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Official Goodbye Gnex Thread

My main problem was dynamic range, which seems to be pretty poor. Either things where whited out or too dark if there is a lot of light and darkness in a picture.

Mine doesn't really have issues with focus or anything like many people claim though.

Yeah I agree, it's always too dark or too light, I know that when I deposit checks with it, it never works on the first try...

I was very happy with my GNex - typically, I start itching for something new around the 1yr mark, but the GNex kept me satisfied right up until the last couple, even through a 1 week dalliance with a Galaxy S3. Jelly Bean really pumped new life into the phone.

Last week, though, a Moto X - clad in navy blue and silver - arrived at my doorstep and I knew my relationship with the GNex was over. The GNex got wiped clean & had the factory image re-applied yesterday.

In RE: the camera, it's distinctly mediocre. Better than the Galaxy Nexus, which is not exactly high praise, but definitely not as good as the iPhone 5S that one of my coworkers has. I don't care all that much - my digital SLR hangs from my shoulder many days, and after nearly 6 years of smartphones, it's a rare day when I snap an image with one that I'll care about a week later.


Man, I feel like we are the same person haha, I have been itching for a new phone since the beginning of the year :|

However, I have been flashing roms like crazy, trying new builds, everything...it has kept me occupied. I am just getting on kitkat and love it...I am actually going to be upset if I don't get to try out the new Paranoid Android before I switch phones.
 
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Man, I feel like we are the same person haha, I have been itching for a new phone since the beginning of the year :|

However, I have been flashing roms like crazy, trying new builds, everything...it has kept me occupied. I am just getting on kitkat and love it...I am actually going to be upset if I don't get to try out the new Paranoid Android before I switch phones.

Yeah... most of the time when I flashed ROMs on my phone, I was looking for speed increases or battery life. I was running Cyanogenmod 11 on my phone, but mostly because of small tweaks that I could easily have done without or done in a different way. Now that the software and hardware is leveling out a little, speed increases aren't as important/noticeable, and my Moto X battery life is crazy good.

I'm much more inclined to "play" on my tablet, because it's not as important that my tablet be functional all the time. So I've got my Nexus 7, where I can flash or tweak or whatever, and my phone can be stable and functional every day. Plus, with the soak tests and leaks of 4.4 going on, it's clear that Moto is committed to updating the phone, and Google is pushing many of their updates through Play Services and various market apps now - meaning it's less likely that the phone will be left behind on software versions.
 
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Yeah... most of the time when I flashed ROMs on my phone, I was looking for speed increases or battery life. I was running Cyanogenmod 11 on my phone, but mostly because of small tweaks that I could easily have done without or done in a different way. Now that the software and hardware is leveling out a little, speed increases aren't as important/noticeable, and my Moto X battery life is crazy good.

I'm much more inclined to "play" on my tablet, because it's not as important that my tablet be functional all the time. So I've got my Nexus 7, where I can flash or tweak or whatever, and my phone can be stable and functional every day. Plus, with the soak tests and leaks of 4.4 going on, it's clear that Moto is committed to updating the phone, and Google is pushing many of their updates through Play Services and various market apps now - meaning it's less likely that the phone will be left behind on software versions.

I was pretty much just looking for new experiences with ROMs. I will agree though the battery life for the GNex is pretty awful. Been running with an extended battery for about a year and a half now, definitely makes things a lot better.
 
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I had just made a thread about finding a new phone that got deleted...alas. Anyway, I went to VZW yesterday to give each top tier phone a test run. Here's what I thought:

1. Moto X: Clearly a mid-level phone. Screen was way behind all the other premier phones. Size, shape and build quality were top notch. Processor seemed less fluid and quick as the S4/G2. Internet speed appeared noticeably slower as well. Really nice to hold in your hand, though.

2. S4: Just kind of seemed "meh" to me. TouchWiz was weird. Screen was nice, phone was fast and fluid. Internet speed was screaming fast. Very nice thin design. Hate the physical home button.

3. HTC One: I put this phone down immediately after seeing the insane homepage skin it was running. Hideous. I also thought the phone itself looked old.

4. LG G2: Easily the winner. Amazing screen. Not much bigger than the Galaxy Nexus. Super fast processor. Internet was by far the fastest. UI didn't irk me like the S4 or One. If I upgrade this is 100% the phone I will get.

Just my $0.02
 
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I had just made a thread about finding a new phone that got deleted...alas. Anyway, I went to VZW yesterday to give each top tier phone a test run. Here's what I thought:

1. Moto X: Clearly a mid-level phone. Screen was way behind all the other premier phones. Size, shape and build quality were top notch. Processor seemed less fluid and quick as the S4/G2. Internet speed appeared noticeably slower as well. Really nice to hold in your hand, though.

2. S4: Just kind of seemed "meh" to me. TouchWiz was weird. Screen was nice, phone was fast and fluid. Internet speed was screaming fast. Very nice thin design. Hate the physical home button.

