Budget 20-25K LG G4 now : to buy or not to buy?

Gauge

Adept
Hey all,

As the title suggests, i am looking to upgrade from my LG G2 AT&T version. The phone has served me well and is still going good.

I am getting an Imported LG G4 Dual Sim Leather Back Variant at ebay.in for 22k after using coupons. Is it wise to buy it now? Any cons?
How is the battery life on this one since it only has a 3000mah one?
I have also read about some bootloop bug on the LG4. Is it still there on the Dual Sim variant?
Another negative is absence of the fingerprint scanner, but i believe i can live without that.
Liked the design and premium factor the LG phones carry. Also have trust in LG as a brand. But still cant convince myself to ahead and buy the G4.

Another options i have been considering are Lenovo Vibe X3 or the Xiaomi Mi5 (Will have to extend my budget for it) . NOt a big fan of either of the two but since i have no other options in the said budget range, cant look anywhere else.

Also if possible, a phone with a good Dev support. I use my phones for a year or two and only the developers come to the rescue when manufacturers ditch their phones without any software or performance updates.

Suggest me please. What to buy? Range is 20k - 22k. Ready to shell out a bit more if anything good or better is available.

Things i am looking for : Awesome audio Quality (both through speakers and earphones), good display, a reasonable but good camera, and a good battery life. Rest are the things i can easily live without.

Ebay link : http://www.ebay.in/itm/New-Imported...472141?hash=item1eaba0f84d:g:k2YAAOSwDuJWwcZb

As per the seller, The above item is Brand New Original & comes in a sealed pack With all the accessories included.
One or two buyers in their feedback have said that the seller indeed sends out the phones in sealed state.
 
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Yes one is describing the extent of the discharge.

Deep discahrge means charge to 100 and then at 10. The drop is 90. This will happen when battery is just ok and most of the time people come back with just 20 left. Yes, you made it through tthe day but the battery took a hit and keeps taking a hit every day like this.

instead of charging to 90 or 100 and then again at 40-50. More shallow charges are better for lipo than deep discharges.

Lead acid does not have this issue. Different chemistry.
 
Yes one is describing the extent of the discharge.

Deep discahrge means charge to 100 and then at 10. The drop is 90. This will happen when battery is just ok and most of the time people come back with just 20 left. Yes, you made it through tthe day but the battery took a hit and keeps taking a hit every day like this.

instead of charging to 90 or 100 and then again at 40-50. More shallow charges are better for lipo than deep discharges.

Lead acid does not have this issue. Different chemistry.
OK. I always charge my phones from 10/20% to 100 and have been doing this since years generally I don't use any phone for more then 6/8months so cannot say did the charging (10 to100) affected the battery in any way but i have a 3 year old note 2 which has the battery that came with it and that battery still going strong.

Don't remember but read somewhere that a lithium battery can be used for 1000/1200 cycles, Will charging it from 40 to 80 will increase the life ?
 
I recently bought a big brother of LG v10 and have used it extensively for my European Trip. Wonderful camera capabilities and never regret buying. It can easily match the recent gen phone unless you want to flaunt the oversaturated and more eye pleasing pictures (Cough.. S7). Manual capabilities can let one to take wonderful pictures :)
 
I recently bought a big brother of LG v10 and have used it extensively for my European Trip. Wonderful camera capabilities and never regret buying. It can easily match the recent gen phone unless you want to flaunt the oversaturated and more eye pleasing pictures (Cough.. S7). Manual capabilities can let one to take wonderful pictures :)
Which model ?
 
Well, I am pretty much satisfied with my LG G4. Everything works satisfactory out of the box. The camera is fabulous. The leather back and curved screen stands out. Not much of a flagahip in the benchmark department but never hangs, no lags, has great memory management capabilities. UI is good. Although build quality is good but not much of an upgrade over the LG G2, still the phone feels good in hand. Has some wifi issues but 4G works great. Display is good, not much to say about. Sound Quality is one of the worst i've heard on any smartphone through earphones. Even a mid range Lenovo K4 note has far better audio capabilities than this device. Output through speakers is satisfactory.
Battery is one of major drawbacks. It is the major department where it lags behind. 2K display adds much to the cause. Doesnt give me a SOT of more than 4 hours on an average. Thank god, it supports Snapdragon quick charge, so bought a quick charger and now it only takes around 1.5 hours to completely charge the phone. Overall, a good phone. But not as solid as LG G2, a flagship of its time.
Another cons are
- almost no developer support
- LG still hasnt released source for Marshmallow. As a result, no root on MM is possible and i badly missed xposed and its features.
LG lost the charm after G2. V10 may or may not be that good and still not launched in India. G5 is insanely priced. I only bought the G4 after they impressed me with G2 which was one hell of a phone,and i continued my brand loyalty with them. But now, i am pretty much sure this is going to be my last phone from LG. Samsung on other hand are progressing and doing great with their exynos processors, though they are still charging a premium to be in leagues with the iDevices.
 
