Nexus 6 Owners, How Reliable Has Ambient Display Been For You?

[ejordan]

I remember reading back when reviews were initially coming out that picking up the phone wouldn't always turn it on, so I'm curious what everybody's experience has been when it comes to taking the phone out of your pocket or picking it up from a table and if it consistently turns the screen on? Also feel free to chime in about how getting used to seeing notifications this way has been and how you prefer it to LED notifications after using it

 

[Gekko]

I remember reading back when reviews were initially coming out that picking up the phone wouldn't always turn it on, so I'm curious what everybody's experience has been when it comes to taking the phone out of your pocket or picking it up from a table and if it consistently turns the screen on? Also feel free to chime in about how getting used to seeing notifications this way has been and how you prefer it to LED notifications after using it

Larry Page likes it!

As Page sits down in a nearby conference room, he pulls out a brand-new Nexus 6, Google’s latest flagship phone, which is made by Motorola. “If you just bump it, it displays your notifications,” Page says. “You don’t have to enter your password or anything to do that.” He then holds the phone at arm’s length and compares its size and display capabilities to those of a large flat-screen TV further away on the wall. “It’s kind of crazy,” he says. “This device at this distance has many more pixels than an HDTV.”

Google's Larry Page: The most ambitious CEO in the universe - Fortune

 

[Sentrix]

The feature is somewhat inconsistent, and it takes much more than a bump.
I need to actually pick the phone up... and even then, sometimes it just doesn't work.

 

[gabbott]

I came from a moto x so I'm used to their active display (which I've come to love in lieu of an LED). Google's version to me isn't quite as elegant but gets the job done. It seems to come on most of the time if I pick up the phone, now and then it doesnt.

One annoyance I've come across this morning. I've installed an app that measures signal strength so it always shows in the notification bar. Because of that it always shows up on the ambient display and I'd rather it not. With moto active display you can selectively disable apps from showing on the active display but they'd still show up in the notification bar. I need to look into this more. I want that behavior.

 

[bbdub]

I have not received my N6 yet, but from what I understand, ambient display blinks once and then turns off until you pick the phone up. I hope future updates allow you the option to keep the notification pulsing like active display on the Moto X. Love that feature of it.

 

[Robbie317]

I remember reading back when reviews were initially coming out that picking up the phone wouldn't always turn it on, so I'm curious what everybody's experience has been when it comes to taking the phone out of your pocket or picking it up from a table and if it consistently turns the screen on? Also feel free to chime in about how getting used to seeing notifications this way has been and how you prefer it to LED notifications after using it

Well so far today it works really well... I like how every time the device vibrates or beeps I can glance over and see exactly the the notification is and either leave it alone and let it go black or double click to view it... So far works every time I pick the sucker up... the first few times it did it threw me off and I had to get use to that display.. even though I was aware of the feature I thought I was hitting a button by mistake... More time will tell I guess..

 

[roadrat]

I came from a moto x so I'm used to their active display (which I've come to love in lieu of an LED). Google's version to me isn't quite as elegant but gets the job done. It seems to come on most of the time if I pick up the phone, now and then it doesnt.

One annoyance I've come across this morning. I've installed an app that measures signal strength so it always shows in the notification bar. Because of that it always shows up on the ambient display and I'd rather it not. With moto active display you can selectively disable apps from showing on the active display but they'd still show up in the notification bar. I need to look into this more. I want that behavior.

So how's the signal strength

 

[BRIVERS73]

It has actually work pretty good for me for the few times I actually interacted with my device.

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[The Boston Strangler]

Works well for me.

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[Mooem]

Seems okay but inconsistent. It doesn't really matter much for me though since I have a Moto 360. I might consider turning it off altogether as it's rather redundant for me.

 

[Robbie317]

So how's the signal strength

I ran several speed test yesterday between my Nexus 5 and 6 on T-Mobile in the same spots and the speeds were faster on the Nexus 6 of course... however where I work is notorious for a weak signal for everyone on just about every carrier... But with my Nexus 5 I always had a good enough LTE signal with T-Mobile that I could watch video and download anything without a problem... Lady I work with has an iPhone 5S on T-Mobile and she can never get LTE here at work.... I've noticed with my Nexus 6 it drops back down to HSPA+ and even 3G all the time.... My 5 almost never did that.. it always stayed locked on pretty good LTE signal in the area... Usually not a STRONG LTE signal but that weak LTE signal blows away the so called HSPA+ and 3G signal. if my phone say H or 3G I don't even attempt to do anything outside of texting or simple web browsing.... So far it doesn't seem like the Nexus 6 holds on to the LTE like my 5 did..... but it's still early... will see how she does after an update or two that I know is coming in the weeks ahead.......

