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No Android 7 on my Nexus 5 might just be what pushes me to iOS. I've gone from being an Android evangelist to being an Android apologist ("Yeah, battery life s

by primo44 10y ago

No Android 7 on my Nexus 5 might just be what pushes me to iOS. I've gone from being an Android evangelist to being an Android apologist ("Yeah, battery life sucks. Google has failed to fix it after X years") to now being, frankly, pissed off that my expensive phone is going to be left behind.

iwintermute 10y ago
khm, expensive? IIRC nexus 5 had great hardware for it's price.
- Grazester 10y ago
  Indeed. The Nexus 5 was not expensive relative to the iOS devices he is consider getting. 3 years worth of updates was just about worth the device's price. On another note I hated the Nexus 5 and that LCD screen always felt washed out!
  - luibelgo 10y ago
    N5 is very fast for that price, but camera sucks and plastic frame beaks easily. Not to mention how fragile are side buttons... And screen is quite hard to repair! But hey, for 350 bucks, it's a good deal.
    - zingmars 10y ago
      Not sure if I agree with the screen being hard to repair/replace. I decided to do it a few months back and all it really took was taking all of the parts out, gluing the screen to the frame and putting the parts back in. Had I bought a screen with a frame, all I would've needed to do was transplant the parts from the old frame to the new one. Not difficult at all.
  - tracker1 10y ago
    I skipped from the N4 to OPO, but on a 6P as of a few months back... probably won't upgrade until the end of 2018.
  - piyush_soni 10y ago
    I liked the screen for not being overly saturated like the others! And boy was that phone fast. Every once in a while when I try my Nexus 5 it feels faster than my 6P, for some reason.
benzor 10y ago
FWIW, I've deliberately kept my Nexus 5 on Android 4.4.4 and it runs as well as the first day I bought it 2.5 years ago. Multi-day battery life, no compatibility issues (because no OS updates), all the latest apps still run on it, etc. Not to mention it was an affordable phone even when it was brand new. Very happy with it overall; I can easily see it lasting me another few years.
- Maultasche 10y ago
  There has to be some nasty security vulnerabilities lurking on that phone. There have been a lot of security patches to Android over the past 2.5 years to fix various exploits. I'm sure it does run great, but I would personally be uncomfortable missing out on so many security fixes. I don't pay a lot of attention to the Android OS, but I do recall there was a nasty exploit discovered about a year ago (called Stagefright) where a specially-crafted text message with a picture or image can cause malicious code to be run on the phone the moment the phone receives the message.
  - pjmlp 10y ago
    And almost no one got those updates other than Nexus and a few high cost mobiles. I can still buy 4.4 phones as new on my city.
- david-given 10y ago
  I have an Android ADP1 --- one of the original development phones, the HTC Dream with the custom paint job. It's got 192MB of RAM and a single-core 528MB ARM11. It ran Cupcake, aka Android 1.5 (although I've since upgraded it to, If you ignore the hilarious security bugs --- like the fact that, as shipped, they forgot to disconnect the keyboard from a root shell, so that if you typed 'reboot' into an email hilarious things happened --- it actually runs rather well; it's smooth and perfectly satisfactory to use. ...holy crap Cupcake would run well on a modern phone.
  - vetinari 10y ago
    I also had ADP1 - and I think that the latest official update was to Donut, aka Android 1.6. Not that it matters much today...
luma 10y ago
> my expensive phone is going to be left behind. You bought a $350 phone and received updates for 3 years. I think you're in for a surprise when you price out a new iPhone.
- bicx 10y ago
  This. Battery life on my Nexus 6P is just fine, at least equal to my friends with their iPhone 6 Pluses. My Note 4 also had solid battery life before that. For the most part, modern Android phones are much better than their predecessors in terms of battery. The UX is also quite nice as well.
  - r00fus 10y ago
    My Nexus5 has great battery till I use it like my iPhone. Video, LTE, Webex? Lasts maybe a half hour under duress. This was the case from day one, which is why it never became my daily driver. Good to keep up on what's going on with Android, though.
    - gtaylor 10y ago
      I had a Nexus 5 as well. Big improvements with the jump up to the 5X. I'd hope that this year's model will continue the trend.
  - sirtastic 10y ago
    This. My 6P lasts over 3 days with regular camera use while backpacking and all day with heavy use.
- adamors 10y ago
  The iPhone SE is similarly priced and iOS devices receive updates for more than 3 years. iPhone 5 for instance got and runs fine iOS 9, 4 years after release.
  - tdkl 10y ago
    > Phone 5 for instance got and runs fine iOS 9 It runs, but far from fine compared to iOS it shipped with with basically no added value.
pavanky 10y ago
> Nexus 5 > Expensive phone Really ? That phone costed less than half of what an iphone costs and you can easily get a well supported ROM if you wish to. Granted the situation sucks, but Google has been upfront about their support timeline.
andrewblossom 10y ago
The Nexus 5 (16gb - $349, 32gb - $399) was released nearly three years ago for a fraction of the price of the comparable iPhone at the time (iPhone 5s: 16gb - $649, 32gb - $749). I think you got a hell of a deal. Upgrade to the 5x for another $350 be happy with another few years of support. Or wait for the new Nexus phones to come out this fall...
- mscrivo 10y ago
  The only thing I'd add here is that unfortunately the Nexus 5x is not an upgrade over the 5 in terms of performance. It might even be a downgrade (I own both). Because the 5x uses a 64-bit arch, it uses more RAM than the 5x (and both only have 2GB). Also, the SD808 (2GHz) cores in the 5x are hardly a step up from the SD800 (2.2GHz) cores. The only real upgrade the 5x gives you is the camera.
  - igravious 10y ago
    I'll be upgrading my 5 to get USB-C, that little connectivity feature for me is the upgrade clincher.
    - mscrivo 10y ago
      I guess, but I prefer the wireless charging of the Nexus 5 to the USB-C connector of the 5x. Of course it would be nice to have both. Hopefully this year's versions bring back the wireless charging.
