Moving on from the V30

[kfa670]

I've had my V30 for 3 years now. Came to it from a Turbo that served me well for years too. The 30 has and still works awesome thanks to all the help from xda gurus.
I enjoy the freedoms of having an unlocked and rooted phone. I was wondering what a good upgrade would be? What are you all moving on to from the V30?
Thanks for any advice.

 

[ChazzMatt]

I have rooted Galaxy Note 9, myself.

 

[schwinn8]

I moved on to the Galaxy S10+ but I also gave up rooting. While I fully support the desire to root so you can truly own your device, I find it's getting harder and harder to get there. That said, I have not missed rooting either... I don't feel I'm missing anything by not being able to root this phone.

I chose the S10 because, originally, it was rootable (requires older bootloader)... and it kept most of the great features of the V30 (big battery, headphone jack, high-res screen, similar size, etc).

 

[kfa670]

Thanks for the replies! I absolutely love having a head phone jack haha. All my cars are older and have an auxiliary input jack instead of Bluetooth lol

 

[hitokage004]

I'm in this situation too. While my V30 still meets my needs, it's already about five years old. I'm also the last one on our Verizon account - everyone else has been moved to T-Mobile.

I've been looking at the Sony Xperia 1 IV or maybe the previous version the Xperia 1 III. From what I understand they have a headphone jack, stereo speakers, SD card slot, and they're rootable. Their native screen resolution is 1644x3840, although according to GSMArena in normally runs at 1096x2560.

My lack of experience with Sony cell phones is a big part of whats holding me back. Another thing is since T-Mobile doesn't currently carry Sony phones, I lose out on any carrier incentives for the new line.

EDIT - I forgot to mention it also appears to not have a notch or hole-punch for the front camera.

 

[schwinn8]

Thanks for the replies! I absolutely love having a head phone jack haha. All my cars are older and have an auxiliary input jack instead of Bluetooth lol

Remember, you can also get a BT adapter for the car. I had this on my older previous car as well. I had one like this, but not this exact brand/model: https://smile.amazon.com/BK01-Bluetooth-Hands-Free-Wireless-Streaming/dp/B01MSUWCZ0

@hitokage004 I had looked at the Sony phones too, but they weren't available in the USA, cost a lot more, and I wasn't sure they work work on USA frequencies. They seem like great devices, but the limited matches on frequencies made it pointless IMO for the USA market. For example, here is the "Sony Xperia 1 IV" on TMo: https://www.frequencycheck.com/carr...04-so-51c-sony-pdx-223/t-mobile-united-states - you can see that LTE is only supported on 2/5 bands.

So, just be careful with that. And don't take my word on it, or that one website either...

 

[hitokage004]

@schwinn8 - There is a US model. You have to make sure that's what the seller really has, and unfortunately there are many that don't. That's one of the issues I've seen mentioned over on the XDA forums for the Xperia, so it's one of the things I know to watch out for if I do start actively pursuing one.

I believe there is supposed to be a variant that has 256GB of storage and is a bit cheaper. The international version is available that way, but I haven't confirmed if the US version does - only the 512GB is shown on the Sony US website.

The Xperia 1 III is available on Sony's site, with 256GB storage, at about $900. Then there are the Xperia 5 III and IV, that have a lower screen resolution, etc. The one I'm definitely not considering is Xperia PRO line - between the price and lack of wireless charging.

 

[schwinn8]

@schwinn8 - There is a US model. You have to make sure that's what the seller really has, and unfortunately there are many that don't. That's one of the issues I've seen mentioned over on the XDA forums for the Xperia, so it's one of the things I know to watch out for if I do start actively pursuing one.

I believe there is supposed to be a variant that has 256GB of storage and is a bit cheaper. The international version is available that way, but I haven't confirmed if the US version does - only the 512GB is shown on the Sony US website.

The Xperia 1 III is available on Sony's site, with 256GB storage, at about $900. Then there are the Xperia 5 III and IV, that have a lower screen resolution, etc. The one I'm definitely not considering is Xperia PRO line - between the price and lack of wireless charging.

Yeah, I had looked at the III at one point, but for $900 it's silly money, IMO. I got my S10+ for $300 and that was about a year ago.

Good to know there may be a US model. I wonder if it's something like the LG/Samsung phones where you can just flash over to the right setup that you need, and get the frequencies you want. Again, this would be fine, but not at $900...

There's still the challenge of getting a US carrier to activate it. Most of the time they look at the IMEI and say yes/no, even if it is converted via the ROM. I ran into this with the V30 repeatedly (I was on a VZ MVNO, but the IMEI was something else).

