Database Develop

Nexus 5 vs. GNEX

Just my 2 cents as information for folks who are pondering to switch from the Galaxy Nexus to the Nexus 5:
I used my Gnex for 2 Years or so and were quite happily. After reading through the threads i was a little bit worried about the speakers and other things - but all in all i can say the Nexus 5 is worth the switch!
First impressions after 1 day playing around:
- it is fast as hell - even with all the same apps installed again!
- the camera is very, very ok! Not as good as the first published pictures promised but a lot better than the old one - especially in dark areas.
- the hdr mode is very cool!
- the loudness of the speakers is clearly louder than on the Gnex! And for my ears its not a "tin can sound"!
- the battery lasts longer than the gnex - even with its first loading!
- no clickering sounds from the power / volume buttons
- display is great, no angle problems - surfing is fun with that!
- UPDATE: Played around with the GPS (Sygic and GPStool) -> fixes are clearly faster than with the GNEX and navigation is nearly "realtime". The N5 doesnt get so hot as the GNEX too!
- UPDATE: Display colors: brighter and black is "more black" than on gnex!
Drawbacks so far:
- had some fc's when starting the camera
- i am too stupid to let the notification led do its job together with K9 mail, calendar and sms/hangouts
- I liked the center of weight better on the Gnex which was more on the bottom side than exact in the middle like Nexus 4, 5, G2 etc...
UPDATE: use light flow for the led - and everything is fine!
UPDATE: unfortunately my pics cannot back up my subjective display impressions
hope this infos are helping someone...

Good information for the small minority of people who still own a Galaxy Nexus and wanting to switch to a Nexus 5.
Worth a new thread? Probably not.

RedBlueGreen said:
Good information for the small minority of people who still own a Galaxy Nexus and wanting to switch to a Nexus 5.
Worth a new thread? Probably not.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's a bit harsh.
Small minority?
A lot of people who got a gnex signed up for 2 year contracts so it's around the time they'll be looking for a new handset.
I'm one of those and i know of a couple more who have already upgraded from gnex to N5

From GNex to Nexus 4 to Nexus 5
Here's my additional comments to those possibly thinking of upgrading - From GNex to Nexus 4 to Nexus 5
Users coming from GNex -
The difference between Gnex to Nexus 4 was amazing. Definitely worth the upgrade in every aspect. Users coming from the GNex to the Nexus 5 directly will notice a night and day difference in every aspect also. Speed speed speed!
Users coming from Nexus 4 -
I just received my Nexus 5 yesterday and am experiencing mixed emotions on whether it's worth the upgrade from the Nexus 4. First observations aren't overly impressive. I like the overall build of the n5 except for the camera ring sticking out. I've already read a few reports of it scratching/chipping simply from placing it on a table. I've never used cases on previous phones but this one might need something to protect it. However, cases take away from the look and feel of the phone so it's a tough decision.
I'm disappointed the screen edges aren't slightly rounded like the n4. It made swiping feel nice and comfortable and that's somewhat lost with the n5. My n5 'whites' seem washed out or 'yellowish/creamy' compared to the n4. "Same IPS screen", maybe just need to give this a day or so to settle in. It took a while between my Gnex and n4 to get used to. I don't know enough about screen technology to know if any of this is normal or not.
Possibly my biggest annoyance with the phone is on the bottom right back of the phone (on the speaker side) I seem to have a small raised surface, almost as if the back wasn't fully snapped in. Pressing down with force doesn't snap anything further into place though - this feels like a defect and something that'll annoy me if I keep the phone. I compared to a friend's and it's definitely less to almost not there on his. Not sure if this is the clip/glue/material or whatever is holding the device together that's causing the slight raised surface.
I can't comment on battery life to much yet. This morning I left the house on a full charge and got to the office at 78% (45 minute commute door to door - normal use, just reading G+ and reddit). On the n4 I'd be down to about 70% with the same use. Not much better but needs more testing. A big deciding factor will be whether the phone gets as hot as the n4 did from moderately heavy use. I haven't given the camera or speakers a test yet but will later on.
The s800 doesn't feel THAT much faster than the s4 pro when comparing side by side in the OS. Yes, it is (obviously), but only slightly during navigation and loading apps. There isn't enough of a WOW factor coming from the n4 here as I was hoping.
Overall, I'm going to give the phone a few days before deciding whether to keep it or return it.

bleets said:
That's a bit harsh.
Small minority?
A lot of people who got a gnex signed up for 2 year contracts so it's around the time they'll be looking for a new handset.
I'm one of those and i know of a couple more who have already upgraded from gnex to N5
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Disregarding if its a small minority or not.. I personally don't think its worth a new thread because there is enough information on this phone on this forum.
It doesn't need a N5 VS Gnex thread to find out if the N5 is better then the Gnex.
Thats all I'm gonna post on this thread. I don't want to spam/ Off Topic any more.

Good to hear and thanks for the thread. There's plenty of GNex folks still coming off contract the next few months.
I should be getting mine tomorrow. I too am switching from a GNex. I have home, bills, kids, etc and don't buy each new phone that comes out. I really didn't see the need. My big rationale now is dumping VZN. The N5 should be a nice update for a carrier switch!
---------- Post added at 07:43 AM ---------- Previous post was at 07:40 AM ----------
RedBlueGreen said:
Disregarding if its a small minority or not.. I personally don't think its worth a new thread because there is enough information on this phone on this forum.
It doesn't need a N5 VS Gnex thread to find out if the N5 is better then the Gnex.
Thats all I'm gonna post on this thread. I don't want to spam/ Off Topic any more.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If that's the case why read the thread let alone respond to it? It's senseless.

RedBlueGreen said:
Good information for the small minority of people who still own a Galaxy Nexus and wanting to switch to a Nexus 5.
Worth a new thread? Probably not.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
everyone should switch phone every 2 years to notice the "upgrade"

Tomorrow should have many new Nexus 5 owners with the big November 8th deliver wave.

Haven't played around with it much, but I can vouch for the speed. I'm currently in the process of rooting the device with the Nexus 5 Multi-Tool, and it got me in a bootloop (yay).

Pretty impressed too
I too came from the Galaxy Nexus. Naked, the Nexus 5 is way more grippy but I still learned my lesson and bought a case for this phone. The GNEX would constantly slip out of my hands and pockets with no case. The speed increase is nuts. The GNEX was never a slouch but man this thing screams. Apps, webpages load almost as fast as my desktop PC with a SSD in it. I feel like I gain minutes a day doing the same things I used to do on my old phone.
The one thing that blew my mind with Android 4.4? I wake up almost daily before my alarm goes off. So when I woke up early I was fiddling with my phone and I noticed a alarm notification. Dismiss alarm 30 minutes before its set to go off. How amazing, normally I would wait until it went off to do my morning routine, because I'd forget to turn my recurring alarm back on. More minutes saved everyday...

I currently own a GNex and my N5 is sitting at the local UPS depot. Hopefully I will get it tonight. In any event I am excited to start using the the phone. My GNex has the volume bug and so I cannot have conversations longer than 5 minutes without losing the ability to hear the other person. In addition, my battery life has become terrible and the screen is degenerating (lots of burn in). Not that the screen was of the greatest quality to begin with, but I can definitely see the difference with age.
In any event I will post my comparison when I receive my new phone.

Agree on the speed difference. Night and day - even versus an over clocked GNex. Chrome now actually works well as it should.
Sent from my Nexus 10 using Tapatalk 4

I owned a GNEX for a little bit a few years back and what a terrible phone that was. The screen was crap, the camera was one of the worst I have seen and the battery life.....OH THE BATTERY LIFE!
Going to an N4 from the GNEX might put you into a small acoma but going from the GNEX to the N5, let's just say be sure to breath slowly and have someone near you who can call you an ambulance if you start feeling chest pains.

Coming from the Galaxy Nexus myself, Chrome and its stupid, stupid "font boosting" is my biggest gripe with the Nexus 5. Can't wait for the AOSP Browser at least until an option (I would be happy with a chrome://flag...) arrives. But I'm waiting for 1,5 years now and still this simple option isn't there.
Enough Chrome rant, I loved my Galaxy Nexus but so far I've not looked back. The Nexus 5 is a great phone and it addresses my biggest problems with the Galaxy Nexus: speaker loudness and GPS accuracy and speed. My GPS problems were only minor but now I see that it can be much better. Also I can finally hear the navigation announcements AND listen to the radio!

I've been searching for gnex vs nex 5 comparisons and finding none. I'm glad to hear that battery life and speaker volume aren't things that I have to worry about.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda app-developers app

RedBlueGreen said:
Good information for the small minority of people who still own a Galaxy Nexus and wanting to switch to a Nexus 5.
Worth a new thread? Probably not.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Spamming troll
Don't like it don't read it. Useless post in a good thread.
Thanks OP!

rokfor2000 said:
Spamming troll
Don't like it don't read it. Useless post in a good thread.
Thanks OP!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think their only point was, if you start having comparison threads, where does it end?
But I like reading threads like this, cause I am also in teh 2 year upgrade club. I am coming from the HTC Sensation, very similar specs to the GNex, and I am loving life on the 5.
I also think that is the big split, on Nexus 5 performance on this forum. Some people are comparing it to a 2 month old phone, for their perception. While others are comparing it to a 2+ year old phone. I can imagine if I had the G2 or S4 and bought the Nexus 5, I wouldn't be nearly as impressed as I am coming from a dual core 768 MB of Ram phone.

Thanks for the comparison! I'm coming from a Gnex as well. The N5 is sitting in my desk drawer right now, I hope to sneak out at lunch and get a sim card for it. My biggest concern is the screen. I love the GN's screen and I'm not sure I'm ready for a screen where the blacks aren't black. I loved the GN, it's a great phone. We'll see tonight how I feel about the switch.

Blown 89 said:
Thanks for the comparison! I'm coming from a Gnex as well. The N5 is sitting in my desk drawer right now, I hope to sneak out at lunch and get a sim card for it. My biggest concern is the screen. I love the GN's screen and I'm not sure I'm ready for a screen where the blacks aren't black. I loved the GN, it's a great phone. We'll see tonight how I feel about the switch.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You serious about the GNEX screen or you trolling?

Zandeer said:
I think their only point was, if you start having comparison threads, where does it end?
But I like reading threads like this, cause I am also in teh 2 year upgrade club. I am coming from the HTC Sensation, very similar specs to the GNex, and I am loving life on the 5.
I also think that is the big split, on Nexus 5 performance on this forum. Some people are comparing it to a 2 month old phone, for their perception. While others are comparing it to a 2+ year old phone. I can imagine if I had the G2 or S4 and bought the Nexus 5, I wouldn't be nearly as impressed as I am coming from a dual core 768 MB of Ram phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The point is that Mr. Big Shot doesn't have GNex and doesn't care if anyone else will find it useful, but has to say something anyway. I believe that's called trolling. It was useless spam in context of this thread. It's not for him to decide if the thread is worth it or not (once again well done OP and BIG Thanks!).
There was number of threads comparing it to N4 and G2 but non to GNex. If you ask me this one is more useful than comparison to N4 (locked in 2 year contract as well). Other people read it. G2 vs Nexus5 on the other hand makes sense as it help you choose the right phone for you now.
Other comparison threads mention bad/quiet speaker on Nexus5. It made me worried because Gnex was really quiet. But this one say that it's way better than GNex which gives me a reference point and I know I can live with it

I used to have a N4, compared to that, this phone is a stupid piece of....

...amazing hardware! I got my N5 a couple of days ago (bought at launch hour, used comGateway to forward it to India, takes time ) and so far I've been playing with it non-stop (have a few exams prep leaves ), and here are my impressions so far.
My background: I'm a huge Nexus fanboy, I own (or have owned) every Nexus device with the exception of Nexus Q and currently possess fully working Galaxy Nexus (16GB), Nexus 4 (16GB), Nexus 7 (2012, 16GB) and Nexus 7 (2013, 32GB) all bought more or less at launch along with a Galaxy Note and Galaxy S2. My device before was my N4 bought at launch and it was great, but I can't simply skip my temptation to get the new N5, so I did. I don't care about the price, I can very well afford a phone far more expensive. I buy Nexus devices because I love the pure stock experience they bring, it just somehow feels better to me.
Note: I've been using N4 exclusively before this for almost a year, so all my views are in relation to it.
My device: White Nexus 5, 32GB. Pure stock with an unlocked bootloader and rooted.
The Good:
Bigger, better screen! The screen is taller without being (much) wider, and it's gorgeous! I know some people are saying colours are washed out etc, but that's just the IPS display which I'm used to, plus when colour control gets modded into kernels that won't be much of a problem. It's a lot sharper than my N4 and definitely brighter]
Performance! It has the highest binned Snapdragon 800! Need I say more? It can smoke anything out their
Storage is a welcome improvement, sometimes I had to choose between games on my N4 but with double the storage I don't have that problem (atleast for a while )
Camera is a lot more improved than the one on N4, I haven't tested it too thoroughly but it's definitely improved especially in low light conditions
KitKat and GEL are a welcome change, I like the subtle UI improvements and I love the fact that BT audio and software audio levels are not two different things anymore, that used to drive me crazy
I love the white version's looks and build, I was torn what to get when purchasing this from the Play Store but decided to go with the white since it's different. The speaker grill adds a really nice touch IMO and back has a good feel to it. Personally I'd prefer a little more build, but with the ceramic sides and everything it's nice, definitely not cheap.
The Okay:
Battery life, meh. This was expected, it's slightly better than N4's but still not great. On my first run I was able to get out about 2 hours of SOT with 1 hour of GPS, 1 hour of audio over BT, and a lot of updating/downloading games. So that's not bad, N4 lasted me a day and I don't see N5 doing any worse, if anything it'll do better when I switch to custom kernels
Speaker is an improvement but nothing great
The Ugly:
Camera shutter lag, I absolutely hate this. Maybe I'm crazy or something but I hate that it takes a lot of time to click pictures, with the chance of entirely blurring out the picture when given to someone else. Hopefully something improves this
No always on listening , I was hoping for this feature from Moto X
TL;DR: Get the freaking device. It's awesome. And get it in white, seriously.

Lmao you got me with the thread title.

Very clever! Good thread!

Google should make a COMPLETELY new camera app, and upload it to the Play Store for everyone to enjoy. And they should do that quickly. Current camera app is terrible! (The shutter lag it because of the software, not the hardware)

Can 3rd party camera apps help or is this only a google issue?
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 4

I see what you did there.

I'd get it, if it wasn't sold out EVERYWHERE in Belgium, Netherlands, and Germany.

Shealpi said:
I'd get it, if it wasn't sold out EVERYWHERE in Belgium, Netherlands, and Germany.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
See, that's why you stay awake till midnight of your country's time to place an order in US the moment it launches so that you can import it to your country
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

Your thread title will surely gather greater intra-xda SEO. (Bringing more and more members confused by the title of the thread).
Please get it changed.

I agree.. Amazing phone! I came from a n4 and HTC one.. I just wish there was better speakers on this device. My one spoiled me!
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

dashing.sujay said:
Your thread title will surely gather greater intra-xda SEO. (Bringing more and more members confused by the title of the thread).
Please get it changed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't see why that is a bad thing?
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

you Win..
the game!!

chrisinsocalif said:
Can 3rd party camera apps help or is this only a google issue?
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 4
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes! Just found this last night and played around with it:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.spritefish.fastburstcameralite
The quality is a little less than the regular camera, but there is zero shutter lag. The paid version is $2 and it allows you to tap focus and take nicer pictures when you want to. Will still need the standard camera for HDR+ mode (which takes excellent shots that this can't touch).

stremax said:
you Win..
the game!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I hate you so much...
:crying::crying::crying:

My pros and cons with the Nexus 5

Hi Everyone,
I've had this phone for a good week now and got some pros and cons:
Pros
- The screen is absolutely beautiful. One of the default wallpapers is the view of a mountain with a pinkish hue - the detail is unbelievable
- The overall response time of the UI is fast as all hell
- the feel of the phone in my hand is amazing. the rubbery back (black model only) and sharp sides is beautiful
- I have not had any issues with camera. I think the pictures and video quality is fantastic. Shutter speed might not be as fast as some other phones, but im sure that can be fixed with software/roms
Cons
- Battery is random. One day i will have 2h of screen on time, 1h phone call and battery will last me 18+ hours. The next day, i will have 1h of screen time and phone will drop to 60%. My battery is currently at 68% with 5hours off charge and 1h of screen time and 1h of phone calls
- the vibration function is outright useless. I can barely feel it when i type, let alone when its on a desk and in vibe only mode
- Call quality is some what random. Sometimes the person on the other end can't hear me properly until i move my phone slightly further away from my mouth, or sometimes closer. When that happens, they say that it sounds like im talking in a tunnel.
- the Exchange email app / email.apk is very frustrating. It looks nicer than it did on 1.5 - 4.3, however it force closes very often and using the Reply All button on an email automatically adds myself to the CC, which is very frustrating. That being said, im sure the excahnge email itself has a lot of drain on my battery too, so keep that in mind when you comment on my battery usage
- I have the power button rattle too. Not too much of an issue, but still a con
- I've also had 3 or 4 cases where i lost all reception and only a reboot brought it back. I also came to my phone and found it shut off once...
Now, i dont have any real problems with the speaker quality. its not bad, but its not HTC One quality either. to me, its perfectly fine, but i know others said they have issues.
I have vibration issues, and they have speaker issues. I have a black one, they have a white one. Coincidence?
What are your thoughts on my comments above?

zoltrix said:
Hi Everyone,
I've had this phone for a good week now and got some pros and cons:
Pros
- The screen is absolutely beautiful. One of the default wallpapers is the view of a mountain with a pinkish hue - the detail is unbelievable
- The overall response time of the UI is fast as all hell
- the feel of the phone in my hand is amazing. the rubbery back (black model only) and sharp sides is beautiful
- I have not had any issues with camera. I think the pictures and video quality is fantastic. Shutter speed might not be as fast as some other phones, but im sure that can be fixed with software/roms
Cons
- Battery is random. One day i will have 2h of screen on time, 1h phone call and battery will last me 18+ hours. The next day, i will have 1h of screen time and phone will drop to 60%. My battery is currently at 68% with 5hours off charge and 1h of screen time and 1h of phone calls
- the vibration function is outright useless. I can barely feel it when i type, let alone when its on a desk and in vibe only mode
- Call quality is some what random. Sometimes the person on the other end can't hear me properly until i move my phone slightly further away from my mouth, or sometimes closer. When that happens, they say that it sounds like im talking in a tunnel.
- the Exchange email app / email.apk is very frustrating. It looks nicer than it did on 1.5 - 4.3, however it force closes very often and using the Reply All button on an email automatically adds myself to the CC, which is very frustrating. That being said, im sure the excahnge email itself has a lot of drain on my battery too, so keep that in mind when you comment on my battery usage
- I have the power button rattle too. Not too much of an issue, but still a con
- I've also had 3 or 4 cases where i lost all reception and only a reboot brought it back. I also came to my phone and found it shut off once...
Now, i dont have any real problems with the speaker quality. its not bad, but its not HTC One quality either. to me, its perfectly fine, but i know others said they have issues.
I have vibration issues, and they have speaker issues. I have a black one, they have a white one. Coincidence?
What are your thoughts on my comments above?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For someone who is currently waiting for my Nexus 5 to ship (on 3 week backorder), this is discouraging. Right now I still have the ability to cancel the order but I could really use a new phone. Problem posts like these really make me wonder if I should keep waiting for this phone...

Had mine for 2 weeks. No problems here. I'm liking it more every day. Cheers

ximaginex said:
For someone who is currently waiting for my Nexus 5 to ship (on 3 week backorder), this is discouraging. Right now I still have the ability to cancel the order but I could really use a new phone. Problem posts like these really make me wonder if I should keep waiting for this phone...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know the feeling. I have received the phone 5 days ago and until that I was reading posts like this one. Until I got the phone I had low expectations but that was a good thing because right now I'm very happy with my Nexus 5. Stop reading about problems and start doing things that you love. When the phone will get home you will agree with me...

My experience
I'm sorry your having many problems with your phone.
I actually really like mine. Is the black one to.
I did a full battery calibration and I had 5 hours of hardcore screen time.
Vibration on mine is OK. But it makes the camera(Not the power button) rattle. But i hardly notice.
I like the speaker but I hope they improve the quality with an update.
My only complain would be the camera shutter. It is to damn slow.
Some mobile data connection lost but i think that is my carriers fault.
I'm really Happy with mine. And for the price this is an incredible phone. No stutter whatsoever on demanding games. It doesn't get as hot as my old Galaxy S3. Great media companion in my car and bluetooth 4.0 sips battery.
I totally recomend it.
P.S. Sorry for bad english.

Richard_Black said:
I'm sorry your having many problems with your phone.
I actually really like mine. Is the black one to.
I did a full battery calibration and I had 5 hours of hardcore screen time.
Vibration on mine is OK. But it makes the camera(Not the power button) rattle. But i hardly notice.
I like the speaker but I hope they improve the quality with an update.
My only complain would be the camera shutter. It is to damn slow.
Some mobile data connection lost but i think that is my carriers fault.
I'm really Happy with mine. And for the price this is an incredible phone. No stutter whatsoever on demanding games. It doesn't get as hot as my old Galaxy S3. Great media companion in my car and bluetooth 4.0 sips battery.
I totally recomend it.
P.S. Sorry for bad english.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How exactly have you done a "full battery calibration" ?

icewavedesign said:
I know the feeling. I have received the phone 5 days ago and until that I was reading posts like this one. Until I got the phone I had low expectations but that was a good thing because right now I'm very happy with my Nexus 5. Stop reading about problems and start doing things that you love. When the phone will get home you will agree with me...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When did you get yours? I'm hoping that these new ones that are being made and shipped on the 3rd of December will have the problems fixed...

let me clarify that i am extremely happy with this phone and i am just being extremely critical of minor issues
i strongly recommend it. its a 10/10 phone for me, for sure
i just wanted to point out the issue that bother me. obviously no phone is 100% flawless, but that should not discourage you

ximaginex said:
For someone who is currently waiting for my Nexus 5 to ship (on 3 week backorder), this is discouraging. Right now I still have the ability to cancel the order but I could really use a new phone. Problem posts like these really make me wonder if I should keep waiting for this phone...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Don't let it get to you. Every phone forum has problems. Overall the n5 is a great device and I am 100 percent satisfied coming from a moto x and HTC one.
Sent from my Nexus 5

capathy21 said:
Don't let it get to you. Every phone forum has problems. Overall the n5 is a great device and I am 100 percent satisfied coming from a moto x and HTC one.
Sent from my Nexus 5
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Posting my opinion is a problem?
Im not saying its a bad phone. i am extremely happy with it, i just wanted to list the bugs and issues that i have had with it

zoltrix said:
Posting my opinion is a problem?
Im not saying its a bad phone. i am extremely happy with it, i just wanted to list the bugs and issues that i have had with it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No of course you can state your opinion. I didn't mean that at all. I just wanted to let them know that my experience has been very positive.

How many more one off personal review threads are we going to have?
Sent from my Nexus 5 using xda app-developers app

capathy21 said:
Don't let it get to you. Every phone forum has problems. Overall the n5 is a great device and I am 100 percent satisfied coming from a moto x and HTC one.
Sent from my Nexus 5
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the encouragement.
You like the N5 better than the Moto X and the HTC One? Is there anything in specific that you like?

The absolute best thing about the nexus 5 is kitkat, I think it is by far the best version of android.
Sent from my XT1058 using Tapatalk

barondebxl said:
The absolute best thing about the nexus 5 is kitkat, I think it is by far the best version of android.
Sent from my XT1058 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ice Cream Sandwich made Android approachable to the masses, and KitKat is the OS grown up. ART, when it goes mainstream and optimised even more, will make it VERY hard for any OS to beat. I also love that Android is being developed to ensure older devices are compatible, possibly reducing device waste through re-purposing.

wideasleep1 said:
Ice Cream Sandwich made Android approachable to the masses, and KitKat is the OS grown up. ART, when it goes mainstream and optimised even more, will make it VERY hard for any OS to beat. I also love that Android is being developed to ensure older devices are compatible, possibly reducing device waste through re-purposing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes ICS was the base of what the OS is now no doubt, but I find kit Kat to be really amazing. I mean the nexus 5 is so smooth and fast and the UI is simple and super clean. I much prefer the white theme over the holo blue.
Sent from my XT1058 using Tapatalk

my vibration is to high that I have to lower it down a bit lol.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using xda app-developers app

barondebxl said:
Yes ICS was the base of what the OS is now no doubt, but I find kit Kat to be really amazing. I mean the nexus 5 is so smooth and fast and the UI is simple and super clean. I much prefer the white theme over the holo blue.
Sent from my XT1058 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep..I'm pleased in the overall direction..it certainly had the potential to get too busy, even ugly enough for a train wreck. One need not look further than the Nicki Minaj iOS7 screen to see things go horribly wrong!

wideasleep1 said:
Yep..I'm pleased in the overall direction..it certainly had the potential to get too busy, even ugly enough for a train wreck. One need not look further than the Nicki Minaj iOS7 screen to see things go horribly wrong!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
LMAO HAHHAHAHHA Nicky Minaj IOS! That's a great one man that's how I'm gonna call it from now on hahhHhahahhaha
Sent from my XT1058 using Tapatalk

i've had mine for a week now and can't find any of the issues that you mentioned. I don't even know what this power button rattle is. maybe I'm deaf or not as picky about these things. battery life has been pretty consistent for me, It's currently getting better performance and battery then my S4 ever did

3 MAJOR things stopping me from buying the Note 4

I am undecided on this device or the Nexus 6. However, I was leaning more towards the T-Mobile Note 4 for use on AT&T. I have been reading through these forums, along with the AT&T Note 4 forums. The three major issues I have been reading on are:
1. Screen uniformity issues (apparently common among AMOLED panels) Many have complained about a pink tint or residue on certain portions of the screen when viewing whites. Others have also complained that certain sections of the screen are cooler and have more of a blue tint. I have read very few actually state they got perfect screens. These AMOLED issues seem to be more prevalent in the Black Galaxy Note 4s (the color I wanted, too). I have also noted that some are complaining about graininess in their displays. Why does one of the "best" displays on the market suffer from these issues?
2. Headphone output? Its been no secret that almost every Samsung Galaxy flagship had very low volume, but apparently the Note 4 takes it to a new level. The volume with headphones plugged in, when using the stock music app is so low, it apparently is half the volume of the iPhone 5S. THIS IS A MAJOR PROBLEM. I understand about volume mods and roms, but not everyone has time to mess around with that. I also refuse to carry around an iPhone and Note 4 just to get a good listening experience.
3. LAG? Apparently Samsung's TW is still lagging and stuttering just like its predecessors before it. Of course with the Note 4, "its not bad, and much improved", yet still there. When launching apps there are noticeable delays. Using the hangouts app produces quite a bit of stutter, and using the multitasking view.
I believe if anyone is going to drop $750+ dollars on a phone, they should not have to spend time "fixing" the above issues. I really hope that I am WRONG about these issues, because honestly, there really isn't much more to choose from when it comes to phones this year. The Nexus 6 display is lacking, and so is battery life. What's left? iPhone 6 Plus? Nah.

LOL go buy the iphone...
I don't have problem with headphones and it's louder than ever.
Don't have screen problems either..
Also no lag at all.

twe90kid said:
LOL go buy the iphone...
I don't have problem with headphones and it's louder than ever.
Don't have screen problems either..
Also no lag at all.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's what I wanted to hear. No iPhone for me, nope not no way, not no how. I will not overpay for a limited device like that.

BlockEight88 said:
I am undecided on this device or the Nexus 6. However, I was leaning more towards the T-Mobile Note 4 for use on AT&T. I have been reading through these forums, along with the AT&T Note 4 forums. The three major issues I have been reading on are:
1. Screen uniformity issues (apparently common among AMOLED panels) Many have complained about a pink tint or residue on certain portions of the screen when viewing whites. Others have also complained that certain sections of the screen are cooler and have more of a blue tint. I have read very few actually state they got perfect screens. These AMOLED issues seem to be more prevalent in the Black Galaxy Note 4s (the color I wanted, too). I have also noted that some are complaining about graininess in their displays. Why does one of the "best" displays on the market suffer from these issues?
2. Headphone output? Its been no secret that almost every Samsung Galaxy flagship had very low volume, but apparently the Note 4 takes it to a new level. The volume with headphones plugged in, when using the stock music app is so low, it apparently is half the volume of the iPhone 5S. THIS IS A MAJOR PROBLEM. I understand about volume mods and roms, but not everyone has time to mess around with that. I also refuse to carry around an iPhone and Note 4 just to get a good listening experience.
3. LAG? Apparently Samsung's TW is still lagging and stuttering just like its predecessors before it. Of course with the Note 4, "its not bad, and much improved", yet still there. When launching apps there are noticeable delays. Using the hangouts app produces quite a bit of stutter, and using the multitasking view.
I believe if anyone is going to drop $750+ dollars on a phone, they should not have to spend time "fixing" the above issues. I really hope that I am WRONG about these issues, because honestly, there really isn't much more to choose from when it comes to phones this year. The Nexus 6 display is lacking, and so is battery life. What's left? iPhone 6 Plus? Nah.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep got mine on preorder never had an issue with screen, if stock is bad no reason to mod download powerapp which is one of the best music players, go to settings and put outpt to the highest and promise to impress, and literally just downloading nova will get rid of most if an lag. Youll be fine and appreciate the phone more.

lwsoccjs said:
Yep got mine on preorder never had an issue with screen, if stock is bad no reason to mod download powerapp which is one of the best music players, go to settings and put outpt to the highest and promise to impress, and literally just downloading nova will get rid of most if an lag. Youll be fine and appreciate the phone more.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
After reading the thread on the display issues, I was quite worried. It seemed rare to get a perfect display. Of course I am sure majority of people do not have perfect displays and just don't notice it. This is why I prefer IPS panels instead of AMOLED.

unless you suffer from OCD, ignore all that non sense and buy the damn phone; its the phone of the year, by a LARGE margin, period

No problems with the phone from me. Screen is perfect, volume is plenty loud (way louder than any iPhone), lag is a non issue.
This phone does everything and does them ask well. I do have a custom ROM on it, which make a difference. If you want to buy a phone and leave it stock you should look at a nexus 6 a Motorola X or an iPhone. This phone is way better rooted with a custom ROM.
Sent from my SM-N910T using XDA Free mobile app

ShrekOpher said:
No problems with the phone from me. Screen is perfect, volume is plenty loud (way louder than any iPhone), lag is a non issue.
This phone does everything and does them ask well. I do have a custom ROM on it, which make a difference. If you want to buy a phone and leave it stock you should look at a nexus 6 a Motorola X or an iPhone. This phone is way better rooted with a custom ROM.
Sent from my SM-N910T using XDA Free mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well rooting and flashing roms can be an amazing thing. It's just that I did that before with my S3 and S4 and I was always changing roms, never keeping anything lol. It also got annoying have to re-setup everything all the time when updates came. I think you could get into trouble by dirty flashing.
How is your signal reception? Do you use T-Mobile? How is the GPS accuracy?

From what I've seen personally and heard from reading it almost seems that the black n4's are more likely to have display issues........Racist !

Lol damn those black phones lol

I don't have screen troubles
I don't have lag
Headphones could be a bit louder
But nothing like you described

Always the black man, I am offended samsung ....#sue
...and honestly, if you are not willing to try the phone hands on you have no right to complain about it. touchwiz will always lag next STOCK android. it is no DIFFERENT next to an lg, xperia, and htc is SLIGHTLY (thats a stretch) better in the lag department because it is the CLOSEST to stock android.
With all your complaint, either go buy an iphone or go buy a nexus device because 3rd party manufacturers are not for you lol. feels like im back on the lg g3 forum all over again with posts like this...that should tell you something....complaints are UNIVERSAL until you buy the damn thing

mgbotoe said:
Always the black man, I am offended samsung ....#sue
...and honestly, if you are not willing to try the phone hands on you have no right to complain about it. touchwiz will always lag next STOCK android. it is no DIFFERENT next to an lg, xperia, and htc is SLIGHTLY (thats a stretch) better in the lag department because it is the CLOSEST to stock android.
With all your complaint, either go buy an iphone or go buy a nexus device because 3rd party manufacturers are not for you lol. feels like im back on the lg g3 forum all over again with posts like this...that should tell you something....complaints are UNIVERSAL until you buy the damn thing
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well if I could gather some respective opinions first before going out and spending $750+ then I'd rather go that route. Not too mention, if the phone does not work out for me, I'd have to pay T-Mobile a $50 restocking fee. So excuse me for using a "forum" the way it was designed.
Third party manufactures are not a bad thing, however, after using the S3 & S4, I have noticed a slow down or lag when it shouldn't be there, given the specs. I have read various reports of the Note 4 doing the same thing, so I figured I'd ask.

BlockEight88 said:
Well rooting and flashing roms can be an amazing thing. It's just that I did that before with my S3 and S4 and I was always changing roms, never keeping anything lol. It also got annoying have to re-setup everything all the time when updates came. I think you could get into trouble by dirty flashing.
How is your signal reception? Do you use T-Mobile? How is the GPS accuracy?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Using Tmobile Note 4 on AT&T. I get full LTE everywhere. I actually get faster speeds than the AT&T model on AT&T got.
Have absolutely NO GPS issues. I don't know where that complaint came from, I leave my location settings on this phone to "Device only" which means it doesn't use the WiFi or cell signal to locate me at all and have still never had any issues.
With the device on "high accuracy" it locates you instantly.
Not to mention the battery life on this thing is absolutely insane.
Sent from my SM-N910T using XDA Free mobile app

ShrekOpher said:
Using Tmobile Note 4 on AT&T. I get full LTE everywhere. I actually get faster speeds than the AT&T model on AT&T got.
Have absolutely NO GPS issues. I don't know where that complaint came from, I leave my location settings on this phone to "Device only" which means it doesn't use the WiFi or cell signal to locate me at all and have still never had any issues.
With the device on "high accuracy" it locates you instantly.
Not to mention the battery life on this thing is absolutely insane.
Sent from my SM-N910T using XDA Free mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for your opinion. Can I ask when you bought the T-Mobile phone if you had service through them? I am reading that before the device is unlocked it first must be activated and used on its original carrier.

BlockEight88 said:
Well if I could gather some respective opinions first before going out and spending $750+ then I'd rather go that route. Not too mention, if the phone does not work out for me, I'd have to pay T-Mobile a $50 restocking fee. So excuse me for using a "forum" the way it was designed.
Third party manufactures are not a bad thing, however, after using the S3 & S4, I have noticed a slow down or lag when it shouldn't be there, given the specs. I have read various reports of the Note 4 doing the same thing, so I figured I'd ask.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lol, see it how you will im just stating the hard cold fact on the matter.
Point im trying to make is that EVERY single manufacturer will have the issue you just stated, thats the plain cold fact. Heck, even Nexus is having the complaints you are currently having.
Its a lottery my friend. If you are one of the unlucky ones you will end up with the unlucky device. If you want to nit pick at everything, you will end up with an unlucky device because you will always see something wrong.
See where I'm getting at?
The phone is great, it does not lag the way you are making it sound. I got zero screen issue and I'm satisfy with the sound of it...ITS LOUD. Unless you want your ears to bleed, the Note 4 is not for you. You want to use it as a boombox...the note 4 is not for you. It is smooth for what we KNOW to expect from samsung. They got so many things on here that needs to load and given the time they do and the tweaks I have on my phone, I'm satisfy and will forgive it. If you can't forgive it, than go grab an iphone or a nexus. We can bash on iphone all we want but their optimization is brilliant! They and google do so damn good job at it and make every other phone look like crap next to them (...nexus that is, im giving too much credit to icrap here lmao!) as far as "lag" is concern.
Also to make another note, most of the lag complain you see also deals with google apps. For some odd reason the only phone google apps (especially hangout) work flawlessly on are nexus devices, any other you will see lag. Nave samsung apps are FAR SUPERIOR in smoothness next to hangout. Using it make my phone feel like a cheap second rated phone

mgbotoe said:
Lol, see it how you will im just stating the hard cold fact on the matter.
Point im trying to make is that EVERY single manufacturer will have the issue you just stated, thats the plain cold fact. Heck, even Nexus is having the complaints you are currently having.
Its a lottery my friend. If you are one of the unlucky ones you will end up with the unlucky device. If you want to nit pick at everything, you will end up with an unlucky device because you will always see something wrong.
See where I'm getting at?
The phone is great, it does not lag the way you are making it sound. I got zero screen issue and I'm satisfy with the sound of it...ITS LOUD. Unless you want your ears to bleed, the Note 4 is not for you. You want to use it as a boombox...the note 4 is not for you. It is smooth for what we KNOW to expect from samsung. They got so many things on here that needs to load and given the time they do and the tweaks I have on my phone, I'm satisfy and will forgive it. If you can't forgive it, than go grab an iphone or a nexus. We can bash on iphone all we want but their optimization is brilliant! They and google do so damn good job at it and make every other phone look like crap next to them (...nexus that is, im giving too much credit to icrap here lmao!) as far as "lag" is concern.
Also to make another note, most of the lag complain you see also deals with google apps. For some odd reason the only phone google apps (especially hangout) work flawlessly on are nexus devices, any other you will see lag. Nave samsung apps are FAR SUPERIOR in smoothness next to hangout. Using it make my phone feel like a cheap second rated phone
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I appreciate that. You are right about every manufacturer having its issues. When I tried the iPhone 6 plus, it lagged too. But not as bad as my previous experience with Samsung devices. Perhaps "lag" isn't the right word. I guess the right word would be stutter. I always found the animations to be a tad jerky on Samsung devices, despite awesome specs. Hopefully its as improved as everyone here is making it out to be.
Its a shame though they don't make the headphone volume go louder. :/

BlockEight88 said:
Well if I could gather some respective opinions first before going out and spending $750+ then I'd rather go that route. Not too mention, if the phone does not work out for me, I'd have to pay T-Mobile a $50 restocking fee. So excuse me for using a "forum" the way it was designed.
Third party manufactures are not a bad thing, however, after using the S3 & S4, I have noticed a slow down or lag when it shouldn't be there, given the specs. I have read various reports of the Note 4 doing the same thing, so I figured I'd ask.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well considering best buy has them to demo and so does TMOBILE. I say hit the stores and you decide. So many threads about the phone not being perfect. Also every phone cost 500 plus so it not that big anymore. A smartphone comes with a smart phone price. U need to see for your self. I love it my boy hates it. It your money you need to go and see.

BACARDILIMON said:
Well considering best buy has them to demo and so does TMOBILE. I say hit the stores and you decide. So many threads about the phone not being perfect. Also every phone cost 500 plus so it not that big anymore. A smartphone comes with a smart phone price. U need to see for your self. I love it my boy hates it. It your money you need to go and see.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The only thing with going to Best Buy and T-Mobile is that they have demo versions running on the phone, which can slow everything down.

Honestly, you should just buy a note 4. Nothing else now or in the near future compares.
My headphones are too loud. If there is such a thing.
Screen is what everyone I show the phone notices. In a good drooling/jealous way.
I've never had a phone with less lag.
I am custom however. Firekat v4

[Q] Nexus 6 vs Oneplus One

Hey guys,
So today was preorder day for the Oneplus one. I have an order in for both the Nexus 6 and a One Plus. I have not really decided which one I will keep. If I keep the Nexus, I will probably give the One plus to my little sister for her birthday (because she is still rocking an iPhone 4s).
I know all the specs of the two phones and there are certain details about the N6 I like over the OPO. For instance I like the curved screen on the N6 (like on the MotoX) and the wireless charging and the better camera. Both my brothers have OPO's and they love them.
But the price difference is HUGE! 350 vs 700. (Though to be fair I still like that I bought both of them for about the same price as a 128gig iPhone 6+.
Anyway, I was wondering if there was anyone out there that has gotten their N6 and also has a OPO that has any opinions on the matter.
Cheers!
CowboyNick

CowboyNick13 said:
Hey guys,
So today was preorder day for the Oneplus one. I have an order in for both the Nexus 6 and a One Plus. I have not really decided which one I will keep. If I keep the Nexus, I will probably give the One plus to my little sister for her birthday (because she is still rocking an iPhone 4s).
I know all the specs of the two phones and there are certain details about the N6 I like over the OPO. For instance I like the curved screen on the N6 (like on the MotoX) and the wireless charging and the better camera. Both my brothers have OPO's and they love them.
But the price difference is HUGE! 350 vs 700. (Though to be fair I still like that I bought both of them for about the same price as a 128gig iPhone 6+.
Anyway, I was wondering if there was anyone out there that has gotten their N6 and also has a OPO that has any opinions on the matter.
Cheers!
CowboyNick
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I owned the OnePlus One. Price is awesome for the specs, but CM11S (At least 38R, the last verison I had before I sold it) is so buggy it's a deal breaker for me.

