International Versions

[dpham00]

I see bands 2 and 4, but not 12 on Metro's 4G frequency bands.. there is a 17, however.

The website is wrong . Metropcs uses lte band 12. It doesn't use lte band 17.

 

[79adam79]

The website is wrong . Metropcs uses lte band 12. It doesn't use lte band 17.

So I've done a ton of research this week and the LG G5 RS988 came out on top. The RS988 is the unbranded version. I figured this would be the best choice as I'd be avoiding all the bloatware of the carrier specific models. The 4G runs on all three of Metro's bands; here are the network specs from LG's website;

LTE Band: 2/3/4/5/7/12/13/17/20/25; CDMA Band Class: 0/1; UMTS Bands 1/2/4/5/8; GSM 850/900/1800/1900 MHz

The one thing I'm still curious about is the audio quality of the G5. I was reading somewhere that there's been no real improvement since the G4, maybe even a dip. The LG V20 is at the top of every "best audio" list along with it's predecessor the V10. The G5 and V10 are pretty close in price, but the V10's 5.7" screen is WAY too big.. I'm compromising with the G5's screen at 5.3".

Maybe I'm just knitpicking at this point; I'm pretty sure I've fallen deep into the cell phone rabbit hole.