Looking to buy 5 phones, replaceable battery is number one req

Snowdensjacket

Snowdensjacket

Limp Gawd
Joined
Apr 10, 2017
Messages
366
Hello [H] members. You guys have been my go to for tech for over twenty years now. I'm hoping some of you guys can give me good advice.

I'm looking to replace every phone in my family. I would like them to work on the Verizon network in the US. My only real requirement is that they have a replaceable battery. This is non negotiable and I'll buy a Chinese spy phone if I have to to get this one feature.

Other than that I care that it has Bluetooth, I'd like removable storage in SD cards, and the cheaper the better. Though I'm willing to pay.

I don't game on my phone as phone games all ended up being horrible POS micro transactions disguised as games and they are not fun at all. I've got a ton of Roms and that's how I game on my phone. I use Bluetooth all day long at work.

My family will just get what I want, since it's my money. Everyone has a dying battery at this point, or a phone that has been updated to the point where features we used to enjoy have been flat out removed. Cause that's what is called an "update" these days.

So I am not relying on my phone for much anymore.

In fact maybe there is a Bluetooth iPod type thing I can just use instead and then buy cheap garbage flip phones for my family for phone calls and use tablets for mobile internet and YouTube and crap instead. Mobile gaming can just go.

Anyone have any suggestions? Super kudos in advance.
 
I understand where you are coming from. Its the reason I never plan to get rid of my LG V20 if I can help it.

I have no real advice for you, but I do know of a half solution that may be of interest.

Motorola phones work with verizon and while they don't have removable batteries, they do market battery packs which operate like a phone case would. Its one of their "Moto Mods" The idea being your internal battery can be crap, but you can replace the attached external phone case battery as much as you need to and you wouldn't know the difference.

Smaller 2220 mah pack ($50)

Fast charging 3490mah pack ($70)

Not an ideal solution, but something to consider. I believe they should work with a few different models at different price points.
 
Another vote for the V20, the Verizon model is the VS995, and you can typically find them for about $120-150 on eBay and at other places if you're paying attention. It has Oreo available now (stock ROM), it works great, great display, good battery life (better under Oreo especially idle/standby time), practically the best audio out there if you're heavy into good quality audio playback, outstanding audio recording capabilities, etc. No it's not a new device but the Snapdragon 820 SoC is no slouch, 4GB of RAM, 64GB internal storage (about 53GB available), microSD slot for up to 2TB more (yeah, I know, a few more years but we'll get there), and of course the removable battery.

A very solid device, pretty much the last best flagship you're going to find if that matters. Sure you can get cheaper devices - a lot of the lower end budget devices from LG are the only ones still having removable batteries as more manufacturers stop making them with those.

The Moto Mods thing isn't a bad solution but the phones themselves are fairly limited. If you're paying attention you might find some of the Moto Z Play models available that support the battery mod but they're going to add up with 5 phones and 5 mods, I'd personally say go for the V20 for Verizon myself. I'm not affiliated in any respect with this seller but I just took a look at eBay and found this:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/LG-V20-VS995-Android-Verizon-Wireless-64GB-4G-LTE-Smartphone/382119387956

For the price, and what the phone offers + that removable battery aspect, they're worthy of consideration in my opinion. The seller has fairly good feedback over the past 13 years, and it's a B-grade stock for the phones but I recently got a V20 (T-Mobile H918) that said it was C-stock and cosmetically damaged; when it arrived it didn't have a mark on it, was literally new but it had been used, but I got that one for $110 shipped to my door.

Removable batteries are just becoming rare, and LG is still the only big name smartphone maker that's making at least some of their phones - again, the lower end budget models - with those removable options. The V20, still a beast to this day and into the future as far as I'm concerned. As far as batteries for the V20, while it's still possible to get actual OEM ones from some sellers, LG no longer manufacturers the BL-44E1F factory stock batteries. I found two of them from an Amazon seller a few months ago, actual OEM parts, $18 each but now I have 3 factory batteries that I cycle through once a week so I'm good to go.

It's entirely possible to get "cheap Chinese ones" from some companies but batteries from Anker, PowerBear, ZeroLemon, Perfine, and Hyperion (all available from Amazon sellers) work just fine and sometimes offer a bit more capacity than the factory 3200 mAh as well.
 
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If you do end up going the V20 route, I would look into a few potential roadblocks. Keep in mind my experience with it is just a sample size of 1.

1. Boot loop
2. Microphone dying
3. Screen retention (like temporary burn in)

I've experiemce all 3 on mine. Boot loop isn't a big deal for me as switching to a better usb cable or higher amperage wall wart would fix the issue.