 

[gabbott]

So how's the signal strength

I think the radios could improve with some updates.

I notice in certain spots it struggles a bit to hold onto LTE. Doesn't make it unusable but enough to notice. Though on Sprint, this is my first phone that supports triband. Even though my area hasn't been officially enabled with Spark, I connected to Band 41 at home and was pulling 41meg down / 15 meg up. I've never seen those type of speeds on Sprint's network.

 

[Sentrix]

Have yet to do a whole lot of real-world testing, but it is consistently about 5 dBm weaker than my Nexus 5 with Lollipop was. We'll see what that means for this device in the fringe areas. Hopefully it can be improved in the future with a software update. However, I wouldn't consider it poor at all. Just average.

 

[nickacs]

Are any of you guys "pocket" people that carry your phone? I am and I'm not liking Ambient Display for this reason:
http://www.droid-life.com/2014/11/17/nexus-6-ambient-display-pocket-dial/

Even putting a Password/PIN doesn't help if you have it to set at XXX attempts and wipe your phone! Uggg... C'mon Google.. If the Moto X 2nd gen proximity sensor works fine in pocket/laying down, why doesn't the Nexus 6???

 

[gabbott]

Are any of you guys "pocket" people that carry your phone? I am and I'm not liking Ambient Display for this reason:
http://www.droid-life.com/2014/11/17/nexus-6-ambient-display-pocket-dial/

Even putting a Password/PIN doesn't help if you have it to set at XXX attempts and wipe your phone! Uggg... C'mon Google.. If the Moto X 2nd gen proximity sensor works fine in pocket/laying down, why doesn't the Nexus 6???

I am but have not had those issues with ambient display so far. That would certainly be an issue if it started happening. Have you run into that happening?

 

[nickacs]

I am but have not had those issues with ambient display so far. That would certainly be an issue if it started happening. Have you run into that happening?

Mine's out for delivery today, but just wanted to see anyone's experiences yet with it being in their pocket and "ghost" dialing/texting It's something that I hope doesn't happen or can be fixed later with software.

 

[qnet]

I ran several speed test yesterday between my Nexus 5 and 6 on T-Mobile in the same spots and the speeds were faster on the Nexus 6 of course... however where I work is notorious for a weak signal for everyone on just about every carrier... But with my Nexus 5 I always had a good enough LTE signal with T-Mobile that I could watch video and download anything without a problem... Lady I work with has an iPhone 5S on T-Mobile and she can never get LTE here at work.... I've noticed with my Nexus 6 it drops back down to HSPA+ and even 3G all the time.... My 5 almost never did that.. it always stayed locked on pretty good LTE signal in the area... Usually not a STRONG LTE signal but that weak LTE signal blows away the so called HSPA+ and 3G signal. if my phone say H or 3G I don't even attempt to do anything outside of texting or simple web browsing.... So far it doesn't seem like the Nexus 6 holds on to the LTE like my 5 did..... but it's still early... will see how she does after an update or two that I know is coming in the weeks ahead.......

At my job they have repeaters in the building that allow HSPA + for At&t and T-Mobile. I don't know what they use but it's actually faster than the LTE right outside the building in that area.

 

[Robbie317]

At my job they have repeaters in the building that allow HSPA + for At&t and T-Mobile. I don't know what they use but it's actually faster than the LTE right outside the building in that area.

No repeaters at my office.... lol... and HSPA+ and 3G with T-Mobile in this exact spot is almost useless for anything except texting (No images just words) and phone calls.... You are not doing anything else though... or at least not fast... a 30 second low quality youtube video will take 1/2 an hour just to load when it's dropped back off LTE... but if you leave our building and go less than 1/4 mile up the road to the intersection of the highway it's lighting fast (LTE that is) inside our building the LTE signal is weak but you can still load up that same 30 second video in about a minute....

 

[ejordan]

Just adding that there was a demo unit at the Sprint store I stopped by earlier that the employee let me play with. It wasn't on a security tether so I got to see how often the ambient display would work and two out of the three times the screen lit up when I lifted it. Honestly, at this point, it doesn't seem like a big deal if there's every so often it doesn't light up because just using the phone it's not any trouble pressing the power button where it's placed, and now I'm feeling so much more confident about getting the phone just from being able to hold it in hand and use it.

The screen next to the Note genuinely wasn't as dim as it was when I saw it at T-Mobile last Sunday so I think the update that N6's are getting really does help because it's dimmer but really by not much at all

 

[rnd0209]

My ambient display has been working perfectly.

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