Moto X (2015) or wait for Nexus 5 (2015)?

[poofyhairguy]

actually, most of the enthusiasts are on the G2, skipped the G3 due to microlags, 1440p hurting battery life, and under powered GPU to drive the 1440p; and skipped the G4 due to goofy form factor and el-cheapo plasticy feel

No offense to you or anyone who likes the G phones, but when I say "Android Enthusiasts" I don't mean "People who seek the biggest Android value possible." I can see the confusion, there are a lot of people who like the OnePlus because of the hardware value. I am not talking about them.

By "Android Enthusiasts" I mean people who have anxiety if they don't get the latest version of Android within a month of Google announcing it and who RAGE at the thought of using a phone with a OEM skin. These Android Enthusiasts are not excited about the OnePlusOne sequel because of the price, but because it comes with CM or AOSP Oxygen preinstalled.

Is the G2 the best phone under $200? Easily, I will say that all day. Is it a phone for an Android Enthusiast? No way, unless that is all the enthusiast can afford. I think the G2 is on 5.0 still, which is completely unacceptable from that perspective. Not to mention the G2's ROM is LGified to death, and there is no "official" AOSP ROM you can put on the phone (like you can with phones that have GPe editions). For the same reason I don't think many people cross shop a Nexus and ANY of the other LG phones, as they all have LG's skin on top. The same crowd will turn their nose up at the excellent S6 too just because of Touchwiz.

Thank you for the kind words.

 

[soccerballtux]

that's not an enthusiast, that's a noob!!! lol. For example, on my poll on XDA, 25% of users said they were sticking with KitKat. I count myself in that group. Enthusiasts don't install LP. That's why it's called LP. Because it sucks...

I do have to say I have pretty well debloated my G2 from the LG bloatware though...

Also, we have stock 5.1 ports from the LG G3 that run perfectly. Otherwise, I would agree-- 5.1 is necessary

 

[poofyhairguy]

I agree that Android 5.0 is kinda rough sledding. I think it has some real innovations and improvements over KitKat, but I personally plan to never run 5.0 again. I hate my wife's Note 4 is stuck on that OS. And I am totally not discounting the XDA community or the fact that nowadays its easier than ever to "Nexusify" a LG, HTC or Samsung phone thanks to many of the AOSP apps being in the Play Store and things like Xposed.

But there is a community out there of people who want stock Android and updates- app developers, the Android journalist community, the kind of people that go to Google I/O, heck just normal people- without the tinkering and without installing non-official third party operating systems. For those people its Nexus or bust. I have heard tech journalists apologize to their fans on podcasts when they broke down and bought a S6 with the evil touchwiz. In the world of people who use Google Plus there is kind of a Nexus elitism about anything that doesn't update straight from the mothership Applestyle.

For years now pretty much every popular phone that gets their bootloader unlocked gets ROMs based on newer versions of Android, that is pretty much a given nowadays. And for many people that is more than good enough. Personally I think there is a quality/stability/trust difference between a ROM hacked over from another phone or a CM thrown together without all the driver and a phone with a REAL official AOSP rom. The GPe ROMs on the S4 and now on my M8 are another planet of stability compared to anything I have messed with in Android this side of my Nexus 7, so I personally want more than third party AOSP support.

I don't know if that is why the enthusiastic community is so hell bent on Nexus-style updates, but I bet not. I bet the reasoning is more they way Google's newest candy straight from the factory bugs and all. It does kinda suck hearing about Android getting this or that in some new version, and you think "well I hope someone I don't know hacks that onto my device!" Personally I am glad they did away with the skin issue in Android Wear and Android TV, even if that dulled enthusiasm for the platforms from hardware makers.

I will admit I am surprised that the G2 is using a G3 ROM to get to 5.1. I would have figured a Nexus 5 ROM would be easier to port. Shows what I know about the device.

 

[sweenish]

that's not an enthusiast, that's a noob!!! lol. For example, on my poll on XDA, 25% of users said they were sticking with KitKat. I count myself in that group. Enthusiasts don't install LP. That's why it's called LP. Because it sucks...

I do have to say I have pretty well debloated my G2 from the LG bloatware though...

Also, we have stock 5.1 ports from the LG G3 that run perfectly. Otherwise, I would agree-- 5.1 is necessary

Enthusiasts are on a two year old phone. Enthusiasts, two year old phone.

You're funny.

I do understand that money can get in the way, I'm in that boat. But to say that enthusiasts as a whole are on a two year old phone is plain wrong. Enthusiasts are on the latest hotness.

 

[ControlD]

that's not an enthusiast, that's a noob!!! lol. For example, on my poll on XDA, 25% of users said they were sticking with KitKat. I count myself in that group. Enthusiasts don't install LP. That's why it's called LP. Because it sucks...

I do have to say I have pretty well debloated my G2 from the LG bloatware though...

Also, we have stock 5.1 ports from the LG G3 that run perfectly. Otherwise, I would agree-- 5.1 is necessary

I'm a little confused. Does LP suck or is 5.1 necessary?

I agree 5.0 was pretty rough. However, I find 5.1.x to be superior in almost every way to 4.4.4. And stock 5.1.x is also miles better than any skinned LP variant I have tried. Then again, I am running much newer hardware so maybe that makes a difference.

 

[ControlD]

But there is a community out there of people who want stock Android and updates- app developers, the Android journalist community, the kind of people that go to Google I/O, heck just normal people- without the tinkering and without installing non-official third party operating systems. For those people its Nexus or bust. I have heard tech journalists apologize to their fans on podcasts when they broke down and bought a S6 with the evil touchwiz. In the world of people who use Google Plus there is kind of a Nexus elitism about anything that doesn't update straight from the mothership Applestyle.

I don't know if it is elitism necessarily, but I am in the camp of people that prefers to get my OS updates from Google. I can live with a few bugs from Google that will in most cases get quickly patched with the next update. What I don't want to live with are OEM bugs that will only get patched after (a) the OEM decides to get around to it (if ever) and (b) the carrier adds all their crap (and bugs) to the image and blesses the OTA update (if ever).

But, I have always liked being on the latest OS for whatever my devices are. That can be Windows, whatever Linux distro I am currently running or my phone. I enjoy seeing what the latest and greatest is, bugs and all.

 

[s44]

The GPe ROMs on the S4 and now on my M8 are another planet of stability compared to anything I have messed with in Android this side of my Nexus 7, so I personally want more than third party AOSP support.

Stable, maybe, but the GPE had much worse wakelock issues than the custom AOSP-built S4 alternatives. I flashed back pretty quickly.

Personally, I want a certain feature set, some parts of which Google either wants to withhold (proper permission control - *maybe* M will fix this) or still can't get quite right (Lollipop finally got their toggles to only *slightly* worse than Touchwiz was three years ago). I don't think there's any magic in pure Google. Hell, even when I owned a Nexus I didn't run stock for more than a month.

I'm just dreading the day when my MDK S4 dies and I have to choose either a crippled-storage/camera/battery/phone-size Nexus or a bootloader-locked OEM device to stay on Verizon. I've outgrown my 64gb SD card (big music collection), so storage is non-negotiable.

 

[Cakefish]

I'm liking what I'm seeing;

http://www.droid-life.com/2015/07/22/is-this-our-first-look-at-the-front-of-the-moto-x-3rd-gen/

If the camera holds up in reviews, I think I'm sold.

 

[Buttercream]

I'm liking what I'm seeing;

http://www.droid-life.com/2015/07/22/is-this-our-first-look-at-the-front-of-the-moto-x-3rd-gen/

If the camera holds up in reviews, I think I'm sold.

The bezels are nice and thin. Hopefully this time the speakers are stereo.

 

[poofyhairguy]

I'm liking what I'm seeing;

http://www.droid-life.com/2015/07/22/is-this-our-first-look-at-the-front-of-the-moto-x-3rd-gen/

If the camera holds up in reviews, I think I'm sold.

That does look pretty good!!!

 

[obidamnkenobi]

3). I can't help you with the poor low-light photos. Use HDR?

For low-light the only solution is ditch the phone and use a real camera. I've used the highly-praised iPhone camera and in almost any indoor or low light setting the pictures are terrible! I don't understand when people say a phone can replace a proper camera (unless they only mean outdoor in sunlight)

 

[sweenish]

The highly praised iPhone camera has never been great at low light, although the 6+ is supposed to be better due to OIS. Which iPhone were you using? There's enough difference in this generation and from generation to generation that a blanket statement like that really means nothing.

 

[ThisIsChrisKim]

For low-light the only solution is ditch the phone and use a real camera. I've used the highly-praised iPhone camera and in almost any indoor or low light setting the pictures are terrible! I don't understand when people say a phone can replace a proper camera (unless they only mean outdoor in sunlight)

S6 and G4 fare a lot better.

 

[soccerballtux]

Enthusiasts are on a two year old phone. Enthusiasts, two year old phone.

You're funny.

I do understand that money can get in the way, I'm in that boat. But to say that enthusiasts as a whole are on a two year old phone is plain wrong. Enthusiasts are on the latest hotness.

what's the big deal? it's 1080p, it has the maximum screen size to side-bezel/phone width of any phone ever released, it has the maximum processing power to screen resolution ratio ever, and it has maximum battery size to processing power ratio ever. The 2GB RAM is still more than sufficient. Lot of people are very passionate about the thin bezel and only intend to upgrade when 5.7", 1080p, same Bezel thinness, and same or better battery can be had.

This Moto x3 is pretty close to what I want though.

 

[soccerballtux]

I'm a little confused. Does LP suck or is 5.1 necessary?

I agree 5.0 was pretty rough. However, I find 5.1.x to be superior in almost every way to 4.4.4. And stock 5.1.x is also miles better than any skinned LP variant I have tried. Then again, I am running much newer hardware so maybe that makes a difference.

I think LP sucks, but 5.1 fixes a memory leak in 5.0 which is IMO mandatory.
When GravityBox is 100% I'll hate it much less.

What hardware on you running? I doubt it's much better than my Snapdragon 800 and 2GB RAM.

 

[ControlD]

I think LP sucks, but 5.1 fixes a memory leak in 5.0 which is IMO mandatory.
When GravityBox is 100% I'll hate it much less.

What hardware on you running? I doubt it's much better than my Snapdragon 800 and 2GB RAM.

Snapdragon 805 and 3GB RAM (Nexus 6).

Currently running stock LP 5.1.1.

 

[poofyhairguy]

it has the maximum processing power to screen resolution ratio ever

That isn't even close to true. Hell the M8 and M9 are 1080p with faster SoCs. There is two flagships (out of many) with more power per pixel than a G2.

It is like you only pay attention to LG phones or something.

 

[Cakefish]

I am concerned about the jump to 2560x1440. Wish they'd stick with 1920x1080. Would be much more appealing.

I've done some research and the Adreno 418 is 20% more powerful than the Adreno 330 in my current Nexus 5. The jump in screen resolution definitely is more than that :/

Then again, if the Nexus 5 2015 is rumoured to have a Snapdragon 808 too then I'm stuck. I have to get one of them. I'm not waiting until next year to upgrade to a new phone.

 

[soccerballtux]

That isn't even close to true. Hell the M8 and M9 are 1080p with faster SoCs. There is two flagships (out of many) with more power per pixel than a G2.

It is like you only pay attention to LG phones or something.

not LG phones, only to the G2

M8 has a smaller screen and M9 has worse battery life and is too large.

 

[poofyhairguy]

I have to admit I do prefer the G2 form factor over the M8. I have grown to dislike the speakers.

 

[soccerballtux]

I am concerned about the jump to 2560x1440. Wish they'd stick with 1920x1080. Would be much more appealing.

I've done some research and the Adreno 418 is 20% more powerful than the Adreno 330 in my current Nexus 5. The jump in screen resolution definitely is more than that :/

Then again, if the Nexus 5 2015 is rumoured to have a Snapdragon 808 too then I'm stuck. I have to get one of them. I'm not waiting until next year to upgrade to a new phone.

are you sure you need a new phone? between ZRAM Frontswap, KSM, and 2.8ghz my Nexus 5 is great.

 

[sweenish]

M8 has a smaller screen and M9 has worse battery life and is too large.

And that is a prime of example of moving goalposts. Stay classy.

 

[soccerballtux]

I should have said 'like, ever'. There are fringe cases but they are insignificant compared to the power of the force

thinking more about this in the shower, you really only provided one alternative phone make/model. It weighs 10% more, has the same width but 0.2 inch smaller screen (big difference), and wastes space with the bottom HTC bar. It's not in the same category.

Most people seem to think so, too, as no one is buying it

 

[Cakefish]

are you sure you need a new phone? between ZRAM Frontswap, KSM, and 2.8ghz my Nexus 5 is great.

Nexus 5 is plenty fast enough for me to be honest. It's just that nothing can solve the camera and battery woes that I have. Really itching for an upgrade just for those reasons. Well, microSD would be nice too, as my music collection is growing too big for the 32GB internal storage I currently have.

 

[shabby]

Nexus 5 is plenty fast enough for me to be honest. It's just that nothing can solve the camera and battery woes that I have. Really itching for an upgrade just for those reasons. Well, microSD would be nice too, as my music collection is growing too big for the 32GB internal storage I currently have.

I still can't understand why all these manufacturers are skimping on storage.
5 years ago when 16gb phones were the norm we had 720p video, 5mpix cameras, 5MB games. Now we have 4k video, 13-20mpix cameras and 100mb-1gb games.
Why are they upgrading the screen/soc/lte/ram and forgetting about storage and sdcards, wtf is wrong with them? If im paying $600+ for a phone you better give me what i want.