Unless it turns out that the trend is ARM, and then guessing completely wrong means you’ll be extra screwed. It is hard to accurately predict the future.
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More important, the Nexus 6 makes one-handed use a clumsy, fumbling routine—so much that it has me wondering what I found so awful about the first Galaxy Note.
What makes me know to take a pass on the Nexus 6 is the size, precisely because I’ve been there with the original Samsung Galaxy Note phablet. The Note was OK, but I moved to the Nexus 5 and liked that I can now slip it in a pocket more easily and have it on the dash of the car without blocking out a large portion of the windshield.
I got a Nexus 9 from Amazon. It fast otherwise, but it has the laggy screen bug where you have to push push-push push-push-PUSH buttons on the screen to get response. It’s going back.
We bought a new Nexus 7 to replace it and that seems to fit the mission although it would have been nice if the Nexus 9 was a viable tablet larger than the Nexus 5 and Nexus 7.
My thoughts: You want a phone, Nexus 5. A portable tablet, Nexus 7. A larger tablet, sadly now, a Samsung Galaxy 10.4 or 12.2.
I have the Galaxy Pro 12.2. It’s been fine after I de-Samsunged it.
Perhaps, but it confirms some of the concerns i already had about the handset. I am however waiting to read more reviews on it but so far it doesn’t look likely that i’ll get it.
I try. I generally pass along my old tech to family and friends (my mom gets my old PC, my girlfriend my old tablets, etc…). Most hardware, even mobile hardware, from a pure specs point of view can last awhile before being technically obsolete.
But generally, especially with phones, they are dead within a year. My Nexus 4 barely operates as a phone any more, it can’t run on wifi for more than an hour without killing the battery, it never gets 4G, etc (I’m on my second replacement, and now out of warranty. My last phone was pretty much the same, after a year and a half it was dead, and this experience is pretty much mirrored across everyone I know.
Smart phones are the exemplar of planned obsolescence.
The worst though was my Asus Transformer tablet. Asus decided to stop supporting it completely in less than 2 years, hoping that you are forced to buy a newer and more expensive model. Actually, it was the same with my Verizon Droid X, they basically refused to ever update it in the two years I was forced to own it. Having vendors or networks have power over updates and support is a horrible idea. And both of these devices made me really want to jump ship to Apple, even if I was invested in the Google ecosystem and find Apple’s business model/philosophy less than ideal.
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You have to be really hard on phones. I’ve had my 4 soon after it came out and I’m still really happy with the battery life and easily get 4G whenever there’s coverage.
My Nexus 4 has already been replaced once, and currently can’t use wifi for more than a brief period of time without killing the battery. And I need to hard-reboot (i.e. remove the battery) if I talk on the phone for more than 15 minutes, if I ever want phone functionality again. I also can’t get 4g wireless, even in the middle of a large population center, where I know a decent signal exists thanks to other people not having a problem. Also, it is dog slow, even with pretty much nothing installed on it.
God, I hate smart phones. I’m thinking of getting either a LG G3 or Moto X in a week or so, but I can’t even feel excited since I know they will be broken, buggy, crap in a a year and a half. Not because of technical specs, but because of pure planned obsolescence.
I really wish phones were like my PC. My last PC lasted well over 7 years, with periodic hardware updates. Being modular, all the bits I replaced got “recycled” to loved ones and friends. I only upgraded because I needed a new CPU socket, and my old case was a bit worse for wear after being moved 6-7 times in that period (all the old components turning into a nice upgrade for my mother, and a graphics boost for my girlfriend).
I don’t think we’re going to hit a flat curve with mobile. Even when processing power hits a peak, they’ll keep adding new features, or making old technology obsolete (here comes 4g/LTE 2!), or doing what they do now, and building to a cost and lifespan that forces upgrades though failure. Or, just witholding updates, and paying off politicians to keep consumers from owning their own hardware. Both the manufacturers and networks love the status quo since they benefit hugely from it.
Yes, I’m a cynic.
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Your last PC lasted 7 years because x86 has already peaked. A PC from the 90s didn’t last 7 years because the technology was moving too fast and obsoleted old hardware quickly. ARM hasn’t peaked yet, so it’s going to keep getting much better year-over-year, obsoleting your hardware faster. Either ride the curve at the lowest end of the price spectrum so that upgrading doesn’t sting as much or sit it out until things stop improving so quickly.
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Shame your case wore out. You could have replaced the motherboard, and made that old PC of yours last for five or ten more years. I guess they don’t stamp out sheet metal like they used to.
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The comment I was replying to mentioned nothing of storage speed benchmarks, so I am a bit confused as to why you are asking me this…?
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Ok, wasn’t sure from your comment that you had done additional research 
Because the poor benchmarks reported in the “single” Ars review are why many people believe the Nexus 6 is sub par in performance. Unless you have contradictory data that one review is sufficient.
So how many people can use their phones one-handed, without dropping it repeatedly? I already use two for the Nexus 5, and women’s pockets in general are useless for anything besides keys. A minor size update isn’t a big deal when you need to put your phone into a purse or bag.
Even when i had a smaller phone i felt more comfortable using the device with both hands. I still do that with my Galaxy S3 and i’ve never dropped the phone. My wife on the other hand as an iPhone and one hands it, she’s dropped the damn thing more times than i can count.
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huh? my iPhone 4 is great for one-handed use.
and i appreciate my iPad Mini 2 all the more after reading this article. great performance, great form factor, great resolution, quite decent price.
and all i had to do was forfeit my soul.
Yeah, I dunno. I switched over to T-Mobile for (among other reasons) the Nexus 5 and the JUMP program - so I could hop onto the next Nexus earlier. But, now that it’s here, I’m finding myself still just fine with this Nexus 5. Also, I got a Nexus 7 last Christmas, and it’s still a treat almost a year later. Maybe I’ve got low expectations? Not sure, but this feels like the first year I’m not actually champing at the bit for the next upgrade
That is so true ,its fine if the products performance degrades overtime …but now a days gadgets are dying as if they were programmed to kill themselves after a pre-defined period of time …I still love my nexus 5 though , using any other android device feels so …ummm bloated i guess …
Android 5 is really fantastic. No question about that. Major improvement over Android 4, and I think in some ways Android 5 is aesthetically and functionally superior to iOS 8.
If you can upgrade to Android 5 on your device, definitely do it.
I own a Nexus 9 and while from a performance perspective against the iPad Air 2 it’s absolutely no contest, this is still the fastest Android device out there by a wide, wide margin. If you’re committed to the Google ecosystem this is as good as it gets for the next year, and even flagship Android phones won’t be catching up to the Nexus 9 on performance for a good while…
I don’t have any build quality issues with mine as some have reported. There is a fair bit of light leakage around the LCD, but you only see it on pure black screens.
I just wish Android was faster. It’s so much slower than even last year’s iPhone / iPad for web stuff, which is basically all I do. That’s my main beef.
Usability does not matter when you want to show off …
NEW Nexus 7s are still available - just not from Google.
$177 or so from Amazon. Just got one.
Just make sure it’s the 2nd Gen 2013 version Nexus 7 which has wireless charging.
