Just curious which phone you guys would use if the 6p wasn't an option. My choices would be the Note 5 and Moto Pure. I like the Note a lot, but ultimately TW world be overbearing. As a secondary device I can deal with it, but on my primary phone, using a heavier skin for 2-3 years would get old pretty quick.
I'd have to settle for the Pure. I like it a lot, and actually prefer it's near stock software to stock itself. I really had my hopes high, maybe unrealistically high, and was slightly disappointed with the battery (especially since the 3000 mAh was announced seconds after the Play's much larger battery), camera, lack of fingerprint sensor (which wasn't a surprise) and build quality.
The key word there is "slightly." It JUST missed the mark, but missed it in some important categories. And to be fair, my only experience with it was for 45 minutes, so I have no clue how my own battery use would shake out. And Moto Maker might make up for the slightly underwhelming build quality (up until I got my 6p, aesthetics hadn't been much of a priority for me ... I changed my mind and would consider looks much more in the future then I had in the past).
But yeah, long story short I'd go with the Pure (unless waiting for the M10 was an option ... but it's not)!
Point of clarification (seeking): Is this question limited just to Android phones other than the 6p or to ALL phones other than the 6p? My answer will probably vary depending on the parameters.
------------IF JUST ANDROID PHONES-----------
This one is actually the tougher question of the two for me. While I'm REALLY tempted to say Blackberry Priv for all the cool features it has while still running a version of Android that looks and feels surprisingly close to "vanilla", it'd probably still come down to either a phone made BY Moto FOR Moto with an essentially "pure" Android - The Moto X Pure, -OR- a phone made BY Moto, but FOR Google - 2014's Nexus 6!
Ultimately, in an Android phone, I think my top priority is pure Android and fast updates. The Moto has an Android that is almost as pure, and [I would assume] updates almost as quickly as the Nexus, but on newer, presumably more cutting edge hardware and presumably with a longer upgrade path.
HOWEVER, the Nexus 6 has totally pure Android, and the fastest updates and patches. Plus, say what you will, in my brief time owning a Nexus 6, I ABSOLUTELY ADORED the ginormous 6" screen! There are more dazzling screens out there. There are sharper screens out there, and they almost entirely come from Touchwiz plagued Samsung - but for sheer enormity outside of the several years old and unsupported Galaxy Mega, the Nexus 6 is in a class all its own!
Also, call me crazy, but I totally loved the feel of the phone in my hand, the curves serving me quite nicely, and while I've not had a chance to hear them side by side, I thought I had read that those Nexus speakers just can't be beat - not even by the 6p!
So if we're talking ONLY Android phones and the 6p is off the table, then my vote is for its older, bigger, curvier sister - the Nexus 6!
-------------------IF -ALL- PHONES-------------------
Though my passion level for pursuing this insanely lofty (or just insane) goal is beginning to cool, for the record at least, my plans are still to go "tri-platform": an Android Phone, an iPhone, and a Windows Phone. An in addition to that, the other essential pieces of each of those ecosystems more broadly so I can truly immerse in each.
In terms of the phones, if I were able to buy all three today (and if all three worked on Verizon), they would be a Nexus 6p, an iPhone 6s+, and a Lumia 950XL.
Back six months or so ago, I returned to Verizon from Sprint and initially had traded my old Galaxy Note 3 for the Nexus 6. However, since multi-platform ambitions were in sight, tax time was the timetable, and the Nexus 6p was the goal, I took advantage of the 14-day "no worries guarantee" and traded my Nexus in for an iPhone. It was just a week or two too soon to be a 6s+, so I just got the 6+, which is what I have right now, and is actually what I'm typing this on.
However, with a super old Mac that I was hoping to limp along for a couple more years now rapidly failing past the point of viability, my plans for a tax time Nexus 6p have evaporated into a dream deferred - shoved out of the way in a flash of urgency by a new Mac Mini.
Idealogically, with one core, WaaS, live tiles, Universal apps, and integration with things like XBox, plus the all new design language, I can say that between a Lumia and an iPhone, my heart is MUCH more with Microsoft than with Apple --- MUCH!
But between all the growing pains with fledgling Windows 10, particularly Windows 10 mobile, the tough road it has ahead, and the less than absolute certainty that it will succeed - paired with the fact that I am already almost entirely doubled down on Apple, and while the whole multi-platform thing may indeed still all come true, my passion for the idea has seriously cooled of late, and if I'm already doubled down on one, that's where it makes by far the most sense to stay.
And besides, any Android phone I had that wasn't the 6p would probably just make me wish for the 6p instead. So in the end, the answer to this question is actually very easy.....a bit painful....but easy:
I'd take the iPhone.
Cheers!
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