The Official Google Nexus 6P Thread

Fallen god · 24 May 2016 at 00:47

I've been using both the iPhone 6s and Nexus 6p for the last 2 weeks. I think at this point Android just works so much better for me and has no real drawbacks that I can think about against iOS. Apps even have some better features, e.g Netflix will not need too reload every time I leave, it instead lets me carry on watching whatever I had buffered, saves on data, battery life, don't have any lower quailty start if my 4G is being patchy.

Speed: No difference, things like the new alt+tab feature on Android N just shows it, I've used it too tab between 2 games and its always instant with no delay

Apps: There really about the same now, at least with my fav apps. Most of the top Android apps have really nice material designs, things like twitter for example, they are all equal on features, and updates normally happen at the same time. There is still some apps that come out on iOS first or only but its mostly due too smaller indie teams just dislike Android/Fanbois for Apple.

Bugs: Honestly both platforms are great, they have ups around the new OS and its reduces during the year. Can't say either has been a problem.

Camera: About the same, the iPhone is a bit faster, but the 6p is better in low light. Both apps are pretty **** next too Samsung's offering.

At this point its more about taste then either platform being better or worse. They do some things different, for the most part neither is objectively better or worse.

glenimp617 · 24 May 2016 at 07:23

Fallen god said:
I've been using both the iPhone 6s and Nexus 6p for the last 2 weeks. I think at this point Android just works so much better for me and has no real drawbacks that I can think about against iOS. Apps even have some better features, e.g Netflix will not need too reload every time I leave, it instead lets me carry on watching whatever I had buffered, saves on data, battery life, don't have any lower quailty start if my 4G is being patchy.

Speed: No difference, things like the new alt+tab feature on Android N just shows it, I've used it too tab between 2 games and its always instant with no delay

Apps: There really about the same now, at least with my fav apps. Most of the top Android apps have really nice material designs, things like twitter for example, they are all equal on features, and updates normally happen at the same time. There is still some apps that come out on iOS first or only but its mostly due too smaller indie teams just dislike Android/Fanbois for Apple.

Bugs: Honestly both platforms are great, they have ups around the new OS and its reduces during the year. Can't say either has been a problem.

Camera: About the same, the iPhone is a bit faster, but the 6p is better in low light. Both apps are pretty **** next too Samsung's offering.

At this point its more about taste then either platform being better or worse. They do some things different, for the most part neither is objectively better or worse.

I couldn't agree more. Due to doing some r&d for a potential client of ours, I was 'forced' to use an iphone 6s for the last two months. I'm talking daily driver usage, full on. Even took a mac mini, ipad, macbook air, atv4 and watch home with me from work to understand the entire platform (and to play

). I'm now back with android, mrs has my old 5x and I treated myself to the 6p. It's brilliant, as I knew it would be. They have come a long way. Everything is starting to come together nicely. That's not to say I don't appreciate the apple ecosystem, and some areas they excel in, but the way google are headed is very exciting, plus I'm a huge fan of Google Now.

It's the little things like certain words you say in hangouts interact with other apps like if you say to someone "where are you?" their location is displayed from google maps.

The messaging stuff needs a little spit and polish, but after watching a bit of google i/o they understand what needs to be improved and I believe within 6/12 months they will have something pretty unbeatable.

Like I said above, which some people seem to have taken issue with, is that there are areas where they are very up and down. Hangouts/SMS is one (improved, and new platforms on the table moving forward) and Android TV is another. Think they have had two stabs at that, and although not quite as refined at say Apple TV 4, it still has huge potential.

Macro · 24 May 2016 at 15:16

So here's a question. I'm not a huge fan of Googles data and privacy practices (I know - discussion for a different place). Given that, is there value in Android and something like the 6P for someone wanting to minimise reliance on Google apps and services. One of the things I give Microsoft kudos for is choosing to use their OS doesn't carry with it a hard to avoid requirement to have to use all their other services just to get things working as they should. Can vanilla Android work well in a similar way or is it a case of if you're using Droid you need to suck it up and use gmail, hangouts etc... I like the sound of the flexibility of the OS and support by third parties for apps and the quality of the hardware, I just don't want to have to buy into and end to end "Google" thing.

kona786 · 24 May 2016 at 15:53

Macro said:
So here's a question. I'm not a huge fan of Googles data and privacy practices (I know - discussion for a different place). Given that, is there value in Android and something like the 6P for someone wanting to minimise reliance on Google apps and services. One of the things I give Microsoft kudos for is choosing to use their OS doesn't carry with it a hard to avoid requirement to have to use all their other services just to get things working as they should. Can vanilla Android work well in a similar way or is it a case of if you're using Droid you need to suck it up and use gmail, hangouts etc... I like the sound of the flexibility of the OS and support by third parties for apps and the quality of the hardware, I just don't want to have to buy into and end to end "Google" thing.

I'n not quite sure why you'd feel the need to but yes you can choose a 3rd party app for nearly everything on Android.

_Jimlad_ · 24 May 2016 at 22:00

Google are just the same as Facebook, Microsoft, Apple and any other global ecom giant

Get used to it and keep yourself clean online and have nothing to hide and it's no probs

I have come to the conclusion that I will never escape advertisement and we may as well let a machine read our data and at least make targeted advertisement that I might be interested in.

