yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Moto Maxx General] ChazzMatt:
Thank you, missed that somehow -- that the LG Q8 was re-branding of the excellent LG V34. It even keeps the 1440p resolution.

But at this point I might as well wait for the 2018 LG G7. It'll have 1440p AMOLED, headset jack, Qi wireless charging.

Or the LG G7 Plus will. ;) Google LG G6 Plus. It's basically what the LG G6 should have been, except it still has last year's Snapdragon for some reason -- in the 2nd half of 2017? But otherwise FANTASTIC specs. So, NEXT year, wait for the inevitable LG G7 Plus?

Meet the LG G6 Plus: 6GB of RAM, 128GB of storage, and new colors

http://www.androidauthority.com/meet-lg-g6-plus-specs-price-release-date-780522/

The LG G6 Plus is not a bigger phone than LG G6, the "plus" refers to a basket full of hardware specs.

Yeah, I've already made several derogatory comments in that thread. ;)

I don't think the Nokia 8 will have Qi wireless charging... But maybe the Nokia 9 will?

NOKIA 9?

https://nokiapoweruser.com/ultimate-flagship-nokia-9-follow-affordable-flagship-nokia-8/

Even though it's on my watch list, I think the 2017 Pixel XL 2 will also disappoint. Google

will reportedly remove the headset jack

. However, since LG is making it, perhaps it will have Qi wireless charging? And it allegedly has stereo speakers. Still, no headset jack, I'm very disappointed.

If not the Pixel XL2, there's always the 2018 LG G7 (reportedly coming in January) or after that the LG G7 Plus, like LG did an LG G6 Plus, finally giving ONE one the specs of all the "regionalized" variants. (See post above.)

LG G7

http://www.techadvisor.co.uk/new-pr...ase-date-uk-price-specs-new-features-3660763/

_________

I am really surprised ZTE has not announced a full-fledged successor to the well-received ZTE Axon 7. It might not be called Axon 8, as there was no ZTE Axon 6 or ZTE Axon 5, 4, 3, 2 -- ZTE sort of pulled ZTE Axon 7 model number out of thin air. (Oh, I'm sure there's an explanation, but I don't really care.)

They did release an iterative update, called the ZTE Axon 7S -- much like OnePlus had the 3, then the 3T. About the only differences were it:

had Snapdragon 821 instead of the 820 of the ZTE Axon 7,

has a slightly 3400 mAh larger battery (always welcome) vs the 3250 of the ZTE Axon 7,

6GB RAM (but a variant of the ZTE Axon 7 also had that) vs 4GB of the original exported ZTE Axon 7

128GB internal storage vs 64GB of the original ZTE Axon 7..

However, it was the 7S was for China internal customers only, not for export -- and was not the major, next model update the world is waiting for. Again, it was much like the OnePlus 3T vs the OnePlus 3, basically the same phone with some mid-year updated specs.
[Moto Maxx General] Septfox:
I have to admit that I'm getting pretty excited about the Nokia 8.

Sure, it won't have wireless charging or stereo speakers, but if the Nokia 6 is any indication it'll be built like a waterproof brick encased in adamantium and as a result should be fairly easy to keep safe provided the front glass doesn't smack anything. One of those neato-nifty "bumpers" that fit around the outer edge of the phone should be sufficient to protect it from everyday life.

Its SD835 (with the x16 modem) and Nokia keeping close tabs on the 600mhz situation should mean it'll be capable of T-Mobile band 71 out of the box; not terribly relevant now, but a huge bit of future-proofing here in the US and an eventual boon to us rural users. 4gb RAM/64gb storage are quite adequate, and the expected SD card spot will be just that much better.

There seems to be a bit of confusion as to whether it's going to have a 5.3" or 5.7" screen, AMOLED or IPS, so...I suppose it turning out to be the latter of each could be a bit of a downer. I could get on board with a 5.7" AMOLED, though. It's a bit bigger than ideal, but since getting a Quark I've been finding myself doing mobile gaming and browsing more and more...a bigger screen wouldn't be a dealbreaker as long as it's not getting into phablet territory.

And of course, all the other modern anemities that are included by manufacturers who aren't trying to unnecessarily slim down or be Apple; decent-to-big battery (I've seen 3200mah to 4000mah), headphone jack, hardware navigation buttons, a snazzy dual-camera module with laser autofocus...and all at ~$600 launch. Probably.

