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[Q] If not a Nexus 5, then what?

I keep dithering back and forth between buying the Nexus 5 or "something else." My wife has the Nexus 4, and I'm looking to replace our outmoded land-line with a cellphone of my own now. We use T-Mobile and I'm quite the technology addict, so I'm always on the lookout for something "high end."
Google is currently saying 2-3 weeks for Nexus 5 orders, which unfortunately gives me plenty of time to consider other options. Are there any? Does the Galaxy S4 or HTC One even come close to the Nexus 5, technologically speaking? I've also read good things about the Galaxy Note 3. If you could pick something "not the Nexus 5," what would it be?
Any opinion is appreciated!

elias4444 said:
I keep dithering back and forth between buying the Nexus 5 or "something else." My wife has the Nexus 4, and I'm looking to replace our outmoded land-line with a cellphone of my own now. We use T-Mobile and I'm quite the technology addict, so I'm always on the lookout for something "high end."
Google is currently saying 2-3 weeks for Nexus 5 orders, which unfortunately gives me plenty of time to consider other options. Are there any? Does the Galaxy S4 or HTC One even come close to the Nexus 5, technologically speaking? I've also read good things about the Galaxy Note 3. If you could pick something "not the Nexus 5," what would it be?
Any opinion is appreciated!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you like the Nexus 5 32GB White, it's shipping pretty quickly (within a couple days), although it says 2-3 weeks.

LG-G2 obviously
Sent from my LG-D802 using xda app-developers app

elias4444 said:
I keep dithering back and forth between buying the Nexus 5 or "something else." My wife has the Nexus 4, and I'm looking to replace our outmoded land-line with a cellphone of my own now. We use T-Mobile and I'm quite the technology addict, so I'm always on the lookout for something "high end."
Google is currently saying 2-3 weeks for Nexus 5 orders, which unfortunately gives me plenty of time to consider other options. Are there any? Does the Galaxy S4 or HTC One even come close to the Nexus 5, technologically speaking? I've also read good things about the Galaxy Note 3. If you could pick something "not the Nexus 5," what would it be?
Any opinion is appreciated!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In my humble opinion, the only other phone to even consider right now besides the Nexus 5 is the Moto X. I have both phones, and still prefer the Moto X over the N5 for a variety of reasons. It really is the ultimate smartphone to me. The N5 is great and has its own merits, don't get me wrong, but the Moto X is the complete package. Motorola absolutely nailed it with that thing. I've also owned the HTC One and GS4, and neither can touch the X.

elias4444 said:
I keep dithering back and forth between buying the Nexus 5 or "something else." My wife has the Nexus 4, and I'm looking to replace our outmoded land-line with a cellphone of my own now. We use T-Mobile and I'm quite the technology addict, so I'm always on the lookout for something "high end."
Google is currently saying 2-3 weeks for Nexus 5 orders, which unfortunately gives me plenty of time to consider other options. Are there any? Does the Galaxy S4 or HTC One even come close to the Nexus 5, technologically speaking? I've also read good things about the Galaxy Note 3. If you could pick something "not the Nexus 5," what would it be?
Any opinion is appreciated!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'd say the s4 and HTC one are as good or better than the n5. With that said I have an n5 in the mail. I didn't get the s4 or one mainly because the bootloaders are locked and you can't do much with them with out a lot of mickey mouse. If you're into messing with your phone and having fun with it the n5 is hands down the winner. I looked at the s4 for a long time and with all the crap Samsung and the carriers were doing with it I wouldn't get it for the world.

elias4444 said:
I keep dithering back and forth between buying the Nexus 5 or "something else." My wife has the Nexus 4, and I'm looking to replace our outmoded land-line with a cellphone of my own now. We use T-Mobile and I'm quite the technology addict, so I'm always on the lookout for something "high end."
Google is currently saying 2-3 weeks for Nexus 5 orders, which unfortunately gives me plenty of time to consider other options. Are there any? Does the Galaxy S4 or HTC One even come close to the Nexus 5, technologically speaking? I've also read good things about the Galaxy Note 3. If you could pick something "not the Nexus 5," what would it be?
Any opinion is appreciated!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Warning: A lot of writing
Well, we're in a Nexus 5 forum and bias is to be expected. However, I've had a Gnex, Nexus S, and am currently rocking a Galaxy Note 2. A Nexus 5 is due to arrive today for me. I've somewhat been at a cross for the last couple of days. I am pretty sure it's because I keep reading about the defects, faults, and comparisons of the N5 to others.
But, because of this, I am wondering if I've made the right choice. There are two other choices that cannot leave my head and that's the LG G2 and the Moto X. The two are completely different phones and it's almost like the Nexus 5 is the perfect balance between the two. Perfect isn't what I'm looking for, more like an even balance of the two.
On one side, the G2, you have an exceptional device with many internals similar to the Nexus 5 but with specs such as higher batter capacity, higher megapixel camera, IR blaster, larger size screen, etc. However, with the G2 comes the four different variants for US carriers, LG's skin, and minimal developer support. I don't even know if it'll be updated for long. It's what drove me nuts about my Note 2 although I loved its hardware. My problem with the G2 is the unknown support lifetime and small developer community. I consider it due to its superior (especially battery) hardware aspects of it.
Then, you have the Moto X. I can't say there's much of a difference in terms of software development due to locked bootloaders, but the stock software is amazing. No one has any complaints of it. It's either you love it and can't live without it or you simply have no use for the feautures. It's not a bad phone at all. It has lower end specs, but performs CLOSE, but not as fast as a Nexus 5. It has been confirmed to be updating to KitKat. The problem with the Moto X is a much smaller, yet friendly, developer community. There also seems to be a huge lack of accessories for the two devices and that's a bit of a big deal.
It seemed like the Nexus would acquire some features of the Moto X like touchless controls and an extermely efficient battery. But, that wasn't the case. We know because it's a Nexus device that it's going to get support from its userbase for quite some times and that means a lot for me. But it seems like there is just so much wrong with the phone hardware wise that I'm stuck. I don't want a crap battery (coming from Note 2 of course) and a lower-output speaker but I'd really appreciate constant developer support and guaranteed updates.
TL;DR There is no perfect device at the moment. Each device will require you to sacrifice something that you believe is worth sacrificing. You sacrifice accessories, developer community, update lifetime, and other small things for the Moto/G2. But, with each of those devices you gain something a Nexus can't give you with a larger battery and better battery life, smaller or bigger screen size, handy software features (touchless, knock knock, etc.).
Price isn't a factor for me either and I know you can root these devices but that comes with broken features and instability. I'd be great to have a G2 with stable 4.4 and touchless controls. That's the perfect device, IMO.
I know I rambled a bit too much and a little off topic, but I needed to kind of let this out somewhere. Heh. Seriously though, it's an amazing time for us smartphone lovers. You don't lose in either choice you make. We're just picky. Good luck!

