Develop Bugs

Might buy D851: Looking for opinions

Hi folks,
I just dropped my Samsung S4 and cracked the screen. :crying: It still works, but it's time to move on. I never buy new / latest devices; instead I wait and buy last year's model from Swappa or the like, selling my old phone to partially subsidize the purchase. Looks like my S4 is going to the Boneyard.
What I've been looking for is a 2014 model, 5.5" screen, rootable/unlocked bootloader (I like custom ROMs :good: ), phone with a multicolor notification light and good battery. Was thinking to go up to Nexus 6 but it's just too big for me.
The LG G3 looks just about perfect. I've spent the last hour reading up on it. The T-Mo version should work fine for my AT&T service, and it comes unlocked, both SIM and Bootloader. Can any ATT users attest to the phone working well on that network? (EDIT: I googled a bit and found it works fine)
There seems to be plenty of development, though surprisingly I don't see a plain vanilla GPE 5.1.1 ROM out there. Most of the development I see seems to be around AOSP (I'm a fan of SlimROMs and have had good experiences with Dirty Unicorns too, been considering Bliss on other devices). Have I missed a very plain GPE (at least 5.1) compiled for the G3? Doing my research it looks like the latest OTA is still 20G (5.0.1), and it sounds like Marshmallow will eventually come out (I'm not sure I want it...). Would love to hear what the most plain GPE like 5.1 ROM is.
I'd love to hear any experience or recommendations... anybody get a G3 recently and wish they got something else, instead? Or is this a device we can all love for another year or so?
Thanks. I'm itching to pull the trigger and just need some encouragement, or possibly a conk on the head to look into some other phone.
One last question: how intense is the vibrate function on the G3? My S4 isn't strong enough vibrating, and I often miss calls and stuff when I'm in silent/vibrate mode. Looking for something a bit more attention getting if possible!
Marc

I dropped my note 3 for thus phone. Although it's rootable the g3 seems to be fragile when it comes to flashing roms if you don't know what you are doing. Not worse than the note 3 though ( ATT murdered that phone).

Thanks for the reply!
I've gone ahead and purchased the D851. It should arrive today, and I should have it set up later this week. Looking forward to it. I've bought an iCarez 0.2mm screen protector for it and am looking into bumpers/wraps to keep it minty.
I'm a bit concerned since there's no 5.1(.1) GPE ROM available, but many of the Dev'ed ROM options look attractive. I'm going to start by rooting the thing and subtracting bloatware. After that, we'll see... On the S4, the T-Mo boot animation was reason enough to flash a ROM. Loud and annoying.
I'm curious, are you stock, or have you flashed something (if so, which ROM)?
Again, thank you. I appreciate your reply.

I was practically in the same boat. I had a GS4 , but cracked the display, the actual display not the glass, and bought a G3. I replaced the front glass twice before that, its a very fragile phone. But otherwise I loved the S4 for the screen, the plain design, ROMs, expandable storage, and removable battery.
The G3 is very comparable to the S4, the screen I'd say is slight upgrade. You can barely notice 1440p vs 1080p, and I'd say its viewing angles aren't as good, but I still like it over my S4. I'm running paranoid android 5.1.1 on it now. Its similar to AOSP. If you liked the GS4 you'd probably like the G3 but it wasn't that great an upgrade. Still though, its logical to get the G3 if your S4 is broken as its pretty much an S4 with more up to date components and an LG logo on it.

Thanks for the input ! I did buy a G3 and will set it up this weekend. I will look into the ROM you mentioned too.
Sent from my SHIELD Tablet using Tapatalk

I wish I'd seen this sooner. I'd have steered you clear of the G3. Biggest piece of garbage unless you're running boring stock. Even the CM team can't figure out how to make a stable ROM for it... And they've been at it for over a year! Bluetooth audio will never be right, Bluetooth LE will stop working altogether and you'll experience major network connectivity issues... All on day one and with any of the custom ROMs out there. It seems that the LG is so proprietary that nothing can control it aside from the boring, bloated, ugly and battery eating stock.