Fallen god · 24 May 2016 at 22:18

Macro said:
So here's a question. I'm not a huge fan of Googles data and privacy practices (I know - discussion for a different place). Given that, is there value in Android and something like the 6P for someone wanting to minimise reliance on Google apps and services. One of the things I give Microsoft kudos for is choosing to use their OS doesn't carry with it a hard to avoid requirement to have to use all their other services just to get things working as they should. Can vanilla Android work well in a similar way or is it a case of if you're using Droid you need to suck it up and use gmail, hangouts etc... I like the sound of the flexibility of the OS and support by third parties for apps and the quality of the hardware, I just don't want to have to buy into and end to end "Google" thing.

Actually thats wrong, MSFT doesn't allow things like Google search in cortana and many other apps only run through MSFT services. With Android you could for the most part just go in and remove all the Google apps at all.

The only thing you need for a decent experience is google play services, and those are just so you have core OS APIs like location api for example. It means its easier for Google too upgrade the Android core without the need for a full OS update. After that you can literally just delete gmail, chrome and anything else you dont want.

For the price nothing is even in the same ballpark as the Nexus 6p I feel.

this_is_gav · 25 May 2016 at 09:48

Google have been removing apps from the core OS more and more so they can be managed through the Play store for more timely updates. Obviously if you download a full Nexus image it will still have those apps included, but they aren't baked in as they once were.

The Chinese phones based on Android don't even have most of the Google apps (including the Play store) installed by default.

biron_w · 25 May 2016 at 11:29

Got my phone yesterday and after getting very annoyed trying to unlock the bootloader(I needed to install Android SDK and update fastboot, which I've NEVER had to do before) I put Candy6 on my Nexus and I'm absolutely loving it!
It's so well built and isn't actually as big as I'd feared. The fingerprint sensor is a nice addition. It even scans the scar on the finger I use where I chopped the tip off years ago :eek:

The screen is excellent and the phone is very fast.
I really couldn't be happier for the £290 it cost me.

biron_w · 25 May 2016 at 11:32

Macro said:
Can vanilla Android work well in a similar way or is it a case of if you're using Droid you need to suck it up and use gmail, hangouts etc... I like the sound of the flexibility of the OS and support by third parties for apps and the quality of the hardware, I just don't want to have to buy into and end to end "Google" thing.

If you stick a custom ROM and flash something like the nano or pico GAPPS(Google Apps) from here then they don't have any Google apps on and you have to download everything.

Macro · 25 May 2016 at 19:35

Thanks all... What's the feeling about Cyanogen these days? I'm a bit out of date but at one point they seemed to be on a roll for developing as neutral as possible Android experience.

glenimp617 · 26 May 2016 at 09:25

anyone having car bluetooth issues with the latest play music update?

My BMW can control the phone, but the sound always plays out of the phone and not the cars speakers

any ideas?

Thanks

Rimsy · 26 May 2016 at 09:30

Bluetooth / Play music was working ok this morning for me (Mazda though not a BMW)

V_R · 26 May 2016 at 09:45

Fine here and I'm on DP3 of the N preview. (using Gonemad media player)

glenimp617 · 26 May 2016 at 09:50

Rimsy said:
Bluetooth / Play music was working ok this morning for me (Mazda though not a BMW)

Thanks mate, at least I can rule it out now

biron_w · 26 May 2016 at 10:12

Macro said:
Thanks all... What's the feeling about Cyanogen these days? I'm a bit out of date but at one point they seemed to be on a roll for developing as neutral as possible Android experience.

I've never liked Cyanogen. I prefer AOSP based ROMs. Give CandySix a go. It's excellent(and I'm part of their team so I know

)

Kainz · 26 May 2016 at 12:50

Had to return some KS Manhattan wireless Bluetooth headphones recently because I either had a bad unit, or both my 6P and Samsung Galaxy S 8.4 have hilariously bad Bluetooth setups.

The headphones sounded horribly muddy and stuttered like crazy on any app I tried to use them with. However they sound superb with none of these issues on my nieces S7. Very puzzling!

glenimp617 · 26 May 2016 at 20:09

Rimsy said:
Bluetooth / Play music was working ok this morning for me (Mazda though not a BMW)

Managed to fix the issue with a reboot, weird thing

Scottland · 27 May 2016 at 09:00

Woke up to 8% battery this morning.

RIP Official charger

Thomss · 27 May 2016 at 23:02

Macro said:
Thanks all... What's the feeling about Cyanogen these days? I'm a bit out of date but at one point they seemed to be on a roll for developing as neutral as possible Android experience.

This last week I've tried three different CM13 based roms and now of them seem as finished or as smooth as the Google base based roms.
So I've went back to a new Google base rom and stuck xposed on it with Gravity box.

biron_w · 28 May 2016 at 09:03

Thomss said:
This last week I've tried three different CM13 based roms and now of them seem as finished or as smooth as the Google base based roms.

I'd avoid CM13 ROMs. Especially on a Nexus.

**** The Official Google Nexus 6P Thread ****

The Official Google Nexus 6P Thread