The mic is an annoying one. It is hard to judge how common that one is or not. Could be a self induced problem too such as having left the phone in humid rooms (aka next to showers)

The screen retention hasn't given me any big issues and has been completely temporary from everything I've seen. It just means images that are static for long periods tend to be retained. This ghost image usually fades in a minute or so.
 
Tiberian said:
Another vote for the V20, the Verizon model is the VS995, and you can typically find them for about $120-150 on eBay and at other places if you're paying attention. It has Oreo available now (stock ROM), it works great, great display, good battery life (better under Oreo especially idle/standby time), practically the best audio out there if you're heavy into good quality audio playback, outstanding audio recording capabilities, etc. No it's not a new device but the Snapdragon 820 SoC is no slouch, 4GB of RAM, 64GB internal storage (about 53GB available), microSD slot for up to 2TB more (yeah, I know, a few more years but we'll get there), and of course the removable battery.

A very solid device, pretty much the last best flagship you're going to find if that matters. Sure you can get cheaper devices - a lot of the lower end budget devices from LG are the only ones still having removable batteries as more manufacturers stop making them with those.

The Moto Mods thing isn't a bad solution but the phones themselves are fairly limited. If you're paying attention you might find some of the Moto Z Play models available that support the battery mod but they're going to add up with 5 phones and 5 mods, I'd personally say go for the V20 for Verizon myself. I'm not affiliated in any respect with this seller but I just took a look at eBay and found this:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/LG-V20-VS995-Android-Verizon-Wireless-64GB-4G-LTE-Smartphone/382119387956

For the price, and what the phone offers + that removable battery aspect, they're worthy of consideration in my opinion. The seller has fairly good feedback over the past 13 years, and it's a B-grade stock for the phones but I recently got a V20 (T-Mobile H918) that said it was C-stock and cosmetically damaged; when it arrived it didn't have a mark on it, was literally new but it had been used, but I got that one for $110 shipped to my door.

Removable batteries are just becoming rare, and LG is still the only big name smartphone maker that's making at least some of their phones - again, the lower end budget models - with those removable options. The V20, still a beast to this day and into the future as far as I'm concerned. As far as batteries for the V20, while it's still possible to get actual OEM ones from some sellers, LG no longer manufacturers the BL-44E1F factory stock batteries. I found two of them from an Amazon seller a few months ago, actual OEM parts, $18 each but now I have 3 factory batteries that I cycle through once a week so I'm good to go.

It's entirely possible to get "cheap Chinese ones" from some companies but batteries from Anker, PowerBear, ZeroLemon, Perfine, and Hyperion (all available from Amazon sellers) work just fine and sometimes offer a bit more capacity than the factory 3200 mAh as well.
Click to expand...

Wow thank you very much for the write-up and the link! That phone looks far better than what I imagined I would buy and I was budgeting $500 per phone! I'll just order a few extra knock off batteries and a battery charger and I'll be good to go
 
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Snowdensjacket said:
Wow thank you very much for the write-up and the link! That phone looks far better than what I imagined I would buy and I was budgeting $500 per phone! I'll just order a few extra knock off batteries and a battery charger and I'll be good to go
Click to expand...
I currently have a 256gb microSD in mine with support for "up to 2TB" So storage shouldn't be an issue either. If you live near a microcenter, they make some pretty cheap microSDs worth checking out.
 
SanDisk 128GB cards are like $22 on Amazon these days, they're UHS-1 rated for 80-90MB/s reads and 50-60MB/s writes, also A1 certified ( for Android app performance). I got one a few weeks ago and the (now) combined total storage is more than I'll need for quite a while. I have like 40GB of FLAC files I play using USB Audio Player PRO aka UAPP which uses the DAC exclusively and it sounds awesome as expected.

The V20 is fucking awesome even in spite of a few issues - yes the screen retention exists, no I don't care about it at all personally. I've never known of anyone to have bootloop issues as the older LG phones did (G3, G4, V10, and some reports of G5 units) so that report above is the first I've ever heard of it. If it's truly the same bootloop issue there's no coming back from it once it starts.

Anywho, I hope it works out for you, OP.
 
Yeah "boot loop" with this V20 is largely a nonissue unlike phones before it. LGs statement is it is only caused by using bad USB cables (or underpowered charging sources in my case).

I wouldn't worry about that. Just know if it ever happens it should be an easy fix.
 
I think the v20 is your best bet for a Verizon phone. Still a pretty solid phone by today's standards. If you can unlock them I would highly suggest a custom ROM.
 
I have now received my phones and they are great. One of them has a dent that prevents the back from fully closing without a case to force it but that's fine for the amazing price.

Just got on Verizon's network tonight and am very much looking forward to seeing if I can actually receive phone calls in the middle of downtown salt lake while I'm working now that I'm not on tmobile.

Thanks guys!
 
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