[Moto Maxx General] ChazzMatt:
I'm going to answer here, as I'm sure [MENTION=395743]ragtim[/MENTION] won't mind. What follows is an essay on how I started with Androids (spoiler alert: LG) and why I'm drawn to cutting edge hardware design and specs. (I feel software can always be improved, if something is wrong. You can't change hardware.)

First I've always admired LG's designs. They seemed to know what users wanted and before design mis-steps with the LG G5, always had sleek designs with good feature set that was usually cutting edge.

My first Android back in late 2010 was an

LG Optimus M

with nice specs for that time on a regional carrier called MetroPCS. (Yes, they are now an owned & operated T-mobile MVNO, but back then they were the 5th largest standalone carrier, with CDMA/LTE. What a lot of people don't remember is the that MetroPCS actually had the FIRST LTE network in the U.S. . They beat Verizon for those bragging rights. Outside their 14 major urban areas, they had roaming rights with Sprint and Verizon for nationwide service.)

My next phone in late 2011 was the

MetroPCS version of the Verizon "exclusive" LG Revolution, called the LG Esteem

. LG even kept the Verizon Revolution bootup sounds and Verizon logo in the same media folder as the MetroPCS versions. it was the SAME phone. This is how I knew about the U.S. Moto Maxx XT1250 = Droid Turbo XT1254. Because I had first hand experiences with regional carriers getting EXACT same phones as "Verizon" exclusives but just under different model name.

Then in mid-2012, I went to the gen 3 (Samsung) 2011 Galaxy Nexus and switched to GSM/HSPA/LTE carrier.

Then my next phone was 2013 LG Nexus 5. I skipped the 2012 LG Nexus 4 because we had just bought the Galaxy Nexus, but I read all about it. Almost exact clone of the 2012 LG Optimus G (aka G1).

MOTOROLA...

The 2013 gen1 Moto X which everyone remembers fondly was a RIPOFF of the 2012 LG Optimus G/LG Nexus 4. Compare the spes. 4.7", 720p, etc. Yet, in 2013, LG was moving forward and going to 1080p resolution with the LG G2. Motorola was looking backward. And once again, Google chose LG to make the 2013 Nexus -- even though they OWNED Motorola. :rolleyes:

I bought two 2013 LG Nexus 5 to replace our two gen3 Galaxy Nexus. The 2013 LG Nexus 5 was close sibling to the slightly larger LG G2 (they dropped the Optimus name). First Android phones to have 1080p resolution, and also had rear camera OIS, and Snapdragon 800 and 2GB RAM. The only phones that could compete with the LG Nexus 5 in 2013 was the OTHER LG phone, the 2013 LG G2 and that year's Galaxy Note (which was released after the LG and Nexus phones).

But seriously if you were

comparing the 2013 5.2" 1080p LG G2 to the 2013 4.7" 720p Moto X

, there was no comparison, as far as hardware specs. Motorola even used the same 2012 CPU as the LG Optimus G. This is 2013! While LG/Google used the cutting edge Snapdragon 800. These two phones, the LG G2 and the Moto X were NOT released different times of the year --- they were both announced and then released within weeks of each other. Motorola was releasing a 2012 phone in late 2013. :rolleyes:

Then, in 2014 Motorola did the SAME thing with the gen2 Moto X. Direct ripoff of the PREVIOUS year's flagship 2013 LG G2, as far as hardware specs. 5.2" 1080p. (OK, they did add stereo speakers, to make a better ripoff of the LG 2013 flagship...).

While in 2014, LG was moving forward and released the FIRST 1440P display for Android, the LG G3. 5.5" 1440p, 3GB RAM, with LASER-FOCUSED rear camera, and with rear camera OIS.

So, again, here's LG single-handedly moving the Android smartphone design FORWARD.

Over the past few years I've worked on many of the LG G2 and LG G3 phones for friends, keeping them updated to latest ROMs, etc. I'm still impressed by their design and hardware for being so forward-looking at the time.

Only with the very late 2014 Quark and too-big Moto Nexus 6 (both 1440p AMOLED, Snapdragon 805, 3GB RAM), did Motorola step up to the plate and deliver a cutting-edge design that was as good as or better than LG for the previous 3 years. World-class spes. However, the Moto Nexus was too big for mainstream phone at the time. It was BIGGER than any Samsung Note phones! Even Samsung dared not go that big! I couldn't buy it. After being a Nexus fanboy, I had to walk away that year. And since then, Google hasn't shown me they regained their mojo like they had during those exciting gen3, gen4, gen5 Nexus years.

Motorola actually had a 5.2" SHAMU version they were testing. We saw leaked benchmarks as late as mid-August, but Google decided to go with the actual whale size. Motorola engineers in an interview about a year ago said they tried to dissuade Google from the very large size. The phone itself was excellent, but should have been in a "mainstream" size. (Before then, the model number referred to the gen number, NOT the screen size. The Nexus 4 was closer to 5" than 4". Even the Nexus 5 was not 5". The Nexus One was not 1".)