Aalendi said:
I wish I'd seen this sooner. I'd have steered you clear of the G3. Biggest piece of garbage unless you're running boring stock. Even the CM team can't figure out how to make a stable ROM for it... And they've been at it for over a year! Bluetooth audio will never be right, Bluetooth LE will stop working altogether and you'll experience major network connectivity issues... All on day one and with any of the custom ROMs out there. It seems that the LG is so proprietary that nothing can control it aside from the boring, bloated, ugly and battery eating stock.
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Thanks for the opinion, but I have to say I'm loving my D851.
I rooted it and installed TWRP straight out of the gate, so that I could make some changes I wanted to (such as uninstalling T-Mobile specific system apps, not needed for me on ATT), but I never even needed to change out the ROM. The phone works great on the stock ROM (minus a few things I manually debloated), and doesn't feel bloated or laggy. I didn't even bother to install the Cloudy ROM (debloated stock).
I did install the Google Now launcher, because I wasn't a fan of the stock UI. I like the things Google Now brings to the table and it cleaned up the UI.
After the first few days I stopped playing around with the phone because everything works great. Bluetooth to my car, no problem, great WIFI antenna and Cell receptivity as compared to my Galaxy S4. Nice screen, battery life is outstanding...
Loving the phone.

Can't disagree with Aalendi more. I've had the 851 for almost 18 months and running SR Lolly V6 - Final on it for the past 6 months. Works perfectly and even though I'm tempted from time to time to "upgrade" to another phone, I cannot find enough differences out there to warrant it. Android 6 is already emerging and I'm waiting to upgrade the ROM when I feel its almost glitch-free (which it's not at the moment. I think you made a fine decision. JM2C

Manual debloat?
I am sorta/kinda new to the ROM party and am able to install TWRP and flash/root my D851. However, I went back to the stock ROM because of Wi-Fi calling and more stable network connectivity than 3rd-party ROMS. My question to you is what do you mean by 'manual debloat'? Is that a function of TWRP or simply removing/disabling apps? Thanks.

Manual de-bloat refers to you being able to remove programs that carriers or manufacturers install on your phone when you first purchase it. Rooting your phone allows you to do this yourself.

Do anyone regret after purchasing LG G4 and why ?

Hey everyone. I made this topic just to discover who regrey buying LG G4 and the reason why they regret. If they dont regret then please let us know.
Sent from my LG-H818 using Tapatalk

Why?.I have it since a week and the phone is great,perfect.As an ex M9 user,the G4 is better IMO.
Waiting for 6.0.

No regrets after more than 4 months, you need a BT earphones for music as the 3.5mm is too low and some HTC ported apps to have a perfect UI (thanks Xpirt)

I didn't regret, but I do wish some things could be better (UI & Battery Life). Other than those, I've been relatively happy with my decision.
However, I installed the Resurrection Remix ROM last week and battery life is definitely better and the AOSP UI + CM13 theme engine is 100 times better than stock.

lastsamuraial said:
Why?.I have it since a week and the phone is great,perfect.As an ex M9 user,the G4 is better IMO.
Waiting for 6.0.
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Which variant are you using? For most devices 6.0 is out there and you can manually install it (With or without root )
EDIT: To answer your question: No ragrets. Not even an "a" for an "e" :laugh: Best phone out there.
Came from a Note 4, love the G4 (stock) the most! Not as much bloat and nonsense as the note 4

I sold my G4 just for modding. I like to mod and unfortunately G4 have a small community. Good luck , best 2015 phone if you dont mind to be on stock.

only thing i regret about the G4 is the inability of most G4 variants to have an official unlocked bootloader ughh damn LG

I regret it and also not. I owned at least half a dozen android phones in the past two years, and the LG was the real bang for the buck with a very great camera. However, this was the only phone I had serious issues with.
H815 - First unit came with the display acting up (stuck pixel clusters), and finally RMAd it, when the motherboard died. I received it back repaired (PCB changed), but the display is now worse than before, the problem is, that it only shows after a few minutes of usage and probably they did not notice it. Stuck pixels + different brightness levels around the stuck pixel area. RMAing it again...

