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Reviews of The Nexus 9

I'm really looking forward to reviews from folks I trust here. ;)

I am as well. I was kind of shocked to see some of the reviews it has received. A lot say that the build quality seems kind of cheap. Particularly the back plate that pushes in when you press in the middle. And almost all of the reviews I've seen have said that it gets pretty hot when playing videos/games. I'm interested to see what users on here have to say. Because I was pretty sold on it until the reviews came out. :(
 
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Ugh... I'm so disappointed. I don't want to drag this out but the lag I'm seeing is almost unbearable. I want to justify it because I want to enjoy this thing but there's a good chance I'm going to return it because it's unusable. My nexus 5 puts it to shame.

Honestly, I'm considering returning it and getting a 64 GB iPad air for cheaper and experiencing the jail breaking world. Ugh, I want this to work so bad, and maybe it can be fixed via software updates, but if not, in don't want to be stuck with it.

The paper specs are great, but somehow they missed the mark on the execution. 😢

I'll try to get some video or a screen record if I can, because I think you have to see it to believe it.
 
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I've been playing with mine since I picked it up Monday night. Two things I'm seeing:

1.) Either some type of lag, or a lack of sensitivity of the touch screen. I haven't determined which it is for sure. I can't tell if my touches aren't registering or if there is lag responding to them. I need to play with it more to be sure. Chrome is particularly bad when scrolling pages.

2). This thing gets HOT as heck. Just surfing or reading it's fine, but do anything that puts it to work a bit and it gets uncomfortably hot. It downloaded an update before I could even use it and it got pretty hot doing that, but if I watch Youtube videos or stream videa from my Belkin @TV (Slingbox type device), it gets so hot it's uncomfortable to hold. I don't have a case for it yet, but it seems that will just make it worse.

I love my N5, but if I can't resolve these two issues relatively quickly it's going to go back to Best Buy and get traded for an iPad Air 2. This is the second time I've tried an Android tablet and been disappointed (first was an Asus Transformer Prime, and that was returned due to terrible lagginess and the GPS debacle they had with that model). I went with the iPad at that time and have been using that for 3 years now. I really want an Android tablet and had high hopes for this based on my experience with my N5 for the last year.

~Gary
 
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Yeah not too thrilled about the reviews I am hearing about build quality. I have been waiting for the second gen Nexus 10 and thought this would be it. Think I am going to hang on to my Venue 8 a little bit longer. Not seeing great things on Newegg about the NVIDIA Shield Tablet either.
I was thinking the Tab S is a beast with 8 core cpu and 3GB of RAM. I just don't know how well it handles high graphic games.
 
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Google brought an update; LRX21Q. Without getting too technical, there were some changes to the kernel which greatly improved performance. I manually flashed the images this morning and have not seen any of the lag issues so far that I had previously seen.

I'm pretty excited about this because part of the joy of this tablet for me is the development aspect. I would have missed that greatly. I'm so glad an update was able to improve performance so greatly! Nexus 9, you're back in the game!!
 
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yeah that same update did not install on the nex 9 i use. i will wait for goog to send out a release.

i don't notice any lag currently on the shipping firmware...tab is snappy.... 'course im coming from a 2011 launch day moto xoom.. ;)
If you are trying to flash the image files, the boot loader has to be unlocked. Which will wipe everything (including internal storage).
 
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Doesn't seem to be any Nexus 9 Black Friday deals. Samsung has the larger Tab S 10.5 for $399.

I have been waiting for 2 years for a Nexus 10 successor and not considered anything else. Now that the 10.5" is same price as N9, I'm debating. I've also heard complaints about quality build on the N9, but not enough official reviews to confirm.

Thoughts?
 
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Unfortunately for me, I think the heat I'm seeing while using the tablet is a deal breaker for me. I took a look at the teardown that iFixit did, and I see the heat I'm feeling is coming from the processor, and it has to pass through the battery before I feel it. I am really surprised how hot this thing actually gets, and I've only seen it mentioned in one review online.

I watched tv on the tablet last night for about a half an hour, and the heat was crazy. If that heat is hitting the battery, I don't have a good feeling about the battery's longevity. I usually stream live tv to my tablet while I'm working on my PC for a few hours a week. I just don't have a good feeling about how long this thing will last if I'm generating these temperatures several times a week for an hour or two each time.

Is anyone else playing games or watching videos and seeing this? I'd like to get some feedback from some other users before I make a decision about what to do.

Thanks,

Gary
 
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I mean mine gets hot when I play games or anything else that taxes the processor. But so does my n5 and any other android device I've used for that matter. The kernel should throttle before dangerous temperatures occur, but I don't like it when it gets hot either. As for the battery, that does sound concerning to me as well, though I have no facts to validate the concern. That's something I'll have to look into a bit more.

I have until January 31, 2015 to return through amazon, so I intend on giving this thing a thorough testing before then and before I make my final decision.
 
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