I have Nexus 6, will it be worth it (after 4+ years)?

[Mahesh Abnave]

Let me tell you what I prefer. I prefer long lasting stuff.

I bought laptop in June 2011, Dell XPS 15, with i7 3620QM, 16 GB RAM. Till date its super fast. Windows 10 flies on it. Really faster than my many friend's newer laptops, which run Intel 4th or 5th gen i5 processors. But even after revisions to processor versions, those processors are still running at clock speed in the range of of 2GHz to 3.5 GHz. The base frequency is still same as 2 GHz but the turbo is quite high like 3.2 to 3.5 GHz. But they all are dual core, while mine is quad core. The only improvement they have with newer generations is power consumption. Apart from that, I didnt get chance to try out 4 or 5th gen i7. Obviously quad core i7 must be faster if it has same base frequency. Just need to try dual core i7 laptops.

The point is, the hardware (of laptop) is capable enough to smoothly run the latest operating system and take on loads of task. I dont think I will get new laptop anyway soon, unless the new OS or new applications really requires more clock frequency/processing power and/or RAM.

My primary usage is productivity and software development on laptop. That involves running multiple instances of Eclipse, Visual Studio, VMWare, 20-30 tabs of Chrome, PDF reader all at a time, and hibernate all stuff all time, till I really decide that its time to restart (thats typically after at least 1 month of hibernation).

Will I experience the same with my Nexus 6? It surely has capable processor. Well 2.7 GHz is definitely not bad. I dont think mobile processors will make it common to have 3 or 3.5 GHz quad core in recent years. (Or do I miss any information. Do they have already 3+ GHz processors?) And quite good amount of RAM (3 GB). Currently the phone flies for anything that you put at it.

I read Google did not officially provide Marshmellow to nexus 4. Will the same will happen after 3 years to my Nexus 6 that I have to eventually take pain of flashing Stock ROM to Nexus 6 even after its hardware will be completely capable (am assuming that based on my laptop experience).

Currently my only concern is whether 64 bit apps will run on my 32 bit processor.

Given I dont care the new fashion/trend, but only performance and software updates, will my mobile story follow the laptop story?

 

[dpham00]

Re: I have Nexus 6, will it be worth (after 4+ years)?

4 years is a long time for phones. The cycle of upgrade on smartphones is typically much shorter than it is for pc. A 4 year old phone today is pretty antique.

Also Google promises major updates for 2 years on nexus devices, with security updates for 3 years. Given that the nexus 6 was released a year ago, you are only guaranteed one more year of major updates and 2 years of security updates.


For example on a pc, Windows XP was supported for 12 years.

http://www.androidpolice.com/2015/0...ears-and-major-otas-for-2-years-from-release/

 

[anon(632115)]

Yes as tech advances as rapidly as it is in the mobile arena these devices half a short life span.
Incidentally, you cannot run 64bit apps on a 32 bit processor

 

[LeoRex]

Re: I have Nexus 6, will it be worth (after 4+ years)?

Well... It's hard to look out 3 years, but there's a halfway decent chance the Nexus 6 will be usable after 4 years. Your observation on the laptop side of things is dead on. Desktops/Laptops reached a point where year to year performance gains were minimal. Processors were fast, drives big, things came with enough memory for all but the most intensive tasks. I have an old Dell laptop that still runs really well... sure, I've needed to replace the battery and HD once each, but the thing still has enough power to to zip along and do its tasks.

Phones are just reaching that now. I think the tide turned around the time the Snapdragon 800 phones dropped, which was a generation before the Nexus 6.

So provided the thing still works... there's actually a pretty good chance the Nexus 6 will still be able to get the job done in 2018.

 

[LeoRex]

Yes as tech advances as rapidly as it is in the mobile arena these devices half a short life span.
Incidentally, you cannot run 64bit apps on a 32 bit processor

I look at desktop.... We've had desktop processors almost exclusively 64bit for some time now, yet there are still tons of 32 bit apps. Why? There is no compelling reason for apps to go to 64 bit, they just don't need to in most cases.

I think the same thing will happen on mobile. The processors are just now going 64bit and it'll probably be quite some time before we no longer have 32 bit apps available.... there are just so many 32bit phones out there that it is going to be a LOOOONG time before they wash out.

 

[Crashdamage]

I usually figure on 3 years of service from a phone. 2 years OS updates plus a 3rd year of security patches for Nexus devices is reasonable support, better than some companies offer. And Google may, and in some cases has, supported devices longer.

I intend to get a couple more years outta my Nexus 6. I think you can get 4 years out of yours. It already got Marshmallow 6.0 and will definitely get Android N. It might get Android O. Support for Android O would be a bonus.

Look at it this way:
M will last almost a year. That's 1.
N will be another year. That's 2.
It will get security patches for N for another year. That's 3 years of support.
If it gets O that's 3 years of OS upgrades.
If it gets O it will get a 4th year of security patches.

If it does not get O you can still get a 4th or even 5th year of use. Just...
a. Use it anyway. It will still be a very secure device. It won't quit working because Google support ended. My original HTC G1 still makes calls, does email etc.
b. Root and install O yourself.

I have a Nexus 4 I'm kinda attached to. It's running M 6.0 quite happily, fast and stable. I'm typing this on it. It will easily provide 4 years of very serviceable service.

So you can get 4 years from your Nexus 6. You can even choose how you want to do it.

 

[ElronTheElder]

.....worth it (after 4+ years)?

Worth what?
Will it work? Yes, battery permitting.
At a guess it will be painfully slow compared to the "then current newest / Bestest"
Might even be obsolete due to eyeglass/sunglass computers, computer implants...+... "who knows".
Will I still be utilizing one? Heck no.
For now? can't beat it $$$.

 

[Mahesh Abnave]

I look at desktop.... We've had desktop processors almost exclusively 64bit for some time now, yet there are still tons of 32 bit apps. Why? There is no compelling reason for apps to go to 64 bit, they just don't need to in most cases.

I think the same thing will happen on mobile. The processors are just now going 64bit and it'll probably be quite some time before we no longer have 32 bit apps available.... there are just so many 32bit phones out there that it is going to be a LOOOONG time before they wash out.

I honestly feel, these phone companies should start getting more responsible towards the phone manufacturing and software updates. In ideal case, they should support as long as hardware permits. BTW, I feel in the end, I will need to dig into cooking own ROMs and installing them.

But at least this should be straight forward like installing Windows 10 on age old unsupported laptop and then getting official updates. I imagine whether this will be possible. Do we currently get updates from Google if we flash stock Android on our own? Windows on any machine just works and updates on its own. Just want to know if it is the case with stock Android too.

 

[Crashdamage]

You won't get OEM support for as long as might be possible. It's expensive to do it and might hurt sales. That's a lose + lose for manufacturers. Where's the incentive in that to offer long-term support?

Nexus phones are very well supported by the developer community. You won't have to cook a ROM unless you just want to try it.

ROMs are specific to the phone make and model. They must match. This is not an Android thing, it's the same for Apple and Windows Phone.

 

[LeoRex]

BTW, I feel in the end, I will need to dig into cooking own ROMs and installing them.

Oh, that's a certainty. To be honest, the Nexus 6 will most likely get the next full point version of Android (N?), but only security updates after that. But the Nexus dev community is quite strong... there are plenty of people developing on the older Nexus devices like the Nexus 4 and older.

There's a lot of unknowns... maybe Android will no longer support 32bit devices sooner than later (though I am guessing that might take a while). But if that happened, that would be a death knell for all of em.

 

[dpham00]

Ok so this is beyond the original question,which was whether it would perform and be updated like a 4 year old laptop. The answer is no.

If you are willing to root and do custom roms then it would work... But there are risks to root and installing third party roms.

 

[Mike Majeski]

As others have said, with a little work you could probably keep it running, but phones are pretty much built on a 2-year cycle - and even that is becoming shorter with carriers offering one year upgrade plans (even shorter with T-Mobile).

 

[Mahesh Abnave]

ok I see I got some good points here.

What I feel is the point is not
1. Whether current trend of 2 year support cycle is sufficient/acceptable or
2. Whether I should or will use the same phone after 4 years. or
3. Whether I will be able to get it updated to latest OS with custom ROMs.

But it is more about OS provider should be really more responsible. I knew the Microsoft case. Just to tell I have 2 desktops too. I can install Windows on them and start getting OFFICIAL updates. Now the word "official" is important. I have hardware which is capable. And Microsoft is ready to provide OS for it. And Updates too. Thats it. It might not update Windows 7 if I install it. But surely I can update Windows 7 to Windows 10 and then continue to get official updates. Or I will just get licensed Windows 10 without updating Windows 7 to 10. So capable hardware did never went officially unsupported.

I dont know whether this will repeat even with Windows 10 on mobile as Microsoft also said they will support the phone for 2 years only.

So I just googled for mobile case and I found some good pointers in case of official updates for mobile OS

1. Samsung Galaxy Nexus I9250 (released Nov, 2011) has got Marshmallow ROM,but no Official Google update.
2. iPhone 4S (released Oct, 2011) got the Official update of iOS9.

It can be understood that company will not provide official update for particular phone model when the phone model is of low configuration. For example I can understand that my Lumia 520 may not get OFFICIAL Windows 10 update as it might be hardware limitation or simply because Windows 10 might run slow on 512 MB RAM of Lumia 520 making it essentially useless.

But it will not be understandable if this happens after some years with current flagships which pack really extra hardware capabilities than is required by current operating systems.

