My wife, one of our daughters (who lives a few miles from us) and I all now use a Pixel 3 as our daily phones. I have in a drawer both a Samsung Galaxy S7 and an LG G6.
I want to give one of the phones to my daughter to stream music to a Bluetooth speaker for her four-year-old, enabling her to use her Pixel 4 herself. Meanwhile, working from home on a reduced, three-days-a-week schedule, I have time to play around with the other phone, something I haven't done since I got the S7.
Having been away from things for some time, I'm wondering is one of the phones easier to root and update to a modern, stable ROM? If so, is there any reason not to keep that phone?
TIA
I decided to focus on my LG G6 as likely to offer more scope for rooting, ROMs, etc., than my S7. Also, except for the camera, I had enjoyed the G6 more than the S7.
Despite some hiccoughs, doubtless attributable to my being several-years out of practice, I rootedmy 20g phone successfully following runningnak3d's methodology.
Now it's on to reading up regarding ROMs, learning Magisk, and relearning Titanium Backup. Advice regarding any of these topics, or anything else relevant to the G6, is welcome.
Related
Hello,
I'm considering picking up a used Verizon GS7 (or GS7 Edge) until the Pixel 2 comes out. I absolutely need root (I use WiFi Hotspot Tethering, Xposed, AdAway, Titanium Backup, and several other root-required apps heavily.)
I have not been keeping up with the Verizon Galaxy S7 / S7 Edge rooting threads recently, but I just looked through the OP in this thread --- rooting, flashing the optimizations / fixes, and flashing Xposed all look quite simple compared to some of the other phones I've experienced.
Questions:
1) Is the method in the thread linked (above) still the process to root and optimize the Verizon variant, or are there preferable ways that will get the phone working better?
2) How much does the performance and battery life to stock after rooting, flashing the fixes and Xposed? (Please try to be as objective as possible - I know owning a you naturally are inclined to oversell it, but I need to know how much my performance and battery life will suffer from rooting, etc, because I use my phone almost constantly.
3) Besides Samsung Pay / Android Pay, does rooting break or negatively affect anything material? (Bluetooth, wifi, radios, sms, mms, calling/dialer, camera, sensors, software functionality, fast charge, fingerprint reader, or anything else?)
I figured you guys are probably the most knowledgeable about this subject, so I wanted to ask as many questions as I could before picking up a used Verizon S7 / S7 Edge.
Thanks!
I just bought an S7 for my mom, but she needs tethering also, so I am still reading and trying to figure out if I made a mistake buying it. So I feel ya man. Like to know also.
Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk
IMHO, performance and battery life on the S7 with root are abysmal. I've been rooting my phones since 09 and I can't believe I actually use stock, unrooted Android on my S7. Root is that bad. The fixes made it slightly better, but it was still awful.
Buy an unlocked version or pass on this phone. I can speak for others but the lag and quirks on this phone after root suck.
The hybrid rom unrooted provides tethering and a clean rom base without a lot of bloat. You are SOL if you're wanting to run xposed and such unless you try to take all the steps from the tips and tricks to make a rooted s7 usable.
https://forum.xda-developers.com/verizon-galaxy-s7/development/rom-t3576124
Hi Everyone,
I'd love to hear opinions from first hand owners of the LG V20, and if you'd buy it again.
I'm pretty set on getting either th LG V20 or the Pixel XL. I'm pretty aware of the specs of both but I wanted the Pixel XL for CopperHeadOS (supposedly more secure, but they only support Google phones for the most part, Pixel XL being one of them). As for the LG V20, I like it more, specwise (bigger screen, better DACs for audio, removeable battery, expandable memory, just better all around in my opinion- where it counts... and better price), but there doesn't seem to be any super secure ROMS out there, which is why I wanted to get the Pixel despite it's price (costs about double right now), and lack of expandable memory.
Otherwise, with my own research, the V20 seems to be a decent phone.
I'm coming from an Xperia Z2, decent phone, but horrible microphone (everyone says they can't hear me), also horrible speaker phone (not loud enough, if I'm driving I can't hear anything).. those are examples of quirks about the Z2.
