Nexus 6 fetish?

[ElronTheElder]

Got to get over this.
Every phone, when compared to a Nexus 6, comes up lacking in one way or another.
That's a problem because our Nexus 6's are getting quite old and updates will soon be history.
Spending $300+ for a new Nexus 6 is foolish, IMO.
Buying used is hit or miss. I, myself have missed a couple of times.
Nexus is the only line in competition mainly due to security updates.
Can't warm up to the 6P with the 5X being a poor comparison.
That leaves me with a stopgap phone and a yearning for more.
Perhaps this should be titled "Ode to N6".
Whatever, kind of bummed out on this.

 

[wezi427]

..........ok

I wonder if illiterate people get the full effect of alphabet soup

 

[Aquila]

I use two phones on a daily basis, and for the last several months it was the 6P and the 6. About 3 weeks ago I replaced the 6 (gave it to my wife) with the 5X. There's obviously a size difference. Otherwise, the 5X is a very comparable device and the 6P nails it to the ground IMO.

 

[ElronTheElder]

I use two phones on a daily basis, and for the last several months it was the 6P and the 6. About 3 weeks ago I replaced the 6 (gave it to my wife) with the 5X. There's obviously a size difference. Otherwise, the 5X is a very comparable device and the 6P nails it to the ground IMO.

Have tried the Nexus 5X and found it wanting, it can't compare to a Nexus 6 nor was it supposed too. Have not tried Nexus 6P due to it's limitations regarding wireless charging, USB C , SD810 throttling issues/low clock rate, price vs Nexus 6 in addition to a new nexus upcoming soon with hopefully better SoC...
The SD810 is very limited because of heat issues inherent to it. SD80? has been shown to be superior for everyday usage. Vast majority of apps cannot utilize numerous cores effectively. So higher clocked 4 core variants outperform it. Can't bring myself to "upgrade" to SD810.
USB C is an upgrade for A. Initial usage is complicated due to having various phones in use which can't use it. While I have purchased numerous cables/chargers they are still in the box until more phones need them.

 

[Aquila]

I think you're mixing the 1st run 810's (OnePlus Two, HTC M9, etc) with the 3rd gen one in the 6P. Either way, the 805 was very good and I have no complaints about it. But yeah, if you're not interested in either of the 2015's, the 2014 is still running strong for me as well, it's getting N and that gives a chance to see the new 2016 Nexus lineup and hopefully there's something you like better there.

 

[Golfdriver97]

The 5X is a very capable device. There isn't anything alarmingly bad about it. Mine's been up for 96 hours, and I have no issues. The March and April updates have helped a lot.

 

[nunjabusiness]

I am really starting to understand the love this phone gets. I like the idea of the direct pipeline for updates, but am wondering why I am still on MMB29V, which I understood was the March update.

Does the fact that I unlocked the bootloader, installed TWRP and rooted it mean I can't get the updates now?

 

[Aquila]

The 5X is a very capable device. There isn't anything alarmingly bad about it. Mine's been up for 96 hours, and I have no issues. The March and April updates have helped a lot.

I'd argue that it not only is capable, in most ways it is better. There's nothing bad about it at all, there's also nothing objectively worse than the 6 than I can think of. It has less RAM but doesn't stutter or lag, so who cares. 808 vs 805 is VERY comparable, camera is better, screen is better (more accurate, but less resolution), battery life is just as good or better, storage options are worse but storage is faster (so bleh, this or that), usb c > micro usb, security is better, fantastic FPS, less expensive, will be updated longer, etc, etc. But the 6P is like the 5X on metal steroids - bigger, faster, stronger, even turns green when you make it angry.

 

[LeoRex]

The SD810 is very limited because of heat issues inherent to it. SD80? has been shown to be superior for everyday usage.

You are going off old information.... The phones with the SD810 from early 2015 had some throttling issues.... I've had the 6P since December and there are zero heating or throttling issues with the thing. I had a Nexus 6, and the 6P is superior to the 6 in near every capacity. It is faster, more responsive, a MUCH better camera, etc. If you are discounting the 6P because of the SD810, you are doing yourself a HUGE disservice.

The 805 was an excellent chip, but it isn't superior in everyday usage. I had the Nexus 6 for 13 months and the 6P for 4+ now.... it's just not.

 

[LeoRex]

Does the fact that I unlocked the bootloader, installed TWRP and rooted it mean I can't get the updates now?

The unlocked bootloader and rooting won't cause much. But once you install TWRP, you abandon the OTA process and will have to take care of updates yourself (not only does the OTA require the stock recovery, it's pre-req checks will fail over before it gets to that point). But that is just a matter of flashing the factory images with fastboot (which you can do without blowing away your userdata if you do it right).

