So you knew hit had to happen. Less than a week with a Nexus 6, and I just installed the Android M Developer Preview on it. Here's the changes I've seen so far:
Do Not Disturb: Now has 3 options: None, Alarms Only, and Priority. None kills all notifications. Alarms Only allows only the alarms through, and Priority follows the rules you set for who can break through. DND has more options in it too, allowing for multiple rule sets. I'd love to see a geofence trigger, but it's nearly perfect. It's what they should've had in Lollipop. Now, I know that most manufacturers changed that already within their "skins" of Android, but it's great to see stock get proper options. The best part of this, for me, is that Android Wear doesn't follow the notification scheme of the phone, meaning the phone can be silenced and my watch will still vibrate. I'm hoping that holds through when the watch is updated to M as well, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's vibration settings follow that of the phone at that point, such as it did when both the watch and phone were on Lollipop (which was super annoying). We shall see.
Quick Settings: DND is now in the Quick Settings. Also, if you enable the System UI Tuner in Developer Options, you can add/remove/reorder the Quick Settings. This is fantastic for managing your settings drawer.
Volume Controls: Now you have more control over ring/system/alarm volume right from the volume rocker. Hit the rocker and the tap the drop down for more options. Love it.
Sounds: You can now turn off charging sounds. Not a big change, but a welcome one.
App Drawer: Now it scrolls vertically, with the 4 most recent apps on top and the rest broken into alphabetical categories. I'd love to see an option to jump between letters (like in Windows Phone).
Lockscreen: The phone dialer shortcut has been replaced with a Google Now voice shortcut. This seems a bit odd to me.
Wi-Fi Calling: I'm on T-Mobile, so this was recently enabled in the 5.1.1 update anyway, but it's built-in here.
Theme: Enabling Developer Options unlocks a "theme" option. Within it is the normal "Light" theme and a new "Dark" theme. On top of that, there's an "Automatic" option, which uses some rule to change the system interface. Not sure if it's light-based or time-based, but putting it in a dark room hasn't changed anything. If I figure it out, I'll update this post.
That's all I've noticed so far. In theory, Doze should help my battery life by detecting when the phone isn't moving or charging and shutting off data, but I haven't seen that benefit yet, as I'm about an hour in. Now On Tap isn't enabled in this build. Android Wear seems to be working fine, though I've read reports that certain things can cause it to crash and restart. Looking forward to exploring more of the new OS. :)
Notes:
Whoa. Waze is beyond borked. It actually messes up the whole system UI to the point that you have to reboot. Looks like Google Maps will be my go-to for a while. lol
Android Wear suffers crashes when a call goes out, and the incoming call screen stays on for the duration of an incoming call.
6.30.2015
6.25.2015
Epic Fail
That's what the Galaxy S6 edge ultimately ended up being. I stuck with the phone for nearly a month. It's gorgeous. The camera is incredible. And it COULD be fast.
But over the past few weeks, it got horrible. To the point that I could barely use it. First off, it gets terrible signal, and when it does have signal, the data speed is laughable at best. I had thought it was just due to being out in Powder Springs, but I'm now realizing it's more the phone than the signal that's the issue. For instance, here at my desk at work, I got between zero bars and 1 bar of 3G at best with that phone. As I have WiFi here, it wasn't a huge deal, but it was noticeable. At the new house, I got 1-2 bars of 3G at best, and there's no WiFi there until the Internet gets hooked up next week. I just picked up a Nexus 6, and I'm getting 3-4 bars of LTE in the same exact spot on my desk here at work, and I'm willing to bet I'll actually be able to use the N6 at the new house.
Also, Samsung really hobbled the memory management of the phone. Opening more than 3 apps killed the oldest app, which is horrible for someone who wants to listen to podcasts/audiobooks/music on their phone. Samsung has more or less admitted to the software problem, but has also put out a statement that they're focusing on their new, unannounced, flagship phone, and will take a look at this issue after that launches. That's unacceptable, especially for a phone with 3GB of RAM. There are "fixes" out there that require editing the build.prop file, but I found that while they allow apps to remain in memory longer, it also dramatically slows the phone down to the point that it needs to be rebooted 5-6 times a day.
On top of that, while I was out on a business trip, on-site, in Tallahassee, FL, the phone rebooted itself. When it came back up, it asked for my PIN to log in. When I hit any key on the keyboard, it rebooted. This effectively completely locked me out of my phone. I did a factory reset, but the keyboard issue remained, meaning I couldn't complete the setup of the phone. I was still locked out of being able to use it. So I quickly downloaded the smallest custom ROM I could that had no reported issues. After flashing it and setting up the phone, it continually dropped both outgoing and incoming calls within half a second. About 1 in 10 calls would connect successfully. That issue was probably ROM related (though no one else reported it), but it added to my frustrations with the phone and ultimately pushed me over the edge (no pun intended).
So I'm back on a Nexus 6, which, as I stated above, gets WAY better signal reception and suffers from none of the software issues of the S6 edge (plus the big screen and much, much better battery life). I actually got 2 Nexus 6s (one new in box, which I'm using and one used, but in perfect condition), so I'm going to see if Kimberly wants the other one. She's having some frustrating (less frustrating than the S6 edge; poor battery life, random slow-downs, random reboots) with her LG G3, so I think the N6 would be a fantastic fix for her, if she can handle the massive screen. lol
Anyway, in conclusion, I've never been so let down by a phone that started off so positively for me. In its current state, I can't recommend the S6 edge. At all. Extremely poor signal reception, bad battery life (seriously, I needed to charge it by noon each day), and major underlying software issues. It's really a shame as the camera is unparalleled and the phone is gorgeous. Ah well, there's nothing I can't do with the Nexus 6.
