phone 21 – lg g4

being unimpressed by the local phone brands, i widened my horizon and hoping that i can finally buy a phone that is worth keeping. two of my considerations are usability and uniqueness. lg mobile is one of the makers of uniquely designed phones. the camera and user experience they provide also impressed me, when i came across people using lg phones. their simple and squarish L series were good. their G series is great. their “rear button” design and curved displays got my attention. their version of curved display is like the curved TVs and monitors, concave (bowl) not convex (rounded). they first made that on lg g flex, as what i can remember. but since the first generation seemed to be quite overemphasized, i choose the one that has subtle curve. i chose a powerful one. i chose lg g4, released in 2015, which i bought as a second hand unit in 2016.

bootloop? ye. after more than a year, the phone gets bootlooped. i was aware about the problem so it was easy for me to accept it. however, when i tried plugging it to the outlet, the phone boots. it took long hours before it can be charged up to 100%. when i unplugged it, the phone got bootlooped again. still thankful that the bootloop was not due to damaged circuit board and might be the battery based on what happened. so i keep it in a box along with my phones that are not working anymore, until 2020. i bought a fake, but known to work brand of battery for my lg g4. luckily, it worked! the good thing is, the battery is user replaceable!

the newly bought fake 3000mah battery was charged for almost 3 hours in 2020. i calibrated the battery for 5 cycles, then maintained a charge between 20% to 90%. i occasionally used it. most of the time it is on my working gadgets box.

now the 2021 battery test! the phone was charged significantly faster at a little over 2 hours. it also managed to last for some minutes over a day. more than 5 hours of active usage, and 19 hours idle.

music play is one of the forte of lg g4 despite of not having the quad dac on it. as we know, lg is known to put quad dac on their phones and had the reputation to have the best audio experience on a smartphone, at least using the 3.5mm audio port which is becoming nonexistent on most flagships, by the way. the audio setting lets you change the pitch and speed. there are some preset sound modes too. but one of their sound modes produces static noise when the volume is set to zero and using through the loudspeaker, but again, no such noise on 3.5mm audio port. speaking of the speaker, nothing outstanding about it. the quality is good. but it is not immersive, being not that loud and placed on the rear side. the curve back somehow helps when placed on table as it is not covered. but when i do play music through the loudspeaker, i usually place it on table, faced down. wireless audio is also good. but again, the best music on lg g4 can be experienced through 3.5mm audio port.

web browsing is good. images are crisp. setting it to desktop mode is also good for its 2k ips display. it is also easy on the eyes even on dark environment since it is capable of lower nits. its processor and my data connection helped each other for fast loading of pages. it can easily do such stuff in 2021, which is impressive for a phone that is now considered inefficient, as it is 4 times the size of the newest soc. but, being that large, it really gets warm faster than my other phones, to the point that i am quite anxious it might actually be bootlooped if used heavier than what is on my testing. such heating issue, if you consider that as such, is also present when playing games. as casual as subway surfer gets the phone really warm.

for the camera, both photo shoots and video recording were worthy, even in 2021. manual camera settings is present. so it can also do lowlight photography. it only needs to have a tripod for good quality, as the iso level and noise-cleaning is not as good as the night mode on 2021 phones. it can also freeze some moments, but not for flash photography since it uses led flash which cannot be as good as xenon flash. the image stabilization also works good, as the not-so long exposure can be done handheld. stabilization on videos is also amazing. the phone can also shoot at 4k resolution. on the downside, image processing is not as good as the 2021 phones as there are some artifacts when zoomed in even for lower iso.

another forte of this phone is playing videos, whether those of what you shoot or movies you copied from anywhere. it has good contrast despite being an ips display. and their algorithms for auto brightness is ideal. it does not quickly go from bright to dim. it seems to be in synch with how my eyes adapt to ambient light. with that, i prefer such over other phones that are too quick in changing the brightness. another worth mentioning about the touchscreen display is its responsiveness and some peculiar ways of doing stuff. for instance, the double tap to wake and sleep are handy features. i can also tap to sleep even on lock screen which is not the case on some other phones, where you still need to unlock the phone before you can tap the home screen to put it to sleep. i also like the time peeping gesture when the phone is asleep since i usually check the time on my phones. you just need to drag your finger down and the time will show as long as you hold on to the touchscreen display.

overall, this is still a great phone in 2021, unless you game a lot on phones. from taking photos, recording videos and enjoying those and more on its crisp display and great 3.5mm audio. just be mindful of the temperature, because you really do not want it to heat up and eventually bootloop.