Any input? Any quirks/annoyances you have about the V20 (specifically for the US996 model, no bootloops hopefully?)? Any input on secure ROMS available for it? To be honest, I'm kind of weary of the whole rooted process, it probably got easier by now, but I used to root and put custom roms on my old android devices, was such a process and always had risks of bricking it etc... only ones I'm willing to hassle over for are secure ROMs (like Copperhead OS)... oh yeah, how is the LG V20 out of the box? Is it pretty decent? Or is it frustrating with the bloatware where you "have to" unlock/root/install custom firmware+rom to make it "useable"?
Thanks in advance!
Was also wondering, anyone else with a USS996 try tethering with At&t, does it work?
I went with v20 this week, the Pixel XL was my first choice... however, I picked up a refurbished Sprint compatible v20 for $299 on Amazon. Luck for me, the software version on it was old enough to unlock the bootloader with DirtySanta.
Overall I've been a fan of LG since the G2, and the v20 is my favorite LG phone so far. I'm glad I didn't spend far more on a Pixel XL. That said, if the unlock had failed, I wouldn't have been as happy.
ssnova said:
Was also wondering, anyone else with a USS996 try tethering with At&t, does it work?
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Just tried blue tooth and wifi tethering on my LG-US996 on AT&T worked fine for me. Connected my ipad pro in both modes to it no problems.
---------- Post added at 03:25 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:16 PM ----------
As for your other questions. Just got mine today and have been messing with it so take what I say with a grain of salt cause I've only had one day to play with it. I moved from a ZTE Axon 7 which kept having poor connection issues for me.
No issues so far with boot looping on my LGV20 US996. The power/unlock/lock button being the finger print scanner threw me off of a bit as I kept searching for it but its actually kind of nice where it is. The second smaller screen is great (not sure why many reviews called it a gimmick, I really like being able to see the message of texts etc while reading on reddit or something). The charger that comes with it feels a bit slow but I also have a pixel charger that I use with my Switch which seems to work fine with the v20.
The unlocked version which i got off amazon (which reading the reviews seems to be a gamble which one you get) but the version I got is unbranded and had no carrier bloatware. It did come with a few such as Evernote, Facebook, Instagram, and a few other LG apps. No real complaints on bloat tbh, its not as clean as say stock android but its nowhere near as bad as a branded samsung (Though your mileage may vary if you end up with a carrier version of the phone O_O).
Haven't tried any rooting or installation of any custom ROMS I don't think I will this time around either as the phone seems to be fine with out it. I did however install Nova Launcher and downloaded the apk for Google Now integration so now the launcher feels almost like Google's but better.
Let me know if you have any other questions, I'm pretty happy with my purchase would likely make it again but again I've only had a day with it so far.
I just got mine as well on July 25th, Coming from the droid turbo the sound fried on that phone couldn't make calls or listen to music. As for this phone it runs great only issue I'm finding is being that it is unlocked and can use on any carrier I'm finding I can't update the phone says phone is not registered I wrote LG to find out why and I have not heard back yet,if I'm not mistaking there is a 7.1 now or maybe even higher, I don't know if I should root and take a chance on it, I'm starting to use android pay and I like it if I go for rooting I won't be able to use it but some say you can tweaking this and that so it will work. I don't know and as for Roms, I don't know what is here yet for the V20....
Same I haven't been able to receive an update either, will you please post back when you find out?
Also after a day of use the one thing I do suggest is the moment you get your phone turned on go and disable "Mobile Service Manager" if you got the US Cellular unlocked version this is the the app that carrier used to push bloatware, at least it doesn't come pre installed.
Hey thanks a lot for the feedback Srenyti! Did the tethering/hotspot work out of the box? Did you have to play with any APN settings or anything? How's it call quality on it?
Good to hear that it seems to be decent out of the box, I was getting tired of fooling around with android phones to get it to work "right". Only downside is getting security updates for the phone in the future....
Someone mentioned earlier about getting an older firmware, do they not all unlock if you wanted to go custom?
Srenyti said:
Just tried blue tooth and wifi tethering on my LG-US996 on AT&T worked fine for me. Connected my ipad pro in both modes to it no problems.
---------- Post added at 03:25 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:16 PM ----------
As for your other questions. Just got mine today and have been messing with it so take what I say with a grain of salt cause I've only had one day to play with it. I moved from a ZTE Axon 7 which kept having poor connection issues for me.
