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

[RayMabry]

I don't like it as much as I liked the Active Notifications. Not only do I miss the pulsing notifications, I also miss having the phone laying face up and just being able to nudge it a little to get the time.

I also agree with others that have called Ambient Display inconsistent.

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

 

[irock1985]

For those of you who don't care for ambient display you might want to try out NoLED... It works just fine with our amoled screens

 

[doubleblack]

I feel as if ambient display is working as intended. I think the problem is most people are comparing it to Moto X which it is not, it behaves differently. For me at least it is working perfectly fine. Do I think there could be some improvements? Yes. But I think it is working as it has been originally designed, again at least for me.

It shows up when new notification occurs.

It pulses 2-3 times afterwards.

It comes most of the time when I pickup the phone, often enough that I consider it reliable (I would say 90% of the time).

Based on my understanding of the design as of 5.0 this is all we should expect.

 

[alee]

Ambient is not sensitive enough on the N6 out of box. Where my Droid Maxx woke up even with a slight nudge of the phone, even picking up the N6 often doesn't display notifications. I'm sure they'll fix it, but right now, where I never had to use the power button to turn on the Droid Maxx, I probably use the N6 power button 80% of the time.

 

[Robbie317]

After 5 days with the Nexus 6 I wish there were options in the Ambient display other than on or off.... I like when my phone is sitting on a table or my desk and a message or something comes in... It beeps and I can glance over real quick see what it is and if it's something I need to answer I can just double tap the message to view it or just let it go back dark... Love that aspect of it... but hate that it lights up every time you pick up or move your phone..... I wish I could turn that part off and just have it do it's thing when something comes in....

 

[nickacs]

Can you install a 3rd party notification app like DynamicNotifications, or will that just totally screw with the stock Ambient Notifications? I installed this on my N4 and loved it since it was about as close as I could get to Moto X notifications.

 

[Robbie317]

Can you install a 3rd party notification app like DynamicNotifications, or will that just totally screw with the stock Ambient Notifications? I installed this on my N4 and loved it since it was about as close as I could get to Moto X notifications.

I am sure there are but that kind of defeats the purpose or fact that it has this built into the phone.. Just no options.. It's all or nothing with the Nexus built in Ambient display.....

 

[jairusz]

When I test it on purpose to see if it's working or to show someone it never works. When I actually look at my phone after being in my pocket or on a tablet it works almost 100%.

 

[spark001uk]

OK for me on 5.0.1. No pocket mishaps as yet. After trying it in a darkened room and not working very well, I can only assume the light sensor plays a part in stopping pocket activation maybe? Also seems to work better if the phone is more or less horizontal before handling.

 

[Benjamin_NYC]

Not reliable at all. 50% at best.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[gmermel]

I've had no luck with ambient display.

Have tried numerous resets/one at a time app installs etc. It's weird. On several of the resets, it doesn't work on initial boot. Other times it will work for a while after the reset, and for a while after all the apps are installed, but then it will quit within a half hour or so.

Once, I thought I had it licked when it worked until I added a particular app. The problem came back after it was installed, and remained after it was uninstalled. More reset/rebuilds without that app, and again, sometimes it failed immediately, others it would fail an hour or so later. I waited for 5.01, did the reset deal, but it still won't work.

Needless to say, my warranty replacement is on its way.........

 

[ChromeShark]

I was excited about ambient display as it looked great at first, but I've found it too unreliable in practice, and have now turned it off completely just to save battery. Often I have the phone on my bed and a slight wobble can wake up the phone, but when I actually pick the phone up it doesn't always register.

In retrospect, I actually found LED+Lightflow more useful and you could tell exactly which app was notifying you (via color) from across the room, with Ambient you need to read it up close to find out. LED combined with Double Tap to Wake would be fantastic, I hope this gets added as an alternative option to Ambient Display in a software update.

 

[greeknasty]

is there times where its not suppose to work? im sittin here pickin the damn thing up and nothing happens. i dont get it.