sadly we cannot see more of what the potential phones that lg can make since they already quit the smartphone industry. people who claimed that it does not matter, does not really have an idea what lg have contributed to the industry. their aggressive take on designs are unique and surprisingly useful. i wonder why some people does not give credit on those, especially most tech youtubers, ehem, i mean paid tech youtubers. those people should be the ones celebrating the new technology brought about by many brands. look how more potentially useful the concave curve. it is more pleasing to the eye and it does not distort the viewing experience knowing that smartphones are usually used nearer to our eyes compared to large curve monitors and TVs. also, it is not prone to accidental touches, it is even good on hand. quad dacs. i never saw any other brand which is fully invested on great audio dac, most brands even killed the 3.5mm audio port. their take on knock code, tap to wake and sleep. their take on video production is totally impressive. unique form factors that is surprisingly helpful on productivity and yet you can use the phone as regular as other phones. first, they did that on dual screen from v50, v50s, v60, and even velvet. second, the swiveling design on lg wing. some people who thought that lg made it just because they can did not watched the announcement of such masterpiece. they covered almost all possible use cases on the phone. and the gimbal mode is also impressive. the hyped has not die down on me yet, apparently.

so, i am genuinely saddened about their exit on the smartphone industry. their exit might slow down the development of smartphones in the near future if no other brands take the lead. most people are now satisfied on what smartphones can do, perhaps. some are just looking at how phones look - visual appeal. they are tickled by different camera humps. some are chasing numbers. but real innovation on those is really stagnant. but what can people, like me, do about it, when we are outnumbered by such people? remember, that no matter what science is showing to be of great advantage, and no matter how technology is potentially advancing, when the society supports mediocrity, science and technology will just comply with mediocrity.

phone 20 – firefly mobile aurii secret 4g

image - noypigeeks

another local brand got my attention. initially, firefly mobile aurii envy got my attention. it looks like the sony xperia z5 premium released in 2015. but seeing the aurii envy in person changes my decision, and i settled with this phone that is released in 2016 – the firefly mobile aurii secret 4g, and yes bought on the same year.

sadly, it is another phone that i do not consider worth-keeping. so, it was passed on to different people again, until it was gone.

but having it as an extra phone was good. i liked the build of the phone. it is quite heavy and despite it being not-so-precision-made, it is still a joy to hold. the frames are metal that made the device heavy, the back is a flimsy plastic but looks like metal. it is almost premium. i also like the sturdy case and tempered glass that came with it. true enough, it is sturdy. i had the courage to drop it from waist to the ground, and it was not damaged at all. no crack and it still works fine.

i usually use it for mobile internet – i browse the web through it or use it as a portable wifi hotspot instead of my sony xperia z3 dual. this 4g phone performs like my other 4g phones, my xperias.

i also used it for other purposes, sometimes. music, photo shoot, and video recording. a decent performer – powering a game, decent display, decent sound. but that is about it. not impressed, not disappointed as well. the retail package was also marketed by firefly mobile as a premium one, with black box – inside the complete accessories and a thick warranty card. but i cannot say that the smell is premium. ha!

the only downside that i experienced with the phone is the unbearable heat it disperses even with the case on. without the case, the metal frame can almost scald my hand. perhaps it will if i force myself to hold it a little longer.

overall, it was decent. but it is not worth-keeping like the cloudfone thrill plus, nokia x2 dual sim, and asus zenfone 5 (after the update). i guess, these are the phones that are mostly a “touch and go”. nice to have, but not that great to keep.

phone 19 – cloudfone thrill plus

image - left, gsmarena; right, gizguide

wiko robby on the left is the model unit of cloudfone thrill plus on the right.

 

before anything else, here is the unboxing of gizguide - https://www.gizguide.com/2016/07/cloudfone-thrill-plus-impressions.html

released and bought in 2016, this was my first phone that is locally rebranded. as i was browsing before buying this phone, i came across a wiko phone that looks like it.

sadly, just like asus zenfone 5 and nokia x2 dual sim, i do not think that it is worth keeping. nevertheless, there were some noteworthy about this phone. i will try my best to recall those.

one is the music experience. the quality is not as good as the xperia phones i have, but there is a certain tuning that was made on it. the front dual speakers are louder than the xperias but not as on asusfonepad note fhd6. there is also a surround sound option. and since we are on speakers, during calls, the dual speakers swap roles. both top and bottom part of the phone has mic hidden on speaker grills, so when you answer a call with the phone upside down, the speaker that is place over the ear will work as the earpiece. neat.

web browsing is quite good too. as i remember, it only covers up to 3g network. the speed, including the loading of pages is decent. pages look decent, but images are not that sharp, it has low resolution display.