But over the past few weeks, it got horrible. To the point that I could barely use it. First off, it gets terrible signal, and when it does have signal, the data speed is laughable at best. I had thought it was just due to being out in Powder Springs, but I'm now realizing it's more the phone than the signal that's the issue. For instance, here at my desk at work, I got between zero bars and 1 bar of 3G at best with that phone. As I have WiFi here, it wasn't a huge deal, but it was noticeable. At the new house, I got 1-2 bars of 3G at best, and there's no WiFi there until the Internet gets hooked up next week. I just picked up a Nexus 6, and I'm getting 3-4 bars of LTE in the same exact spot on my desk here at work, and I'm willing to bet I'll actually be able to use the N6 at the new house.
Also, Samsung really hobbled the memory management of the phone. Opening more than 3 apps killed the oldest app, which is horrible for someone who wants to listen to podcasts/audiobooks/music on their phone. Samsung has more or less admitted to the software problem, but has also put out a statement that they're focusing on their new, unannounced, flagship phone, and will take a look at this issue after that launches. That's unacceptable, especially for a phone with 3GB of RAM. There are "fixes" out there that require editing the build.prop file, but I found that while they allow apps to remain in memory longer, it also dramatically slows the phone down to the point that it needs to be rebooted 5-6 times a day.
On top of that, while I was out on a business trip, on-site, in Tallahassee, FL, the phone rebooted itself. When it came back up, it asked for my PIN to log in. When I hit any key on the keyboard, it rebooted. This effectively completely locked me out of my phone. I did a factory reset, but the keyboard issue remained, meaning I couldn't complete the setup of the phone. I was still locked out of being able to use it. So I quickly downloaded the smallest custom ROM I could that had no reported issues. After flashing it and setting up the phone, it continually dropped both outgoing and incoming calls within half a second. About 1 in 10 calls would connect successfully. That issue was probably ROM related (though no one else reported it), but it added to my frustrations with the phone and ultimately pushed me over the edge (no pun intended).
So I'm back on a Nexus 6, which, as I stated above, gets WAY better signal reception and suffers from none of the software issues of the S6 edge (plus the big screen and much, much better battery life). I actually got 2 Nexus 6s (one new in box, which I'm using and one used, but in perfect condition), so I'm going to see if Kimberly wants the other one. She's having some frustrating (less frustrating than the S6 edge; poor battery life, random slow-downs, random reboots) with her LG G3, so I think the N6 would be a fantastic fix for her, if she can handle the massive screen. lol
Anyway, in conclusion, I've never been so let down by a phone that started off so positively for me. In its current state, I can't recommend the S6 edge. At all. Extremely poor signal reception, bad battery life (seriously, I needed to charge it by noon each day), and major underlying software issues. It's really a shame as the camera is unparalleled and the phone is gorgeous. Ah well, there's nothing I can't do with the Nexus 6.
6.13.2015
Google Photos
Google Photos is pretty awesome. With a few caveats.
I'm exporting and uploading quite a bit of my Lightroom catalog, and it's handling it pretty flawlessly. I point the desktop uploader to a folder ("Upload" on my desktop), export perfectly-fine-for-screens versions of my photos to that folder, they get uploaded. Done. Plus, it's making neat little collages and grouping people and things together. It's great. I had previously been using, and still use as it's full-res, Microsoft OneDrive for photo backup on my devices, but it's not nearly as elegant or easy to use. G+ Photos did part of this as well, but the new Google Photos is nearly seamless and dead simple. Seriously, if you haven't tried it yet, fire up the new Photos app on your phone/tablet or go to photos.google.com and try the new search functions. It's pretty amazing.
Now the caveats I spoke of: It's not as full-featured as G+ Photos was. You can't fix misgrouped faces or items (which isn't a huge deal, as that only affects search). You can't edit a date/time if it's off. And you can't use the photo editor online unless you put the photos into a G+ post first. These are all simple things to fix, and I'm sure they will down the road.
Unlimited storage of my photos online (I went with the 16MP/1080P limit because I don't need my full res stuff online like that)? Yes please! Easy way to upload from all my devices? Absolutely! For someone like me, this is so awesome. All my photos. From all my devices. Everywhere.
I'm exporting and uploading quite a bit of my Lightroom catalog, and it's handling it pretty flawlessly. I point the desktop uploader to a folder ("Upload" on my desktop), export perfectly-fine-for-screens versions of my photos to that folder, they get uploaded. Done. Plus, it's making neat little collages and grouping people and things together. It's great. I had previously been using, and still use as it's full-res, Microsoft OneDrive for photo backup on my devices, but it's not nearly as elegant or easy to use. G+ Photos did part of this as well, but the new Google Photos is nearly seamless and dead simple. Seriously, if you haven't tried it yet, fire up the new Photos app on your phone/tablet or go to photos.google.com and try the new search functions. It's pretty amazing.
Now the caveats I spoke of: It's not as full-featured as G+ Photos was. You can't fix misgrouped faces or items (which isn't a huge deal, as that only affects search). You can't edit a date/time if it's off. And you can't use the photo editor online unless you put the photos into a G+ post first. These are all simple things to fix, and I'm sure they will down the road.
Unlimited storage of my photos online (I went with the 16MP/1080P limit because I don't need my full res stuff online like that)? Yes please! Easy way to upload from all my devices? Absolutely! For someone like me, this is so awesome. All my photos. From all my devices. Everywhere.
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