Just bought "like new" LG G6, but not sure if it's a lemon?

[LGG6]

Got the phone today, looks great... very little debris in the SIM slot, but not that I was concerned about that.

But what does concern me is that the phone booted up, 17% battery, charged it to about 50 then system restore... ran into issues.

Basically it would hang up right after you enter the WIFI info and "google play stopped working" and basically freeze. Restarted a number of times to no avail -- same error. Finally overcame that by starting in safe mode.

Now the phone is "running" on my WIFI, but it has downloaded a 600mb update to 100% a handful of times and every time it "fails to install" so basically I spent that last 7 hours "updating" this phone and I'm not sure if it's a dud or this phone really is not that intuitive "out of the box." (I did put in a SIM from my prior phone, but data is off so I download via WIFI.)

Just tried it again in safe mode... at "validating" it says the install was interrupted.

Any guidance on what I should do? I hate the thought of being stuck with a lemon phone, but there is a clock ticking to return it.

Thank you.

 

[LGG6]

I don't know if this is useful but the phone has this info:
Android 8.0.0
Kernel 3.18.71
Build OPR1.170623.032
Software vers. H87120c
Security software vers. MDF v3.1 Release 2

 

[Rukbat]

If I bought that phone from someone with a return policy for defective merchandise (I'd want them to pay shipping, but if not - I wouldn't have bought it from them) I'd still send it back for a refund. It's definitely "like new", it's not even "like working".

 

[rap1]

Have you done a factory restore?

 

[bobdob]

You definitely shouldn't be having these problems. Makes me wonder if this is why the phone is being sold in the first place.

Did you do a factory reset? You'd think the seller did, but you can do it as well just to make sure. If you have never done a factory reset before read up on google's factory reset protection (https://support.google.com/nexus/answer/6172890?hl=en) so that you don't get yourself locked out by doing a factory reset.

It appears you have the AT&T variant. Are you on AT&T? This could be hosing up the OS update process if it can't connect to AT&T's network for some reason.

What "system restore" did you do? Is this where all your Google stuff that's in the cloud gets set up for you? You might want to skip this step in case something being restored is causing a problem.

 

[LGG6]

Thank you for the replies... I went to sleep and it was not working, but the next day it seemed to be. I took the SIM card out in case it tried to download and eat data.

But it appears to not need to update now, although the few times Ive turned the screen on there is always something like "unfortunately google play has stopped working"...

Like right now, I just turned it on and Google play, google pay and facebook have stopped even though I havent touched the phone. It came with this stuff installed... but how do i Make sure it's up to date maybe that's causing the errors?

Have you done a factory restore?

I think so, as soon as I turned the phone on, I went to settings> general>factory data reset

Are you on AT&T?

I am on ATT. At first I tried the updates without a SIM in, then with... now it's out while I use the other phone, a Samsung s7.

What "system restore" did you do?

Sorry, I meant that I reset the phone. I don't even have anything to restore since I just wanted a fresh phone with nothing on it to bog it down.

 

[LGG6]

As a follow up, I'm thinking about just hitting the factory reset thing again since I have not much to lose (I think) but is there anything to try before that or in addition to that?

 

[bobdob]

As a follow up, I'm thinking about just hitting the factory reset thing again since I have not much to lose (I think) but is there anything to try before that or in addition to that?

The key to the factory reset is don't let google go and restore all your stuff right away, otherwise if you had some bad app/data combination that is causing the issue, it'll just come right back.

So, factory reset again but do not restore anything (other than setting up your accounts so that you can actually use the phone). Use the phone in a bare bones way and if any of the built-in apps crash like that, you have a problem that is not worth dealing with. If it works ok without any of your apps, load them gradually and see if one of them is a problem. I actually have had a mystery app cause my phone to randomly reboot. Never figured out for sure which one it was, but I uninstalled a ton of stuff and the reboots stopped.

 

[Aura1]

So now you know: "Like New" = "NOT Like New"

Just curious, but where did you buy it and how much was it?

I just bought one at Best Buy 29 days ago: "Actually New" and everything is awesome.

If you still have time to RETURN then do so Immediately.

When something like this happens, even if you seem to fix it, in the back of your mind - you'll always think there's something wrong with it.

$399 at Best Buy -> GO . . . Now . . . Unlocked Black LG G6 US997