Nexus 5X and Nexus 6P Reviews Arrive (arstechnica.com) 190
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.
16GB (Score:5, Interesting)
" 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.
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I have 16gb, so does my wife. I'm not so into apps, but my wife has like a hundred. Neither of us has any problem (and anyway, doesn't it allow a micro-SD card?)
Just Googling, it looks like 91% of iPhone users have 16gb or less.
While 16gb isn't enough for everybody, it's enough for most people.
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91% of iPhone users have 16GB of less because it costs an extra $100 for the next model up, and it already costs around $650 to begin with. I don't have any hard statistics, but the vast majority of people I know with phones that have SD card slows have an SD card in there. Most of them have 16 or 32 GB cards in there on top of what's already in the phone. Also, a large percentage of people I know with an iPhone constantly complain that there is too little space for them to store their stuff.
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and anyway, doesn't it allow a micro-SD card?
No, they don't. These are just like Apple phones that way. That's the whole problem.
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Re:16GB (Score:4, Informative)
In terms of modern android phones, only the LG G4 and the lesser known OnePlus Two still have microSD.
bollocks. You're forgetting Motorola, it seems like pretty much all of their big phones have them, and most of them are available in dual sim versions — even the sub-$200 Moto G.
Re:16GB (Score:4, Insightful)
And Sony, at least on the Xperia Z5. I know Sony isn't popular around here, but I like the fact they also offer a compact version for people who want a pretty decent spec phone that will actually fit in a pocket.
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These Moto phones look interesting; I'll have to keep them in mind next time I'm in the market for a phone.
With a dual-sim in the US, is it possible to use multiple networks, such as Sprint & T-Mobile? I really haven't heard much about dual-sim phones before.
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I have a phone with 8GB, and I'm perfectly happy. But only because it has an SD card slot where I can store my music and pictures. I don't know why everybody thinks it's such a good idea to not have an SD card slot. Personally, I thought I was making a compromise because my phone only came with SDHC and not SDXC. I really don't care what reasons they come up with. I will never buy a phone without expandable storage options.
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Everyone thinks it's a great idea because everyone thinks you should just store all that data in "the cloud". Then you can pay extra money to access it at 4G data rates.
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Everyone thinks it's a great idea because everyone thinks you should just store all that data in "the cloud".
Who is "everyone"? Plenty of manufacturers offer SD cards in their devices and plenty of manufacturers offer large amounts of built-in storage. It often is a good idea to store data somewhere other than a smartphone that can be lost, stolen or destroyed pretty easily. Indeed taking photos and sharing them online is one of the key uses of smartphones these days as is using streaming music services over buying, maintaining and synchronizing your own music collection.
Then you can pay extra money to access it at 4G data rates.
Convenience and security costs money, thank
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Get over it, 16GB is more than enough for most buyers. It's always the most popular option. For $379 including free shipping (shipping was extra on Nexus 5), it's hard to beat.
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but 16GB is not going to leave users happy.
It would be plenty if users could delete the bloatware they'll never use and didn't want.
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So they decided not to include a removable SD card storage, huh? Unfortunate.
I looked at the Nexus phones when I decided I needed to replace my aging HTC "Vivid", which was becoming pretty unreliable. I looked at a LOT of phones, including ones made by LG and Huawei. Samsung was at the top of my list, but even the previous gen phones were a little over my budget. I ruled out HTC because of their awful updates (or should I say lack of them). It was still running Android 4.0.4 - same thing it had when I
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I'm not.
Also I think you're seriously overestimating the number of people who require a lot of storage on their phones. I'd bet that the only reason that people get larger capacity phones is because they're offered to them at the same price with their contract.
Making a small capacity phone that is cheap is a very smart move by Google, there's a lot of people like
Re:16GB (Score:4, Insightful)
Sure you can. You can put in a SDcard slot, so people can upgrade the memory to whatever they want.
But since they didn't bother doing this, because they want everyone to store everything in "the cloud" and pay high data-access fees to get to it, I for one won't be buying one of these devices.
Re:16GB (Score:5, Insightful)
The missing sd slot is the only thing that keeps me from buying this phone.
