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LG G5 modular phone: Hi-Fi DAC, battery slide out, connection interface

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141–150 of 177 posts

Re: LG G5 modular phone: Hi-Fi DAC, battery slide out, connection interface

#141
post #2

I'm so glad LG are sticking with a switchable battery - it's a must have feature for me. Lots of people have forgotten what it's like to grab a wall-charged battery, slip it in and run out the door with 100% power in a few seconds. Tethering your phone to the wall sucks. Clunky portable battery packs are the worst. I hope this phone sells well, it has my support.

Honestly that sounds rubbish compared to just having a phone with a decent battery life in the first place. I used to think it was impossible (I had a Nexus 4) but my Z3C has an impressively good battery life - so much so that I rarely think about it. I don't even bother plugging it in for satnav duties. Also it charges at a pretty decent rate - probably takes an hour to fully charge from 0%. Battery swapping is a wo…

I agree, having to swap your battery is a pain in the ass, but even with a good battery life in the days it's nice to have that option as a backup.

The main attractive of a swappable battery, to me, is replacing it 2 after 2 years of use.

Re: LG G5 modular phone: Hi-Fi DAC, battery slide out, connection interface

#142
post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which is why phone makers should make some variety here. Make thin phones for people who prioritize size, make thick phones for people who prioritize battery life. I'm not saying every single phone on the planet should be the kind I want....

On the plus side, you can always stick a bulky battery case onto a thin phone. Now if only there were more variety in phones with small screens; now that iPhones are big, what are people with small hands supposed to buy?

This is a real problem for me, as I've got small hands. The Xperia Z Compact phones are the smallest flagship-level phone I've found. I loved my Z3C, sorta-like my Z5C. They're still a little too big, especially with a case on them, but they're at least not monstrously so.

Re: LG G5 modular phone: Hi-Fi DAC, battery slide out, connection interface

#143

I wonder if the bootloader will be unlockable. I've been spoiled by Nexus devices for years and I remember how much work the Galaxy S3 I briefly owned was. What's LG's track record like with releasing sources? Nexus devices don't count.

I installed Cyanogenmod on my old S3 with minimal effort. Literally as easy as connecting to the PC via USB and running the installer. Wonder why you struggled?

Re: LG G5 modular phone: Hi-Fi DAC, battery slide out, connection interface

#144
post #65
post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apparently LG and Samsung have both decided to disable Marshmallows unified storage feature. Baffling. http://www.androidcentral.com/lg-g5-keeps-sd-card-shuns-adop... http://www.androidcentral.com/galaxy-s7-regains-microsd-card...

What? Does anyone have any ideas for why they would do this?

Need more memory? Buy a new phone!

Re: LG G5 modular phone: Hi-Fi DAC, battery slide out, connection interface

#145
post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honestly that sounds rubbish compared to just having a phone with a decent battery life in the first place. I used to think it was impossible (I had a Nexus 4) but my Z3C has an impressively good battery life - so much so that I rarely think about it. I don't even bother plugging it in for satnav duties. Also it charges at a pretty decent rate - probably takes an hour to fully charge from 0%. Battery swapping is a wo…

I agree, having to swap your battery is a pain in the ass, but even with a good battery life in the days it's nice to have that option as a backup. The main attractive of a swappable battery, to me, is replacing it 2 after 2 years of use.

Seriously? I do not understand this logic. Having to plug my phone in and wait 10 mins for it to allow me to turn it on is a pain. Running out of power in the middle of the day is a pain.

Forgetting to plug it in overnight and having no power for the day is a pain.

The I don't even bother plugging my phone in at night anymore really - because I know in the morning I can swap batteries and be out the door with full power.

Re: LG G5 modular phone: Hi-Fi DAC, battery slide out, connection interface

#146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honestly that sounds rubbish compared to just having a phone with a decent battery life in the first place. I used to think it was impossible (I had a Nexus 4) but my Z3C has an impressively good battery life - so much so that I rarely think about it. I don't even bother plugging it in for satnav duties. Also it charges at a pretty decent rate - probably takes an hour to fully charge from 0%. Battery swapping is a wo…

Extra swappable batteries take way less space than external battery charging packs. Charging cables are also a pain on the move. Useful when out of charging range for an extended period, like when hiking or cycling.

Charging cables, adapters, dongles - these are all things most devices cannot go without, and which take up tons of room in luggage or bags as well.

I've been less then thrilled with Apple punting every design problem into a dongle.

Re: LG G5 modular phone: Hi-Fi DAC, battery slide out, connection interface

#147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've never heard of someone needing a phone to stay on while changing the battery.

Few people may _need_ for a phone to stay on while changing the battery, but is a huge plus. I spent over a year on a phone that could hot swap a battery if you do the swap smoothly, and avoiding the need for a reboot was definite pleasure.

My last iPaQ could do this trick. There was a button cell NiMH next to the LiIon cell to keep it going.

Re: LG G5 modular phone: Hi-Fi DAC, battery slide out, connection interface

#148

- Replaceable battery is always good - Proper camera handle and better DAC too, but not as mutually exclusive modules What I want is: - A robust and replaceable bumper that integrates with the design (i.e. isn't ugly). The phone should not be designed as if the user isn't going to slap an ugly case on it. - A hole for a wrist strap so I don't worry I'm gonna drop my phone. All cameras have one, but now that phones ar…

> An unlocked bootloader that doesn't void your warranty.

I, like probably most of you, flash a new image to the phone when the stock software starts showing its warts. I agree with this idea but I do understand where phone manufacturers are coming from. You can obviously avoid the problem of software-bricked phones by having the factory image as a secondary ROM that can be hardware flashed with a button sequence.

The real problem is, I recall a bad Android kernel floating around for the TyTN II (a long time ago) that would toast the CPU after extended use. That's permanent damage that would be covered by warranty and would cost LG money. Maybe what they could do is only lock down the kernel. Who knows, it's a difficult problem to solve.

To add one feature:

- A slide-out tactile keyboard[1].

The TyTN II is the greatest smartphone that I have ever owned for this reason. Touch keyboards just don't cut it. The answer isn't to have predictive text (i.e. SwiftKey) but instead to not botch up the text in the first-place.

[1]: http://regmedia.co.uk/2007/08/28/htc_tytn_2_2.jpg

Re: LG G5 modular phone: Hi-Fi DAC, battery slide out, connection interface

#149
post #5

It appears that LG is the only company to dare offer real innovation on its flagship models. I don't know how well this model will do but it seems it's not just a faster rehash of last year's model.

The LG phones have been great so far, I still have my G2 years later, everyone in my house has had them.

Still using G2 more than 2 years after I first got it. Battery life seems to be a bit less now than when I first got it but the phone still does what it's supposed to do without any issues. Only had to do a Factory Reset when it upgraded to Lollipop. I see me upgrading to the G5 since its closer to the G2 in terms of size. I found the 5.5 inch screen of G4 too big for my liking.

Re: LG G5 modular phone: Hi-Fi DAC, battery slide out, connection interface

#150
post #5

It appears that LG is the only company to dare offer real innovation on its flagship models. I don't know how well this model will do but it seems it's not just a faster rehash of last year's model.

To be fair, Samsung have offered some innovative features on their high end phones. Best example I can think of is the Galaxy Beam. The Galaxy Note was different when it was first released. The Galaxy Edge is slightly unconventional too.

I am not saying they didn't in the past but last years S6 didn't offer much more than S5 other than performance improvements.
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