Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Google Nexus 5x and 6P

google.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

491–500 of 568 posts

Re: Google Nexus 5x and 6P

#491

Post by SideburnsOfDoom »

zuppy wrote: post #362
ris wrote: post #347

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Nobody's going to bother to recreate your fingerprint, when it's much easier to beat you with a wrench ( https://xkcd.com/538/ ) until they get access to your phone." I think this misses the point. Accessing a device using a "cloned finger" (not tremendously difficult) can be done without the target ever knowing it has happened. The wrench technique, less so.

Yes, but is it worth spending the required resources? If the answer is yes, than anyway the 4 digit pin isn't more secure (you can watch people type them and find out the code).

> Nobody's going to bother to recreate your fingerprint,

Whyever not? They might have a copy of it lying around. http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/sep/23/us-governm...

> Yes, but is it worth spending the required resources?

When it becomes easy - and it will become easy, there's nothing basically hard about printing out some ridged plastic - it will become commonplace. And unlike stolen passwords, an attacker can be fairly sure that you haven't changed your fingers.

Re: Google Nexus 5x and 6P

#492

Post by EwanToo »

bostik wrote: post #480
branchan wrote: post #464

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ummm, if I lose my phone, I'm just going to remotely disable it so there's no way the person who stole my phone can reach my data.

So, you're using full-disk encryption on your phone and the remote kill switch flushes the key? Otherwise the data is still there in the plain, accessible by anyone who can read the flash.

If you're using a Nexus 5X or 6P on Android 6, then probably yes.

Android 5 has full disk encryption but was disabled by default on the Nexus 5 (and most other phones) due to performance issues.

Re: Google Nexus 5x and 6P

#493

Post by bgibson »

AcerbicZero wrote: post #162
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…

I was a Nexus 5 owner up until I dropped it a few months ago, shattering the screen, and was banished to an iphone 5s. Wireless charging was one of the things I missed most about my nexus, and I was fairly disappointed when I heard these two wouldn't be including it. If I still had my Nexus 5, I doubt I'd even be considering a 5x or a 6p.

Plenty Nexus 5's on Ebay, etc. http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2050601.m5...

Re: Google Nexus 5x and 6P

#494

Post by trampi »

quasse wrote: post #82
georgefrick wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes. With only 32GB, the "Use the cloud, Luke" is a bit pushy. The only thing selling me is the desire to get the USB Type C. I've experienced what you are talking about, every time I get an OTA for the Nexus 5; the performance seems to degrade dramatically. We're looking at spending $400 every 2 years to stay every other gen Nexus? That isn't horrible (55 cents a day or so). But if we pay for services to avoid stora…

Honestly the cloud push doesn't bother me, although I'd suspect I don't go about it the way Google wants. I host my own Subsonic media server which means that I can just set a cache size in Android (5GB right now) and let it automatically download my media as I consume it and push old stuff out of the cache. Combined with Dropbox camera uploads I generally don't use much more than 10GB of storage on my phone.

Just out of curiosity: what mobile network traffic do you have? Over here in germany, i would certainly kill my free 1 gigabyte per month, even with cache size set to ~ 25 gigabyte.

Re: Google Nexus 5x and 6P

#495

Post by rifung »

tuananh wrote: post #387

Huawei seems rather sketchy. Or basically, anything from China. My phone recently died and i'm in market for a new phone. The 5X looks like a decent one.

Why's it sketchy? They seem to be highly reviewed; as far as I know a lot have been actually hoping they would finally enter the US market as they sell a lot of nice phones we don't get. It actually seems like they have better quality and use better materials than most of the non Chinese manufacturers

Re: Google Nexus 5x and 6P

#496

Post by lern_too_spel »

threeseed wrote: post #435
andrepd wrote: post #298

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 pe…

> In short, no major improvements or evolutions in the smartphone. Try the 3D touch on the iPhone. Adding what is the equivalent of contextual menus to the UI is a major improvement to the overall experience and I know I will be upgrading to the 6s purely because of this.

It's called long-press, a touch-screen UI pattern that has been around since at least Pocket PC, carried through on Android, and is only now appearing on iOS. Just like with right click, Apple is late to the contextual menu party.

Re: Google Nexus 5x and 6P

#497

Post by lern_too_spel »

BinaryIdiot wrote: post #79
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…

They did the work for third parties to keep it an an option for the lower end market. The higher end market has shown it doesn't care about SD cards and, honestly, I think for good reason: their user experience has always been terrible. Internal storage is faster and more reliable so I think you're always going to see more and more phones, especially flagships, not offer expandable options.

My uneducated guess is they don't want to pay the Microsoft tax for FAT.

Re: Google Nexus 5x and 6P

#498

Post by mirsadm »

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…

Removable storage is never going to be a thing for a Nexus device so I'm not sure why people bring this up constantly.

Re: Google Nexus 5x and 6P

#499

Post by apricot13 »

darkstar999 wrote: post #315
nradov wrote: post #286

It's really a shame that they still won't offer replaceable batteries. Some of us spend all day travelling around without access to a charger, and it's a lot easier to carry a little spare battery and swap it instead of plugging in a large bulky external power pack.

I have a little "lipstick-sized" charger that gives the Nexus 5 (old one now) a full charge. It's less than $10, just search for "portable phone charger". Honestly I'd rather haul this thing around rather than a spare battery.

I think you're thinking of this: http://www.ianker.com/product/A1105011

I get about 5 full charges on my phone from this - my phone is a moto e though so not exactly high capacity!

Re: Google Nexus 5x and 6P

#500

Post by [deleted] »

mirsadm wrote: post #498
munchbunny wrote: post #292

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Removable storage is never going to be a thing for a Nexus device so I'm not sure why people bring this up constantly.

[deleted]
Post reply on HN