How can I use my Nexus 6 today?

[Mahesh Abnave]

I have Nexus 6 bought in November 2014. It is out of warranty, receiving no updates. And many will call this device as very old. But I am not the one to give up devices frequently and buy new ones after every two-three years. For example I have Dell XPS 15 bought in July 2011. Its a quad core Core i7 version and is capable of beating most laptops (with dual core i5s and i7s) out there today. I am still running this laptop with latest Windows 10 updates and I dont see myself replacing it anyway soon either. I will love to be able to repeat same story with my Nexus 6. The problem with mobile is mainly battery backup (and of course not updating Android, I am running Naugat). (As far as my laptop's battery is concerned, yes its obvioulsy dead, but I almost always connect it to power supply and thats not an issue to me.) I honestly feel processor and RAM is not bottleneck for any non-gaming consumption usage and Nexus 6's processor and RAM are fully capable of handling any non gaming workload.

Earlier I had tonnes of apps installed and my phone used to hang a lot and battery used to drain a lot. So I did factory reset and installed only essential apps. The performance and battery backup definitely improved, but not considerably.

Nexus 6 has very high resolution (1440 x 2560 pixels) screen which drains its battery fast. But I guess Android is also an issue. When fully charged, my Nexus 6 can easily go from 100% battery to 15% in approx 8 hours, when left unused (not turning on screen at all). Surprisingly, now I have learnt that I can put my Nexus 6 in power saving mode all time and get 24+ hours of battery backup for casual usage (light browsing, some songs, whatsapp, reading pdfs etc, no gaming and watching videos). For couple of months I am doing that and getting 1 day + battery backup after full charge. Performance not that great due to power saving mode. But still its usable.

Given these facts, I have few clean questions:

1. Can I imitate power saving mode in non power saving mode by some configuration in Naugat, so that I can improve battery life without decreaing performance.
2. Should i buy new battery from ebay and replace it on myself? Will buying from here: (Nexus 6 batteries) be any wise move?
3. Will flashing custom ROM help?
4. Will doing both: replacing battery and installing custom ROM reset my mobile experience to newer one: full functionality, performance and battery backup?
5. Is there anyone out there who is using his/here nexus 6 or any other flagship phone after 3+ years with full performance, functionality (I specify "functionality" because many custom ROMs lack some functionality, like some may not provide support for bluetooth or some other hardware) and battery backup? If yes, how they are doing that?

PS: I have never successfully installed custom ROM. I tried once but bricked the mobile. It was from local vendor (Karbonn) and did not had good community support. This shouldnt be the case with Nexus 6 and modding Nexus 6 should be very easy.

 

[SactoKingsFan]

Just saw this post. I can answer most of these questions since I owned a N6 for about 3 years. It was always rooted with various custom ROMs and mods.

1. Mimic power saving:
You can use a custom kernel and tweak the settings for better battery life but it will still limit performance, just maybe not as much as power saving mode. Wakelock blockers can also help with trying to maximize battery life. I'd also recommend using dark/ black wallpapers and substratum themes to limit how much the screen drains the battery.

2. Battery replacement:
The battery may indeed need to be replaced since it's an older phone. Might want to check Accubattety to get a estimate of remaining battery capacity. My N6 showed ~90% battery capacity after about 3 years but I was pretty careful with the battery.

3. Custom ROMs:
Flashing a good custom ROM could make a difference but it will be pretty minimal if the phone needs a new battery.

4. New Experience:
Replacing the battery and flashing a custom ROM could get you pretty close to a like new experience. I never replaced the battery since it was still in quite good condition and I could still get 5+ hrs SoT. Using one of the Pixel style Oreo ROMs with Magisk (root + mods) and black substratum theme just improved the overall experience. I had more features, still very good battery life and a better UI.

 

[zapjb]

Using AOSiP 8.1 with Magisk. Runs perfect & good battery life.

 

[Nauga]

Using AOSiP 8.1 with Magisk. Runs perfect & good battery life.

It's worth mentioning that the AOSiP devs are the first to announce that they're already working on a Pie ROM for Shamu.