So freaking ready for Nokia to roll in and start stomping on the other manufacturers to slow them down in following some of the more idiotic recent trends, or at least stop making ridiculous compromises in following said trends (LOOKING AT YOU AND YOUR Z2, LENOVOROLA).
[Moto Maxx General] ChazzMatt:
I think the confusion on the specs is there is/was a Nokia 8 and a Nokia 9. 5.3" for one, 5.7" for the other? Same thing with battery sizes. But apparently Nokia is not sure whether to release both, or just one. Is there room for two more premium phones from the same manufacturer between now and November?

Nokia 8 seems to be the 5.3" one and is a pretty sure thing.
[Moto Maxx General] Septfox:
I am definitely ok with this. 0.1" upgrade, wooo.

Unfortunately, it seems likely that since it's the lower-end of the two, IPS is a possibility...that would be the dealbreaker for me.

I've gotten too used to the Quark's AMOLED panel to effectively downgrade to IPS --- unless they use something like LG's "Quantum IPS", which while I haven't seen in person, does sound like a decent compromise.

Fingers crossed hoping that the leaks thus far are correct and they haven't skimped out.
[Moto Maxx General] xeno.hawker:
Minus screen size and chip...huawei nova or nova plus can be good choice...camera and battery is good as moto if not better
[Moto Maxx General] Marky__Mark:
I have a turbo and just replaced the battery and back cover. Its like a new phone. No reason to replace.
[Moto Maxx General] johnbravado:
Same here. I keep looking but the phones that come out are really not that impressive. I think we have reached the peak of the phone industry times. And it is time for something new to come. Not Google glass, but something. I doubt even 2018 will bring something worth replacing the Maxx. I think also my next phone won't be a motorola which is going to be tough.
[Moto Maxx General] Marky__Mark:
Indeed. Im just going to wait till my phone dies. I like my $55 a month verizon bill.
[Moto Maxx General] ChazzMatt:
Right now Motorola refuses to design/make any PREMIUM phones without the silly Moto Mods. They even decreased their battery size from the Z series (3500 mAh) to the Z2 series (2730 mAh) -- just to FORCE you to buy a Moto Mod battery pack! Without an external battery pack, that 2700 mAh battery isn't going to last long.

Also very strangely, both last year and this year, they kept the 3.5mm headset jack on the mid-tier (Snapdragon 6xx) Z Play and Z2 Play, but removed the headset jack from the top-tier 2016 Z Force and 2017 Z2 Force. Here's why it's very strange -- both the Z Play and Z2 Force are built on 5.5" display Moto Mod frames. There's NO REASON to remove the headset jack from one and leave it on the other, especially when you are keeping it on the LOWER PRICED model. Just use the same frame for both phones (spec difference should just be display resolution and chipset). Motorola had to go to a lot of trouble to screw over the premium phone customers.

Yet, conversely, on the BUDGET Moto C Plus and Moto E Plus models, those have 4,000 mAh and 5,000 mAh batteries AND 3.5mm headset jacks. So, very strange --- the MORE money you pay Motorola the LESS you get! Pay a little more for the mid-tier phone, they cut your battery in half! Pay even more money and they give you crappy battery AND take away the headset jack! Presumably if you gave them $1000, they would give you NOTHING and you would thank them for it?

I don't understand the people who like the Moto Mods. Why are 90% battery packs and/or Qi wireless? The other popular one is stereo speakers. Isn't it obvious the mods only exist to give you what Motorola should put in the phone in the first place?

Large battery (at least 4,000 mAh or how about the 5,000 mAh you put in that "budget" phone?)

Qi wireless

front facing stereo speakers

good camera
[Moto Maxx General] Septfox:
On the back of the phone, where they're useless unless you just want to use it as a crappy boombox...in which case a pair of bluetooth speakers can be had cheaper. gg Lenovorola :good:

(I was going to comment on further points too, but it'd just be beating a dead horse at this point)

Anyway.

Was excited about the Nokia 8...until I realized that Nokia has made the critical, developer-unfriendly mistake of not offering bootloader unlocking in any way shape or form for its modern phones. I'm not going back to the situation I was in for my Droid 4, where the bootloader is welded shut (they even ripped out support for the unlock commands), soooo so much for that!

The LG v30 is looking good. Snapdragon 835, 4gb/64gb (probably a 6gb/128gb option, flagship and all), Qi charging, NFC, headphone jack, plastic-OLED screen (should be practically impossible to break, just have to worry about the digitizer), dual cameras (one being rumored to be f/1.6). Presumably it will also have an official bootloader unlock, as the v20 does.