I dont know whether a support cost can be an issue, if they design OS well. Microsoft is supporting very old hardware. Yes there can be certain issues like some drivers not available for particular laptop model, but rest will still update.

In end I honestly feel there is no reason for OS providers to not to provide official updates if the phone is perfectly capable. And I am afraid that the OS providers will not do so. The old age of supporting OS for as long as possible is gone. (And sorry if this took the discussion away from the original question. But this was the underlying concern of my Nexus 6 being worth after 4+ year.)

 

[Crashdamage]

You must keep a few things in mind. The PC/Windows vs Smartphone/Android (or iOS or WinPhone) comparison is not valid.

a. Manufacturers and users spend billions and billions every year buying Windows. Google invests heavily in Android - and gives it away free.
b. PC hardware is mature and changing slowly. Mobile hardware is just out of infancy and changing constantly. Support is very different and far more difficult for mobile devices.
c. The iPhone 4S got the latest upgrade, yes. But it runs like it's stuck in mud and a strong argument can be made that Apple carries support too far sometimes.
d. Google is only responsible for updates for Nexus devices. New versions of Android are available to everyone. If a manufacturer wants to extend support to 4 or 5 years they can do so. But it is not Google's responsibility.

 

[NoNexus]

Please forgive my ignorance but I am not a fan of nexus but got one for a steal for a backup. Won't rooting cancel out android pay? I do not you can freeze use pay then unfreeze but that is a pain.

Won't the deeper android pay(or Samsung, ape, Walmart, bob's grocery) becomes more a staple of society a 4 year old phone take on the more trouble than its worth status?

The mobile end of thing is where the pc/phone comparison ends.

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[Tadrift]

This is an interesting topic.

Being from the old school PC side and now into the latest tech, these comparisons have rattled around in my brain over the past couple years.

I don't like the way the mobile industry has structured things. I personally think it is going to implode. The way PC's made profit is completely different from phones. It was the software companies that drove the hardware companies. Software was where the money was at. It use to be MS would launch a new OS, rake in big money and hardware had to keep up on razor thin margins. And it work well for consumers. Today it is reversed. The hardware companies take practically free software and promote their device. It is the selling of the device which makes money, so out of the box it must be good. There is no money in keeping it updated. They do the minimum required and hope users move on to new devices. This is a bad business method, but it is what it is. Security will be its undoing.

You just can't compare. They are different. They may both be computing methods and use OS's, but that is where they end. Money is what drives what any industry does. And what they SHOULD do and what they will do are too different things. In this case, the industry dictates and the money that drives it that 2-3 years is the usable life of any current smart phone.

With that said, will your Nexus 6 be worth it after 4 years? No it will not. Unless your time is worth penny's an hour, it will not be "worth" the time involved to keep it running. And by running, I mean the latest ROM, replacing the battery most likely (more money), and making sure it will serve you then like it does now. Hardware wise it will still function in some capacity.

Bottom line, you just have to budget the cost of new replacement devices accordingly.

 

[theduder]

The Nexus 4 runs phenomenally well on 5.1.1, its last official Android update.

Certain Nexus models have received newer versions beyond the official cutoff through ROMs like Cyanogen.

The hardware is certainly beefy and of high quality.

 

[YAYTech]

I think it will still function 4 years from now, but whether it will be worth using will depend on the demands/standards of the user. Here's the cycle I've seen in my personal use:

- Smartphone #1: OG Droid: used for 2 years. Would have loved to have replaced it after 1.5, by 2 years old I was yelling at it all the time because it was soooooo slow. It still functions today, and could technically be used for *something*. But after 2 years it was so dreadfully slow that I couldn't stand it for daily use.
- Smartphone #2: Droid RAZR: used for 2 years. It was ready to be replaced after 2 years, but didn't have me nearly as frustrated on a regular basis as my OG Droid did at 2 years. Would likely still function and be useful for some niche use today if I hadn't drowned it in a river in a kayaking incident.
- Smartphone #3: Droid MAXX (Ultra): used for a little over 2 years. It was getting a little annoying at times when it would delay, but it was (and is) still a very usable device. I probably could've held out another 9mo-1yr if I hadn't grabbed the killer Black Friday deal on the Nexus 6 recently.

So, by my standards, my smartphones have remained useful for 1.5, 2+, and 2.5+ years, each a pretty much top of the line phone when bought. Now the Nexus 6 is already around a year old design. My expectation is that it'll be usable for me for 2.5-3yrs from now, maybe more. My next phone purchase may be pushed more by new features & characteristics rather than the slowing of the device.

So I think, if your standards & expectations are very reasonable, it *might* be a 4 year device. Same goes for any phone that came out a year ago. The current top of the line phones are benchmarking about 20% higher, so (again, depending on expectations), a current top of the line phone (Snapdragon 810 or similar) is even more likely to be a 4 year plus device. Any Nexus device is helped in longevity by the lack of bloat and great update support.