The official Nexus 5 thread.

[soccerballtux]

Is that true, and if so, how big of a deal is it? I guess I am OK now that I've gotten myself a wireless charger for my night stand, but when needed I like to charge my N5 using Samsung's 2A charger. It takes about an hour to charge my Nexus 5 90%+ using that thing. (Didn't Qualcomm advertise "QuickCharge" as a new tech of theirs?)

fine during the day try the USB-500mA at night. Pay close attention. Excessive maps use and the variability of Google Now's tracking and bandwidth usage behavior wipe out the gains for me sometimes.

 

[zoiks]

The only big issue I have with the phone (or rather with KitKat) is that you cannot tether another device using the hotspot anymore on T-mobile without getting constantly bombarded to buy their bullshit tethering plan. There is a workaround for this where a flag needs to be changed in the sqlite db on the phone but you have to root the device to do that.

 

[lopri]

If you like natural so much just look away from the screen.

Here's the thing, unless you're looking at something that's smaller than 4 inches in real life, you aren't looking at a "natural" view of it on a phone.

Hehe. One could make a case that there isn't anything natural about what we see since Thomas Edison.

 

[Sid59]

The only big issue I have with the phone (or rather with KitKat) is that you cannot tether another device using the hotspot anymore on T-mobile without getting constantly bombarded to buy their bullshit tethering plan. There is a workaround for this where a flag needs to be changed in the sqlite db on the phone but you have to root the device to do that.

Prepaid or postpaid? I haven't had issue on my N5 tethering to my N7.

 

[vshah]

i think every current tmo postpaid data plan includes tethering, so I imagine he must be on prepaid?

 

[lopri]

Video is tested under airplane mode.

How about (3G) talk time? Airplane mode isn't going to work, I think? Disable individual connections by hand, including mobile data, and test?

I see bigger discrepancies in actual talk time and advertised/benched talk time, than in screen time. On both my N4 and N5, voice calls seem to use at least as half as much power as the screens-on.

 

[lopri]

The only big issue I have with the phone (or rather with KitKat) is that you cannot tether another device using the hotspot anymore on T-mobile without getting constantly bombarded to buy their bullshit tethering plan. There is a workaround for this where a flag needs to be changed in the sqlite db on the phone but you have to root the device to do that.

You know, I ran into it for the first time the other day, on my Nexus 4. For a while I thought tethering fees were old news, or were limited to the iPhones. Boy, was I wrong. I've been using T-Mobile's $30 plan on and off, never run into a problem using the Nexus' built-in tethering, and been wondering why people still have trouble tethering.

It turns out I was simply a case of T-Mobile's grace. After months of unfettered tether, T-Mobile finally made its presence known on my N4 and told me to pay. Hah. Not a big deal to me personally (I also have a shared AT&T plan) but I wanted to share that your experience may not be because of the Nexus 5.

Prepaid or postpaid? I haven't had issue on my N5 tethering to my N7.

From what I've heard, Android-to-Android tethering is not detected. It's when you tether to laptops or some other (non-mobile) devices that raise the flags.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

How about (3G) talk time? Airplane mode isn't going to work, I think? Disable individual connections by hand, including mobile data, and test?

I see bigger discrepancies in actual talk time and advertised/benched talk time, than in screen time. On both my N4 and N5, voice calls seem to use at least as half as much power as the screens-on.

Yeah. I'm not sure where people are saying 17 hours of talk. If I use my phone for 30 minutes, it will say something like 30% on my power drain. Sure it's 30% of the total drain that brought me down to 70% (I'm approximating here, but this is what I remember from last Tuesday). That means the phone call used about 10% of my total battery. If 30 minutes is 10%, then 100% is... 300 minutes which is 5 hours? Yeah I'm not sure about the 17%.

But here's the other thing about the background data. If your phone idles like a baby it means there's few background tasks syncing and little data use. I don't see why that all changes the minute you make a phone call? Or perhaps the radio just uses a lot of power if you have data enabled?

Either way I'm not too impressed with Google's advertised 7.5 hours LTE browsing time. It's bullshit.

 

[bearxor]

i think every current tmo postpaid data plan includes tethering, so I imagine he must be on prepaid?

