Google Nexus 5x (made by LG; LG H790)

Review

My only major complaint is that it's a little too big. The display is 5.2 inches, i think i would be much happier with a display of 4.7 inches. Anything between 4.3 and 4.8 would probably be ok.

Other than that, it's great.

A little history of my previous smartphones; this is my 4th one. The first smartphone i got was a Nexus One (G1) with a physical keyboard. I loved it. The second one i got was a high-spec smartphone without a physical keyboard (Motorola Atrix). I hated it; typing on the soft keyboard led to too many mistakes. The third one i got was a low-spec smartphone with a physical keyword (LG Optimus F3Q). I loved it. So, this time around i figured that my main requirement was to find a phone with a physical keyboard. The Nexus 5x does NOT have a physical keyboard, so i initially ignored it. However, after trying it out in stores, i realized that i could indeed type accurately on this keyboard. In fact, i can now type more accurately on soft keyboards than on portrait-mode physical keyboards such as on the Blackberry Priv (my previous phone, the LG Optimus F3Q had a 5-row landscape keyboard; it was a slider; my typing accuracy on that was comparable to the Nexus 5x's soft keyboard). So, i guess the problem with the Atrix must have been that phones of that generation were still so slow that typing on the soft keyboard was laggy; but now that phones are faster, the soft keyboard is good enough for me. In fact, i even prefer it, because you don't have to press the keys so hard. So, if you are like me and have been demanding only phones with physical keyboards, give the soft keyboard another try, you may find that it's finally good enough this generation.

Software: Android 6 is wonderful.

CPU: The CPU is fast enough. I've never noticed any lag.

(rear-facing) Camera: The camera is good. Then sensor size is 1/2.3" with 12.3MP (that's 1.55µm pixels) (note that sensor size is as important as megapixels, and too many megapixels can actually be bad if the sensor is not large enough to support them, eg if the micros per pixel is too low). Taking a test picture of clouds at twilight (after the sun set), I was surprised by how sharp it was given that level of light and given that it is a phone. My Sony RX100 still takes better pictures (of course, given its much larger sensor size), but the Nexus 5x is good enough that it can be my go-everywhere camera (in sharp contrast to my previous low-spec phone, the LG Optimus F3Q, whose camera was so bad that i would almost never use it even if i saw something that i wanted to take a picture of and had no other camera). The camera is fast enough (in sharp contrast to my LG Optimus F3Q, which had a long lag). I like the built-in camera app for the most part (and i LOVE phonespheres), but i would prefer if it had an option to manually set the ISO and shutter speed. I would prefer if the camera (or at least the camera app, as in the Nexus 6) had image stabilization.

front-facing camera: haven't really used it yet. Seems to be pretty good.

RAM: I was worried about the 2GB RAM, since my previous phone had 1GB RAM and had a lot of problems with that, but so far it seems to be handling it well. Large games do swap in and out of memory each time you put them in the foreground, but other than that i have not yet noticed any memory-related effects (although maybe they're happening and i'm not noticing them). When you haven't recently played a large game, the free memory seems to be around 500M. The Samsung Galaxy has 3GB, but on the AT&T store demo S6, memory usage also seemed to be around 500M, so i guess that maybe the Samsung bloatware eats up the extra GB anyway. Still, i would prefer if the Nexus 5x had 3GB RAM.

I would like if the auto-rotation between portrait and landscape occurred faster (ie with less latency).

Storage: I got the 32GB version. I don't watch many movies or listen to much music on my phone so i probably won't need more than that. I do sort of miss the microSD card, because that made it easier to move files between my phone and my computer, but it's not a huge deal.

Battery: I would greatly prefer a removable battery. Since battery life decreases as devices age, and since with each of my previous phones i've ended up buying a new battery (which costs about $15) about halfway through their lifespan, i expect that with the Nexus 5x i will have to buy a new phone at that point instead; this probably almost HALVES the expected lifespan of my device, forcing me to shell out hundreds of dollars for a new device years sooner than i otherwise would have (greatly decreasing the worth of the Nexus 5x to me). Also, with other phones i usually carry around a spare fully-charged battery in my pocket on trips, allowing me to not stress about using up the primary battery and being without a phone while on a trip. The workaround for non-removable batteries are external batteries (power banks/power packs/charger cases/boost cases), but these are bulkier to carry around than just an extra battery, so you might take one in your suitcase, but not in your pocket. My Nexus 5x has just enough battery to last a day; since battery life decreases as devices age, since the Nexus 5x has just enough battery to last a day, this means that my Nexus 5x's battery will NOT last a day when it gets older. Another problem with a non-removable battery is that if the OS ever manages to hang so hard that the software-mediated powerdown doesn't work, there will be nothing i can do aside from waiting hours for the device to use up its battery. This has happenend to me on previous Android devices (and it happens to me on my laptop), so i'm a little worried.

Battery size (battery life) is decent. I can drive for about an hour while using Google Maps turn-by-turn navigation the whole time (which consumes about 30%), spend all day somewhere, then drive back for an hour again with Google Maps navigation on the whole time, and the battery lasts the whole day (although it is almost out by the time i go to sleep). This is in sharp contrast to my previous phone, where doing this would require that i fiddle with the phone a lot, turning off GPS when i'm not using it, going into airplane mode when possible, etc in order to save enough battery for the trip home. If you watch movies or play games this quickly uses up the battery, but i don't. I would still prefer if battery life was longer; battery life becomes particularly important when the battery is non-removable. I would prefer for the phone to be thicker and heavier in exchange for longer battery life. Ideally, for a non-removable battery, the battery would last through 2 days of my normal use when the device is new; this would probably translate to a battery life >1 day of normal use for the entire time that i would otherwise want to use the device. If the battery were removable then there would not be such a need for long battery life.

Charging speed: fast

Fingerprint reader: i find this really useful, and i like the location on the rear of the phone, rather than the front bottom. It works most of the time (it fails to recognize my fingerprint about 1 in 10 times, but if i then place my finger more carefully solidly on the sensor, it almost always gets it; i've only had to fallback to the password a few times (don't forget your password though; if your fingerprint fails to recognize more than a few times it locks out the fingerprint reader and demands a password)). I would prefer if you could register more than 5 fingers; i would like maybe 12 (12 would let me register all of my own fingers that i use, plus a few dupes to improve recognition, plus a few friends and family's).

Display resolution and colors and brightness: Resolution: 1080p (1920x1080). Imo this is the perfect resolution. On a phone, i end up zooming in a lot anyways to see text; if you make the resolution any higher than this, you needlessly consume GPU/CPU power and battery life. Colors: i love the colors. Apparently, because this is an IPS screen and not an AMOLED, the colors are less garish and more accurate, which i really like. Brightness: it is bright enough.

Shape and materials: The back is plastic. I prefer this because it's light and not too slippery (it could stand to be even less slippery, though) and durable, but some reviewers seem to dislike plastic, apparently just because they feel it isn't fancy enough. There is a camera bump on the back, right above the fingerprint reader. I don't mind this, but it does mean that your finger often gets on the camera lens when you are trying to reach the fingerprint reader; if you really want high-quality photos then you'll want to keep your camera free of fingerprints in which case this would annoy you (i don't care enough about photo quality to mind). The phone is rather thin and lightweight for its largish size. Apparently Gorilla Glass 3 is used, which is less durable than Gorilla Glass 4. However, comparing this phone to the Samsung S6, which has Gorilla Glass 4, i found it easier to drag stuff on the screen with my finger (less friction) on the Nexus 5x than on the Samsung S6, so the Nexus did something right (not sure if this is due to the Gorilla Glass 3, or some coating on top of it, or something else).

USB-C connector: Note that the USB-C connector is not compatible with existing USB cords unless you buy an adaptor, but that's fine, because my guess is that everything is going to be switching to USB-C, so you may as well make the transition sooner rather than later. The USB-C connector snaps in, which i prefer to USB-B; another nice thing about USB-C is that it goes in either way (upside down or not). Note that USB-C video out is NOT supported. The phone comes with a USB-C cable and a charger.

If you are shopping for phones, i found the website http://www.gsmarena.com/ to be the best one for the purpose of just looking up the raw specs for each candidate, and also for doing an initial search for candidates according to spec criteria (including what Android version is available).