elias4444 said:
I keep dithering back and forth between buying the Nexus 5 or "something else." My wife has the Nexus 4, and I'm looking to replace our outmoded land-line with a cellphone of my own now. We use T-Mobile and I'm quite the technology addict, so I'm always on the lookout for something "high end."
Google is currently saying 2-3 weeks for Nexus 5 orders, which unfortunately gives me plenty of time to consider other options. Are there any? Does the Galaxy S4 or HTC One even come close to the Nexus 5, technologically speaking? I've also read good things about the Galaxy Note 3. If you could pick something "not the Nexus 5," what would it be?
Any opinion is appreciated!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, you've dithered this long, what's another 2-3w?

For the longest I decided to get the Moto X. I had seen the specs for Nexus 5 and all the leaks but I was set on the X. That was until the Nexus 5 was launched and I made my decision in less than 30 minutes of launch. I'm in love with my Nexus 5 and don't regret my decision at all. Loving the bigger screen but if I could not have gotten the Nexus 5 I definitely would've gotten the Moto X. Love the form fit. Never would have considered the S4 or HTC One. I prefer as close to vanilla android as I can get and the Moto X is pretty amazing. But then again so is the Nexus 5. I would've waited for either.

elias4444 said:
I keep dithering back and forth between buying the Nexus 5 or "something else." My wife has the Nexus 4, and I'm looking to replace our outmoded land-line with a cellphone of my own now. We use T-Mobile and I'm quite the technology addict, so I'm always on the lookout for something "high end."
Google is currently saying 2-3 weeks for Nexus 5 orders, which unfortunately gives me plenty of time to consider other options. Are there any? Does the Galaxy S4 or HTC One even come close to the Nexus 5, technologically speaking? I've also read good things about the Galaxy Note 3. If you could pick something "not the Nexus 5," what would it be?
Any opinion is appreciated!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Everyone loves the HTC One. I think the GS4 is better. Technologically speaking, the GS4 is as good as the Nexus 5. I just prefer the Nexus 5. My girlfriend prefers her GS4 to my N5. They are both great phones. Also, as someone else mentioned, the G2 is supposed to be pretty good, but I haven't given it a try. "Technologically speaking," you will not find a better device than the Note 3. It's huge, though, so you should make sure you're comfortable with it. I would rather have the Nexus 5 for my phone and a Nexus 7 as a tablet rather than a single phablet like the Note 3. Funny thing is, the N5 + the N7 is about the same price as the Note 3.
_MetalHead_ said:
In my humble opinion, the only other phone to even consider right now besides the Nexus 5 is the Moto X. I have both phones, and still prefer the Moto X over the N5 for a variety of reasons. It really is the ultimate smartphone to me. The N5 is great and has its own merits, don't get me wrong, but the Moto X is the complete package. Motorola absolutely nailed it with that thing. I've also owned the HTC One and GS4, and neither can touch the X.
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ms0chez said:
For the longest I decided to get the Moto X. I had seen the specs for Nexus 5 and all the leaks but I was set on the X. That was until the Nexus 5 was launched and I made my decision in less than 30 minutes of launch. I'm in love with my Nexus 5 and don't regret my decision at all. Loving the bigger screen but if I could not have gotten the Nexus 5 I definitely would've gotten the Moto X. Love the form fit. Never would have considered the S4 or HTC One. I prefer as close to vanilla android as I can get and the Moto X is pretty amazing. But then again so is the Nexus 5. I would've waited for either.
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I personally hated the Moto X. I found it poorly made and laggy. It is definitely not a future-proof device. It's behind the GS4 and HTC One, both of which predate it by 4-5 months. But if you are looking for something future proof, you should either get the Nexus 5, which is guaranteed to receive the latest software updates for at least two years, or the Note 3, which has better hardware than any other phone on the market. Or, if you can wait until April, get the GS5 when it comes out.

