My Nexus 5 is feeling decrepit and I want a new phone. I want to enjoy some VR stuffs. I love the naked Android experience. Money is not an obstacle but I'd rather not spend 50% more for 5% better experience. What's my best bet at the moment? G7edge for maximum VR experience? 6P for best price point? Is something perfect coming in the near future? Thanks much smart phone people.
There are rumours of new Nexus phones later in the year. I have a N5 and am waiting on them. N5X last year was just a bit too big for me.
Well, I can say that you're not likely to see flagshop phones get much *smaller* than the 5X. the smallest flagship-ish phones released since then are the GS7(non edge) and the HTC 10, and both of those are 5X size.
My Nexus 5 is feeling decrepit and I want a new phone. I want to enjoy some VR stuffs. I love the naked Android experience. Money is not an obstacle but I'd rather not spend 50% more for 5% better experience. What's my best bet at the moment? G7edge for maximum VR experience? 6P for best price point? Is something perfect coming in the near future? Thanks much smart phone people.
GS7 Edge has gear VR, the 6P has cardboard and will have Daydream, though daydream will work with other phones.
Honestly, in my opinion it's still too early to buy something specifically for VR, because we don't know what the best experience is/will be yet.
I think the general advice is that if you like stock android the 6P is the phone to get. IF money is no object and you want what is probably the best overall package in an android phone today, the GS7 is the phone to get.
You'll probably find more people here would be more in line to recommend the 6P over the GS7 becuase of the faster software updates, stock android, etc, but the GS7 edge is a really good phone.
There are rumours of new Nexus phones later in the year. I have a N5 and am waiting on them. N5X last year was just a bit too big for me.
Well, I can say that you're not likely to see flagshop phones get much *smaller* than the 5X. the smallest flagship-ish phones released since then are the GS7(non edge) and the HTC 10, and both of those are 5X size.
Perhaps things will change but the rumours I saw said 5 and 5.5 instead of 5.2 and 5.7 (5X and 6P). The 5 was 4.95". Of course, rumours are just that but I'm waiting to see.
There are rumours of new Nexus phones later in the year. I have a N5 and am waiting on them. N5X last year was just a bit too big for me.
Well, I can say that you're not likely to see flagshop phones get much *smaller* than the 5X. the smallest flagship-ish phones released since then are the GS7(non edge) and the HTC 10, and both of those are 5X size.
Perhaps things will change but the rumours I saw said 5 and 5.5 instead of 5.2 and 5.7 (5X and 6P). The 5 was 4.95". Of course, rumours are just that but I'm waiting to see.
it all depends on formfactor. the N5 is a pretty tiny 5" phone while the 5X is a pretty big 5.2" phone. There have been a lot of 5" phones that look and feel bigger than the N5 did(my work phone is a GS4 and it feels giant compared to the N5 even thought he screen is the same size), and a lot of 5.2" phones have a lot smaller bezel than the 5X.
Screen size doesn't always give a good idea as to how big a device is or how it feels in the hand. the 6P and the iphone 6 plus are the same physical size and the 6P has a bigger screen.
I'm really hoping the 5.5 rumor on the new 6 isnt true because I really dont want to go down from the 5.7 I have now which means I'd basically be stuck getting another Note and I really like constant updates I get on my 5X.
As good as the Samsung phones are, if you're used to stock Android, you'll probably find multiple frustrating features in the Samsung OS. They have a few proprietary apps that my wife loves, but I find frustrating because I haven't worked through the learning curve. I'm assuming there are guides on XDA to flash stock Android onto a GS7, but I'm pretty sure that wouldn't get you security updates any quicker.
I really want to buy into home. Since getting my echo I love the thing and realy want one tied into Google's services.
The only thing is I'm afraid I do it an Google looses interest in it just as I really start to love it. It's the thing that keeps me from hitting the button and switching to Fi as well.
Mostly just huntin' monsters.
XBL:Phenyhelm - 3DS:Phenyhelm
With Fi, I see it as less of an issue because it's relatively easy to port your number to a new carrier if it goes away. Also, I feel that Fi has a bit more staying power behind it, if only because both Sprint and TMo have a vested interest in keeping it going and well supported.
Also, I feel that Fi has a bit more staying power behind it, if only because both Sprint and TMo have a vested interest in keeping it going and well supported.
How so? Because Fi indirectly brings them extra customers?
And google can't really just ignore Fi and leave it to die because it is an MVNO and telecommunication stuff is pretty heavily regulated by the FCC. Sure they could decide to shut it down, but they can't just let it stagnate and become incompatible/unusable/dated like they kind of did with voice.
So I plopped the gs7edge and 6p in my hands and immediately scoffed at their massive gravitational pulls. I've got big hands but I didn't realize the size jump was so big from the N5. The 5X felt like too little of an upgrade (and my wife has one, gotta one up her) so I landed on the gs7. Honestly Touchwiz doesn't feel too intrusive right now but my tune might change when I'm months behind on updates. Thanks again for the advice.
the size change to the 6p was quite jarring, but personally i think I'd be really happy with a 5.5" device. my 6P is just like, || that much wider than I want. Doesn't help that the phone is as slippery as a bar of soap without a case on.
I'm having a problem with my android phone (samsung galaxy core) and could use some help:
When I look at my storage usage, I have 3.3gb of misc files, which means I don't have any room to download apps/updates/etc.
However if I go storage settings > misc files there's nothing in there. I've tried going through the filing system to look for any large files that could be a problem, but it didn't turn up anything.
I'd rather not go through the hassle of a factory reset - does anyone know how I can find whatever files that are taking up all my memory?
e: solved - it seems spotify stopped saving things to my SD card and reverted to using my phone's storage. very annoying.
the size change to the 6p was quite jarring, but personally i think I'd be really happy with a 5.5" device. my 6P is just like, || that much wider than I want. Doesn't help that the phone is as slippery as a bar of soap without a case on.
the size change to the 6p was quite jarring, but personally i think I'd be really happy with a 5.5" device. my 6P is just like, || that much wider than I want. Doesn't help that the phone is as slippery as a bar of soap without a case on.
I have the Nexus branded fabric backed case for my 5X and it's excellent. I imagine the version for the 6P is the same. The cases are very expensive compared to anything from Amazon, but the quality is really good.
I'm trying to use an app that requires a proxy connection for a short amount of time. The problem is that when I go into my wifi settings, the "down arrow" for advanced settings doesn't show any additional options. Is there something in the phone's settings I have shut off/disabled that is preventing me from seeing more advanced options? I don't understand why I'm not seeing the details.
Oops, ignore this. I didn't swipe to scroll the screen.
Posting in case someone knows what the heck is going on. So my brother has a Huawei Honor 7, which has been working beautifully.
But yesterday, there was an update. I told him to accept it, because hey, official updates should probably work, right? Yeah, so about that, now notifications are borked. They don't appear on the lock screen, they don't appear on the top bar, and they don't make a sound. And I have no idea how to make it work again. Everything I find on google is just "make sure it's one of your protected applications!", which, yeah, duh, already made sure of that, it's just not working otherwise!
Posting in case someone knows what the heck is going on. So my brother has a Huawei Honor 7, which has been working beautifully.
But yesterday, there was an update. I told him to accept it, because hey, official updates should probably work, right? Yeah, so about that, now notifications are borked. They don't appear on the lock screen, they don't appear on the top bar, and they don't make a sound. And I have no idea how to make it work again. Everything I find on google is just "make sure it's one of your protected applications!", which, yeah, duh, already made sure of that, it's just not working otherwise!
it sucks to have to do, but a factory reset might be the best option.
Posting in case someone knows what the heck is going on. So my brother has a Huawei Honor 7, which has been working beautifully.
But yesterday, there was an update. I told him to accept it, because hey, official updates should probably work, right? Yeah, so about that, now notifications are borked. They don't appear on the lock screen, they don't appear on the top bar, and they don't make a sound. And I have no idea how to make it work again. Everything I find on google is just "make sure it's one of your protected applications!", which, yeah, duh, already made sure of that, it's just not working otherwise!
it sucks to have to do, but a factory reset might be the best option.
Probably a decent last resort. Probably should look into backupping all the shit he has in the phone and doing that.
Anyone with an Xperia Z3 had an issue where your headphones suddenly won't be detected? It happened to me this morning on the bus - I gently bumped the headphone jack in my pocket as I was getting up, and now my phone won't recognize it at all. I have to use SoundAbout to force Media audio through the headphone jack now.
It's especially weird because Sony's Smart Connect app initially detects that I've plugged headphones in, but then a second later the notification will go away. Seems like it might be a software issue, but restarting my phone and installing the latest update (didn't even get a notification, had to use the Sony Companion app o.O) didn't fix it.
Edit: Ah, tried a different set at home and they were detected fine. Looks like something is wrong with the headphones themselves... :?
I feel like if I spent maybe $100 on a new screen and battery, I could keep chugging along with this N5. I just don't know if it's going to receive OS updates for much longer
I feel like if I spent maybe $100 on a new screen and battery, I could keep chugging along with this N5. I just don't know if it's going to receive OS updates for much longer
I wouldn't bet on it getting Android N. Google has been pretty consistent with when they cut off OS updates for Nexus phones. Generally the current phone and the phone before that have gotten updates. When a new nexus is released with a new platform, usually the phone that is about to go out of the support gets a last update to that version, than that's it. So last year the N5 became "two nexuses old" (amount of nexus old is now an official unit of measure) so it got 6.0, but it won't see 7.0 when it becomes three Nexuses old.
And really, the N5 launched on 4.4. It got 5.0, 5.1, and 6.0. That's a pretty good run.
That said, I think there are 3rd-party builds of 6.0 AOSP for the friggin' Galaxy Nexus, so you'll definitely have options going forward if you don't want a new phone.
That said, I think there are 3rd-party builds of 6.0 AOSP for the friggin' Galaxy Nexus, so you'll definitely have options going forward if you don't want a new phone.
that would boggle my mind. the GNex is currently the only "working" phone I have in a box (my N5 and N4 are both totally dead), and it's basically unusable at this point. That chipset did not age well at all. I had to use it for 3 days while waiting for my 6P to get to me and the I/O on it was so slow it was basically useless (and that was on a fresh factory official 4.3 ROM I flashed to it)
I'm going to start going to the gym 3x a week again as of next week. Haven't gone in a couple months. I always listen to music, but I've found my 6P to be too big to carry around at the gym, and this is as much my own fault as anything but I find having the device that most of my life runs through in my phone with me when I'm at the gym is too distracting. I want to focus, and I want a smaller device in my pocket.
I was actually looking at buying an MP3 player of all things, but realized that I haven't bought a proper MP3 in like 4 years because of streaming services. I thought about using an old phone but remembered that my N5 and N4 are both dead and the GNex is too slow to use.
I ended up spending about $110 on a 2015 Moto E at 4.5" and buying a cheap 32GB SD card to chuck into it. I'm going to load it up with offline music from my Play Music subscription, and that's it, and that will be my MP3 player for the gym. I actually wanted something smaller but most phones that were 4" or smaller also had some other big issues like only 4GB of onboard storage (as opposed to 8) and only 512MB of ram. It isn't like I'm going to be taxing it or even care about OS updates on it but 8GB/1GB ram was the lowest I wanted to go. Plus the unlocked Moto E got 6.0 so while I don't expect it to get N at least it'll be on an OS that supports doze so it won't die if I forget to turn it off for a day.
tl:dr; MP3 Players in 2016 are now basically just cheap phones with offline cached music from streaming services, and that is a weird world we live in.
Could you not have spent the same amount to fix one of your Nexii?
Size aside, would it work for you (distraction-wise) to out the phone on DND and stream music? When I'm in the gym, I just fire up Soundcloud, pick what I want, and go.
Could you not have spent the same amount to fix one of your Nexii?
Size aside, would it work for you (distraction-wise) to out the phone on DND and stream music? When I'm in the gym, I just fire up Soundcloud, pick what I want, and go.
the N5 was completely dead, won't even power on. the digitizer on the N4's screen was busted, so touch didn't work. That requires a screen replacement, which will cost more than the Moto E did. And for th eN4 it's only 16GB while I chucked a 32GB card into the E that I cached like 20GB of music too from Play Music. Plus the E is smaller than both.
and yea, DND works well enough, but I just want the thing out of my hands so for the hour and a half I'm there it's not even an issue. And the size thing is a big deal. Doesn't fit super well in my gym shorts pockets, and it's too giant to do much else with.
The only thing I have syncing from my google account is music, I turned everything else off. I did download and install tunein becuase on occasion I'll want to listen to something radio related if I'm at the gym (this is usually sports of some kind). But my homescreen on the device is a 4x4 widget for play music, and no other icons. It's just a music player to me.
I just realized I have an 8 hour roadtrip with a 5 & 3 yo this summer and my original Nexus 7 recently bit the bucket. What are the top Android tablet options? I'm going to pass it off as portable entertainment and an e-reader to hopefully get approval from the wife. I was looking at the NVIDIA Shield K1 Tablet + cover which comes in at just under CDN$300 about CDN$350 but is there a cheaper option? And out of curiosity, do games that run natively on the Shield need to be repurchased to play them or do they work if I already own them on Steam?
I just realized I have an 8 hour roadtrip with a 5 & 3 yo this summer and my original Nexus 7 recently bit the bucket. What are the top Android tablet options? I'm going to pass it off as portable entertainment and an e-reader to hopefully get approval from the wife. I was looking at the NVIDIA Shield K1 Tablet + cover which comes in at just under CDN$300 but is there a cheaper option? And out of curiosity, do games that run natively on the Shield need to be repurchased to play them or do they work if I already own them on Steam?
First, to clear up the gaming part: The Shield does not run Windows games. Native games are bought on the play store like every other game. It doesn't have a steam store, or anything like that. It has a storefront for Shield specific games, but when you go to buy, you're kicked over to the play store. So no, purchased games from Steam on PC will not run natively, etc.
IF you have an nVidia GPU you can stream games you do own on steam over local wifi to the device, but that's not native running.
As for the value of it. I own the LTE version of the original tablet and it is a fantastic device, and I use it nearly every day. that being said, there are strong rumours that nVidia is bringing out a new shield tablet sometime soon, it's recently passed through the FCC. When that it, not sure. But the K1 is probably nearing end of sales life.
For what other options there are for cheaper android tablets that are any good.... Honestly there aren't a ton right now. The Samsung Tab A series is pretty good for the price, but go into that knowing that it's not likely to get OS updates. ASUS tablets are in the same realm. They're pretty good for the price, but don't expect them to be getting OS updates over time. What you buy is what you get.
If you can, I'd hold off as long as possible before your trip to see what the new shield tablet looks like. If you can't, the K1 is still a good choice, with the Tab A and Zenpad as fallback options.
With the N5, do you know if there's a way to globally turn on vibrate for notifications (or even just everything) while still having the volume up? If I turn volume all the way down, it goes to silent with vibrate, but I'm really interested in being able to quickly turn on vibrate globally but still having the sounds.
I know that I can turn on vibrate on an app-by-app basis, but this isn't as handy or quick as what I'm looking for.
With the N5, do you know if there's a way to globally turn on vibrate for notifications (or even just everything) while still having the volume up? If I turn volume all the way down, it goes to silent with vibrate, but I'm really interested in being able to quickly turn on vibrate globally but still having the sounds.
I know that I can turn on vibrate on an app-by-app basis, but this isn't as handy or quick as what I'm looking for.
I don't think there is in stock android. There's a setting toggle to vibrate for all calls, but to my knowledge, and 45 seconds looking through settings on my 6P, you can't do vibrate + sounds at the same time on the stock OS.
I know you can in 3rd party OS's and some of the OEM ones (i.e. samsung, LG, etc), but not in stock. There may be an app that would enable that as well, i just don't know of any offhand.
All right. That's what I was thinking with my searching, but I thought I'd reach out and see if you knew, since you had the same phone and are into the Nexus OS experience.
Posts
Well, I can say that you're not likely to see flagshop phones get much *smaller* than the 5X. the smallest flagship-ish phones released since then are the GS7(non edge) and the HTC 10, and both of those are 5X size.
GS7 Edge has gear VR, the 6P has cardboard and will have Daydream, though daydream will work with other phones.
Honestly, in my opinion it's still too early to buy something specifically for VR, because we don't know what the best experience is/will be yet.
I think the general advice is that if you like stock android the 6P is the phone to get. IF money is no object and you want what is probably the best overall package in an android phone today, the GS7 is the phone to get.
You'll probably find more people here would be more in line to recommend the 6P over the GS7 becuase of the faster software updates, stock android, etc, but the GS7 edge is a really good phone.
Perhaps things will change but the rumours I saw said 5 and 5.5 instead of 5.2 and 5.7 (5X and 6P). The 5 was 4.95". Of course, rumours are just that but I'm waiting to see.
it all depends on formfactor. the N5 is a pretty tiny 5" phone while the 5X is a pretty big 5.2" phone. There have been a lot of 5" phones that look and feel bigger than the N5 did(my work phone is a GS4 and it feels giant compared to the N5 even thought he screen is the same size), and a lot of 5.2" phones have a lot smaller bezel than the 5X.
Screen size doesn't always give a good idea as to how big a device is or how it feels in the hand. the 6P and the iphone 6 plus are the same physical size and the 6P has a bigger screen.
The only thing is I'm afraid I do it an Google looses interest in it just as I really start to love it. It's the thing that keeps me from hitting the button and switching to Fi as well.
XBL:Phenyhelm - 3DS:Phenyhelm
XBL:Phenyhelm - 3DS:Phenyhelm
I'm having a problem with my android phone (samsung galaxy core) and could use some help:
When I look at my storage usage, I have 3.3gb of misc files, which means I don't have any room to download apps/updates/etc.
However if I go storage settings > misc files there's nothing in there. I've tried going through the filing system to look for any large files that could be a problem, but it didn't turn up anything.
I'd rather not go through the hassle of a factory reset - does anyone know how I can find whatever files that are taking up all my memory?
e: solved - it seems spotify stopped saving things to my SD card and reverted to using my phone's storage. very annoying.
Spigen makes super slim cases with a rubber feel.
http://www.amazon.com/Nexus-Spigen-Exact-Fit-Premium-Finish/dp/B01761J26I
I have this exact case. It's pretty good.
Oops, ignore this. I didn't swipe to scroll the screen.
But yesterday, there was an update. I told him to accept it, because hey, official updates should probably work, right? Yeah, so about that, now notifications are borked. They don't appear on the lock screen, they don't appear on the top bar, and they don't make a sound. And I have no idea how to make it work again. Everything I find on google is just "make sure it's one of your protected applications!", which, yeah, duh, already made sure of that, it's just not working otherwise!
it sucks to have to do, but a factory reset might be the best option.
Probably a decent last resort. Probably should look into backupping all the shit he has in the phone and doing that.
It's especially weird because Sony's Smart Connect app initially detects that I've plugged headphones in, but then a second later the notification will go away. Seems like it might be a software issue, but restarting my phone and installing the latest update (didn't even get a notification, had to use the Sony Companion app o.O) didn't fix it.
Edit: Ah, tried a different set at home and they were detected fine. Looks like something is wrong with the headphones themselves... :?
I wouldn't bet on it getting Android N. Google has been pretty consistent with when they cut off OS updates for Nexus phones. Generally the current phone and the phone before that have gotten updates. When a new nexus is released with a new platform, usually the phone that is about to go out of the support gets a last update to that version, than that's it. So last year the N5 became "two nexuses old" (amount of nexus old is now an official unit of measure) so it got 6.0, but it won't see 7.0 when it becomes three Nexuses old.
And really, the N5 launched on 4.4. It got 5.0, 5.1, and 6.0. That's a pretty good run.
that would boggle my mind. the GNex is currently the only "working" phone I have in a box (my N5 and N4 are both totally dead), and it's basically unusable at this point. That chipset did not age well at all. I had to use it for 3 days while waiting for my 6P to get to me and the I/O on it was so slow it was basically useless (and that was on a fresh factory official 4.3 ROM I flashed to it)
I'm going to start going to the gym 3x a week again as of next week. Haven't gone in a couple months. I always listen to music, but I've found my 6P to be too big to carry around at the gym, and this is as much my own fault as anything but I find having the device that most of my life runs through in my phone with me when I'm at the gym is too distracting. I want to focus, and I want a smaller device in my pocket.
I was actually looking at buying an MP3 player of all things, but realized that I haven't bought a proper MP3 in like 4 years because of streaming services. I thought about using an old phone but remembered that my N5 and N4 are both dead and the GNex is too slow to use.
I ended up spending about $110 on a 2015 Moto E at 4.5" and buying a cheap 32GB SD card to chuck into it. I'm going to load it up with offline music from my Play Music subscription, and that's it, and that will be my MP3 player for the gym. I actually wanted something smaller but most phones that were 4" or smaller also had some other big issues like only 4GB of onboard storage (as opposed to 8) and only 512MB of ram. It isn't like I'm going to be taxing it or even care about OS updates on it but 8GB/1GB ram was the lowest I wanted to go. Plus the unlocked Moto E got 6.0 so while I don't expect it to get N at least it'll be on an OS that supports doze so it won't die if I forget to turn it off for a day.
tl:dr; MP3 Players in 2016 are now basically just cheap phones with offline cached music from streaming services, and that is a weird world we live in.
Size aside, would it work for you (distraction-wise) to out the phone on DND and stream music? When I'm in the gym, I just fire up Soundcloud, pick what I want, and go.
the N5 was completely dead, won't even power on. the digitizer on the N4's screen was busted, so touch didn't work. That requires a screen replacement, which will cost more than the Moto E did. And for th eN4 it's only 16GB while I chucked a 32GB card into the E that I cached like 20GB of music too from Play Music. Plus the E is smaller than both.
and yea, DND works well enough, but I just want the thing out of my hands so for the hour and a half I'm there it's not even an issue. And the size thing is a big deal. Doesn't fit super well in my gym shorts pockets, and it's too giant to do much else with.
The only thing I have syncing from my google account is music, I turned everything else off. I did download and install tunein becuase on occasion I'll want to listen to something radio related if I'm at the gym (this is usually sports of some kind). But my homescreen on the device is a 4x4 widget for play music, and no other icons. It's just a music player to me.
SteamID: edgruberman GOG Galaxy: EdGruberman
First, to clear up the gaming part: The Shield does not run Windows games. Native games are bought on the play store like every other game. It doesn't have a steam store, or anything like that. It has a storefront for Shield specific games, but when you go to buy, you're kicked over to the play store. So no, purchased games from Steam on PC will not run natively, etc.
IF you have an nVidia GPU you can stream games you do own on steam over local wifi to the device, but that's not native running.
As for the value of it. I own the LTE version of the original tablet and it is a fantastic device, and I use it nearly every day. that being said, there are strong rumours that nVidia is bringing out a new shield tablet sometime soon, it's recently passed through the FCC. When that it, not sure. But the K1 is probably nearing end of sales life.
For what other options there are for cheaper android tablets that are any good.... Honestly there aren't a ton right now. The Samsung Tab A series is pretty good for the price, but go into that knowing that it's not likely to get OS updates. ASUS tablets are in the same realm. They're pretty good for the price, but don't expect them to be getting OS updates over time. What you buy is what you get.
If you can, I'd hold off as long as possible before your trip to see what the new shield tablet looks like. If you can't, the K1 is still a good choice, with the Tab A and Zenpad as fallback options.
With the N5, do you know if there's a way to globally turn on vibrate for notifications (or even just everything) while still having the volume up? If I turn volume all the way down, it goes to silent with vibrate, but I'm really interested in being able to quickly turn on vibrate globally but still having the sounds.
I know that I can turn on vibrate on an app-by-app basis, but this isn't as handy or quick as what I'm looking for.
I don't think there is in stock android. There's a setting toggle to vibrate for all calls, but to my knowledge, and 45 seconds looking through settings on my 6P, you can't do vibrate + sounds at the same time on the stock OS.
I know you can in 3rd party OS's and some of the OEM ones (i.e. samsung, LG, etc), but not in stock. There may be an app that would enable that as well, i just don't know of any offhand.
Thanks.
Steam ID: Good Life