      - EspadaV9 10y ago
        I was really disappointed since the Nexus 5. I'm not sure why Qi charging was removed. Quick charging doesn't replace being able to just put your phone down to charge.
  - mderazon 10y ago
    Best new features for me are fingerprint sensor, USB-C and and quick charge. Quick charge is a game changer. Less pressure to make the battery bigger if you can make the phone charge way faster.
plttn 10y ago
The alternative is the iOS update process, which has the result of non-techies complaining that their iPhone 4 is now slow after the update, and the techies they know pleading with them not to update even though the number gets bigger.
- saint_fiasco 10y ago
  Do old versions of iOS receive security updates?
  - kalleboo 10y ago
    iOS 6 got an update for goto fail even after iOS 7 was out, but that's the only time they've done it I think. I think in that case it could have been because they still had in-warranty devices that didn't support iOS 7
- xorcist 10y ago
  Another alternative would be to keep releasing security updates. If open source projects can manage more than three years support, it's not out of the question for Google to do it, at least for the major versions.
  - moosingin3space 10y ago
    I'm using a Galaxy Note 3 with CyanogenMod 12.1 (Lollipop) and I get each month's security updates. So it appears as though Google does release security updates for existing major versions.
  - kartickv 10y ago
    You mean issue security updates for multiple major versions, like Marshmallow, Lollipop and KitKat? That's an overhead to code, backport and test. These resources could be spent elsewhere.
PascLeRasc 10y ago
There will definitely be some XDA fix for that. The Nexus 5 has by far the largest developer community. I agree about how it's become much harder to promote Android these days and I can't see myself getting another device after my G4.
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
kevin_thibedeau 10y ago
Battery life sucks on Android flagship phones because they are running so many peripherals and the devs don't bother with aggressive power management. That is not Android's fault. Witness the $200 phones that get spectacular battery life on stock Android primarily because they aren't running hardware that mostly goes unused and are unburdened by poorly designed launchers written by enterprisey Java devs.
- philsnow 10y ago
  > Battery life sucks on Android flagship phones > $200 phones that get spectacular battery life on stock Android because they ... are unburdened by poorly designed launchers written by enterprisey Java devs. Are you saying that there are launchers / home screens that are _better_ than stock android in some dimension? I'm interested to hear more.
stormbeta 10y ago
Between the volatile battery life and Android OEMs almost entirely abandoning the non-phablet market, I'm about ready to move to iOS as well. I still think Android's UX blows iOS out of the water these days, but the best UX in the world doesn't help me if the phone is dead, or too big to use one-handed on the go.
akhilcacharya 10y ago
I saw this coming and the rumors of the headphone-less iPhone 7 so I took the plunge on the 6S. I miss quite a few Android features but the experience is still pretty darn good.
dingo_bat 10y ago
You really need to buy a flagship to compare with iPhone.
- danieldk 10y ago
  But the update experience on flagships (except if you count the Nexus 6P) is absolutely terrible. I had an Android excursion: Nexus 4 -> Moto X 2013 -> Moto X 2014. Motorola was known at the time for quick updates. This meant in practice that they pushed out an extremely buggy Android 5.0 quickly, and then waited half a year to push out a release with fixes. On the Moto X 2013 I had to wait more than a year (!) for Lollipop, although at the time of release the phone was only released a year ago. tl;dr Android updates on non-Nexus flagships are terrible. Updates are typically months late and stop after 12 or 18 months.
  - dingo_bat 10y ago
    > But the update experience on flagships (except if you count the Nexus 6P) is absolutely terrible. I don't really agree. I have always got regular security updates on my Samsung flagship phones. Yeah I will have to wait ~6 months for Nougat but that's hardly of any concern. There is no feature in Nougat that I don't already have from Samsung. The only thing you have to care about is the monthly security patches and Samsung has been one of the fastest to issue those every month.
telesilla 10y ago
Unfortunately this also forces me away from the Nexus family. I just can't handle the size of the Nexus 6 - being a fairly petite female a large phone is just unwieldy. I'm not sure the phone developers ever take physical size into consideration. If anyone can recommend a small replacement phone that supports running the original Android OS instead of a OEMified mess?
- codedinosaur 10y ago
  The Nexus 5x should be great for you. It's a 5-inch screen and may have a couple more years of new Android versions left in it. Or better yet, wait for the new Nexus phones set to be released this year. Should add another year of Android support from Google.
  - jaxondu 10y ago
    Nexus 5X is listed at Google support site ( https://support.google.com/nexus/answer/4457705#nexus_devices https://support.google.com/nexus/answer/4457705#nexus_device... ) to have "No guaranteed Android version updates after September 2017". You might want to wait for the new Nexus according to rumours will release in September.
- ewoodrich 10y ago
  The Nexus 6(p) is the phablet line. The Nexus 5(x) is a normal form factor. I've owned both the 5 and 6, it's definitely a matter of preference. The Nexus 5x would probably be closer to what you are looking for.
Shorel 10y ago
Heh, I just upgraded my Nexus 5 to Android 6 this week. Been in 4.4 for ages, after testing the awful battery life of Android 5 and going back. I find the battery life in 6 be about the same as 4.4, after installing xposed framework and Amplify & Greenify modules. Besides a change in colors from dark to white, and the new lock screen notifications that I'm still thinking about disabling, I don't see a lot in actual improvements using Android 6.
hobarrera 10y ago
Much as I like iOS (as a normal user, not a dev nor power-user), you'll be surprised how poor battery life is. Coming from Jolla, with a huge battery life, I was really disappointed that iOS can't make it an entire day without recharging. Even with bluetooth and gps mostly off.