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And then I'd be less happy because it would have taken space that could have battery and/or put the cost up.
-1 Stupid.
An empty SDcard slot costs a lot less than 64GB of flash memory.
If you want a phone that sacrifices these things, then go buy one. It's not like there's a shortage of phones which have made this sacrifice. We're bemoaning the fact that phones *with* these features are disappearing. One of the main points of the whole Android ecosystem is that there's a bunch of different phone makers and
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Replace the 16gb model with a 64gb. There, almost everyone is happy. The problem isn't that you can't make everyone happy, the problem is offering an option that makes almost no one happy.
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People will buy more 16GB than 32GB, proving you wrong.
And the 128 GB 6P will not sell at all.
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Why wouldn't it?
People like having large capacities for storage. I know a lot of people who start fidgeting very nervously, when they' re forced to delete anything from their devices.
For me, 64GB hits the sweetspot. Although with 4K recording capabilities that would also be on the low end, if I were more into recording video, than I am.
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One word: Price.
They sell these 64 and 128 GB for way too much. They make a lot more profit on these phones than on base (16/32GB) variants.
I'd pay an extra $20 to get 128 GB. I won't pay $200 for it, however. Not on a phone that I expect to last 4 years (after which it will be too slow) and that can break long before that.
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They should use ext4. Most people will never put it in a Windows PC anyways. And they could release a Windows program to read/write the ext4 SD for the rest.
Re:16GB (Score:4, Informative)
They should use ext4.
As of Marshmallow, SD cards can finally be formatted as ext4 by the OS and used as "internal" storage.
Pity Google didn't actually put a card reader in their Nexii to demonstrate the potential ...
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About three months ago, I went on a spree of mad deletion. I deleted nearly 15 TB from my NAS. A goodly portion was old installers from shit fifteen years old. Another chunk was movies. I couldn't be happier but, I admit, it was tough to do. The funny thing is, I remember the days of old and it's hard to not save all that stuff - even though you have 57 version of old Firefox installers like a mad collector. It used to suck to download stuff - it took forever.
Now, in just a short time, I have kind of change
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That doesn't prove anything? Are they happy with only 16GB, or do they just not want to get ripped off paying an extra $100 for 16GB of memory?
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Of course they would be happier with a 1TB phone for $2 in a fantasy world.
But the facts remain. More people buy cheaper phones with less storage. If they weren't happy with that phone, they'd buy another one.
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yeah, all 2 of them were sold already.
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Only problem is, that there is no 64GB model. At lest not for the 5X. There are 16 and 32GB models and then there are 64 and 128GB Nexus 6P models.
So you either get a small phone with small storage capacity or a large phone with large storage capacity. No small phone with large storage capacity is available here.
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Only problem is, that there is no 64GB model. At lest not for the 5X. There are 16 and 32GB models and then there are 64 and 128GB Nexus 6P models.
you are so right it's a serious problem. every phone should have a model for every permutation of possible options. it's a very sound basis for product development. i hear that it's cheaper to produce many different phones at smaller numbers.
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Why would Google sell an upgradeable phone with a replaceable battery, when they can just sell you a new one in a year or two?
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Someone else with some sanity! I have a family full of 16GB users and it's NEVER been an issue. I am the family tech person and have fielded 1 question about running out of storage, in the 5 years I have owned smartphones. Luckily, it was my Android using cousin, and I taught him about microsd. I think it is hard for a lot of slashdotters to wrap their heads around the fact that most people do very little with these 650 dollar devices.
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It's possible to do a lot with these $650 devices in 16gb...personally I watch movies, Facebook, browse web, do stuff for my job, play a game or two, stream music, blah blah blah. Just, I'm not recording & storing much in the way of 4K video.
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Android phones seem to be largely going the way of Apple devices, in a dumb attempt to copy them, with the dumb idea that they're going to get Apple users to convert to Android. They haven't figured out that Apple users like Apple devices and aren't going to switch, and Android users **don't** want Apple devices, or else they would have bought them instead.
On top of that, these phones are made by Google. Google doesn't *want* you to store stuff on your device, besides apps and caches and such. They want
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No it is that they want to produce sturdier devices with a high quality feel. When you start adding removable parts and compartments it compromises that, you also have more points of failure. They could turn a tidy profit selling their customers extra batteries but it makes the device more flimsy and prone to breakage.
