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?

Looks like I've switched to Android

No Nexus 6P news yet as my phone hasn't arrived :( I ordered mine from Saunalahti and at least they seem to have a shortage in 64GB models. Well, I hope it won't take too long. In addition, with the Finnish postal services mostly on strike currently, my case & USB C cables from Amazon haven't arrived either. We'll see when those finally make it here.

As I gave my previous daily driver, i.e. the iPhone 6 to my wife after her iPhone 5 broke down a couple of weeks ago, it meant taking a different phone into active use myself. At first I was using a loaner iPhone 6s+ for a week and as mentioned in the previous post, I was really close to buying myself one, but due to circumstances I had to take my Nexus 5 into use as my daily driver until the 6P arrives. Having been using exclusively Nexus 5 over a week now, I just realized that I haven't actually missed using an iPhone to any meaningful extent. Sure I've missed a good camera every now and then since the Nexus 5 shooter isn't that great, but that's something the 6P should handle with flying colors. Sure there are also a couple of apps I'd still like to use, but those have also good Android alternatives.

In addition, with Android I no longer have to wait for Apple Pay or even Android Pay to become available over here as I got a pilot invitation to Pivo's mobile payments, so now I have a virtual debit card that's linked to my debit account and usable straight via my Nexus 5's NFC. Neat.

Going Android also means that I can skip a costly watch upgrade for now as my LG G Watch is still chugging along even though charging is occasionally a little picky. When it's eventually time to replace it, I have a nicer price range of devices available instead of everything starting from rather expensive.

But so far it looks like I'm rather happy with the current Android offering and even more so when my Nexus 6P arrives. At least my wallet is happy with the saner pricing compared to Apple's current European offering. So it looks like I'm an Android user now, let's see if this lasts. For iOS I still have my old iPad 3 and the broken iPhone 5 is currently being repaired, so that will be a backup phone once it gets back. I will be needing the iOS devices at least for watching hockey, although I'm yet to check whether today's update to Ruutu.fi's Android app finally solved the playback issues they had previously. But for now it's mainly the green bot for me.

Going Phablet - We have a winner!

My phablet ponderings are now over and I have a new phone waiting to be delivered. That phone is the Nexus 6P. It was a really close call as I was really close to buying the iPhone 6s Plus. In fact, I went to a local carrier store to buy myself a 6s+ of my own as my loan period was running out, I was impressed by the camera and the battery life and I just wanted to restore my backup to a new phone and be done with it. However, the store didn't have the 64GB version in stock and the 16GB version is a useless and a shameful joke in 2015, so I actually had to bite the bullet and disable iMessage and all that and move all my stuff to my Nexus 5.

I thought it would be a temporary transition and the next day (it was Sunday when I made my store visit) I would just call the carrier and ask whether any nearby stores have 64GB version in stock. Well, it turned out 64GB wasn't that readily available in stores but by ordering one I could get it within a couple of days. However, the 6P launch was close so I wanted to give it a little more thought before just placing an order for the 6s Plus especially when the Nexus 5 is still a usable phone even though its camera and battery leave lots of room for improvement.

So I hadn't ordered a new phone yet and I was listening to podcasts while going through some routine tasks at work when it dawned on me: My headset control button works consistently now. It was either play or pause depending on the current playback state. Every. Single. Time. I had gotten all too used to my iPhone interpreting 30-40% of the control button clicks as me wanting to activate Siri or voice control when in reality I just wanted to pause playback or resume it.

Now that I realised I wouldn't have to suffer with that unintentional Siri / voice control BS if I used Android, those almost 300€ savings if I chose the 6P started to be really enticing. However, some of the potential savings would have to be spent on additional USB C cables, but it would still leave me with over 200€ more money compared to getting the 6s Plus. As I had also tested the 6s Plus and knew what it was capable of, I thought it would be only fair to give also the 6P a try. If I prefer the 6P, then I've made an excellent choice, but if I don't I can just sell it and throw in the extra money for the 6s Plus and use it without that nagging "what if the 6P is actually better for me" feeling I'd have if I had bought the 6s Plus outright.

But now I'm just waiting for my Nexus 6P to ship. I hope it happens on the next Monday when the phones become available in Finland. A case and some Anker USB C cables (yes, I've read that Google engineer piece so I decided to buy my cables from a manufacturer with a good track record) are also on their way from Amazon. More stuff to come when the phone arrives.

Going Phablet - But Which One?

It looks like I've had yet another hiatus in blogging, but at least this time I have a good reason for it. My previous post was published two days before my daughter was born, so for the last two months the life at home has been somewhat busy :)

What comes to the new Apple TV, it's now been released and fortunately my predictions about the Finnish pricing were a little bit off and it's not quite as expensive as I anticipated even though it's not exactly cheap anyway. I still haven't got one as the input methods are currently restricted to the on-screen keyboard, which is quite incompatible with my blood pressure, so I'm hoping they get at least the Remote app updated or allow Bluetooth keyboards. My Nexus Player is running just fine while I'm waiting and seeing if Apple gets their stuff together.

But the main topic of this post is me getting a new phone. My wife's iPhone 5 broke down, so she got my iPhone 6 and as I've been wanting to try out a phablet-sized device anyway, I'm now in the market for a new phone. I actually have an iPhone 6s+ from work in my use until the next Monday, so I'll get at least some feel of that size and what it's like to use.

Currently my selection is pretty much a race between the iPhone 6s+ and the Nexus 6P which becomes available here in Finland on November 23. So let's check the benefits and downsides of each choice.

The iPhone 6s+ is a nice device, but its price in Finland is anything but nice. The 64GB version costs a whopping 969€. 64GB is a must here since 16GB on a late 2015 really expensive flagship with a 4k camera is just a bad joke, shame on you Apple. On my loaner device I also had an issue with registering taps on Safari, but that seems to be fixed by setting 3D Touch to require a firmer press. Keeping my fingers crossed for that. However, if I go with the 6s+, it means that an Apple Watch is on the list sooner or later and that's quite expensive too. I do have an Android Wear device that I can use for notifications, but the 3rd party watch support on iOS leaves a lot to be desired.

On the software front things are more favorable as the apps I use still have a slight design edge on iOS even though Android is gaining fast thanks to Material Design. There's also Ruutu.fi's service which I use for watching Finnish hockey. It does exist on Android as well, but for some reason they just can't get the live broadcasts to work on a satisfactory level on Android despite multiple fixes to their app.

On the hardware front one of the nice things is that Apple apparently has improved waterproofing of the 6s generation quite a bit, so I might not need to get myself a bulky waterproof case like I did for the iPhone 6. Those waterproof cases are also widely available for iPhones, but unfortunately I haven't seen that with the Nexus series. The 6s+ also has optical image stabilization for photos AND video, which is rather nice. The battery is a mixed case. It's much beefier than on the smaller iPhone and thanks to iOS's power management it can provide a nice battery life despite being not that impressive on paper. 3D Touch is also an interesting addition, but with the current app support its actual usefulness is still somewhat unclear.

What comes to the Nexus 6P, 699€ for the 64GB model and 50€ less for a still usable 32GB model is a clear winner here as the difference is almost 300€ when comparing 64GB to 64GB 6s+ and even more if I choose the 32GB version, but that's quite unlikely as 50€ more for much improved futureproofing isn't that much and it's basically half of what Apple charges for the storage tiers. As I mentioned, I already have an Android Wear device so I would have a fully-featured wrist companion right away. Granted, the LG G Watch is a rather old device and it doesn't support all the goodies Android Wear offers nowadays, so a watch upgrade would be on the roadmap also with the Nexus, but the models still tend to be cheaper than the Apple Watch. I also have a Nexus Player already, so ecosystem-wise I'd be more set for the Nexus.

The software side is a mixed bag, though. Like I mentioned previously, Ruutu.fi's Android app is rather horrible and I'm not holding my breath for them to provide an Android TV app, while an app for the new Apple TV is rather likely. Then again, with open NFC access software vendors are able to provide some nice solutions for e.g. mobile payments (Pivo's service should be opening for public access soon).

The hardware side has also its benefits and downsides. The camera actually beats the iPhone 6s+ especially on low light situations according to tests I've seen. It has also USB type C, which is nice, symmetrical and modern, but that also means that I need to add some extra cables to the purchase price since I need charging capabilities in my car and at the office too. I do have lots of Lightning cables, micro-USB cables as well Qi wireless chargers, but as the 6P omitted wireless charging, the only option is to get some extra USB C cables, which can be of really varying quality.

One thing that also bothers me is reports of the back glass breaking spontaneously. This seems to happen especially when the phone is subject to sudden temperature variations. When you keep in mind that I live in Finland and winter is coming, this has the potential to be a huge issue as I can easily subject my phone to 40C differences in temperature by coming in from -20C outside to +21C or so inside and vice versa.

Then again, there have been reports of surprisingly good cellular reception with the 6P, so if that is true it's a definite plus for the device.

When considering the points above, the choice won't be an easy one and I really wish I had also the 6P for a test run before investing a lot of money into either one. Well, let's see if the choice becomes clearer during the weekend.

Apple TV Rumors

In the previous post I was thinking about keeping my Mac mini booted to Windows 10 while waiting for El Capitan to be released. Well, that experiment lasted for two days. While Windows 10 was quick and snappy, something was bothering me and at least one thing was appearance and typography. I ran into font issues on some websites and maybe it's just me, but I simply prefer the aesthetics of Mac OS X to that of Windows. In addition, I have quite many OS X apps I've grown to depend on and wouldn't like to shell out money for Windows equivalents (if those exist) right now.

But the main topic I wanted to cover in this post is the forthcoming new Apple TV. A newly surfaced 9to5Mac rumor indicates that the device would cost $149 or $199. If those prices (for different storage options maybe?) are valid, then I guess the European equivalents will be around 199€ and 249€. Those would be quite expensive when a rather competent Nexus Player can be bought for just 99€. It would be relatively expensive even if there's a straight Dollar to Euro conversion (which there won't be with the current exchange rates), so the device itself will have to be rather amazing to justify the extra cost when considering that all my current needs are pretty well served with the Nexus Player as it handles YouTube, Plex, Netflix, and even AirPlay (with AirTight) just fine. I don't bother discussing the rumored $40 channel package subscription Apple's allegedly going to offer for the Apple TV as I don't think the service will be coming to Europe – let alone Finland – anytime soon, if ever.

Carrying just one phone, security, Windows 10, and stuff

Whoa, it's been quite a while since the last update and quite a lot has happened since that. My phone/watch dilemma has indeed been solved at least temporarily now as I've been carrying mostly my iPhone 6 around while the Nexus 5 has been relaying calls and text messages. However, at home I've used the Nexus 5 quite a lot as it has a remote app for the Nexus Player that's our current go-to media player with a native Plex and a working YouTube (unlike the Apple TV 2, which never got an update for the new YouTube API).

Even though I've used also Android devices while primarily using my iPhone, I had to give a serious thought to removing the Android devices from active use thanks to multiple security issues piling up around the Black Hat conference. However, now my Nexus 5 has received the initial Stagefright patch and was never vulnerable e.g. to Certifi-Gate (oh how I hate that name), so at least I'm good to go for a while even though the vulnerabilities made the platform's difficulties with updating devices rather evident. Let's just hope that the manufacturers keep their promises about starting to deliver more frequent security updates. In addition, Google could also step up its game. With a massive hole like Stagefright it was rather uncool of them to leave the 2012 Nexus 7 devices unpatched by referring to reaching their 3-year update limit. They could've ended the device's updates on a high note by supplying that all-important fix, but now they chose to stick to an arbitrary cut-off date instead. That cut-off date was also based on the original US release, so no one living in Europe, for example, got the updates even for that 3-year period. Now I'm also waiting for the next security update round for my Nexus 5 as the initial Stagefright patch turned out to be incomplete. With things like security updates I'm getting really fed up with the slow staggered rollout. At least with my iPhone I can get the update as soon as the server load allows it, and the delay is typically only a couple of hours at worst, unlike days or weeks with the Android update rollout schedule.

Windows 10 also came out recently. I had been using the preview versions on a couple of laptops (a Dell Latitude D620 and an ASUS T-100 hybrid) earlier on, but after the actual release I updated also the Boot Camp installation on my Mac mini as well as Windows 7 on the Dell Precision T1500 tower I bought from the office when old gear was sold to employees. Now all four machines are running Windows 10 and I quite like it. Yes, I'm aware of the privacy issues that have now surfaced, but most of them were there for 8.1 already and I disabled the options already back then. Who knows, I might actually try keeping my Mac mini booted mostly to Windows 10 while waiting for the El Capitan release of Mac OS X. That way I could really see if this could be a useful OS for me, especially when I'm quite impressed about how snappy things are on my hardware compared to Yosemite. We'll see if El Capitan improves on that front.