I think I'm done with the V10....

Dannar26

Senior member
Mar 13, 2012
754
142
106
Is there any phone on the market worth owning? I'm thinking about going with the Unlocked US edition for the regular S7. It's nearly $700 though (669). I'm also worried about the battery dying. I'm planning on keeping this phone for more than two years.

Alternatives?

Give up and go iphone?

I loathe paying full price for an Android phone when it isn't new....they never hold their value. Maybe the Galaxy line is getting better with that due to brand recognition...

Background:

I've been using the V10 since last November, and I've had enough. It's quite a buggy experience. I wont bore you with the details. Factory resets, different apps...makes no difference. It gets pretty hot too...I guess all Snap Dragons from 2015 are garbage (in this case, the 808).

I got this through AT&T and their little next plan. Bootloader is locked, and at this stage of the game you can't root it either. Was on plan where I wasn't paying...I had to grow up and have my own account right after I got this thing.

I moved into the V10 after keeping my Galaxy S4 for longer than its two year cycle. I would have happily been a repeat customer if the S6 had a removable battery, expandable storage, and water and dust resistance. After the note debacle (why are Notes now the same hardware as the preceding S model?) I jumped on the V10. Looks like the S5 and Note 4 were the last two great phones from Sammy.

Of course when I pulled the trigger with on the V10, the S7 comes out with most of the features missing from the 6. Not thrilled about the battery, but I figure I can pay somebody to replace it down the road if need be.

Has anyone had any luck selling their old phones?
 

gorcorps

aka Brandon
Jul 18, 2004
30,739
454
126
No, IMO the mobile market isn't great. I mean... it IS great when you look at how far they've come in the last few years, but I'm really underwhelmed with the current flagships and mobile OSes in general. My Nexus 6p is worse in the battery life department than my Note 4 was, and other than a better fingerprint sensor I haven't been over the moon with it. Vanilla Android has a lot of drawbacks IMO, and regardless of what people may tell you, customizing things to your liking is not that easy... even on a rooted device. If it wasn't for all of the problems Samsung has been having, getting a Note 7 looked like a pretty good idea. Samsung has a built a lot into their OS to make their phablets more useable (especially one handed), and vanilla Android is way behind here. Because of that, the 6P has been harder to use than the Note 4 ever was. I was going to look at the smaller Pixel phone because of it, but if it's really going to be as expensive as they claim then I won't be interested.

No good options really
 

Oyeve

Lifer
Oct 18, 1999
22,058
880
126
Yeah, I shelved my V10 as well. Camera was phenomenal but overall it was not state of the art. CPU was meh and the gpu was even worse. I'm also not a fan of ips screens. Horrid IMO. Been trying to sell mine but no bites.
 

WhiteNoise

Golden Member
Jun 22, 2016
1,084
192
106
Funny, I bought the V10 last November as well. pretty nice phone until the issues started popping up. takes forever to connect to an out going call, laggy sometimes, drops my wifi on a daily basis and need to reboot the phone, disables wifi calling on a daily basis for no reason, camera is slow as all heck (though takes wonderful pictures), OS doesn't feel very responsive. I had the G3, G4 and then the V10. All of which had lag issues, slow camera and wifi issues.

I traded mine in and bought another phone which I am so far more than pleased with. I left android though as every android phone I have owned has had issues that make me want to toss my phones into traffic.

Of the current android phones I think the s7edge is a great phone even though I hate the 'edge' part of it.
 
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Dannar26

Senior member
Mar 13, 2012
754
142
106
I used to be so ideologically against the iPhone Phynaz, but now it seems like the only reason to stay with Andriod would be for ease of finding chargers and keeping the apps I bought in the market...

Yes, the landscape is depressing compared to when I picked up my HTC Thunderbolt back in 2011. Rooting, flashing roms, using different batteries and removable storage...it was all so cool. Now everything's an iPhone. It's a pain to even do what little customization you can with a carrier phone. At least Apple commands enough respect to not have carrier bloat baked into their image...