by primo44 10y ago

iwintermute 10y ago

khm, expensive? IIRC nexus 5 had great hardware for it's price.

Grazester 10y ago
Indeed. The Nexus 5 was not expensive relative to the iOS devices he is consider getting. 3 years worth of updates was just about worth the device's price. On another note I hated the Nexus 5 and that LCD screen always felt washed out!
- luibelgo 10y ago
  N5 is very fast for that price, but camera sucks and plastic frame beaks easily. Not to mention how fragile are side buttons... And screen is quite hard to repair! But hey, for 350 bucks, it's a good deal.
  - zingmars 10y ago
    Not sure if I agree with the screen being hard to repair/replace. I decided to do it a few months back and all it really took was taking all of the parts out, gluing the screen to the frame and putting the parts back in. Had I bought a screen with a frame, all I would've needed to do was transplant the parts from the old frame to the new one. Not difficult at all.
- tracker1 10y ago
  I skipped from the N4 to OPO, but on a 6P as of a few months back... probably won't upgrade until the end of 2018.
- piyush_soni 10y ago
  I liked the screen for not being overly saturated like the others! And boy was that phone fast. Every once in a while when I try my Nexus 5 it feels faster than my 6P, for some reason.

benzor 10y ago

FWIW, I've deliberately kept my Nexus 5 on Android 4.4.4 and it runs as well as the first day I bought it 2.5 years ago. Multi-day battery life, no compatibility issues (because no OS updates), all the latest apps still run on it, etc. Not to mention it was an affordable phone even when it was brand new. Very happy with it overall; I can easily see it lasting me another few years.

