Thinking of upgrading to LG G4 from One M8

[dquibs]

While I've had a pretty good time with my M8, it's time to move on. Had to send it in for camera repairs twice with no physical damage (just quit on me and all the resets and troubleshooting in the world did nothing). When the camera has worked, it has been underwhelming to say the least (but of course you already know that). Also, my M8 battery life is poor, with power saver on all day I never make it to the end of the day. So, with that being said, it's time to upgrade. I'm in line for a OnePlus 2, but honestly, not sure I really want to wait for it and it might not be the best fit for me. Recently I've been leaning towards the G4.

A few questions:

First, performance. Never really had an issue with this on my M8. I attributed the good performance to the best in class chipset at the time. So- how does the G4 perform? Little concerned with the combo of the 808 and LG's UI. In real life day to day use, how does it perform? Also- do you think it'll still run alright at this time next year like my M8 has done, or will it slow down?

Battery- Reviews generally say it's good, and I totally intend to take advantage of the removable battery feature. But how has it been for you? Honestly, all I need is it to last from about 7:30 am-10:30 at night. Can it handle that?

How's the software? HTC Sense is pretty light and quick. Do you like the software, or is it too obtrusive?

The backing- What's your opinion of the leather? I honestly like the plastic backing, it feels alright and looks cool IMO... But the leather feels and looks cool too. Is it worth it to pick one up?

Finally, where's a good place to buy one unlocked? (Yeah, Amazon, I know. But I live in Canada, so if possible, any places based here would be nice to know). LG doesn't sell it from their website as far as I can see. I would rather not get it from my carrier as I would have to sign a new contract to upgrade I believe.

Forgive me if a similar thread exists elsewhere, I combed through the forums and didn't see any, but I might have missed it. I would appreciate and answers to anything I asked above. Thanks!

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[Cool Jeff]

Me too I am tempted to switch from a long love story with htc to g4. My m9 is very good but "small" screen and high temps are irritating me.
If you don't like the lg launcher you can install htc sense 7 on the g4 (google xpirt xda sense) it's like uniting a very good phone with the best UI in android world.
The only thing I am worrying about is the low volume for earphones and the infamous touchscreen issue on g4

 

[scottysize]

A few questions:

First, performance. Never really had an issue with this on my M8. I attributed the good performance to the best in class chipset at the time. So- how does the G4 perform? Little concerned with the combo of the 808 and LG's UI. In real life day to day use, how does it perform? Also- do you think it'll still run alright at this time next year like my M8 has done, or will it slow down?
Performance is par for the course. I do have the VZW Lag on mine. I had an M8 and the G4 is no better or worse then the M8 was.

Battery- Reviews generally say it's good, and I totally intend to take advantage of the removable battery feature. But how has it been for you? Honestly, all I need is it to last from about 7:30 am-10:30 at night. Can it handle that?
I'm really not pleased with the battery life, but if I remember, the M8 lasted me about the same amount of time and the battery wasn't removable. I carry a spare battery and have 2 Qi chargers. It's always on a charger at home and at work.

How's the software? HTC Sense is pretty light and quick. Do you like the software, or is it too obtrusive?
I like LG's flavor of software. It's unobtrusive and gets out of the way if you set it. No complaints there. I wasn't a huge fan of the new HTC Sense. I was a huge fan of the Gingerbread Sense that I had with the Dinc.

The backing- What's your opinion of the leather? I honestly like the plastic backing, it feels alright and looks cool IMO... But the leather feels and looks cool too. Is it worth it to pick one up?
Don't get the plastic one. I started with the plastic one and returned it after getting a leather one. Love the leather! Hated the plastic. You're probably saying why did I just replace the plastic back. It's the button color. I started with the VZW White phone that had white buttons. The leather phone has a brassy tone buttons that makes a huge difference. It's way more classy in my opinion. I've actually got 3 leather backs. Orange, Light Blue, and Black. I installed the Qi charging sticker in all of them so that I can change them at will.

Finally, where's a good place to buy one unlocked? (Yeah, Amazon, I know. But I live in Canada, so if possible, any places based here would be nice to know). LG doesn't sell it from their website as far as I can see. I would rather not get it from my carrier as I would have to sign a new contract to upgrade I believe.
I use Swappa for every purchase I make. You might have to get someone to ship to Canada though. Also, if you can take advantage of the International Unlocked Version because you don't need CDMA, Go that route. I was given the INternational Version and it had no lag loved that phone, but doesn't work on our CDMA networks here in the states, so I had to give it to my brother-in-law who loves it.

 

[dquibs]

Hmmm. Thanks for the info it really helps. The battery really does concern me, I'm looking into other phones (like the Note 4) pretty much just for the battery life.

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[JayWill]

From my experience, battery life is decent. Not amazing but not terrible. On my setup and usage I get about 24 hours and 4 hours SOT so far on average. It's more than enough for my needs, and you can always swap in a fresh battery needed.

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[Cool Jeff]

4 hours SOT is good! I get only 3.5 hours with my M9 even with rom that boost battery life and I am not a 3D gamer on smartphone

 

[Kr0m]

I did the switch from the m8 to G4 at the end of June (from Telus to Bell) and I'm still glad I did.
- I'm satisfied with the battery life, having received the extra battery & charger is a bonus.
- I'm on the go with it from about 6am until 10pm and haven't really panicked about battery life (have a home quick charge hub and car quick charge if needed)
- I'd say I'm an avg user in terms of phone use. It's on WiFi most of the day.
I haven't rooted it (no plans to yet) but I've learned to get used to tweaks to get the most out of my day (ie: only use GPS when needed (which is rare), use Facebook Mobile page instead of its resource hog of an app), don't use chrome (switched to opera & nochromo), etc...
- I don't play games on my devices (that's done on ps4/PC).
- I've ditched LG's UI and went to Nova Prime. LG's isn't bad but gave Nova a try for the first time not to long after I got the phone and I'm digging the customizability with it.. HTCs sense does seem a bit more zippy, but not enough to annoy me at all.
- Camera is far superior.
- I've got both the greyish plastic and black leather backs. Love having the choice to be able to swap to either... But since I primarily switch between bugdroid and uag cases, I rarely use the leather cover. (Went with orzly tempered screen protector, which seems good so far)
- I did experience the screen touch misses but with all of the tweaking/customising I've done, they've pretty much disappeared.
- It does get pretty warm at times under heavy use, but that seems to be the norm nowadays (recently messed with a friend's new s6 and it gets way more hot than my g4... And after using their s6 for a couple hrs, it made me appreciate my g4 even more (for various reasons).
PS, Lux screen brightness app is a must.

Sent from my LG-H812 using Tapatalk

 

[dquibs]

Thanks for the informative reply. So did Bell bundle an extra battery with your G4 as a promotion or something? Don't think Telus does that. It's certainly nice to know that the battery can be optimized like you described, but how do you think it would fare if you did little to none of the steps you explained ? Eg, used chrome, Facebook Mobile app, played a game or two etc. Because I do all of those things on my devices and I'm curious if that type of useage is really taxing on the G4's battery.

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[Kr0m]

I managed to score the battery/charger/SD card through a corp. deal (lucked out).
Good question, from the looks of other threads/posts on here and other related sites, probably not anything to write home about if nothing is tweaked at all =\

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