OK, I will be glad to. Brace yourselves, here come years of knowledge and thousands of pages read, and dozens of experiments, if not hundreds. THIS POST IS NOT FOR THE FAINT OF HEART. Test device: LG V10 H961N with Android 7 V30A, updated via Uppercut.
First: Bootloop. It is common with LG V10 phones, manufactured in 2015. So, if the first letter on the back, below the battery, starts with 6 or 7, you are lucky, it will never bootloop. I have dropped mine dozens of times on the concrete, stepped or sat on it, played games until the power buttons got burning hot...for a year now.
Second: Spare parts. The headphone jack costs a few bucks on AliExpress, so does the speaker. I changed both a few times, since the impedance adapter is heavy and wears off the jack over time, and occasional cable twists (especially on public transport) do that. On rare occasions, speaker cuts off and I cannot discern a full sentence, be it on video chat or Youtube. Even after replacing the speaker, it continues to do so. Any suggestions?
Third: External chargers and batteries. These are the best idea, since mine stopped charging via micro USB. It was a blessing in disguise. Whenever I will be busy, I put a battery in it. They are slow, take around 4 hours to charge a battery, which is excellent to do before going to bed, or leaving the house. The slow charging is temperature-friendly, and it makes up for the full charging from 0-100% (which decreases battery life). I rarely use the second screen, I burst laughing when iSheep claim how "revolutionary" the "dynamic island" is. When I showed the V10 to an experienced Electro-technical seaman, he litteraly screamed in anger (started immediately apologizing after I challenged him to a fight). There are quite a lot and more experienced than me technical experts, but I am a straight-to-the-point man and will make an incredible guide. I will leave the best info at the end of the post on purpose.
How do we calculate power, and how come exactly the same batteries differ in performane? Well, there are many ways to determine the amperage. Accubattery Pro is correct when measuring it, off by only a small margin. As we know, 1A = 1000 mA. Whe use mA only below 1000, otherwise it is embarassing yourself in public. Imagine a guy saying "600 seconds", instead of "10 minutes". The capacity is measured in Hours. How many hours can IN THEORY a battery last under certain load? A 3 Ah battery would give 3A for 1 hour, or vice-versa. Normally, people see that Accubattery measures one battery at 2.6 Ah and another in 3.4 and they are happy to announce the latter as a winner. Voltage also matters, and there is no way to accurately measure it, as Li-On batteries will cut off before full discharge, the phone will be turned off. Yes, absolutely, 2.6 Ah < 3.4 Ah. But what if...the 2.6 Ah battery holds higher voltage during heavy multitasking? For this, I used Your Battery Drainer for Android. To make the test as realistic as possible, I only chose from its menu to perform simultaneously Background video play and Wi-fi browsing. I believe loading the CPU at 100% and vibration and flashlight torture tests are pointless and not real-life scenarios. Suprisingly, the 2.6 Ah beat almost all other batteries.
I have a fairly constant routine in the ways I use my phone. So...in real life usage, over months...I saw very different endurance from all batteries. So different, that the Battery Drainer test was obsolete. Not happy to lose a few months worth of time... Next, I used a simple power socket with LCD watt-meter to calculate exactly how much power was needed to charge each of my batteries. It turns out around 25 Wh, give or take. This is the correct way to measure power, as it equals Voltage X Amperage (a simple explanation). I was suprised to see some batteries giving less than half ot their rated capacities, even when new. So, I ranked them from worst to best, and took 3 of the worst ones with me. They`d last a few hours and I would make it through the day with multiple batteries. It was embarassing, but I spent quite a lot of money and I wanted to use them as much as possible, to make up for it. With a few months of patience, some were unusable and I was happy to bin them.
Due to temperature conditions and other factors, some batteries would turn off the phone at 30-40%. I even carry an external charger with me that I plug into a wall socket at the Naval Academy, since USB chargers are prone to breaking the micro USB when travelling. Using the worst quality batteries was easy, since they charge in around 2.5 hours time. So, the phone never heats, I can always use it without waiting for a charge, I just cary 2-3 batteries with me, no cables or power banks, which turned out to be INCREDIBLY CONVENIENT, FROM 0-100% IN A FEW SECONDS, WITHOUT KILOWATT CHARGERS (LOL). I CANNOT IMAGINE USING A NON-REMOVABLE BATTERY EVER AGAIN. And the batteries are $10-$15 or so. Using a 400 GB mSDXC is also quite convenient. I carry the SD adapter with me and I don`t need to carry a HDD anymore, since most people use laptops with SD sockets. Removing the SIM or mSDXC by taking the back cover of the phone off is fantastic. No needles or pins when travelling, especially at the airport, that will make TSA "agents" jump you like Spanish bulls. All these things proved to be incredibly convenient and handy. And watching Youtube videos with the Quad DAC and HD 599 SE (50 oHm) is a blessing.
