plow through all the features. So long story short, if development is important to you, I don't think you can wrong with the Galaxy.
Yes. Absolutely. I've had the g2 and the 5s. The s5 was a huge upgrade from those phones
Sent from my SM-G900T using Tapatalk
roote223 said:
Yes. Absolutely. I've had the g2 and the 5s. The s5 was a huge upgrade from those phones
Sent from my SM-G900T using Tapatalk
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Im extremely happy with this phone even more so after putting alliance on it . I had a Att GS4 for 2 months and it had to go..It had a locked bootloader so there was no kernel flashing what so ever . Only custom roms based off stock . I also was thinking about the G3 until i took a look in the development thread and under original development it said NEVER. Everything meets my standards . Very VERY happy with my purchase
i have always loved stock android for its speed and customization , but with the s5 and xposed it just works very well and the battery life is awesome getting like 3 days on a charge on stock rom .
Also another happy user. When the S5 was announced I was disappointed but later down the line decided to try it again. I love the speed, camera, screen and feel of it. It really makes the s4 seem like a cheap toy in comparison. Used to be a nexus only guy, but will continue to support the galaxy s line.
Thanks guys looks like this will be the phone I'll be upgrading to.
I miss my note 3 and still like the LG g2 over my crapsung s5
Sent from my SM-G900T using Tapatalk
the device is very powerful and im mostly happy. the one thing that really bugs me is the phone doesnt work very well as a phone. dropped calls when i use wifi calling the person on the other end doesnt hear me sometimes. volte is screwy sound goes in and out during calls. maybe t mobile network is not developed enough,? idk i came from att with galaxy s3 the international one without lte and i had much less problems.
this morning i tried 5 times to make a call finally after reboot i was able to.
again not sure if its the phone, tmobile or my settings or a combination of all. but im not happy
Wait for the Note4, the s5 is a real disappointment.
Especially the childish looking OS, what a real drag!
AxAtAx said:
Wait for the Note4, the s5 is a real disappointment.
Especially the childish looking OS, what a real drag!
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Note 4 is too big. S5 LTE-A as the base flagship device would have been nice though. Otherwise, i came from the S4 and i love my S5. Overall its smoother, battery lasts forever even when downloading all day. Only down side of the phone is i had to pay for it ha.
had good battery life at first then the update killed that, still better than most.
the stock rom has tons of problems glitches errors all that, touchwiz is amazingly bad at everything, the camera is SO bad at focusing and actually taking pictures is a pain, every menu is just a huge wall of choices, no planning or thought went into streamlining TW
music playback skips (still)
tethering will not connect unless using a custom rom
phone slides out of my pocket like it was designed to do it
pixels visible on certain colors because its still a stupid pentile
msg to samsung; please copy the sense 6 msg app exactly, its lightyears ahead of yours
so other than halfway decent battery this phone is disappointing
on my 3rd replacement because data stops working all the time and calls are just pure static but the update fixed that
aburgthing said:
I recently made the jump both to T-Mobile from Verizon and the Galaxy S5 from the S3.
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I did the same thing for all 5 of our lines (ETF pay off was the draw). The S5 is a great device. My mother has an S3 and the screen now looks small compared to the S5. The S5 has fantastic battery life and is very responsive in everything it does.
Very happy with the S5.
Also very happy with T-Mobile.
Overall I'm happy and would do it again.
I have to agree about the camera focus issue.....esp. closeups. I kind of think the the s4 camera was a bit better.
And I've had the s3, s4 and s5 and have always disliked the side button. The s5 is worst of all. I constantly look down at my pocket and my phone is doing things, like I pulled it out one time and it had brought itself into the playstore(!!!).....It has made multiple pocket calls on it's own. No kidding. I think I'm pressing the side button while slipping it into my pocket.
I ended up going with the Note 4 so far so good maybe I'll pick up an s5 to play with the roms in a few months
I was not happy with my AT&T S5 due to the locked bootloader. I am very happy with the TMO S5. Very customizable not toooo big, not too small. Doesn't lag, but gets a couple days of battery with medium use. Got a nice case and glass screen protector so it's pretty safe. Very dependable with Omega rom. What's not to love?
