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Comment by simonh | Hacker News Reader

I just don't get how Google keeps getting positive press for its Nexus line. The issues with the early devices were written off as teething trouble, but Google has been developing Nexus devices for 5 years now and still they frequently have fundamental technical flaws and go unsupported after just a couple of years, if that in some cases. I honestly don't know what the benefit of getting a Nexus device is anymore.

To those people claiming all Apple does is assemble components and throw out overpriced crap and the iPhone is essentially just a marketing exercise, this is what it looks like when that's actually true.

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HTC Samsung LG and Motorola were the manufacturers of the Nexus line not Google.

I bought one of the first Nexus 4's on the market and it still works, I've had very few issues with it. My mother has one, she's had very few issues with it. She also has a Nexus 10 which I'm somewhat jealous of because it's an absolutely phenomenal device she uses it non stop. If you want an Apple device get an Apple device personally I don't like them because I think the OS has been behind for quite a while. I buy Nexus devices because they are being sold as hardware without carrier lock or bloatware, as all phones should be.

I've had n4/n5 and all the iPhones since 3GS. Disagree that iOS is behind overall. It's behind in features yes, but usability I still like iOS more.

Droid: -more os features -more customizability -like the notification centre much better -most apps that aren't in the top echelon of apps, are gross to use and look at. -hate multitasking multi-processes running in background

iOS: -buttery smooth like no other -touch input is much more accurate, somehow it knows -top echelon of apps, are better on iOS than droid

Gave droid a fair shot. To me, important things to get right on mobile is lag-free daily usage, and accurate touch input. Apple nailed both of these. And apps are usually better done on iOS than droid from my experience. For writing apps I prefer Xcode/Cocoa ecosystem over Java/Eclipse.

Generally I think Apple hardware+software is best in industry. And Google makes the best software services (Gmail, drive, play music, youtube, Maps, etc.).

"HTC Samsung LG and Motorola were the manufacturers of the Nexus line not Google"

We're talking about software problems. This is in Google's hands.

Overall I'm very pleased with my Nexus 4 after two years of use. I've also used Apple devices and I've had my share of issues, some of which I consider far worse. Here are some problems I've encountered with the iPad Air:

* Alarm failed to go off leading to a missed international flight. After scouring support it turned out the alarm mute button is independent of the system volume control. [1]

* Failed iOS upgrade lead to loss of all personal data. At the time I wasn't using iCloud for privacy reasons. And I never backed up with iTunes because I run Linux. We lost about a half year of photos. Since then I've started booting up a separate Windows partition in order to make backups.

Some more minor issues:

* Dragging and dropping mp3s to copy them to the iPad via iTunes did not have any noticeable feedback so I tried again resulting in double copies of dozens of songs. After manually deleting the dupes from iTunes, I had to do it again on the iPad.

* No way to delete purchased songs. The best I could do is hide them.

* Overall I find iTunes to be very unintuitive and often surprising in its behavior.

I haven't had nearly as many issues with the Nexus or Android. I can easily root my device and do just about anything with it.

1. https://discussions.apple.com/message/25329458?ac_cid=op1234...

Why would you attempt to upgrade any computer without having a backup? I can understand Joe Six-Pack not knowing that backups are important, but you're posting on HN...

Actually, OS upgrades should not result in loss of data. It's not like your data is part of the OS in any way. If anybody says otherwise he is full of it.

So you normally perform OS upgrades without a valid backup? Care to name your employer so I can avoid their products?

Reasons I bought (and still use as my daily driver) a Nexus 4:

* It was the phone most likely to get Android updates quickly.

* The bootloader was unlockable.

* It was extremely good value (compared to other phones available at the time)

I agree 100% that these benefits are gone or no longer exclusive to the Nexus line. Frankly my next phone I'll just see what is both good value and well supported by Cyanogen.

The upside to Nexus is that it's pure Android. These days, the downside is that it's pure Android and essentially unsupported by the vendor.

The incentive to purchase Nexus or GPE devices was a lot greater pre-KitKat, but now that a lot of stuff has been abstracted away from the core and into Google Play Services & associated apps, being on the absolute latest core isn't often "necessary".

The elephant in the room is that the vendor overlays (Touchwiz, Sense, etc) are so unique that switching device brands can be very disorienting, even to find straightforward settings and do simple things. I have quite a bit of experience with HTC's Sense, but my father just purchased an LG G3 (at my suggestion) and I had a heck of a time just navigating to and through the settings screens trying to find something easy (how to change the screen timeout).

I am still happy with my GPE HTC One M8 and see 0 need to upgrade devices any time soon, but the next time I do it will probably be to either a Moto or Sony, both of which are minimally skinned, or something like a OnePlus running an alternative ROM.

I know right? I'm running my Nexus 7 2012 and I still haven't gotten the Android Lollipop OTA, but then again considering how many people say it makes the device even slower maybe that's a good thing.

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