I'm not excited for any phone really. It seems like a waste to buy a phone off contract so I can go "haha! Now *I* have control! And an empty bank account..." Samsung still seems fairly decent, sans being able to do anything about a battery which may or may not kill you.

- I don't want a phone that will only last as long as its battery. I don't see a need to upgrade so often now.

- I don't think I can keep going with the laggy V10 unless I can find out what is making this thing slow and buggy

- I don't want to spend a ton of money. Even so I'm leery of "midrange" phones which are designed to suck out the gate

I know. Having cake and eating it too...


Sent from my LG-H900 using Tapatalk
 

gorcorps

aka Brandon
Jul 18, 2004
30,739
454
126
I used to be so ideologically against the iPhone Phynaz, but now it seems like the only reason to stay with Andriod would be for ease of finding chargers and keeping the apps I bought in the market...

Yes, the landscape is depressing compared to when I picked up my HTC Thunderbolt back in 2011. Rooting, flashing roms, using different batteries and removable storage...it was all so cool. Now everything's an iPhone. It's a pain to even do what little customization you can with a carrier phone. At least Apple commands enough respect to not have carrier bloat baked into their image...

I'm not excited for any phone really. It seems like a waste to buy a phone off contract so I can go "haha! Now *I* have control! And an empty bank account..." Samsung still seems fairly decent, sans being able to do anything about a battery which may or may not kill you.

- I don't want a phone that will only last as long as its battery. I don't see a need to upgrade so often now.

- I don't think I can keep going with the laggy V10 unless I can find out what is making this thing slow and buggy

- I don't want to spend a ton of money. Even so I'm leery of "midrange" phones which are designed to suck out the gate

I know. Having cake and eating it too...


Sent from my LG-H900 using Tapatalk

Ease of finding chargers is gone, all of the new Android phones have moved to USB-C so you'll be looking at new cables regardless
 

Red Storm

Lifer
Oct 2, 2005
14,233
234
106
I used to be so ideologically against the iPhone Phynaz, but now it seems like the only reason to stay with Andriod would be for ease of finding chargers and keeping the apps I bought in the market...

Yes, the landscape is depressing compared to when I picked up my HTC Thunderbolt back in 2011. Rooting, flashing roms, using different batteries and removable storage...it was all so cool. Now everything's an iPhone. It's a pain to even do what little customization you can with a carrier phone. At least Apple commands enough respect to not have carrier bloat baked into their image...

I'm not excited for any phone really. It seems like a waste to buy a phone off contract so I can go "haha! Now *I* have control! And an empty bank account..." Samsung still seems fairly decent, sans being able to do anything about a battery which may or may not kill you.

- I don't want a phone that will only last as long as its battery. I don't see a need to upgrade so often now.

- I don't think I can keep going with the laggy V10 unless I can find out what is making this thing slow and buggy

- I don't want to spend a ton of money. Even so I'm leery of "midrange" phones which are designed to suck out the gate

I know. Having cake and eating it too...


So replaceable battery and low cost are important to you, and you want to go iPhone? I'm not understanding.

Nexus phones have no carrier bloat, and can be rooted/ROM'd to your heart's content. No replaceable battery, but if you're ready to jump ship to an iPhone, then replaceable battery really isn't that important to you.

The way I see it, you either go midrange Android if cost is the ultimate deciding factor, or you go Nexus/Pixel or iPhone.
 

Kazukian

Platinum Member
Aug 8, 2016
2,034
650
91
Am looking forward to getting the OnePlus 3. Am a little concerned about warranty and support, we shall see.
 
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gorcorps

aka Brandon
Jul 18, 2004
30,739
454
126
So replaceable battery and low cost are important to you, and you want to go iPhone? I'm not understanding.

Nexus phones have no carrier bloat, and can be rooted/ROM'd to your heart's content. No replaceable battery, but if you're ready to jump ship to an iPhone, then replaceable battery really isn't that important to you.

The way I see it, you either go midrange Android if cost is the ultimate deciding factor, or you go Nexus/Pixel or iPhone.