Very Pleased!
I am VERY pleased with my T-Mobile S5. It's my favorite phone I've owned thus far. I had the S3 before this and really liked that phone and also the Vibrant prior to that (which I was also pleased with). This is actually the 1st Galaxy phone that I've kept the TouchWiz base on though. I really enjoy the customization options on AOSP as well as the appearance, but I also enjoy the stability of KitKat TouchWiz base on this one (using XtreStoLite ROM by Edgar).
I like the Note 4 Specs, but it's just too big for me it wouldn't be comfortable in my pocket, and it's not like I wear skinny jeans either. Another nice luxury is the water resistance that the S5 offers, and the Note 4 does not. I hope that you enjoy your Note 4 though, best of luck!
JDM Civic EG8 said:
How's it going guys I currently have the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 and in 15 days I'll be able to jump to a new phone. I have a question for you guys... What are some pros and cons on the s5? I'm huge into flashing roms don't want to be stuck with another phone where the development is kind of dead.(Not knocking on the devs for the T-Mobile note 2 but development was pretty much non extent)
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Click to collapse
Even at the end of the year, I still very much like my Galaxy S5. The reasons I purchased it are still completely valid for me, even with the release of the Note 4 as well as several competitor's phones. Part of the criteria is that while I have a larger display, it shouldn't be too much larger in overall footprint than my prior phone. This put it over the Note 3 as the Note 4 was not available at that time.
Couple feature notes:
1. Screen size/quality. Prior to the Note 4, the S5 was also Display mates "best display ever" report winner. The Super AMOLED display at 5.1" also had phenomenal color matching when the display settings are set to Cinema.
2. Camera. 16 megapixel ISO cell outperformed in daylight conditions and in my opinion eliminated the low light issues I had with the Galaxy S3. Note 4 has optical stabilization, so it's a better camera if this is your number one feature.
3. micro SD card. Important feature, I use it extensively to get the most out of my phone. Pictures, Music, Movies do not consume storage on the phone and some applications support installation to SD card.
4. Environmental protection. The S5 is IP67 against dust and water. While it's not water proof, I've started YouTube and thrown it into pitchers of water for 15 minutes or so for the brag factor. So the feared toilet dunk is not as much a concern as you can wash it with soap and water after retrieval.
5. Fingerprint reader. Yeah, it's not perfect but when properly trained, you'll find it works pretty well. I use it not only to unlock my phone, but in combination with Last Pass (has support for S5 fingerprint reader) and Pay Pal applications (fingerprint to pay). There are more on the way. Would be nice if Google adopted the API as a standard so that Google Wallet used it as well.
Pros:
Moving from one Samsung phone to another is extremely easy, especially with the use of the Kies software to backup your content/settings.
Excellent display quality over Galaxy Note 2.
Greatly improved camera.
USB transfers are faster at USB 3.0
Pretty close to waterproof.
Great audio with headphones.
Solid Bluetooth functionality.
Touch Wiz UI has been greatly reduced in footprint and is actually useful.
Great battery life and the ability to go Ultra for days of power.
Fingerprint reader is supported by several third party developers besides just Samsung apps.
Official Samsung Qi wireless charging options are available (charging back or S View wireless cover).
Numerous case options
Cons:
USB cover must be closed for IP67 waterproofing.
Wireless Qi Charging Back from Samsung makes the phone FAT.
Touch Wiz UI as memory/performance impact.
KNOX security has a "electronic fuse" that once tripped voids warranty. Flashing ROMs may trip that fuse if proper methods are not followed.
Fingerprint reader is not as accurate as desired.
Plastic build (low on issue meter as case hides this, other premium build phones have their metal hidden by cases so it's no big deal)
Even well over 8 months after release you'll find that the Galaxy S5 is a great challenger to even the latest released phones. Processor and Video performance are still incredible.
That said, there is rumors of the S6 coming sooner, depending on if you are willing to wait until March you may find the newer product has specs worth waiting for. But if you have to upgrade now, I believe the S5 will continue to be a solid workhorse for a few more years. Which is good, at $600 it's expensive to get every single generation point release. I skipped the S4 for example when waiting to upgrade from my S3.
New to the s5, maybe 2 mths. I had one a few mths ago but the lack of dev made me sell it and stay with my s4 for a few more mths. Then I came across another s5 and decided the best way to fall in love with it was to donate one to my fav developer. So if you want to fall in love with your s5 check out my man @The Sickness and his sick and twisted rom....trust me you will be in love with it as i am. Support on the rom is far one of the best in my opinion, all due respect to all other threads.
OK but moving to note 4 in a couple months when I can jump
Sent from my SM-G900T using XDA Free mobile app
Samsung's user-friendly -20% battery approach to root is pretty bold. As a customer I find it quite heinous. Can't keep a backup battery around.
No physical buttons. In landscape mode it is very annoying and changing the automatic hide disorients the function of multiple apps in either direction
ir blaster. and idk if anyone else has this problem but the thinner s pen. I've broken 4 befween my fingers so no more s pen. What is the.major improvement here? The phone is a step backwards.
It would be one thing if I got my hopes up a little but the Note 8 has no redeeming qualities whatsoever. I feel like I screwed honestly.
If they want to keep removing features and locking the phone down then forget it, i'll buy a hawawaie and China can have my data instead. With some of the google stuff coming out lately I think id rather give it to them anyway. What bloat do they preinstall? Yandex? beats facebook and carrier-iq. Not planning on moving there any time soon either and last time I checked no three letter organisations are contracting with the Chinese government
The root part is what made the note 8 pretty useless to me as a device. I would sell it and get a op5t or 2xl if you care about root.
Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk
browniegirl said:
The root part is what made the note 8 pretty useless to me as a device. I would sell it and get a op5t or 2xl if you care about root.
Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk
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thx. I'll check them out.
Blob Blobbed said:
thx. I'll check them out.
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I went with a SM-N950N (Korean Note 8) to have root
Same here, got me an Exynos N950F to have root. First time I have ever purchased an international phone (for Android anyway) & probably will never buy a US Samsung so long as they keep using locked down Snapdragon. Sure Snapdragon has root but no TWRP & 80% charging s not going to cut it for me.
shouren04 said:
Same here, got me an Exynos N950F to have root. First time I have ever purchased an international phone (for Android anyway) & probably will never buy a US Samsung so long as they keep using locked down Snapdragon. Sure Snapdragon has root but no TWRP & 80% charging s not going to cut it for me.
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Should have done this. Which phoen did you have before?
Blob Blobbed said:
Should have done this. Which phoen did you have before?
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I had a N920T T-Mobile USA Note 5, the last Exynos Samsung for the US. Once I heard S7 had locked bootloaders, I knew I would have to buy International/Exynos from going forward. Sucks having to do so initially but more than well worth it for me, couldn't be happier.
With all that's provided today by Android, I almost see no reason for root.
And it's quite odd to have broken 4 S-Pens. That's about $100 in value dropped like that. But the whole no physical button is not enough of a reason to hate the Note 8 at all. Samsung was just finally becoming part of the Android lineup that's how it's supposed to function. The Physical home button gives me some anxiety to see scratches on it no matter how much I protect it.
I went from Note 3 to Note 7, back to a used Note 4, and now the Note 8 for the last 6 months. I'm not rooted and I really don't miss root for much. Battery life is pretty amazing on the Note 8. I like Samsung UI, so with the Note 3 & 4 I always stuck with touchwiz roms. It's nice having a more current version of Android with the Samsung Experience. The Note 8's not perfect, but I definitely don't miss the Note 4.
Blob Blobbed said:
Samsung's user-friendly -20% battery approach to root is pretty bold. As a customer I find it quite heinous. Can't keep a backup battery around.
No physical buttons. In landscape mode it is very annoying and changing the automatic hide disorients the function of multiple apps in either direction
ir blaster. and idk if anyone else has this problem but the thinner s pen. I've broken 4 befween my fingers so no more s pen. What is the.major improvement here? The phone is a step backwards.
It would be one thing if I got my hopes up a little but the Note 8 has no redeeming qualities whatsoever. I feel like I screwed honestly.