I also owned a OnePlus One. I was not impressed with the screen on it and the bugginess of CM11s. I tried swapping ROMs but overall the phone just didn't feel as solid as my Nexus 5. I ended up selling it and going back to my Nexus 5 until the Nexus 6 came out. After playing with a display Nexus 6 at T-Mobile yesterday, I think I'm going to pick one up. Keep in mind that it feels SIGNIFICANTLY bigger in hand than the OnePlus One, don't let anyone try and tell you otherwise. But if you think you can deal with the size, the Nexus 6 is a much better phone, in my opinion.

I hope to find out by 12\2 when my Cloud White 32gb is set to arrive From Motorola. I have been using a OnePlus One since July and to be honest it has been a great phone. Maybe I got lucky but I have bought and sold a Nexus 5, Note 3, Moto X 2013, Sony Z3 Compact and most recently a G3. Oneplus is just a great overall package. I have no reason to switch to the Nexus 6 but I just couldn't resist and my only hope is that battery life is better than the Nexus 5 as that really was the only downside of owning it.

radeon962 said:
I hope to find out by 12\2 when my Cloud White 32gb is set to arrive From Motorola. I have been using a OnePlus One since July and to be honest it has been a great phone. Maybe I got lucky but I have bought and sold a Nexus 5, Note 3, Moto X 2013, Sony Z3 Compact and most recently a G3. Oneplus is just a great overall package. I have no reason to switch to the Nexus 6 but I just couldn't resist and my only hope is that battery life is better than the Nexus 5 as that really was the only downside of owning it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Awesome, please let me know when you get the Nexus. Mine has not come yet, and my One plus wont be here for another four weeks, so If I like the N6 I think ill just cancel my OPO pre order.

Have both phones. 44S is solid stable. Oneplus has better battery life. The 6 is a great phone, just different. Still getting used to the size. I'm having a wifi issue with the nexus that is ticking me off. The phone shows connected, but there is major lag on the device navigating to pages. Turning it off and the pages come up as fast as you can click them on LTE. Don't have issues with any other device in the house. Toggling WiFi can help, bit the issue returns...

I have all three(including the Note 4) and if you want the best purchase for your money then go with the OnePlus One. It has the best battery life, the best performance at the moment since it's still on KitKat, and I feel I don't get significantly better experience on the Note 4 and Nexus 6 than the One. CM11 is a little buggy every update fixes bugs and Cyanogen Mod is dedicated to bringing Lollipop to the One in three months. Personally, I think the OnePlus One is the best phone you can get in 2014 at a very affordable price.

jairusz said:
I have all three(including the Note 4) and if you want the best purchase for your money then go with the OnePlus One. It has the best battery life, the best performance at the moment since it's still on KitKat, and I feel I don't get significantly better experience on the Note 4 and Nexus 6 than the One. CM11 is a little buggy every update fixes bugs and Cyanogen Mod is dedicated to bringing Lollipop to the One in three months. Personally, I think the OnePlus One is the best phone you can get in 2014 at a very affordable price.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Bringing lollipop and a bunch of new bugs... CM was better when it was non caf

CowboyNick13 said:
Hey guys,
So today was preorder day for the Oneplus one. I have an order in for both the Nexus 6 and a One Plus. I have not really decided which one I will keep. If I keep the Nexus, I will probably give the One plus to my little sister for her birthday (because she is still rocking an iPhone 4s).
I know all the specs of the two phones and there are certain details about the N6 I like over the OPO. For instance I like the curved screen on the N6 (like on the MotoX) and the wireless charging and the better camera. Both my brothers have OPO's and they love them.
But the price difference is HUGE! 350 vs 700. (Though to be fair I still like that I bought both of them for about the same price as a 128gig iPhone 6+.
Anyway, I was wondering if there was anyone out there that has gotten their N6 and also has a OPO that has any opinions on the matter.
Cheers!
CowboyNick
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The screen on the N6 is NOT curved, just the back. Common misconception.

jairusz said:
I have all three(including the Note 4) and if you want the best purchase for your money then go with the OnePlus One. It has the best battery life, the best performance at the moment since it's still on KitKat, and I feel I don't get significantly better experience on the Note 4 and Nexus 6 than the One. CM11 is a little buggy every update fixes bugs and Cyanogen Mod is dedicated to bringing Lollipop to the One in three months. Personally, I think the OnePlus One is the best phone you can get in 2014 at a very affordable price.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That doesnt even apply to people on sprint or verizon.

Sold my OnePlus and note 3 for Nexus 6 and not looking back. Both were great phones with great batteries but I like having the latest greatest phone.
Ian B

OnePlus wins hands down but I have one caution, if you're on T-Mobile there is no band 2 or 12 support. If the OnePlus had that I wouldn't have even considered a new phone. Other than that the on plus is a awesome phone.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

I feel that the OPO has a better battery life as well. But Turbo Charging... can't live without that now. It just charges so fast and impressive.

Well if you like the One + camera this has the same sensor with OIS which is good. The IMX214 is a good sensor so hopefully we can get devs to have the software follow.
Source:
https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Nexus+6+Teardown/32877

zephiK said:
I feel that the OPO has a better battery life as well. But Turbo Charging... can't live without that now. It just charges so fast and impressive.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah but if you don't need to charge then the turbo charger isn't as important. Of I find myself needing a little boost for good measure on the one plus a charge while I shower before going out for the night always gets me enough juice and then some.
Man itd be nice if the one plus had those bands I need.
Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