got-killed: you make some good points for each phone. But i have to say the things that really led me to get the Nexus 5 (aside from really wanting a new phone and having no upgrades available yet through AT&T) to upgrade from my Galaxy S3 are:
1) Developer support, as you mentioned, but also updates direct from Google, without any software really being locked down and the source always available, which also means BETTER custom ROM's.
2) The screen is absolutely BEAUTIFUL!
3) .... did i mention updates directly from Google?
But in all seriousness... yes, the Moto X has some nice features.... but i honestly can't imagine myself using them very often. Touchless operation.... I had enough trouble with Touchwiz waking my phone when i received a text message, and accidentally unlocking the phone through my pocket (which you'd be surprised just how well these screens work through a layer of cotton and denim). Kinda like the whole "Pocket Detect" feature the S3 has, where it'll automatically lock the phone if it seems like you've put the phone in your pocket. Nice... but yea... easier to just hit the button on the side of the phone and not worry about IF it locked.
Not sure what you mean by the Nexus 5 not having an energy efficient battery. The battery in the Nexus 5 is ever so slightly bigger than what's in the Moto X, and also has an ultra-low power bonus CPU core to greatly minimize battery usage while the phone is asleep. I can't say i use my phone heavily... but it's already doing much better than my GS3 ever really did. Can get 14 hours on a charge with nearly an hour of screen time, and still have upwards of 20% battery life left, depending what i was doing with the phone.... and that was only on it's second charge so far.
And yes... the speaker is a fair bit quieter than on that of something like my previous Galaxy S3.... but the side-by-side comparison between the two, it's no contest. I'd MUCH rather have the superior sound quality from the Nexus 5's speaker than what the S3 has. The sound is rather tinny on the S3. Watching a video of Sungha Jung playing his acoustic guitar is not only practically ear-splittingly high pitched on the S3, but the lower tones when he's drumming on the side of the guitar with his wrist while playing are for the most part non-existent from the speaker. The Nexus 5's speaker can output tones a fair bit deeper than the S3's speaker can, and the highs aren't as squeal-y. And i'm sure, either be it from the development community or from Google themselves, we'll probably see some sort of mod to make the volume louder from the N5's speaker.

Picking a phone is very personal choice. Go to the store and play with the models you can, go to an AT&T store to check out the Moto X.
Personally it comes down to this, if I were to buy a phone on a subsidized, or JUMP, plan it would be the Moto X. But being that I usually buy a phone and hold onto it for a couple of years, and I am buying in cash, the nexus made much more sense to me.
While the moto x is great, imho, it isn't future proof. How will it perform in a year or two, what about the developer community. Add to that, you couldn't get the 32 gb model on T-Mobile, and I went with the Nexus 5.
But, I will admit, it is much more comfortable in my hand and pocket than the Nexus 5.
I don't regret my decision at all.

Thank you everyone for your input and ideas! You're a GREAT community here!
After thinking about it some more, I actually cancelled my Nexus 5 order. Not because I don't want the phone anymore, but because I realized my real issue here is that I'm just not comfortable with brand new tech that barely hit the market. I've felt a little let-down with my 1st gen Nexus 7 getting slower and slower over time and it's made me a bit gun shy to run out and buy the "next big thing" the moment it hits the market (like I did with my tablet).
I'll spend some time researching all the suggestions posted here before I dive back in. Honestly, the MotoX never even crossed my radar, but it sounds like it has a solid following and deserves some consideration.
Thank you again! And please feel free to keep posting your ideas! I'll keep coming back and reading them.

As per sig i have 3 devices. .just got the nexus 5 today and its going back tomorrow and I will buy the G2...I should have went with it in the first place but I couldnt resist the white nexus.
Nice device just not for me..if you want a 5 inch device...s4 hands down..or if you want to go a bit bigger G2.
Note 3 is a beast of a device...nuff said there.
Sent from my S4,Note 3 or Nexus 5

elias4444 said:
Thank you everyone for your input and ideas! You're a GREAT community here!
After thinking about it some more, I actually cancelled my Nexus 5 order. Not because I don't want the phone anymore, but because I realized my real issue here is that I'm just not comfortable with brand new tech that barely hit the market. I've felt a little let-down with my 1st gen Nexus 7 getting slower and slower over time and it's made me a bit gun shy to run out and buy the "next big thing" the moment it hits the market (like I did with my tablet).
I'll spend some time researching all the suggestions posted here before I dive back in. Honestly, the MotoX never even crossed my radar, but it sounds like it has a solid following and deserves some consideration.
Thank you again! And please feel free to keep posting your ideas! I'll keep coming back and reading them.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just remember someone like you, I gather, will be stuck with what you get out of the box(OOB). The nexus/playstore editions have the least bloat and get OS updates the quickest... that is IF you decide to go with an Android device, but as I intimated before, you've dithered so long now, why hurry? Go look around some more until you're sure of what you want/need/are comfortable with.
Personally, I REALLY like nexuses for their non-bloatwareness, although when I bought my last phone the nexus 4 there was nothing but the n4 really, the the One and S4 hit the play store, but I decided to go with the n5 again. Maybe next time something different especially if mfgs. like ASUS step into the ring and also limit bloat plus update fairly regularly(I have shield(tegra 4) FYI which has already gotten one OS update so far, I also have the n7(2013 version snapdragon v. your tegra3 2012 version), also most of my desktop and home networking is also ASUS(motherboard(P9X79, I build my own), router(AC66U), monitor))...
Good luck, and I'll just re-iterate you've waited this long, so just don't jump into anything willynilly, but also I'd suggest not terminally procrastinating...

