[LG V30 Questions & Answers] Ashtrix:
Well, unfortunately i broke mine too. It was a stupid accident. The glass panel is cracked at the very rounded edge of the assembly, a deep crack million pieces held by screen guard. The display took a hit at the lowest it shows white lines (not a big deal). The screen protector is a that water based one which is holding it well. The display doesn't flex still thankfully, however the crack is bad. Over the time it will definitely have some impact... Until then I'm not going to move to any other phone.

Once it dies off, going to pay for the display repair and other servicing at LG repair and get a new battery and make this into a full rooted Oreo DAP without any SIM usage it will run for 10 years for sure If I just keep it topped off at Charging and then maybe even request LG to ship me a battery if possible. There are so many DAP reviews at Head Fi and YT. They have garbage OS / Stupid form factors / extremely underpowered chipsets / no root no mods nothing fun and more.. LG phones are to be honest Class A DAPs which have no rivals in the industry.

So just to discuss the landscape...for many of us folks.

- root with BL unlock

- no hole no notch, no display mutilation.

- 3.5mm jack (not much important now because this phone will be used as a DAP and I have an old iPod with modded Firmware and SD flash modded, uses a solid Wolfson DAC)

- SD card slot (more important than 3.5mm jack for me since this phone is going to be a DAP, Sd slot is must because I cannot rely on a storage which locks behind a display what if the display is cracked and I cannot access anything personal ?)

And I cannot find a phone ... how low Android has fallen in both Software and Hardware, it's just sad.

- Samsung phones had them but no more, and US versions no BL unlock, Exynos is a mess (S10 is good, but the Samsung policy of repair is bad and LTE in US is broken due that that regional differences)

- Sony phones have them still and new Xperia 1 Mark III is about to be announced with 3.5mm jack and SD slot and that useless 4K OLED at $1200+ and bonus DRM keys wiped for Bravia engine, and Sound processing for unlocking BL. Even If I take hit, the price is too much, which killed the XDA scene due to obscene pricing. They could have sold them at low prices with BF and Chrismas / New Year deals but they are not doing it. Utter damn shame.

- LG, since we all know about this company's fate now (so many reorgs, no BL unlocks, bad software - I love v30 UX esp Oreo one. Because it just works no BS but after V30 they changed whole camera UI and copied Samsung ugly pill design One UI garbage and what not... now they are closing shop ??)

- ASUS ditched with Zenfone 7 for 3.5mm jack and that motorized camera is improved with this which is superb for no notch/hole but I don't want it tbh and loss of IP rating on top their ZF7 didn't even launch in US plus it lacks US bands I guess.

- OnePlus, overpriced and heavily markted garbage with no basic features but has solid custom ROM community, which is a great niche bonus which all phones lack now.

- Motorola phones ? I remember during Moto X days while Nexus 6 was in prime and before selling to Lenovo by Google, not sure if they have any good phones now..

(ignored display resolution downgrades because HW is more important sadly now.)

I was checking the Pixel 4a forums, there is no guide for basics on A/B slotting BS I remember that from a long time how bad it is, people are asking if the TWRP even works with no dev response. Horrible state of Pixel phones, what the actual fk really and on top Telegram channels and other BS instead of discussing here on forums FFS. Nexus phones were supreme in this aspect, I owned Galaxy Nexus, it was a breeze to flash and unlock. I really miss those days.

Does it even make sense for updates guys ? What is that you crave for in the new Android 9 and up ? I saw WiFiman won't work on Pie, that's just one.., Just look at Android 10+ the atrocious recents is really useless, they put horizontal cards that to not even stacked, so basically you won't know which apps are running and how to fast switch since it's gestures. The buttons are optional thankfully which is ofc superior.

Security updates, yes they are very important but honestly I have been running rooted Android and Windows machines with 7 and 8.1 with no updates yes I can update, but I don't bother since I know what I'm doing so unfortunately this doesn't apply to all since many will click on bad pages, bad browsing habits, poor add-on / extensions utilization etc. So sec updates matter but sadly no OEM nor Google, nor the chipset maker care, because this market is the biggest rip off.

SAF hits very hard on top. Scoped Storage just killed everything that Android had, for eg - Kiwi Browser, I downloaded an image / pdf. I cannot see it under normal folder structure because it downloads to its own folder. Now there's one Pixel example, Pixel recorder, it has all the recordings but when you go to storage, with files default bs app, you cannot see it because Scoped Storage, one must "Share" through that app's menu to other apps, you know where this happens ? iOS. It's exact same. So basically Android is castrated hard at the basic level - Filesystem. You know which one shares the same disaster ? UWP, Windows 10 DRM. That Xbox Games as a Service bs uses it too, nothing is accessible to user no mods, no tweaks nothing. Any game the overlays won't work - FPS info, HW info and tools like MSI AB / HWInfo / Rivatuner etc. All inspired by control freaks at Apple corp.

Now when I looked at phones to buy all I see are hole/notched garbage phones without SD slots, no 3.5mm jacks, broken filesystem with high performance hit on top due to the SAF API. I even said bye to Xposed since Rovo went offline, because I didn't want extra battery drain on this phone (and the stupid 2FA garbage checks, luckily I backed up those apps which work an update to them will render the 2FA broke), but now to give up storage also ? I refuse to play along this stupid game now. Android as a pocket computer is dead. It's just a glorified iOS alternative for Social Media BS nothing more, for instance this phone has USB to Video out, I highly doubt any new phone has it, maybe Sony. HTC, LG, Samsung used to do in the past & that's a niche feature but it's now lacking basic things.

So I refuse to spend a lot of money for these replaceable garbage consumerism products, $1000 phone value depreciation under 1 year is 40% hit with Android market, and that's a lot of money loss for absolutely 2 years of max lifespan due to Li Ion battery cells. It's really waste of money. I still have to rely on a phone because of Office work due to the stupid 2FA and I need to use banking apps since we all rely on the go computing.. for now I'm fine because WFH.

And I absolutely agree that LG Dev team really on purpose put this exploit. This dev team is probably that last folks which handled the Software and HW so well, apparently some are still there that's how LG still packs a lot in a phone but the days are numbered for them.

Tell me if anyone has any ideas...just my opinion/rant maybe. I could only share with my V30 family here.