gaming is good, but not as good as my other android phones. include the camera results and performance on the decent level as well. i was never impressed by those, but not disappointed as well. i guess, it meets my expectations for a locally rebranded phones back then. it was not a waste of money.

being a phone that i consider not worth-keeping, it also became a family phone – whoever wants it pick it up and use as they like. until it was gone, too.

phone 18 – sony xperia z1 compact (b)

just like phone 17 – sony xperia z1 compact (a), i also bought this phone in 2016. this phone is completely the same as that. i am reluctant to tell the purpose of buying this phone though. wehe.

surprisingly, i also got similar results on battery test. so, it might be as abused as the first one. in 2020, it was charged for only 15 minutes, this 2021, it went up to 30 minutes. again, this is not the fast charging of 2021, it is just a faulty battery. and as you can see, it does not manage to last even just for an hour.

based my testing on music play, web browsing, playing casual games, taking pictures, recording videos and watching videos, it was similar to z1 compact (a) – of course they are of the same model.

after this phone, i tried some locally rebranded phones.

phone 17 – sony xperia z1 compact (a)

first photo below shows the face unlock feature (on kitkat, btw) which is also present on my sony xperia miro. this time, they included the blink feature, just to make sure that the face is not a picture of the owner.

just few months within 2016, i bought another phone. another xperia. another phone released on 2014. and since i need a compact phone, i settled for sony xperia z1 compact. z3 compact and z5 compact were already around when i bought this phone – i just preferred the metal frame, and of course the price. it is better than miro in a lot of ways. but there are some adjustments i made moving from the reliable, sony xperia miro.

but before we go into the memory lane, i am going to begin on the battery test, which is the ultimate reason for doing this series of blog.

the 2300mah battery was charged for an hour and 8 minutes last year. on my test this year, it managed to finish charging for almost 40 minutes only, not because of fast charging. the battery is completely off. it is quite bulging. perhaps, it is because of the age. it might also be because of extreme usage. sony xperia miro is still better in battery life, but z1 compact is a flagship of yesteryears, which means it produces more heat when used extensively. i also used it often as portable wifi hotspot before. and since it has more to offer, i used it more – photo shoots, video recording, watching videos, video chat, on data connection almost all the time. it may also be, because of unusual charging – proprietary magnetic charging of sony, but really similar to pogo pins. perhaps the suspected culprit – using while charging. on usage, shown below, it somehow manages to lasts for more than an hour. but there were cases when it shuts down earlier than that. certainly, bad battery.

music play on this phone is similar to sony xperia z3 dual. except that this phone has single bottom-firing loudspeaker, not as immersive as the z3 dual. but they are on par on 3.5mm wired audio and wireless audio.

web browsing on the phone is good, but the experience is better on phones with bigger display. it can still load up pages fast, the way it loads up before. no unnecessary page refresh for 2-3 pages as the 2gb of ram can handle it. as said before, i usually use it as a portable wifi hotspot. the internet connection is better than almost all of my older phones.

gaming is good as well, during its time. i also managed to play some newer games on it – and my favorite subway surfer, ha, can be run without stutters. it does not get noticeably warmer on offline games, unlike the heat it produces whenever the data connection is on.

the cameras were great too – both rear and front camera. the things i enjoy on sony xperia z3 dual are present on this phone. the rear cameras are identical, while the front camera are similar. as a personal phone, i enjoy using it to family gatherings, and both timeshift bursts and timeshift video are the most commonly used especially when younger people are around. i was 23 when i started enjoying those stuff and having the phone as well. the lowlight photos are also decent. both photos and videos are good – i even prefer it than those camera phones with oversharpened and oversaturated results.

watching movies and video clips are not ideal on this phone, though, despite of good color reproduction and good viewing angles (unlike the xperia z, which was a usual complaints back then). the 4.3 inches ips display is quite small to enjoy doing this stuff.

as of 2021, the only issue i am experiencing is the deteriorated battery. for what it offers for the size is what made it one of the best phones i have. i only upgraded this personal phone in 2020 – and that is 4 years of serving me well. to compare it to miro, which was my main phone before it (both a personal phone and a work phone), that one served me for 3 years.

this phone experienced some abuses from me. i was not scared to use it while it is raining, or never worried about it getting wet on my pocket during rainy days (there were times i came home soaking wet). on outdoor family affairs, where hands are dirty, i am free to use it and rinse it afterwards. but, not anymore, as the battery is already bulging and some seals are already off. but, again, despite of that, this is still a good phone in 2021... if only the battery is good.