elias4444 said:
Thank you everyone for your input and ideas! You're a GREAT community here!
After thinking about it some more, I actually cancelled my Nexus 5 order. Not because I don't want the phone anymore, but because I realized my real issue here is that I'm just not comfortable with brand new tech that barely hit the market. I've felt a little let-down with my 1st gen Nexus 7 getting slower and slower over time and it's made me a bit gun shy to run out and buy the "next big thing" the moment it hits the market (like I did with my tablet).
I'll spend some time researching all the suggestions posted here before I dive back in. Honestly, the MotoX never even crossed my radar, but it sounds like it has a solid following and deserves some consideration.
Thank you again! And please feel free to keep posting your ideas! I'll keep coming back and reading them.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I owned the first generation Nexus 7. Bought it the day it was released. It is the only device I've owned that really did slow down like you said. It is too early to speak for the Nexus 5, but this problem did not exist on the GNex, Nexus 4, Nexus 10, or second generation Nexus 7. I ran into the problem with AOSP based custom ROMs on my GS3, but not with stock TW or TW based custom ROMs. The first generation Nexus 7 just didn't have great hardware, and it showed after lots of use, especially on the 8gb version. I don't think you should have that fear going into the N5, but I think you're being smart holding off until you're sure. I jumped the gun with the Moto X and got just above half of what I paid when I resold the PoS.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

I bought a N5 for experiment and I will stick with my Z1. Better camera, quality, waterproofness, better screen even though z1 is bad for yellow tint N5 is worse. With the N5 you simply get what you pay for but I would pay a little more for the premium glass/aluminum finish phones like the One or my Z1

I have had the HTC One and I currently have the Note 3 and the Nexus 5 (My 3rd Nexus over the past few years). I really enjoyed the Note 3 but the size got to me. I have not had the N5 long enough to really form an opinion other than the battery life sucks compared to the Note 3. Also the N5 seems a little less polished than the One or Note. So far the best every day phone was the HTC One that opinion might change with more time with the N5. Just my .02.

force70 said:
As per sig i have 3 devices. .just got the nexus 5 today and its going back tomorrow and I will buy the G2...I should have went with it in the first place but I couldnt resist the white nexus.
Nice device just not for me..if you want a 5 inch device...s4 hands down..or if you want to go a bit bigger G2.
Note 3 is a beast of a device...nuff said there.
Sent from my S4,Note 3 or Nexus 5
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So wait.... you're saying if you want a 5" device, you shouldn't even consider the 4.95" Nexus 5 and instead get the 5" GS4... but if you want something a bit bigger, you should get the 5.2" LG G2? Really nitpicking over .25", aren't we?
And i'm really loving the people who insist on constantly pointing out the battery life of the Nexus 5 sucks in comparison to *insert phone here*.... especially when that phone is the Note 3. Yes, the Note 3's screen is nearly an inch larger than the Nexus 5's.... but the battery is also 39% larger. That's like somehow expecting a V6 Jeep Cherokee to perform just as well as a V8.
Don't get why everyone's saying the battery is crap, anyway. I don't think it's THAT bad... and i'm coming from a Galaxy S3.... where it seemed if you did anything more than some texting and web browsing, you would basically be lucky to make it through an 8-hour work day and still have a decent amount of battery life left. first two days with the N5, and i've gone 14 hours with similar usage as i had on my GS3, and still had 20-40% battery life remaining.

which phone offers the most similar experiecne?

My contract is coming up for renewal in late February and I'm thinking of replacing my phone with a new Android device. I realize this might be the wrong forum section to post in, but who better to ask than my fellow Shield lovers.
I had a Galaxy Note (original) and a Galaxy S2 prior, and they weren't bad. For the time Touchwiz, and a poor email client really put me off of Android as a phone primarily for me is a communication device, but I still like to have fun with it.
I ended up going back to Blackberry and have been rocking a Z10 for a long time. But won an iphone 5s through work and have been using that for about the past year. I bought a Z30 recently as it was being sold at a stupidly low price new in box from factory and I am sick and tired of the small screens and piss poor battery life of the iphone.
I also have a first gen Galaxy Note 10.1 tablet, and I've been complaining about it for the past 6-10 months because of it's size and weight and now that apps are being optimized for newer OS versions it's getting really slow. So my wife bought me a Shield for Christmas and I absoltuley love it!
I love how the UI is on this tablet and now know what all the fuss is about for Andorid. Touchwiz ruins the experience in my opinion. So I'm thinking for my new phone I'm going to get a Lollipop device for sure...the question is which one?
I don't want a Nexus as I don't like the idea of non-expandable memory and my 64gb card in my Sheild is getting pretty full, no way I could survive with a device that isn't at least 64gb (my iphone is 64gb and is usually between 50-60gb loaded up with music and media.)
So which device has a UI that is as close to the Shield as possible with expandable memory and isn't the size of a house. 5" is about my max screen size. There is no need to go larger as I already have the Sheild, and I want it to be pocketable. I got rid of my Note because I just kept leaving it on my desk. I would also love to get a 16-20 hour day with heavy use. FWIW my iphone 5s is completley dead by the time 2:00pm rolls around when it comes off the charger at 5:30am. I'm usually not near a charger again until 6:30-7:00pm on average. It's going to be a lot to ask but a 5:30am to 10:00pm battery life would be fantastic...