3. HTC One: I put this phone down immediately after seeing the insane homepage skin it was running. Hideous. I also thought the phone itself looked old.

4. LG G2: Easily the winner. Amazing screen. Not much bigger than the Galaxy Nexus. Super fast processor. Internet was by far the fastest. UI didn't irk me like the S4 or One. If I upgrade this is 100% the phone I will get.

Just my $0.02

I'm also on VZW and if I was going to stay with them I'd be leaning towards the G2 too.

I do like the hardware design of the HTC One and I'm not a fan of any manufacturer skin. From what I've read, you can disable many of the HTC skin features.....still impacting processing and storage though.

Anyway, I got a couple of months before I can switch and switch I will. VZW (and GPRS phones in general) are too limiting. Also, I spend about 30% of my time in Europe and it's all GSM there. So I'm switching to probably TMo and will have much more choice.

Front runner now is Nexus 5. I'm hoping that maybe a higher-end moto device might come out before I decide....like the overall device design, customization and stock android experience.

We'll see!
 
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I ordered a Nexus 5 last week, which I should get by early December, which means I'll have a good week to play around with it before my VZW contract ends in mid-December and I make the switch to T-Mobile.

But I won't be fully saying good by to the GNex, it's still a nice handheld device, so I'll probably hold onto it and flash a 4.4 ROM after I don't have to worry about it having any issues because it's not my phone anymore.
 
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I ordered a Nexus 5 last week, which I should get by early December, which means I'll have a good week to play around with it before my VZW contract ends in mid-December and I make the switch to T-Mobile.

But I won't be fully saying good by to the GNex, it's still a nice handheld device, so I'll probably hold onto it and flash a 4.4 ROM after I don't have to worry about it having any issues because it's not my phone anymore.

Yeah I know when I move onto my next device I will probably treat my Gnex more as a Music player when I want to not use up my Phone battery :)
 
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Read the ars technica review of the g2. It sounds like there are some pretty serious bugs in their skin.

Just my opinion, but to me the phone felt cheap and the skin overdone. They do have on screen keys but they changed the multi-task button to a menu button. Why do the Android manufacturers always mess with the buttons?
 
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Read the ars technica review of the g2. It sounds like there are some pretty serious bugs in their skin.

Just my opinion, but to me the phone felt cheap and the skin overdone. They do have on screen keys but they changed the multi-task button to a menu button. Why do the Android manufacturers always mess with the buttons?

The LG G2, things are wrong about it? I haven't really looked into the device as I am most likely going for the Note 3 :)
 
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My wife got the note 3. She really likes it, but she came from an older Samsung low end model. Too big and too Samsungy for me, but fast as heck. The build is better than most Samsung models too.

Yeah I am worried about it being too Samsungy for me too, I really love Vanilla Android but I want a big phone, so it's going to be a huge decision for me when the time comes, which is soon.
 
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So I have a question; is this phone still viable? I'm looking to get a new phone (new to me that is). I realize that this is 2 year old technology. I'm also looking at, and leaning more towards, a Nexus 4.

So, this phone has a removable battery, does it also have the capability of using external SD cards? Or is it still limited to the 16 Gig of internal memory? I understand that it can still be kept up to date, mostly, with the current ROM's (I saw that playfulgod has put out an unofficial cm11 ROM).

My biggest reason for even thinking of this phone is that it's $20 to $30 cheaper than the N4, on average.
 
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So I have a question; is this phone still viable? I'm looking to get a new phone (new to me that is). I realize that this is 2 year old technology. I'm also looking at, and leaning more towards, a Nexus 4.

So, this phone has a removable battery, does it also have the capability of using external SD cards? Or is it still limited to the 16 Gig of internal memory? I understand that it can still be kept up to date, mostly, with the current ROM's (I saw that playfulgod has put out an unofficial cm11 ROM).

My biggest reason for even thinking of this phone is that it's $20 to $30 cheaper than the N4, on average.

Viable.....that is kind of subjective. Anyway I'm still using a VZW GN for my everyday phone and it works OK, not even using a 3rd party ROM, it is stock.

My GN is 32gb, no SD storage. And....even thought most people want to identify the N5 as the first LTE Nexus, the award actually goes to the VZW GN. Battery life is pretty poor and the screen is OK but not great by today's standards.

Also remember that the GN is not being supported by Google with updates moving forward (No official Kit Kat for the GN). For $20 - $30 more, I would go with the N4 just for the Google support.

The best choice, IMO, is the N5 for Google support, LTE and the screen.

Hope this helps.
 
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Viable.....that is kind of subjective. Anyway I'm still using a VZW GN for my everyday phone and it works OK, not even using a 3rd party ROM, it is stock.

My GN is 32gb, no SD storage. And....even thought most people want to identify the N5 as the first LTE Nexus, the award actually goes to the VZW GN. Battery life is pretty poor and the screen is OK but not great by today's standards.

