Where to get a v20 in 2018/19? Ebay? Swappa? Elsewhere?

[codezer0]

Long story short, I've rather had it with my g4, but more aggravated with the notion of spending more than a car payment for what i know is a disposable phone. Short of winning one, i want nothing to do with most of what's being actively sold out there. Again i find my only real choice is an lg v20. A us996 unlocked one, specifically.

But where can i get one? The only best buy within 30 some miles that does carry unlocked phones won't even carry it in store and wants $600 for it, still. And too often i find it going for 400 plus on eBay. And every single time i find an agreeable price on swappa, it's gone before i can even submit any relevant questions. The scarcity is real for this phone.

I just don't know where i can go that might have it more affordably, for a second-hand one anyway.

 

[Napalm]

I would probably only shop swappa at this point.

I would probably also trade over to a different model today - say the v30 or a G6 or such.

 

[codezer0]

The v30 and g6 all have the same problem. Nonremovable batteries.

As it is, i never get anywhere near the advertised battery life with any phone, from any maker. At best i only see maybe a third of the battery advertised. Most of the time, 1/5 or less. The only effective solution has been, replace the factory battery for an extended model.

The v20 is the last flagship level phone i can do that with. I'd still be using my old Note 3, if it was a model that supported any LTE bands. And this g4 is miserable without being able to root and apply effective adblocking. And every adblocking vpn out there absolutely murders connection speeds unreasonably.

I still haven't found anything newer than a v20, that i would consider investing into. A sealed battery is basically code for disposable trash to me, because even if bought brand new, it loses half its useful life within the first six months. No sealed battery phone ever, has lasted more than a calendar year for me.

If you're going to tell me i have to spend more than 1000 dollars on phones every two years, I'd honestly rather just save that money and get a damned gaming notebook. At least then with those specs, it would stay usable even five years from purchase. Which is more than i can say for just about any given phone.

 

[Napalm]

I don't know I used to be against the "non - removable" battery as well but honestly with a little work they are all removeable to some degree.

I'm about at the point 2 years in where I might replace the battery of my V20 because it's lost some capacity over the 2 years. bound to happen and it was one of the smallest battery flagship mobiles of the age.

I see more and more people using the "case - battery extender" device. Mostly on iphones but I think there are a few on some others here and there.

If you game that much on your mobile perhaps you need something else, I'd be surprised you'd consider the V20 purely because it's so behind the times. I still have my note 3 also it had LTE - so I don't know which bands you might need but if you're on say Tmobile with their new lower frequency system no it won't do that. I'm trying to bide my time until 5g is a real thing, but that's probably still 2 years off at best.

have you considered getting you a tablet to game on - and use your mobile has the hotspot

 

[codezer0]

A tablet? Why in the hell would i have a tablet for? I have no use for a tablet. As i said before, a gaming notebook would last me way longer than a tablet, or a sealed battery phone.

Thr v20 holds up for some very important reasons:

1. Extended batteries readily available, just like my old note 3
2. The us996 unlocked model, claims to have native unlocking support from lg itself
3. It being made as a flagship phone, means it won't be unusable anywhere near as quickly as with a "mainstream phone" like what motorola and now lenovo pass off

Got tired of how when i tried to slum it with a moto e, it would force close magikarp jump while i was playing it. And how the moto g i had before returning it to eventually get the note 3 took an eye watering 36 hours to go from dead to fully charged.

I'm also tired of sealed battery phones because of the mxpe that was also hghly recommended in this very forum. That phone destroyed its factory charger, 12 usb cables, 3 cases, one of the usb ports on the battery bank i explicitly bought for it, and in the end i had to sell it at a pittance for parts, because it refused to quick charfe from anything ever again. And by the time i got fed up enough to want to attempt to repair it myself? Lenovo basically sued everyone selling parts for it. So rather than 15 bucks for an official battery, i would have had to pay 50 bucks for a counterfeit chinese one plus extra parts the official kit lacked.

A v20 with a bad battery is solved with a replacement battery. And since i was able to buy a fresh zerolemon battery again for my note 3, im 2017, I'm more inclined it will be easier to keep the v20 alive.