There is always some sort of issue with rooting/roms these days though. I can currently use systemless root on my 6P and still use Android Pay, but if you want to use xposed modules it won't work. I don't know if any roms currently have Android Pay working, but last I checked it still wasn't possible. Keeping up with updates while rooted isn't fun either, though flash fire makes it a bit easier.
 

o306

Member
Mar 23, 2015
52
10
36
You guys with the the V10s better sell them before they develop a bootloop issue and then you can't sell them at all.
 

Dannar26

Senior member
Mar 13, 2012
754
142
106
So replaceable battery and low cost are important to you, and you want to go iPhone? I'm not understanding.

Nexus phones have no carrier bloat, and can be rooted/ROM'd to your heart's content. No replaceable battery, but if you're ready to jump ship to an iPhone, then replaceable battery really isn't that important to you.

The way I see it, you either go midrange Android if cost is the ultimate deciding factor, or you go Nexus/Pixel or iPhone.

Yes, it is opposite ends of the spectrum. I want modularity. But let's be honest about the industry these days; it doesn't exist how any of us would like. The end user has lost the war here, and most of them don't care.

As others have pointed out, ROMing isn't what it used to be. And for us Americans, we have to buy an ultra expensive off-contract phone to even entertain that idea.

Don't the nexus phones have sealed batteries? So, you can never win anyway...open OS, closed hardware.

At least with the iPhone, you know the walled garden experience is refined. No carrier bloat, a streamlined OS, and lots of accessories and resale value. Compared to some midrange Android POS, the iPhone will remain "viable" for longer. 6 months into owning most of those you'll be behind on OS updates, there will be lag...the experience just goes downhill.
 

Raduque

Lifer
Aug 22, 2004
13,140
138
106
The Lenovorola Moto G4 midrangers are actually very nice, for the price. $300 gets you a 5.5" 1080p display, fingerprint scanner, uSD card slot and 64gb internal storage (G4 Plus).

Edit: Oh, and they are supposed to be getting Android 7.0 in November.
 

ControlD

Diamond Member
Apr 25, 2005
5,440
44
91
As others have pointed out, ROMing isn't what it used to be. And for us Americans, we have to buy an ultra expensive off-contract phone to even entertain that idea.

Or just get a Nexus phone. I have my on-contact N6 running a custom ROM, no problems.
 

ControlD

Diamond Member
Apr 25, 2005
5,440
44
91
A Nexus is too limiting for me.

I can understand that. Lack of expandable storage, etc. can be limiting.

I was only refuting the notion that it takes a full priced off-contract phone for someone that wants to go the custom ROM route.
 

Dannar26

Senior member
Mar 13, 2012
754
142
106
The Lenovorola Moto G4 midrangers are actually very nice, for the price. $300 gets you a 5.5" 1080p display, fingerprint scanner, uSD card slot and 64gb internal storage (G4 Plus).

Edit: Oh, and they are supposed to be getting Android 7.0 in November.

It sounds a lot like what I've got. I picked up my V10 with a promo and got a 200GB SD card, an extra battery, and a battery charger. On paper this thing is a nerd's wet dream....264 GB of storage in a phone. That blows away some laptops!

But the finger print scanner sucks. It's laggy. It's buggy with blue tooth. I dislike the placement of the power and volume buttons. The Snapdragon 808 isn't aging gracefully. There have been enough problems that I don't care about the awesome specs.

Or just get a Nexus phone. I have my on-contact N6 running a custom ROM, no problems.

About the only thing I like about the new google pixel phone is that the smaller one is 1080p. Combined with the rumored Snapdragon 821, it may be a performance powerhouse. Too bad it's a sealed battery, with no SD card slot, and iPhone level bezel to screen ratios. And it's not water resistant like the others. Ugh, give me a break....

So if you get a nexus from a carrier, they don't lock the bootloader? Is this available for every carrier, or just Verizon?
 

ControlD

Diamond Member
Apr 25, 2005
5,440
44
91
So if you get a nexus from a carrier, they don't lock the bootloader? Is this available for every carrier, or just Verizon?

The bootloader is locked by default but all it takes it changing a toggle in the phone's settings to unlock. There is no external software required.
 