That's total bullshit. The Samsung Galaxy S4 and S5 are very sturdy devices; the S5 is even waterproof.
No they have realized that the market for people who want user-replaceable batteries and
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gotta love it. massives profits to be had by including SD card slots and replaceable batteries. but can you believe it? HTC, Motorola, LG, Samsung? all too stupid to capitalize. if only they had you on their BoD you'd turn those companies around in a few months wouldn't you?
if there's one thing you can trust in a company is that they'll follow the money. if such phones sold better, they'd be making them.
More bullshit. The Galaxy S6 did just as you say, and the sales have been miserable. The S4 and S5 are commanding huge prices on the used market.
so samsung's poor sales on the S6 are all attributable to the lack of an SD card slot? amazing.
Support (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
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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.
I have a Nexus 4 that has been getting major updates for about 3 years now. If you look at Apple's compatibility chart for iOS 9 you'll see that it supports devices about as old as the Nexus 4. So it looks like they are maintaining status quo with Apple.
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I have a Nexus 4 that has been getting major updates for about 3 years now. If you look at Apple's compatibility chart for iOS 9 you'll see that it supports devices about as old as the Nexus 4. So it looks like they are maintaining status quo with Apple.
Perhaps a bit better in that Google is committing to updates for a defined duration. Apple has done a good job with deploying updates to older devices, but they don't actually make any promises about what they'll do in the future, as far as I can tell.
I'm hoping Google's move here will start an industry trend to specific support commitments, across and perhaps even beyond the Android ecosystem.
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6P battery life (Score:3)
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 [reddit.com], it's way too early to draw any conclusions about the battery. Nobody has had the phone for more than a few days.
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I tend to agree. What bothers me about 6.0 (I have a Nexus 5 with it) is that doze often will also stop notifications from other apps that check data, such as Whatsapp or BBM. It doesn't always happen, but often enough that when I unlock it I'll end up getting maybe 10 notifications that were all waiting.
So while I do appreciate Google's attempt to solve battery issues with 'doze', I feel like they should instead just concentrate on fixing the issue in a more general way instead of just "let's shut down eve
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I think that Android is doing something wrong when it comes it battery life. I'm not sure what it is about Android, but it seems that the battery drains even when it's just sitting there on my desk. My Windows phone on the other hand does not have this problem. It's been sitting on my desk all day, and it's sitting at 93% battery remaining. It still get's plenty of live notifications. Fetches email, get's Facebook notifications, Reddit inbox, and a few other things. Very little battery gets used unless I'm
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I agree. But Google doesn't seem to want to admit this, or deal with it.
Bezels, everyone's always complaining (Score:2)
Why is everyone so obsessed with wireless charging (Score:2)
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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.
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Lack of wireless charging is a huge loss. I'd have pre-ordered a 6P if it had wireless charging. Not only an I used to it now, but I've got a lot of chargers.
It really marrs an otherwise great product.
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Exactly. Cables plugged into chargers that never move and can be tucked away neatly. I'm glad you appreciate how much nicer this is than having several feet of loose cable lying around.
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Some cars have them built in now. There are also companies building them into furniture for home and office. It's 2015, welcome to the future.
Re:Why is everyone so obsessed with wireless charg (Score:4, Informative)
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I like it because it doesn't create any wear on the USB connector.
It's also a nice solution for devices whose USB connectors are broken. For a lot of Android devices with removable batteries (not Nexus devices) you can get after-market charging antennas to install inside the back cover and make it possible to charge a device that would otherwise need a potentially-expensive repair.
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Wireless charging is an awesome feature. Its really easy to slot my Nexus 5 in and out of the cradle of my car system. Bingo! No fiddling to things connected etc. I can't believe they dropped the feature. My partner has an iPhone 6P and she's really jealous she can't do that with a phone that costs 3 time more than mine.
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Other options for pure android? (Score:2)
I was disappointed by the lack of wireless charging and "only" 32GB for the Nexus 5X so am holding onto my Nexus 5 for now. Are there any other good options for a pure android phone (I bought a Samsung S5, but sold it after a month since I couldn't get used to their Touchwiz interface)? I don't really want to go down the route of Cyanogen mod or other releases where I have to flash the phone myself and some features may or may not be supported.
I'd really like the better camera of the 5X, but don't want to g
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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.
I have a Huawei Ascend P7 (Score:2)
I'm sill on Android 4.4.4. This phone has never had an update, This phone was released in June 2014. Hardly an old phone. It was the flagship phone then.
The built in file manager shows all of my files stored in internal memory. All of my pictures etc are actually stored on the sdcard. When I remove the sdcard I can view these files on my pc.
The alarm works most of the time. The snooze button works once then the second time fails.
With this in mind I was very surprised that Google thought this was a good idea
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Painted into a tiny corner (Score:3)
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).
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Has there been a single instance of Stagefright being exploited in the wild? It really seems to have been massively overblown.
You could install Cyanogenmod too. 12.1 is supported and includes a fix for Stagefright. You download a single app and it installs automatically, no hassle at all.
Nope, another fail. (Score:2)
No MicroSD is a dealbreaker for me.
No removeable battery is a dealbreaker for me.
These have both flaws. Will not buy, at any pricepoint.
Battery life (Score:2)
[The Nexus 5X is] 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.
In both battery benchmarks in the article, the Nexus 6P scores better. 631 vs. 548 and 277 vs. 207. It would seem at least from this article that the 6p battery situation is just better than the 5x, contradicting the article summary.
Google Fi project (Score:2)
However, regardless of how good the phone may be relative to past versions of Nexus, they're all familiar with iPhone and iOS now, and to break out of that is a big hurdle in itself. The tie-ins of iMessage, ease of
No Qi no sale (Score:2)
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Are google paying the Microsoft Android tax? (Score:2)
it's too big (Score:2)
The Nexus 5, like the Nexus 4, like the Galaxy Nexus, was a 5" device that fits into a pocket. I've used the same sleeve case for all three.
The 5x is bigger. It's too big.
Given the Nexus 6 debacle I'd hoped Google would realise that there are a bunch of people that don't want to walk around with a fucking handbag just to hold their phone. Who find holsters inconvenient, awkward and uncomfortable. Who want a sensibly sized fucking phone.
But no. They want you to buy the humungous 6p or the stupidly oversized
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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...
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Only if you side-load it yourself. The Nexus updates are now at the mercy of the carriers, even if they're unlocked phones purchased from Google directly, even on a prepaid monthly plan.
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Side-loading a new factory image isn't exactly difficult. Sure, you need the adb and fastboot tools, and it helps to be running Linux, but for the most part it's simpler than most desktop OS upgrades.
The only part I find annoying about the factory load process is that the default scripts will wipe out the user data area on the phone. There is no need for that—assuming the bootloader is already unlocked, if you just delete the -w option from the flash-all.sh script you can load new factory images while
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Side-loading a new factory image isn't exactly difficult. Sure, you need the adb and fastboot tools, and it helps to be running Linux, but for the most part it's simpler than most desktop OS upgrades.
Ok, you see, I buy a phone, I expect my security upgrades to be as seamless as the competition. The alternative is that much fewer people buy the phone again after having been left out to do the manufacturer's work.
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I think that's why it's now at the mercy of the carrier. The carrier wants to ensure a seamless upgrade, so they want to validate major releases first and then make them available for their customers' phones to grab. Carriers aren't exactly in a hurry though, so why Google would let them do this is beyond me. What's annoying is that if you're using an MVNO, you're not technically the carrier's customer yet you're on hold for the OTA upgrade until they bless it.
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According to the source, major Android system updates will be provided to Nexus phones and tablets for two full years after the starting operating system's release date, while security patches will be provided for three years from that date.
Meanwhile, iOS 9 was available on the iPhone 4S (from 2011) the day it was released.
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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.
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There is no reason it has to be that way. It's not like they have to modify the damn software from upstream. They could just run Debian on it and whatever GUI they want. It would never be abandoned as far as security patches go then.
