Finally some thoughts...THIS IS GOING TO BE LONG!!
I have had this thing for a while, a white 32gig nexus 6. I have rooted the thing, unlocked the bootloader, kept encrypted, gave ample usage time as my main driver and...
The long and short of it? I think I may be done with the nexus program. Sure, this is fresh software, and hardware but it seems with most of the nexus devices I have owned, its chasing a fix I suppose one could say. I hate to do this, I really do. But I am going to. I am going to complain. And while many may not agree with me, or even offer solutions or fixes, this is not what its about. I know, its a nexus device. I am basically a beta tester, well all are. So here goes.
The screen, its nice. I found it easier to type on using thumb keyboard, my go to keyboard. Its easier to type on then my smaller nexus 5, did, but now since I disabled the navigation keys via xposed (which is a work around in itself, it still works) I find typing a bit harder. Gravity box may need to go. I only use it pretty much for pie controls and expanded power menu, both not really needed. If I need to reboot, I need to go back into exposed and soft reboot to get things to work, as I said, a work around. Not a huge issue and its unfair to judge things by additional software.
I have had a few nexus 5s, two I have broken. All three battery did not last. It don't help I work in what is basically a dead zone, but still. Battery charge before work and if not by the end of my shift, when I got home. The Nexus 6, I DO seem to have to worry a little less about the battery, I can at least forget a spare charging cable. Almost. Battery, well I suppose could be better for the amount that I use it. Right now I think I will need to charge again while I sleep. I do need to get up early in the morning. The quick charger is a nice touch, the device does get warm, but it charges pretty quick, I do like this. I will use a standard charger for over night charging.
Sound? The regular speakers are a nice touch, they seem loud but honestly, I don't really use them. I use apple ear pods for my headphones because they are the loudest and I had them when I got my ipod touch several years ago. I still needed to go in and change mixer paths around some to get decent volume. Doing this, I forgot to make a backup, so you know what this means? Yup, no my system updates for me with out reflashing the system image and wiping my device. This is on me however, but still its another run around. Another fix I had to implement. With the mixer paths tweaked, headphone volume seems better.
Speaking of sound the keyboard clicks seem inconsistent. Sometimes louder then other times. Same with facebook and other apps when I refresh. Haptic feedback seems kind of wonky as well, feeling stronger at times and mushy at others.
Notifications? This is just BS. I wish the LED would work out of the box. Disable ambient display enable LED. How freaking hard would this be? Light flow? yeah, not after reading those reviews. Custom rom? Probably but it would be just yet another FIX I have to do. But I knew this when I got another nexus device. With out actively picking up my device when its out of earshot, I would miss messages.
And messages? I have been using hang outs. Recently a friend told me she was only getting 1/3rd of my message at times. Many times I will send a message and get sending... for over a minute. Wifi. LTE. Its random. The other messenger app that came with the device? Pretty much the same. Maybe I need to turn on delivery notifications. Now, in the phones defense it could be the app on the other phone cutting things off. But I am not so sure, and it could be a carrier problem as sometimes someone will send me a message and I will not get it until sometime later. "Hey, we are here to get you!" Only I will get the message when I am with my ride and on my way. App? Carrier? Device? Who knows. I have noted that depending who is texting me, I will get get an alert of any kind. Sometimes I don't even know until I go into hangouts and check! Not good. Texting is my main form of communication, way more the talking on my device, I mean like 99% of contact is texting. No alert or texts not sending or I don't know I get a text? This is bad mojo for me.
As far as the OS it self? Chrome tabs? I really don't like how I need to now hit the recents button to go through my browser tabs. This one really annoys me even more then I have to swipe every single program or chrome tab away instead of a "clear all" button. I am sure this may be addressed either by a new update which seeing as I modified my system mixer paths, I will need a work around, probably a system wipe to update too and or a custom rom which needs a system wipe. It is to the point I don't want to install games or some apps because of this! But I suppose I am at fault for tinkering with my device. I know what things are. Still. Sure Titanium may work but its still a pain.
Another minor annoyance. The curved back. While I am eating at work or something and I want to do a quick game round with someone, check my tweets, or load chrome or something, the device will not hold still. It spins, rocks and such. It is a bit of a pain. And trying to hold the thing? No chance with out a case. This is one device where I actually WANTED or NEEDED a case because it felt so easy to drop. The edges are almost non existent. Anyone drop their caseless nexus 6 yet!!?!
Apps seem to load slow, I have found myself tapping an app to launch then not sure if my touch was received. I end up pressing something twice and sometimes hit something I did not intend to due to lag. I had the option to un encrypt when I set things up, I opted not to. Looks like that may have been the better option.
So... that is my list of cons at least for me. One major pro however is, there are tools out there that I can use to perhaps address some of my issues. Well, great! That makes having a nexus device fun! What is not fun, and once again, as a nexus user, I did know this, I need to actually MAKE these changes, or fixes or what ever. The downside to this is I will need to wipe my device, find a rom or wait for the next iteration of android and wipe my device and restore to factory settings via ADB or rom. What. A. Bummer.
The camera. Its not too bad, I downloaded the manual camera app, but don't use it. Mostly because trying to in some lighting conditions, well its just easier to use the HDR mode with the built in camera software. Really not the fault of the device, this is personal preference. Results are pretty decent, some shots I can really crank in snapseed. The camera sometimes crashes or hangs however, so that is something to be aware of.
The wifi quick toggle, I end up hitting that to bring up settings. It just disables wifi. I know this, still its a habit and I keep doing it. The two tiered pulldown menu for settings just needs to go. Give me an option to turn off wifi or bring up the settings when I hit that toggle (disable or settings?) It is really annoying. I guess not a fault of the device. Still annoying.
Of course I knew this. I am not knocking the device for this. I bring this up because tinkering with the device is a choice that I made.
Right now I am thinking of cross upgrading to a note 4. The bundled software, the removable battery, the SD slot the probably louder headphone volume. And perhaps that encrypted bootloader to keep me from tinkering. A set it and forget it device.
Maybe I have gotten to the point where I have outgrown tinkering with my devices, or at least have two, one for a daily driver, and the other one for play and experimentation. Which is what lollipop seems to be, an experiment. Some features added to just to be added. The color scheme is cartoony. There probably was really not much wrong with kitkat, other then the name. lollipop would probably work better as a theme then an operating system. Somethings could be optional. Project volta at this point seems to be a way to zap your battery. Lollipop seems more of a unnecessary update bring form over function. It actually feels like more of a skin then android. Perhaps touchwhiz for kitkat?
Who knows. I got the device for the screen size and for an unlocked experience free of carrier and manufacturer garbage. And battery. Well, when I had a note 3 for a short time, the battery seemed way better. Right now I am sitting at 3h 15 min on time. 23% of my battery. About 2 hours left at 13%. And I am at perhaps 1/4 maybe 1/3 brightness.
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Conclusion? I am torn. I really am. The high pixel density is not needed. The device was, at least at the time was probably my best option for what I wanted, a large screen, pure android and a large battery. But it really has not lived up to it.
I like that I can tweak things, but I also hate that I need to. Catch 22. As I said, that AT&T note 4 may be an option on a cross upgrade. Something I can keep games and other apps on and keep my data and just not worry about things. Just use it since the bootloader is encrypted and I can't even root it. Maybe I will enjoy that device more as a daily driver and keep the nexus 6 and hope the next update will make it the device I thought it would be in the first place.