I don't really regret buying it, but if I were given the option again, I wouldn't chose G4.
My LG G4 is flawless. Battery is OK, no bootloops, no stutters/lags, etc. However, I bought it right after it was put in the market for a not-so-budget price and, for my needs, an S6 would've be better suited.
I mean... don't get me wrong. But as far as I don't need a spare battery/expandable storage, S6 would be a better choice. I just got tempted for the 5,5 screen and camera.

Follow_and_Feel said:
Which variant are you using? For most devices 6.0 is out there and you can manually install it (With or without root )
EDIT: To answer your question: No ragrets. Not even an "a" for an "e" :laugh: Best phone out there.
Came from a Note 4, love the G4 (stock) the most! Not as much bloat and nonsense as the note 4
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Click to collapse
Im using H815T.My phone just boot up after flashing V20B KDZ with LGUP.6.0 looks smoother than LP.With V20C after restart comes up an error,but this error is not present with V20B.
Sorry,my english is not the best,that's why i do some errors.

I regret because I have weirdo half screen touch problem, it becomes crazy, but it's not a real problem, but there's still a problem so... and I don't have time to send it back, It does not have fingerprint sensor which is a shame for a 2015 flagship and it's plastic, we need some metal with leather...
But I bought it because of his camera, that's it.

have it for 6 months now (it is my only phone)
I regret:
- bad battery life (no more than 3h SOT)
- no unlocked bootloader / dead development scene (only a handful of ROMs, most are buggy and almost all of them are for H815 eu only models)
- bad sound over the earphones (really weak)
- no fingerprint reader (when all the other flagships have one)
- features that are essentially broken (still to this day), like tap to unlock

Lg v10 hands down would have been much better to have but lg g4 is still a great phone non the less

Overall i do regret.
I really liked the phone camera (front and back), screen, design and the option to remove battery and insert an sd card if needed.
But as i said before i never buy an LG smartphone again. They unlock the bootloader for just a single model and thats it. I like to customize and install mods on my phones, mainly to make it better, faster and that stuff, but my H815P cant be unlocked, and now here i am with a "Porsche that can't past 60mph"
Yet on the bad side, battery is not the best, some bugs even on the stock rom, and etc.
LG, never again. I prefer a not so good phone but that i can do whatever i want than this. Note 5 is the target now.

lastsamuraial said:
Im using H815T.My phone just boot up after flashing V20B KDZ with LGUP.6.0 looks smoother than LP.With V20C after restart comes up an error,but this error is not present with V20B.
Sorry,my english is not the best,that's why i do some errors.
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No problem So you're already on Marshmallow? Because you said you'd wait for it :laugh: But ok. Marshmallow's pretty nice Love it

Follow_and_Feel said:
No problem So you're already on Marshmallow? Because you said you'd wait for it :laugh: But ok. Marshmallow's pretty nice Love it
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I was waiting for OTA or update to come through Bridge and couldnt wait more,so i used V20B KDZ and it's done with LGUP.Very smooth really.

regret and disappoint , all about the bootloader

I do ..because of the locked bootloader and i have g815p and i still didnt get MM

I moved to the V10 and I don't regret getting the G4 at all...because I still have it
These are similar phones spec-wise but in hand they are obviously quite different. I've had the G4 since July and just got the V10 a couple of weeks ago.
Already I keep trying to unlock the smaller phone via the non-existent fingerprint scanner lol!

youngchaos said:
I sold my G4 just for modding. I like to mod and unfortunately G4 have a small community. Good luck , best 2015 phone if you dont mind to be on stock.
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No need to remain in stock, the community worked out ways how to root. But the biggest downer is definitely LGs position on bootloader unlocking. We can have Lollipop root without BL unlock, but no custom ROMs, no root for Marshmallow :/
It's my second Android, my previous one is a rather ****ty Galaxy Ace from 2011. So yeah, compared to that, Im happy with rooted 5.1.