I was waiting for a 5.2-5.5" 1440p Nexus 6, based on 2014 mainstream phone sizes (just like ALL the previous Nexus phones, which always seemed to be an average of that year's top OEM flagship phone sizes) and instead Google went with 5.95" (with HUGE BEZELS). I couldn't believe it. :rolleyes:

I had owned TWO different Nexus phones in a row because Google seemed to have their fingers on the pulse of what was important. The Nexus phones ALWAYS had cutting edge specs. Don't let anyone ever tell you different. Nexus phones ALWAYS had the latest fastest processors, GPUs, the highest resolution displays, and the most RAM. Yes, Google always skimped on battery and the cameras were never anything to brag about. But CPU/GPU chipsets, displays, RAM -- YES.

And they always put it in mainstream size. While lots of 2014 phones were 5.0" (exactly), and some were 4.7" (Motorola, for one), the LG Nexus 5 was 4.95". It was NOT 5.0". Google could have easlily secured a 5.0" display, as Samsung, Motorola, Sony all had them in their phones. What was 4.95"? Almost an exact average of the five top OEM flagship phones released that year so far (5.2" LG, 5.0" Samsung, 5.0" HTC, 5.0" Sony, 4.7" Motorola -- owned by Google)

Making the same calculations for the 2014 Nexus 6 (which was gen number, NOT display size), it should have been about 5.2". The 2014 Galaxy S5 was 5.1" as was Sony's flagship. The 2nd gen Moto X was 5.2", as was the HTC. Only LG went "big" with their 5.5" -- but had minimal bezels. Average size: 5.28". So, 5.2" or 5.3" at the most. But NOT 5.95" :( (with huge bezels)

Then Motorola announced the Quark. It was basically the 5.2" Moto Nexus 6, but for some reason they left off stereo speakers and rear camera OIS. Yet, had a HUGE 3900 mAh battery! I knew the Verizon "exclusive" claim of the Droid Turbo was bogus. I knew it. I just had to find this phone elsewhere... And sure enough, it was released not only in the U.S. by regional carriers (Moto XT1250, exact same FCC ID as the Droid Turbo) but also in Latin America countries and later India as the XT1225. The XT1225 variant had all the AT&T LTE bands (2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 17), so I was golden.

For the first time ever, I didn't own an LG phone or a Google Nexus phone. Technically, it was designed while Google owned Motorola, at the same time Google/Motorola designed the Moto Nexus 6, so it's VERY close to the Moto Nexus 6. In many ways, it is a "Google" phone.

In summer of 2015, I actually won a new LG G4 through an AT&T launch promotion. I still admired the 2014 LG G3, even though it wasn't as "good" as my Quark. The 5.5" 1440p LG G4 was a slight refinement on the LG G3. But I sold it and bought my 3rd Quark (which I recently sold on Swappa) to be emergency backup. If the Quark didn't exist, I probably would have owned THREE of those LG G4...

The 2016 LG G5 best not be discussed. It was worse implementation of the "mods" idea than Motorola's. And somewhere in the LG G4/LG G5 eras, the manufacturing quality control of LG slipped. Lots of reports of bootloops due to overheating and bad solders on motherboards. The 2016 Samsung Galaxy Note 7 fiasco scared LG enough they said they have overhauled all their manufacturing quality control processes. (LG and Samsung are fierce South Korean competitors, so LG has bragged what happened to Samsung will never happen to them.)

Motorola meanwhile was sold and bought by Lenovo after the 2014 Quark high point. They also slipped big time. The 2015 Kinzie (Droid Turbo 2/Moto X Force) had the gimmicky plastic shield instead of adding stereo speakers/rear camera OIS. Oh, and they REDUCED the battery size for the followup to the Droid Turbo/Moto Maxx, even though they now had a larger frame to work with (5.5" display). Idiots.

In 2016 and 2017 they have "mods" to charge you more money to add back what should be in the phone in the first place. Bigger battery, stereo speakers, Qi wireless charging... Oh, you want a steering wheel with that car? Cost you extra!

Samsung...

I kept looking at Samsung phones, but except for the 2011 gen3 Samsung Galaxy Nexus (which was really a Samsung Galaxy 2.5 -- released halfway between the Galaxy 2 and Galaxy 3, and having a LOT of the Galaxy 3 hardware specs, like 720p AMOLED) I've not owned any. Between them and Apple, Apple is the worst, but Samsung's business practices leave a lot to be desired. They were caught hiring people to post fake bad reviews and benchmarks against competitors in forum threads. Their Notes have always been too big for me, but I've kept up with the Galaxy S flagship phones. I've admired their AMOLED displays. Our Moto Quarks have Samsung Super AMOLED display.

The 2015 Galaxy S6 was neat, the S6 Edge was innovative (but a lot of people complained about that side screen). Also that year, they reduced battery size and removed SD card.