 

[radicchio]

I'm about ready to pull the trigger and get this phone, but I keep reading threads like this and second guessing myself. I consider Ambient Display to be one of the features that make me want this phone. I also consider it to be a pretty integral part of what Google is selling in the N6, a variant of Moto X's notifications that work so well. So when something that seems like it should be so basic to the phone isn't working right, I feel concerned. Yes, I know that every new OS has growing pains, that every phone has some bugs to be worked out; but I have read a number of threads for other phones and it doesn't seem like they have the magnitude of bugs and features that flat out don't work as the N6 does.

As I said, I'm beginning to get worried and wonder whether I should go ahead and get this phone. Part of the reason I ultimately chose this over the Note 4 is that I thought it would have better longevity (and, of course, I like the simpler interface without all the Touchwiz additions). But I don't just want a phone that will keep limping along for a long time. I want one in which the basic functions work consistently. Am I aiming too high?

 

[bujin]

Overall, it works. I got a few pocket-dials while walking (I'm assuming that the notifications come on in-pocket, and then my leg slides against the phone and turns it on). I now have Face Unlock, which is pretty okay, and that problem is solved.

Ambient display virtually always works when I take my phone out of my pocket, and about 80% of the time picking up from a table.

 

[rowdyspartan]

I've loved being display on my N6. Couldn't be happier to drop that ongoing LED blink I've had with other phones. Became more of an annoyance. Don't think I can go back from ambient at this point.

Posted via Nexus 6 CW64

 

[thevacantsoul]

I'm about ready to pull the trigger and get this phone, but I keep reading threads like this and second guessing myself. I consider Ambient Display to be one of the features that make me want this phone. I also consider it to be a pretty integral part of what Google is selling in the N6, a variant of Moto X's notifications that work so well. So when something that seems like it should be so basic to the phone isn't working right, I feel concerned. Yes, I know that every new OS has growing pains, that every phone has some bugs to be worked out; but I have read a number of threads for other phones and it doesn't seem like they have the magnitude of bugs and features that flat out don't work as the N6 does.

As I said, I'm beginning to get worried and wonder whether I should go ahead and get this phone. Part of the reason I ultimately chose this over the Note 4 is that I thought it would have better longevity (and, of course, I like the simpler interface without all the Touchwiz additions). But I don't just want a phone that will keep limping along for a long time. I want one in which the basic functions work consistently. Am I aiming too high?

you should probably get an iPhone then..just kidding .I've had the N6 for almost a week now and haven't discovered a lot of the bugs that other people have been talking about. The ambient display works about 90% of the time for me. I even disabled encryption and don't notice any difference for day to day use (don't play games). I thought about the Note 4 too but can't handle touchwhiz and really like the 2 front facing speakers on the N6.

 

[spark001uk]

Those of you scratching your heads over this - it won't work in poor light, it uses the light sensor in an effort to stop it going off in the pocket. Also, when on a table it repeats a few times after a notification, maybe 3 times I think, at about a one minute interval. Just comes on briefly and goes back off.

It is one incredible phone tho, if you can accept the size of it then there's really nothing else to worry about in my opinion.

 

[LeoRex]

Those of you scratching your heads over this - it won't work in poor light, it uses the light sensor in an effort to stop it going off in the pocket.

Mine works in pitch black.... As far as I know, it uses both the proximity sensor (for pocket detection) and the accelerometer (to know when its picked up) for Ambient Display.

 

[radicchio]

you should probably get an iPhone then..just kidding .I've had the N6 for almost a week now and haven't discovered a lot of the bugs that other people have been talking about. The ambient display works about 90% of the time for me. I even disabled encryption and don't notice any difference for day to day use (don't play games). I thought about the Note 4 too but can't handle touchwhiz and really like the 2 front facing speakers on the N6.

LOl---Now you sound like DH. He cannot understand my pursuit of this phone, when it hasn't been available for so long, or my insistence on an Android phone. Of course, he gets a new computer or phone, downloads whatever else he wants on it, and then proceeds to use both exactly as they came out of the box. I, on the other hand, always totally customize and change the devices until they look and work the way I want them to. I'm not so advanced that I am rooting my phone, but I still get in their with Nova Prime, widgets, and apps to make it look and work the way I want it to. So, while I would love the predictability and reliability of an iPhone, I couldn't stand not being able to tailor it to my use.