It does reportedly have a 6" screen, but due to the aspect ratio and bezel sizes, it doesn't seem like it'll be that much bigger in the hand than our Quark. According to this page, it's going to be 151.4 x 75.2 x 7.4mm or so. The Quark is 143.5 x 73.3 x 8.3 - 11.2mm according to GSM Arena, so we're looking at consistently thinner, only marginally wider and of course, much longer.

This page gives a comparison between it, the G6, and the hideous-looking S8+ (seriously look at that thing, what was Samsung even thinking).

As with everything these days, there are compromises: the battery is predicted to follow the last two phones in being ~3200mah and non-removable, bottom-firing speaker(s), curved digitizer because LOOK ME TOO, and a glass back that will likely shatter like a dinner plate the first time it touches a hard surface at more than mild tossing speed.
[Moto Maxx General] ChazzMatt:
Yes, the LG V30 is shaping up to be a possible replacement for the Quark.

Glass back or ceramic or something other than full metal is necessary for Qi wireless charging. Even the Pixel 2 XL (made by LG) is reported to have a partial glass back. I always put a case on, so no big deal for me.

Unlike the idiotic LG G6 regionalized specs, hopefully ALL variants of the V30 will have Qi wireless charging, maybe ALL will have quad DAC, maybe ALL will have more than 32GB internal storage? :rolleyes: What in the world was LG thinking?

Besides that, then only some of the LG G6 had bootloader unlock. Not sure about the V20 (last year's model) but for the LG G6 only the main European model and the carrier-unlocked U.S. versions have official bootloader unlock. And on those two G6 variants, neither of those two have more than 32GB storage or quad DAC. (Also, the European LG G6 doesn't have Qi wireless, only the U.S. model did.)

Even on the LG G6 Plus (new, improved LG G6) which has MORE specs, they are limiting the Qi wireless charging to those sold in South Korea (I confirmed this in the Qi wireless device database), and those (for three different South Korea carriers) don't have LG bootloader unlock. In fact there's no bootloader unlock yet for any LG G6 Plus models.

See here:

https://xdaforums.com/lg-g6/how-to/lg-g6-plus-unboxing-4k-t3638288/post73221103#post73221103

I would be tempted to get one of these South Korean LG G6 Plus -- even with Snapdragon 821 and without AMOLED -- IF it had bootloader unlock. Same size as LG G6 but has 128GB internal storage (+ microSD card), 4GB RAM, quad DAC, IP68, headset jack and Qi wireless. I know from the South Korean LG G6, that the South Korean LG phones REALLY have all the U.S. LTE bands but they are just not listed.

You can use Google Translate on this page if you wish to see more.

http://www.lge.co.kr/lgekor/product/pc/notebook/productDetail.do?cateId=2170&prdId=EPRD.317550

But I can't buy it if bootloader is not able to be unlocked. So, let's see what the LG V30 brings...
[Moto Maxx General] Septfox:
So do I, but that's not the point. Better to wrap something that's sturdy from the outset in a case, rather than something that's literally made out of glass.

They could have easily gone with a carbon-fiber back. Or an aluminum back with a circular glass "window" for the charging coil to work through. Or heck, plain old plastic (admittedly this would be by far the worse choice due to its malleability). The glass back is just another in the series of "premium-feeling" fads from the last couple years.

: |

That all said, it'd be pretty cool if it doesn't have a black plastic shroud behind the cover, so those of us buying used (no warranty considerations) can do this to it and use a transparent Diztronic-like case with it. Assuming it does turn out to be worth buying, of course.
[Moto Maxx General] johnbravado:
I agree. I have used motorola now forever. they used to be good. RAZR, Droid X2, RAZR Maxx(I still have and it has Nougat running on it. Slow but it is running it.) and now Turbo. I use the hint, 360 Gen 2, wife has the boom mic ear piece.

The wife has the Moto Z and the mods are kinda neat and i have them all, but for $300 i can buy a real camera and for $300 I can buy a pico projector that i can use with any of my phones. bluetooth speakers have more than a use for my phone.

I bought the phone though for $400 with all mods except the projector and found a refurbed one for $125 on ebay.

you are right though, they really are not putting out much worth my time. in fact i probably would not have traded up the razr maxx for the turbo except verizon said they would give me the turbo free with contract in exchange for my old Droid X2. That is why i got it.
[Moto Maxx General] Septfox:
Yea, this has pretty much been my problem with the Moto Mods. Sure, being able to snap-on additional functionality is a really neat idea and all, I WANT to like it, but...for the asking prices (especially at launch), it's more effective to just go and buy dedicated equipment that does a better job and have their own batteries rather than tapping the Z/Z2's middling/small onboard battery.

If they had focused more on quality rather than "eh, good enough, mark it up by 300%", and would get away from this "sacrifice a substantial amount of battery capacity for 1-2mm of thin-ness" obsession, things would be different. Frankly, I find it puzzling that the Moto Mod thing is doing as well as it apparently is.
[Moto Maxx General] ChazzMatt:
Here's a radical idea... Instead of making the Moto X 2017 (a.k.a. Moto X4) be yet another generic mid-tier Snapdragon 6xx phone, Motorola should have made it be the alternative premium phone to compete against the zero bezel S8/S8+, LG G6, LG V30, Pixel 2 XL .

Moto X used to be positioned as a flagship phone. I've argued that it was always a weak flagship -- in 2013 and 2014 Motorola was basically copying the previous year's LG flagships -- the LG G1 (Optimus G) and LG G2 -- while at the same time in 2013 and 2014 LG was busy introducing cutting-edge LG G2 and LG G3.

In 2014, the Moto X was very weak (but did have front-facing stereo speakers). Just TWO MONTHS later, Motorola announced the Droid Turbo, which was almost everything the 2014 Moto X should have been (except for those stereo speakers). FINALLY, Motorola had a cutting edge flagship (Droid Turbo/Moto Maxx, and next year in 2015 the Droid Turbo 2/Moto X Force) -- BUT from that point on, they no longer pretended the Moto X was "flagship".

This year, Motorola could have gone with the Z2 series (with mods), BUT ALSO made a real, COMPLETE premium phone to compete with Samsung, LG. Make something like "regular sized" Moto Nexus 6 -- but with updated Snapdragon 8Xx chipset, 6GB RAM, IP68, 5.7"-5.8" zero-bezel display (so it would be smaller than the Nexus 6). Front-facing stereo speakers, 4000-5000 mAh battery, Qi wireless charging...

Tell me that wouldn't sell!

For those people who like mods, they can still buy the Z2. For those who don't, they could have everything built into the phone!

That should have been the 2017 Moto X4.
[Moto Maxx General] johnbravado:
i may have thought about upgrading for that. but yeah not for Z2. i can go on swappa and get Z1 for like $200 now and it pretty much is same phone. I think motorola dropped and continues to drop the ball. They have never had real software support, but now they dont even have hardware to fall back on.
[Moto Maxx General] AlgebraicB:
Where did you read that?
[Moto Maxx General] ChazzMatt:
Here on XDA:

NOKIA 6 - bootloader unlock not possible

https://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=70983689&postcount=9

Nor on NOKIA 5:

https://xdaforums.com/nokia-5/help/bootloader-unlock-custom-rom-support-t3629043

NOKIA 3, no bootloader unlock.

https://xdaforums.com/nokia-3/how-to/ultimate-guide-nokia-3-unlock-bl-t3632569

(that guy got his XDA account suspended for posting spam crap instead of real stuff.)

If you arrow up out of those topics to the broader

Nokia 6

,

Nokia 5

, and

Nokia 3

Android forums, you will see there's no bootloader unlock, no TWRP recovery, no ROMs, not even any real root. Remember, if it's not here on XDA it's not real. There's tons of scam/malware websites that will urge you to download crap and promise bootloader unlock and UNICORNS, but don't do it.

So, if there's no bootloader unlock on the Androids already released, no need to falsely hope for bootloader unlock on the Nokia 8.

_______

EDIT: for the Nokia 6, two days ago

someone has CLAIMED to be able to root and install TWRP

bypassing the LOCKED DOWN bootloader. It seems complicated and it's not been verified yet as of this date. But even if true it still shows there's no Nokia-sanctioned bootloader unlock.
[Moto Maxx General] Septfox:
I generally go to Google first, since some handsets aren't popular enough to get their own XDA section...but yes, I find a lack of TWRP anywhere here is usually a sign of locked bootloader, since replacing the recovery usually needs it unlocked. ROMs are less of an indicator due to existence of Safestrap/kexec shenanigans, but it is also telling if there are only ROMs of the same Android version that the device has officially.

Yea, this is pretty neat, and unexpectedly soon; the Nokia 6 isn't that old. I wonder if they'll bother with a patch to close it up.

The problem is, without official development support (namely kernel sources), its days will still be numbered comparatively. Each successive Android version will need more hacks and workarounds to work (though I think this is more down to driver availability), the kernel will miss out on more and more performance and security enhancements, things that are technically possible for the hardware can't be patched in and utilized (like DT2W, or at least I think?)...