phone 16 – sony xperia z3 dual

no phone has replaced my sony xperia miro since 2013, despite trying different brands, including nokia, which is my first favorite brand. some other phones have more capabilities, like the nokia lumia 1020 than miro. nokia x2 dual sim supposed to replaced the miro. however, miro proved to be irreplaceable that time for simple and intuitive interface; the social media integration also held me from migrating from miro. so, with such experience on a non-flagship xperia, i bought the sony xperia z3 dual in 2016. the same was released in 2014.

despite almost, 2 years of age when i bought it. my expectations were met, and beyond. no, it was not supposed to replace miro as the main phone. but, it is intended to be my work phone – the first one, despite being slaved, i mean, employed for almost 3 years.

is it still working in 2021? the answer is the battery testing result for 2021 below. last 2020, the 3100mah battery was charged for 3 hours and a little less than 30 minutes. this 2021, it was charged a little bit longer, almost the same, for 3 hours and a little more than 30 minutes. too little, right? this can be charged via usb or by using the magnetic charging i usually use on this. but for such test, i use the usb charging. as for the usage, it managed to last for almost a day, just 2 hours and less than 30 minutes, this phone will cover the entire day, 24 hours. if you remember, nokia lumia 1020 also has similar battery life. close enough.

music play is great, the loudspeaker is not as loud as asus fonepad note fhd6. but the quality is better. clear. i can hear some parts of the song i listened to, clearly. like some musical instruments and even back-up singers. aside from the loudspeaker, there is wireless audio and 3.5mm audio. the latter is the best. it is beyond my expectations coming from miro. the sound is also clear – include the calls, from my boss, since this is a work phone.

for web browsing, there is really nothing i complain about, the 5.2 inches fhd ips lcd display is satisfying. lay flat on the table, and from whatever angle i look at the display, i can easily read the contents. images are crisp. when i am on the road but needs to view some work-related images, i got to see what i needed to see – pixel peeping or whatever, it is okay without my laptop around. sadly there was this news about web browsers not supporting older android devices (in 2021), which standards will be followed by web developers. so this might affect the usability of this phone. but, being bought in 2016, it is still good that i can still browse the web, this 2021 with it.

gaming? just casual gaming. card games. puzzles. jewels or bubbles. you get the idea? these are the games i am sure this phone can run lag-free. but for 3gb/16gb memory configuration (the other variant has 32gb of storage memory), it might run popular games even in 2021. but the snapdragon 801 might struggle and absolutely produces heat faster than the processors in 2021.

for photo shoots. i was able to get some decent shots on good daylight and good details, courtesy of the 20.7mp f2.0 sensor. lowlight shots are decent even on 2016. compare this to nightmode of 2021, the results on this phone can be described as smudgy, blurry and has unresolved details. there are just some niceties the camera modes have. there is “face in picture” which is similar to nokia’s take on bothie. there is an “ar effect”, which becomes popular to phones even after 2016. familiar with camera apps that can make your face like a cat? or that app that can overlay some objects into the view? that is the xperia “ar effect”. there is also the “timeshift video” which lets you shoot at a high frame rate and save it as a slow motion video. that is 120fps, which is nothing compared to 960fps of organic shots, first time on xperia xzs and xz premium. xperia flagships have it up to the xperia 1 i (mark 1). there is also “4k video” capture, but phones were still weak that time, as it gets warmer than usual, using this mode. “timeshift burst” is another mode that is worth mentioning. it takes burst shots, including the shots before you press the shutter button. so, if you press the shutter button quickly after a lightning strikes, chances are, you get one if not more shots of the lightning. nice! i got some lightning shots, but some of them has this rolling shutter effect. it also has “live on youtube” which was not possible on most phones, then. “info eye” mode is like the google lens now. “sound photo” lets you save the ambient sound when you shoot. there is also a “background defocus” for a fake bokeh. “sweep panorama” and “creative effect” too are there. the modes are almost endless as some modes are downloadable. those mentioned were there out of the box.

on videos, aside from those modes, mentioned above, it can record hdr videos. 720p for as fast as 120fps. 1080p for the usual 60fps. 2160p (4k) only records at 30fps. the 2.2mp front camera handles video call and selfies, too. i guess, selfies were not yet popular those days, or at least on xperia devices.

i also enjoyed watching movies, especially when “image enhancement” is turned on. for my own video clips, i turn it off, though. the advantage of clear front facing loudspeaker is also evident when watching movies, especially alone since it is not that loud. for movie sessions with friends and workmates, the asus fonepad note fhd6 is the way to go – it is not meant for solo pleasure (cannot think of other term), but for sharing, so i am not concerned with “quality” on those sessions.