If they want to keep removing features and locking the phone down then forget it, i'll buy a hawawaie and China can have my data instead. With some of the google stuff coming out lately I think id rather give it to them anyway. What bloat do they preinstall? Yandex? beats facebook and carrier-iq. Not planning on moving there any time soon either and last time I checked no three letter organisations are contracting with the Chinese government
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Sucks for u. I came from a fully modded note 4 that I had since launch day and the n8 not rooted blows the n4 away. Battery life, speed, themes, screen. Idk what else u want from a phone, and this is coming from someone who made a anti-note 5 Facebook because of the features lost from the 4 to the 5. Btw, you guys are welcome for getting the sd card back??. And yeah I missed the ir blaster for about 2 days. That's it though, it was seriously no big deal at all. And u can debloat without root. As far as backups, helium works great. And for viper audio...... Just poweramp alpha build with hi-res sounds better on my system than with viper anyways. And what are u seriously doing to ur spens??? 4 really, I never broke 1. If you ever had the n5, I have a feeling the spen got put in backwards as well...
Death-Dealer said:
Sucks for u. I came from a fully modded note 4 that I had since launch day and the n8 not rooted blows the n4 away. Battery life, speed, themes, screen. Idk what else u want from a phone, and this is coming from someone who made a anti-note 5 Facebook because of the features lost from the 4 to the 5. Btw, you guys are welcome for getting the sd card back?. And yeah I missed the ir blaster for about 2 days. That's it though, it was seriously no big deal at all. And u can debloat without root. As far as backups, helium works great. And for viper audio...... Just poweramp alpha build with hi-res sounds better on my system than with viper anyways. And what are u seriously doing to ur spens??? 4 really, I never broke 1. If you ever had the n5, I have a feeling the spen got put in backwards as well...
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¯\_(ツ)_/¯
If someone complains about 80% batt after root, no physical buttons, locked bootloader no IR blaster among other issues, frankly, why did you buy a note 8? Bob bobbled, how did you managed the increadible feat of breaking 4 spens?, as an informed android user you seem to be, I think that all your complains you make are long known facts, snapdragons beeing troublesome for rooting, ir blaster now dropped, physical buttons only in active versions or low level devices, 4 spen broken? C'mon, the spens are not the problem, but how they are handled, next time, better get all the pertinent info before buying, or, as you said, get a huawei or something like it, but, you will see, sooner or later, that those devices have many issues that ultimately you will not like, believe me
GigaSPX said:
With all that's provided today by Android, I almost see no reason for root.
And it's quite odd to have broken 4 S-Pens. That's about $100 in value dropped like that. But the whole no physical button is not enough of a reason to hate the Note 8 at all. Samsung was just finally becoming part of the Android lineup that's how it's supposed to function. The Physical home button gives me some anxiety to see scratches on it no matter how much I protect it.
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I think OP means they have broken fingers so thinner S-Pen is harder and virtually impossible to use
I upgrade from my N910C to a N950N due to the fact that my N910C was starting to drop LTE signals randomly. I have to say I am loving my N950N. It is probably my best purchase of the year. I thought that I would hate not havinv physical buttons. But I quickly gotten use to having soft buttons. Not having a removable battery is my main grip with the latest Samsung devices. But I can easily get 2 days battery life out of my N950N with moderate use. I haven't notice any performance issues since the upgrade to Oreo. Performance has been butterly smoothy. I love the iris scanner, it even works in direct sunlight. The placement of the fingerprint scanner is not as bad as I thought it would be.
Seriously 4 S-pens? man the 2nd pen break must have made u smarter. I have used all the Notes except 2 & 7(they stopped the launch in India)
Never broken a pen, a tip damaged due to dropping it, but never broken, and even on the Note 5, never inserted it the wrong way. And I am a very prolific user of the S-Pen.
The battery isnt so bad, ofcourse would appreciate better life, but thats a not a deal breaker. And also the physical buttons, never really missed them, since the Tab series really lost them in 2012.
I would say that Note 8 Exynos rooted and Dr.Ketan Rom+Pro Tweaks is the optimal combo imo. Everything is optimized, battery is great, no bloatware..... etc etc etc
I too have made the leap from a N910a to the note 8. Being that I'm coming from the notorious "you'll never get root on our phone, EVER" from AT&T having root PERIOD was a game changer. With that said, I do miss the IR blaster although alot of the time I'd forget it was there lol. I had my note 4 for nearly 3 years - longest I've ever had a phone and not had something happen i.e. dropping it.