No issues so far with boot looping on my LGV20 US996. The power/unlock/lock button being the finger print scanner threw me off of a bit as I kept searching for it but its actually kind of nice where it is. The second smaller screen is great (not sure why many reviews called it a gimmick, I really like being able to see the message of texts etc while reading on reddit or something). The charger that comes with it feels a bit slow but I also have a pixel charger that I use with my Switch which seems to work fine with the v20.
The unlocked version which i got off amazon (which reading the reviews seems to be a gamble which one you get) but the version I got is unbranded and had no carrier bloatware. It did come with a few such as Evernote, Facebook, Instagram, and a few other LG apps. No real complaints on bloat tbh, its not as clean as say stock android but its nowhere near as bad as a branded samsung (Though your mileage may vary if you end up with a carrier version of the phone O_O).
Haven't tried any rooting or installation of any custom ROMS I don't think I will this time around either as the phone seems to be fine with out it. I did however install Nova Launcher and downloaded the apk for Google Now integration so now the launcher feels almost like Google's but better.
Let me know if you have any other questions, I'm pretty happy with my purchase would likely make it again but again I've only had a day with it so far.
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Click to collapse
Tethering/hotspotting worked for me directly out of the box on AT&T also did not have to make any APN setting changes. I just put in the sim, turned it on and it found everything fine. I did double check and it found AT&Ts APN just fine. I have network mode set as global and tried to test out between global vs late/gsm directly but didn't really seem to make a difference.
Call qaulity seems pretty good to me, it's more crisp and clear than my axon 7 which is the only one I've used in recent memory.
As for finding old firmware I believe that would depend on the firmware package you find. If it's straight carrier OEM version it may not be unlocked (unsure about this as anytime I've ever bothered to get a custom rom it's never been carrier firmware). Custom ROMs are always unlocked in my experience.
Yeah security updates are def lacking. And bloatware is fine as long as you disable that app I mentioned before it gets a chance to do anything.
When setting up the phone yesterday it didn't feel as snappy as it does now, so expect some settling in time for the phone it seems.
I don't want to complicate things too much, but Woot has the Pixel 5" 128 on sale for $429:
https://sellout.woot.com/offers/goo...?ref=eml_w_nd_4_img&ref_=pe_3185080_248419990
Jawbox said:
I don't want to complicate things too much, but Woot has the Pixel 5" 128 on sale for $429:
https://sellout.woot.com/offers/goo...?ref=eml_w_nd_4_img&ref_=pe_3185080_248419990
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Click to collapse
Verizon version, most likely locked bootloader .
I bought a vs995 coming from a moto x pure 2015. My moto had such diminished battery life I could not make it a full day without charging 3 times if I used the phone at all... It was good for maybe 2 long phone calls... I wanted a phone I could replace the battery on if I wanted atm I believe this is the newest one to still have the feature.
tstack77 said:
Verizon version, most likely locked bootloader .
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Click to collapse
Yeah, I'd want to stay away from the Verizon version. I thought I'd take any unlocked Pixel XL, to one day load CopperheadOS on there, but turns out they only release roms for the older Nexus phones and you have to buy a Pixel XL directly from them (like $1100 or so), I'd still consider it, but all in all I'll probably pass on that phone(Pixel XL) for right now, kind of expensive for me now.
Hey everyone, my Nexus 6P finally bit the dust and I decided to replace it with an LG G6. I chose the G6 for the size, the (reportedly) good camera, the headphone jack, and the price - $230 used. I paid a few $$ extra to get the US unlocked version. I really wanted a Pixel 2 XL but couldn't justify the price, even currently on sale for $650. I'll be running this phone on T-Mobile here in the US.
It seems there are lots of opinions on this phone and also lots of tips, tricks, and tweaks to make it a better overall experience. So I have three questions for you all:
1) This is my first used phone purchase. What should I do to ensure everything is wiped clean for any potential privacy and performance concerns? What should I look for to ensure everything about this phone is 'legit'? I bought it from a reputable eBay seller, so I'm not too concerned, but I feel that any efforts put in here would be worthwhile.
2) Can I flash stock Android 8.0/8.1 since I have the unlocked version? Is this recommended? I'm coming from two Nexus phones so I'm worried I'm going to miss pure Android. However, I'm mostly concerned with a stable phone with good performance over my comfortable user interface so if things run better on LG's version of Android 7 I'll stick with that.
