Mint Mobile

[Adam]

Of course.

Any LG V30/V30+/V30S on the planet can be bootloader unlocked and rooted, except for the T-mobile H932. But some V30/V30+ sold in other parts of the world do not have the bands you need. So, for North America carriers with bootloader unlock and root, you want any North America variant (EXCEPT the T-mobile H932).

Well if that doesn't change, then that will be a problem down the road...Adam?

Maybe $10 more for unlocked would fix that?

The more I read and think about it, the more I think an un-carrier-locked phone has nothing to do with anything else. I will still be a T-Mobile phone and have all the H932 stuff. So my option is to risk that, OR get another variant, and have less full band compatibility.

Well the other thing is, an unlocked one will allow me to switch back to AT&T if something weird happens with T-Mobile. That would match Jamie's unlocked 6S so we'd be free to move around on GSM carriers. Probably a good idea, even if it doesn't buy me any bootloader stuff.

You only need root if you are doing things you normally can't like baseband stuff or other kernel things. If you unlock developer mode you can sideload all the apps you want or add other app stores (other than Google's Play store). Bootloader unlock is needed if you want to flash another ROM to the phone.

You're right, if there isn't a bootloader unlock mechanism by the time LG stops patching the phone then that's a problem.

[kevm14]

Well I took a chance. Just dropped some bucks. To recap:
- 3 months of Mint service, 2 lines, 5GB per month, unlimited talk + text: $47.20 w/ taxes and fees. I think we will switch to 2GB after 3 months which is $15/line/mo.
- Used "excellent" carrier unlocked 32GB iPhone 6S in gold: $209
- Used "seller refurbished" carrier unlocked 64GB LG V30 H932 in silver: $220

Total expenditures for today: $476.19, but that includes 3 months of cell service.

AT&T bill is $91.75 for 2 lines.

Savings for first 3 months: $275.25 - 47.20 = $228.05. Which means after the first 3 months I make up more than 50% of this initial outlay.

Then each month after that, when we downgrade to 2GB/line, we will save: $91.75 - 31.61 = $60.14. Which means we recoup the rest of the outlay after another 4 months. Which means after 7 months, the whole economy of this kicks in, at the rate of about $60.14/mo (or slightly differently, 7 months of free "new" phones). By the end of the first year we will have already saved $300.71, including the cost of the phones. And another $721.68 at the end of year 2.

Also I turned on auto-recharge so it will work more like a post-paid cell account, which is what I want.

This will be a fun experiment. Here are the risks as I see them, in exchange for the savings:
- Used phones. Who knows. Should be fine.
- T-Mobile service. Should be fine. May be better than AT&T in some situations, or even many situations.
- Mint as an MVNO. MVNO may get 2nd tier bandwidth and no roaming agreements (could impact service in more rural areas). These guys seem pretty no nonsense and the pricing can't be beat. As long as I don't have any activation issues, there shouldn't be problems here.

But if the phones are OK, and we don't like Mint, we could still switch to real T-Mobile if I thought that was the way to go. Or we could switch back to AT&T as well.

If T-Mobile/Mint work out, but I have phone issues, then I'll deal with them as necessary (repair/replace, etc.). And the fact of the matter is, we both kind of needed new phones regardless of what we did with the service. Maybe these exact phones. So in a way, we are WAY money ahead if you look at it as money sunk either way.

I am getting this V30 at a similar price point that I got my 1520 (also a year-old flagship phone). If I'm honest, the phone did have two of the documented issues with the 1520:
- Shaky camera OIS. Tends to lead to blurry pictures in slower shutter speeds (would have been better if it didn't have it, than to have it malfunctioning)
- Phantom taps. It will sometimes register a scroll as a tap. It's done this more or less the whole time. I basically just work around it by scrolling more deliberately or just tapping back if it clicked on something I didn't want to.

The biggest issue I can imagine having with the 6S would be a crappy battery and that is pretty resolvable by replacing the battery (either by Apple or myself).

One comment about the iPhone: Mulligan may ask, why didn't I get her some cheap Android phone? Or at least more phone for $200 than a 3 year old 6S? Well, I have one explanation. You know how the mechanic buys a Honda or Toyota for his wife because the LAST thing he wants to do is work on HER car? It's that. Except for phones. The SRX has actually been working out well, thank you...

[kevm14]

Seems durable:
https://www.androidpolice.com/2017/10/1 ... unscathed/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FYJixOPqKc

And a teardown:
https://youtu.be/dKk7F9uEWJ8

Pretty sweet. Probably forget about any battery replacements...so I hope that LG pack will last. Other than perhaps Sony (are they even making phones?), Samsung is the only other OEM who sells phones with their own screens and batteries. I don't know that this matters but it is interesting.

[kevm14]

Looks like it got Android 8.0 last May. So that's something.

9.0 may be coming around that same time in 2019, so around May. After that, who knows...

[kevm14]

Watched a bunch of reviews. Generally, I am pretty excited. Seems to be a very high ranked phone for 2017. There is a lot of junk and unnecessary garbage in the software, but there is some good stuff in here that I would actually use. The hardest part is figuring out what that stuff is and when to use it.

Here is a weird thing: I may have to subscribe to Pandora. On WP, the janky aftermarket Pandora apps seemed to somehow grab the Pandora One higher quality stream (and no ads, ever), but without paying. I am sure that will no longer be the case unless someone makes a 3rd party app that does the same thing. I don't think I will be happy with the standard quality stream, especially with that awesome DAC (and especially not when connected to my good Sony headphones or my STS).

[Adam]

LG pushed 8.0 to the V20 a couple months ago when it was a full two years old, so that's good news for something less old. It also has the high quality DAC which is pretty good. However, it isn't on by default, you have to enable it in the settings for whatever reason.

[kevm14]

LG V30 vs $50k RED Weapon
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nAth8g05tfs

This was sponsored by LG but the results are pretty impressive.

[kevm14]

LG V30 vs iPhone X
https://youtu.be/6CXfzUFlubM

He compared boot up, app speeds, app switching, cameras, videos, etc. And the LG did very well for itself, outperforming the X in several areas, including most web browsing and all non-game app stuff. Basically the phones are totally peers, with still some advantages for the LG such as a headphone jack w/ Hi-Fi quad DAC, wide angle camera, fingerprint reader, higher screen res with a slightly larger screen, expandable storage, IP68 on the V30 vs IP67 on the X, etc. Yet, the cheapest unlocked iPhone X I could find on ebay was exactly TWICE the price at $440 shipped. And even some more than that still had cracked screens. $480 gets you excellent condition in original box.

So there you go. That's why Android.

On the other hand, the iPhone X had a launch MSRP of $999 while the LG V30 was, I think, $800 or so. So I guess the iPhone retains the $200 resale and depreciated less by percentage, though they both appear to have lost the same amount of dollars in value ($560-580). Normally I'd say percentage matters, but since the products are equivalent (with imo advantages to the V30), I think the absolute dollars is more important. And, buying the less expensive thing is usually a better decision because if something happened to the iPhone (lost, stolen, etc.) there is more loss potential.

[kevm14]

V30 drop test vs Note 8.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=d1uWeCSEyI8

[kevm14]

V30 arrived.

Mint SIMs due Monday.

6S due Wednesday...

So at least I can play with the phone on wifi this weekend. I could swap the SIM but I don't think I have a nano SIM in my 1520.

EDIT: Oh, it is!! Sweet.