The 2016 Galaxy S7 and S7+ was an improvement. They listened to complaints and INCREASED the battery size and added back microSD card. And they kept the headset jack.

The 2017 Galaxy S8 and S8+ were the first Samsung phones I've seriously considered buying, but I wanted to see what else was out there this year (see page 1 of this thread).

2016 ZTE Axon 7 was FANTASTIC phone with only one deal killer - no Qi wireless charging. I was hoping the ZTE Axon 9 would make an appearance by now.

Well all the Samsung phones have wireless charging! Still I wanted to wait and see...

The 2017 LG G6 was a good effort, but had "last year's Snapdragon", still didn't have OLED (even though LG makes the best OLED TVs in the world), and they regionalized the specs. You couldn't buy an LG G6 with 64GB, Qi wireless charging, quad DAC version. If it had Qi, it had 32GB. If it had quad DAC, it didn't have Qi, etc. Later in the year (July 2017), LG did make an LG G6+ for South Korea that had all those specs, but the bootloader was locked. Oh, but it still had Snapdragon 821, after many Snapdragon 835 phones had been released. STUPID. THAT LG G6+ should have been the LG G6 -- released to the whole world! Back before the S8, you could get away with using "last year's" Snapdragon, as long as the rest of the phone was overwhelmingly good.

LG tried to beat Samsung Galaxy S8 to market by not waiting for the Snapdragon 835

. I can sort of understand that strategy, as Samsung had basically locked up all supply to until well into the 2nd quarter of 2017, but they shouldn't have regionalized the hardware specs. When they released the G6+ (ultimate G6), in July it still had the Snapdragon 821. No one is going to buy that. PUT EVERYTHING INTO THE PHONE when you first release it. Don't release 'better" versions later, to make early buyers think they were suckers.

Somewhere in the past couple of years, LG has decided their V series would be the "BEST" phone of the year, while "G" series would be "OK". They even admit that in interviews. Yet, both are supposed to be "flagship" phones. Samsung has no problem making TWO "BEST" phones of the year -- one early in the year, one later in the year. LG doesn't understand that concept, and the LG G6 suffered for it.

OTHER 2017 PHONES...

ESSENTIAL

Not top tier specs -- missing 1440p, headset jack, built-in Qi wireless charging, etc.

NOKIA

Locked bootloaders. Nokia 9 will probably be excellent, but I'm not buying a phone I can't root. Also it probably won't have Qi wireless charging.

BACK TO LG...

But the LG V30. WOW. It's actually a better phone than the Galaxy S8/S8+ in design. LG nailed that curved edge that Samsung has problems with, where people tap on stuff accidentally. Plus cutting edge f/1.6 rear camera, and then a 2nd wide-angle camera. I like that very much.

Qi wireless charging, check.

Zero-bezel look, check.

1440p OLED, check.

Not as big as this year's Note, check.

IP68 WITH a headset jack, check.

The LG V30 reminds me very much of the exciting LG G2 and LG G3 days where you couldn't wait to see what LG would pull off next. Plus, historically LG always had very minimal bezels. The reason the LG G3 was so great was it was a 5.5" 1440p display packed into a much smaller phone.

Look at the 5.5" 1440p LG G3 vs the 5.5" 1080p iPhone 6 Plus (which is the same size as the iPhone 6S Plus and iPhone 7 Plus)

Both these phones have the same size display, the difference is in resolution and bezels.

Similarly, the LG G2 has slimmer bezels than other phones at the time.

The LG V30 just advances the concept that REALLY LG created! Slimmer bezels and bigger displays.

Of course I will be getting the bootloader unlocked eligible LG V30, with full ADB flash commands -- not one of the crippled carrier branded models.

Quibbles...

The front camera should be better (more megapixels)

Could have 6GB RAM instead of 4GB, to be more future-proof. Note 8 has 6GB RAM.

I also wish they had put on stereo speakers.

Stereo speakers ban be done very minimally, like the

2016 Alcatel Idol 4S

. Those FRONT FACING SPEAKERS 3.6-Watt JBL certified speakers provide "unreal audio that can fill a room" the 5.5" 1440p phone are FANTASTIC. According to one guy I talked to, he said somehow they directed sound forwards and backwards.

ALCATEL IDOL 4S

ALCATEL IDOL 4S

THAT is how you can do stereo speakers and still have almost no bezel. LG, Google? Pay attention!

CONCLUSION

Only in 2017 with the zero-bezel look and Snapdragon 835 do I feel there are phones that not only match but surpass the Quark. Sure, in 2015 and 2016 there were iteratively faster CPUs and in 2016 4GB RAM became the standard instead of 3GB.

But zero-bezel and Snapdragon 835 is the real line in the sand.

Of the 2017 phones so far, for me the LG V30 wins.

RELATED:

LG V30 hands-on: Samsung should be worried

LG V30 Review - Android Headlines

(very extensive hands on review)