back to article Hands on with Google's Nexus 5X, 6P Android Marshmallow mobes

Google has updated its Nexus smartphone range with two new handsets powered by the latest build of Android, codenamed Marshmallow. "Nexus is for Android because we've designed it," Google's newish CEO Sundar Pichai told the press at Tuesday's launch in San Francisco, meaning that the new phones have been designed to squeeze …

  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    As ever no micro SD so no thanks, the same reason I won't buy Apple as it's a deal breaker.

    1. Infernoz Bronze badge
      FAIL

      Agreed.

      The /lowest/ flash capacity for /any/ new portable device, with or without micro SDXC (not mere micro SDHC!), should be 64GB, not piddling 16 or 32GB; I can get tiny and very fast Sandisk 64GB USB 3.0 flash plugs for under £20 now, so WTF are mobile/tablet manufacturers still taking the piss for!

      Cloud storage is a F'ing bogus alternative when you can't or don't want to use cell internet, and eventually a security liability too!

      3 to 4GB of CPU RAM should be standard now; 2GB is so dated, just watch multiple RAM hungry apps like better games use that up fast, same for inadequate flash storage!

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      I guess the difference is, apple phones are £800, the nexus 5x and 6p cost half that and destroy the latest apple offerings.

      For example, take a look where apple sits on DXO

      http://www.dxomark.com/Mobiles/Column-right/Mobile-rating

      1. Gordon 10
        WTF?

        Fanboi alert! Destroy used where marginally different was meant.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        WTF?

        " guess the difference is, apple phones are £800, the nexus 5x and 6p cost half that and destroy the latest apple offerings"

        And my Nokia cost £50 and supports up to 128gb...

        So whats the excuse again?

      3. Fitz_

        "apple phones are £800"

        No Apple phone costs £800. The latest model starts at £539 actually, but don't let facts get in the way of your bullshit.

      4. Steve Todd

        @AC - DXO mark

        You do realise that this is only a rating of the quality of the camera, and the difference is 82 points vs 84? It's by no means an exhaustive comparison of the two phones, and it's likely to be a little while yet before there is one.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: @AC - DXO mark

          There is a huge difference between a DXO of 82 and 84. Any Camera owner that trusts DXO knows this.

          Since yesterday however I see the Xperia Z5 has come along and destroyed everything, particularly in video stabilisation.

          The z5 is better than pretty much everything at its 8mp setting, lat alone it's 23mp mode.

  2. Tromos

    A good thing

    Google giving users a little more control over what happens on their machines must surely put pressure on Microsoft to realise they are heading in the wrong direction.

    1. ratfox

      Finally

      I'm in the Android faction, but rather than saying "a good thing", I'll say "it's about bloody time".

      Android had to be nice with developers in the beginning to make sure they had enough apps, but this has stopped being an issue for years.

    2. sabroni Silver badge

      Re: A good thing

      Google giving users a little more control over what happens on their machines must surely make Microsoft realise they can carry on in the direction they're going for a good while until they meet Google coming the other way.

  3. Whiskers

    Too Big

    Whatever happened to the LG Wine Smart 3.2" clamshell we were supposed to get in August? Something that will actually fit into a shirt or trouser pocket. <http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/08/05/lg_to_bring_android_flip_phone_to_europe/>

    1. localzuk Silver badge

      Re: Too Big

      You must have pretty darn small pockets. I can fit a 7" tablet in all of my trouser pockets!

      1. Dan 55 Silver badge

        Re: Too Big

        Does that mean you need to break the 7" tablet into pieces before distributing it around all of your trouser pockets?

      2. Whiskers

        Re: Too Big

        I like to wear my trousers, and sit down while doing so. I generally don't wear 'dockers'.

  4. oneeye

    Still don't want Chinese Kit!

    There are too many reasons to pass up Chinese hardware/software,and these phones will connect to ip addresses inside China,making them vulnerable to al kinds of malicious exploitations. The latest ddos usinng mobile browsers and apps in China is reason enough to avoid these oem's.

    1. ratfox

      Re: Still don't want Chinese Kit!

      You'll have problems these days finding a phone that wasn't built in China.

      And if we're talking about software, Nexuses are pure Google, so as American as can be.

      1. Triggerfish

        Re: Still don't want Chinese Kit!

        "And if we're talking about software, Nexuses are pure Google, so as American as can be."

        Y'see its fine it goes to the NSA instead.

    2. Gordon 10
      Unhappy

      Re: Still don't want Chinese Kit!

      Bag o'fail Oneeye

      Perhaps you'd like to explain how vanilla android connects to Chinese IP's?

      Firstly Google wouldn't like the competition.

      Secondly only Huwaei are Chinese, LG are Korean.

      Thirdly if and its big one - shades of VW if it gets out - Huwaei do it it would make far more sense to compromise their network infrastructure kit.

      Fourthly - you'll be hard pushed to find any CE kit that doesn't come from China.

    3. localzuk Silver badge

      Re: Still don't want Chinese Kit!

      That's quite the accusation oneeye... I hope you have some proof?

    4. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Still don't want Chinese Kit!

      "There are too many reasons to pass up Chinese hardware/software,and these phones will connect to ip addresses inside China,making them vulnerable to al kinds of malicious exploitations."

      Since this is incredibly easy to check for, and since Huawei are working hard to gain market share in Europe and the UK, that would be commercial suicide. I suspect Huawei are safer in this regard than many other manufacturers owing to their global ambitions.

      1. Joe Harrison

        Re: Still don't want Chinese Kit!

        I have a Huawei phone (Honor 6) and yes it does randomly connect to .cn addresses. After a lot of work with wireshark I am pretty satisfied it is a rather oddly-implemented cloud storage option, a sort of Huawei competitor to Google Drive. So tin-foil hat removed.

    5. Kevin McMurtrie Silver badge

      Re: Still don't want Chinese Kit!

      As an owner of an Chinese phone, I can assure you that the OEM software is not sending your personal data to China. It's sending all of your minute-by-minute personal details Google, like every other stock Android phone. The good news is that the Chinese phone makers let you replace the stock OS with one having a bit of privacy and decency built in.

  5. Gordon 10
    Megaphone

    Prices are more reasonable than the Nexus 6

    5x £339 compared to £329 to original 5. 32gb.

    But I feel a trick has been missed now that there are several Chinese flagship phones out that are still better value.

    1. king of foo

      Re: Prices are more reasonable than the Nexus 6

      Such as...

      What? The 1+2?

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Prices are more reasonable than the Nexus 6

        Last year's LG G3 at about £220 has equivalent or better specs.

        1. Patrician

          Re: Prices are more reasonable than the Nexus 6

          "Last year's LG G3 at about £220 has equivalent or better specs."

          Actually it doesn't. No fingerprint sensor, lesser cameras back and front, and the LG G3 is lousy when the signal is poor. The worst of any mobile I've had the misfortune to own....

      2. Badvok

        Re: Prices are more reasonable than the Nexus 6

        The Galaxy S5 is also <£300 these days.

        1. sabroni Silver badge

          Re: Prices are more reasonable than the Nexus 6

          LG and Samsung are Korean. Korea is not part of China.

        2. Patrician

          Re: Prices are more reasonable than the Nexus 6

          "The Galaxy S5 is also <£300 these days"

          Again, nowhere near the specs of the new Nexus models

          1. Badvok

            Re: Prices are more reasonable than the Nexus 6

            @Patrician: I have no idea where you are getting your specs from for comparison but both the LG G3 and Galaxy S5 specs-wise offer better for less than the 5X with the only exceptions being the fingerprint nonsense and the separate sensor stuff. Of course the 6P beats them but for comparisons with that you need to look at the Note 4 or LG G4 which also offer better for less.

  6. bailey86

    Aptx - have they missed a trick again?

    Phones are much used as music devices these days. But to have decent Bluetooth connectivity the phone should have Aptx. Nexus phones seem to not have aptx for some reason - I'm wondering if this new one has added it at last.

    1. bailey86

      Re: Aptx - have they missed a trick again?

      Possible answer to my own question:

      http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/09/30/google_chromecast/

  7. Pat Att

    Marshmallow

    Will the OS fix my Nexus 7 that was crippled by Lollipop? I'm not holding out much hope.

    1. RonWheeler

      Re: Marshmallow

      Doubtful. Cyanogenmod will though.

    2. Greg J Preece

      Re: Marshmallow

      Nexus 7s exist that aren't modified? Mine got modded right away. Need to get a 2013 model so I can multiboot more systems.

  8. Yugguy

    Can I still kill Google Now

    That is my only question.

    If not I won't be updating.

    I detest personal assistants.

    1. Cuddles

      Re: Can I still kill Google Now

      Why would you need to? Just disable voice activation and don't push the button to use it.

  9. Richard Wharram

    Marshmallow

    Is this the long-promised version that lets SD cards act as main-storage for apps so the OS doesn't just fill the device storage and leave the SD card empty?

    Obviously that won't make any difference to Nexus devices but its worth asking...

    1. dotdavid
      1. fuzzie
        Thumb Down

        Re: Marshmallow

        Arrghh...from the summary there it appears the entire SD card is reformatted. I would presume that also handily renders it unusable as portable storage for media/documents. No indication on whether a card would also end up tied to the given device or whether I'd be able to move the card between devices.

        So we're also stuck with clunky MTP to get stuff on or off the cards and first-party file managers to do anything useful #SadPanda

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Marshmallow

          High speed connects here are 802.11ac which the minimum any phone I get will have. Everyone else is happy on the Comcast dual-band 802.11n. So it ain't direct electrical connection but close enough for my work (huge libraries of tech books,manuals, ....

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Linux

    it's Linux, must be good!

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Oh good, more ENORMOPHONES

    A couple of years ago everyone mocked phablets like these, now one cannot buy a good phone with a screen smaller than 5 bleedin' inches !

    MAKE ME A PHONE I WANT !