Also remember that the GN is not being supported by Google with updates moving forward (No official Kit Kat for the GN). For $20 - $30 more, I would go with the N4 just for the Google support.

The best choice, IMO, is the N5 for Google support, LTE and the screen.

Hope this helps.

Thanks. Yeah I knew that the official Google support ended with 4.3.

The Verizon GNex doesn't have SD card support, what about the GSM 16 Gig phone?

Is battery life poor across all versions of the phone?

Thanks again.
 
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Thanks. Yeah I knew that the official Google support ended with 4.3.

The Verizon GNex doesn't have SD card support, what about the GSM 16 Gig phone?

Is battery life poor across all versions of the phone?

Thanks again.

Well....since I've been LOCKED IN to VZW for the last two years, really haven't paid too much attention to the GSM model. IIRC, no SD on any of the GN's (SD is a Google no-no on a Nexus class device).

Battery life should be marginally better since I don't believe the GSM (again IIRC) GN supports LTE. The LTE radio on the VZW GN was/is a pig.
 
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Yeah I am worried about it being too Samsungy for me too, I really love Vanilla Android but I want a big phone, so it's going to be a huge decision for me when the time comes, which is soon.
Well we might be in luck. Motorola is rumored to release a phablet next year. It's called the moto X-play......not sure if that will be the name though. I hope its true because I want this to be my next phone.
 
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I was very happy with my GNex - typically, I start itching for something new around the 1yr mark, but the GNex kept me satisfied right up until the last couple, even through a 1 week dalliance with a Galaxy S3. Jelly Bean really pumped new life into the phone.

Last week, though, a Moto X - clad in navy blue and silver - arrived at my doorstep and I knew my relationship with the GNex was over. The GNex got wiped clean & had the factory image re-applied yesterday.

In RE: the camera, it's distinctly mediocre. Better than the Galaxy Nexus, which is not exactly high praise, but definitely not as good as the iPhone 5S that one of my coworkers has. I don't care all that much - my digital SLR hangs from my shoulder many days, and after nearly 6 years of smartphones, it's a rare day when I snap an image with one that I'll care about a week later.

Generally when I hear people complaining about the camera, its like "Really?". Its a damn cell phone. Generally when I'm taking pictures with it, its for something where the quality just needs to be "okay" because its going to be compressed and uploaded to the internet. My DSLR (or hell, even my 5 year old point and shoot) will outsnap a cell phone ANY day.
 
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So I have a question; is this phone still viable? I'm looking to get a new phone (new to me that is). I realize that this is 2 year old technology. I'm also looking at, and leaning more towards, a Nexus 4.

So, this phone has a removable battery, does it also have the capability of using external SD cards? Or is it still limited to the 16 Gig of internal memory? I understand that it can still be kept up to date, mostly, with the current ROM's (I saw that playfulgod has put out an unofficial cm11 ROM).

My biggest reason for even thinking of this phone is that it's $20 to $30 cheaper than the N4, on average.

Honestly, this is a great phone with a whole hell of a lot of capability. We have so much support when it comes to Rooting/Roming, so if you're looking to get this device and tinker with it to get the most out of it, you will not be disappointed. Right now I am running a 4.4 Rom even though we lost OTA support from Google, and it's not like Verizon is going to ever release another update anyhow, they're still trying to test 4.3.

Anyhow, this device is awesome, lacks a little in camera but every smartphone isn't really a great camera yet, unless you get that windows phone that is basically a camera lol.

This phone is still buttery smooth and can still kick some butt when it comes to gaming.

Just be aware, the battery life isn't much if you keep stock, I have rooted and rom'd with a good battery life saving Kernel and got an extended battery to last me about 2 days on a single charge.

Well we might be in luck. Motorola is rumored to release a phablet next year. It's called the moto X-play......not sure if that will be the name though. I hope its true because I want this to be my next phone.

Well who knows by then I might have a new device and it will be too late for me to go back and trade in to get that one, will be interesting to see what the next motorola device related to the Moto-X is though :)

Generally when I hear people complaining about the camera, its like "Really?". Its a damn cell phone. Generally when I'm taking pictures with it, its for something where the quality just needs to be "okay" because its going to be compressed and uploaded to the internet. My DSLR (or hell, even my 5 year old point and shoot) will outsnap a cell phone ANY day.

Couldn't agree more, phones aren't meant to be cameras...yet...One day I believe the technology will catch up to make our smart phones into great cameras, and I know camera companies realize this is going to happen at some point, we just need to be patient and wait. Furthermore, it is known that the camera on the GNex stunk going into it, just a trade-off google went with.
 
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Apparently, KitKat is giving developers headaches as far as finding root on the Moto X. It seems Google really did make it a lot harder with the new secure kernel. Combine that with Samsung Knox, and root may be an after thought for KitKat devices in the future.

Yeah I saw that coming. I really can't see why they would make it really difficult, especially for devices like the N5, since it's basically a developer device.

Oh well, users always find a way :)
 
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