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| Setting up Lim's LG V20 |
Lim actually had his eye on the Galaxy Note 7 but unfortunately, that phone turned out to be too hot to handle. I told him that a non-Sammy phone could be a breath of fresh air for a change if he's so inclined. I made it clear though, as I always do when people ask me to recommend them anything; that the risk is theirs to take and I'm just weighing the pros and cons for them in line with their needs and wants - if they should end up with buyer's remorse, it's not on me. I think that is fair enough.
So yeah, I've been reading a lot on the LG V20 and following its progress ever since the V10 piqued my interest on the V series which I actually liked, and the best thing about LG's phones is their wide-angle camera lenses, in my opinion. Also, I like how the V phones allow you to customise the navigation bar and add stuff to it on their default launcher (especially adding a button that lets you pull down the notification panel without minimizing your onscreen app with just a click; such a simple thing that actually goes a long way to making it so much easier to use a big screen phone where notifications are concerned), as well as the ability to theme the phone on a system-wide level.
And oh, there's also their DAC which supposedly gives you a better music listening experience if you use a good enough pair of headphones.
However, what has kept me away from LG phones are 2 things: their LCD screens and their battery capacities. My eyes just prefer AMOLED screens and when it comes to smartphones, my philosophy is: what good are all the bells and whistles if the battery can't last the distance before you need to reach for the charger.
Yes, the V10 and V20 do come with removable batteries and that's all well and good but in my book, there's no such thing as having enough battery juice - the more the merrier and if I can cut down on the number of times I need to swap batteries or charge up, the better.
As a power user, I can't help but feel that LG has always been stingy about battery mAH capacities. I'm saying this as a lopsided praise for the V series though, since I consider them to be powerful phones in their own right for what they can do, but when it comes to power, you can't skimp on battery capacities.
These are the main things I've highlighted to Lim before he bought the phone, and I sent him links to reviews of the phone. Finally, I told him to just go to the stores to play around with the display sets first to help him formulate his own purchase decision, which to me, is the most important step since nothing beats hands-on personal experience (and I reminded him to close out all active apps running in the background FIRST before playing with the display sets). I left it at that, the final decision was his to make and I considered my job done.
As you could already tell from the pic up top, Lim ended up buying the phone after all is said and done. So I helped him to update and set up his phone, his apps and theme according to his preferences, as well as helping him connect his phone to WiFi networks he uses.
But it didn't stop there - I also helped him to sideload apps like TubeMate which he loves, and disabling stuff like opting out of Google's ads personalisation (which you should be able to hunt down under Settings ==>> Google ==> Ads, or something similar depending on your Android phone), among other nitty gritty things.
After all these, I went into his phone's recovery and cleared up the cache before doing a reboot.
TL;DR: I helped him to optimise his phone.
One may think I've performed an overkill, but when you have to do a job only once for the best optimisation down the road, you may as well do the job properly from the get-go. I consider skimping on the initial hassle just to have an unoptimised user experience with hiccups frequently down the road to be a much bigger hassle.
Besides, taking the time to help out a childhood friend or a loved one is what I will always consider as time well spent. I do the same for my Lioness and for myself too whenever we get new phones. One has to be willing and happy to contribute one's time and effort to people who have stuck with you through life's thick and thin.
Does LG even know their own product?
You know what baffles me about what LG bundled with their V20? When the V10 was launched back in 2015 last year, LG bundled with it an external battery charger (different from a powerbank) and a spare battery with it, which was not just appropriate but also well and good. I couldn't believe my eyes when Lim showed me what LG bundled with his V20:
A Samsung power bank - no external battery charger, no spare battery. A Samsung power bank. Let that sink in. Sure, the B&O earphones are there alright, but the LG V20 has a removable battery. And for that, they are giving out a competitor's power bank instead? Does LG even know that their V20 has a swappable battery?
I'm not sure if this is just a local thing or a global bundle across the international board and I don't care to find out after expending my effort to set up Lim's phone, but this makes me question LG Mobile's product knowledge about their own product, be it localized or international. This is just weird. Imagine buying Dove's shower cream that comes bundled with a Lux refill.. And no, Dove and Lux don't do such a thing.
But whatever, the important thing is that Lim told me he really likes his V20 thus far. We shall see whether the same holds up after his honeymoon period with the phone.
(Update from the future: It's been more than a year since and Lim tells me he still enjoys using his V20. Good on the lad.)
