[LG V30 Questions & Answers] ChazzMatt:
In Spain you will need GSM/HPSA/LTE.

V30

For the V30, the US998 (which is officially carrier unlocked model) it has all those plus CMDA (which you don't need, but doesn't hurt). The US998 was designated to be the "universal" V30/V30+ for North America. I'm going to briefly discuss the others just so you sort of know the difference. Others like U.S T-mobile H932, are locked to T-mobile and have an extra LTE band 71, which only T-mobile uses and would not benefit you whatsoever. Others like Verizon VS996 are already unlocked, but often give you a nag screen when rebooting if a Verizon SIM card is not inserted; as if you didn't know. :rolleyes: The Canada H931 is carrier unlocked. The Sprint LS998 is carrier locked to Sprint, and the only way to carrier unlock it is to "Frankenstein" convert it to US998 (or some other carrier unlocked model like Canada H931 or Verizon VS996). AT&T H931 is carrier locked, but can be carrier unlocked by Frankenstein converted to a carrier unlocked model. With Frankenstein, whatever North American V30 phone you are flashing BECOMES the other model. You will see some eBay dealers incorrectly saying the US998 is locked to U.S. Cellular (a carrier here in the U.S.); this comes from them not knowing what they are selling. Yes, SOME US998 were sold by U.S. Cellular, but the US998 was the designated "open market" carrier unlocked model for North America and no US998 is carrier locked whatsoever. LG also sold the US998 through authorized 3rd party retailers like B&H Photo. They were all carrier unlocked, designed to be used with any carrier.

The other caveat is some of these are 64GB (VS996, H931, H933) while others have 128GB available like the US998 V30+ and the LS998 V30+. US998 also comes in 64GB model, but you might as well buy the V30+ (128GB).

The reason I mention "Frankenstein" is because there was a huge glut of Sprint LS998 V30+ on the market, and we found you could buy one and easily convert it to US998 V30+. I bought two and did that. No longer locked to Sprint, has fastboot flash commands and easily rooted (you probably don't care about that), and much less money than "native" US998 V30+ at the time. Dealers quickly figured this out also. In fact, most "new" or "mint" US998 V30+ you see on eBay for very good price are probably former LS998 V30+. That's OK.

So, it's no longer necessary to buy an LS998 V30+ to convert to US998 V30+, as the dealers have probably done it for you (or at least converted to the Nougat stage).

For your purposes, US998 (especially the V30+) is probably what you want of the North America V30 world. I have not mentioned the "European" H930 (64GB) or H930G (128GB) or the dual SIM H930DS (128GB), as importing those to U.S. for eBay sellers here make them more expensive.

http://www.lg.com/us/cell-phones/lg-US998-Unlocked-v30

US998 V30/v30+/V30S

CDMA: 800 MHz CDMA

2G GSM: 850/900/1800/1900 MHz

3G UMTS (HSPA):850/900/1900/2100 MHz

4G LTE Bands: 1/2/3/4/5/7/12(17)/13/20/25/66

UPDATES

You will probably have to manually update the phone through software known as LGUP. New firmware images called KDZ are

posted publicly here

and on other websites. Takes 5 minutes, whenever you want, and you simply choose "Upgrade" mode. LG releases updates every 2 or 3 months.

You will also hear about checking for updates via LG Bridge (another piece of LG software), but it's better to just download the KDZ you need and use LGUP than to constantly have to fire up LG Bridge and check.

If you bought a "native" US998 V30+, you possibly would receive OTA updates. However, between the three native US998 V30 & V30+ I own, I've only received ONE OTA update in 1.5 years, and that was early on. So, don't depend on that.

You probably don't care about bootloader unlock and rooting, but for those who do ALL V30/V30+/V30S variants can be bootloader unlocked and rooted. That cannot be said for V35.

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V35

Basically 2018 updated version of the 2017 V30. Snapdragon 845 vs Snapdragon 835. Has 6GB RAM, while most of the V30 (except for the V30S) has 4GB RAM. However, I've owned several V30/V30+ and none are slow. Downside: comes in 64GB, whereas many V30 have 128GB internal memory. Yes, allegedly there is a V35+ (128GB) but I've only seen it mentioned on websites and can not actually buy one here in the U.S. or even over the internet.

The main U.S. V35 variant is sold by AT&T and is ostensibly locked to AT&T. Meaning that only AT&T network SIM cards will work. However, if the dealer says it's "unlocked", then mean they have entered the code to carrier unlock the phone, which AT&T allows when the phone is paid in full. You can usually buy with confidence these "unlocked" phones. One way or another, they have been unlocked. (Any "carrier unlocked" LS998 V30+ you see online means it's been converted to US998 to be carrier unlocked.)

While AT&T was the first to sell the LG V35, it's also now sold other places as well, like for Google Fi and some Latin American countries. So, it's no longer an AT&T exclusive and never was. AT&T was just the first. Having said that, the ones for the least price will probably be the AT&T V35 models. As long as it's advertised as "unlocked", you are OK.

UPDATES

For AT&T LG V35 (even if carrier unlocked) you can only get updates while connected to AT&T SIM card or through one AT&T-affiliated MVNO called Red Pocket. (If there are other AT&T-affiliated MVNOs that allow updates, it's not been confirmed.) This is the same situation if you buy an AT&T H931 V30. AT&T wants you to be their customer and they do not release KDZ to the general public, nor allow updates to be sent to non-AT&T customers.

However, this is only true if you keep the AT&T firmware (AWM). For V35, you can cross-flash to the OTHER V35 firmware (ULM) and be up to date. This would again use LGUP. I just bought an AT&T V35 and the previous owner (who still uses V30+ as his daily phone and is active in this forum) cross flashed it to non-AT&T firmware to debloat it and to update it. I will continue to use my own (rooted) US998 V30+ as my daily phone, but this V35 looks interesting.

For others who may be reading this, right now (end of March 2019) the only way to bootloader unlock and root the V35 is to buy one from China with that already done. However there is no TWRP yet for V35. [MENTION=3167089]runningnak3d[/MENTION] is working on all that.

Here are the frequencies you will get with the LG 35 Google Fi version. I assume if you cross flash the AT&T V35 you will receive all these bands if you don't have all these bands? I'm asking in the V35 forum to confirm this assumption... With the V30, when you cross flash North America variants to Frankenstein them, it converts them totally to the other variant.

LG V35 Google Fi bands

https://www.lg.com/us/cell-phones/lg-V350ULM-Google-Fi-v35-thinq

GSM: 850/900/1800/1900 MHz;

UMTS (HSPA): 850/900/1700/2100 MHz;

LTE: 1/2/3/4/5/7/8/12/13/14/17/20/25/26/28/29/30/38/39/40/41/66

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CONCLUSION

I'm more comfortable recommending the US998 V30+ (128GB) to you right now, but an "unlocked" AT&T V35 (64GB) (especially if cross flashed to Google Fi firmware) would work well for you -- if the 64GB storage size (plus microSD card) fits your lifestyle and you don't care about bootloader unlocking/rooting (at least right now).

* With US998, you will have to update via LGUP using "Upgrade" mode once you download the KDZ. That's not hard.

* With AT&T V35, if you want updates, you will have to cross flash to different firmware first, then continue to update via LGUP using "Upgrade" mode. That's not hard either, but it depends on how comfortable you are doing stuff like that.