Nexus 9 : Owners sound off with your own reviews and thoughts.

[jerrykur]

This is my second day with my nexus 9 and so far I LOVE IT!. Except for one thing that's really bothering me, charging time seems to be extremely long... My lock screen states that it will take 15 hours for my unit to reach 100%!!! Is that normal?

Posted via the Android Central App

That sounds long. Are you using the factory charger? The ones for a phone put out much less current.

 

[fm123]

I noticed it was hard to pull it out of the packaging, the pocket was too tight on my unit. Anyone had to struggle with removing the unit? Could be a case for any back panel issue?

Enjoying the larger screen, previously using 7 inch. Light bleed largely appears to go away after boot up, perhaps it is at full power during boot up. Good size and weight, holding with one hand is comfortable so far.

Ran benchmarks, Antutu, GFXbench, 3Dmark, unit was warm, but not hot.

 

[xendula]

Mine was a bit hard to pry out of the package as well, but not harder than most tablets I've gotten. Does your back pannel have any dents as well?

 

[fm123]

Mine was a bit hard to pry out of the package as well, but not harder than most tablets I've gotten. Does your back pannel have any dents as well?

I traded in an older Nexus which had a much nicer packaging without squeezing the tablet. I had to pull a bit to get it out, and it could have been the reason the corner of the rear cover is slightly loose. Aside from that the back looks fine.

 

[dcfc561]

Hi peeps, I have been doing some reading up (trying to decide if i get 1 or not) on the N9 and 1 review mentioned about the power might be an issue (cant recall the exact wording), has anyone else found a problem with the power button ?

Another issue I came across in a review was whilst watching films/videos etc there were black bars on each side or maybe top and bottom whuich restricted the viewable area, anyone find this annoying or not bother them ?

Thanks.

 

[fm123]

Hi peeps, I have been doing some reading up (trying to decide if i get 1 or not) on the N9 and 1 review mentioned about the power might be an issue (cant recall the exact wording), has anyone else found a problem with the power button ?

Another issue I came across was whilst watching films/videos etc there were black bars on each side or maybe top and bottom whuich restricted the viewable area, anyone find this annoying or not bother them ?

Thanks.

On a wide-screen video, typical 16:9, you get a little bit bigger than a 7 inch 16:9 display. So you don't get bigger video displays. The sound quality kind of makes up for it,

 

[dcfc561]

On a wide-screen video, typical 16:9, you get a little bit bigger than a 7 inch 16:9 display. So you don't get bigger video displays. The sound quality kind of makes up for it,

Thanks, I see what you mean.

So would that be better than viewing films on a Nexus 7 then, so not that bad then is it.

 

[jerrykur]

Thanks, I see what you mean.

So would that be better than viewing films on a Nexus 7 then, so not that bad then is it.

I definitely like the screen better for watching videos. It is also much better for browsing.

 

[ollieg]

Another issue I came across in a review was whilst watching films/videos etc there were black bars on each side or maybe top and bottom whuich restricted the viewable area, anyone find this annoying or not bother them ?
Thanks.

Coming from the Nexus 7 2013, video on the Nexus 9 is "gigantic" in portrait mode and "monstrously gigantic" in landscape. No complaint against 4:3 screen from me, now that I experienced it.

 

[dcfc561]

Got 1 ordered and its coming tomorrow, I shall post back on what I think of it.

 

[jondelfin]

Re External Storage ...
I just tried a 64G USB thumb [NTFS format] drive plugged into an OTG cable and it worked perfectly. I only tried it with videos but I would think there would be no problem with any files eg spreadsheets etc. So far I used the programs Nexus Media Importer and also ES File explorer to access the data. Both seem to work well with Android 5.
Of course there is a catch - if the battery is low you cannot view the thumb drive/OTG cable and charge the tablet at the same time. On my Nexus 10 I used the magnetic pogo charger so this was not a problem. So far this is my only "if only", not really a complaint. So the inability to plug in a micro SD card is not an issue for me - except if the tablet is low on power. PS - wish I had a 128 G drive to try!

 

[jondelfin]

I definitely like the screen better for watching videos. It is also much better for browsing.