Summary of my complaints:

Showstoppers: none, overall, i'm happy with this phone
Major: display too big
Big deal: battery: (1) non-removable battery. (2) given that the battery is non-removable, battery life is too short
Minor:
- camera: no image stabilization
- RAM: would prefer 3GB or 4GB
- auto-rotation has too much latency
things that are fine for me but that you might have problems with:
- watching videos, playing games, using the camera burns a lot of battery
- no 64G storage option
- display resolution is "only" 1920x1080

Decent things:

CPU speed
RAM amount
4g
USB-C connector

Great things:

Android 6
camera app: photospheres
stock Android
rapid charging
rear fingerprint reader
camera quality
display resolution and colors
shape and materials ('build quality')

overall impression: i love it. It would be almost perfect if it were a little smaller and had a removable battery.

Setup

Settings: wifi: setup your local wifi networks more: emergency broadcasts: all off (NOTE: i think the presidential broadcasts may still be on; i think you have to root your phone to turn that off (!)) networks more: android beam: off

location: mode: high accuracy Google Location History: off (i thought this was cool, but [1] says that location services drains a lot of battery life; i doubt that changing this setting will affect that, but it's worth a try)

security: screen lock: password (regarding whether to require the password at startup: is this true? https://www.reddit.com/r/Nexus5/comments/2q67qm/encryption_pointless/cn3omy1 if so, why didnt they allow biometric id at boot?) if desired: setup biometric unlock (Nexus Imprint (fingerprint) and/or Smart Lock -> Trusted Face and/or Trusted Voice)

display: sleep: after 5 mins of inactivity set wallpaper press power button twice for camera: on font sz: large (note: accessibilty->large text is the same as setting display->font sz to huge) ambient display: off (i dont want everyone reading my notifications when the phone is down)

sound & notification: also vibrate for calls: yes phone ringtone: upload desired ringtone default notification ringtone: off/none other sounds: all off pulse notification light: on when device is locked: show all notifications (i'm not sure how to control which apps are 'sensitive' tho)

accounts->google: turn off sync for the things you don't use, and turn on sync for the things you do (remember that if stuff isnt syncing later you might have to turn this stuff back on)

google: personal info and privacy:

activity controls: web and app activity: on, device information: on nearby: on search and now: accounts and privacy: safesearch: on. voice: ok google detection: off. now cards: (click first option to do initial setup). now on tap: on smart lock for passwords: this sounds like it sends other apps passwords to google? you may want to disable this (then later from the home screen, hold down the 'home' button, and turn on 'now on tap')

language and input: google keyboard:

preferences:
- vibrate on keypress: off
- sound on keypress: off
- popup on keypress: off
accounts and privacy: google keyboard sync: on. improve google keyboard: off
appearance and layouts: theme: holo blue
text correction: autocorrection: off personal dictionary: add name (should be synced already) text-to-speech: speech rate: very fast
advanced:share snippets: off

date and time: use 24-hour format

accessibility: power button ends call: on

(the following only works with Developer options disabled, so do it now: double finger pull down notifications, loooong press on gear to enable System UI Tuner )

about phone: click like 6 times on Build Number to activate Developer options then, go back to the previous menu and go into the new Developer options submenu aggressive wi-fi to cellular handover: on turn off all of: Window animation scale, transition animation scale, animator duration scale

system ui tuner: battery: always show percentage

open gmail, menu->settings->(your email account)->manage labels: priority inbox->label notifications: on. sound, vibrate: off inbox->label notifications: off

open YouTube? app, Settings->Notifications->notify on this device: off (i heard this might improve battery life [2])

Settings->Accounts->Google and turn off sync for everything you don't use frequently