    1. Big_Ted

      Re: Oh good, more ENORMOPHONES

      OK try the Sony Z3 compact, still one of the best phones available and the Z5 compact is even better.

      small enougth and amazing battery performance that I hope marshmallow won't ruin......

      It even has serveralROMS available if you dont like the UI/sony stuff.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Oh good, more ENORMOPHONES

        Okay, but that's 4.6" so technically meets the requirements, but I would prefer something 4" or less.

  12. Humpty McNumpty

    LG G4

    As a nexus 5 owner I was somewhat unexcited about last years Nexus 6 but it didn't really matter all that much as the 5 is plenty good enough. However at 2 years old battery life is now pretty poor so I was keen to see what the rumoured 5X had to offer.

    The answer seems to be pretty much exactly what we were expecting but perhaps these days that is no longer enough.

    The LG G4 has the same CPU, more RAM (meh), Higher Res Screen, (again, meh) , removable storage (good), removable battery (also good), apparently takes nice pictures (I don't get nice pictures out of the Nexus) and I suspect is about to get quite a bit cheaper inside of 6 months.

    The LG G3 may not be quite as powerful but it is a perfectly good minor upgrade from the original Nexus 5 and it is cheap.

    1. Patrician

      Re: LG G4

      "The LG G3 may not be quite as powerful but it is a perfectly good minor upgrade from the original Nexus 5 and it is cheap."

      If you're mainly in an area with poor 3G don't even consider the LG G3; completely useless if the signal strength is less that 3 bars. The GPS is pretty unreliable too but I'm guessing both issues are down to the aerial type/position/size so that's not surprising.

      1. Humpty McNumpty

        Re: LG G4

        Interesting, that would be pretty useless in Shropshire then and a little Googling appears to back up your slating.

        Found this interesting link regarding signal strength on some current models http://www.androidauthority.com/best-4g-galaxy-s6-v-huawei-p8-v-lg-g4-612827/

  13. gskr
    Meh

    What to do...

    Hm, Not exactly thrilling.

    Still don't have a sure-fire replacement for the trusty nexus4

    6P = too big (as was last years nexus). Quite expensive

    5X = hobbled. Why only 2GB ram & 16Gb late 2015? thats the same as my 3yr old Nexus4!! Also loses the handly wireless charging.

    The competition:

    Sony: Small, but expensive & slow updates (& the z5 compact has only 2Gb ram)

    Honor: Cheap, but unlikely to ever see an update (& has the rubbishy EmotionUI)

    Samsung: Powerful, but expensive, crappy UI, slow updates, rubbish battery

    LG: Too big, questionable battery

    HTC: Expensive

    Motorola: Probably the best of a bad bunch (decent price, gets quick updates, good battery), but the cheaper X Play isn't very powerful, and the X Style is too big!

    Is it too much to ask for a reasonably sized, reasonably priced, reasonably powerful handset that lasts a full day and gets timely updates?

    1. DryBones

      Re: What to do...

      Nexus 5X.

      2GB RAM is not a major concern, you can get 32GB storage if you pay a little more.

      Wireless charging is pretty darn inefficient, not to mention slow. It can still be accomplished via a case with it built in if you really need it (they totally will have them, someone in Korea is updating their design to use the USB-C instead of the micro-USB as we type). And they make the camera flush with the case.

      I love how people knock Google's choices on battery and expandable storage then fawn over Apple for the exact same stuff. Not everyone mind, kudos to those that are consistent.

      1. BasicSpade

        Re: What to do...

        2GB of RAM is a major concern as is only 32GB of storage when my phone is supposed to be connecting into a desktop dock with dual HDMI / Display Ports so it can be used as my primary computing device with a full operating system on it rather than some owned mobile OS where you are being locked into only software approved by the "big company" store.

  14. Anonymous Coward
    Facepalm

    Not all bad?

    I guess it's a distorted viewpoint, but I'm actually impressed by some of the reports on the new features. It's looking as the current mobile OSs are improving.

    But that may just be as a start contrast to the decline in the Windows OS usability and features.

    Android (and possibly iOS?) are adding features I want, where as Windows is taking them away. :(

  15. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Doze

    Doze mode drastically powers down the phone when the motion sensors detect it's not in use

    Presumably that handles scenarios ranging from laying still on a desk to bouncing up and down in my pocket as I walk or jog.

  16. RFC822

    No Qi - No buy

    I've recently been wondering what to replace my Nexus 6 with, and was really looking forward to finding out the spec of the 6P.

    But it doesn't have Qi charging - what on earth was Google thinking of?! Having placed Qi chargers in all the places that I normally have the phone (office desk, car, TV room, bedroom, hotel room), and loving the lack of faff that's involved in not having to keep connecting and disconnecting a piece of wire to the phone, I find that the 6P is going back to USB charging only. So it's USB-C - dig deal.

    (Any suggestions as to what to replace the 6 with will be gratefully accepted. Must have large screen, run Android, support Qi, and be root-friendly.)

  17. speedster614

    Don't want the chinese kit either

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