I think the biggest practical difference of F180 is no LTE outside of Korea, due to the hardware incompatibility. If LTE is important to you, F180 is not a good choice. If you are OK with 3G only, then it may be OK, but I strongly suggest doing some reading on many topics regarding the "conversion" of F180 F/L/S models to E975, just so you understand associated potential problems and headaches. Bottom line: if you like a challenge, and don't mind taking chances, go for it, but only if the price is right (if the price difference in your case is not substantial, then it's not worth the trouble). Otherwise, stick with E975.
Yes, that article pretty much sums up the most common way of converting F180 to E975, even though I took a different route, which was easier and made more sense to me (but I am in the minority here, along with a few other people)... You can also find all this information here on XDA, plus, a lot of useful discussions about all sorts of different problems some people are having after the conversion, most common one being a weak or lost signal. Again, before you decide to go ahead with it, I would recommend to do some reading on XDA OG forums. If you go for it, make sure you do every possible backup (especially EFS) before starting to mess with your phone, so you can revert back to where you started, if you need to, without a major screw-up... Good luck!
Look up FreeGee on Play Store. Again, read about it here on XDA -- the process has been described in details. Good place to start would be a great FAQ thread by @kimitza; you can take it from there.
Yes, that article pretty much sums up the most common way of converting F180 to E975, even though I took a different route, which was easier and made more sense to me (but I am in the minority here, along with a few other people)... You can also find all this information here on XDA, plus, a lot of useful discussions about all sorts of different problems some people are having after the conversion, most common one being a weak or lost signal. Again, before you decide to go ahead with it, I would recommend to do some reading on XDA OG forums. If you go for it, make sure you do every possible backup (especially EFS) before starting to mess with your phone, so you can revert back to where you started, if you need to, without a major screw-up... Good luck!
Oh, BTW -- the article you referenced doesn't mention one important part. Technically, it's optional, but at least you should know about it. Optimus G (any model) has a locked bootloader. So, if you ever want to flash a custom recovery, or a custom ROM (or any unsigned zip, for that matter), or to do Nandroid backups, etc., you need to unlock the bootloader first -- rooting alone won't do the trick. "There is an app for that". (c)
Does that come from theory, or from first-hand experience? Did you make the F180S work on LTE network in UK (or elsewhere)? Just asking, because I don't think I ever heard of such accomplishment. Either I totally missed it (very possible), or you would be the first...
I would be really impressed if it actually works for you. Please share your experience, whenever your carrier goes live with LTE.
I am not aware of any free unlock methods (which doesn't necessarily mean they don't exist, I just haven't heard of them). Anyway, I unlocked a bunch of different LG phones using freemyblackberry.com, and I can definitely recommend them. Right now, they are selling unlock codes for any LG phone for just $2 -- can't get any cheaper than that...
Yes, that article pretty much sums up the most common way of converting F180 to E975, even though I took a different route, which was easier and made more sense to me (but I am in the minority here, along with a few other people)... You can also find all this information here on XDA, plus, a lot of useful discussions about all sorts of different problems some people are having after the conversion, most common one being a weak or lost signal. Again, before you decide to go ahead with it, I would recommend to do some reading on XDA OG forums. If you go for it, make sure you do every possible backup (especially EFS) before starting to mess with your phone, so you can revert back to where you started, if you need to, without a major screw-up... Good luck!
Look up FreeGee on Play Store. Again, read about it here on XDA -- the process has been described in details. Good place to start would be a great FAQ thread by @kimitza; you can take it from there.I think the biggest practical difference of F180 is no LTE outside of Korea, due to the hardware incompatibility. If LTE is important to you, F180 is not a good choice. If you are OK with 3G only, then it may be OK, but I strongly suggest doing some reading on many topics regarding the "conversion" of F180 F/L/S models to E975, just so you understand associated potential problems and headaches. Bottom line: if you like a challenge, and don't mind taking chances, go for it, but only if the price is right (if the price difference in your case is not substantial, then it's not worth the trouble). Otherwise, stick with E975.
Does that come from theory, or from first-hand experience? Did you make the F180S work on LTE network in UK (or elsewhere)? Just asking, because I don't think I ever heard of such accomplishment. Either I totally missed it (very possible), or you would be the first...