Maultasche 10y ago
There has to be some nasty security vulnerabilities lurking on that phone. There have been a lot of security patches to Android over the past 2.5 years to fix various exploits. I'm sure it does run great, but I would personally be uncomfortable missing out on so many security fixes. I don't pay a lot of attention to the Android OS, but I do recall there was a nasty exploit discovered about a year ago (called Stagefright) where a specially-crafted text message with a picture or image can cause malicious code to be run on the phone the moment the phone receives the message.
- pjmlp 10y ago
  And almost no one got those updates other than Nexus and a few high cost mobiles. I can still buy 4.4 phones as new on my city.
david-given 10y ago
I have an Android ADP1 --- one of the original development phones, the HTC Dream with the custom paint job. It's got 192MB of RAM and a single-core 528MB ARM11. It ran Cupcake, aka Android 1.5 (although I've since upgraded it to, If you ignore the hilarious security bugs --- like the fact that, as shipped, they forgot to disconnect the keyboard from a root shell, so that if you typed 'reboot' into an email hilarious things happened --- it actually runs rather well; it's smooth and perfectly satisfactory to use. ...holy crap Cupcake would run well on a modern phone.
- vetinari 10y ago
  I also had ADP1 - and I think that the latest official update was to Donut, aka Android 1.6. Not that it matters much today...

luma 10y ago

> my expensive phone is going to be left behind. You bought a $350 phone and received updates for 3 years. I think you're in for a surprise when you price out a new iPhone.

bicx 10y ago
This. Battery life on my Nexus 6P is just fine, at least equal to my friends with their iPhone 6 Pluses. My Note 4 also had solid battery life before that. For the most part, modern Android phones are much better than their predecessors in terms of battery. The UX is also quite nice as well.
- r00fus 10y ago
  My Nexus5 has great battery till I use it like my iPhone. Video, LTE, Webex? Lasts maybe a half hour under duress. This was the case from day one, which is why it never became my daily driver. Good to keep up on what's going on with Android, though.
  - gtaylor 10y ago
    I had a Nexus 5 as well. Big improvements with the jump up to the 5X. I'd hope that this year's model will continue the trend.
- sirtastic 10y ago
  This. My 6P lasts over 3 days with regular camera use while backpacking and all day with heavy use.
adamors 10y ago
The iPhone SE is similarly priced and iOS devices receive updates for more than 3 years. iPhone 5 for instance got and runs fine iOS 9, 4 years after release.
- tdkl 10y ago
  > Phone 5 for instance got and runs fine iOS 9 It runs, but far from fine compared to iOS it shipped with with basically no added value.

pavanky 10y ago

> Nexus 5 > Expensive phone Really ? That phone costed less than half of what an iphone costs and you can easily get a well supported ROM if you wish to. Granted the situation sucks, but Google has been upfront about their support timeline.

andrewblossom 10y ago

The Nexus 5 (16gb - $349, 32gb - $399) was released nearly three years ago for a fraction of the price of the comparable iPhone at the time (iPhone 5s: 16gb - $649, 32gb - $749). I think you got a hell of a deal. Upgrade to the 5x for another $350 be happy with another few years of support. Or wait for the new Nexus phones to come out this fall...

mscrivo 10y ago
The only thing I'd add here is that unfortunately the Nexus 5x is not an upgrade over the 5 in terms of performance. It might even be a downgrade (I own both). Because the 5x uses a 64-bit arch, it uses more RAM than the 5x (and both only have 2GB). Also, the SD808 (2GHz) cores in the 5x are hardly a step up from the SD800 (2.2GHz) cores. The only real upgrade the 5x gives you is the camera.
- igravious 10y ago
  I'll be upgrading my 5 to get USB-C, that little connectivity feature for me is the upgrade clincher.
  - mscrivo 10y ago
    I guess, but I prefer the wireless charging of the Nexus 5 to the USB-C connector of the 5x. Of course it would be nice to have both. Hopefully this year's versions bring back the wireless charging.
    - EspadaV9 10y ago
      I was really disappointed since the Nexus 5. I'm not sure why Qi charging was removed. Quick charging doesn't replace being able to just put your phone down to charge.
- mderazon 10y ago
  Best new features for me are fingerprint sensor, USB-C and and quick charge. Quick charge is a game changer. Less pressure to make the battery bigger if you can make the phone charge way faster.

plttn 10y ago

The alternative is the iOS update process, which has the result of non-techies complaining that their iPhone 4 is now slow after the update, and the techies they know pleading with them not to update even though the number gets bigger.

saint_fiasco 10y ago
Do old versions of iOS receive security updates?
- kalleboo 10y ago
  iOS 6 got an update for goto fail even after iOS 7 was out, but that's the only time they've done it I think. I think in that case it could have been because they still had in-warranty devices that didn't support iOS 7
xorcist 10y ago
Another alternative would be to keep releasing security updates. If open source projects can manage more than three years support, it's not out of the question for Google to do it, at least for the major versions.
- moosingin3space 10y ago
  I'm using a Galaxy Note 3 with CyanogenMod 12.1 (Lollipop) and I get each month's security updates. So it appears as though Google does release security updates for existing major versions.
- kartickv 10y ago
  You mean issue security updates for multiple major versions, like Marshmallow, Lollipop and KitKat? That's an overhead to code, backport and test. These resources could be spent elsewhere.

