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It's strange irony that I happened on this link after searching around for a replacement for my 5X, and heading back to HackerNews for a little break. The 5X h

It's strange irony that I happened on this link after searching around for a replacement for my 5X, and heading back to HackerNews for a little break. The 5X has slowed to a crawl after a year of use, and the battery is a catastrophe, requiring me to remember to not forget my anker portable battery, which I also have to remember to not forget to keep charged. I bought the iPhone 7 but the reception on it was so awful, I'm returning it. I've been looking at alternatives and the landscape is ugly: the Samsung S7 has rave reviews but we all know they don't update the software with any attempt at haste or frequency. The Pixel is beyond a joke, given its high pricepoint with a featureset that has 'Google Assistant' as the top bulletpoint. What in the world happened to the phone market that the choices have gotten so dismal? We used to have more variety. We used to have swappable batteries, keyboards, etc. Now it's all the same garbage with designs copied between the hardware vendors. I'm baffled.

johnatwork 10y ago
What about the OnePlus? I'm happy with my iPhone 6S, but I would switch to that if the next iPhone isn't to my taste. A couple of my friends have it, and they seem to love the fast charge ability.
- guitarbill 10y ago
  The OnePlus phones are amazingly good. I loved my OnePlus X, e.g. OLED display is stunning. I honestly think the hardware is better than Apple. But I still switched back to my old iPhone 5. So make sure you don't find Android frustrating. (e.g. be prepared that security updates take far longer than on Nexus')
PaulKeeble 10y ago
There is a bug in the update process that can cause the phone to slow and drain battery like crazy. Doing a reset might clear it up. Its a pain but I did the same thing a couple of times through the various updates and now its behaving as it should for about 6 months.
chaosmonkey 10y ago
Have you considered the Nexus 6P?
- mancerayder 10y ago
  I like the 5" form factor. I don't live in a driving city, so things are in my pocket and used in one hand while walking. Someone downvoted me, I guess the phone landscape really is a fantastic one and I was wrong.
  - detaro 10y ago
    I didn't downvote your top comment, and miss phones with actual keyboards, but Google Pixel and Samsung Galaxy aren't the only phone brands out there. 5" devices still exist. Devices with replaceable batteries still exist. Devices you easily can install custom ROMs on to not rely on the vendor for updates still exist. It's quite possible the combination you like isn't out there, but it's not total monoculture yet.
    - mancerayder 10y ago
      Samsung hardware + custom ROMs are a path I took in the past (with the S4 Active, which by the way was waterproof and had a replaceable battery, but somehow never achieved tremendous popularity). But yeah, it's something worth thinking about. The major appeal of a phone like the Pixel is less the hardware than the vanilla aspect of the Android OS. All another hardware vendor has to do is attempt to stay up to date, and minimize their own bloatware if that's a bottleneck in their time allocation allotment. I'm surprised no one sees that a lot of Android users clamor for a vanilla, up-to-date Android OS phone.
  - jellicle 10y ago
    If you don't want a 5.7" mega-phone, your choices are basically a $100 trash phone or going without.
- cjbprime 10y ago
  My 6P's battery is trash after a year and not replaceable :(
nashashmi 10y ago
I recently hit the LG G4 bootloop issue. Now that I am looking for a new phone (and looking at the pixel) I am finding defect problems pretty much in every phone out there. I think I have come to the temporary conclusion that phones will always have problems even after several replacements. So all I can do is shrug, and ask why they cannot make phones like they used to.
untog 10y ago
> What in the world happened to the phone market that the choices have gotten so dismal? We used to have more variety. We did, but based on your preceding paragraphs, what we need is reliability, not variety. I don't miss keyboards on phones, and swappable batteries don't feel all that different from portable batteries (which are easier to charge). But, you're not wrong. The devices themselves are incredibly unreliable, and feel like they're getting worse. I wonder if it's because there is now a pressure that you must have a new phone out every year, even if you don't have one ready or if it isn't really all that worth releasing.
- marcelluspye 10y ago
  The advantage of a swappable battery isn't having multiple charges worth of power on your person, it's not having to ditch the phone/potentially deal with warranty problems when your battery starts to go. It isn't about short term convenience, but removing a long-term point of failure. For people who aren't interested in shelling out for the latest device when they find their current one suits their needs (modulo hardware failures) this is (or, I guess, apparently only used to be) a selling point.
jacek 10y ago
If you are looking for a hackable device with long support I would recommend Oneplus. I had 1+1 and loved it (but I smashed the screen). If you prefer smaller screen and are a bit adventurous you can try Nextbit Robin. Great design, looks like it has great support and is cheap (<$150 on Amazon). BTW. I currently have 5X and have no problems with it.
avar 10y ago
> The 5X has slowed to a crawl after a year of use. I ordered mine in November 2015 and it still works just as fine. Just as fast, if not faster with the Android updates, and the battery still lasts around a day and a half, i.e. usually 20-40% when I plug it in to charge at night.
- cle 10y ago
  Me too. I initially had some lag problems with it but turned off "Power button instantly locks" and it went away, and it's been smooth sailing since (about a year).
- knz 10y ago
  I have a Nexus 6 (and had a 5 before that). Painfully slow lag seems to be a recurring issue with Android....
  - redorb 10y ago
    Just a counter point - I was going to recommend for him to get a Nexus 6, as a budget / value focused person I bought one new-in-box in September of last year, it's been a great phone. The battery is fine but not changeable easily. My nexus 6 hasn't shown any slow downs etc.. I'm on 6.0.1 and using T mobile. You can pick them up now $260 refurbished or $330 old-new-in-box stock.
    - knz 10y ago
      It's a great phone when he lag isn't bad. It's particularly noticeable when using the camera. My wife had the same phone and same issues, but I also know two people with a 6 who do not have the issue.
    - mszcz 10y ago
      Completely different experience here. N6 worked fine when I bought it about a 1.5y ago, then, when updating, turned on phone encryption (can't be turned off) and it's been a painfully slow ride ever since. Camera's glitchy and veeery slow. It's been getting to the point where I'm on the brink of throwing it against a sidewalk at times ;)
btym 10y ago
> The Pixel is beyond a joke, given its high pricepoint As a tech professional who can afford to be a little fiscally irresponsible once in a while... the Pixel has been by far the best phone I've ever owned. This is the first Android phone I feel has really challenged Apple's obsessively airtight design. I have never noticed a stutter, the camera is absurdly fast and shoots great photos, and the battery lasts nearly twice as long as my 5X. Google has historically provided the cheaper, higher-barrier phones, but they're attempting to catch up while users are becoming lukewarm on Apple. I think they nailed it.
- mancerayder 10y ago
  The battery has about the same capacity as the 5X. Are there hardware tweaks that would make the battery last longer?
  - btym 10y ago
    I'm no hardware expert, but they must have some more intelligent CPU throttling, or something— the Pixel is also using a much newer chip (Snapdragon 821). My 5X was on AOSP, no major modifications. Pixel is on stock. The 5X would only last until about the end of the work day, the Pixel lasts me several hours longer, even with the higher display resolution.
    - TheSpiceIsLife 10y ago
      The great scandal here, the 97' fluoro pink elephant, is that we have come to accept these devices lasting longer than a work day is good. And that's out of the box. Batteries degrade. This time next year expect to be recharging these flagship devices twice a day.
      - MichaelGG 10y ago
        It's terrible and I don't get it. I'm guessing most people have never had a phone that lasts a full 24-36h so they don't know how nice it feels. I had a Huawei Mate 2 and it would easily last two days. Enough that I never worried if I forgot to plug it in. Anytime I went out, I knew it'd last. Apple's obsession with thin has probably hurt us all here. Or is there another explanation why phones don't come with large batteries?
amckinlay 10y ago
Do you use Android's encryption feature? The 5X doesn't have a dedicated encryption chip, so all decryption/encryption is done with special (slower) ARM instructions. This really slows down IO.
bitmapbrother 10y ago
If the Pixel is a joke I can only imagine what it makes all of those iPhone 6s and 6s Plus with battery problems.
slouch 10y ago
The latest Sony Xperia X Compact launched in September and sells for 350$. I dig it, and I think it's priced appropriately.
hsivonen 10y ago
> The Pixel is beyond a joke, given its high pricepoint The price isn't even the biggest problem. Google ships the newest phone that gets Android security updates to only 5 countries: https://support.google.com/store/answer/2462844?hl=en https://support.google.com/store/answer/2462844?hl=en And no, it's not about lack of basic presence. (See Chromecast countries.) And no, it's not about shipping batteries. (See Pixel C countries.)

johnatwork 10y ago

What about the OnePlus? I'm happy with my iPhone 6S, but I would switch to that if the next iPhone isn't to my taste. A couple of my friends have it, and they seem to love the fast charge ability.

guitarbill 10y ago
The OnePlus phones are amazingly good. I loved my OnePlus X, e.g. OLED display is stunning. I honestly think the hardware is better than Apple. But I still switched back to my old iPhone 5. So make sure you don't find Android frustrating. (e.g. be prepared that security updates take far longer than on Nexus')

PaulKeeble 10y ago

There is a bug in the update process that can cause the phone to slow and drain battery like crazy. Doing a reset might clear it up. Its a pain but I did the same thing a couple of times through the various updates and now its behaving as it should for about 6 months.

chaosmonkey 10y ago

Have you considered the Nexus 6P?

mancerayder 10y ago
I like the 5" form factor. I don't live in a driving city, so things are in my pocket and used in one hand while walking. Someone downvoted me, I guess the phone landscape really is a fantastic one and I was wrong.
- detaro 10y ago
  I didn't downvote your top comment, and miss phones with actual keyboards, but Google Pixel and Samsung Galaxy aren't the only phone brands out there. 5" devices still exist. Devices with replaceable batteries still exist. Devices you easily can install custom ROMs on to not rely on the vendor for updates still exist. It's quite possible the combination you like isn't out there, but it's not total monoculture yet.
  - mancerayder 10y ago
    Samsung hardware + custom ROMs are a path I took in the past (with the S4 Active, which by the way was waterproof and had a replaceable battery, but somehow never achieved tremendous popularity). But yeah, it's something worth thinking about. The major appeal of a phone like the Pixel is less the hardware than the vanilla aspect of the Android OS. All another hardware vendor has to do is attempt to stay up to date, and minimize their own bloatware if that's a bottleneck in their time allocation allotment. I'm surprised no one sees that a lot of Android users clamor for a vanilla, up-to-date Android OS phone.
- jellicle 10y ago
  If you don't want a 5.7" mega-phone, your choices are basically a $100 trash phone or going without.
cjbprime 10y ago
My 6P's battery is trash after a year and not replaceable :(

nashashmi 10y ago

I recently hit the LG G4 bootloop issue. Now that I am looking for a new phone (and looking at the pixel) I am finding defect problems pretty much in every phone out there. I think I have come to the temporary conclusion that phones will always have problems even after several replacements. So all I can do is shrug, and ask why they cannot make phones like they used to.

untog 10y ago

> What in the world happened to the phone market that the choices have gotten so dismal? We used to have more variety. We did, but based on your preceding paragraphs, what we need is reliability, not variety. I don't miss keyboards on phones, and swappable batteries don't feel all that different from portable batteries (which are easier to charge). But, you're not wrong. The devices themselves are incredibly unreliable, and feel like they're getting worse. I wonder if it's because there is now a pressure that you must have a new phone out every year, even if you don't have one ready or if it isn't really all that worth releasing.

marcelluspye 10y ago
The advantage of a swappable battery isn't having multiple charges worth of power on your person, it's not having to ditch the phone/potentially deal with warranty problems when your battery starts to go. It isn't about short term convenience, but removing a long-term point of failure. For people who aren't interested in shelling out for the latest device when they find their current one suits their needs (modulo hardware failures) this is (or, I guess, apparently only used to be) a selling point.

jacek 10y ago

If you are looking for a hackable device with long support I would recommend Oneplus. I had 1+1 and loved it (but I smashed the screen). If you prefer smaller screen and are a bit adventurous you can try Nextbit Robin. Great design, looks like it has great support and is cheap (<$150 on Amazon). BTW. I currently have 5X and have no problems with it.

avar 10y ago

> The 5X has slowed to a crawl after a year of use. I ordered mine in November 2015 and it still works just as fine. Just as fast, if not faster with the Android updates, and the battery still lasts around a day and a half, i.e. usually 20-40% when I plug it in to charge at night.

cle 10y ago
Me too. I initially had some lag problems with it but turned off "Power button instantly locks" and it went away, and it's been smooth sailing since (about a year).
knz 10y ago
I have a Nexus 6 (and had a 5 before that). Painfully slow lag seems to be a recurring issue with Android....
- redorb 10y ago
  Just a counter point - I was going to recommend for him to get a Nexus 6, as a budget / value focused person I bought one new-in-box in September of last year, it's been a great phone. The battery is fine but not changeable easily. My nexus 6 hasn't shown any slow downs etc.. I'm on 6.0.1 and using T mobile. You can pick them up now $260 refurbished or $330 old-new-in-box stock.
  - knz 10y ago
    It's a great phone when he lag isn't bad. It's particularly noticeable when using the camera. My wife had the same phone and same issues, but I also know two people with a 6 who do not have the issue.
  - mszcz 10y ago
    Completely different experience here. N6 worked fine when I bought it about a 1.5y ago, then, when updating, turned on phone encryption (can't be turned off) and it's been a painfully slow ride ever since. Camera's glitchy and veeery slow. It's been getting to the point where I'm on the brink of throwing it against a sidewalk at times ;)

btym 10y ago

> The Pixel is beyond a joke, given its high pricepoint As a tech professional who can afford to be a little fiscally irresponsible once in a while... the Pixel has been by far the best phone I've ever owned. This is the first Android phone I feel has really challenged Apple's obsessively airtight design. I have never noticed a stutter, the camera is absurdly fast and shoots great photos, and the battery lasts nearly twice as long as my 5X. Google has historically provided the cheaper, higher-barrier phones, but they're attempting to catch up while users are becoming lukewarm on Apple. I think they nailed it.

mancerayder 10y ago
The battery has about the same capacity as the 5X. Are there hardware tweaks that would make the battery last longer?
- btym 10y ago
  I'm no hardware expert, but they must have some more intelligent CPU throttling, or something— the Pixel is also using a much newer chip (Snapdragon 821). My 5X was on AOSP, no major modifications. Pixel is on stock. The 5X would only last until about the end of the work day, the Pixel lasts me several hours longer, even with the higher display resolution.
  - TheSpiceIsLife 10y ago
    The great scandal here, the 97' fluoro pink elephant, is that we have come to accept these devices lasting longer than a work day is good. And that's out of the box. Batteries degrade. This time next year expect to be recharging these flagship devices twice a day.
    - MichaelGG 10y ago
      It's terrible and I don't get it. I'm guessing most people have never had a phone that lasts a full 24-36h so they don't know how nice it feels. I had a Huawei Mate 2 and it would easily last two days. Enough that I never worried if I forgot to plug it in. Anytime I went out, I knew it'd last. Apple's obsession with thin has probably hurt us all here. Or is there another explanation why phones don't come with large batteries?

amckinlay 10y ago

Do you use Android's encryption feature? The 5X doesn't have a dedicated encryption chip, so all decryption/encryption is done with special (slower) ARM instructions. This really slows down IO.

bitmapbrother 10y ago

If the Pixel is a joke I can only imagine what it makes all of those iPhone 6s and 6s Plus with battery problems.

slouch 10y ago

The latest Sony Xperia X Compact launched in September and sells for 350$. I dig it, and I think it's priced appropriately.

hsivonen 10y ago

> The Pixel is beyond a joke, given its high pricepoint The price isn't even the biggest problem. Google ships the newest phone that gets Android security updates to only 5 countries: https://support.google.com/store/answer/2462844?hl=en https://support.google.com/store/answer/2462844?hl=en And no, it's not about lack of basic presence. (See Chromecast countries.) And no, it's not about shipping batteries. (See Pixel C countries.)