If you want a stock OS look and MicroSD, get the HTC M8 Google Play Edition. Stock Android, front speakers, and MicroSD support just like the ST.

Not going to be a popular opinion around here but the iPhone 6 gets much much better battery life than the older ones, if you are already invested into iTunes that may be a valid option for you. For me I have the 6 plus and it is cool because I get awesome battery life and then I get completely different games then the ones that are available on my shield tab so I have pretty much the best of both worlds.
Also my reason for going to the iPhone is because I have ATT and needed a carrier subsidized phone, tried the Nexus 6 it is utter crap build quality and the Note 4 is not even rootable, there is not much else that is really modern on ATT.

As far as gaming ready devices, all Qualcomm Snapdragon devices fall into a mediocre range. None of them are really "smooth" at gaming and all of them work hard to provide perpetual fluidity. Bad video drivers and non-existent high clock efficiency mean those devices scale vey poorly, and gaming takes a monstrous drain on the battery for even simple 2D games. If you are looking for a device which can handle gaming in a manner similar to the shield (and aren't too concerned with what you might lose) then tegra phones and iPhones are your best option objectively. It's impossible to recommend a Qualcomm device as better for gaming. If you are just looking for a simple phone with light gaming, then something like the upcoming HTC M9 or a likewise lollipop based device would be fine. But if gaming is your concern (which you don't seem to mention) then my above statements hold very true.

All "stock" suggestions should definitely fly with "but shall include excessive Google bloatware that wouldn't be accepted from Samsung or any other OEM." That much said, crap like Drive Earth Docs Sheets Slides Newsstand Books Music Movies Plus Fit Now Wallet Keyboard Chrome and the ever constant location stalker CAN be disabled quite easily.
Preliminary reports say the S5 is shaping up to perform amazingly on Lollipop. A simple comparison of this tablet and the Nexus 7 and the iPad-Mini-esque Nexus 9, has shown me that it's all about the implementation of lollipop, not comparing who has the biggest version number, that is essential in determining which device is best.

Google Play Edition phones like HTC One M8 or Galaxy S4.
The Moto G and X phones also offer nearly stock OS.

Gaming is not a concern for me with a phone, thats what the Tablet is for. a Pretty stock non-bloated with manufacture crud OS is whats most important I think. Touchwiz was just annoying when I was test driving a Note 3 and on my S2 when I had it. Just didn't enjoy it. I also don't like how big the S5 and such has gotten.
I'll take a closer look at the Google Play edition phones. I wanted to get something direct from carrier to get the subsidy and save some cash... I'm on Rogers in Canada... No Moto X is avaialble, and it doesn't appear to have a micro SD. However the Sony Z3 seems to have a pretty stock version of Android... what are peoples opinions on that device?

Well I wouldn't say it's stock by any means. It's actually fairly heavy on skinning, but it does look nice. Updates will be very slow for Sony phones. But the battery life is fantastic, and the overall hardware is nice. Sony phones can be problematic, but since it's a carrier device you can always yell at Rogers.

Nintonito said:
Well I wouldn't say it's stock by any means. It's actually fairly heavy on skinning, but it does look nice. Updates will be very slow for Sony phones. But the battery life is fantastic, and the overall hardware is nice. Sony phones can be problematic, but since it's a carrier device you can always yell at Rogers.
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Yea, I'm reading more on the Z3 forums and seeing stuff I'm not overly happy with.
One thing that is ever important to me is the speed and quality of the camera, something I'm addicted to on my iphone. I'm a part-time professional photographer along with my day job. So I got a camera for manual control and taking beautiful shot. I love my iphone for the quick burst that I can do within a couple of seconds on the fly (and thats about it that I've found as a pro over Android). I don't know if there is an Android phone out there that can compete, which is very unfortunate. When I was test driving the Note 3, one of the few major reasons I returned it was due to the crappy camera speed/AF. (The others were size and touchwiz)

Moto X, Moto G, Nexus 5, Nexus 6 or the Google Play Edition phones from the play store. Thats about it. I guess the OnePlus One fits the bill also.
I can't recommend the Moto X enough. Mine is absolutely amazing and I've owned QUITE a few different phones over the past few years including Samsung, HTC, Sony, Nexus, ZTE. The Motorola lineup of the past year or so has been nothing short of phenomenal.

I disagree on the basis that the battery life is pretty bad. Like iPhone levels of battery life frankly. I'm surprised people just glaze over that. 2300mah battery with lollipop+amoled is battery hell.

Nintonito said:
I disagree on the basis that the battery life is pretty bad. Like iPhone levels of battery life frankly. I'm surprised people just glaze over that. 2300mah battery with lollipop+amoled is battery hell.
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Do you own one? Because I do. And I routinely hit 18-19 hours with 2.5-3 hours of screen time. Everyone I see complaining about battery life doesn't own one, and are just parroting FUD.