Yeah, the 500 and 2.5GB plans both include tethering to their limit. The unlimited plan includes 2.5GB of tethering. Prepaid does not. Especially the $30/5GB plan a lot of people are on.

Man I wish TMo's entire footprint was HSPA. Even 3Mbps HSPA would get me to switch to them.

 

[Sid59]

You know, I ran into it for the first time the other day, on my Nexus 4. For a while I thought tethering fees were old news, or were limited to the iPhones. Boy, was I wrong. I've been using T-Mobile's $30 plan on and off, never run into a problem using the Nexus' built-in tethering, and been wondering why people still have trouble tethering.

It turns out I was simply a case of T-Mobile's grace. After months of unfettered tether, T-Mobile finally made its presence known on my N4 and told me to pay. Hah. Not a big deal to me personally (I also have a shared AT&T plan) but I wanted to share that your experience may not be because of the Nexus 5.



From what I've heard, Android-to-Android tethering is not detected. It's when you tether to laptops or some other (non-mobile) devices that raise the flags.

Postpaid it doesn't matter, postpaid, unlimited is allowed 2.5 gigs of tethering.

I didn't dig deep but on post paid plans - i think the 50/60 USD plans allowed hotspot but it counted against your fast data.
50 USD - 500 MB fast, unlimited slow - no dedicated allotment for hotspot
60 USD - 2.5 GB fast, unlimited slow - no dedicated allotment for hotspot
70 USD - unlimited everything - 2.5 gig hotspot

Variety of prepaid plans
50/60/70 USD are the same as the POST paid
30 USD is 100 mins, unlimited text, unlimited data - no tethering

 

[zoiks]

Prepaid or postpaid? I haven't had issue on my N5 tethering to my N7.

I think it's limited to T-mobile. I was connecting to my N5 using my macbook air. Checked online and found some people encountering the same issue.
I'm postpaid (company SIM).

Edit- I should add that I normally connect to my N5 on my chrome browser using the Android user agent. I know that T-mobile tracks user agents to determine if the request is coming from a tethered device.

 

[vshah]

your company plan probably doesn't have the free tethering included that the normal consumer plans have. i tether just fine on t-mobile ($20 unlimited data plan)

 

[soccerballtux]

Is that true, and if so, how big of a deal is it? I guess I am OK now that I've gotten myself a wireless charger for my night stand, but when needed I like to charge my N5 using Samsung's 2A charger. It takes about an hour to charge my Nexus 5 90%+ using that thing. (Didn't Qualcomm advertise "QuickCharge" as a new tech of theirs?)

on second thought, trying to charge via PC now, and it's taking FOREVER. My other phones, have not taken this long.

 

[jimv1983]

I'm impressed with the battery life. It's better than the HTC One (Sense w/ power savings mode). Getting about 2 days with about 1.5-2 hours of on-screen time

I can get about the same with only 1.5-2 hours screen on time but I don't really see that as impressive. I wouldn't call it bad either. Just OK.

 

[jimv1983]

I have to +1 this. 4+ hours screen time like people are showing in this thread and my S3 would die halfway through the day. But somehow that test rates it better? Bull.

Related to the entire rest of this thread, I'm not seeing whats so crazy horrible about the battery life. Its a $350 phone. Close to half the price of a S4 and still almost $50 cheaper than a S3- which it absolutely freaking wipes the floor with. If Google had put a 3000mAh battery in they would have had to cut a corner somewhere else. The battery lasts through the day for 99% of people.... would you all prefer a cheaper soc? Less ram? Or how about a 720p display?

I actually would have preferred a 720p(AMOLED too) screen. The difference isn't really noticeable and the battery life would be better. I'm not saying I'm disappointed with the battery life but I'm not really impressed either. A lower resolution screen and bigger battery will always make battery life better. Also, saying that adding a bigger battery would mean they would have to cut corners elsewhere isn't really accurate. The cost difference between the 2,300mAh battery and a 3,000mAh is so small it really isn't even worth mentioning at all.

 

[jimv1983]

Was this on TouchWiz or a custom ROM? I think the Galaxy phones, especially the S2 and S3 Exynos versions tend to perform better on TouchWiz just simply because AOSP back then lacked a lot of features. Furthermore, the Exynos SoCs are difficult to develop for so any AOSP ROM for those phones contain a great amount of hackery.

