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Nexus 5X and Nexus 6P Reviews Arrive (arstechnica.com)
An anonymous reader writes: A few weeks ago, Google announced its new Nexus phones — the 5X built by LG, and the 6P built by Huawei. The phones are starting to ship, and reviews for both devices have landed. So far, they're largely positive. Ars Technica calls them the Android phones to beat, though criticizes them for having fairly large bezels and no wireless charging. Android Police says the 6P's form factor is an improvement over the Nexus 6, being slightly narrower and taller. Meanwhile, most publications report that the 5X does a good job at carrying on the legacy of the excellent Nexus 5. It's their lower end phone, and most reviews mention that it feels that way in the hand — but battery life is reportedly excellent. The Nexus 6P's battery is capable, but doesn't last as long. Fortunately, the worries about overheating with its Snapdragon 810 chip seem overblown.
" Starting at $379 for a 16GB version, the Nexus 5X is nearly as cheap as the 2013 Nexus 5, which started at $349."
I wish Nexus had taken a different tack than Apple, marketing a 16GB phone as entry level when few people are going to be happy with that. I understand that some suits somewhere told them to hit a certain price point, but 16GB is not going to leave users happy.
And on the high end, only having a 16GB and 32GB option are not going to leave power users very happy. Some of us might want a lot of storage for music and other media, but not want a phone that's too large to use one handed like the "P" phones.
So, how long will a $400-500 phone last us?
Google supports Nexus phones with major updates for "at least two years" now, and security updates for "the longer of three years from initial availability or 18 months from last sale of the device via the Google Store," which is better than any other Android OEM out there. After the Stagefright vulnerability cropped up, Google instituted a monthly security update schedule, and so far Nexus devices have gotten OTAs in August, September, and October, right on schedule.
It's good to see this stated up front. I'm hoping that this becomes a trend in the industry. The expected lifetime of the phone is going to be a very important factor when deciding on my next one.
Irony: Agile development has too much intertia to be abandoned now.
First, the actual comment from TFA was:
Daily battery life was nothing short of astounding and ranks among the best any modern smartphone can offer. The larger battery certainly helps and it’s likely that optimizations within Android 6.0 Marshmallow are doing quite a bit of work here too. I was able to get over 6 and a half hours of screen on time here with normal web browsing, chatting and video watching during a full day. This is among the best battery life you’ll find on any smartphone regardless of the specs, you’re looking at something truly magical here.
Second, as discussed extensively on reddit, it's way too early to draw any conclusions about the battery. Nobody has had the phone for more than a few days.
Then I guess you missed the bit where the Nexus devices have no such problem? They are always the FIRST to get the OS updates...
The manufacturers and carriers guaranteed that my first Android device would be my last, by failing to allow me to upgrade to the latest, most secure version of the operating system.
Yeah... android is worse than Apple.
I'm sticking with Apple devices from now on.
My daughters iphone 4 purchased in 2013 didn't get ios8 last year, nor ios9 this year. It stopped receiving security updates 15months ago... barely 9 months after we got it.
Sure it was nearing the end of its run when we bought it, and we new that. But Apple pretty much dropped software support for it completely -- while it was still under its 1 year warranty.
Apple's a better vender then most (all?) android vendors. But you still can get burnt. At least with android you can install alternative builds after the vendor forgets you exist; especially if you buy a popular model that has lots of support.
It's convenience. It's easier to lay your phone on the charging pad in a car, for example, than plugging in a micro-USB cable. Plus you don't have cables lying around everywhere, in the car, in the house, at work, etc.
Buying stuff from China is only an issue in this way if it's some kind of network-connected computing device and the software is preloaded and not easy to replace. This basically means cellphones, and not much else.
If you buy a toilet valve made in China, for instance, I don't think that's something you need to worry about spying on you.
Even a laptop computer shouldn't be a problem, if you're just going to wipe the HD and install Linux. (If you're stupid and you use Windows, however, you're going to get spied on by Microsoft thanks to their new "telemetry" keylogger, and I don't see how it's any better or worse for China to spy on you than MS.)
But cellphones are definitely a different matter, since it's not so easy to change the software on them.
But when you, as a society, have made yourself completely dependent on China for all your manufacturing needs, including very high-end technological devices, I do think it's a bit silly to complain about them spying on you.
I went with Windows Phone this time around for the exact same reason. Android has a huge problem with getting updates out to phones and tablets. The iPhone was a little too expensive for my tastes, so the only other option was Windows Phone. I actually like it a lot. Best phone experience I've ever had.
For tablets, I would probably also go with a Windows tablet like the Surface 3 (not pro), which is comparable in price to the iPad, while offering so much more. If you want to spend $800, just go for Surface Pro, it's really the only option worth considering at that price. Or if I was looking for something smaller and cheaper. than something like the Dell Venue with Windows would be a good option too. Once you get up to tablet size, having the option of running full desktop applications is nice.
Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
I like it because it doesn't create any wear on the USB connector.
I have a Gen1 Moto G and given it is on the POS Verizon network, I have all but two of the Stagefright vulnerabilities and no doubt will until the sun explodes. The normal advice is to get a new phone that has a chance of a decent length of support, meaning Apple [insert walled-garden retching sounds here] or the Nexus line.
But the enlarged heart of the problem is the GIGANTISM that still runs amok among capable phones. I don't want anything larger than what I have (needing a backpack to lug around what are now basically phablets that won't fit into even American-sized pockets), which leaves me virtually no choice than the screendoor security I already have.
I guess I could try the hacked ROM path, but even now it seems so patchwork and stable as a house of cards (nightlies? for a fucking phone?) and I just can't imagine such rag-tag bands has perfected true security, leaving one open for the next lucrative zero-day (or taking a big check from organized crime to build-in a backdoor).
MOTO X Style (Pure) is awesome.
Xperia Z5, particularly the Compact comes to mind, Sony is going to go minimalistic on the UI.
Oneplus 2 also come to mind, but thier invite system leaves much to be desired.
In the Android world, manufacturers release low spec phones to serve the budget end of the market. Apple does the same thing by using newly manufactured iPhones from an old design. Saying that these old iPhone models shouldn't get updates is exactly the same as saying that low spec Android phones shouldn't get updates, which is crazy.
It doesn't matter when the phone was designed - if a phone was purchased recently, customers should be able to expect updates for a reasonable period. It's completely unreasonable to stop providing updates during the warranty period!
It should be illegal for manufacturers to stop providing security updates during the 2-year contract period, if it isn't already.
The real question is when did they stop selling it. Apple do not releases cheaper iPhones (except the 5C). Usually, they just continue selling their old phones for less.
Linux would be immune of course.
Windows 10 not so much. It wasn't malware - it was a Windows feature being abused where Windows would execute arbitrary code stored in the BIOS.
No exploit or vulnerability.
Meanwhile, iOS 9 was available on the iPhone 4S (from 2011) the day it was released.
Sure, but it's cripplingly slow. It would be better if you could stick with an older, faster version of iOS and just get security updates like you can with Android.
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC