Anyone else disappointed by the Nexus 9?

[Robert Ratskywatsky]

Kp - And thank you for telling me about the Black Friday Best Buy deal on the Ipad 64. How does that work? I'll stop by and ask them about it. I wouldn't want to buy a new router. the one I have works great. I don't know if it's an "AC", whatever that is, or not. If I don't like the IPad I can have to Jan 15 to return it to BB and get a newer model that might have the bugs removed, or exchange it for a Samsung, or just get a refund.

 

[kpiontek]

BestBuy emailed the Black Friday preview, I can't post the link but go to the BestBuy website and there should be an ad for it. They take $100 off any iPad Air 2, you pay $499 for the 64GB model, and it is not only in store but also online all day Thanksgiving. Target offers a $140 gift card with the iPad Air 2 at full list price but seems for the 16GB model and in store only, if you can make use of the card or sell it.
From what I gathered for the routers and the Air 2, the N models that have problem are either fairly old (like the NetGear WNDR3700) or are Linksys models (Linksys EA4500, EA3500, E4200). Some of the routers that seemed to work fine are Asus RT-AC66U and RT-AC68U. I still have a Asus RT-N66U and might try that with the Air 2 IF I get it. For what AC is and how it only affects the 5GHz band google smallnetbuilder and AC and you will find a good source of information.
Some people in the Apple thread were able to separate the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands on their N routers and solved the WiFi issues that way.
Good luck.

 

[Robert Ratskywatsky]

Kp - My router is only about 4 months old so it should be good. I'm not clear about the BB ad. I see where it says $100 off on all Ipad Air 2's, 16,64, and 128, but when I click on shop now I don't see the discount. Do I need to wait to their black friday sale and fight the crowds to use that, or can I "shop now". I've got a BB nearby so I'll stop in and ask. I've never used an Apple anything before, so I'd rather stick with Android, but the N9 is a huge let down after all those months of hype, and if this one doesn't work out I'll get the Samsung. Meanwhile my good old N7 2013 is still chugging along. Maybe I should just get another one of those. It was the best buy ever, but I'd like a bigger screen...

 

[kpiontek]

Yep, you're going to have to wait until Thanksgiving. Their website will take order with the discount that day, I assume until their allotment for this sale is reached. In store they should have some as well, if you're willing to stand in line.
I, too, have a N7 2013 which is/was great but it is getting a little small. And like you, I want something bigger, fairly future proof for a while, if there is such a thing with electronics. The Nexus 9 seemed like it fit the bill, all while bringing the price close to Apple territory.
For me it was mostly the screen on the Nexus 9, as I often read at night in night mode (inverted screen) and the light bleed was too strong and and uneven. I checked against my N7 2013 and my wife's iPad Air and they were a lot better. Whenever I use my wife's Air, I sure do miss the back button from Android!
The Air 2 and the Nexus 9 IMHO are comparable and dependent what you're using your tablet for, the iPad might even be the better fit as there are clearly more tablet-optimized apps for it, and I'm not sure with this price hike whether Google attracts more/better developers for tablets. If you're not "married" to Android or have a big investment in apps, nothing wrong with trying it.
I'll get my grand daughter a Samsung Tab Pro for $199 at BestBuy on Black Friday. With the Helium app I can transfer apps and app data to the unrooted Samsung, have done it for somebody and it transferred games with in-app purchases intact, both tablets were unrooted, BTW. I was impressed with the software. So should you go the Samsung route, something to keep in mind if you have the need for it.

 

[Robert Ratskywatsky]

" I often read at night in night mode (inverted screen) and the light bleed was too strong and and uneven. I checked against my N7 2013 and my wife's iPad Air and they were a lot better. Whenever I use my wife's Air, I sure do miss the back button from Android! "


Why not get the Kindle? I think it's much better for reading than any tablet. I just got the Kindle Paperwhite a month or two ago. I like it.

 

[Robert Ratskywatsky]

"Yep, you're going to have to wait until Thanksgiving. Their website will take order with the discount that day, I assume until their allotment for this sale is reached. In store they should have some as well, if you're willing to stand in line."


Oh, forgedaboutit then. I don't want to deal with that. They'll be sure to be all out by the time they get to me. I see how people camp out so that they can be first in line. They'll probably be online at one second after midnight too. I think I'll just wait around. Samsung might come out with new models. I'll check out that Helium app. It sounds good. I don't even know what "rooting" is, let alone how to do it!

 

[kpiontek]

[QUOTE/]Why not get the Kindle? I think it's much better for reading than any tablet. I just got the Kindle Paperwhite a month or two ago. I like it.[/QUOTE]

I thought about that, too. But at work I read a fair number of PDF with color images in it which is where were the Kindles fall short. A non-Kindle tablet seemed like the best fit for me, plus I do other things on the tablet, too.
Anyway, still undecided and will wait to see whether somebody will have a deal for a Nexus 9 (highly unlikely, maybe HTC) or another manufacturer comes out with the same SoC as the Nexus 9.
I'm sure that there was an exclusivity agreement for the K1 Denver chip with Nvidia but I hope that it will be over fairly soon. And Nvidia could then bring out their vision of the K1 chip (Shield tablet 2?) and I'd like that Shield stylus. After all, wasn't the Nexus 9 not billed as an "iPad killer" but more of a concept design that should inspire the direction for Android tablets?
I guess, we'll see.

 

[roninmedia]

Thanks for bringing up the problems with WiFi on the iPad Air 2.
I was considering the BestBuy Black Friday offer like a 64GB iPad Air 2 for almost the same as the 32GB Nexus 9. The "solution" for people seemed to either return the Air 2 (many did) or buy an AC router (which I already have). Undecided, just like you.
For the Samsung Tab Pro 8.4 there is a Cyanogenmod distribution, if you don't mind rooting your tablet, and there is a Black Friday offer for it at $199 (16GB).

The 16GB models of the iPad Air 2 and Galaxy Tab S 10.5 will be the same price as the 16GB model of the Nexus 9. For consumers who will use their tablet mainly as a consumption device (movies, reading, web browsing), they will choose the Apple or Samsung product.

 

[Robert Ratskywatsky]

I thought about that, too. But at work I read a fair number of PDF with color images in it which is where were the Kindles fall short. ...

That's true, but a Kindle is best for reading regular books. I have both a Kindle and a tablet, and a laptop.

 

[meringo]

So sorry for missing your question! I know its much later now, but I can explain. As someone who worked in the television and film world for several years, and being a tech guy I get into this.

DPI is non-issue in today's market. most, if not all of the tablets we are talking about have a high enough DPI where you can't tell much of a difference. The problems we are running into relate to content being native to the screen resolution. 1080p content will look better on a 1080p native screen, no matter what the marketing departments tell you. 1080p content on a screen with a higher native resolution end up getting post processing and causing a slight blur and tax resources. I'm not looking forward to 4k screens for that very reason... since 1080p streams aren't exactly 1080p yet, just imagine how bad it will look on a 4k display.... Hardware has surpassed streaming quality, and most digital content that is currently available. I will say though, my company works a lot with 4k media as we shoot on the Red Epic camera most of the time. We have 4k displays and it looks incredible.

Now before people jump on me about scaling, I will admit things are getting better. The Retina Macbook Pros for example, scale very well, but are not built to strictly play video or games... I see tablets as media consumption devices and computers as actual work machines. I'm still an advocate for native screens for the content you want to display, as I still see that as the better and more affordable option.

Web browsing is a whole different story... short answer, you can't have a bad experience right now. Really the decision you should be focusing on is whether you want a 16:9 tablet or not (which is the better option if you watch a ton of video.)

So yes... you are putting too much focus on pixel density. It was a concern early on that is now a none issue due to hardware competition. Best of luck in your future hardware purchases! I know this is a VERY late response, but I wanted to give you some technical know how that you can carry moving forward. Feel free to PM me if you ever want further advice... my job is to understand this stuff for major commercial television and break it down for our execs.

 

[ktager]

I purchased the Nexus 9 tablet at x-mas and within 3 weeks it wasn't working. I sent it back to HTC for repair (replace main board), within 2 weeks, the battery would no longer charge. I contacted both Google and HTC and neither of them would replace my tablet, they said I could send it back in for repair. Luckily I called the place i purchased the tablet from and even though it was past the return policy, they agreed to let me return it due to the issues I had. Nice to see a company step up and do the right thing. I find this to be pretty crappy customer service on both HTC and Google's part and will most likely never buy a device from either again. I felt the tablet I got was a lemon and the least they could have done was replaced it with a new one since I had already sent it in once for repair. I have 2 other tablets for more then 2 years and neither one of them has ever had an issue. I would stay clear from the Nexus 9, Really don't understand why Google would use a manufacturer who hadn't produced a tablet in over 3 years.

 

[tbolt86]

For being the official Google phone and or tablet, you'd think they would use the very best everything to be the top dawg cause this is what android was meant to run on. This is why I never bought a nexus phone. Especially cause they always had terrible battery compared to other clearly better phones such as the note or galaxy s phones. This tablet is my first nexus product and I like it and hate it at the same time. It's kind of a let down I expected more from them. Some of us might not care about the price of the product. Give us a fully premium handset/tablet made of the best technology currently out and make a lesser product more affordable for the average Joe. Then everyone wins. Taking too many shortcuts just to save some money. Smh

Sent from my Nexus 9 using Tapatalk