Raduque

Lifer
Aug 22, 2004
13,140
138
106
It sounds a lot like what I've got. I picked up my V10 with a promo and got a 200GB SD card, an extra battery, and a battery charger. On paper this thing is a nerd's wet dream....264 GB of storage in a phone. That blows away some laptops!

But the finger print scanner sucks. It's laggy. It's buggy with blue tooth. I dislike the placement of the power and volume buttons. The Snapdragon 808 isn't aging gracefully. There have been enough problems that I don't care about the awesome specs.

My mother has the G4 Plus and she likes it. Never complains about the performance, the fingerprint scanner, Bluetooth. I know because she would call me if there were a problem. The software is 97% stock Android, with a few Moto customizations built in (twist for camera, chop for flashlight). IMO, the only real negative is lack of NFC.
 

Seven

Senior member
Jan 26, 2000
339
2
76
No, IMO the mobile market isn't great. I mean... it IS great when you look at how far they've come in the last few years, but I'm really underwhelmed with the current flagships and mobile OSes in general. My Nexus 6p is worse in the battery life department than my Note 4 was, and other than a better fingerprint sensor I haven't been over the moon with it. Vanilla Android has a lot of drawbacks IMO, and regardless of what people may tell you, customizing things to your liking is not that easy... even on a rooted device. If it wasn't for all of the problems Samsung has been having, getting a Note 7 looked like a pretty good idea. Samsung has a built a lot into their OS to make their phablets more useable (especially one handed), and vanilla Android is way behind here. Because of that, the 6P has been harder to use than the Note 4 ever was. I was going to look at the smaller Pixel phone because of it, but if it's really going to be as expensive as they claim then I won't be interested.

No good options really

I agree with you. I don't like my 6p either. It's too damn big and such a basic phone. Too much of a hassle to carry around in a pocket. It's only good laying on the desk and watching videos.

The smaller Pixel looks like a good phone, but definitely not paying such a premium price for it. I know it will not keep its value. It's an HTC phone after all. Will be nowhere near as good as the iPhone. Hence, I might get the iPhone 7 or Samsung S7.
 

StrangerGuy

Diamond Member
May 9, 2004
8,443
124
106
No, IMO the mobile market isn't great. I mean... it IS great when you look at how far they've come in the last few years, but I'm really underwhelmed with the current flagships and mobile OSes in general. My Nexus 6p is worse in the battery life department than my Note 4 was, and other than a better fingerprint sensor I haven't been over the moon with it. Vanilla Android has a lot of drawbacks IMO, and regardless of what people may tell you, customizing things to your liking is not that easy... even on a rooted device. If it wasn't for all of the problems Samsung has been having, getting a Note 7 looked like a pretty good idea. Samsung has a built a lot into their OS to make their phablets more useable (especially one handed), and vanilla Android is way behind here. Because of that, the 6P has been harder to use than the Note 4 ever was. I was going to look at the smaller Pixel phone because of it, but if it's really going to be as expensive as they claim then I won't be interested.

No good options really

Exactly, we shouldn't be mentioning why are high-end Androids still unpolished by near-2017. It's so bloody backwards. Because Androidland as whole is still incapable of getting their shit together.
 

Dannar26

Senior member
Mar 13, 2012
754
142
106
I agree with you. I don't like my 6p either. It's too damn big and such a basic phone. Too much of a hassle to carry around in a pocket. It's only good laying on the desk and watching videos.

The smaller Pixel looks like a good phone, but definitely not paying such a premium price for it. I know it will not keep its value. It's an HTC phone after all. Will be nowhere near as good as the iPhone. Hence, I might get the iPhone 7 or Samsung S7.

Agreed fully. I hate the thought of paying nearly $700, only for the damn thing to be worth ~300 on swappa merely 4 months later.

Exactly, we shouldn't be mentioning why are high-end Androids still unpolished by near-2017. It's so bloody backwards. Because Androidland as whole is still incapable of getting their shit together.

Back in 2011 I would have probably would have descended into the Android vs iPhone debate rhetoric. But now I'm inclined to agree with you.

Android had so much potential back then. Now it's been realized in a greasy corporate way. It's enough to drive a man to an iPhone.