Reliable phones that don't bootloop, have a good DAC and a headphones jack..

N4CR

Supreme [H]ardness
Joined
Oct 17, 2011
Messages
4,947
LG V10 decided to finally boot stick/loop. Pondering hot air solder repair or just get another phone.
Sick of replacing phones every few years and other than the shitty solder issue on these it's a great phone and does everything I need.

Any suggestions?
Heard Motorola typically tops reliability rates, HTC 2nd but curious as to if there is any phone that has an established track record (over 2 years) with very minimal failures?
Alternative is another cheap 60USD V10 but it will no doubt fail at some stage in the future plus the software is getting on a bit.
 
Essential Phone with the audio attachment, if you can still find them, depending on your carrier

also look into the Razer Phone 2. Sure, you have to use a dongle. But supposedly that Dolby Atmos and stuff is fantastic and recommended by audiophile forums/guides.
 
  • Like
Reactions: N4CR
like this
I think your best option is Galaxy S10 since it has a headphone jack at least and you can get a decent DAC adapter for it through USB if that's not good enough. I got this cheap DAC adapter for my Pixel 2 XL just to keep a spare in my bag as a backup to my original adapter and it seems to work fine, but I didn't compare them and don't care about the highest quality audio while I'm working out (when I usually use it if I forget my wireless buds at home).

I haven't seen any OEM have any remarkable failure rates since LG had with the V10, V20, G4, and G5 boot loop issues. LG started offering a 2 year warranty on their next phones after that fiasco to instill a bit more faith in their hardware and it seems they've been mostly solid since then or at least no less so than any other OEM.

At some point, probably your next phone after this if not this one, you're not going to have the option of a headphone jack and will be forced to get an external DAC adapter unless you get a cheaper budget phone with all the other trade-offs that usually entails. Buying an old/used phone really isn't ideal either unless you want to replace the battery that's most likely worn to 3/4 of it's original capacity at a minimum if it's a couple years old, which depending on the phone might not be too hard/expensive to do yourself or maybe another $80+ to have someone else do it.

So I say embrace the dongle life for now. Find a deal on any newer phone you like otherwise and buy a couple external DAC adapter to keep attached to your headphones or whatever. It's not that big of a deal to me that way and you can probably find an adapter that's much higher quality than the built in DAC on those LG phones depending on how much you want to spend on it and also use it with other phones, laptops, PC, etc.
 
As an Amazon Associate, HardForum may earn from qualifying purchases.
  • Like
Reactions: N4CR
like this
Essential Phone with the audio attachment, if you can still find them, depending on your carrier

also look into the Razer Phone 2. Sure, you have to use a dongle. But supposedly that Dolby Atmos and stuff is fantastic and recommended by audiophile forums/guides.
That dongle (Razer's own) is really poor by the way (measurement wise).
 
  • Like
Reactions: N4CR
like this
I think your best option is Galaxy S10 since it has a headphone jack at least and you can get a decent DAC adapter for it through USB if that's not good enough. I got this cheap DAC adapter for my Pixel 2 XL just to keep a spare in my bag as a backup to my original adapter and it seems to work fine, but I didn't compare them and don't care about the highest quality audio while I'm working out (when I usually use it if I forget my wireless buds at home).

I haven't seen any OEM have any remarkable failure rates since LG had with the V10, V20, G4, and G5 boot loop issues. LG started offering a 2 year warranty on their next phones after that fiasco to instill a bit more faith in their hardware and it seems they've been mostly solid since then or at least no less so than any other OEM.

At some point, probably your next phone after this if not this one, you're not going to have the option of a headphone jack and will be forced to get an external DAC adapter unless you get a cheaper budget phone with all the other trade-offs that usually entails. Buying an old/used phone really isn't ideal either unless you want to replace the battery that's most likely worn to 3/4 of it's original capacity at a minimum if it's a couple years old, which depending on the phone might not be too hard/expensive to do yourself or maybe another $80+ to have someone else do it.

So I say embrace the dongle life for now. Find a deal on any newer phone you like otherwise and buy a couple external DAC adapter to keep attached to your headphones or whatever. It's not that big of a deal to me that way and you can probably find an adapter that's much higher quality than the built in DAC on those LG phones depending on how much you want to spend on it and also use it with other phones, laptops, PC, etc.