install: dropbox firefox browser for android you can use Firefox Sync to sync bookmarks and tabs between your computer and your mobile; note: in order to do this you must have less than 5000 bookmarks; if you have too many, you can export your bookmarks, and then delete a bunch of ones that you don't want (the reason for the export is so that you can find the ones you deleted in case you ever want them again; keep this file around if you might want to do this); note: in my case i had over 5000 and i had to log out of my Firefox Account on both my desktop and mobile, then delete bookmarks on my desktop, and then re-sign up for my Firefox Account in order to clear the cloud sync data, and then log into the fresh account with the desktop, and then uninstall and reinstall firefox on the mobile and log in to the new Firefox Account, and then after it finished syncing to tell it to sync again, and then quit the firefox app on mobile and restart it in order to see the new bookmarks tools->add-ons->browse->search for ublock origin, and install signal private messenger (you may want to import old SMSs) simpletask (place widget on homescreen, filter settings: sort: (completed, priority, threshold date in future, due date, list, tag, threshold date, alphabetical, file order, creation date, etc), title todo, then expand to 2x3, settings: task text ellipsizing->end, date new tasks->false, auto archive->true, calendar reminders->due dates true, calendar reminders->threshold dates true, append new tasks->false, back button->true). Pull out right drawer and save filter as 'default'. Create a second filter with priority '-' (these are items without any priority) and save it as 'new' in right drawer. Note that you can also use the hamburger menu to filter. (notes on simpletask: https://gist.github.com/alehandrof/9941620) agenda widget (2x3 widget on homescreen; pulldown tiny menu on widget and go into settings; data sources->select your desired calendars, including the new simpletask reminders calendar) agenda widget plus jota text editor jota->preferences->files->autosave on pinterest (if you are rooted, you might consider installing the apps adblock plus or adaway; otherwise, you might consider adguard) inbox by google 'a better camera' ($4. i actually like the built-in camera app better for most purposes, but this one has ISO and shutter speed and also HDR (not at the same time, though), so if you really want to control the iso and shutter speed on one shot, you can use this; to get to options, pull down the top as you would with the notification bar; to be allowed to alter shutter speed and iso, first use the lower-right hand mode button to make sure you are in 'single shot' mode, then pull down the bar and select 'exposure metering': 'shutter speed' (this is manual). HDR is a different mode (only ~5 free HDR shots, then you have to pay the $4)) (other good camera apps: snap camera HDR (must go into settings and turn on camera2 API), but the HDR wasnt so good imo; Camera FV-5, which is great except no HDR (it will do exposure bracketing though, so that you can do HDR later with some other program); i havent tried Manual Camera, i'm not sure if it has HDR; Open Camera, which has no HDR; on many of these you must find the settings and manually turn on 'camera2 api' before you can get ISO and shutter speed controls) skymap shazam life360 instagram pandora yelp skype connectbot google voice pdf viewer for android? adobe pdf? es file manager alarms shortcut

on homescreen: google widget at top, agenda widget, todo.txt widget, alarms shortcut on bar of frequently used apps at bottom of homescreens: phone, signal, apps, firefox, camera in dropbox, set every file within l/ to offline, then using es file manager, create a shortcut directly to the following files within Android/data/dropbox/files/.*/scratch/l: notes.txt shop.txt ref.txt (on homescreen 2) remember.txt (on homescreen 2) on homescreen 2: maps, gmail long press on homescreen 2 and add widget gmail->label->Priority Inbox

settings->battery->menu->battery optimization->all apps->dropbox->non-optimized

Google now feed app (swipe left)->hamburger menu->Customize feed->stocks, remove all stocks ([3] suggests stocks in the Google Now feed can cause battery drain)

settings->google->nearby (you may have to turn on bluetooth to see this screen), off (and now turn off bluetooth again)

Settings-Apps->APP_NAME->Data Usage and just disable 'Background data' for:

'Messenger' (facebook messenger)
Snapchat
Instagram

Settings->Battery->Battery saver->Turn on automatically at 15%

Settings->Security->Screen pinning->on

things to know:

from play.google.com, you can get to the Android Device Manager, which lets you remotely ring, lock, or wipe your phone if you lose it
to get to some settings, pull now the notifications bar, then pull it down again, then click on the gear
there is now a flashlight up there on the notifications bar

wonderful things (about either the Nexus 5x or Android version 6, 'marshmallow'):

general speed
built-in flashlight
two clicks of power button to go right to camera when sleeping
fast, reliable fingerprint reader, on the BACK so you can get it while taking the phone out of your pocket
fast charging
adaptive brightness
Android Device Manager
device encryption
built-in 'swype' in google keyboard
the possibility of getting notifications only from priority inbox
the plastic back (not heavy, and won't shatter)
decent camera (decent quality, and also good speed)
i know the phone will be rootable if i need to root it later
less bloatware
numerical battery indicator (swipe up twice)
the 'swipe up twice or double-fingered swipe' UI mechanic
usb-c
i like the IPS colors better than AMOLED colors (but i guess AMOLED would be better for battery life? i'd prefer good battery life to good colors)
the device rotates quickly between landscape and portrait when you turn it
granular permissions

complaints:

there's a speaker at the bottom of the phone, then a space, then the part of the display showing the soft keys, then the normal display. So when the phone is in horizontal mode and the keyboard is on, you have to reach over all of that to get to the keyboard. Combined with the phone's height, i find that makes it too far for my fingers to easily reach across the middle of the keyboard in horizontal keyboard mode. This is also impeded by the large width of the device. i would like either for the phone's height to be smaller (even if the display must be smaller), or for the softkeys to be in the region at the bottom of the device (like with the Samsung Galaxy S6), instead of a speaker and blank space, or both, and for the device's width to be slightly smaller.
Also, the device is much too big to reach anywhere near the top or the right side of it when operating with one hand, which is another reason that i would like it to be smaller.
Also, the device is so tall that when you are operating it with one hand, it feel 'top-heavy' (it's not really, it's just that you are mostly gripping it below the midpoint) and feels like it is always on the verge of tipping over
For the previous 3 reasons, i would greatly prefer a display size in between 4 and 4.7
2GB RAM is juuuust enough, but when it comes to RAM i like a little more than just enough; my previous phone with 1GB was way too little. The Nexus 5x has 2GB, but it should have 3GB at least (by the time the next generation comes along, this will probably be 4GB).
would like 10 fingers for fingerprint reader
the back should have a little bit 'stickier' texture to make it not so slippery
camera needs image stabilization
non-removable battery: this makes the battery life of the phone more of an issue than it needs to be
battery life: the battery life is not terrible, but i would prefer if the phone were thicker and had a bigger battery. The target should be two full days of mixed use, in an area with bad signal, without a charge.
i feel like the phone is trying too hard to be thin and light, at the expense of more important stuff like battery life
user data is erased if bootloader is unlocked (this requirement should be optional for the paranoid, but for the rest of us, the default should be that if you log in fully and give your security password, then you can unlock the bootloader without erasing anything)
the following things should be able to be accomplished without root:
- copying all your data off of the phone with adb pull
- Shark (a packet sniffer)
- adblocking (note: there is a non-root adblocker called adguard)
there are no adblocking apps in the app store
want a shortcut directly to the Alarm submenu of the Clock app
they probably should have used the more durable Gorilla Glass 4 instead of Gorilla Glass 3 -- durability is key in cell phones (although, i noticed there was more friction when swyping on a samsung s6 than on a nexus 5x, so maybe GG4 has a problem there? or is low-friction swyping enabled just by adding a coating on top?)

stuff others might care about that i don't:

some reviews don't like the plastic back b/c they think it is insufficiently fancy, i can't understand that; extra fancy at the expense of extra money is one thing, but they want fancy at the expense of weight and durability?
camera bump in back: some reviewers complain about the protruding camera in back but i dont mind. I guess it does make it more likely that you get fingerprints on your lens, though, esp. when you are trying to touch the fingerprint reader
android pay (and apple pay, and samsung pay): i don't get it. As long as you have to carry your driver's license with you, you may as well carry a credit card, too. (and even if the driver's license could be dispensed with, there's still your employee ID card, your health insurance card (which you want emergency workers to be able to access if you are unconscious), your prepaid mass transit card, etc).

random interesting appt (i'm not recommending these, i just think it's interesting that they exist):

http://www.lock2learn.com/ : periodically locks your child's mobile device and forces them to answer math questions, or other quiz questions, to continue

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todo look into this:

mb later: consider whitelisting dropbox from app standby g-tar robotic guitarist asciicamera evernote point inside shopping and travel graph lite ruler cardar ggnes lite or some other nes emulator better terminal? where's my droid? popup sms rockout guitar? compass? atrackdog? snapchat (what was that new secret-like app?) missed call vibrate a barcode scanner? titanium backup here i am? dropsync shortcut to alarm app what other setup (see old lg textfile) what other apps? (see old applist(s)) http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/jan/12/23-tips-tricks-android section surround sound

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anyway to disable presidential alerts without rooting?

according to https://www.fcc.gov/guides/wireless-emergency-alerts-wea "In passing the WARN Act, Congress allowed participating carriers to offer subscribers the capability to block all WEAs except those issued by the President.". This seems to be true; https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/109/hr4954 , the SAFE Port Act, sponsored by Republican Daniel Lungren and passed in 2006 by a Republican-controlled Congress and signed by George W. Bush, says "Any commercial mobile service licensee electing to transmit emergency alerts may offer subscribers the capability of preventing the subscriber’s device from receiving such alerts, or classes of such alerts, other than an alert issued by the President. Within 2 years after the Commission completes the proceeding under paragraph (1), the Commission shall examine the issue of whether a commercial mobile service provider should continue to be permitted to offer its subscribers such capability.". Thanks, guys.