New Rom or jump ship ?

hey guys, my LG g3 was just replaced under waranty and i just got a new unit.
Now i am undecided whether to just sell it and jump straight away to the G5 or s7 or whether it´s smarter to stick with it for a little longer.
Also i am wondering what the best custom Rom with ( 6.x) currently is , i have noticed there are a great many available already !

Interstar said:
hey guys, my LG g3 was just replaced under waranty and i just got a new unit.
Now i am undecided whether to just sell it and jump straight away to the G5 or s7 or whether it´s smarter to stick with it for a little longer.
Also i am wondering what the best custom Rom with ( 6.x) currently is , i have noticed there are a great many available already !
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Click to collapse
if you can get the new G5 then why not I still have my G3 because I still find it fast and have a pretty sick set up. Plus, with Fulmics ROM and G3 tweaksbox you can change anything! For it being an "old" phone the G3 still holds its ground. But then again you can't beat the new camera and better specs of the G5,hmmmm......
BTW the S7 sucks in my opinion

like what Still_living714 said, if you can get it then definitely go for it. I just jumped from Fulmics to G Plus 2.4 ROM (you should check it out if you're interested in stock lg rom with aosp look). The devs here at xda keeps me satisfied with my G3 and I'm not jumping ship anytime soon

Still_living714 said:
if you can get the new G5 then why not I still have my G3 because I still find it fast and have a pretty sick set up. Plus, with Fulmics ROM and G3 tweaksbox you can change anything! For it being an "old" phone the G3 still holds its ground. But then again you can't beat the new camera and better specs of the G5,hmmmm......
BTW the S7 sucks in my opinion
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Hmm yeah , i am kind of disapointed in the g5 because they ended the rear mounted audio buttons and i am not 100% convinced of the "modular" nature of the device.
that´s why i was concidering the s7.
but i think i´ll go with the Fulmics rom ^^

Fulmics made my g3 like a new device, really fast and stable. Only reason I switched to a nexus 6p was because the screen was so much brighter, the g3 is awesome in low light situations but poor in any kind of daylight compared to more modern displays.

Little rant to get it out of my chest...

Disclaimer: This is rant, a civilized one, if you disagree with me, you are welcome to illustrate me but offenses are not appreciated.
This phone is great, but it refuses to be acceptable as a daily driver.
Developers are the best people in the world, they do what they do with no return at all sometimes, but the software (the lack of a good kernel base) makes it really hard to enjoy. I could never get more than 4.5 hours of SOT on any ROM, whereas stock would give me at least 5.5; however stock software is a bad joke for the Android base and the camera output is nerve wracking...
The CDLA headphones are a must, no one likes the dongle and it seems that (due to broken kernel) no dev was able to figure out this one (clarifying again that I don't blame them). So my options are to get used to carry the dongle or to the crack and pop from the CDLA ones... hmmmmmm......
I see the exact same story as with the Amazon phone, on its time, the Amazon phone had a really good thing going here in XDA, but the bootloader was never unlocked and the momentum was lost. I had to let go on my Fire phone....
For the LePro3, many great options are at hand at the same price, I'm looking heavily right now at the LG G5 from the $200 custom rom on eBay, WAY BETTER camera (like 10X times better), about the same battery life if you compare custom ROM of LePro3 vs stock of LG G5, and I have to admit that although I dislike LG's interface, it is tolerable.
Also, the LeEco servers (including the one that supports OTAs) has been down for at least 3 days (that I have tried myself), like seriously, we know the company is nearly in bankruptcy although still having customer support working, but the fact that security updates have halted and servers are down, tells me that there is something wrong going on.
At $200 dlls that I got the phone for, it is still not worth it for *me*.
My Moto Z play was $450 with a hasselblad camera mod that I was able to sell to get $100 in return, so for $350, I would still take yet another Moto Z Play at the current price, with way lower specifications, than taking a LePro3 for $200.