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Battery is one of major drawbacks. It is the major department where it lags behind. 2K display adds much to the cause. Doesnt give me a SOT of more than 4 hours on an average. Thank god, it supports Snapdragon quick charge, so bought a quick charger and now it only takes around 1.5 hours to completely charge the phone. Overall, a good phone. But not as solid as LG G2, a flagship of its time.
Was the replaceable battery not an option ? Back to full in one minute.

With the quick charger you can charge as many as you want.

The battery isn't an issue.

Another cons are
- almost no developer support
- LG still hasnt released source for Marshmallow. As a result, no root on MM is possible and i badly missed xposed and its features.
You did not care for this earlier.

It's something in the below bit that has changed your mind. Some intangible.

New phones come out, all of a sudden perfectly working phone starts to develop problems or became less desirable :D seen this so many times. There is some other phone you like better for whatever reason.

LG lost the charm after G2. V10 may or may not be that good and still not launched in India. G5 is insanely priced. I only bought the G4 after they impressed me with G2 which was one hell of a phone,and i continued my brand loyalty with them. But now, i am pretty much sure this is going to be my last phone from LG. Samsung on other hand are progressing and doing great with their exynos processors, though they are still charging a premium to be in leagues with the iDevices.
Is it that the G4 feels like a G2. A souped up 2013 phone unike the latest crop.

Nobody's heard of the G4, LG did not promote it as much as earlier models.

Then there is the money thing. How comfortable you feel locking it up in this device.

PS:
http://www.amazon.in/LG-LG-H860-G5-GOLD/dp/B01GOBO5RM

43k

You could not get the G4 at that price this time last year. Would be a few k more. 46-47. Leather.

Amazon was selling the white plastic version for 40k which isn't a good colour to get.
 
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Was the replaceable battery not an option ? Back to full in one minute.

With the quick charger you can charge as many as you want.

The battery isn't an issue.


You did not care for this earlier.

It's something in the below bit that has changed your mind. Some intangible.

New phones come out, all of a sudden perfectly working phone starts to develop problems or became less desirable :D seen this so many times. There is some other phone you like better for whatever reason.


Is it that the G4 feels like a G2. A souped up 2013 phone unike the latest crop.

Nobody's heard of the G4, LG did not promote it as much as earlier models.

Then there is the money thing. How comfortable you feel locking it up in this device.

PS:
http://www.amazon.in/LG-LG-H860-G5-GOLD/dp/B01GOBO5RM

43k

You could not get the G4 at that price this time last year. Would be a few k more. 46-47. Leather.

Amazon was selling the white plastic version for 40k which isn't a good colour to get.

My sir, didnt you read the first line I started my post with. I quote it again, "I am pretty much satisfied with my G4". And yes it is true and i mean it. It is just that my usage has increased over the past few days as i got a new job and limited 3000mah battery is something that isnt just enough for my needs. I travell frequently these days, so having a phone with a battery which holds a longer charge is the need of the moment. Yes, having a spare battery and a portable power bank is an option, but i am just not comfortable with the idea of replacing the battery again and again.

2. I am spoilt with the display and vivid colors on this phone, i like it so much that i just cant set it below 70%, which again is another reason for a limited battery backup. Though i have again started to set the brightness to 45-50 in the past few days and the difference is noticeable. As i am frequently on the move these days, my main usage these days comprises of watching movies and TV (all with a brighness set at 100), listening music and browsing, so you can get an idea why i get such battery life.

