No Nexus Player or Nexus 7 updates, unfortunately. Otherwise went exactly as expected, everything leaked.
Not phone related, but I was a little surprised the new Chromecast is actually two separate devices (one for TV, one for audio). When I read the leaks about it, I thought they were just putting a mini audio jack on the HDMI Chromecast and letting it do both. As a separate device, I’m surprised they didn’t put a battery in the CCAudio.
Let down over the (by now old hat) lack of MicroSD and removable battery, and the loss of wireless charging and OIS was surprising, to be honest. No 64GB N5X model also sucks; I can’t imagine using an SD-less phone without a ton of space on it (but then again, I’m on T-Mobile and travel to rural areas fairly frequently, so the notion of just storing shit on the cloud doesn’t sail with me).
On the flipside, I guess the phones are pretty.
Also, they’ve re-branded the (reportedly terrible) UltraPixel tech that HTC was so hyped on the last couple of years. I wonder if it’ll genuinely work better for the Nexus series.
The Huawei 5.7" Nexus 6P looks pretty great. I’ll wait to read some camera reviews once it gets into reviewer hands, but it hits all the marks for me. USB C, big battery, purportedly great camera, stock Android, fingerprint scanner, big, bright screen but juuust smaller enough than the Nexus 6 to make it work.
$50 bucks more than a Moto X Pure for the 64GB model which is the same size. I do love the touch-less control of the Moto Phones, but the battery, scanner, & camera improvements may be worth it.
To counter all this flagship nonsense, I bought a cheap Moto E today.
Like an impulsive person, I pre-ordered a 128GB N6P.
Moto X Play!
Nope, the Moto X Pure! :)
If you install the free Google Now Launcher on the GS6 it essentially replaces most of Touchwiz w/ the stock Google ‘desktop’. The GS6 is a great phone. Fast, terrific screen, and amazing camera. The biggest caveat is that the battery, while not bad, is only OK.
The Nexus 6P gets you stock Android w/ faster OS updates, a much bigger screen, and a much bigger battery.
Anyone else think the Chromecast Audio could be a Sonos killer? Even if you don’t pay for the Google Play Music service, you can sync 50k of your own songs to your Google Music Cloud, stream it free on any mobile device, and now stream it to your stereo, or any stand alone speaker you choose, for $35 bucks.
Makes a $350 Sonos Connect seem like bad a investment.
S6 gets a bunch of goofy Samsung software crap (typically involves freebie apps or trials to paid apps, Samsung-specific music player, dialer, notes app, etc. pre-installed) and theoretical hardware crap (some of it is standard like fingerprint scanner, but most of it seems pretty meaningless, but stuff like flip phone over to silence a ringtone, eye-tracking to keep screen on, etc.), plus ideal integration with Samsung-branded Tizen-powered smartwatches. It has got wireless charging and fast charging, albeit separately. It’s got a modest-sized screen (5.1") and generally modest dimensions (143mmx70mmx7mm), plus a moderate battery (2550mAh) offset by one of the most power-efficient screens in the business. It’s also rocking a pretty great camera with OIS and packs 3GB of RAM. On the downside, it will almost certainly get OS updates slower, and the Touchwiz OS winds up consuming a goodly chunk of its 3GB RAM and is over-aggressive about killing apps (well before it’s reached peak RAM usage).
On the flipside, the N6P will come with bone-stock Android (of the 6.0 variety and updated readily for the next 18-24 months), which will in particular feature a heavily pared down selection of mandatory apps and virtually no freebies aside from (depending regional availability) perhaps some free Google Drive and/or Music subscriptions; it’s hardware crap is fairly standard (fingerprint scanner, active display), and it should generally work well with Android Wear watches but not get full-featured operation on Samsung-branded Tizen-watches. It’s got a large screen (5.7") and fairly sizable dimensions (159mmx78mmx7mm), plus a gigantic battery (3,450mAh). It’s also got a camera featuring ultra-pixel tech (whatever Google wants to call it) that promises unusually good low-light performance and packs 3GB of RAM. On the downsides, its screen is most likely older tech that uses more power and may not be as vibrant, it lacks wireless charging or OIS, and as of yet, stock Android includes virtually no software functionality (or hardware elements like the Note-line’s S-Pen) to take particular advantage of its large, high-def screen, nor to mitigate said screen’s occasional disadvantages.
The N6P might be cheaper up-front, but if you’re on a carrier that’d subsidize an S6, that may not be much in its corner.
Anyway, I guess it comes down to: do goofy Samsung hardware/software gimmicks, [potentially] better all-around camera performance, [potentially] more vibrant screen, and wireless charging outweigh speedy OS updates, larger screen, larger battery, and [potentially] better night-time/low-light camera performance for you?
Or, more to the point, would laggy OS modifications, weird RAM restrictions, and slow OS updates bug you more than a [potentially] dim screen, lack of wireless charging, and [potentially] worse overall camera performance?
Worth noting that as reputable hands-on reviews of the N6P come out, we may well see the negatives (screen brightness and color-accuracy as well as overall camera performance) diminished somewhat if Google genuinely improved on these areas compared to the predecessor device, the N6-2014.
I’ve never liked Samsung, due to Touchwiz, UNTIL the GS6. Seriously, slap the Google Now launcher on it, disable the unwanted Samsung or Carrier apps (essentially hiding them since you can’t uninstall) and the remnants of the latest Touchwiz are actually good believe it or not. The Samsung notification drawer has quicker access to more useful toggle switches than stock android. There are no laggy OS modifications or RAM restrictions.
I’d still prefer a Nexus 6P if all things are equal (ie if the Nexus 6P camera proves to be great) but there’s really very little to knock the Samsung GS6 for other than middling battery life.
I actually just applied a material design theme from the Samsung theme shop dealy that basically toned down things enough for me and called it a day.
You know, I wasn’t actually going to pre-order and only wanted to check out the 5P’s availibility in Europe. Apparently, $379 translates to €479 these days. No thank you.
Hahahah. Fuck you Google.
Man, you euros really get screwed. Current exchange rates, $379 is actually €338.
It’s pretty bad in Japan too. We have to pay the equivalent of $499 for a $379 phone. What the hell? I thought you weren’t evil Google. Here’s hoping Android M rejuvenates my Nexus 5 battery.
Man, that sucks for you EU folks.
32GB N5X ordered! I’m pumped. Actually bought the extended warranty, because between $70 for that and $30 for a case I’d rather get the warranty.
It genuinely mystifies me how companies continue fucking over the rest of the world with that crap. Like poor Aussies paying the equivalent $100 USD for the same game that’s $60 here.
Fuck corporations, brah :)
it’s 499 canadian to start. yikes.
At current exchange rates, US$379 is CAN$508. So you aren’t being screwed by Google. The exchange rate sucks, of course, but Google isn’t at fault for that.