Or not, what do I know, I'm not a developer.

Still not going back to being locked-in. It's my phone, dammit, let me brick it if I want to. Permanently locking my bootloader doesn't engender loyalty or make me buy a new phone from you, it makes me actively avoid buying a phone from you and shop elsewhere, despite how well the phone otherwise fits my needs.

In my eyes, Nokia has ruined what could otherwise be a fantastic line of phones by pulling a (QC-equipped) Samsung and not offering the option to unlock and develop on them.

They were off to such a great start, too. Maybe once they get a bit bigger, they'll stop focusing purely on mainstream and business users.
[Moto Maxx General] Septfox:
v30 hype continues to build.

"Accidental" leaks at an unrelated event (all the videos are linked at the bottom) have confirmed the design pretty much matches this. Bit of a camera bump, but it won't really matter once a case is on the phone. I could personally go for minty green, but I expect the actual colors will be standard Black, Grey and iPhone White, perhaps a Rose Gold option as well.

They've confirmed that the camera aperture on both rear cameras is f1.6, which is apparently the largest in a smartphone to date (unfortunately, without knowing the sensor size, that doesn't mean much). The cameras will also be using glass lenses for maximum clarity, which to be honest, I wasn't aware was a thing (in this day and age, phones are still using plastic lenses?). Finally, the primary sensor will be 16mp, while the secondary wide-lens sensor will be 13mp.

Still no solid specs for RAM, storage and battery, but if they're as expected and the phone has no particular glaring issues at launch...this thing might give Samsung something to worry about. Especially if it's marked around $700.
[Moto Maxx General] ChazzMatt:
Yes, and I'm getting excited about it. Except looks like they are again saving the good stuff (all the specs) for South Korea model V30 Plus only.

LG V30 Plus Reportedly Launching Alongside the LG V30

https://www.xda-developers.com/lg-v30-plus-launched-alongsid-v30/

Also:

There may be an LG V30 Plus this year

https://m.androidcentral.com/lg-v30-launch-september-15-plus-version-rumored

And that one (South Korea) probably won't have bootloader unlock -- since the similar South Korea LG G6 Plus did not have bootloader unlock.

For the LG G6 Plus, they only gave the South Korea model everything (storage, DAC, Qi wireless) -- except bootloader unlock. The other LG G6 Plus models (especially the carrier unlocked European model, which is also eligible for bootloader unlock) does NOT have Qi wireless charging. Is it really "Plus" if it only has SOME of the extra specs? Or is the "ultimate" one really "Plus PLUS"?

So there was REALLY G6, then G6 Plus, and in South Korea, a G6 Plus PLUS.

Now there will be V30, V30 Plus (with more specs), and in South Korea, a V30 Plus PLUS.

I don't understand this regionalization thing. Make ONE phone, sell it to the world. OK, if you want to have a "Plus" model with super duper specs, fine. Base model and "Plus". (Motorola did that with Z2 and Z2 Force, G5 and G5 Plus, etc.) But, still, don't make lesser and greater versions of that super duper model for different markets. (Motorola did that by leaving off NFC for U.S. with one budget model. Having NFC apparently made it too good for U.S. customers.)
[Moto Maxx General] Septfox:
The thing of it is, I don't even really care about having wireless charging right off the bat, because the mainboard is 99% likely to be the same between models and can therefore have a coil added later. I would have liked to have the quad DAC, but word is that their ESS-provided sound solution is still superior to other phones on its own, so lacking that isn't a massive hit either.

It's that they did this crap with their previous phones, it obviously did nothing but annoy people and turn potential customers away, and they reflected on that and went "yep, lets make the exact same mistake, only better yet, we'll leave things out that people were expecting despite them literally costing us pennies to include, and instead put them in a much more expensive, region-exclusive model".

I honestly can't see how selling fewer phones and having to maintain half a dozen variants is making them more money, and it's certainly not making them any friends.

With the complete package as it was leaked, they had the opportunity to trash the S8 series internationally, or at least make a decent-sized dent in their sales. They could have been the first in a while to actually make Samsung worry a little bit about their bottom line. But they've pretty much thrown that away (or at least significantly lessened the effect they'll have) for seemingly no good reason. It's such a waste, such an obvious mistake, and that's probably what annoys me the most.

All that said, I'll probably still buy one used in several months as planned, as long as the bootloader can indeed be unlocked, since the hardware will be largely as it was leaked and thus awesome (maybe even better, if the base model gets 6gb of RAM). But my god, are their business practices headache-inducing.