Help yourself and download these apps
Power Toggles
ACDisplay
Simple Control
Fingerprint Quick Action
Pixel Launcher
Modify the DPI to 300 via ADB
Download Google Camera (2.7) , Phone, Contacts etc from APKMirror
I am enjoying all the benefits from stock ROM plus emulated stock Android experience. =D

I bought this phone at what I thought was a steal for the hardware I was getting. I knew the company was unknown in the US and would likely not support the phone for long (if at all). I've flashed many Roms and played with this phone more than any other than perhaps my Nexus 6. Its a great phone overall with pretty decent developer support. I regret nothing.

Jose-MXL said:
Disclaimer: This is rant, a civilized one, if you disagree with me, you are welcome to illustrate me but offenses are not appreciated.
This phone is great, but it refuses to be acceptable as a daily driver.
Developers are the best people in the world, they do what they do with no return at all sometimes, but the software (the lack of a good kernel base) makes it really hard to enjoy. I could never get more than 4.5 hours of SOT on any ROM, whereas stock would give me at least 5.5; however stock software is a bad joke for the Android base and the camera output is nerve wracking...
The CDLA headphones are a must, no one likes the dongle and it seems that (due to broken kernel) no dev was able to figure out this one (clarifying again that I don't blame them). So my options are to get used to carry the dongle or to the crack and pop from the CDLA ones... hmmmmmm......
I see the exact same story as with the Amazon phone, on its time, the Amazon phone had a really good thing going here in XDA, but the bootloader was never unlocked and the momentum was lost. I had to let go on my Fire phone....
For the LePro3, many great options are at hand at the same price, I'm looking heavily right now at the LG G5 from the $200 custom rom on eBay, WAY BETTER camera (like 10X times better), about the same battery life if you compare custom ROM of LePro3 vs stock of LG G5, and I have to admit that although I dislike LG's interface, it is tolerable.
Also, the LeEco servers (including the one that supports OTAs) has been down for at least 3 days (that I have tried myself), like seriously, we know the company is nearly in bankruptcy although still having customer support working, but the fact that security updates have halted and servers are down, tells me that there is something wrong going on.
At $200 dlls that I got the phone for, it is still not worth it for *me*.
My Moto Z play was $450 with a hasselblad camera mod that I was able to sell to get $100 in return, so for $350, I would still take yet another Moto Z Play at the current price, with way lower specifications, than taking a LePro3 for $200.
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rivethead23 said:
I bought this phone at what I thought was a steal for the hardware I was getting. I knew the company was unknown in the US and would likely not support the phone for long (if at all). I've flashed many Roms and played with this phone more than any other than perhaps my Nexus 6. Its a great phone overall with pretty decent developer support. I regret nothing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have to agree with rivethead23 I got the Pro 3 and immediately flashed the Turbo Destroyer rom on it and have never had any regrets
I also bought an LG G6 and I found it was no upgrade to the Pro 3 and ended up returning it.
My advice is to Flash the Turbo EUI 21S v20 rom and Nova launcher with Nova Google companion and you get the best experience from this device

rivethead23 said:
I bought this phone at what I thought was a steal for the hardware I was getting. I knew the company was unknown in the US and would likely not support the phone for long (if at all). I've flashed many Roms and played with this phone more than any other than perhaps my Nexus 6. Its a great phone overall with pretty decent developer support. I regret nothing.
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Click to collapse
Pretty much this.
I'm using the phone on stock 26s, pretty heavily customized though: Magisk, Xposed, Viper, GravityBox, Tasker, stock android/Google apps like Dialer Contact Messages Calendar Keep Hangout Gmail etc., Nova Launcher with companion, PlayerPro and VLC, Brave browser... I removed all Chinese bloatware, and stock apps I don't need anymore like Contact, Message, Music, Video, Browser, Launcher, LIVE, lots of LeEco apps, etc. Disabled all stock extra memory optimizations to let Android deal with memory. Splash and bootanim without Chinese. Etc.
It works really great, battery is still really good (I often have 5 or 5.5 hours SoT at the end of the day), I customized a lot of things to make it exactly how I wanted it. So far, the best device I owned, and one of the cheapest...