Nexus 6 VS One Plus One
Hey Guys,
So here goes my story...
I ordered my One Plus (during the preorder with no Invite) maybe a week after I ordered my Nexus 6 and got the OPO two days before my Nexus arrived. However, at that time I refrained from opening the OPO because I didn't want to lose the resale value of the OPO. In the end the chrome N on the back of the Nexus fell of and I decided to open the OPO to compare the two. I decided to keep the OPO and return the Nexus, below are some of the reasons I made that choice.
I opened the Nexus 6 and was stunned by the phone. Watching the videos and reading reviews you get a sense of the size of the phone, but never having held it before this I was not really sure what to expect. This phone is HUGE. I was stunned by the build quality and the size. I loved the curved edges of the screen and the resolution was amazing. I was okay with the size because it could still fit in my (skinny) jeans pockets, but I was not in love with it. I was originally gunning for the Cloud white, but couldn't get my hands on it. Got the Midnight Blue in 64 gig and ended up loving the color. I loved the color until I touched the back of the phone and realized that my fingerprints got everywhere. Seriously, this phone is a smudge magnet. However, since I am not a fan of cases, this was something I could live with.
Similarly opening the box of the One Plus One I was very impressed. The packaging was very nicely done. I know it does not have any impact on how the phone is used, but it is a very nice presentation that I appreciated none the less. The phone itself has very nice build quality. It does not have as many curves and subtleties as the Nexus, but I like the way it feels in my hand and equals the 6 in quality, even if it is a simpler design.
I used the Nexus 6 for three weeks and am on my sixth day with the One Plus. Here are my impressions of the devices after that period mainly focusing on what stands out during MY use of them.
Ergonomics:
As far as the feel of the Nexus 6 is concerned at first I was worried about how big it was. I was coming from a 4 inch screen of the iPhone 5 and was a bit scared about how it was going to work. After three weeks I was no longer worried about it. I have gotten used to it. However, I was not sold on the 6 inch screen. It was never 100 percent comfortable for me to use and I always had to use two hands. I have hands on the smaller size, but not freakishly small, however I was always scared to use it one handed, even just opening up my twitter feed and scrolling through gave pause because I was afraid to drop it and crack that beautiful screen. One thing that I found particularly difficult was texting. If I were in bed with the phone above my head, it was so hard to text because the screen was so wide. My fingers did not have enough range of motion to hold the phone in a secure way and also reach the outer edges of the screen to reach letters such as A or L, O and P. It was a weird experience that I remedied by installing the Swype keyboard app and condensed the keyboard to one side of the screen.
Using the One Plus One immediately felt more comfortable. It seems to fit my hand better and I am a huge fan of the “sandstone” texture of the back. I can use it more easily with one hand and am able to text using one hand as well.
Screen and Media Viewing Experience:
As for that Nexus 6 screen. What can I say. It is beautiful. The colors are great and its sharp as a tack. I loved watching videos on it and reading kindle books on it. It was noticeably sharper than the OPO's 1080p screen. It's not a day and night difference, and if the two weren't sitting next to each other on the table, I probably would not have noticed anything. But when the two phones are next to each other you can tell which one has a higher resolution display. I used the Nexus to watch a lot of youtube videos and loved the experience. With the front firing speakers, this was a great media consumption device. I loved being able to use this instead of my computer or tablet to watch videos and read books or news articles. Six inches was a great size to view everything on.
The One Plus One also has a great screen. The colors are accurate and it is very pleasing to look at. I can watch youtube videos here also, however the overall experience is not as nice because the speakers are not forward firing. Though they have great volume, the speakers are not as good to use as the Nexus simply because of their orientation. With this phone I am more predisposed to watch videos on my tablet or TV. Reading is a very similar experience and I have no problem reading for more than an hour on either device.
Usability:
This section is where the One Plus really starts to pull away. For those who don’t remember the specs (lets be real though, I’m just putting them here so we can all revel at the fact that both of these phones have more power than my current work computer) the Nexus 6 sports the new quad-core Snapdragon 805 clocked at 2.7 GHz with 3 gigs of ram while the One Plus One has the one generation older quad-core 801 chip clocked at 2.5 GHz with the same amount of ram. For reference my “vintage” 2012 Macbook Air has a 2GHz i5 intel chip with 4 gigs of ram.
I don’t know if I had a bad Nexus (or a spectacularly good One Plus), but it always felt like the Nexus was taking a tenth of a second more to think about the things it wanted to do. The One Plus, on the other hand feels zippier in everything I do. I don’t do crazy things on the phones. I twitter and Facebook and tinder a lot, but just opening these apps seemed to take a fraction of a second longer on the Nexus 6. If that were the only issue, then it would be less of a deal breaker than an annoyance, but I felt (at least on my particular phone) that the Nexus – and maybe Lollipop - had stability issues. Every now and then – maybe three times a week – the phone would do something weird which would require a restart to remedy. For instance on the last day I had the phone I was trying to open the phone app which is in my Dock on the very bottom of the screen. However, every time I pressed the app it would open something else that was in my dock instead. So instead of opening the phone, it would open up the messaging app or the email app. It happened like ten times in a row after I would get into the wrong app and press the home button. It required a complete reboot, then it would function normally. It was a weird thing that happened intermittently. However, It required a reboot a few times a week (this is what leads me to believe that maybe I had a defective unit?)
The One Plus, so far, has not had any stability issues (maybe because Kit Kat is much more mature than Lollipop). It is great and feels significantly faster than the Nexus. Everything I want it to do it does on command without hesitation. I think this more than anything else is the reason I decided to keep the One Plus instead of the Nexus, it just feels better to use.
One thing that I did like better about the Nexus (and even my old iphone) was the scrolling ability. The One Plus one just does not have as good scrolling in apps such as facebook or twitter. The Nexus has great sensitivity and response. The One Plus feels like it’s a generation behind with its scrolling capabilities.
I also liked Lollipop over Cyanogen Mod Kit Kat because 5.0 has beautiful themes. Material Design is something that I already miss going to the One Plus and I cant wait for the 5.0 Cyanogen Mod update. The one feature I really miss is lock screen notifications. I had that on my iPhone and on the Nexus, but will have to wait for 5.0 on the One Plus.
Camera:
Another area that was very important to me was the Camera. I am not a professional photographer, but I love taking nice pictures. I am a DSLR guy and used to try to tote mine around whenever I could. However, now that camera phones have gotten so good I have been doing so less and less, just using my phone camera for the majority of my day to day shooting. The iPhone 5 camera was great for me. I used it all the time (for snapchat and Instagram) and loved the low light shooting characteristics.
The Nexus 6 camera was great. It was sharp and I loved that it shot video in 4k, making for great impromptu jam session with my brother. When the light was good the camera produced sharp and vibrant images. It was great for anything I wanted to snapchat or Instagram. and even candid’s that I wanted for later, which I what I usually use my phone camera for. However, lowlight shooting was awful. I couldn’t get lowlight images at all. Living in NYC there are streetlights everywhere, but even in that environment I was not able to get any good nighttime shots that are even useable for snapchat (for which I have very low critera). Even compared to my two year old iPhone, it was awful. The front facing camera was doubly bad. Everything that I took with the front facing 2mp camera was poorly exposed and very soft. There was no definition to the shots and it was very splotchy.
Having the same sensor (but without optical image stabilization) I was not holding out much hope for the One Plus One. However I was pleasantly surprised with its low light shooting capabilities. In places where the Nexus was just unable to get any kind of image (often producing just a black shot with different intensities of light) I was able to get useable shots with the One Plus. The front facing camera is ten times better than the Nexus 6 camera.
Battery Life:
Here is another place that the One Plus pulls away from the Nexus. The battery life on the One Plus is phenomenal. One reason I got rid of my old iphone was that the battery life was down to four hours. I was literally carrying around a charger with me wherever I went because it wouldn’t last half a day. Now the OPO will last me 1.5 days of regular use. For me regular use is about 3.5 hours of screen on time. I will last from 7 am until about noon the next day. This is amazing battery life. I never have to worry about it. With the Nexus I would get about 2.75 hours of screen on time. This translated to a day of use. If I unplugged my phone at 7 am, I would be at 5 percent battery around 10:30 pm. Normally this would be okay, unless I was going out with my friends at night and had to stay out past midnight (which I normally do on weekends). With turbo-charging this was largely a non-issue. However, psychologically I don’t really like plugging in my phone for fifteen minutes and then unplugging when the batter is not full. I hate the feeling that I am ruining the battery (even if that’s not how batteries work anymore…). Personally having a great battery like the One Plus One is a huge win and is one thing I don’t have to worry about. It makes my life less stressful (I understand that this is a side affect of being too dependent on technology and am working to fix this in myself, haha).
Conclusion:
All in all I liked the Nexus 6. It was a good “pocket internet device” however as something that I want to use every day, I was not in love with it. And thus, comes the OPO trump card. Its price. If I was in love with the Nexus I would have had no problem spending $771 on the phone. However, I was not in love with it, so paying that much for a phone I didn’t love was out of the question. Futhremore, the thought of paying more than double the price of the One Plus One ($361) which I liked better was Ludacris. So in the end it was an easy choice.
I tried to like the Nexus 6. I did love the screen and the experience I had while I was watching youtube. I love material design and lock screen notifications. I loved being able to talk to the phone (“OK Google”) when the screen was off. In the end, however, it fell short. The One Plus One is a great phone and I am smitten with it. It offers everything I want for a very low price and that is why I am keeping it.
Sorry for that long rant, and hope some of you stick around to read the whole thing.
Cheers,
CBN

