Cell Phones

Which phone next?

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Deal Addict
Jan 2, 2013
1640 posts
442 upvotes
Mississauga

Which phone next?

I have a Nexus 5 presently on Koodo, which I love- the stock Android experience is spectacular. But the battery life is going downhill by the week, and I think it's time to upgrade.

Debating between the Nexus 6, the S6 or the G4 (releases in a month.)- I've seen specs for both, and understand they are all fairly similar, the G4 likely being a tad cheaper than the other two.
I am however, concerned with the TouchWiz and whatever the LG UI is; and I hear the battery on the Nexus 6 isn't all that hot either.

Anyone have input on the above devices?
I will buy the device outright (need it unlocked.)
13 replies
Sr. Member
Apr 8, 2009
695 posts
24 upvotes
Mississauga
No knowledge but in for outcome since I'm in the same situation as you.
Deal Guru
Feb 9, 2006
13378 posts
8308 upvotes
Brampton
Just an FYI.

The battery is likely physically ok. The issue is new bloated Google Play Services are HUGE battery hogs.

If you're in to flashing a custom ROM to help extend the life of the phone until the next generation of Snapdragons come out. Look at CyanogenMod 12.1 [CAF] builds. The CAF builds use the latest snapdragon drivers which takes full advantage of the low power hardware in the Nexus 5 unlike the Stock Google ROM.
My plan is to wait until the next gen of Snapdragon SoC with the Kyro cores come out. The 808 and 810 are duds.
The Nexus 6 is a bit of a dud too such huge battery but terrible battery life latest SD805 SoC but not very smooth.

The next gen Nexus should be out by October and next gen phones will also be announced.

If you really can't wait then the S6s are the way to go.
Member
User avatar
Jun 4, 2007
484 posts
402 upvotes
Rural Alberta
apoorv wrote: I have a Nexus 5 presently on Koodo, which I love- the stock Android experience is spectacular. But the battery life is going downhill by the week, and I think it's time to upgrade.

Debating between the Nexus 6, the S6 or the G4 (releases in a month.)- I've seen specs for both, and understand they are all fairly similar, the G4 likely being a tad cheaper than the other two.
I am however, concerned with the TouchWiz and whatever the LG UI is; and I hear the battery on the Nexus 6 isn't all that hot either.

Anyone have input on the above devices?
I will buy the device outright (need it unlocked.)
I'm in the same boat as you OP. I've had my Nexus 5 for quite a long time and I'm not sure what to get next. I bought my N5 for $468 outright from the Google Play store so it's kinda hard now to justify spending any more money than that on a smartphone. I'm gonna wait a bit more and see what else comes out. If nothing, I'm probably gonna look at one of these if they're under $500 (Asus Zenfone 2, Samsung Galaxy S5, LG G3, Moto G 2nd Gen, Blackberry Classic or the Leap).
Deal Addict
Jan 2, 2013
1640 posts
442 upvotes
Mississauga
+1 Yorker, money is the issue- I don't want to throw away any more. Waiting is probably the way to go in our case.

I'm also considering the S6 with Apex or Nova launchers to help with the UI. Or get the Zenfone while it's cheap!
Jr. Member
Nov 13, 2013
166 posts
47 upvotes
Toronto
Normally the only phone to upgrade is always with the Nexus phones, but this year's upgrade path is just like the first phase of Jelly Bean and it's been super sketchy very unpleasant. Rooting, flashing custom ROMs and adding launchers should never be touch for a Nexus phone.

Personally, I would replace the Nexus 5 battery and call it a day and upgrade this fall for the next gen of the Nexus phone.
Deal Guru
Feb 9, 2006
13378 posts
8308 upvotes
Brampton
E2EK1EL wrote: Normally the only phone to upgrade is always with the Nexus phones, but this year's upgrade path is just like the first phase of Jelly Bean and it's been super sketchy very unpleasant. Rooting, flashing custom ROMs and adding launchers should never be touch for a Nexus phone.

Personally, I would replace the Nexus 5 battery and call it a day and upgrade this fall for the next gen of the Nexus phone.

Unless a Nexus 5's battery only lasts 1 hour or shows wonkiness on the battery meter it's physically fine.
The issues are:
- Lollipop is a disaster.
- Google Play Services(GPS) is all about cramming as much crap in so Android Wear can take off that it doesn't give a crap about efficiency or battery usage.
This issue is compounded on Stock Rom because GPS has all the stuff it needs to go full retard. It's like a fat kid in a Candy store.

The evidence for the failure that is Stock Android just look at the Nexus 6. A beast of a phone Latest SD805, 3200mAh Battery, solid hardware all around. But the phone stutters, the camera sucks as bad as the N5 one, battery life is terrible for a 3200mAh battery.

I haven't had 5 hours of SOT on my Nexus 5 since Play Services 4.x (launched with Kitkat). If I rolled everything back and I did just to see I could get 5 hours of SOT back.
Deal Addict
May 26, 2002
1908 posts
491 upvotes
I agree with the posts here Android .. Even stock has become to bloated and that's just from all the stuff Google forces on your device whether you want it or not. Seriously nobody wants to use Google+, or hangouts, of Slides, or photos, etc. And even if we did we'd download it on from the play store. Also the release cycle of Android is just whacked! Bugs aren't even fixed yet on 5.11 and they're already waiting to announce 6.0 soon. I'm hoping Microsoft doesn't mess up on Windows 10 as I'm waiting for the newer Windows 10 phones. Some features I'm most interested in is updates to all device's by Microsoft, not the OEM or carrier. This plus the promise of universal apps has me anxiously waiting.

-LeeBear
Deal Addict
Jan 2, 2013
1640 posts
442 upvotes
Mississauga
I read somewhere, force stopping Google Play services, clearing data and rebooting helped with the GPS services and the associated wakelock/ battery drain. But in 5.1, I can't even force stop GPS. A reboot probably helps, but nothing noteworthy.
Deal Addict
User avatar
Jan 1, 2013
1046 posts
150 upvotes
Burlington, ON
E2EK1EL wrote: Normally the only phone to upgrade is always with the Nexus phones, but this year's upgrade path is just like the first phase of Jelly Bean and it's been super sketchy very unpleasant. Rooting, flashing custom ROMs and adding launchers should never be touch for a Nexus phone.
Huh? What?
Deal Addict
Nov 24, 2004
4664 posts
1242 upvotes
Toronto
This thread has me concerned -- I have an XT925 and was thinking of getting a second-hand N5 or a Moto G2. If there are systematic issues with Android itself that will limit battery life and performance, then I'm not sure what to do. Take the plunge with Windows?
Deal Addict
Jan 2, 2013
1640 posts
442 upvotes
Mississauga
JHW wrote: This thread has me concerned -- I have an XT925 and was thinking of getting a second-hand N5 or a Moto G2. If there are systematic issues with Android itself that will limit battery life and performance, then I'm not sure what to do. Take the plunge with Windows?
Well if you can find someone with a N5 that's still on 4.4.4 - jackpot. The battery life was so much better!
Having said that, you can always restore the OS to 4.4.4 yourself too, Google is nice enough to offer the stock images for people to use- I'm just too lazy to do it on my phone because it's too much work to restore everything haha.

I honestly do recommend the N5 - some camera issues here and there, but it's a solid phone overall. Can't be beat for the price.
Sr. Member
User avatar
Nov 23, 2006
840 posts
23 upvotes
Markham
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