Android Annoyances

So, I've been living with the Nexus 6P as my daily driver for a while now. In general I've been satisfied, but it's obvious that the honeymoon's over and some issues are really starting to annoy me:

• 6.0.1 update seemed to make the battery life somewhat worse. I now have to resort to occasional top-up charges during the day despite the beefy battery.
• I keep missing my e-mails due to notifications not firing. Looks like I'm not alone.
• It would be nice to get my work email on my phone (however, our workplace policies are more to blame than Android here).
• Some apps aren't just as good as their iOS counterparts. For example 1Password has an Android version with Nexus Imprint support in development, but it's sure taking its time to arrive. Granted, there are some apps that aren't currently even possible on iOS and I do like the fact that I can pay with my phone on Android as Apple Pay is still not available in Finland, but still some of key apps I use regularly not being as good on Android as they are on iOS is annoying.
• I just can't seem to find any decent waterproof cases for the 6P. iPhones have lots of options available and I was happy with the Catalyst case I had for my iPhone 6.

If the camera weren't as good as it is especially in the low light, I'd most likely be eyeing the 6s Plus right now, but with the camera being actually good I'll try to survive with the 6P for a little longer and hope that the problems get sorted out.

UPDATE: My 6P was kind enough to remind me that I had actually forgotten one issue from my list, i.e. wifi just deciding to stop transferring any data at some random point in time. I need to toggle wifi off and back on again every now and then to be able to e.g. open links. Annoying.

Nexus 6P

Well, life with two small kids is such that there's often not enough time for blogging, so this entry is a little bit late. I was thinking about writing my immediate reactions to getting my Nexus 6P, but I've had it for a week and a half now when I have the time to write something about it.

I guess the most interesting question is whether it's any good, and the answer to that is oh yes it is, definitely. I've gotten used to the size quickly, the display is just amazing, the camera is actually good and takes surprisingly good shots in low light, and also the battery gets me through the day without worries even though it's not quite iPhone 6s Plus caliber.

As the 6P isn't exactly cheap, I ordered a Spigen Rugged Armor case for mine together with some glass screen protectors from CaseBase. I think I have to mention that the Spigen case isn't even nearly as bulky as the name Rugged Armor suggests, but I'm still confident that it can save me from some extensive damage when I inevitably drop the phone at some point. In addition, as the phone charges via USB-C, I needed some extra cables and having read about some of the cables not being up to spec, I decided to get cables from a brand with good reputation. I ended up ordering some Anker cables in both USB 2 and USB 3 versions and they didn't let me down. According to the CheckR app all of them are up to spec. I also got myself a USB-C OTG cable, so now I think I just need myself another quick charger, as the charging speed I get with the charger that came in the box is quickly spoiling me. I'd need one at least for the office.

The Nexus Imprint fingerprint scanner is also great and well up to par with at least the TouchID sensor I had on my iPhone 6. I didn't have the 6s+ at the same time so it's hard to say which one is actually faster, but both the 6s+ TouchID and the Nexus Imprint are fast. The location of the scanner also seemed odd at first, but I quickly noticed it's right where my finger lands anyway, and the Rugged Armor helps with the alignment. Now we only need to get fingerprint authentication support to more Android apps. I'm looking especially at you, 1Password and Pivo.

Android 6.0 Marshmallow on the phone is really snappy and makes a nice combo with my Android Wear watch. I haven't missed iOS a bit during my time with the 6P. The only downside is that my backup Nexus 5 now feels slow.

It should be clear that as the overall verdict I'm a really happy Android and Nexus 6P camper now. But could we just get waterproof Nexus phones next year?