CowboyNick13 said:
Hey Guys,
So here goes my story...
I ordered my One Plus (during the preorder with no Invite) maybe a week after I ordered my Nexus 6 and got the OPO two days before my Nexus arrived. However, at that time I refrained from opening the OPO because I didn't want to lose the resale value of the OPO. In the end the chrome N on the back of the Nexus fell of and I decided to open the OPO to compare the two. I decided to keep the OPO and return the Nexus, below are some of the reasons I made that choice.
I opened the Nexus 6 and was stunned by the phone. Watching the videos and reading reviews you get a sense of the size of the phone, but never having held it before this I was not really sure what to expect. This phone is HUGE. I was stunned by the build quality and the size. I loved the curved edges of the screen and the resolution was amazing. I was okay with the size because it could still fit in my (skinny) jeans pockets, but I was not in love with it. I was originally gunning for the Cloud white, but couldn't get my hands on it. Got the Midnight Blue in 64 gig and ended up loving the color. I loved the color until I touched the back of the phone and realized that my fingerprints got everywhere. Seriously, this phone is a smudge magnet. However, since I am not a fan of cases, this was something I could live with.
Similarly opening the box of the One Plus One I was very impressed. The packaging was very nicely done. I know it does not have any impact on how the phone is used, but it is a very nice presentation that I appreciated none the less. The phone itself has very nice build quality. It does not have as many curves and subtleties as the Nexus, but I like the way it feels in my hand and equals the 6 in quality, even if it is a simpler design.
I used the Nexus 6 for three weeks and am on my sixth day with the One Plus. Here are my impressions of the devices after that period mainly focusing on what stands out during MY use of them.
Ergonomics:
As far as the feel of the Nexus 6 is concerned at first I was worried about how big it was. I was coming from a 4 inch screen of the iPhone 5 and was a bit scared about how it was going to work. After three weeks I was no longer worried about it. I have gotten used to it. However, I was not sold on the 6 inch screen. It was never 100 percent comfortable for me to use and I always had to use two hands. I have hands on the smaller size, but not freakishly small, however I was always scared to use it one handed, even just opening up my twitter feed and scrolling through gave pause because I was afraid to drop it and crack that beautiful screen. One thing that I found particularly difficult was texting. If I were in bed with the phone above my head, it was so hard to text because the screen was so wide. My fingers did not have enough range of motion to hold the phone in a secure way and also reach the outer edges of the screen to reach letters such as A or L, O and P. It was a weird experience that I remedied by installing the Swype keyboard app and condensed the keyboard to one side of the screen.
Using the One Plus One immediately felt more comfortable. It seems to fit my hand better and I am a huge fan of the “sandstone” texture of the back. I can use it more easily with one hand and am able to text using one hand as well.
Screen and Media Viewing Experience:
As for that Nexus 6 screen. What can I say. It is beautiful. The colors are great and its sharp as a tack. I loved watching videos on it and reading kindle books on it. It was noticeably sharper than the OPO's 1080p screen. It's not a day and night difference, and if the two weren't sitting next to each other on the table, I probably would not have noticed anything. But when the two phones are next to each other you can tell which one has a higher resolution display. I used the Nexus to watch a lot of youtube videos and loved the experience. With the front firing speakers, this was a great media consumption device. I loved being able to use this instead of my computer or tablet to watch videos and read books or news articles. Six inches was a great size to view everything on.
The One Plus One also has a great screen. The colors are accurate and it is very pleasing to look at. I can watch youtube videos here also, however the overall experience is not as nice because the speakers are not forward firing. Though they have great volume, the speakers are not as good to use as the Nexus simply because of their orientation. With this phone I am more predisposed to watch videos on my tablet or TV. Reading is a very similar experience and I have no problem reading for more than an hour on either device.
Usability:
This section is where the One Plus really starts to pull away. For those who don’t remember the specs (lets be real though, I’m just putting them here so we can all revel at the fact that both of these phones have more power than my current work computer) the Nexus 6 sports the new quad-core Snapdragon 805 clocked at 2.7 GHz with 3 gigs of ram while the One Plus One has the one generation older quad-core 801 chip clocked at 2.5 GHz with the same amount of ram. For reference my “vintage” 2012 Macbook Air has a 2GHz i5 intel chip with 4 gigs of ram.
I don’t know if I had a bad Nexus (or a spectacularly good One Plus), but it always felt like the Nexus was taking a tenth of a second more to think about the things it wanted to do. The One Plus, on the other hand feels zippier in everything I do. I don’t do crazy things on the phones. I twitter and Facebook and tinder a lot, but just opening these apps seemed to take a fraction of a second longer on the Nexus 6. If that were the only issue, then it would be less of a deal breaker than an annoyance, but I felt (at least on my particular phone) that the Nexus – and maybe Lollipop - had stability issues. Every now and then – maybe three times a week – the phone would do something weird which would require a restart to remedy. For instance on the last day I had the phone I was trying to open the phone app which is in my Dock on the very bottom of the screen. However, every time I pressed the app it would open something else that was in my dock instead. So instead of opening the phone, it would open up the messaging app or the email app. It happened like ten times in a row after I would get into the wrong app and press the home button. It required a complete reboot, then it would function normally. It was a weird thing that happened intermittently. However, It required a reboot a few times a week (this is what leads me to believe that maybe I had a defective unit?)
The One Plus, so far, has not had any stability issues (maybe because Kit Kat is much more mature than Lollipop). It is great and feels significantly faster than the Nexus. Everything I want it to do it does on command without hesitation. I think this more than anything else is the reason I decided to keep the One Plus instead of the Nexus, it just feels better to use.
One thing that I did like better about the Nexus (and even my old iphone) was the scrolling ability. The One Plus one just does not have as good scrolling in apps such as facebook or twitter. The Nexus has great sensitivity and response. The One Plus feels like it’s a generation behind with its scrolling capabilities.
I also liked Lollipop over Cyanogen Mod Kit Kat because 5.0 has beautiful themes. Material Design is something that I already miss going to the One Plus and I cant wait for the 5.0 Cyanogen Mod update. The one feature I really miss is lock screen notifications. I had that on my iPhone and on the Nexus, but will have to wait for 5.0 on the One Plus.
Camera:
Another area that was very important to me was the Camera. I am not a professional photographer, but I love taking nice pictures. I am a DSLR guy and used to try to tote mine around whenever I could. However, now that camera phones have gotten so good I have been doing so less and less, just using my phone camera for the majority of my day to day shooting. The iPhone 5 camera was great for me. I used it all the time (for snapchat and Instagram) and loved the low light shooting characteristics.
The Nexus 6 camera was great. It was sharp and I loved that it shot video in 4k, making for great impromptu jam session with my brother. When the light was good the camera produced sharp and vibrant images. It was great for anything I wanted to snapchat or Instagram. and even candid’s that I wanted for later, which I what I usually use my phone camera for. However, lowlight shooting was awful. I couldn’t get lowlight images at all. Living in NYC there are streetlights everywhere, but even in that environment I was not able to get any good nighttime shots that are even useable for snapchat (for which I have very low critera). Even compared to my two year old iPhone, it was awful. The front facing camera was doubly bad. Everything that I took with the front facing 2mp camera was poorly exposed and very soft. There was no definition to the shots and it was very splotchy.
Having the same sensor (but without optical image stabilization) I was not holding out much hope for the One Plus One. However I was pleasantly surprised with its low light shooting capabilities. In places where the Nexus was just unable to get any kind of image (often producing just a black shot with different intensities of light) I was able to get useable shots with the One Plus. The front facing camera is ten times better than the Nexus 6 camera.
Battery Life:
Here is another place that the One Plus pulls away from the Nexus. The battery life on the One Plus is phenomenal. One reason I got rid of my old iphone was that the battery life was down to four hours. I was literally carrying around a charger with me wherever I went because it wouldn’t last half a day. Now the OPO will last me 1.5 days of regular use. For me regular use is about 3.5 hours of screen on time. I will last from 7 am until about noon the next day. This is amazing battery life. I never have to worry about it. With the Nexus I would get about 2.75 hours of screen on time. This translated to a day of use. If I unplugged my phone at 7 am, I would be at 5 percent battery around 10:30 pm. Normally this would be okay, unless I was going out with my friends at night and had to stay out past midnight (which I normally do on weekends). With turbo-charging this was largely a non-issue. However, psychologically I don’t really like plugging in my phone for fifteen minutes and then unplugging when the batter is not full. I hate the feeling that I am ruining the battery (even if that’s not how batteries work anymore…). Personally having a great battery like the One Plus One is a huge win and is one thing I don’t have to worry about. It makes my life less stressful (I understand that this is a side affect of being too dependent on technology and am working to fix this in myself, haha).
Conclusion:
All in all I liked the Nexus 6. It was a good “pocket internet device” however as something that I want to use every day, I was not in love with it. And thus, comes the OPO trump card. Its price. If I was in love with the Nexus I would have had no problem spending $771 on the phone. However, I was not in love with it, so paying that much for a phone I didn’t love was out of the question. Futhremore, the thought of paying more than double the price of the One Plus One ($361) which I liked better was Ludacris. So in the end it was an easy choice.
I tried to like the Nexus 6. I did love the screen and the experience I had while I was watching youtube. I love material design and lock screen notifications. I loved being able to talk to the phone (“OK Google”) when the screen was off. In the end, however, it fell short. The One Plus One is a great phone and I am smitten with it. It offers everything I want for a very low price and that is why I am keeping it.
Sorry for that long rant, and hope some of you stick around to read the whole thing.
Cheers,
CBN
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Very informative, thanks!
Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk