I can’t quite remember his reason for wanting to use the USB port instead the 3.5mm jack, but he did claim have some reason.
Cool, making sure he didn’t just cover it up with a case or something and forget it was there.
Between the Google support page, the sources I could find about USB-C audio, and my experience doing Android development, I think this is what’s going on: there are two different ways to do audio over USB-C.
First, there are active USB-C audio devices, like a portable DAC/amp combo or powered headphones. These are full USB devices, communicating with the phone using the USB protocol rather than sending an analog audio signal, hence the need for host mode/an on-the-go cable. (Both imply a full-on USB device on the other end.) It reads to me like this is what the 6P et al. support.
Second, there’s USB-C audio alternate mode, which is the part of the USB-C spec which defines how an analog signal can be sent over the USB-C port, using the phone’s DAC and amplifier, to drive plain old headphones. I don’t think the 6P supports this, or at least, I can’t find any evidence that it does.
I suspect that phones like the Moto Z, which lack a headphone jack, support audio alternate mode, since there’s no choice. Google may have left it out of its phones because they all have 3.5mm jacks.
Thanks for the info about USB-C alternate mode. That turns out to be nothing more than allowing a device to re-purpose one or more pins for some other use - analog audio in this case. That seems to be what the Moto Z does, and is why a cheap converter is possible - all it has to do is route the appropriate pins to a 3.5mm jack.
I can’t find any info on the 6P having implemented that. I expect they didn’t, as why spend resources doing that when they were already going to the trouble and expense of putting in the 3.5mm jack?
There are a handful of earphones/earbuds with a DAC built in, but I haven’t yet found any that are reasonably cheap for USB-C. There is a $39 micro-USB earbud by an outfit called Zorloo.
Pulled my Note 3 from my pocket on the weekend only to be greeted by a cracked screen. Don’t remember banging it on anything, but such is life, it was long in the tooth anyway and I have been stalling a replacement for months, despite it growing increasingly…flakey at times. Three years is a good run and it’s been dropped a few times along the way.
So I picked up a 5X this afternoon. I was disappointed by the price point Google are pitching the Pixels at - I don’t really have a desire to drop $1200 on a smartphone anymore.
But I did want a vanilla android experience and the 5X/6P’s are pretty affordable, especially with their price dropping. Did consider the Moto G4 Plus, but nobody stocks the 32Gb version and I kind of want NFC now that Android Pay has finally launched in Perth. The cheaper 5X will let me switch it up sooner if I really need to.
So first thing the phone notifies me of is an update to Nougat. A bit of googling suggests there were some Nougat issues on 5X and 6P at launch, but I can’t really find anything current. What’s the current situation for Nougat on a 5X? Should I be wary, or jump on in? There is no way to roll back without a tethered style reflash, correct?
Jump in, that’s why you got a Nexus isn’t it? :)
I have a 6P and haven’t noticed nor was aware of any issues. The last security patch was a month ago.
Correct.
Jump in. Been on nougat with my 5x for months.
I recently downgraded from a Galaxy S5 to an Amazon Prime Moto G4. You’d think the experience would be night-and-day moving from a $700 phone to a $150 phone, but it really isn’t – at least for me. Performance is pretty snappy. It’s a joy having plenty of storage (damn you S5 and your lack of SD card support), and there are a bunch of qualify of life options that either weren’t on the old phone or were just made a bit less easy to find/activate.
Battery life is great. A day and a half with frequent use versus about eight to ten hours on the Samsung.
The Amazon ads are unobtrusive and even occasionally helpful.
Overall, a big thumbs up. Seems like an extraordinary value. No more expensive phones for me. I’m just not into phones enough to justify the cost.
I hear you. I have a HTC One M8 that’s a few years old. I’d like a better camera, maybe, and better ability to actually hear phone calls without going to speaker phone, but I have little need for super speedy processing or massive computing power for apps. Other than email and occasionally maps/nav, I don’t do much with the phone. So I’ve been in no hurry to get a new one, particularly not a $700+ new one.
I have android 7.0 on a 5x. No issues. Goes to doze mode, I don’t even have to recharge it every single day.
I practically haven’t installed anything… I use reddit, evernote, chrome, sometimes Amazon music.
In particular, no facebook or f2p games. Battery life is good now.
Pretty much the same here. I charge my 5x in the evening and leave it unplugged over night. Typically wake up to 85-95% battery remaining, and by that evening it still has >40% (unless I keep Waze open on a long drive, etc - but easy enough to charge in the car anyway).
Folks should check into Google Fi if they haven’t previously, or haven’t in a while. They have family plans now, and I’ve been saving massive amounts of cash over Verizon since switching. Bill used to be Around $100 a month, and is now down to around $30.
Fi is awesome. I was so immediately happy with it that I switched the wife over (bought her an N5X and convinced my brother and a friend to switch as well.
Another Fi and 5X fan here. Wouldn’t recommend if you’re a big data user but I average $25-35 a month with my use. If you’re already on Fi they’re offering $10 in Google Play credit through the Fi app for completing some quick holiday activities.
Thanks for the feedback, 5X update to Nougat went flawlessly and it’s running nicely.
Left out off charge last night @43% to run the battery down for calibration and the damn thing went into deep sleep mode and was @41% this morning! Cool!
First phone with a finger print scanner. Awesome.
Also, so nice to have a phone again that can take decent pictures. Holy moly was my note 3 a disaster for photo taking - worst camera in my smartphone history by far.
Thanks for the heads up on this. Now I have $10 in Google Play credit through that. I recently opened a seasons greetings email from Google Fiber where they gave me $20 in Google Play credit. So if any of you have Google Fiber, be sure not to just ignore their Christmas email as spam.
No, I’m pretty sure that title goes to the Note 1. At least, mine was terrible.
End of 2016. Still on a Moto X from 2013. The continued sad state of compact Androids usable with Verizon shows no sign of abatement.
http://www.gsmarena.com/results.php3?nYearMin=2014&nHeightMax=140&s4Gs=13&sOSes=2
Probably will be forced to go bigger next year to get something usable.
An update on using Project Fi. Between my wife and I, we don’t usually use much data. So our average bill for the last few months has always hovered between $42 and $49 each month, for two of us together.
Sometimes Project Fi switches an incoming call to a Wifi call, which actually hasn’t been all that pleasant. It basically sounds like a Whatsapp call, with some crackling and other such audio artifacts.
Does anyone have strong opinions one way or another on good apps for blocking calls?
Truecaller and Calls Blacklist both have a ton of installs and decent reviews. I can’t help wondering why they’re free, though. Where does the revenue come from?