Nexus 9 - Oct 15 - $399

[Seven]

Have the wifi Nexus 7 (2013). Need an LTE version for a decent upgrade. WILL WAIT.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

So I have a Nexus 10 and since my MacBook has died I need a new device to do Google Hangouts with my friends. I just realized that the problem from day 1 where the rear microphone is being used as the main mic still exists.

Furthermore, interference/echo is still a problem. I really wanted to throw the device against the wall yesterday.

So I wonder if the N9 will have any of these issues or if Google will actually treat this device like something that deserves proper support. I was on a Hangouts with 6 other people, all of whom were on MacBooks or iPads. No struggle amongst them at all.

I want to get a new Android tablet, but I don't want to get something that will be poorly supported and neglected.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

There will be many OTA's that will address many of these. The lightbleed issue seems to be very hit or miss. (More seem to be perfectly happy with the display).

The light bleed issue was one of the things I immediately noticed in the various video reviews online. Looks terrible, but as a N5 user I'm used to it.

 

[s44]

I want to get a new Android tablet, but I don't want to get something that will be poorly supported and neglected.

Then get the next Samsung?

 

[preslove]

My fiancée bought a Samsung pro 12" and she really like it. You can find pretty good deals on them

 

[Ravynmagi]

I got the white 32GB Nexus 9. So now I have a black and a white model together.

Regarding the hardware...

The volume down button is better on the white model, however the volume up button (same physical rocker button) is a bit harder to use and feels mushy. It's an improvement over the black which both sides of the button were really recessed and hard to use. But still not quite perfect. Though a much more minor issue on this white model.

The Nexus 9 has a metal band that goes around it. And I guess for the antennae or something, they put a plastic gap piece near the top speaker. On the black tablet the plastic is black like the band, so it went unnoticed. On the white model the plastic is oddly black and stands out against the silver band. Not sure why they didn't use white or some light grey color to blend it more.

Both tablets have the hollowness in the back. It actually is worse on the white model. On the black model if I tap along the back edges I don't feel the hollowness. On the white model the hollow air bubble seems to extend almost to the edges, so it seems to have more of a gap.

It seems like there is adhesive that this very thin plastic is suppose to be attaching to and it has come unglued. When I'm tapping on the white model it will sometimes stick and stay in place for a second then I can hear the adhesive unpeel and it pop back up.

I wonder if I warm the tablet up with a hair drier and put a wait on it if I could rebond the back plastic with the adhesive under it. Either way, this is some seriously cheap construction going on.

 

[kpkp]

Check iFixit, I didn't see any adhesive on the back, maybe white and black are made differently. Nothing would surprise me anymore.

I just figured out what the hollow air bubble is for, when your tablet overheats, you start "pumping" the hot air out of the device. It's a feature :whiste:.

 

[Ravynmagi]

Check iFixit, I didn't see any adhesive on the back, maybe white and black are made differently. Nothing would surprise me anymore.

I just figured out what the hollow air bubble is for, when your tablet overheats, you start "pumping" the hot air out of the device. It's a feature :whiste:.

I opened up my white Nexus 9 and yup, no adhesive to hold it flat. It's just very thin plastic that has an air gap over the battery. And my white model happens to have a bigger gap than the black one does (probably just random).

 

[lopri]

Check iFixit, I didn't see any adhesive on the back, maybe white and black are made differently. Nothing would surprise me anymore.

I just figured out what the hollow air bubble is for, when your tablet overheats, you start "pumping" the hot air out of the device. It's a feature :whiste:.

When I first noticed hollowness in iPad Air, I thought it was a feature to accentuate the new name "Air" that Apple gave to it. XD

I wonder if it is really a design decision to mitigate heat? Not necessarily for air (lol) but in order to protect neighboring components? Does iPad Air and the Nexus 9 overheat?

Edit: And whose idea was it to introduce the carousel-style recent apps screen? It looks like transparency shadows are unnecessarily taxing the CPU/GPU as well as memory. I read it lags on the Nexus 9, and while I was reading comments I've learned somehow the Note 4 has the same issue. (I thought it's Lollipop thing?) Why make things heavier again after trying to make them leaner so hard? I don't get it. The new recent apps panel reminds me of this.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

When I first noticed hollowness in iPad Air, I thought it was a feature to accentuate the new name "Air" that Apple gave to it. XD

I wonder if it is really a design decision to mitigate heat? Not necessarily for air (lol) but in order to protect neighboring components? Does iPad Air and the Nexus 9 overheat?

Edit: And whose idea was it to introduce the carousel-style recent apps screen? It looks like transparency shadows are unnecessarily taxing the CPU/GPU as well as memory. I read it lags on the Nexus 9, and while I was reading comments I've learned somehow the Note 4 has the same issue. (I thought it's Lollipop thing?) Why make things heavier again after trying to make them leaner so hard? I don't get it. The new recent apps panel reminds me of this.

Exactly. I remember when I was a Windows fanboy and OSX fans would tell me how that's just a blatant attempt to bring something similar to Expose without actually bringing any extra functionality. Til this day, Alt+Tab is far more used in Windows by me, and Expose in OSX is probably the most awesome way of switching windows.

I wish Google would've figured this one out. Furthermore, while the new switcher looks graphically cool, the old recents menu was useful in that it labeled the windows by app name with an icon. It was very easy to figure out what's what. With that said the old recents menu tablets was a waste of space. It has about 2/3 of black space on my Nexus 10 in landscape. On phones its not as bad, but yeah, there's quite a bit of black space

Regarding your comment about the air thing--air isn't exactly the best conductor of heat. If anything, you'd rather have a tight metal chassis that allows quick dissipation of heat. It's partially why when iPhones heat up you really feel it, but the heat dissipates pretty quickly,

 

[kpkp]

HTC
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCbfhH_hI2Q

 

[Chiropteran]

I got a defective Nexus 9. The sensors won't sense movement correctly, so the screen will never auto-rotate. In addition, games and apps that rely on moving the tablet don't work.

I like it otherwise, it's absolutely perfect for casual web browsing in bed or on the sofa. Google support was very quick in issuing a replacement request.

 

[Ravynmagi]

I got a defective Nexus 9. The sensors won't sense movement correctly, so the screen will never auto-rotate. In addition, games and apps that rely on moving the tablet don't work.

I like it otherwise, it's absolutely perfect for casual web browsing in bed or on the sofa. Google support was very quick in issuing a replacement request.

And auto rotate is turned on?

 

[jacktesterson]

Mine should arrive tomorrow.

 

[TuxDave]

Check iFixit, I didn't see any adhesive on the back, maybe white and black are made differently. Nothing would surprise me anymore.

I just figured out what the hollow air bubble is for, when your tablet overheats, you start "pumping" the hot air out of the device. It's a feature :whiste:.

Add in some sneaker accessories and you can have:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reebok_Pump

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

HTC
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCbfhH_hI2Q

The speaker thing I think is definitely an issue with his bottom speaker.

However one thing I never understood is why the speakers power on when you press a button in silent or vibrate mode. I complained about my N4 having a hissing noise/white noise when the speakers turn on with nothing playing. If you stick your ear to it, you hear the static/hissing noise quite a bit.

What I've noticed is that any time you press a button that SHOULD make sound when volume is turned up, but are in vibrate or silent mode the speaker turns on anyway. It then turns off after a few seconds. If the system UI can't emit a sound anyway in vibrate mode, why does the speaker turn on? There should be an override where silent/vibrate mode turns off the speaker entirely unless something plays over "media volume" which can be independent of ringer/notification volume.

 

[Sheep]

I'm not a fan of HTC based on my old Evo 4G screen developing a bright spot prematurely (literally the only hardware problem I've ever had with any phone or tablet), but the reports of the Nexus 9 build quality *really* make me glad I didn't splurge on one. I'm certain light bleed and that unglued back would drive me nuts.

 

[desura]

I wish that all of our touch devices came with plastic or soft rubbery exteriors. ALU casings oon these things is pointless.

 

[Ravynmagi]

ASUS kinda messed up the first Nexus 7 from 2012. Mostly quality issues, but also the uncalibrated screen and crappy speakers. The next year ASUS fixed those issues and made the 2013 Nexus 7 really great.

Seems like HTC is repeating history and it's first Nexus tablet is plagued with silly quality issues. And maybe if they make the next Nexus 9 they'll fix those issues.

Though I kinda expect poor quality control from ASUS. I'm surprised HTC made a product with these quality issues though.

 

[cbrunny]

Glad I didn't pre-order in the end. This device doesn't look good enough for the price point. A lot of reported issues thus far, as has been mentioned.

I kind of expect the story to be the same with the N6. Curious to see reviews on that device once they start flowing in from users.

 

[Ravynmagi]

I'm expecting the Nexus 6 to be better. It's being built by a company that was owned by Google not long ago and they certain have an interest in having the phone reflect well on the company (at least they probably did when they started designing it).

HTC on the other hand hasn't made a premium tablet... well probably ever, at least in a few years. HTC clearly out of practice. And this seems to be the warm up.

 

[Chiropteran]

And auto rotate is turned on?

Yep. Turned it on and off dozens of times trying to get it to work. Just got a bad unit.

 

[Ravynmagi]

Yep. Turned it on and off dozens of times trying to get it to work. Just got a bad unit.

I do a lot of IT support at work, so I sometimes have to ask the dumb questions because I work with a lot of dumb people, haha.

Sorry you got a bad unit.

 

[Ravynmagi]

I really wish I could buy a case or cover for my tablet. Seems weird there is a bigger shortage on the covers than the tablet itself.

 

[jacktesterson]

Best part will be custom rom support. There will be a ton of good fast feature rich Roms with time