 

[tech_infinity]

I got a Samsung S20 FE 5G (after some time with Xiaomi/Redmi phones which I definitely don't recommend).
The plus point is that it still has MicroSD card slot. Missing the convenience of the headphone jack but I got a cheap usb dac which has good sound quality.
Unlocking it outside of EU is tough/paid so I am using it with BL locked stock rom (debloated): https://github.com/aakashverma7/Samsung-Debloat/blob/main/[DEBLOAT}Samsung S-Series.txt

 

[christoophat]

It seems that time has finally caught up with my V30+, seeing numerous daily connection drops ( just for a second) at home. Also , file transfers using usb flakes out in mid stream. This is/was a damn good phone. Hopefully can retire into DAP duty. Have a "premium renewed" Galaxy S20 arriving tomorrow (battery replaced by Samsung)

 

[ChazzMatt]

It seems that time has finally caught up with my V30+, seeing numerous daily connection drops ( just for a second) at home. Also , file transfers using usb flakes out in mid stream. This is/was a damn good phone. Hopefully can retire into DAP duty. Have a "premium renewed" Galaxy S20 arriving tomorrow (battery replaced by Samsung)

Yeah, I have rooted Galaxy Note 9, my wife and elderly mother now have 64GB LG V35 (most direct upgrade from 64GB V30), my brother in law now has Galaxy S10+ and my sister is now getting Galaxy 20+ (or something like that).

We all had LG V30/V30+.

All replacement phones still have headset jacks, except for my sister's.

 

[christoophat]

After using this S20 for a week now, I'm kind of liking it overall. Still need to debloat stuff, but it is manageable, I have wifi6 & 5G & sdcard , use a dongle for headphones. Guess my ol V30+ was telling me it was time...

 

[kerdelgreen767]

My V30+ is about ready to call ir quits
Constantly overheats
Fingerprint scanner doesn't work
Main camera seems to be stuck in a shallow focus range and I have to wack it to get it working.

Was also looking at the sony line but they are expensive

A next option was the Poco X3 Pro... Only negative is the lcd screen in my opinion.

@tech_infinity why dont u recommend xiaomi/redmi? Isn't poco related to them?

 

[Osprey00]

My V30+ is about ready to call ir quits
Constantly overheats
Fingerprint scanner doesn't work
Main camera seems to be stuck in a shallow focus range and I have to wack it to get it working.

All of that could be due to a bloated battery. When my original one bloated, the phone was warmer and the power button (which is where the fingerprint scanner is) wouldn't work unless I really pressed hard. I would take off your case and see if the back of the phone is bulging. If so, you can replace the battery with a new one from Amazon for less than $15. Even if you still think that you're ready to move on to another phone, you might still care to make the small investment to have a usable spare phone and media player.

 

[kerdelgreen767]

All of that could be due to a bloated battery. When my original one bloated, the phone was warmer and the power button (which is where the fingerprint scanner is) wouldn't work unless I really pressed hard. I would take off your case and see if the back of the phone is bulging. If so, you can replace the battery with a new one from Amazon for less than $15. Even if you still think that you're ready to move on to another phone, you might still care to make the small investment to have a usable spare phone and media player.

Phone outlived it's case so its currently naked... No battery bulge..
I replaced the battery last year when i bought next v30 for parts.

If i restart the phone the scanner works sometimes.

 

[Osprey00]

Phone outlived it's case so its currently naked... No battery bulge..
I replaced the battery last year when i bought next v30 for parts.

If i restart the phone the scanner works sometimes.

Perhaps, when the battery was replaced, a few things weren't put back together as well as possible (the power/scanner button has a finicky connection that can come loose, I found out) or dust was introduced (perhaps why the camera focus is sometimes off). I dunno, but you might want take it apart again and make sure that all contacts, sensors and lenses are clean. If that doesn't do it, you might try wiping and clean flashing the phone. I'm just throwing ideas out if you'd prefer to try to fix it. I understand not wanting to bother and just upgrading, too.

 

[tech_infinity]

After using this S20 for a week now, I'm kind of liking it overall. Still need to debloat stuff, but it is manageable, I have wifi6 & 5G & sdcard , use a dongle for headphones. Guess my ol V30+ was telling me it was time...

You can use this to debloat Samsung phones: https://github.com/aakashverma7/Samsung-Debloat/blob/main/[DEBLOAT}Samsung S-Series.txt
It removes a lot of stuff so be careful with what you remove as it may end up removing features you like. I use it with my S20 fe 5g

 

[FatherD]

I've moved to the Xiaomi 12 Global version. It is very good, but I really miss the LG, the back button and maxed out screen-to-phone size. I wish they were still making phones.