Keep in mind that standard, slim batteries that fit with the original phone cover cannot reach 4Ah. I`ve bought $ 60 batteries that are quite a ripoff. It is physically impossible. While I like the extended back cover since it gives a firmer grip...most of them are white and we all know how they will look like in a few months. How do I use my V10? Battery saver ON, full brightness outside. In sunlight, I turn the battery saver off and still have to lower the brightness, as there is plenty. After finishing what I need to do, I turn the battery saver back on. I always make it through the day with 2 good batteries, I do not need 3 of them most of the time. When I went on a few days` trip, I brought 6-7 batteries that were still lighter than a charger+power bank+cables. Did I mention the convenience? I love when I get mocking comments from n00bs. I start talking and they give up in a few sentences, seeing that they cannot understand technology. The first phone with: a notch, Quad DAC, second screen, very wide and comfortable, almost square 16:9 display...the list goes on. I don`t know if I am allowed to share eBay or Aliexpress links on the forum?
The worst batteries that are not even worth considering using, even as a gift: VHBW from eBay, OKCFTC, fake LG originals, Losoncoer. All these were between 1.5-1.8 Ah in capacity, and it was a headache to even receive them, I even planned an expensive holiday in order to wait for a few days and receive them. AliExpress was not helpful and the sellers were quite a joke in that matter. No refunds... And the worst battery of all was from eBay, SPORTING PERSISTENCE. Being a former sportsman, I bit the bullet. It was labeled as 15.6 Ah and only had 3.5 Ah in it. Two batteries, connected and glued. Same goes for the Mugen Power 6.2 Ah. One of them was swollen after the first charge, the other holds on well, but not worth the price. I paid incredibly expensive for those, shipped to Bulgaria and payed the VAT and high shipping cost.
I`d recommend standart sized batteries, as some external chargers cannot take extended ones. Mini-review of the better batteries:
Da Da Xiong from AliExpress - from decent to good, though not perfect, and not worth the price. I used it for months and I lost it when getting of public transport.
Polarcell from Germany: Realistically, 2.6-2.7 Ah. One of the best in the battery drain test, very good real life usage. But it was above 20 EUR, so no, sir.
Perfine: famous for being a real 3 Ah battery, but a bit fast draining. A few warning messages from V10 about faulty battery and turning off.
TQTHL, yellow and black, from eBay: Labeled as 3.3 Ah, measured 3.4 Ah!!! It started even stronger at 4.5Ah, after a few charge-discharge tests, it settled down. The best for a long day of internet browsing and music playback. And is the cheapest of the bunch!
Taking full advantage of the battery life is a blessing. Since the phone and batteries are dirt cheap, there is no need for $ 10k flagships with IP one million certifications, laughable white colour at low brightness due to PWM, glass and fragile plastic (V10 has a stainless steel frame). No fear of burning the phone while charging (hello, Scamsung, you might even become worse than crApple), no heating, no worries about how to use the battery to the end and then replace it in an expensive service centre. I bought 3 externall chargers. People from the US (I am not allowed to say men and women no more, am I, lol) won`t even need an EU power adapter. If I am allowed, I will post links to eBay and AliExpress. Sometimes a battery with charger costs a few bucks more, so it is worth trying the battery. As the V10 was incredibly incosistent in charging times with different cables and adapters. I was smart enough to get the idea of an USB-C to micro USB cable. I ran many test, and wadda ya know, the USB-A to micro USB would start at 3A charging, heating the battery, and casually drop. Average charging current was around 2.2 Ah. USB-C power delivery to micro USB cable starts from 2.4-2.5 Ah, and gradually drops to the same average of 2.1-2.2Ah, resulting in the same charging times. But much healthier and safer. I am so happy that my V10 stopped charging via cable, even when professionals replaced the micro USB. It shows charging, but it does not charge. And I cannot turn on battery saver, because the phone thinks it is being charged. I have to remove the battery and then power on the phone.
I can easily quadruple this post lenght, but I will be glad if all of you would ask all your questions here, and not on Private messages, since I`d love to give educational info here, for all of us. This forum has been educating me from scratch for the last 10 years, so it is payback time and I will return the favor.