this guy says that mb call/SMS blockers can do it: http://androidforums.com/threads/commercial-mobile-alert-system-cmas-disable.640537/

(actually, i would prefer to receive all of these alerts if only i could be sure that they would arrive as ordinary text messages and not disturb me with a loud siren; but i don't see any option for that, and even if there was, i have no way to test it out and make sure i set it right, so it's 'safer' to turn it off)

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note to self: "Google connectivity services" not on new phone

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games to try:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=air.com.perfectworld.ek&hl=en
star trek timelines
kill shot bravo
downtown showdown
walking war
vainglory
gods of rome
rust bucket
neon hack
pancake tower
The Walking Dead No Man's Land recc. by http://www.androidpolice.com/2016/01/15/what-we-use-2016-edition-the-stuff-cameron-cant-live-without/
robot unicorn attack 2
astronest
brave brigade
pocket troops
world chef
traffic rider
star chindy
crashlands
give it up 2
guardian stone
sandstorm pirate wars
hungry shark
marvel avengers
dragon ball z
mr. right
rapala fishing
lost in harmony
assassin's creed
OK KO lakewood
ultimate briefcase
order & chaos 2
lego nexo
dragon nijas
target acquired
titans of space
douchbag beach club
Juggernaut Wars
10000 wives
gardenscapes

clash royale robocide ea sports ufc mynba2k16 pirate king pirate power ever after high tea medal masters blood brothers Chinese recipes heroes reborn dungeon rush perfect angle zombie hive 2 "online RPG avabel" geki yaba runner land sliders every town alto's adventure zen koi chess tactics pro auralux smashy road feelings emotional growth VROOM! Cars & Trucks for Kids bakery blitz crossy road moomin welcome hunt cook 1942 pacific star trek timelines spoon pets freeciv dragon city jurassic world https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13924094 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13925354 Pythonista (ios) Working Copy (ios git) + Textastic (text editor for ios) Readdle Documents (ios) termux, QPython and SL4A https://github.com/kivy/python-for-android https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.futurek.android.tzc (can change timezone to UTC, which you can't do in the stock Settings! (see [4]))

daydream games to try:

Eclipse: Edge of Light rec. by https://uploadvr.com/field-view-daydream-made-home-vrs-obscure-gems/
the Turning Forest, rec. by https://uploadvr.com/field-view-daydream-made-home-vrs-obscure-gems/
Untethered, rec. by https://uploadvr.com/field-view-daydream-made-home-vrs-obscure-gems/
Virtual Virtual Reality rec. by https://uploadvr.com/field-view-daydream-made-home-vrs-obscure-gems/

htc vive games:

Accounting
4d toys, when it comes to this platform

within

chess: from beginner to club (i wanted to fav but accidentally installed)

goking (editor's choice; i only looked at the 'academy', which seemed like it may be okay, but required a purchase after a short demo period of 10 games or so)

star trek timelines

libby library app

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The USB-C cable that comes with the phone is about 97cm or 38 inches (about 1 meter). This may be a good size for traveling but for me it is too short to leave permanently plugged in by my bed or by the kitchen table.

Google sells a 1.8 meter cable [5].

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things to use voice for:

Quick conversions "How many Tablespoons are in a Cup"
Setting Reminders "Remind me at 9:30am today to pay my rent"
Setting Timers "Set a time for 10 minutes" "

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to install ADB without downloading the huge SDK:

http://lifehacker.com/the-easiest-way-to-install-androids-adb-and-fastboot-to-1586992378

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to get the app BetterBatteryStats? to work, you have to do this:

https://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=67819528&postcount=4

basically, install adb, enable USB debugging, connect to the phone with a USB cable, then execute:

adb -d shell pm grant com.asksven.betterbatterystats android.permission.BATTERY_STATS

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someday i should read/try the stuff in here:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Android/comments/2qbk1r/nonroot_users_how_do_you_deal_with_wakelocks/

mentioned in there include:

BetterBatteryStats?
Greenify
Amplify
Gsam Battery Monitor
Permissions Manager
https://github.com/google/battery-historian/blob/master/historian.py
snapdragon battery guru
WakeLock? Detector

https://www.reddit.com/r/Nexus6P/comments/4f01zx/amplify_greenify_better_battery_stats_how_to/

" [–]evilf23RoboCop? 128GB Xposed 8 points 1 year ago

the XDA extreme battery life thread goes over everything in fine detail http://forum.xda-developers.com/android/general/guide-extreme-battery-life-t3095884

...