ZeblodS said:
Pretty much this.
I'm using the phone on stock 26s, pretty heavily customized though: Magisk, Xposed, Viper, GravityBox, Tasker, stock android/Google apps like Dialer Contact Messages Calendar Keep Hangout Gmail etc., Nova Launcher with companion, PlayerPro and VLC, Brave browser... I removed all Chinese bloatware, and stock apps I don't need anymore like Contact, Message, Music, Video, Browser, Launcher, LIVE, lots of LeEco apps, etc. Disabled all stock extra memory optimizations to let Android deal with memory. Splash and bootanim without Chinese. Etc.
It works really great, battery is still really good (I often have 5 or 5.5 hours SoT at the end of the day), I customized a lot of things to make it exactly how I wanted it. So far, the best device I owned, and one of the cheapest...
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Click to collapse
Is 26s an official update? I've only received 21s ota on my x727

darkmuck said:
Is 26s an official update? I've only received 21s ota on my x727
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Click to collapse
It's the latest Chinese stock ROM for x720.

ALSO RANT:
Well the issue is with android itself, there is no real AOSP phone, i don't get why manufaturers just don't put AOSP on phone and be done with it, i guess target for android phones are geeks, at least this kind of android phones. I wanted dual sim phone, but now i think i will manage some woraround and go ios, as bad as it is, OS is much more polished and unified.
Even Moto with almost stock android still does not get direct google updates, it is just bad design.
BTW i use pro3 as daily, i get 8 + hours SOT with stock firmare, i managed to get ACR to work quite good, DND to work quite good, but still, default apps, like browser does not work, google integration is crap, even with launcher 3, missing pulldown is a joke and google services crash quite often so ... meh, but still better then my gs4 with new battery and lineage
Oh and also the ambient light sensors sets screen too dim for me at night, until now I had opposite problem with all the other phones i had.
I also have galaxy s7 at hand to use and in my opinion samsung android is even worse.
The main issue is there is really no Android OS, no phone with AOSP, which is only real Android OS, only ****ton of phones with more or less molested OS.
BTW my budget was 1100usd for a phone, i still chose pro3 and I still think, despite it's flaws, for me, it is best choice, which is sad, but it is reality, we can't change it, reality is reality. I will try z2 force with battery pack if they sell it officially in Czech, but I don't expect much.

Oh my I thought I was the only one with the headphone issue

Hmm my Le Pro 3 is coming soon... But I'm more likely to just sell It while it's new and make some $$$ of it. Seeing this rants and all... AOSP/lineage is a must for me, same as Oreo.
Just gonna buy OP5 to replace my Bacon. Maybe that jelly pentile so not exactly FHD, POS display won't be so bad...

FunkyRasta said:
Hmm my Le Pro 3 is coming soon... But I'm more likely to just sell It while it's new and make some $$$ of it. Seeing this rants and all... AOSP/lineage is a must for me, same as Oreo.
Just gonna buy OP5 to replace my Bacon. Maybe that jelly pentile so not exactly FHD, POS display won't be so bad...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
These rants are about things that we would like to have on the device and are inevitable, like the fact that we knew that there was no headphone jack and that the CDLA headphones are not perfect on custom software, we knew it and still took the chance, not the phone or dev's fault.
Other than that, the phone is amazing, you should give it a go, I don't think you can get too much money out of it, this is the wrong phone to re-sell for higher.
Also, you have a very specific example from other people in this thread, which is, you might like stock software which gives you the best battery life for the device.

