Dead G4 + Replacement recommendations

[mid_gen]

So I my LG G4 out of my pocket yesterday and it's dead. Left it charging overnight and now it's stuck in a boot loop. Googling seems to indicate it's a known fault and it's now permanently dead.

I would really like to rescue the images on it if I can....sometimes it'll show up briefly when connected to a PC. Any tips on this part?

I'm going to replace it with something even cheaper, smartphones are clearly designed to barely last two years these days so might as well get something cheap and cheerful.

The Wileyfox Swift 2 looks like a pretty good deal....any other recommendations?

 

[Myshra]

The G4 indeed has a terminal issue that affects >70% of handsets I guess you didn't backup photos to dropbox/google photos? Don't suppose you're still in 2 yr warranty?

 

[Orcvader]

As above if you maybe enabled auto backup then it could be here: https://photos.google.com/

I would be very careful picking Wileyfox: https://www.reddit.com/r/Android/comments/696dre/warning_to_all_wileyfox_owners_your_location_data/

Moto G4 or G5 are good budget phones.

You could try maybe taking apart the phone so you have the barebone motherboard, then maybe use a hair dryer on it for a few minutes? As the bootloop issue is caused by poor soldering on the SoC. I was going to recommend the old oven trick that was used on GPUs but after seeing this XDA thread a hair dryer seems to work: https://forum.xda-developers.com/g4/general/lg-g4-bootloop-fix-t3488449

 

[mid_gen]

Thanks. Well seems I am within the warranty at the moment.....trouble is I would really like to get the data off it. Going to give the hairdryer method a go.

Will probably replace it with a G5 this week either way, off on holiday at the weekend and could do without my phone crapping out.

 

[Psycho Sonny]

get a lenovo p2

 

[thewanted]

I'm not sure if the G4 has a compass, but the UK version of the G5 doesn't. Instant deal breaker for me

Will probably replace it with a G5 this week either way

 

[mid_gen]

Well the hairdryer trick worked just long enough for me to copy all my data off...then it died again. Still, happy I got my images off as I hadn't backed it up in ages.

Got an iPhone 5 with a dodgy screen that'll do for holiday. Will look around at options. Not spending more than 200 EUR as no smartphone lasts more than a couple years max anyway.

 

[Orcvader]

At least you got your photos. Now use a backup solution like Google Photos .

 

[Myshra]

That's great news about your photos but yeah, google photos / Dropbox / something else with backup enabled asap please Get a warranty case raised with LG straight away, in some countries they stopped replacing G4s with G4s because the repairs were so bad, they just shipped other (improved) handsets back (G5s / V10s etc...). Worst case, get it replaced then flog it. You'll likely at the very least get a later revision handset that is not as suceptable to the issue at least. Don't let them keep you out of pocket.

 

[mid_gen]

Picked up a Moto G5 today, if I can find the receipt I'll b making a warranty claim on the G4.

Honestly the G5 is so good I don't know why anyone would spend 4-5x as much for a flagship these days. Very impressed so far.

 

[Scottland]

I recently had a G4 fixed under warranty, most unbranded handsets in the UK/EU were a 2 year warrranty. Even if you plan on replacing it, would still be worth getting it fixed before selling on?