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Amazon overnighted my N9 and it got here 9AM the next day. The first thing I noticed is its almost trapezoid shaped, with the smaller part of the trapezoid being the screen. I find this a bit awkward. Mine does not press in on the nexus logo. Overall the build quality is good, and theres an LED that breaks the frame on the top. Still installing updates, but tap to wake is a feature you can't live without after using it once.
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Nov 5, 2014 17:03
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Yeah, I should have impressions on mine later today once fedex gets here. It seems like Amazon overnighted most of the orders they could fill so they would meet the Weds delivery promise.
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Nov 5, 2014 17:06
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I like it. Android 5.0 is really nice. I haven't noticed any stutters besides when installing apps but that happens on all devices. I wish the tablet was bigger, I think I'd prefer it if it was a 10-11" screen. The bezels are somewhat big. The guest mode/multiple accounts works great. Now I need to get back to working.
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Nov 5, 2014 17:42
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ChiTownEddie posted:MX Player just said "Unsupported version of Android" haha. Other than that I haven't had too many issues... I'm currently using VLC on my N5 until the MX guy releases an update;
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Nov 5, 2014 18:09
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After using the Nexus 9 for a night, I have one kinda-complaint - because of the thin bezels, you (well, I) can't really hold the unit in portrait without palm contact. You can hold it up on your palm (which is how I use it when standing) or try to hold it up while gripping the bottom bezel. You can also hold it between both hands and use your thumbs. Only the latter works when gravity is against you because your head is below the unit, such as when I recline on a couch or in my bed. The palm contact has caused, occasionally, accidental "missed" touches, though. I feel like one of the reviews complained about that but can't remember which - I wonder if that's the culprit? That said, it's still quite comfortable to hold and look at in landscape. Other than that, I've seen a little bit of the app launch/switch delay but not everywhere; I might have some experimenting to do on it. And I have seen some apps fail to install with a -505 error (widgets, actually - Dashclock and Evernote Widget). Maybe they'll get updated. I was trying out Chronus instead of Dashclock anyway. And believe that it does get pretty warm. Despite these, overall, it's a very nice machine. But I really, really need a keyboard for it.
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Nov 5, 2014 19:10
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Nexus 9 status: RMA'd and heading back to the supplier. Touchscreen was plain broken.
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Nov 5, 2014 21:30
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I get what reviewers are saying about the apps not being good on the tablet. Everything looks so blown up and not thought out from a usability perspective. This wasn't an issue with the 7 since its still close to the size of a phone but on the 9 it is an issue.
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Nov 5, 2014 22:19
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It was an issue on the N10 as well, though I intentionally used the past tense. There are plenty of well thought out apps that take advantage of the added screen real estate. IMDB comes to mind as does Feedly or Flixster. SeriesGuide is another great one. HBO Go, Netflix, and Hulu all have good big screen experiences. There are a few high profile ones that don't such as Facebook or Twitter as well. It's a mix. It was less noticeable on the N7 since it was almost in phablet territory. Overall, I'm not too concerned. Most of the apps I use heavily DO have big screen layouts that are really well thought out.
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Nov 5, 2014 22:35
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Yea its crazy FB, Twitter, and Instagram don't have better layouts. Its really not that much more work for them to do. Its just changing the XML layouts.
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Nov 5, 2014 22:38
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No wonder I've never noticed this problem. I use Friendcaster and Fenix.
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Nov 5, 2014 22:41
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HP Touchpad had the best tablet version of Facebook, how crazy is that.
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Nov 5, 2014 22:47
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Actually, I think the Windows tablet version is pretty nice and would be completely happy with them cribbing that layout for big screen Android.
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Nov 5, 2014 22:50
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5436 posted:The bezels are somewhat big. Caphi posted:I have one kinda-complaint - because of the thin bezels, you (well, I) can't really hold the unit in portrait without palm contact. Ok, I'll say it. I think the bezels are perfect 
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Nov 6, 2014 00:16
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hotsauce posted:Ok, I'll say it. I think the bezels are perfect The device as a whole is a drat good size, honestly - and I've always been the guy pooh-poohing 7s and feeling smug about my 10" wide screen. It's just making it hard to grip the thing and hold it up by the long side. Holding it by the wider bezels on the ends works pretty well. (I'm guessing he meant the ends were big and I was talking about the sides.)
