Counterclockwise: an abridged history of LG's phones
- Kingslayer
- IbE
- 12 Aug 2018
May 25, 2015 - LG G3 Beat
February 17, 2017 - LG G5 (Sprint)
May 2, 2017 - LG V20
October 6, 2017 - LG G5 (RS988)
I've been fortunate to never experienced a bootloop with any of my LG phones. I've had it reboot a few times but that happens with almost every phone I ever had including iPhone where it would turn off and on randomly. I actually had more problems with two of my HTC One M7 than I ever experienced with any of my LG phones. My G3 Beat is pretty much retired since it only has 3G speeds. I use my G5 as my main phone for tethering/phone/text. It has the loudest speaker. I use my V20 as my browser once I arrive home.
Surprisingly, my 2nd favorite smartphone of all-time behind my G5 is the Apple iPhone SE. I'm an Android Guy all the way. I need my torrent apps and more open platform. But the iPhone SE is really a solid phone even though its only drawback is iOS' restrictions and limitations. My favorite iPhone ever. I would rather have seven of them than one iPhone X.
If my LG smartphones ever die on me, I might get another G5 because I love that model so much or might get a V30 because it looks very sexy. Or I might give a chance to Sony. My daily drivers will only rotate between Pixels, LGs, and Sonys. Maybe Nokia too. Motorola will always be for cheap throwaways. Not interested in the Chinese anymore or BlackBerry physical keyboards. As much as I enjoy my SE, I can never have my daily driver ever be an iPhone. Inferior for tethering, no torrent apps, and no app to block unknown callers.
- Kingslayer
- IbE
- 12 Aug 2018
I've owned three LG phones - G3 Beat, G5, V20.
My favorite smartphone of all-time is the LG G5 (RS988). Underrated. I don't think LG is perfect by any means. My G3 Beat lagged from the skin and entry-level weak SoC with only 1GB RAM. But it excelled in everything else for the price. My V20 also lags and has image retention which gets annoying. My first G5 from Sprint was really bad with image retention. My currrent unlocked G5 has image retention but not as badly as my previous G5 or V20.
Overall, I like LG more than HTC. I think HTC beats LG in design and build quality but LG excels in more areas for my taste. The LG backup system is a favorite of mine as well as the wide-angle lens. Just too bad LG is now following the trends with glass backs, sealed batteries, and notches. As always, there are no perfect brands that you can 100% trust. Every one of them will have flaws and make mistakes in their history.
Why do I like my G5 more than my T-Mobile V20? The UI feels faster and smoother for some reason. I kept it at Marshmallow as my previous G5 was updated to Nougat and made it a tiny bit worse in battery life and added glitches. My V20's image retention is more frequent and it gets really annoying when watching videos and I see the ghosting. V20 also gets hotter when tethering.V20 seems to CPU throttle more from the heat, hence, the more lag.
Would I ever like Samsung more than LG? Nope. I just prefer rooting for the underdog brands like LG, Motorola, and Sony. I find Samsung and Apple smartphones vastly overrated and overpriced. I've owned many brands and Samsung and Apple don't deserve to be ranked in the Top 3.
- A
- Agus3260
- Pu0
- 12 Aug 2018
There isn't a word about the sound or the quad DAC for the latest top of the line smartphones...
- L
- LG Superfan
- sSy
- 12 Aug 2018
Anonymous, 12 Aug 2018Yeah the wide angle went from 135 - 120 - 107 and now Samsu... moreThats to remove distortion which is present on every wide angle camera and V20 had the perfect balance between distorted and wideness, distorted not much to ruin the experience and wide enough to be practical afterwards every phone has narrow wideness to the point there is no need for it, it should be atleast 120° and not only wideness quality has been degrading as well the pictures taken with G6, V30 and G7 are soft and lack details uses tiny sensor with tiny pixels even some mid range have much better camera
- ?
- Anonymous
- nDi
- 12 Aug 2018
The G2 was a great phone. Still using it as my secondary phone when traveling.
- w
- what can LG do.?
- utd
- 12 Aug 2018
Simple.. Strengthen their after-sales service(which is a very weak link. who wants to risk especially considering their initial high pricing) ...Fix humanly price for spare parts replacement...