It was on TouchWiz and it was the Snapdragon version.

My wife broke hers yesterday. Did she beat you?

She dropped hers on the screen. Screen assembly from eBay is $230. Contacting LG, we'll see what they say for repair costs. Hopefully Discover Card comes through with their accidental damage protection..

You should have gotten an insurance plan. Some people think they are a rip off but they have really helped me more than once. I had a Square Trade plan on my Nexus One and because the service center they used screwed up(the fault of the service center not Square Trade) Square Trade refunded the cost of the insurance plan and the full cost of the phone. Even Asurion thought AT&T saved me when my old Sony Ericsson dumb phone went through the washer. The first thing I did after getting my Nexus 5 was buy a Square Trade plan.

The only big issue I have with the phone (or rather with KitKat) is that you cannot tether another device using the hotspot anymore on T-mobile without getting constantly bombarded to buy their bullshit tethering plan. There is a workaround for this where a flag needs to be changed in the sqlite db on the phone but you have to root the device to do that.

That is odd. I have AT&T and I don't have any issue using the hotspot feature on my Nexus 5. Stock Android shouldn't be doing any check with your carrier to see if the hot spot feature is on. It just turns it on.

 

[Chiropteran]

30 USD is 100 mins, unlimited text, unlimited data - no tethering

You can add tethering to the $30 plan for $15. This can be added at any time, but then will remain until the end of the current month if removed. It's been really nice to have as an option when Verizon FIOS was acting up at my condo.

 

[lopri]

Well, I did not notice any immediate difference between Note 3's screen and the Nexus 5's screen. Nexus 5's screen is almost as good as the Note 3's screen, in terms of color reproduction. Of course if you look closer there are unmistakable differences per different display techs, but for the most part I would treat them nearly equal.

At last, USB-OTG checked out on my N5! Thank goodness.

 

[antef]

So I've been using the N5 for a bit now. Battery life has been all over the place. At first it seemed fine, maybe even good, but then it tanked. Had a couple days where it was dropping like crazy, even in airplane mode! A reboot seems to have helped, but the battery life is still nowhere near where I was hoping it to be. I will agree with DLeRium that the numbers don't add up at all for 17 hours talk time. I'm kind of wondering if I should get the G2 instead? But that means dealing with LG's crap UI on top of Android 4.2, and messing with ROMs if you ever want timely updates. Didn't really feel like ever messing with that again.

 

[lothar]

So I've been using the N5 for a bit now. Battery life has been all over the place. At first it seemed fine, maybe even good, but then it tanked. Had a couple days where it was dropping like crazy, even in airplane mode! A reboot seems to have helped, but the battery life is still nowhere near where I was hoping it to be. I will agree with DLeRium that the numbers don't add up at all for 17 hours talk time. I'm kind of wondering if I should get the G2 instead? But that means dealing with LG's crap UI on top of Android 4.2, and messing with ROMs if you ever want timely updates. Didn't really feel like ever messing with that again.

Moto X.

 

[peroni]

I wonder why the AT review is taking that long.

Maybe Anand and the team are in touch with Google to get some sw issues ironed out (i.e camera focusing troubles) ?

 

[lopri]

Man I wish TMo's entire footprint was HSPA. Even 3Mbps HSPA would get me to switch to them.

Why? I thought their LTE was a saving grace where available.

That is odd. I have AT&T and I don't have any issue using the hotspot feature on my Nexus 5. Stock Android shouldn't be doing any check with your carrier to see if the hot spot feature is on. It just turns it on.

Are you on a shared-data plan? ("Mobile Share," I believe)

 

[sweenish]

T-Mobile's HSPA+ is faster than Verizon LTE in Wichita, KS right now. T-Mobile's LTE is usually icing, not a saving grace.

 

[lothar]

Yeah, the 500 and 2.5GB plans both include tethering to their limit. The unlimited plan includes 2.5GB of tethering. Prepaid does not. Especially the $30/5GB plan a lot of people are on.

Man I wish TMo's entire footprint was HSPA. Even 3Mbps HSPA would get me to switch to them.

T-Mobile has excellent 4G coverage where you live...Assuming it's Rock Hill, SC like your profile says.

 

[BreastyMcBreast]

Has Anand reviewed the Nexus 5 yet? If not, when do you expect that to come in?