Agreed - and it is very nice for reading magazines which seem to be closer to the 4:3 format. On my nexus 10 with magazines there was always a bit of space [when full page] at the top and bottom so the 9 works out to be about the same size as with the 10

 

[dcfc561]

Re External Storage ...
I just tried a 64G USB thumb [NTFS format] drive plugged into an OTG cable and it worked perfectly. I only tried it with videos but I would think there would be no problem with any files eg spreadsheets etc. So far I used the programs Nexus Media Importer and also ES File explorer to access the data. Both seem to work well with Android 5.
Of course there is a catch - if the battery is low you cannot view the thumb drive/OTG cable and charge the tablet at the same time. On my Nexus 10 I used the magnetic pogo charger so this was not a problem. So far this is my only "if only", not really a complaint. So the inability to plug in a micro SD card is not an issue for me - except if the tablet is low on power. PS - wish I had a 128 G drive to try!

I have an OTG cable and bought the nexus media importer when I had the N7.

 

[dcfc561]

My thoughts on the Nexus 9:

1 Ive read others have commented on the back cover being a bit flexible, being able to bend it, didnt seem to be the case with mine as it was 1 of the first things Id noticed when taking I first handled it.

2 It looks nice, might look nicer if they had put a shiny metal round the edge eg where the power and volume buttons are.

3 The screen looks great whilst watching Gravity, even better watching Netflix as the black bars aren't as big when watching Gravity.

4 I dont like how the power and volume buttons are so close together

I just need to find a case.cover for it now.

 

[jerrykur]

My thoughts on the Nexus 9:

1 Ive read others have commented on the back cover being a bit flexible, being able to bend it, didnt seem to be the case with mine as it was 1 of the first things Id noticed when taking I first handled it.

It is when you push up and down on the circle where NEXUS is written. Take a look at the review here. There is a animated GIF of someone pushing up and down on the that spot. You can see it flex. It is not a big deal IMHO. But when compared to a similarly priced iPad Air 2 with aluminum back feels cheap.

 

[Doc Marten]

My first impression upon turning it on was not good. Terrible back light bleed in three corners, across the top and a large almost circular patch around 2 inches in diameter where the light came through more than the surrounding area. This is less noticeable on lighter screens but anything dark enough and it's obvious. Google are replacing it so hopefully the next one will not have this issue.
As they now charge a premium price, £400 for the 32 gig version, I expect and insist upon quality throughout.

One other issue I've noticed is the terrible charge time using the official charger. It's saying 7 hours to charge from 56%. If the next one has a similar issue it'll be getting sent back and I'll be sadly cancelling.

 

[jsgiv]

My notes (wordy...):

I had the nexus 9 for several days and *really* wanted it to work.. Yet came away from the experience rather disappointed and devastated ...

To put it bluntly - the N9 has sooooo much potential as a direct/updated competitor to all other tablets out there - yet it is the combination of all the minor nitpicks about the hardware that ultimately lead many (myself included) to return the unit and select other options .. At least temporarily until either a viable alternative becomes available or until the various hardware issues are resolved with the N9 ...

Why? I want a new tablet.. I want a smaller tablet than the iPad Air... The N9 fits (so I thought) the bill perfectly from a size perspective...

Software:

Quite simply - Lollipop is a dream... It blows me away on how well it works and how seamless it is... There is so much potential here once the right manufacturer actually delivers a quality tablet that lives up to the software being presented...

Hardware:

I bought the N9 full well knowing that there were some issues with the hardware... I figured I could live with them since I was fairly well informed (or so I thought)

Light bleed? Check.. Though it was contained to 2 spots on my unit in places that I really didn't have any problems with this particular issue... Overall, aside from these areas, my screen was fairly uniform and not patchy like others here have reported.

Overheating? Check... Mind you - this was experienced while using a browser only.. (I browse the web the majority of the time I use a tablet...) - Not a game or any other software that should tax the system.

Depending on the site I visited I would experience a spike in heat on the back of the unit near the camera where I commonly rest my hand holding the unit.. So I tried flipping it or holding it differently to adjust.. Which "worked" but was annoying that I had to adjust how I typically hold a tablet comfortably...