Jose-MXL said:
These rants are about things that we would like to have on the device and are inevitable, like the fact that we knew that there was no headphone jack and that the CDLA headphones are not perfect on custom software, we knew it and still took the chance, not the phone or dev's fault.
Other than that, the phone is amazing, you should give it a go, I don't think you can get too much money out of it, this is the wrong phone to re-sell for higher.
Also, you have a very specific example from other people in this thread, which is, you might like stock software which gives you the best battery life for the device.
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Click to collapse
I pretty OK with using adapter, no problem with me. I ordered it from China so when it gets to Europe it is worth more. I certainly would not lose money on it.
The only things that worry me are uncertain future of Oreo on this device and overall stability. I currently manage over 4 hours SOT with my OnePlus One.... Why this thing with 4070 Mah (thousand f-ing more) does 4.5 H or slightly more ? With newer SoC, screen etc. Stock software is a no-go for me. Android 6.0 is a no-go for me. So I rely on custom ROMs and dev support. At least dev support here is great!

Coming from Nexus and Nexus 5x, I was used to having so many roms and kernels. Getting LP3 was a big big jump and I did not like it in early days when no roms were available.
Now with more than enough roms and solid kernels, I do not miss anything. Omni Rom gives me 9 hrs of screen on time for my usage. It does not feel/act different than roms I used before.
The only problem was the camera performance. But with Google Camera port, that is no longer a problem now.

Why don't have many developers for Z2 Play?

Where is AOSP Extended? RR? Viper OS?

Bunch of reasons, though the primary one that I would guess is the phone is bootloader locked for Verizon. I'm not sure how wide spread this phone is on other networks at this point that are unlockable, but the most are probably
on verizon. I stopped using the nexus line when it stopped. Moto phones are close to stock and with the projector mod, a cheap entry price deal from verizon, I took a risk and went with this phone. My most durable nexus phone was the 6, which was made by motorola. I'm loving the quality of the phone and the battery life. I even picked up a dirt cheap moto z play on craigslist and love it just as much and its even better battery.
If you really care about custom roms, you gotta do some research and follow the developers, not necessarily the other way around. I'm not sure what I am going to do in a year for my next phone, but I do liked trying out the other vendors.

I feel, there have not been many buyers of the Z2 Play, hence the community support for this smartphone is quite low.
Before the Z2 play i used to own a Galaxy S4 mini, which has great support till date, and threads for different Custom Android versions of Viper, XenonHD, RR,AOKP, AICP, are still active.
There are a lot more Custom Android versions for the s4 mini but they have got inactive only some months ago.
Even now development for Android O version for the S4 mini is going on.
The main reason according to me is, s4 mini got a lot of buyers, and the small form factor plus the removable battery made a lot of its users stick to it , and luckily a lot of them seem to have been Android developers .

Is that because phone is relative new?
I hope soon this changes!

So I guess I will keep using my rooted Droid Turbo.

I guess I wrongly assumed that since the bootloader could be unlocked, there would be developement.
Don't get me wrond. I totally appreciate what has been accomplished!
I am grateful for root and TWRP!
I find it hard to believe that Motorola/Lenovo has not posted the stock firmware for this device.
I really like having a rooted phone, mostly for the ability ot install dark themes. I really hate white backgrounds and status bar icons.
I prefer Motorola phones. I wonder what my next phone will be...
I will surely wait until stock firmware is actually available, prior to purchase.

A few days ago they (Lenovo) released the kernel source code for Oreo so that might help some devs to start developing for our device if they want.

We're not gonna see a lot of developer support for the device for one reason: not a lot of people have a z2 Play. At least, not enough for devs to actually care about supporting our device which not enough people are using it to garner enough interest.
It also helps that the z2 Play was a push in the wrong direction towards battery life and thus, most potential buyers, most of which are going to be Moto Z Play owners, are gonna stick with their current phones.