Nintonito said:
I disagree on the basis that the battery life is pretty bad. Like iPhone levels of battery life frankly. I'm surprised people just glaze over that. 2300mah battery with lollipop+amoled is battery hell.
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icase81 said:
Do you own one? Because I do. And I routinely hit 18-19 hours with 2.5-3 hours of screen time. Everyone I see complaining about battery life doesn't own one, and are just parroting FUD.
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I'd also have to agree. I was hesitant about the phone when it was first announced because of the battery and held off buying one until the Cyber Monday coupon deal. Since then, I've added a wireless charging module (thread in the accessories sub-forum for the phone) and I couldn't be happier. Not saying you need a wireless mod, I just missed that from the Nexus 5. But even so, the battery has been above and beyond what I expected, the phone's performance is top notch, Active Display or whatever its called has no second best and Motorola's adherence to near stock Android is the cherry on top.
Like icase said, unless you have one and have something to back up your comment, you're just blowing FUD. My go to devices today are my 2014 Moto X and my Nvidia Shield Tablet.

wired335 said:
My contract is coming up for renewal in late February and I'm thinking of replacing my phone with a new Android device. I realize this might be the wrong forum section to post in, but who better to ask than my fellow Shield lovers.
I had a Galaxy Note (original) and a Galaxy S2 prior, and they weren't bad. For the time Touchwiz, and a poor email client really put me off of Android as a phone primarily for me is a communication device, but I still like to have fun with it.
I ended up going back to Blackberry and have been rocking a Z10 for a long time. But won an iphone 5s through work and have been using that for about the past year. I bought a Z30 recently as it was being sold at a stupidly low price new in box from factory and I am sick and tired of the small screens and piss poor battery life of the iphone.
I also have a first gen Galaxy Note 10.1 tablet, and I've been complaining about it for the past 6-10 months because of it's size and weight and now that apps are being optimized for newer OS versions it's getting really slow. So my wife bought me a Shield for Christmas and I absoltuley love it!
I love how the UI is on this tablet and now know what all the fuss is about for Andorid. Touchwiz ruins the experience in my opinion. So I'm thinking for my new phone I'm going to get a Lollipop device for sure...the question is which one?
I don't want a Nexus as I don't like the idea of non-expandable memory and my 64gb card in my Sheild is getting pretty full, no way I could survive with a device that isn't at least 64gb (my iphone is 64gb and is usually between 50-60gb loaded up with music and media.)
So which device has a UI that is as close to the Shield as possible with expandable memory and isn't the size of a house. 5" is about my max screen size. There is no need to go larger as I already have the Sheild, and I want it to be pocketable. I got rid of my Note because I just kept leaving it on my desk. I would also love to get a 16-20 hour day with heavy use. FWIW my iphone 5s is completley dead by the time 2:00pm rolls around when it comes off the charger at 5:30am. I'm usually not near a charger again until 6:30-7:00pm on average. It's going to be a lot to ask but a 5:30am to 10:00pm battery life would be fantastic...
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Hi, just my two cents, IMHO the Nvidia Shield is a great tablet but to play PC games you have to stream to Nvidia, so if I want to recommend to you a similar device, the closest phone you can get is the Sony Experia Z3, Android 5 Lollipop, battery levels are very good, beautiful design and you can connect it to a playstation and play the games wireless on your phone with the PS controller. You even get the sound from your controller by connecting the headphones to it.

I have a couple of ideas.
If you can wait, the HTC Hima promises to be a beast. A Snapdragon 810 with a 1080p screen means that it will probably crush every other phone in terms of performace, thanks to every other phone jumping on the pointless 4K train. Look it up. It looks pretty nice. *drool*
If you need something now, then....I know you want a smaller phone, but....I can't recommend the Oneplus One enough.
-It is actually thinner than and not as wide as the Note, dispite its slightly larger screen.
-Even though it has no expandable storage, 64 gigs of internal storage has actually proven more useful to me. I never have to worry about limited storage for application data.
-The battery life on this thing is nuts. I'm a heavy user and I only need to charge it every other day.
-1080p screen. This is a plus because it it uses less resources than a 4k display. And honestly, most, if not all people, cannot tell the difference.
-Snapdragon 801 with 3 gigs of RAM. This thing flies, and multitasks like a champ. I remember a time not too long ago when more than 2gb RAM was considered excessive for most DESKTOP computers. I think its more than the specs that make this thing fly, though. Something in the hardware implementation must be special, because people have been reporting some pretty unbelievable benchmarks. Oh, and Sonic Adventure 2 runs smoothly in Reicast.
-The XDA scene is HUGE for this device. Its the most popular device on the forums. There are, like, 73 billion ROMs for it and maybe 2.5 billion kernels. I've never owned such a popular device. This is my favorite feature.
Its also the one of the only devices I have right now that isn't defective in some way. I tend to have horrible luck when purchasing electronics.
I hope I've helped you reach some sort of conclusion. Good luck. :good:

thanks guys,
I went into my Rogers store and manhandled what they had on display as well as a few open box units. I also took at look at Telus, but they can't meet me on my plan so no point in switching over. But the Moto X seemed like the best device.
I found the Z3 to be the best value for me right now. As I originally mentioned I'm not looking at the phone for gaming, but to be a workhorse and get me through a very heavy use work day. Not having Touch-Wiz was a huge plus for me, and I really enjoyed some of the things they changed in the skin. The camera performed a lot better than the other phones I tried in store. the HTC M8 was a very close contender, but the camera just sucks so horribly it got kicked out of the running faster than I could blink. I honestly think that Nokia/Windows Phone has the best camera interface after playing around with phones the past week, but the Z3 does a pretty good job.
For me it was the battery power, the UI, and the pretty impressive spec sheet that (hopefuly) will not force me to upgrade in the next 18 months that caused me to go with the Z3 overall. Rogers has a pretty limited offering right now which is annoying. I almost went with the Samsung S5, but remembered how much Touch-Wiz pozioned me the first time.
If they had a Nexus 5 32gb in stock I would have probably gone with that instead...and dealt with the size limitiation...but none left for corporate customers.
So my Black Z3 is in the mail and I'm really looking forward to it. Especially since my time frame for getting a new device really escallated with an unexpected smashy smashy of my iphone (dropped it and ran it over with a stroller by complete accident. One of the only times it wasn't cased!) now I need a case for my Z3

Nexus 5 Replacement?