So root was a HUGE deal for me to have, so I may be a bit biased in that area but as others have touched on, for real how did you manage to break not 1, not 2, or 3 but FOUR spens?! If it were 1 I'd say contact them for possibly poor workmanship, no offense but it seems like it's on the user end in this instance. As far as features the Note 8 has root aside, waterproof (or water RESISTANT as it technically really is lol) Another game changer. For over a year I had no working speaker due to having just moving into new apt and first night using it as Hotspot I had no idea sprinklers came on and shat water onto my rear patio. My own fault, but nonetheless very VERY comforting knowing if I ever screwed up in that area, it wouldn't be an issue. That alone with all our own user end mishaps is arguably a MUST HAVE.
The 80 pct limit isn't really that bad, if you must charge it to 100 pct there is always the download mode workaround, but if we are taking straight user friendliness,I could see it being a thing to do it everytime one charged. Raw power over the note 4 is and has to be something that anyone would notice immediately. I have a gear vr and while the note 4 fit, it always was outperformed by my note 8 when I tested them back to back.
I DO miss the removable battery (price to pay for water resistance I suppose) and am not looking forward to when it starts to show signs of aging and needs replaced. There are options I've found that help, like a portable power bank. Although with my use I really don't see much of a difference between when I was stock compared to now, so that wasn't and isn't anything I ever complain about knowing up front that was the price of admission if I wanted root. I still have my note 4 but honestly it just sits along side of my other devices of yesteryear collecting dust.
Blob Blobbed said:
Samsung's user-friendly -20% battery approach to root is pretty bold. As a customer I find it quite heinous. Can't keep a backup battery around.
No physical buttons. In landscape mode it is very annoying and changing the automatic hide disorients the function of multiple apps in either direction
ir blaster. and idk if anyone else has this problem but the thinner s pen. I've broken 4 befween my fingers so no more s pen. What is the.major improvement here? The phone is a step backwards.
It would be one thing if I got my hopes up a little but the Note 8 has no redeeming qualities whatsoever. I feel like I screwed honestly.
If they want to keep removing features and locking the phone down then forget it, i'll buy a hawawaie and China can have my data instead. With some of the google stuff coming out lately I think id rather give it to them anyway. What bloat do they preinstall? Yandex? beats facebook and carrier-iq. Not planning on moving there any time soon either and last time I checked no three letter organisations are contracting with the Chinese government
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time to sell it and opt for another device
winol said:
If someone complains about 80% batt after root, no physical buttons, locked bootloader no IR blaster among other issues, frankly, why did you buy a note 8? Bob bobbled, how did you managed the increadible feat of breaking 4 spens?, as an informed android user you seem to be, I think that all your complains you make are long known facts, snapdragons beeing troublesome for rooting, ir blaster now dropped, physical buttons only in active versions or low level devices, 4 spen broken? C'mon, the spens are not the problem, but how they are handled, next time, better get all the pertinent info before buying, or, as you said, get a huawei or something like it, but, you will see, sooner or later, that those devices have many issues that ultimately you will not like, believe me
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So you can root the Note 8? (US version or only international vesion?) and rooting limits battery to 80% only?
You can root both models, but with snapdragons, the batt only charges up to 80%, I read about this here XDA, I dont know if there is some patch or workaround for it, as I have an stock Exynos 950F 128GB
I've had my V30 for 3 years now. Came to it from a Turbo that served me well for years too. The 30 has and still works awesome thanks to all the help from xda gurus.
I enjoy the freedoms of having an unlocked and rooted phone. I was wondering what a good upgrade would be? What are you all moving on to from the V30?
Thanks for any advice.
I have rooted Galaxy Note 9, myself.
I moved on to the Galaxy S10+ but I also gave up rooting. While I fully support the desire to root so you can truly own your device, I find it's getting harder and harder to get there. That said, I have not missed rooting either... I don't feel I'm missing anything by not being able to root this phone.