Build quality issues? Check - buttons were mushy and hard to locate, there was a slight (minimal) push in the middle (I purchased the white 32gb version). Again.. These were things I knew going in and willingly to work around and live with ... For some this was the biggest issue.. I thought that in general it was passable...

Screen Time? (Sorta) check .. Admittedly I haven't had it long enough to determine if the SoT would extend past the 4-6 hour mark I was experiencing (most likely will with future updates)... Though I expected it to last longer based on other noted reviews of 9-10 hours (never came close)...

What finally killed it for me was a few nights ago I drained the battery down to 10%, and left it to charge all night (I kid you not - 10+ hours) - it was only up to 78% charged with an estimated 2+ hours left to full charge... I could've lived with everything else and have been somewhat irritated and annoyed - but if I can't charge the damn thing in a reasonable amount of time to use it ... Then what's the point ?

Never mind some of the other nitpicks that arose during this time I wasn't aware of (miracast, etc)...

Which leads me to where I changed - I Went out and bought an iPad mini 2 for less than half the price of the N9 yesterday on special Black Friday deals... At least for the time being...

EVERY hardware issue noted above isn't prevalent at all with the iPad (same resolution, no light bleed, no overheating, significant bump in battery performance (I've run 7+ hours full screen on time browsing and installing software on the first charge before finally going to bed last night with 26% remaining) only dropped 16% as I type this), and it charges much quicker ...

Worst thing about it? It's running iOS ...

It's functional and gets the job done.. But I can't stand how limiting it is compared to my android phone or the N9....

Ultimately the issues with the N9 render the device too painful to use and enjoy the experience of lollipop.. (At this time)... Unfortunately I needed a dependable tablet now...

At this point - I plan to monitor these boards and sites reporting updates on the N9 and software updates in the hopes that one day soon all of these issues are either finally addressed with the N9 ( or most of them ) - or within the next few months a viable alternative is made available to the market (Nokia???) that yields a truly distinct and positive experience with the advent of lollipop.

As soon as that happens.. I'll either sell the iPad or pass it down to my kid and switch immediately back to the N9 or other viable option (I'm primarily looking for a well built device with as close as "stock" android as possible) - the software experience of lollipop was fantastic in the short time I had with it (not available on my phone yet)....

I sincerely hope others don't run into the same issues that I did ...



Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[mtva24]

I also returned my nexus 9 Black Friday for an iPad air 2. I liked the nexus but buying a tab with better build quality and double the storage seemed like a logical move. Despite having minor light bleed and minor spongy back i had two issues. 1.) the plastic was peeling near the usb (unacceptable). 2.) the battery was terrible and it took forever to charge. I must admit that I do miss lollipop on a tablet and I am not 100% sold on iOS, but this tablet right here is very nice, and besides, I have lollipop on my htc one m8. I wish you all the best and maybe I will be back in nexus land shortly.

 

[xendula]

I also returned my nexus 9 Black Friday for an iPad air 2. I liked the nexus but buying a tab with better build quality and double the storage seemed like a logical move. Despite having minor light bleed and minor spongy back i had two issues. 1.) the plastic was peeling near the usb (unacceptable). 2.) the battery was terrible and it took forever to charge. I must admit that I do miss lollipop on a tablet and I am not 100% sold on iOS, but this tablet right here is very nice, and besides, I have lollipop on my htc one m8. I wish you all the best and maybe I will be back in nexus land shortly.

Build quality was why I returned mine as well. Having used iPads since the iPad 1, I could not reconcile the steep Nexus 9 price with the cheap built quality, though I loved the 3:4 sceen ratio.

I like to have one of each: iOS and Android. Now my hopes are on the Nokia N1. I've always loved their hardware, and the product pictures look super sweet.

 

[Zorro1]

You guys got early models. I intentionally held out for a sealed box one on Sat. and it's a newer build. I know that because there's a little tab now for getting it out of the tight box...there's no mushy on the back. Yes, it's hot when downloading, big deal. Buttons work great. Fast as lightening...too early to tell much about battery so far. I'm happy happy.