People have been able to do that on the desktop for decades if they wanted to and if you really wanted that you can do it with devices like the N900 (which you can still get on ebay). Sure I can run debian on my N900 and it's a neat trick but it's shitful as a smartphone.
That phone is an awesome device to play with but it's a toy. Running The Gimp, emacs and gcc on that thing was cool but not practically useful. Yes I could hack the OS and fix things but I don't want that on a smartphone, my iPhone gets upd
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That's the price of the openness. You support fragmentation in Linux distros, but hate the fragmentation in Android distros? It's the same thing, and you're free to wipe and root your tablet and install your own version.
That being said, this is about Google's Nexus devices, which are vanilla and have a perfect track record of getting updates.
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That's the price of the openness. You support fragmentation in Linux distros, but hate the fragmentation in Android distros? It's the same thing, and you're free to wipe and root your tablet and install your own version.
Really? There are basically Debian-based distros and RedHat-based distros. Unless you have very specific needs, you just update yourself along as new versions come out. If you don't want to play the upgrade game, they have specific releases which get longer-term support. And if you want to just stick with a single version forever, go for it.
Meanwhile, I have a 2013 Moto X which was promised Lollipop over a year ago, and indeed Motorola released it, but maybe it didn't work well, maybe they fixed it, but
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I wouldn't say perfect. Google is getting better, but the earlier Nexus devices had pretty disappointing support lifetimes
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WTF are you talking about? Android isn't open in the least. Things like CyanogenMod are iffy, because so many parts of a typical Android install are closed-source, including many device drivers needed for the devices. And that's once you figure out how to "root" the phone, which they intentionally make difficult.
Re:Never again (Score:5, Interesting)
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.
Re: Never again (Score:3)
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 unreasona
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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.
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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 Surfac
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Windows Phone... yeah, I've heard it's nice from people who actually have one. But aren't you missing out on the app ecosystem of the Android or iPhone marketplace?
Unfortunately, an ecosystem feeds on popularity, and popularity feeds on the ecosystem. As we've seen from Windows' death-grip on the PC market, it's hard for competitors to break into an existing market, even with solid alternative offerings.
You don't miss out on much anymore (Score:2)
Dealing with a shitty, highly limited app ecosystem in Windows phones is ending. Windows phone coul
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That's one of the few downsides I've found with my phone. There's a few apps that I would like to have that aren't available. Fortunately, I've been able to find alternatives for basically every single app. So I can still do everything I want to do. I think the biggest complaint I hear from other windows phone users is the lack of a SnapChat app. I really don't care about that, so I don't feel like I'm missing anything. But I definitely see how some people could be put off by the fact that certain apps jus
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I'm sticking with Apple devices from now on.
If you really want total control over your own devices, you can't beat Android. The trick is to choose a cell phone carrier that lets you own your own device.
I was a customer of Verizon for years and years, and I was happy with the quality of the cell phone service. I bought a Galaxy Nexus, happy that I would get updates (it's a Nexus device, right?).
Then I didn't get updates. Google released the updates, but Verizon didn't let them through. My Galaxy Nexus be
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Like 99% of the rest of the people with good jobs, hot boyfriends, nice cars and big houses, I'm buying an iPhone.
Fixed that for you.
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I never said anything about homosexuality. Insecure about your own much?
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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 s
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You missed the whole Lenovo debacle didn't you?
Where wiping the hard drive didn't in fact save you from their crap.
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Correct me if I'm wrong, but the way I remember that, they put some malware into the BIOS which modified some Windows files, so re-installing Windows wouldn't get rid of whatever it was they were injecting into it, because the BIOS would just see the Windows file wasn't the modified version, and go modify it for you.
This isn't a problem if you don't install Windows in the first place.
Heck, it probably isn't even a problem if you "upgrade" to Windows 10, as the BIOS malware would have been hard-coded for an
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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.
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Yeah, I remember that from a while ago. However, tampering with rack-mount network switches is a bit different from tampering with a cellphone. There just isn't any extra room in there for adding anything. And how could the NSA make a "compromised chip" anyway? I don't think the NSA owns any $5 billion fabs; that would be very hard to hide. Back to the switches: wasn't that just a software mod they did?