[G3 General] br0adband:
Found a D725 in a pawn shop earlier for a good price and now I'm doing the required research into making it a bit more customized. Obviously I don't see any custom ROMs at this point, I know root is possible, don't see much discussion about Xposed so I'll keep looking around for more info (I only require Xposed for using Physical Button Control which allows me to skip music tracks with the volume buttons, never found anything else with Xposed that interests me).

Looking for a proper KDZ or TOT for the D725 but haven't had much success in tracking one down, I did see the Puerto Rican one but nobody other than the poster of that file appears to have tried it so I'm leary of it like others are, would hate to brick the Vigor if/when I get one. Not sure what that update.zip thing in the OP is all about, the 235MB file - if anyone can clarify that I'd appreciate it. Just an OTA or something? Can't be the Marshmallow update, surely, not that small.

Seems like the Vigor covers all the necessary bases for me:

- removable battery

- microSD slot

- 5" display

- 1280x720 which I still consider to be enough for anyone

- Snapdragon 400 is just fine with me also, don't care for a "super phone"

- IR blaster for remote control duties

About the only gripe I really have I suppose is the paltry 1GB of RAM but that's not really a big thing anymore, I don't tend to run 15+ apps or whatever and I use my phone(s) pretty sparingly. I've owned a few Snapdragon 400 devices with 1GB of RAM (LG Tribute, etc) and it was more than enough for how I use a smartphone. The 1280x720 resolution pretty much guarantees long battery life - I remember when I had the LG Tribute (with an even lower resolution) I was consistently getting 9-10 hours of SOT (seriously, I'm not kidding) so I would hope/presume that the Vigor would be capable of it or damned close to it the way I use devices.

Not sure if there's much still going on in terms of any development work at all - I know I saw mention of CM for it, not really a big thing I suppose, I'm actually happy with the stock LG G3 UI myself, got used to the layout and where everything was, it's fast and snappy and I'm ok with it.

And of course KnockOn/KnockOff which LG pretty much invented and still does better than anybody else. I swear, after I first got a G2 it took like 5 mins to get used to that tap-tap to wake tap-tap to sleep gesture that it's habit now and I actually get frustrated whenever I use other devices that can't/don't have that functionality by default. I know with custom ROMs and kernels one can get the D2TW/DT2S but it's still not nearly as smooth and efficient as it is on an actual LG device.

I didn't actually purchase the Vigor at the pawn shop but I will more than likely return in the morning and put it on layaway. Been looking at getting one since again it matches my requirements almost exactly these days, and after owning several G2's, one G3, the Tribute, two Stylos (great devices, really), and now looking at the Vigor (which has aspects the Stylo should have had, especially the IR blaster) I think it'll serve me well if it's still there when I get back to the pawn shop.

Hopefully LG won't shift course and stop using microSD slots and removable batteries in the future with new devices. They seem to be the last company that still understands those things actually do matter to a great many smartphone owners.

We'll see what happens...