[–]evilf23RoboCop? 128GB Xposed 1 point 1 year ago

It's a gold mine. The one thing I do that isn't here I find helps a lot is managing your account sync. Go to settings>accounts and choose Google. There all the Google services are listed, and you can turn off syncing for services you don't use, or sync all together if you don't mind manually refreshing. I have only Gmail syncing and it cuts down on play Services drastically. I would see 1,000 wakelocks from play services a day before, with sync off its down to 300. ...

[–]Thaodan 1 point 1 year ago

Used this thread too it really helped my improving my battery life. Especially if you use location services for Google fit and/or with your smartwatch. However not everything is included. Bbs and amplify is the main apps that helped me.

    permalinkembedsaveparentgive gold

[–]gmap516[S] 1 point 1 year ago

If I limit everything listed in the Amplify section of that guide, will my location apps still function properly when I need them to? Thinking maps, geo-location enabled apps (Tinder, Facebook, etc)

    permalinkembedsaveparentgive gold

[–]Thaodan 1 point 1 year ago

Yes They do but they just don't pull location every minute like the standard setting. The setting in the guide is every four minutes . If use the device (no standby) the location service works just like before .

    permalinkembedsaveparentgive gold

[–]gmap516[S] 1 point 1 year ago

Hm. One of my apps was having trouble pulling my location

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https://www.reddit.com/r/Nexus6P/comments/47ixu3/nexus_6p_battery_life_gotten_worse/d0dyxxp/

https://forum.xda-developers.com/android/general/guide-extreme-battery-life-t3095884

http://lifehacker.com/how-to-squeeze-more-battery-out-of-your-phone-with-andr-1791336715

mentions Greenify, ForceDoze?, and Naptime. Naptime requires root, the others don't. As of that writing, ForceDoze? didn't work with Android 7 (Nougat). http://lifehacker.com/how-android-doze-works-and-how-to-tweak-it-to-save-you-1785921957 says "most of Greenify’s aggressive features are part of Android 7.0 anyway"

i downloaded Greenify but when it starts up, it tells me that in order to enable auto-hibernate i have to register it as an "Accessibility" app; trying to do that causes Android to pop up a scary dialog about "your device won't use your screen lock to enhance data encryption". This cryptic message apparently means that, because 'accessibility' is meant for eg an app to help blind users, enabling it makes your phone not encrypt as securely, see the comments from Google employees on: https://issuetracker.google.com/issues/37115128 . So i didn't do it.

" Maybe try My Data Manager, usually I've found whatever is using the most data is correlated with the biggest wakelocks. Now when it's google play services, os services, etc it could be anything. But it probably a program trying to sync too often or mediaservices trying to scan something.

I usually disable most sync services, location services etc until I need them. " [6]

https://andersondev.wordpress.com/2012/02/16/saving-battery-power-on-android-third-party-apps-and-wake-locks/

https://www.androidpit.com/google-play-services-battery-drain-how-to-fix-it

http://forums.androidcentral.com/android-6-0-marshmallow/635583-battery-performance-google-now-without.html suggests that turning off Location History helps a lot, even if Google Now is left on

note: apparently wakeups from com.google.android.googlequicksearchbox is Google Now

periodically, go to Settings->Developer options->Running services to see what's running

periodically, go to BetterBatteryStats? and see what's using up the battery

try disabling Location permission from hogs

i think someone suggested turning on Data Saver all the time to reduce background data use (and then grant a few apps 'unrestricted data usage' even under Data Saver). It's a shame i can't just use the permissions system to prevent apps from using wakelocks. Another thing you can do is go into Settings-Apps->APP_NAME->Data Usage and just disable 'Background data' for some apps.

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uninstalled Google Plus. BetterBatteryStats? showed that it was using a lot of Network.

uninstalled Disneyland app. BetterBatteryStats? showed that it was using a tiny bit of Network.

uninstalled Gas Buddy because BetterBatteryStats? showed that it set a lot of 'alarms' and had a lot of 'wakeups' (when i wasn't even driving!)

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i should look at these sometime:

https://www.quora.com/What-are-some-must-have-Android-apps-3#!n=252

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juno rideshare app

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libby library app

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