It seems like it should have an easy answer but it really doesn't.
I've had the Nexus 1, 3 and now 5. The 5 has been great but now at almost 2 years old the screen is starting to mess up after its been on for a bit. If it wasn't for that I would keep it for longer as the current phones are not grabbing me. Battery is about dead also.
The obvious replacement is the Nexus 6P but I would miss wireless charging quite a bit as I use it at home and at work. I also like the Moto Pure but again no wireless charging.
Really the ultimate phone is about 5.5", wireless charging, sdcard slot and replaceable battery. I'd love to wait for the Snapdragon 820 but I'm not sure my Nexi will make it.
Is there anything coming up thats close besides the 6P and Moto Pure?

Buy another Nexus 5?
Looks like wireless charging is on the way out, and isn't something I've been particularly bothered about. Even when I had the Nexus wireless charger I found I never used it.

I don't think any phone meets your requirements anymore... They are doing that on purpose to get people to continue buying phones. If they made the perfect phone people would be able to use it for 4 years based on how technology advancement has slowed down.

There definitely won't be any phone that meets your "ultimate" needs, or, at least, not a stock AOSP phone. Your best bet might be to just buy another Nexus 5.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

The LG V10 they just announced looks like a really nice phone actually. The only downside is that it's not stock Android.

Yeah I know I'm not going to be able to get the Ultimate Phone. I don't think they have to worry about us keeping a phone forever as my only one that still works perfectly is my Nexus 1. Even my Nexus 3 has the screen looking a funky yellow now. I powered it up the other day just to see if it still would.
I do like my 5 but I'm not going to get another. I want an improvement. I think I'm just gonna keep watching and waiting while my phone screen "mostly" works. I'd love to replace it with an 820 chip. It does seem I'm one of the few that loves wireless charging. Worst case theres the 6P which isn't a bad worst case really.

Overall love

Yes, yes, it's possible to love a phone. Heck, you sleep next to it, don't you? Rate this thread to indicate your love for the Huawei Nexus 6P, all things considered. A higher rating indicates that the Huawei Nexus 6P is an incredible phone that you enjoy tremendously. You love it.
Then, drop a comment if you have anything to add!

This is the best Android phone I've ever used.

Yeah, it's pretty close to the best Android phone I've ever used. It is the full package: battery life, performance, camera, software. Only problem I'm finding is that after a week of use, I'm running into bugs with the camera, Bluetooth, and calls. I'm sure these will be fixed in an upcoming software update.

Best phone I've owned. I just enjoy picking it up and using it.

IMO its a 9 out of 10. Camera has been great for me, battery life fits my daily usage perfectly (never been in power saving mode) and I only charge over night. Bright screen with no color issues to my eyes, fast performance with all the apps and games I use.
Most of my problems are simply due to me not adjusting to the placement of things on the phone yet. I have a tendency to power the phone off when trying to adjust the volume, and lowering the volume when playing certain games.
The only true "issue" I am having is the phone has powered off and rebooted on me 3 times since I got it. I don't know if it is going to be an issue, but it is annoying when it happens in the middle of a task I am trying to complete.

Best phone i have owned and have not rooted it yet even

Best phone I have ever used

I consider it more of a desktop phone. I now really use it for so much more than a phone. And the battery life over my Nexus 5 is not even comparable.

Easily the best phone I've ever used. A week in and not a single issue yet.

Best phone to date! Extremely satisfied.

Fantastic phone. My first Stock Android experience. I actually like it as-is (coming from a Note II with Nova Launcher).

Nexus 6p owner coming from Nexus 5, Nexus 4, Galaxy Nexus, yadeya...
The good:
Hardware: Really nice, premium build. If I'm being honest, I find it a touch slippy in the hand and I'm quite worried about dropping the damn thing, but I'm hoping a case will make this better...once it arrives!
Performance: Excellent. Zero lag, zero slow down.
Battery: Coming from the Nexus 5, it's really good. This was actually my primary reason for buying this over the Nexus 5x - bigger phone == more room for battery, and so far this shows. Today has been a light-use day, to be fair, but still sat at 76% at 8pm is just awesome. My Nexus 5 wouldn't do that well even if I didn't use it all day...in flight mode...switched off. Exceptionally happy here.
Stability: Have had the phone for 7 days, uptime: 7 days. Nuff said.
Camera: Too early to say, but I don't think it's quite as great as everyone says it is. There's still no way in the app to do manual control (e.g. shutter priority for capturing pictures of fast moving objects) so the results still look, well, like they've been taken with a phone. That's not to say it's bad - it's certainly better than the Nexus 5, which was leagues better than the Nexus 4 - it's just...average. Give us some manual control, Google! Lens Blur still takes great shots and it's very responsive, so I would give it a B at the moment, with scope for more in future.
The only elephant in the room is the size. OK, so this isn't the phone's fault and I knew what I was getting, but don't kid yourself that it's anything other than a big phone. I picked up my old N5 the other day and, frankly, it still feels the "right" size for a phone. Oh well, I guess we'll have to see how things go here...
Over all, it's a great phone

