Broken Nexus 5 Doesn't Help with My Watch Dilemma

Wow, it's been over a month since my last update. I have to pick up the pace again. What comes to the previous one, I'm happy to report that my LG G Watch is still alive but not that happy to report it's getting more and more picky about actually charging when it's placed on the charging cradle, so I'm not completely sure for how long it's still going to serve me.

But now to the actual topic of this post, my Nexus 5. Last week it unfortunately fell display-first on a tile floor from not that high, and now the display is partially shattered. Fortunately the breakage isn't something that downright prevents using the phone, but one approximately 2 cm long crack is rather annoying as it's clearly visible also when the display is active. The longer cracks can be seen when the display is off or when trying to view an active display from an angle.

I'm not sure if the cracks are visible in the picture above, but maybe zooming in helps.

So while the phone can still be used, the cracks are something that I more or less can't tolerate for long on a phone I'm going to use actively, so something needs to be done sooner or later.

Repair prices around here seem to start from 150 € which in itself is quite OK, but when considering that the Nexus 5 itself cost me just 400 €, I'm a little bit reluctant to spend that money on repairing old tech that's still good enough e.g. for testing purposes and has a couple of issues (mediocre camera & lousy battery) affecting the actual use of the phone.

This is where the watch dilemma kicks in. As mentioned earlier, I'm not quite confident about my LG G Watch's longevity and I've been wanting a better smart watch for a while now. However, fancier Android Wears are around 270 € - 350 € depending on the model and now that the rumored iOS support wasn't revealed in I/O, getting a better Android Wear device would mean fixing or upgrading my Android phone as well. Fixing would be cheaper, but when considering how much worse the camera on my Nexus 5 is compared to my iPhone 6, I'm not quite confident I would be happy with the Nexus 5 as my daily driver. However, if the rumored 2015 refresh turns out to be true, then things might naturally change.

But currently it's starting to look like the Apple Watch would actually be the cheapest option in my very specific case (yes, I'm perfectly aware how marginal a scenario this is) to get a good phone + good watch combo up and running as I already have a fully functional iPhone 6 that doesn't have any pending repairs. While there's nothing certain expect for "2015" as the Finnish release date, the Apple Store app was recently introduced also in Finland, so that could be one sign about the Apple Watch release not being too far away. Interesting times.

LG G Watch Died?

This is what my LG G Watch looks like now. Earlier today I noticed that the screen was off (it should be displaying the time constantly) and it wouldn't wake up no matter what I did. Even though at that point I was supposed to have around 75% of battery left, I thought there had been some mysterious battery drain that I've encountered a couple of times. So I got home and put my watch into the charger and left it there while doing chores around the house. When I came back after a few hours, the watch was sitting in a Firmware Update screen and wouldn't react to anything. I even tried holding the reset pin down for half a minute, still nothing.

Any ideas for resolving this are highly appreciated. I've already got used to wearing a watch again so I'd like to get one back into service. Or then I might just have to go and get myself a Pebble :P

Phone/Watch Dilemma Revisited

OK, so the initial Apple Watch reviews have arrived and it looks like I'll stick with my reaction after the pricing was revealed, i.e. skip it at least for now.

The most disappointing thing I discovered in the reviews was that it's actually worse in its watch function than Android Wear. John Gruber writes:

For non-watch wearers, Apple Watch’s functionality as a timepiece should be just fine. Flicking your wrist or tapping the screen is far more convenient than taking your iPhone out of your pocket or bag to check the time. But for regular watch wearers, it’s going to take some getting used to, and it’s always going to be a bit of an inconvenience compared to an always-glance-able watch. It’s a fundamental conflict: a regular watch never turns off, but a display like Apple Watch’s cannot always stay on.

Umm, a smart watch display can indeed stay always on, I've had my LG G Watch configured that way for almost as long as I've had the watch and I really like being able to check the time without any special gestures and/or waiting for the display to wake up.

The slowness that Nilay Patel discovered isn't that enticing either, although that's supposed to be fixed in forthcoming software updates.

So in its current form I'm not going to spend 3 times as much as I paid for my G Watch on the Apple Watch especially when the timepiece functionality would get compromised compared to what I have now. Sure there would be some nice additions in the Apple Watch, but currently they're not enough for me to justify the cost and compromises in the watch functionality. In addition, iOS support for Android Wear is starting to look like a real option (http://www.macrumors.com/2015/04/09/google-android-wear-ios/), so I'm eagerly waiting for that. I just hope Apple won't pull a dick move in App Store review.

Bluetooth Parity

I've had Android 5.1 on my Nexus 5 for a while now (I was impatient and ended up flashing the OTA image once the links appeared on Android news sites) and I just realized I haven't blogged about an important improvement I discovered. The improvement in question is audio playback via Bluetooth. Now my Nexus works just as well as my iPhone does in my car, i.e. connects quickly and starts playback smoothly without any initial choppiness. Finally.

Phone/Watch Dilemma

Ok, I'm getting seriously tired of carrying two phones with me. I'd really like that one phone to be my iPhone 6 as it blows my Nexus 5 out of the water in both camera and battery departments and the travel card reader enabled by Android's less restricted NFC doesn't quite make up for those deficiencies.

The problem is that I'd still like to carry a smartwatch, so I'd need something that can pair with my iPhone. Pebbles would do that, but their appearance is somewhat too clunky for my taste. Another option would be for Google to release their rumored iOS compatibility for Android Wear soon. My wallet would like that as I could use my existing gear.

Oh well, maybe I'll wait for the Apple Watch reviews to get out before making any decisions. Even though the Apple Watch pricing is rather prohibitive, the UX advocate in me would appreciate how it will undeniably provide the best possible integration with the iPhone (OK, the playground isn't fair here as e.g. Pebble doesn't get similar access to the system). But once the reviews arrive, I know whether I should go and get myself a Pebble or cough up the money for the Apple Watch. The next couple of weeks would be a great time for Google to release the iOS support for Android Wear :)

Apple Watch? I think I'll pass, at least for now.

So, now we know more about the Apple Watch including its pricing, and especially the European prices are a little bit too high. Finland isn't getting the watch in the first round (all those who were surprised, please raise your hand now. Anyone?), but a quick look at the German Apple Store revealed that the model I was after (42mm Sport) sells for 449€, which is a little bit more than I was prepared to pay for a smartwatch. In addition, if anything's certain it's that the Finnish prices won't be lower than the German ones, but no one would be surprised if they were even higher.

Combine the price with some UX worries, and it seems more than likely that my G Watch will carry me at least to the gen 2 milestone, if not even further (possibly superseded by another Android Wear device).

The recent price increases (thanks, weak Euro!) for Apple laptops have also got me to consider if my next primary machine could be something else. They are nice machines for sure, but I can't bend over backwards to deal with diminishing upgradeability/repairability combined with ever-increasing prices.

This will be a familiar sight for a while

As you might guess, this means that Android 5.1 has been released: http://officialandroid.blogspot.fi/2015/03/android-51-unwrapping-new-lollipop.html

Yes, I do know that mashing that Check for Update button every now and then won't make the update appear any faster, but that doesn't stop me from doing that.

This also reveals one aspect where Google has some catching up to do. iOS 8.2 was also released today and I was running it within the first hour of availability. That's how it should be.

Oh well, I hope the update hits my Nexus 5 soon.