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New Phone - LG V40


Fuddster

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I needed a new phone as the battery on my Droid Turbo 2 was holding a charge like I carry a tune, i.e. barely.

 

After 4 or 5 generations of Motorola phones, I started looking at the LG G7 One, announced back in August. As part of Google's Android One program, it looked like a decent buy until it was reported that it was exclusive to Canadian markets.

 

By then, I had done a bit of reading on some LG hardware, and the hype train for the V40 was ramping up. Five cameras, awesome sound, yada, yada, yada. The features that grabbed my attention were the headphone jack, the microSD card slot, and the 32-bit Quad DAC. I have Gigs and Gigs of FLAC tunes ready to load onto this phone.

 

I tried to talk myself out of this phone a few times mainly because of the price ($980 @ Verizon). The only thing that made it palatable was the pre-order deal from LG - $200 off the price, a 256GB microSD card (Sandisk, I think) and a DJI OSMO Mobile 2 gimbal thingy that may be destined for eBay. Oh yeah, and a $100 trade in for the aforementioned Droid Turbo 2, which brought it down to $680 over 24 months. Still not cheap, but a bit easier to swallow.

 

First impressions are positive so far. I was a bit anxious because I'm usually not a "bleeding edge" guy when it comes to tech, and it was the first time I ever pre-ordered a phone. Fortunately, there have been no issues to date. This sucker sounds fantastic, whether it's through the headphone jack or the speakers. Since my DT2 was customized with the Nova Prime, I loaded it up on the V40 almost right away. Any bloatware was easy to either uninstall or disable.

 

All the cameras are a bit intimidating, but I really haven't had a chance to fiddle with them yet. The screen is beautiful, the phone fits in my hand nicely, and after 4 full days on using the V40, I'm a happy camper for now.

 

LG V40 ThinQ Specs

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securitybreach

Nice. I have the smaller model, the V7 ThinQ. I switch phones every couple of months (due to tmobile allowing me to switch any time I want), but I generally use LG phones as they are powerful and give you more of a vanilla android setup versus the bloated crap that a lot of carriers bring.

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We had a phone just like that in the basement near my husband's computer desk.

 

We had this for many years because the house was built in the 50's and that's what the owners had.

4WtpVed.jpg

 

We still have a wall phone in the kitchen but it is not avocado green and it has buttons.

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V.T. Eric Layton

That pic above was just from a Google Image search, but I actually do have one identical to it in my hallway. It still works. ;)

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I can believe that. When we removed that phone, my dad installed it in his garage so when he was doing yard work, he wouldn't have to run into the house proper to grab the phone. The phone was still working when we sold the house in 2012.

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V.T. Eric Layton

Sadly, my old phone is handicapped these days by being used on Frontier's FIOS (previously Verizon), which means that my telephone service is actually VOIP, not twin-lead copper wires anymore. This also adds all the usual Internet voice issues to my service. It's not the old phone's fault, though.

 

Progress. Hmmph! There oughta' be a law! ;)

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I have Rogers home phone which is delivered via the cable provider's coax. However, it has its own separate phone modem and connects to the POTS wires in the house. So it's indistinguishable from the service Ma Bell used to provide. Any old phone would work as long as it has a digital pad. I don't know if any phone network can use the old rotary dials anymore.

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Just checked with my wireless provider (also Rogers) and they have the G7One and G7ThinQ models available. No V40 though. In Canada we can also get high-end Huawai phones which the US has outlawed.

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securitybreach

Just checked with my wireless provider (also Rogers) and they have the G7One and G7ThinQ models available. No V40 though. In Canada we can also get high-end Huawai phones which the US has outlawed.

 

I have the G7 ThinQ currently but I will be switching to the OnePlus 6T in a week or so when it comes to T-Mobile. It's nice that my plan allows me to switch phones any time I want. I just have to turn in the previous phone and whatever I paid goes toward the new device. I treat it like a lease and just pay an extra 20 a month to have the privilege of switching a few times a year when something better comes out. It used to be once a year, then once a month and now it's whenever you feel like it.

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V.T. Eric Layton

That's an interesting thought about rotary phones working or not, Ray. I have one out in the shop. I may have to test to satisfy my curiosity. I think they may still work... on FIOS (VOIP), anyway. Here's my theory on that...

 

A standard touch tone phone uses harmonic tones to represent the numbers on the key pad of the phone. Those tones (a combination of two frequencies) are then transmitted over copper twin lead to the telephone company's network, where their equipment decodes the tones and processes the actual numbers dialed. A 40v DC source is maintained at all time on copper twin lead wires as a carrier to transmit the tones, and also as a power source for the phone itself. (Note: incoming ring voltage is 120v AC).

 

An old-fashioned rotary phone works by using a series of internal contacts (on the rotary assy.) that make/break the 40v DC connection of the line voltage. This created a series of on/offs on the line that corresponds to the number dialed. The telco's network interprets these on/offs and completes the call.

 

All modern home systems (FIOS, VOIP, Cable, etc.) use a converter device of some sort to allow the use of standard telephones on the newer service. This is how my old touch tone phone still works on a fiber-optic VOIP connection. The converter device (a type of analog/digital converter) makes this possible. It's my theory that the make/bread (on/off) method used by old rotary phones may still be converted by the provider's converter apparati.

 

I could be wrong, though. If I ever get around to testing this, I'll let you folks know the results. Or, I may just search GOogle right now and see what others have determined. Please Stand By...

 

OK, evidently my theory is correct. Rotary phones will still work on modern systems (at least FIOS/VOIP). I found this answer by searching Verizon's support page. They had a link there to this blog article about one person's experience with this.

 

https://marco.org/2010/12/14/rotary-fios

 

Ain't the Internets wunnerful! ;)

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I haven't had a rotary dial phone since I moved to Georgetown in 1979. At that time the town still had an old step by step switching office, so even when you touched the phone keypad you got a series of pulses sent down the line. Later on Georgetown switched to SP1 switching which stored the digi-tones and converted them to step by step for the old relays.

Finally we got true digital tone switching sometime in the late 80s. Probably this equipment could still convert the old on-off pulses.

<Edit> According to my phone provider Rogers, some rotary dial stuff will work (like placing a call) but you won't be able to use features like your "leave a message" or "call waiting."

Edited by raymac46
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