 

[ElronTheElder]

Having bought and returned a Nexus 5X just recently I beg to differ.
Lag is there, not prominent, there nevertheless.
Switching between phones it becomes evident.
Alone it would be fine but compared to high end phones it is lacking.
Compared to a Nexus 6 [or I assume 6P] in hand it feels like a toy.

Friends; I have come to bury Nexus 6 not to praise it.
It is my form of mourning.

 

[nunjabusiness]

The unlocked bootloader and rooting won't cause much. But once you install TWRP, you abandon the OTA process and will have to take care of updates yourself (not only does the OTA require the stock recovery, it's pre-req checks will fail over before it gets to that point). But that is just a matter of flashing the factory images with fastboot (which you can do without blowing away your userdata if you do it right).

Would I have to reinstall my apps and set up my screens and settings again?
Sorry, but it has been a long time since I had an unlocked phone!

 

[LeoRex]

Would I have to reinstall my apps and set up my screens and settings again?
Sorry, but it has been a long time since I had an unlocked phone!

Nope.. if your bootloader is unlocked, you are fine. You just need to fastboot flash the bootloader, radio, system, cache, boot and vendor images one by one. That doesn't touch userdata or recovery, nor will it wipe your phone. Sure, you can edit the flash_all script to do the same thing, but that also blows away TWRP and you would have to reload it.. which isn't a big deal in any case.

Oh, If you are unencrypted, you will have to make sure you take care of that BEFORE you boot... flashing those stock images will re-enable encryption in the boot image.

 

[nunjabusiness]

Nope.. if your bootloader is unlocked, you are fine. You just need to fastboot flash the bootloader, radio, system, cache, boot and vendor images one by one. That doesn't touch userdata or recovery, nor will it wipe your phone. Sure, you can edit the flash_all script to do the same thing, but that also blows away TWRP and you would have to reload it.. which isn't a big deal in any case.

Oh, If you are unencrypted, you will have to make sure you take care of that BEFORE you boot... flashing those stock images will re-enable encryption in the boot image.

I am encrypted. Sorry, I did not intend to derail this thread.
Too many steps in the process you described for me for a minor update.
I will probably wait until "Nougat" or "Nutella" or whatever the hell they decide to call it is available.

 

[LeoRex]

I am encrypted. Sorry, I did not intend to derail this thread.
Too many steps in the process you described for me for a minor update.
I will probably wait until "Nougat" or "Nutella" or whatever the hell they decide to call it is available.

NP... it sounds a lot more complicated that it actual is. But no worries.

 

[ElronTheElder]

I think you're mixing the 1st run 810's (OnePlus Two, HTC M9, etc) with the 3rd gen one in the 6P. ...

Correct me if I'm wrong; My understanding is they "fixed" the heat problem by lowering it's default/max clock speed. To me that is an admission of engineering mistakes..... Further widening the performance gap with quad-core. All for the dubious goal of a 64-bit processor now,now,now.

 

[Ed Briggs]

"Old" doesn't really mean much when the phone still has good specs and will do what 99% of phone users expect. Buy another one if it means that much to you. Btw, it will get the next version of android which will carry it through 2017 with updates. After that, you can always install a custom rom with android O. The Nexus 6 was made for the long haul.

 

[Kevin OQuinn]

Personally I would take a 5x over the 6 any day for the reasons that have already been mentioned, but primarily because of the display calibration.

The 6 just has a poor display when it comes to color accuracy and max brightness.

I used a 5x for about 2 weeks with the update that addressed the performance and had zero issues.

 

[LeoRex]

Correct me if I'm wrong; My understanding is they "fixed" the heat problem by lowering it's default/max clock speed.

The max speeds are still 2Ghz/1.5Ghz (actually 1.958/1.555)... which are the same max speeds that Qualcomm reported when the 810 launched. Some of the earlier 810 phones downclocked the A57 cores a bit, (One Plus 2 as low as 1.6 I think)... but the 6P does not. Nor does it get hot, nor does it get slow. As has been said many times, the early SD810 powered phones had issues... issues that were resolved once the 6P rolled around.

 

[ElronTheElder]

The max speeds are still 2Ghz/1.5Ghz (actually 1.958/1.555)... which are the same max speeds that Qualcomm reported when the 810 launched. Some of the earlier 810 phones downclocked the A57 cores a bit, (One Plus 2 as low as 1.6 I think)... but the 6P does not. .....

For reference: Nexus 6 @ 2.7GHz