- ?
- Anonymous
- m5N
- 12 Aug 2018
imo the best LG phone to date is the Q8 (2017) its not got the top specs nor is it gonna win any awards for looks but practical reasons its awesome.
- B
- Brandstifter
- X$u
- 12 Aug 2018
Oh, those touchscreen featurephones were a shameless rip-off. Lacking both the functionality of smartphones and the comfort of common featurephones. I felt sad for people who got fooled into buying this rubbish.
Speaking of modern times, I've used G6 for a few months. Great second camera, the phone size was too big, battery life sucked, couldn't fix it as there was no way to unlock the bootloader. The wife angle camera is the only thing I miss after moving on.
- ?
- Anonymous
- kWZ
- 12 Aug 2018
I've a LG IQ in my hands that had first dual core chip and ran Windows mobile 6.1. Qualcomm 1ghz, had the option for a pico projector.
- s
- s8128
- n6i
- 12 Aug 2018
Damn,I remember first buying the optimus 4x hd p880 hello I still remember its model name lol. I was so impressed by its tegra 3 processor which was quad core and its whole 1 GB of ram. Hell I remember watching gangnam style at HD and thinking to myself look how good it looks.And then getting pissed of because my brand new 4x didn't get android 4.1 I wanted Google now so bad don't ask why only to sell it then exactly after a day the 4.1 update drops.
Those were the good old days
- ?
- Anonymous
- Js{
- 12 Aug 2018
LG can drop the midrange cameras.
Imx358 13MP 1/3" is from 2015. Same inside Sony XA 2016. The 16MP is also 1/3". They should use the 16MP 1/2.6".
Get rid of the heavy oversharpening and use lighter NR.
- M
- MLAVRA
- pW4
- 12 Aug 2018
I owned 4 LG phones: L9, G2, G4, V20. I love the brand, their innovative spirit and features and overall functionality. (I also have their TV, one of the first bezelless TV sets). What I don't like is their quality control and their attitude to their customers. G2 had display problems (known!), G4 is notorious for the boot-loop (never properly admitted; solving system problem on one-by-one basis is unacceptable) and I had to replace the motherboard. People in forums talk about the extensive screen retention at V20s, luckily haven't experienced that so far.
BTW the V20 is probably one of the best and most complete phones ever made (replaceable battery, dedicated card slot, 3.5 mm jack with fantastic audio over it, IR blaster, great display, magnificent cameras...), a brilliant piece of technology, was first on Android 7 and we are STILL waiting OREO update.
How to win the market position again? I would say continue with innovation, be outstanding and trendsetter, improve marketing, improve customer care and don't make the same, dull double glass phones as everybody else! Give up the stupid notch, because the way to win American market is not by making cheaper I-phone. Last year, I was in the US and met some friends of mine who were surprised to learn that LG makes decent phones! For them it is either I-phone or Samsung.
- a
- andrew
- ub1
- 12 Aug 2018
G2 is the best LG phones
- ?
- Anonymous
- 0rY
- 12 Aug 2018
LG Superfan, 12 Aug 2018Agreed V20 was the laat great LG phone every phone after ha... moreYeah the wide angle went from 135 - 120 - 107 and now Samsung might maybe give us a S10 with 135 and let me guess LG goes to 100? They are killing themselves.
- ?
- Anonymous
- 8bE
- 12 Aug 2018
What can LG do to turn "first to market" into "first in the market"?
They can bring back removable batteries.
- D
- DAB
- 6pF
- 12 Aug 2018
Bring back the V10 Back design, good battery life and pure android and I will consider buying LG again. Last one that I bought was LG G4 it was a great phone but my screen cracked.
- ?
- Anonymous
- SHp
- 12 Aug 2018
My good old Nexus 4 is waiting in the drawer in case of emergency. Using Mi ever since.
- T
- TeleSPb
- pdg
- 12 Aug 2018
I remember envying over my friends' G3, which was probably the best out there at the time. G4 was very good too, G5 had the wide angle camera but a trash battery and G6 just sank the ship.
- A
- Anonymous
- xhm
- 12 Aug 2018
I think lg g2 are lg masterpiece i have that phone even now broken i still have that dead body. Pretty expensive to bring back that phone..lol