PascLeRasc 10y ago

There will definitely be some XDA fix for that. The Nexus 5 has by far the largest developer community. I agree about how it's become much harder to promote Android these days and I can't see myself getting another device after my G4.

deleted 10y ago

[deleted]

kevin_thibedeau 10y ago

Battery life sucks on Android flagship phones because they are running so many peripherals and the devs don't bother with aggressive power management. That is not Android's fault. Witness the $200 phones that get spectacular battery life on stock Android primarily because they aren't running hardware that mostly goes unused and are unburdened by poorly designed launchers written by enterprisey Java devs.

philsnow 10y ago
> Battery life sucks on Android flagship phones > $200 phones that get spectacular battery life on stock Android because they ... are unburdened by poorly designed launchers written by enterprisey Java devs. Are you saying that there are launchers / home screens that are _better_ than stock android in some dimension? I'm interested to hear more.

stormbeta 10y ago

Between the volatile battery life and Android OEMs almost entirely abandoning the non-phablet market, I'm about ready to move to iOS as well. I still think Android's UX blows iOS out of the water these days, but the best UX in the world doesn't help me if the phone is dead, or too big to use one-handed on the go.

akhilcacharya 10y ago

I saw this coming and the rumors of the headphone-less iPhone 7 so I took the plunge on the 6S. I miss quite a few Android features but the experience is still pretty darn good.

dingo_bat 10y ago

You really need to buy a flagship to compare with iPhone.

danieldk 10y ago
But the update experience on flagships (except if you count the Nexus 6P) is absolutely terrible. I had an Android excursion: Nexus 4 -> Moto X 2013 -> Moto X 2014. Motorola was known at the time for quick updates. This meant in practice that they pushed out an extremely buggy Android 5.0 quickly, and then waited half a year to push out a release with fixes. On the Moto X 2013 I had to wait more than a year (!) for Lollipop, although at the time of release the phone was only released a year ago. tl;dr Android updates on non-Nexus flagships are terrible. Updates are typically months late and stop after 12 or 18 months.
- dingo_bat 10y ago
  > But the update experience on flagships (except if you count the Nexus 6P) is absolutely terrible. I don't really agree. I have always got regular security updates on my Samsung flagship phones. Yeah I will have to wait ~6 months for Nougat but that's hardly of any concern. There is no feature in Nougat that I don't already have from Samsung. The only thing you have to care about is the monthly security patches and Samsung has been one of the fastest to issue those every month.

telesilla 10y ago

Unfortunately this also forces me away from the Nexus family. I just can't handle the size of the Nexus 6 - being a fairly petite female a large phone is just unwieldy. I'm not sure the phone developers ever take physical size into consideration. If anyone can recommend a small replacement phone that supports running the original Android OS instead of a OEMified mess?

codedinosaur 10y ago
The Nexus 5x should be great for you. It's a 5-inch screen and may have a couple more years of new Android versions left in it. Or better yet, wait for the new Nexus phones set to be released this year. Should add another year of Android support from Google.
- jaxondu 10y ago
  Nexus 5X is listed at Google support site ( https://support.google.com/nexus/answer/4457705#nexus_devices https://support.google.com/nexus/answer/4457705#nexus_device... ) to have "No guaranteed Android version updates after September 2017". You might want to wait for the new Nexus according to rumours will release in September.
ewoodrich 10y ago
The Nexus 6(p) is the phablet line. The Nexus 5(x) is a normal form factor. I've owned both the 5 and 6, it's definitely a matter of preference. The Nexus 5x would probably be closer to what you are looking for.

Shorel 10y ago

Heh, I just upgraded my Nexus 5 to Android 6 this week. Been in 4.4 for ages, after testing the awful battery life of Android 5 and going back. I find the battery life in 6 be about the same as 4.4, after installing xposed framework and Amplify & Greenify modules. Besides a change in colors from dark to white, and the new lock screen notifications that I'm still thinking about disabling, I don't see a lot in actual improvements using Android 6.

hobarrera 10y ago

Much as I like iOS (as a normal user, not a dev nor power-user), you'll be surprised how poor battery life is. Coming from Jolla, with a huge battery life, I was really disappointed that iOS can't make it an entire day without recharging. Even with bluetooth and gps mostly off.