I chose the S10 because, originally, it was rootable (requires older bootloader)... and it kept most of the great features of the V30 (big battery, headphone jack, high-res screen, similar size, etc).
Thanks for the replies! I absolutely love having a head phone jack haha. All my cars are older and have an auxiliary input jack instead of Bluetooth lol
I'm in this situation too. While my V30 still meets my needs, it's already about five years old. I'm also the last one on our Verizon account - everyone else has been moved to T-Mobile.
I've been looking at the Sony Xperia 1 IV or maybe the previous version the Xperia 1 III. From what I understand they have a headphone jack, stereo speakers, SD card slot, and they're rootable. Their native screen resolution is 1644x3840, although according to GSMArena in normally runs at 1096x2560.
My lack of experience with Sony cell phones is a big part of whats holding me back. Another thing is since T-Mobile doesn't currently carry Sony phones, I lose out on any carrier incentives for the new line.
EDIT - I forgot to mention it also appears to not have a notch or hole-punch for the front camera.
kfa670 said:
Thanks for the replies! I absolutely love having a head phone jack haha. All my cars are older and have an auxiliary input jack instead of Bluetooth lol
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Remember, you can also get a BT adapter for the car. I had this on my older previous car as well. I had one like this, but not this exact brand/model: https://smile.amazon.com/BK01-Bluetooth-Hands-Free-Wireless-Streaming/dp/B01MSUWCZ0
@hitokage004 I had looked at the Sony phones too, but they weren't available in the USA, cost a lot more, and I wasn't sure they work work on USA frequencies. They seem like great devices, but the limited matches on frequencies made it pointless IMO for the USA market. For example, here is the "Sony Xperia 1 IV" on TMo: https://www.frequencycheck.com/carr...04-so-51c-sony-pdx-223/t-mobile-united-states - you can see that LTE is only supported on 2/5 bands.
So, just be careful with that. And don't take my word on it, or that one website either...
@schwinn8 - There is a US model. You have to make sure that's what the seller really has, and unfortunately there are many that don't. That's one of the issues I've seen mentioned over on the XDA forums for the Xperia, so it's one of the things I know to watch out for if I do start actively pursuing one.
I believe there is supposed to be a variant that has 256GB of storage and is a bit cheaper. The international version is available that way, but I haven't confirmed if the US version does - only the 512GB is shown on the Sony US website.
The Xperia 1 III is available on Sony's site, with 256GB storage, at about $900. Then there are the Xperia 5 III and IV, that have a lower screen resolution, etc. The one I'm definitely not considering is Xperia PRO line - between the price and lack of wireless charging.
hitokage004 said:
@schwinn8 - There is a US model. You have to make sure that's what the seller really has, and unfortunately there are many that don't. That's one of the issues I've seen mentioned over on the XDA forums for the Xperia, so it's one of the things I know to watch out for if I do start actively pursuing one.
I believe there is supposed to be a variant that has 256GB of storage and is a bit cheaper. The international version is available that way, but I haven't confirmed if the US version does - only the 512GB is shown on the Sony US website.
The Xperia 1 III is available on Sony's site, with 256GB storage, at about $900. Then there are the Xperia 5 III and IV, that have a lower screen resolution, etc. The one I'm definitely not considering is Xperia PRO line - between the price and lack of wireless charging.
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Yeah, I had looked at the III at one point, but for $900 it's silly money, IMO. I got my S10+ for $300 and that was about a year ago.
Good to know there may be a US model. I wonder if it's something like the LG/Samsung phones where you can just flash over to the right setup that you need, and get the frequencies you want. Again, this would be fine, but not at $900...
There's still the challenge of getting a US carrier to activate it. Most of the time they look at the IMEI and say yes/no, even if it is converted via the ROM. I ran into this with the V30 repeatedly (I was on a VZ MVNO, but the IMEI was something else).
I got a Samsung S20 FE 5G (after some time with Xiaomi/Redmi phones which I definitely don't recommend).
The plus point is that it still has MicroSD card slot. Missing the convenience of the headphone jack but I got a cheap usb dac which has good sound quality.