Didn't realize the S10 still had a jack, great idea thanks! Also lots of modding support I bet.
You're probably right - it's inevitable really but I'll support whoever can keep a jack the longest. They're tiny anyway!
My main issue with dongles is all that pressure on one port as I travel and wear headphones often when working offshore. That said USB-C seems much hardier than micro USB.. and I can always re-flow another one on.

Have seen almost no mentions with V30 but still slightly present, I guess they were fine-tuning the method to avoid this. Pretty crap really though and the only major issue with what are otherwise great phones.
I ended up just doing the lazy heat up-reball with a hot air SMD station yesterday (on two V10s haha) which worked fine, will get the stencils and do a proper re-ball in future when it goes again.. apparently they underfilled them so even if you do use solder it can happen again (although unlikely).

Regarding battery I just whacked a 6600mAh in the V10, gets me a few days of use unless it's on 24/7 heavy use. better than anything new I've seen. I'd much rather a thicker phone with that sort of battery than the crappy 4kmAh and under options currently available. Power efficiency can only get you so far when the screen uses most of the juice anyway and LED tech isn't going to magically break quantum efficiency barriers any time soon.

You may want to look into that DAC.
Interesting AQ getting in to DACs, thank you! I use their cables.

Essential Phone with the audio attachment, if you can still find them, depending on your carrier
Didn't know that existed... very good recommendation thank you!

As the repair was successful at this point in time, I'm going to slog on with the V10 but it will need replacement in future and I thank you all for the excellent suggestions. Another option is wait for the V3i version/2nd generation of the new razr folder.. cheaper, better camera and CPU and battery. But still will be pricey.. hmm.
 
As an Amazon Associate, HardForum may earn from qualifying purchases.
LG V10 decided to finally boot stick/loop. Pondering hot air solder repair or just get another phone.
Sick of replacing phones every few years and other than the shitty solder issue on these it's a great phone and does everything I need.

Any suggestions?
Heard Motorola typically tops reliability rates, HTC 2nd but curious as to if there is any phone that has an established track record (over 2 years) with very minimal failures?
Alternative is another cheap 60USD V10 but it will no doubt fail at some stage in the future plus the software is getting on a bit.

LG seems to have struggles with their bootloop issues. I had bootloop issues with both my LG V20s in the past - and one of my LG G2s. I've since moved over to Oneplus and have been very happy.

I just got a pair of LG G8s for my sons...will be curious to see how they hold up after a couple of years.
 
LG seems to have struggles with their bootloop issues. I had bootloop issues with both my LG V20s in the past - and one of my LG G2s. I've since moved over to Oneplus and have been very happy.

I just got a pair of LG G8s for my sons...will be curious to see how they hold up after a couple of years.
Heard they figured it out after the V20... epoxy fill/solder/etc and got it right.
Good luck!

I'll move on eventually but for now if it's just a reball once in a while I'll keep em on haha.
 
That's what I heard before I got the V20s (that they figured out the bootloop issue after the V10).

LOL.
 
  • Like
Reactions: N4CR
like this
That's what I heard before I got the V20s (that they figured out the bootloop issue after the V10).

LOL.
Yeah it's a sad blemish on what are great phones otherwise, still working almost two weeks later post- reflow.

Iphone. Not even trolling, the DAC on them is regarded as one of the best with the dongle.

https://www.kenrockwell.com/apple/lightning-adapter-audio-quality.htm
As much as I dislike them it's actually a solid recommendation that fits the bill and had not considered it. Thanks!
 
Yeah it's a sad blemish on what are great phones otherwise, still working almost two weeks later post- reflow.


As much as I dislike them it's actually a solid recommendation that fits the bill and had not considered it. Thanks!

I would agree -- for the most part. LG does make a pretty good quality phone that doesn't exactly crush you with amount of bloatware that some other brands do. They try to innovate also (although so did HTC and look where it got them!) as evidenced by the G5 modular design and the V20 secondary window. Sadly, many will remember a part of the LG phone legacy as a period of time where bootloop was rampant, especially among the G4-G5 and V10-V20 release windows.

I wish my V20 would have been more ambitious and bootlooped sooner so that I could have taken advantage of the cash settlement that LG was offering for those affected models.
 
  • Like
Reactions: N4CR
like this
Anything newer than the V30 won't have bootloop issues. LG fixed that.
 
  • Like
Reactions: N4CR
like this
Back
Top