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Nov 6, 2014 00:49
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To give some context, I plan on not holding the device a lot, mostly media consumption with a case, or some reading.
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Nov 6, 2014 01:12
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I really like my N9. I just came across a bunch of Best Buy GCs, so I'm likely going to return it and rebuy it when it's back in stock so I can save another $100 bucks.
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Nov 6, 2014 01:24
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SIR FAT JONY IVES posted:I really like my N9. I just came across a bunch of Best Buy GCs, so I'm likely going to return it and rebuy it when it's back in stock so I can save another $100 bucks. Careful with excessive returns. You are being watched! https://www.theretailequation.com/
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Nov 6, 2014 02:02
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hotsauce posted:Careful with excessive returns. You are being watched! My return report would provably be returned to them due to email size limitations
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Nov 6, 2014 02:28
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5436 posted:Yea its crazy FB, Twitter, and Instagram don't have better layouts. Its really not that much more work for them to do. Its just changing the XML layouts. Instagram is the laziest social media service ever. You can't even upload photos from the web browser version or edit anything for that matter.
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Nov 6, 2014 02:29
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I said come in! posted:Instagram is the laziest social media service ever. You can't even upload photos from the web browser version or edit anything for that matter. NSA doesn't seem to mind 
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Nov 6, 2014 02:38
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Android police is reporting that lollipop is on hold for other devices because of a Wi-Fi battery bug. This should explain some of the poor n9 battery life.
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Nov 6, 2014 03:03
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I've noticed ok Google can't pick up any of my contacts name but when I do the same voice searches on my phone it picks up the names flawlessly.
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Nov 6, 2014 04:08
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Red Warrior posted:HP Touchpad had the best tablet version of Facebook, how crazy is that. It sucks because it really was an amazing implementation of Facebook. It's also weird that a lot of people at FB must've written the code so you would imagine they could've ported it to other platforms.
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Nov 6, 2014 05:04
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TheQat posted:Android police is reporting that lollipop is on hold for other devices because of a Wi-Fi battery bug. This should explain some of the poor n9 battery life. One of my friends asked if there are any notable upgrades/changes in lollipop so is there a definitive list anywhere? I know about the new design elements and some official apps were improved upon.
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Nov 6, 2014 06:17
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Alder posted:One of my friends asked if there are any notable upgrades/changes in lollipop so is there a definitive list anywhere? I know about the new design elements and some official apps were improved upon. Android Police has a nice Feature Spotlight series on it: http://www.androidpolice.com/tags/lollipop-feature-spotlight/
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Nov 6, 2014 07:45
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dammit you guys, hurry up and figure out if the N9 is poo poo or not. I realllly need to replace my gnex, and I'm a little tired of my N7 too, and I'm probably going to switch to an unlimited data plan... so my options are N5 + N9, or just an N6 or turbo/new maxx because they basically do everything, or one of those plus some big cheap tablet for when I'm in a pinch.  My N7 is basically useless if I end up with an N6.The N9's CPU/GPU are so much different, aside from all the weird stuttering issues is it actually supposed to be heads and tails above the N7/N6 etc. for gaming and browsing performance and stuff?
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Nov 6, 2014 08:03
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5436 posted:Yea its crazy FB, Twitter, and Instagram don't have better layouts. Its really not that much more work for them to do. Its just changing the XML layouts. If you're using the twitter app on any platform you have problems, it's awful. Get Fenix.
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Nov 6, 2014 08:25
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Straker posted:dammit you guys, hurry up and figure out if the N9 is poo poo or not. I realllly need to replace my gnex, and I'm a little tired of my N7 too, and I'm probably going to switch to an unlimited data plan... so my options are N5 + N9, or just an N6 or turbo/new maxx because they basically do everything, or one of those plus some big cheap tablet for when I'm in a pinch. I have one and its fine. I haven't seen any stuttering. It does get a little hot though. But no worse than my iPad Mini.