Unlocking it outside of EU is tough/paid so I am using it with BL locked stock rom (debloated): https://github.com/aakashverma7/Samsung-Debloat/blob/main/[DEBLOAT}Samsung S-Series.txt
It seems that time has finally caught up with my V30+, seeing numerous daily connection drops ( just for a second) at home. Also , file transfers using usb flakes out in mid stream. This is/was a damn good phone. Hopefully can retire into DAP duty. Have a "premium renewed" Galaxy S20 arriving tomorrow (battery replaced by Samsung)
christoophat said:
It seems that time has finally caught up with my V30+, seeing numerous daily connection drops ( just for a second) at home. Also , file transfers using usb flakes out in mid stream. This is/was a damn good phone. Hopefully can retire into DAP duty. Have a "premium renewed" Galaxy S20 arriving tomorrow (battery replaced by Samsung)
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Yeah, I have rooted Galaxy Note 9, my wife and elderly mother now have 64GB LG V35 (most direct upgrade from 64GB V30), my brother in law now has Galaxy S10+ and my sister is now getting Galaxy 20+ (or something like that).
We all had LG V30/V30+.
All replacement phones still have headset jacks, except for my sister's.
After using this S20 for a week now, I'm kind of liking it overall. Still need to debloat stuff, but it is manageable, I have wifi6 & 5G & sdcard , use a dongle for headphones. Guess my ol V30+ was telling me it was time...
My V30+ is about ready to call ir quits
Constantly overheats
Fingerprint scanner doesn't work
Main camera seems to be stuck in a shallow focus range and I have to wack it to get it working.
Was also looking at the sony line but they are expensive
A next option was the Poco X3 Pro... Only negative is the lcd screen in my opinion.
@tech_infinity why dont u recommend xiaomi/redmi? Isn't poco related to them?
kerdelgreen767 said:
My V30+ is about ready to call ir quits
Constantly overheats
Fingerprint scanner doesn't work
Main camera seems to be stuck in a shallow focus range and I have to wack it to get it working.
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All of that could be due to a bloated battery. When my original one bloated, the phone was warmer and the power button (which is where the fingerprint scanner is) wouldn't work unless I really pressed hard. I would take off your case and see if the back of the phone is bulging. If so, you can replace the battery with a new one from Amazon for less than $15. Even if you still think that you're ready to move on to another phone, you might still care to make the small investment to have a usable spare phone and media player.
Osprey00 said:
All of that could be due to a bloated battery. When my original one bloated, the phone was warmer and the power button (which is where the fingerprint scanner is) wouldn't work unless I really pressed hard. I would take off your case and see if the back of the phone is bulging. If so, you can replace the battery with a new one from Amazon for less than $15. Even if you still think that you're ready to move on to another phone, you might still care to make the small investment to have a usable spare phone and media player.
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Phone outlived it's case so its currently naked... No battery bulge..
I replaced the battery last year when i bought next v30 for parts.
If i restart the phone the scanner works sometimes.
kerdelgreen767 said:
Phone outlived it's case so its currently naked... No battery bulge..
I replaced the battery last year when i bought next v30 for parts.
If i restart the phone the scanner works sometimes.
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Perhaps, when the battery was replaced, a few things weren't put back together as well as possible (the power/scanner button has a finicky connection that can come loose, I found out) or dust was introduced (perhaps why the camera focus is sometimes off). I dunno, but you might want take it apart again and make sure that all contacts, sensors and lenses are clean. If that doesn't do it, you might try wiping and clean flashing the phone. I'm just throwing ideas out if you'd prefer to try to fix it. I understand not wanting to bother and just upgrading, too.
christoophat said:
After using this S20 for a week now, I'm kind of liking it overall. Still need to debloat stuff, but it is manageable, I have wifi6 & 5G & sdcard , use a dongle for headphones. Guess my ol V30+ was telling me it was time...
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You can use this to debloat Samsung phones: https://github.com/aakashverma7/Samsung-Debloat/blob/main/[DEBLOAT}Samsung S-Series.txt
It removes a lot of stuff so be careful with what you remove as it may end up removing features you like. I use it with my S20 fe 5g
I've moved to the Xiaomi 12 Global version. It is very good, but I really miss the LG, the back button and maxed out screen-to-phone size. I wish they were still making phones.