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Google Nexus 5x and 6P

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Re: Google Nexus 5x and 6P

#291

Post by teleclimber »

mkozlows wrote: post #139
chdir wrote: post #90

My biggest gripe with Nexus series has been the camera. None of the releases has made a quantum leap in terms of picture quality. I don't care about gimmickries like HDR, live photos, sphere etc., all I want is a $300 Point & Shoot quality. Something that won't make me feel guilty for using a camera phone for preserving spontaneous memories. Please Google :) Samsung has done a great job with the S6, the others like G…

DXOMark is the gold standard of photo-quality evaluations. Their evaluations for mobile phones show the Nexus 6 to have been very good for when it was released (it's #12 now, but most of the phones above it are newer); the Nexus 6P is ranked #2 right now: http://www.dxomark.com/Mobiles

Nice! Didn't think they would be able to get a hold of one so fast.

Can someone confirm the rear shooters on the 5X and 6P are the same hardware? The specs are identical.

Re: Google Nexus 5x and 6P

#292

Post by munchbunny »

mkozlows wrote: post #200
shadeless wrote: post #84

As an owner of Nexus 5 I must say I'm a bit disappointed with this announcement. I was looking forwards to upgrading my almost two year old phone to Nexus 5x, but there doesn't seem to be a good reason unless Nexus 5 stops getting new Android updates. They have the same resolution, same amount of memory, same amount of storage. I don't shoot video, and I probably won't use fingerprint reader - but I do use wireless c…

So the thing is, the Nexus 5 was a near-perfect phone (especially considering it was released two years ago), and it's totally reasonable to think it's still doing the job very well -- it is. But that's a fact about the N5, not the N5X/6P. I mean, what would you want from a new phone that would show up on a spec sheet? Faster? Check, both of these are. The 808/810 aren't gigantic generational leaps over the 800, but…

Interestingly my problems with it are exactly three things that aren't addressed in the new models:

1. The wireless charging, while seemingly a small thing, was to me a huge improvement in my experience of using the phone. The fact that I can sit down at my desk, plop the phone down, and it'll just work, and when I get up to leave I can just pull it off my desk. Removing the USB cable interaction made the phone a much more invisible and organic part of my day. Might not be important to others, but I would very much miss it.

2. Lack of removable storage. Small deal but it was a nice quality of life feature.

3. Battery that's hard to replace. My phone upgrade cycle is very long, usually longer than the lifetime of the battery. I'm feeling it in my Nexus 5 right now.

But the main thing that might prompt me to upgrade is just software performance creep. The latest software updates have really turned my phone into a slideshow, and that's getting really frustrating.

But the spec improvements are certainly both appreciated and necessary.

Re: Google Nexus 5x and 6P

#293

Post by hackuser »

AdmiralAsshat wrote: post #25

Why did Google bother with all of that work to fix SD storage in Android M[0] if they're still not going to put an SD card in their Nexus phones!?! I was holding out hope that I would finally have a reason to buy a Nexus phone with the 5X or 6P, but now that we have the final spec sheet, I think I'm going to just grab an HTC One M9 or something. The lack of expandable storage really kills it for me. [0] http://www.an…

It simplifies managing storage for users. Per Matias Duarte, who I think was Director of Android User Experience at the time: [1]

Everybody likes the idea of having an SD card, but in reality it's just confusing for users.

If you’re saving photos, videos or music, where does it go? Is it on your phone? Or on your card? ... We take a different approach. Your Nexus has a fixed amount of space and your apps just seamlessly use it for you without you ever having to worry about files or volumes or any of that techy nonsense left over from the paleolithic era of computing.

Remember the vast majority of users have vastly less technical understanding than HN readers.

[1] http://www.androidpolice.com/2012/10/30/matias-duarte-answer...

Re: Google Nexus 5x and 6P

#294

Post by stephengillie »

Grazester wrote: post #229
stephengillie wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've heard nothing but compliments about the photos from my Nexus 5 camera. They're very high resolution and look great. I'll post some from Imgur if you want. What problems are you having with yours?

You kidding right? Maybe your have the art of taking photos with that phone down or something but pictures I take with it always seems to washed out compared to my Moto X(another bad one)

This one looks alright to me, and didn't get any comments that it was taken with a "potato":

https://m.imgur.com/wzMqO8p

Re: Google Nexus 5x and 6P

#295

Post by irl_zebra »

nickysielicki wrote: post #240
rsync wrote: post #225

I am finally in the market for a new mobile phone - my trusty MOTO FONE (F3)[1] finally died after three years. One of my absolute no-compromise feature needs is removable media ... an SD card slot that can accept the new 128 GB cards. This is because my current music collection is 68 GB in size and carrying the entire collection is one of my use-cases. But ... I also want a non-crapware, pure android phone, and the…

Get a clip zip (~$30) and a 128gb sd card (~$50), put rockbox on it ($0), enjoy your entire collection in whatever codec you want, in a form factor that works better for exercising, with a week battery life to boot.

Good suggestions, I didn't know about the Clip or Rockbox until now. You wouldn't happen to know any way to listen to Spotify on a similar device do you? I don't have any mp3s as I've been using Spotify for years.