3) Tips on photos? I'm an amateur photographer and so I like getting the best possible photos (not selfies) out of my phones too.
Thanks!
Smitty
Unlock bootloader, flash Lineage OS 15.1. (follow tutorial, be careful doing all that, it's trickier on US997 model, but can be done)
Install Cstark Google Camera (produces best photo quality), there's also one for wide angle.
https://g6-community.rosti.no/downloads/
u.of.ipod said:
Hey everyone, my Nexus 6P finally bit the dust and I decided to replace it with an LG G6. I chose the G6 for the size, the (reportedly) good camera, the headphone jack, and the price - $230 used. I paid a few $$ extra to get the US unlocked version. I really wanted a Pixel 2 XL but couldn't justify the price, even currently on sale for $650. I'll be running this phone on T-Mobile here in the US.
It seems there are lots of opinions on this phone and also lots of tips, tricks, and tweaks to make it a better overall experience. So I have three questions for you all:
1) This is my first used phone purchase. What should I do to ensure everything is wiped clean for any potential privacy and performance concerns? What should I look for to ensure everything about this phone is 'legit'? I bought it from a reputable eBay seller, so I'm not too concerned, but I feel that any efforts put in here would be worthwhile.
2) Can I flash stock Android 8.0/8.1 since I have the unlocked version? Is this recommended? I'm coming from two Nexus phones so I'm worried I'm going to miss pure Android. However, I'm mostly concerned with a stable phone with good performance over my comfortable user interface so if things run better on LG's version of Android 7 I'll stick with that.
3) Tips on photos? I'm an amateur photographer and so I like getting the best possible photos (not selfies) out of my phones too.
Thanks!
Smitty
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just switched from my Nexus 6P to the US997 also, although my Nexus always functioned fine.
First off, forget camera quality if you want to use anything but a stock (stock as in LG's version of stock) based ROM. This problem goes back the the G3, LG's stock roms use proprietary software to utilize the camera to it's fullest capability, which we don't have with community built roms. I prefer stock android also, but Nova launcher gets it close enough to where I don't really think about it unless I'm in the settings menu or quick settings pulldown or something.
As far as privacy, likely it will be freshly factory reset when you get it, but you could always flash the stock firmware with LGUP, this should overwrite the whole Rom if I'm not mistaken. I did this on mine.
Did you buy auction or buy it now? Lots of buy it now sellers on ebay sell "refurbished" (as in they refurbish it, not LG) phones. I've bought phones from ebay and some had imei labels that were obviously printed from someones computer, or labels that were peeled off and taken from another phone. Not saying it won't function correctly, but it's possible you might not have waterproof still if someone took it apart.
Hey guys, I’ve been off android for about 3-4 years now, but I’m purchasing a 6t today through t-mobile and I have a few questions before I may decide to root.
1) I know there is this feature a lot of apps use now a days called safety net. I play Pokémon go pretty frequently and it does perform a safety net check (I know because I had to unroot an old back up phone just to play) is there any way to have root and somehow pass safety net?
2) I’m looking for a google pixel like experience, I see there are a couple roms on here for that, but if I avoid the root path is there a launcher that gives me all the round icons like a google pixel with the same look and feel?
3) random questions but how does everyone here like the phone? Camera quality is huge to me and I’m coming from an iPhone with great camera quality, is there any tips to improve the camera on this device? How is battery life in the real world?
4) everyone’s favorite rom? There doesn’t seem to be a lot of options which surprised me for this phone. I honestly thought dev would be off the charts for this phone.
Thanks for taking the time. Back in the day I would have sat for endless hours researching all of this to avoid the “use search” trollers.. But nowadays I work 70 hours a week and have kids to attend to, so free time is limited.
Thanks guys
I love my 6T, coming from a 3T. LG and Samsung before that. This 6T is a beast!
First, skip the T-Mo version, particularly if you plan to root. You will have to jump through hoops to get it unlocked if you buy direct from OnePlus.
The stock ROM is excellent and things have come a long way over the years. I was planning to root, but so far haven't bothered. I used to root largely to let me use Titanium backup and freeze functions, but the phone is fine as is and most stuff backs up via Google or cloud now well enough.