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Nov 6, 2014 14:02
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Straker posted:dammit you guys, hurry up and figure out if the N9 is poo poo or not. I realllly need to replace my gnex, and I'm a little tired of my N7 too, and I'm probably going to switch to an unlimited data plan... so my options are N5 + N9, or just an N6 or turbo/new maxx because they basically do everything, or one of those plus some big cheap tablet for when I'm in a pinch. For Android gaming, you're not going to get better than the Tegra K1 in the N9 or the Shield Tablet -- for the games that work. I've hit upon several that don't work, or don't allow you to enable high graphics settings. For browsing performance it's possibly overkill; I suspect any decently powerful tablet will be fine for that as long as it has a recent Android build. Do you have any specific questions / things one of us who has one should try?
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Nov 6, 2014 14:12
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I used the N9 heavily yesterday. Installed a bunch of apps and did a pretty good run of all the features. The issues with stuttering are overblown. It stuttered a few times throughout the day (I had 6 hours of screen on time through the day). The tap to wake feature does flake out sometimes. I don't find this to be a big deal because it doesn't interrupt the flow of any process. You also just tap again and it'll work, it never failed twice in a row. The remote "Ok Google" also bugged out and required a restart of the tablet. The "Ok Google play a song" feature is a bit slow. It'll process your command and take about 3-8s to actually launch the music app and start playing. It doesn't seem like much but when you do it remotely, you are left thinking if it even worked. Switching users is very slow, it lagged considerably when switching accounts. These are all small software things that I assume will be fixed in the next 3 months. Overall I am very happy with the tablet. Tap to wake, remote "Ok google", the tablet style Google Now cards, and Play Newstand all are great. The thing is very zippy and everything looks great.
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Nov 6, 2014 16:05
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How does the notification/settings panel work on tablets in Lollipop? Is it like the KitKat one with separate left/right panels depending on where you swipe? Or is it one central panel like on a phone and you swipe down twice for quick settings?
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Nov 6, 2014 16:13
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Tunga posted:How does the notification/settings panel work on tablets in Lollipop? Is it like the KitKat one with separate left/right panels depending on where you swipe? Or is it one central panel like on a phone and you swipe down twice for quick settings? Its all one. You pull down for notifications, pull down again for settings. Its a bit jarring at first cause you are so used to the swipe more right for settings. I prefer it this way cause you don't accidentally swipe either one down.
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Nov 6, 2014 16:16
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5436 posted:Its all one. You pull down for notifications, pull down again for settings. Its a bit jarring at first cause you are so used to the swipe more right for settings. I prefer it this way cause you don't accidentally swipe either one down.
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Nov 6, 2014 16:21
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So, my N9 impressions after using it last night. The size is one of those things where after I used the N9 for 20 minutes, going back to the N7 was like "what's with this tiny toy?" This might actually push me to get the N6, going up in size always seems easy and going back hard. That said, I miss being able to navigate one handed as I can't quite reach the back button with the N9 if I hold it the same way as the N7. Screen has too much light bleed at high brightness on dark screens, my N7 and N10 did as well though and it's not distracting in normal use. It's just a little disappointing at the pricepoint. I cannot, however, replicate the pictures shown on the internet where you can actually SEE the backlight at very high angles. The back (white at least) is a bit slippery and I could be worried about marking up the surface over time. I'm not sure how founded those fears are yet, just first impressions. The back material is certainly thinner than what you had on the N7, that's likely what we're seeing with the reports of "back flex". If there's even 0.5 mm of space between the battery and the back, you can see the back flex in a tiny bit. However, the oft posted gif makes it look like the thing is hollow and that pressure is being applied to show the 'flex' whereas it's more akin to the case just not being as form fitting as it could be. If the back material was thicker, it likely would go unnoticed completely. Holding the N7 and N9 in different hands, the weight doesn't feel a ton different between them, but the extra thickness of the N9 gives it a bit more heft. Between the material of the back and the metal ring around the frame, it makes me feel like I need to be