3. Root and non availability of custom ROM is another thing. Though it is still a non-issue for me. I considered it and wrote as a cons for this phone as a general issue. While on G2, i never felt to move to a custom rom when the phone was running on Kitkat out of the box. Though things changed after the lollipop update came and LG removed most of their UI features with their half baked update, still cant say why LG did that. It was only when i decided to move to a custom rom. In fact, i only planned to downgrade to Lollipop and root the phone after i read on xda that it helps with getting more with the battery backup. Just not getting the time.
Another thing about G4, the UI is so well designed that i am in awe of the features the LG has designed within. This is the first phone where i reverted to the stock launcher within a few days just because of the ease of access and fluidity it has. And yes, believe me, this phone never lags, rarely hangs, and ram optimisation on this device is very good. While other phones like moto x style with similar processor and ram architecture lag, this phone just never lags and never heats, even when i throw up so many things at it at once.

4. No, i am not considering to upgrade to another phone. No, no new device has come up, no problems have developed all of a sudden. Lol. G4 getting less desirable? hell No! There were plenty of devices out there with betters specs and what not when i bought the G4. So nothing like that as you've said.
In fact, just owing to my usage, i am thinking of downgrading or moving, or whatever i seems, to a Redmi Note 3, just because of the battery it packs.

5. Camera on the G4 is a stron strong point which is making me hold to this device. I have a new job lately and i am on a move to new places most of the time. The camera has made me a shutterbug in manner that this is firstt device with which i am using the camera to the fullest. All of my previous devices never saw the camera count reach more than 250-300 in the very time i was using them.

6. I compared the G4 with G2 because it is just that found the G2 to be a more complete package in itself. The device excelled in almost all department in the time it came to market. I bought the G2 for pretty less than what i bought the G4 for. The phone served me very well and was a complete VFM accounting to ever buck i spent on it. The same can be said about the G4 as well, but it is just something about the battery life, though i know it has to deal with my usage only, i developed, somewhat, a neutral opinion shadowing all the pros of this device.
 
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In fact, just owing to my usage, i am thinking of downgrading or moving, or whatever i seems, to a Redmi Note 3, just because of the battery it packs.
the RN3 has good battery. 5-6h on data, 7-8h on wifi. The kind of SOT's we will never see on flagships. The S7E is little over an hour shy of those figures.

Just remember RN3 does not have quick charge, so empty to full is 2.5 - 3h to charge.
 
the RN3 has good battery. 5-6h on data, 7-8h on wifi. The kind of SOT's we will never see on flagships. The S7E is little over an hour shy of those figures.

Just remember RN3 does not have quick charge, so empty to full is 2.5 - 3h to charge.
Actually it's even better. I get over 10h SOT on Wifi consistently and charging doesn't take that long either and doesn't pinch either because one only has to charge it once in two days.
Even if it takes such a long time, it can't be an issue, because if it lasts you through the day then overnight charging can even take 4 hrs for all I care. So, what I wanna say, is that for phones like these, quick charging being present or not, isn't a problem.

Frankly, Gauge, if you really like the experience of G4, you won't be easily satisfied by any other phone. So if that option of a removable battery can somehow work for you, it should be the best choice for you.
 
With light to moderate use i can see SOT approaching 9h. But not with brightness up to 100% and streaming video. That's heavy use and Xiaomis are all LCD, they don't use amoled. So pushing brightness up is going to take a toll. Still, there will be a significant difference with SOT over and above most flagships. Looking for something cheap with ok specs and excellent battery RN3 is the first choice. There are 6 inch models that are 5000 mah now. For video that will be better still. If you can find some reliable reviewers.

Surprised to find that even though sd650 supports QC3 you won't get anything better than QC 1.0 on the RN3.

Looks like Xiaomi did not want to spend on the license. They did with the Mi5.

QC becomes more important the bigger the battery.

I don't think QC is a big deal on phones or at least does not deserve they hype it gets. Consider power banks, 10k or 20k+ mah. That is were the difference with QC becomes significant. And i mean using QC to charge the bank.

Xiaomi's got quite a few out there, don't get one that cannot fast or QC itself.
 
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the RN3 has good battery. 5-6h on data, 7-8h on wifi. The kind of SOT's we will never see on flagships. The S7E is little over an hour shy of those figures.

Just remember RN3 does not have quick charge, so empty to full is 2.5 - 3h to charge.

What version are you on the Lollipop? Will be downgrading to a pre-rooted Lollipop firmware soon.
 
The LG G4 is not the thinnest flagship phones, nor does it feature a game changing design and it also resembles its predecessor to quite an extent. In 2015, a flagship is supposed to be unique and that it is. Probably the only flagship phone that still features a removable battery, dares to believe it’s unique button placement from years ago, has a unique processor and is the only phone under half a lac that features real leather back.
 
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