overall, the phone is still usable. it is enjoyable, only when you do not play with demanding games, as the soc and memory configuration, will struggle, if it can still play those. the body is still in pristine condition as i used a case before. now, mostly on my gadgets box, i remove all coverings – from case to screen protector. minimal hairline scratches can be seen but does not affect the experience when watching on the display. there are some cases, when the touchscreen is unresponsive. i guess, this is due to the bulging battery which just started recently. i am not sure, whether to have it repaired or just to remove the battery and lock it until i come up with things to do on it.

reviewing this phone made me remember that xperia was ahead of its time, especially in the camera department. the different modes were brilliant. the default mode even has a “scene recognition” algorithm which is now referred to as “ai camera” by most manufacturers. that 4k video. the youtube live video broadcasts. all these, on a phone released on 2014, experienced on 2016 is just amazing. it comes with a disadvantage though – the technology, hardware and software (by some partners) is not that ready yet to handle the features completely.

since this phone, the brand became my most favorite – ahead nokia. as for nokia, the nokia lumia 1020 might be the last one i would get.

phone 15 – nokia lumia 1020

being unsatisfied with nokia x2 dual sim, quite expected since it is a low-tier phone, i gave nokia one last chance. one thing i considered is where nokia, i mean microsoft is good at that time – providing a straightforward interface which i loved on my htc windows phone 8x. i considered some nokia windows phone. there are a lot of choices. to give nokia the advantage of this chance, i chose a phone with most positive reviews from ordinary users and technology enthusiasts. finally, i bought nokia lumia 1020 in 2015, released on 2013.

up to this day, it is still working and i was able to have a battery test. from 2 hours and a little more than 30 minutes of charging last year, this 2021, another 30 minutes is needed to fill up the 2000mah battery – a total of more than 3 hours of charging. it lasts for almost a day. still good for casual use in 2021. and if you go a little bit more of active use, the battery grip can help extending the battery life aside from activating battery saver.

music play is one of the things i enjoy on this phone. whether it is through loudspeaker or wireless audio, the sound is good. better sound comes out on 3.5mm audio, as it is tuned to dolby standards.

web browsing is just alright, i have the stock browser on windows phone 8, so there is really nothing to amazed about. what is important is, this phone is still capable of handling daily world wide web needs – social media, researches, online shops.

as for gaming, i only have the solitaire collections. this is not one of the strengths of nokia 909 (another name for nokia lumia 1020) as there are noticeable delays and stutters while playing the game. it also seems to be the worst battery-drainer and heat-generator (though i did not take notes on the battery used on each app).

if gaming is its weakest link, nokia lumia 1020 is known to have great camera system. the hardware stirs the interests of technology enthusiasts and the software part were praised by users for being easy to use. this is one of the reasons i want to keep this phone longer, use it longer. camera outputs are great even in 2021. whether i only use the fully automatic settings or manual settings, the results were great – not really on the latter since i have not mastered proper adjustments on the shots i wanted to take. most of the time, the results are still better on nokia lumia 1020 than on most phones i acquired after it. and it is also essential to mention that the video output is equally good. the optical image stabilization on this one is seamless, it is able to resolve some shakiness of my hands. adding to these, both led flash for videos and xenon flash for photos were great when ambient light is too low.

the last battery test i did, is to watch videos on its 4.5 inches amoled display, having more than 300 pixels per inch. it is not that sharp because of different pixel arrangement, making it look like an ips with sub-300ppi. nevertheless, i was still able to enjoy some movies and clips. the saturation might be good on those, but when i watch the videos taken with the phone’s camera, i had too select a subdued setting on the display. i actually put it as a default setting, since i also prefer a subdued color on the user interface. the puremotion hd+, clearblack display were also good. i appreciate it more now, since i tried some newer phones with amoled display, and some tend to have ghosting.

as for the handling, it is important to note that the upper part is heavier than the lower part because of the large camera module. after you are aware of that, there will be less chance of dropping it. i never did, thanks to those reviewer who pointed it out, and some exaggerated it. it is also pocket friendly, that is without the battery grip.

apart from those, you also get an fm tuner, numerous usual sensors, but not the expandable storage option.

overall, this phone is a beast. i cannot help myself but to adore this phone and glad that i still found it, 2 years after it was released. and, ye, it was already hard to find that time. i need to do some mall-hopping to find it. it did not replace my main phone, sony xperia miro, with this. but i always tag it along when i go somewhere for leisure. it is hard to let go of most of my phones, that is why i keep them, collect them. but, i guess, if i need to let go of any of my collections, nokia lumia 1020 will be one of the last phones i am willing to let go. see my ranking preference here: phone reviews - introduction and benchmark plans.