So nice, I unbound it twice
I ordered the phone yesterday and got it about 3pm today. I set it up, played with it for about an hour and thought " this isn't so special". I threw it back in the box and decided I wasn't decided on keeping it. I left it at my mom's house, went home and played around on my Note 5 for 10 mins and ran back to the Nexus.
The title was supposed to say unboxed not unbound

Easily the best Android phone I've ever used. The combination of battery life, performance, screen quality, build quality, Camera, quick charge, Verizon compatibility, stock Android, hackability, Marshmallow features, speakers, quick fingerprint sensor, first-to-get-updates and just a general smooth experience, make this phone a TOTAL WIN.
Only wish it had SD card expansion! That's like the only thing, to me, it's missing.
I am REALLY LOVING this phone experience! It's FANTASTIC. Instant recommendation to friends.

Loved my nexus 5 but the 6p is sublime
Loved my nexus 5, but the 6p is awesome, just got to resist the urge to unlock and flash !

I've been with the Nexus line since the Nexus S and only strayed once last year buying a Moto X 2014. A week later I returned it and got the Nexus 6 instead. The 6P is the Heir Apparent of the Nexus project. I love it.
It took me three tries to get here though. #1 a few cosmetic defects out of the box. #2 perfect but then i bought the folio case and it got stuck on the phone. #3 perfect again. Happy camper...

One or two teething problems but the best phone I have ever had, great to have an all aluminium phone too instead of Samsung plastic. 10/10

I'm actually coming from the Nexus 6 and had no real intentions to upgrade, but..things. It sort of feels small to me, which is odd to say. It doesn't have any downsides that I can see yet, outside of me having to buy a couple extra cords for work, etc. On the other hand you don't need to charge it much. It has the best panel I've ever owned, a factor which actually had me thinking about buying a Note 5 earlier before I remembered I was on Verizon and used Touchwiz before. Somehow they got a comparable screen on a Nexus phone which I consider to be no small thing. Great phone, well done Google.

in love with the phone. very happy with the purchase and it has everything I need. Now all i need to do is find a wife and I am set.

Haven't found anything not to love yet.

Overall speed

Would you say that the Nokia 6 is "fast" in day-to-day use? A higher rating indicates that you think the Nokia 6 exhibits fantastic performance. Like, is it as fast as your tears when you watch The Titanic?
Then, drop a comment if you have anything to add!

Very sluggish device, the only thing that saves it is using stock android.
Camera takes 4 seconds to open on touble power tap from sleep mode which is almost a dealbreaker.

Fast and built very good.
This phone is not a flagship . OK now that we understand that this is not a flagship I can tell you this phone does everything my iPhone 7 and my galaxy s8 does . my Nokia 6 currently has 118 apps installed with a 64gb SD card in have no lag problems at all . you will notice a few times some delay but nothing that is even an issue . camera takes 3-4 seconds to open. Come on 4 seconds are people really crying because of 4 seconds.
This is an amazing phone for $228

I bought this phone as a replacement for my Nexus 6P that was suffering from a boot loop issue (c'mon Huawei, get your poop in a group - 13 month old phones shouldn't crap out for no reason!!).
I knew the CPU was under-powered compared to my N6P but I can't afford another premium device at this time as I'm still paying off the N6P via installments. I bought the subsidized version with Amazon Ads for $180
Initial impressions were great but now that I've owned it for a little over a week, I can confirm my thoughts. I've yet to find any app or even the few games I play that are noticeably slower on this phone compared to my N6P - 143 apps and counting.
I can only think of 2 issues I have with the phone's performance. Amazon Ads on the lockscreen suck and the camera takes a few seconds to open. Once opened, it snaps good pics relatively quickly and I really cannot complain about the delay all things considered.

slaeyer said:
I bought this phone as a replacement for my Nexus 6P that was suffering from a boot loop issue (c'mon Huawei, get your poop in a group - 13 month old phones shouldn't crap out for no reason!!).
I knew the CPU was under-powered compared to my N6P but I can't afford another premium device at this time as I'm still paying off the N6P via installments. I bought the subsidized version with Amazon Ads for $180
Initial impressions were great but now that I've owned it for a little over a week, I can confirm my thoughts. I've yet to find any app or even the few games I play that are noticeably slower on this phone compared to my N6P - 143 apps and counting.
I can only think of 2 issues I have with the phone's performance. Amazon Ads on the lockscreen suck and the camera takes a few seconds to open. Once opened, it snaps good pics relatively quickly and I really cannot complain about the delay all things considered.
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What SoT do you get? Shall I go for the non ads Nokia 6?

GopalKaul said:
What SoT do you get? Shall I go for the non ads Nokia 6?
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I've gone from 6 am to 10 pm with about an hour of calls and 2-3 hours of SoT total before bed at 10 and never charged it.
As to the question for the Amazon ad version, it's entirely up to you. You can always opt to pay the money down the road to remove them later or try to hack the phone to remove them.

So far so good
I have the Nokia 6 TA-1025. I was looking for something economical yet had some decent hardware. I went through 2 Nexus 6's and wasn't going to risk another tablet sized phone slipping out of my fingers. The speed on this phone is definitely more than sufficient for my use. It is more responding than what my Nexus 6 was. The battery life very excellent as well.

good performance.. but heating and battery drains faster!!