Root Us996 unlocked, is root possible? Custom roms?

[codezer0]

Okay, here's the thing. Specs wise, looking at my needs and wants out of a phone, best (and last) phone made that best meeds these needs is an lg v20; specifically, the unlocked us996 model. I might be presently with T-Mobile as my carrier, but past experience has taught me that every carrier locked phone should be treated with suspicion, if not expect it to basically be useless within a year, let alone two or more.

I last bought the lg g4 us991 unlocked, believing (and partly, hoping) i could root and tinker to the level i was able to do with my old sm-n900 note 3. Unfortunately for me, that was not the case.

I need to know that i can actually install magisk and be able to do stuff like run a custom rom on the v20 before i can consider looking for this phone to meet my needs. At this rate, it's either this phone or basically pc upgrades and a proper capture card, since realistically I would only be able to get it whenever i get my tax return. I'd rather know for certain now, before said tax return arrives in my account.

 

[Napalm]

what do you expect to get out of a custom rom on a V20? this is the more important question.

Rooting - should be easy enough and has benefits.

Custom rom - limited to any benefit. Unlike samsung, most of the LG software is rather useful and if you want to run someone else's app to do a similar thing - you can. (IE run one of the other camera apps)

But usually custom rom's don't have some of the software pieces (I hate to use the word drivers but it's as close as I can get) that allow some of the specific abilities of the V20 to work. SO some people have issues with custom roms. I figure part of that is the V20 hardware (second screen, hifi dac, etc) and part of it is Android 7.0.

I say all that to say I've rooted my device but I don't bother with custom rom's

 

[codezer0]

Well, in reference with my note 3, Samsung stopped supporting anything past 5.1 on it. While i lost function of the stylus, custom rom allowed me to run Android 7.1 on same Note 3, enabling a new lease on life it previously didn't have (the outright lack of support for the exynos note 3 until recently was a starving point).

Long as stuff like TWRP and similar can be used, there's much more chance that such can exist on the v20, and i can get more usable life out of the phone. I really dislike being forced to replace phones, even more so now that anything after the v20 series is made to be disposable garbage.

 

[El Presidente]

https://forum.xda-developers.com/v20/how-to/laf-download-mode-how-root-t3676011

From that thread -

As part of my research on the Boot Chain of Trust (BCT), it occurred to me that if you have an unlocked boot loader, you can flash whatever you want to the recovery partition. The only LG V20s that have unlockable boot loaders WITHOUT using the engineering aboot are the US996 (unlock.bin from LG), and the H918 (fastboot oem unlock). This wouldn't really be needed by the US996 since it has all fastboot commands available, the H918 however, does not.

So it looks as if LG will allow you to unlock the bootloader of the US996 variant so you can install TWRP and Magisk.

Also confirmed here - https://www.androidpolice.com/2016/11/24/lgs-bootloader-unlock-tool-supports-lg-v20-us-open-market/

Also confirmed via LG themselves - http://developer.lge.com/resource/mobile/RetrieveBootloader.dev

 

[Napalm]

The V30 seems pretty solid so far.

bigger bit - what do you think the later versions of android get you? HOnestly I see nothing in android 8 that is going to do me any better on my V20. ANd to be fair 7 doesn't do much better than 5.1 did on my samsung note 3 - which is my back up device.

now on the root and rom bit - many people have been able to rom the V20 - even the other versions. SO you should be able to. There's a thread on reddit about it.

 

[codezer0]

The V30 seems pretty solid so far.

bigger bit - what do you think the later versions of android get you? HOnestly I see nothing in android 8 that is going to do me any better on my V20. ANd to be fair 7 doesn't do much better than 5.1 did on my samsung note 3 - which is my back up device.

now on the root and rom bit - many people have been able to rom the V20 - even the other versions. SO you should be able to. There's a thread on reddit about it.

With android 5, app permissions were all or nothing. If i didn't like a specific permission my only recourse was to not install the app. At least as of android 6 i could selectively block such permissions for the app. It also enabled me to use magisk, which allowed me to finally play pokemon go again after more than a year of being unable to because oftheir stupid decision to arbitrarily block standard root methods that were available in earlier Android releases.

As for the v30? It's a sealed battery. That instantly defines it as trash. I already went through a year of hell with the moto x pure, recommended to me by this very forum. Do not even think to suggest such a phone to me again. All of my problems with the mxpe were to do with the awful battery creating problems, and then not being able to source parts because lenovo decided right then and there to ban anyone from selling official parts to service the phone, leaving only chinese knockoffs at triple the price.

 

[Napalm]

I forgot about the app permissions thing- I do like selective permissions.

the sealed battery isn't that sealed but it will require tools for removal. I don't like it - but I know why they are going to this. Everyone else seems to want an IP____ rated phone so they don't have to think about what they are doing when they are using said device.

But it can be removed with a little effort - I'm mostly OK with that. Biggest design issues for me are the need for removable/expandable memory and a headphone jack. Google committed to the expandable memory thing some time ago saying they wouldn't remove it from the OS again.

I sort of wanted a MotoX pure also but them not making it with the flagship SOC's turned me off on it. It wasn't that attractive a price.

 

[codezer0]

I forgot about the app permissions thing- I do like selective permissions.

the sealed battery isn't that sealed but it will require tools for removal. I don't like it - but I know why they are going to this. Everyone else seems to want an IP____ rated phone so they don't have to think about what they are doing when they are using said device.

But it can be removed with a little effort - I'm mostly OK with that. Biggest design issues for me are the need for removable/expandable memory and a headphone jack. Google committed to the expandable memory thing some time ago saying they wouldn't remove it from the OS again.

I sort of wanted a MotoX pure also but them not making it with the flagship SOC's turned me off on it. It wasn't that attractive a price.

There is no reason, now or ever, to forgive or placate these manufacturers. Lg already proved they could make water tight and enable support for an extended battery with the v20. They chose to make a disposable piece of shit with the v30. Do not defend them.

It is a sealed battery because you can't pop it out or install a bigger battery. And by the time i would be in the market to try and replace the battery, even if i have the tools to open these sealed phones, these phone makers decide "oh, this asshole wants to fiz their phone. Let's ban that" and intentionally starve supply so nobody can source the parts. Thus forcing the need to buy another phone.

Since no phone maker will even try to make a phone with a stock battery of 10k mAh or more, here, there isn't a single sealed phone on the market with enough battery life to even last me a typical day. The only reason I'm tolerating the g4's battery is because even now, in 2018, i know i can get an extended battery to upgrade to. Same with the v20. I can't say the same for anything newer, and the sealed battery was designed to make them disposable. While having the damned gall to charge more for a phone than a gaming laptop. And I'd get much more mileage out of a laptop.

And for God's sake, stop calling them devices. They're phones. Phones! You're not a marketing major. And one can't drop a phone sim into a tablet and expect to be able to make or take phone calls.