a bit more careful about not dropping the N9 vs the N7 which felt indestructible. Not that I really drop tablets very often. Despite that though, it certainly feels like a premium tablet compared to the N7 and N10. Even though the N7 felt indestructible, it was still very much just plastic shell and screen. The N10 just never really had great fit and finish from the start. The N9, even with the tiny quirks that have been talked about, certainly feels like the most premium nexus tablet to date. Performance has been good, quite a bit better than my N7 running the dev preview. Yes, there was the occasional app switch pauses, but at the same time there were certain things that I noticed taking a TON less time on the N9 than anything else I've had so far (such as installing apps and not having it affect what you are doing while that is going on.) Speakers are better than the front facing ones on the N10 and get louder, they aren't anything to write home about though. It will make me slightly less likely to reach for my Supertooth speaker when using it around the house to watch media, but not fully eliminate the need. Light bleed aside, the screen is quite nice. Saturation and contrast looks good, it can get quite bright when needed, I can't really discern any pixels. It may be lower resolution than the N10 screen, but the better saturation more than makes up for it. I haven't encountered any real showstoppers with the aspect ratio so far and it feels really natural to use it in either orientation. In all, I'm quite pleased with the purchase after reading all the horror story reviews all week. It feels like a proper replacement for the N10 without being as unwieldy. As far as replacing the N7, it's not quite as portable being bigger and certainly has more presence when you are using it. What I mean by that is, the N7 was easy to just have lying on your lap or in the chair next to you if you weren't using it. With the N9, you are going to be more likely to either be using it or set it aside completely. That's just a side effect of the larger size. bull3964 fucked around with this message at 18:09 on Nov 6, 2014 |
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Nov 6, 2014 17:35
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5436 posted:Its all one. You pull down for notifications, pull down again for settings. Its a bit jarring at first cause you are so used to the swipe more right for settings. I prefer it this way cause you don't accidentally swipe either one down. I don't think a lot of people know this, but in Lollipop (just like the more recent versions of Kit Kat) a two fingered swipe from the top down will pull open the settings. On my Nexus 5 I can swipe down with one finger to open notifications and two fingers will open the quick settings panel. On my Nexus 9 I can swipe down and then pull down again for settings (or tap for settings). Or I can just swipe down with two fingers to get right into settings.
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Nov 6, 2014 17:43
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Installed some material desgin apps on my N10. Holy crap the new calendar looks nice. Also gmail supports now 3rd party accounts, switching between them requires only 1 button press. Can't wait for L, it will probably feel like buying a whole new tablet. Personally I'd like a Nexus 11 or Nexus 12, since 10 is barely large enough for photos, docs, comics etc.
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Nov 6, 2014 17:46
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beerinator posted:I don't think a lot of people know this, but in Lollipop (just like the more recent versions of Kit Kat) a two fingered swipe from the top down will pull open the settings. Cooool. I definitely did not know that. Any other fun tips  ?bull3964, so far my experience is very similar. I guess if there is a wifi battery bug that would partly explain why I have not had battery issues. 50% or so of my use is on airplane mode on the train playing a game or reading.
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Nov 6, 2014 17:47
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5436 posted:Switching users is very slow, it lagged considerably when switching accounts. These are all small software things that I assume will be fixed in the next 3 months. I wouldn't count on it. Switching users has been slow since they released the feature however long ago. A year?
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Nov 6, 2014 17:52
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Thermopyle posted:I wouldn't count on it. Switching users has been slow since they released the feature however long ago. A year? Yup, that is actually one I don't see them fixing. I get it though, its basically booting up to a new user. Switching to guest user seemed quicker though but that was before I loaded it with apps. I didn't check after.
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Nov 6, 2014 18:14
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Decius posted:Android Police has a nice Feature Spotlight series on it: http://www.androidpolice.com/tags/lollipop-feature-spotlight/ Thanks, much appreciated. Now to wait to see if there will be any deals 
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Nov 6, 2014 18:26
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