The stock experience is clean; I use Nova Launcher BTW and it plays nice.
If you do root, Magisk can get most apps past safety net checks but one thing that has no solution is the streaming app DRM check; if you unlock bootloader to root, you drop from L1 and HD capable to L3 low res streaming. May not matter for you. Some people report this is reversible (relock bootloader, get L1 back) but others don't get it back.
ROM wise, I believe no ROM supports the in display fingerprint reader yet, so that's a drawback if you leave the stock or rooted nearly stock world.
Seriously get a 6T from OnePlus, try it out. You may find that everything is fine stock out of the box.
Good luck!
Sent from my ONEPLUS A6013 using Tapatalk
Would like to point out that Shift phone has just released there new phone 6mq with changeable battery, Jack stick and Micro SD card! The 3 main things a mobile NEED to even be interesting to look at.
I have now rooted the Shift 6mq phone with Magisk and we have a dirty TWRP working as well, although still having issues on the later but it is in its beginning stages of this phone. SHIFT6mq - Bootloader unlock / Root / Custom Recoveries / ROMs | SHIFTPHONES
Would anyone be willing to look at the Shift 6mq so we can further support this little German company who goes against the stream of nonsense, it has Android 10 out of the box, they are still working on a Google version and a Light version so you have the choice.
But it is looking good, finally a contender to the old LG V20 - which I have had for my daily driver for 4-5 years or so. A wonderful phone although getting old and it had its shortcomings as well, like the screen Ghosting and not easy to root if even possible.
The LG V20 was the last flagship phone with the 3 essentials - and now we FINALY have something to take over from here!
Would love to see the community support this new mobile and help these guys out, I have toyed and tinkered around with it - and it is possible to pretty much ruin it and get it up and running again although a lot of hooping around, but it can be done already.
So if anyone have the know how, or interest to support a little company who at least stands on some sanity with there phone - it would be nice to see LineageOS support for it.
I don't know much about stuff like that, I just do some newbie rooting and such at the moment, having had to root my new used V20 F800K that already sadly does ghosting. And my new Shift 6mq which I got 10 days after my V20 F800K rescue boat came around to relieve my old V20 H990N Hongkong version as it was and is falling apart. I did not know when I would receive my Shift 6mq but it came around 10 days after I got the new used Korean version of the LG V20. Anyway at least it could be rooted, so that will help me get all my applications over to the new Shift 6mq, which is another milestone that needs to be walked.
Anyway, if any programmers are out there, or people who knows stuff, it would be a nice project for some sanity to support this new phone from Shift, seemingly a good replacement for the old LG V20. I still need to get it up and running and see how it works in daily use, but it looks like it will be a good phone for the next 5 years for me.
Not a surprise it is faster then the LG V20, benchmark shows a good leap - 128 GB of internal space although the system itself is 21 GB compared to 9 GB on the LG V20 which had 64 GB. 8 GB of Ram, although not sure what I need that much for, but I could not live without more internal space as I am always using it so quick on the LG V20, books, maps and such takes a lot of space and what not. One of the reasons I disqualified the Fairphone 3 when looking at both phones, only having 64GB of internal memory, is just not going to do it for me. I actually ended up just ordering another LG V20 but because of corona nonsense they would not send it to me, being much cheaper solution. And needing a new phone, I had to then go with the Shift 6mq which was 5-6 times as much compared to the 4-5 year old LG V20. Anyway, if a phone does not have the 3 essentials, I won't buy it, not interested!
Anyway...
So guys, anyone up for looking at it? If you need any help I am here. I have toyed around with it, and breaking it, I can get it up and running again. I've done it a couple of times now... And still doing some testing on TWRP which seems to have a failing bug that I need to report.
But in any case, would love to see anyone starting working on it.
Dearly regards
- Darkijah
You did a great thing by using a phone for over 4 years. These are why companies are making better phones with long term support - if you can replace the battery or screen for cheap, and your carrier doesn't offer you a "deal" on a new phone, why would you want one?
Now me on the other hand, in 6 years I've daily driven 5 phones and 8 versions of Android, including 4 custom ROMs.
HOWEVER, I did it sustainably - using only phones given to me for free with the exception of the Moto G and a used S10e.