Right now my solution has been to have a super cheap/small Android phone, install Spotify, and use it in offline mode reconnecting at least every 30 days. I got the phone for like $15 on a Radioshack sale or something.

Re: Google Nexus 5x and 6P

#296

Post by dmethvin »

munchbunny wrote: post #292
mkozlows wrote: post #200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So the thing is, the Nexus 5 was a near-perfect phone (especially considering it was released two years ago), and it's totally reasonable to think it's still doing the job very well -- it is. But that's a fact about the N5, not the N5X/6P. I mean, what would you want from a new phone that would show up on a spec sheet? Faster? Check, both of these are. The 808/810 aren't gigantic generational leaps over the 800, but…

Interestingly my problems with it are exactly three things that aren't addressed in the new models: 1. The wireless charging, while seemingly a small thing, was to me a huge improvement in my experience of using the phone. The fact that I can sit down at my desk, plop the phone down, and it'll just work, and when I get up to leave I can just pull it off my desk. Removing the USB cable interaction made the phone a muc…

I really like the wireless charging on my Nexus 5 as well. Going back to the cable would be fine with me but I would prefer something that takes a little less effort to insert and I'm always concerned about breaking the connector. I just found a really interesting MagSafe-like connector for the classic micro USB [1], maybe they will make something soon for the new USB3 that the 5X uses.

And before some of you say that MagSafe has patents on this, remember that the magnetic catch for a power cord was used on deep fat fryers YEARS before MagSafe [2].

[1] http://www.dxsoul.com/product/wsken-micro-usb-metal-magnetic...

[2] http://www.cpsc.gov/PageFiles/102855/Fryers-DeepFat.pdf

Re: Google Nexus 5x and 6P

#297

Post by TheRealWatson »

mkozlows wrote: post #264
mattmaroon wrote: post #251

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I love wireless charging, but my Nexus 6 has such horrible battery life, and charges so much faster wired, that I end up using a cable a few times a day. Especially in my car. I can pretty much only get away with using a Qi charger at bedtime. So to me the USB C is a big win.

Yeah, I suspect that was a big part of their thought here -- USB-C charging is very fast, and whatever marginal convenience win you get from wireless charging would almost certainly be overshadowed by the speed of wired charging.

I'm not ready to consider the wireless charging just a marginal convenience. Once I started using it I could not tolerate not having it. The only place I use the cable is in the car, where I'm not supposed to be holding the phone anyway.

Re: Google Nexus 5x and 6P

#298

Post by andrepd »

shadeless wrote: post #84

As an owner of Nexus 5 I must say I'm a bit disappointed with this announcement. I was looking forwards to upgrading my almost two year old phone to Nexus 5x, but there doesn't seem to be a good reason unless Nexus 5 stops getting new Android updates. They have the same resolution, same amount of memory, same amount of storage. I don't shoot video, and I probably won't use fingerprint reader - but I do use wireless c…

The problem is smartphones are stagnating. Let's see:

* CPU: Processor evolution is stagnating, and processors are so powerful that they can handle most typical workloads with ease. Efficiency is now the order of the day, not raw power.

* Screen: Densities are so high it that not only does it become difficult to manufacture higher density panels, but it actually hurts the device by draining more energy and killing performance and battery life to display pixels you aren't going to see.

* RAM: 2Gb, the standard in mid-range phones and up, is sufficient for moderate use. 3Gb is comfy and 4Gb is gigantic. Again no substantial improvements in the horizon.

* Storage: The more storage the better, but phones seem to have stabilized in the 16/32/64/128Gb, and anyway with cloud storage this is less and less of a concern.

* Battery: A major pain in modern devices, with no imminent breakthrough in sight.

* Camera: Incremental upgrades are looking promising, but there's only so much you can do with optics in a small form factor.

In short, no major improvements or evolutions in the smartphone field are in the horizon, but they aren't really necessary for the short-term anyway.

Re: Google Nexus 5x and 6P

#299

Post by cpncrunch »

JimmaDaRustla wrote: post #169

Canadian prices suck, they're higher than what our terrible exchange rate equates to when compared to USD prices. Also sounds like they're going to be locked to carriers? Nexus phones aren't the easy choice anymore.

>Also sounds like they're going to be locked to carriers?

Nope.

"Phone is carrier-unlocked with wide-range band support for service providers worldwide. Check with your service provider for more information."

Re: Google Nexus 5x and 6P

#300

Post by TheRealWatson »

mjrpes wrote: post #262
mkozlows wrote: post #200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So the thing is, the Nexus 5 was a near-perfect phone (especially considering it was released two years ago), and it's totally reasonable to think it's still doing the job very well -- it is. But that's a fact about the N5, not the N5X/6P. I mean, what would you want from a new phone that would show up on a spec sheet? Faster? Check, both of these are. The 808/810 aren't gigantic generational leaps over the 800, but…

Occasionally, my Nexus 5 is dead in the morning because the phone was not perfectly placed on the wireless charger. Until Google expands the charging area on the phone to eliminate this problem, I don't mind going back to wired charging.

I have a cheap Qi charger (aren't they all cheap these days?) and this only happened to me once or twice in the two years with the N5.
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