4k monitors are not that rare/pricy. You can get pretty cheap 60hz ones from Asus and the best ones from DELL.
Problem is that most consumers who would buy those monitors would expect every application to run on it without problem, that includes games and for that you need to spend a lot of money on GPUs.
I'd say the real problem is the fact that the affordable ones
you mention, tend to have terrible specs apart from resolution (and latency). Low contrast, bleeding, terrible colour representation. At least that was my experience.
Anecdotal, but a friend and I both have problems with ours, and he got lucky with the 1.1 firmware revision (Dell won't let you upgrade it, you have to go through support for a replacement, and they'll send you a refurb that might have the newer firmware because they decided it would cost too much to update their existing inventory). And even then it might not work. He's waiting on Dell Support for his 3rd unit.
Do yourself a favor and wait until DisplayPort 1.3 is widespread and can drive a 4k screen without using Multi-stream Transport. It's not worth the headache.
Right now my computer is convinced that the left and right halves of my screen are separate displays and nothing will convince it otherwise. Other times MST will fail to connect and it only picks up 1/2 the resolution in the middle, with 1/4 width black bars on the left and right. From what I remember reading, Dell botched the DisplayPort handshake, and the workarounds that AMD/Nvidia have put into their drivers to try and fix it aren't 100%.
I need to return mine for backlight flicker too. But I'll write that off an an excusable manufacturing flaw that's going to pop up occasionally on some number of any model.
EDIT: Just for perspective, this is a screen with an MSRP around $1100, though we both bought ours on sale. The amount of shit we're dealing with for a screen that expensive is not reasonable.
My friend's 3rd display just came in this afternoon. When he plugs it in and turns it on, the computer stops responding. When he turns it off, the computer resumes working normally.
Ordinarily I would scream "driver problem" at that one, but the 2nd screen did not have this problem with the same GPU and driver installation. (That one just randomly disconnected and reconnected every 30 seconds or so)
He's trying it on different computers next, further updates as events warrant...
UPDATE 2
Hooked up to his Mac. It flickers on and then goes blank.
Even running at 30 Hz on single-stream transport, it doesn't work over DisplayPort. HDMI works at 30 Hz, but DisplayPort 1.2 with MST is the only option with enough bandwidth for 4k at 60 Hz.
> Do yourself a favor and wait until DisplayPort 1.3 is widespread and can drive a 4k screen without using Multi-stream Transport. It's not worth the headache.
It reminds me of getting an external monitor for my T420 from Dell and seeing that DisplayPort to DisplayPort 1.2 cables are practically non-existant. I ended up getting one after hours of search online, the only proper manufacturer of these being Lenovo itself. I wonder if the situation gets any better...
I was under the impression that DP's cables have all been backward compatible, and a 1.0 device could just plug into a 1.2 screen and work. Not the case?
I have my UP3214Q working just fine. You need to A) make the SIMULATED_* monitor settings match the 4K ones; and B) use an HDMI cable along with the displayport cable. My instructions are here:
Just got up a Seiki 39" from Walmart.com for $329. After some flashing and calibration, its a beast! Highly recommended for day to day/dev use. Gaming, too, but not in 4k. It can do 1080p 120hz.
Can you elaborate on the flashing/calibration? Is that to get better than 30Hz at native 4K resolutions?
For coding / web browsing, how good is the screen (i.e. can you notice lag for those use cases). I have heard mixed things about the Seki 39" but it looks like it could be a great development monitor
I use one for development and love it. There is lag and it is noticeable - it's most noticeable for moving the mouse cursor, and it is somewhat annoying because it makes any mouse operation feel slower and less precise. The lag doesn't really affect anything else I do.
Still worth it for the price IMO, the screen real estate makes a huge difference in my productivity.
Flashed it with SE50UY04, the 50 inch models, firmware. Just extracted the zip, put the install.img on a FAT32 formatted USB drive, and went into the secret menu (with the menu open press 0000) and updated the firmware.
After that I started with these calibration numbers:
Contrast: 42
Brightness: 66
Color: 34
Sharpness: 0
Color Temp: normal
Turned off Noise Correction.
--These settings can be changed in the secret menu - other settings options.
Red Gain: 141
Blue Gain: 126
Green Gain: 132
Red Offset: 532
Blue Offset: 510
Green Offset: 504
DCC: Off
Backlight: 75
And modified it to my liking. Actually had my Macbook Retina open next to it and sort of color matched. My numbers could vary greatly from these. My backlight is at like 50.
Overall, I'm really happy with it. Yes there is a mouse lag, but the 50" firmware makes it LESS noticeable. Also tbh, you sort of get used to it. In my case I try to minimize mouse usage anyway.
I've seen no evidence that 490 DPI has any advantage over ~300 DPI; it sounds like spec wanking. And there are rumors of a 5K retina iMac tomorrow (4K tends to be a downgrade from 2560x1600).
I think that he means with the typical pixel-doubling you get with "retina" branded screens, UI elements on 4096x2160 would actually have the same on-screen size as UI elements on a non-retina 1080p display, which on a 27" screen is probably too big. (27" iMacs are 2560x1600 which makes onscreen elements considerably smaller than if they were 1080p.)
OSX on a "5K" 27" display would maintain the same size of on-screen elements as the current 27" iMac, but everything would be twice as sharp. I would probably buy one in a heartbeat if the price is right.
(Edit: I guess the other alternative is that OSX would use a 4k screen but would do some graphics card tricks to render everything at 5120x3200 and downsample it to 4096x2160, but that's an odd ratio (5/4-ish) so things may not look as good. That's what they do on retina MBP's when you set the display settings to "more space", which renders everything smaller.)
I've bought every nexus phone when they were released, but I'm not sure about this one. The nexus 5 is already a bit oversized IMO. This thing is ridiculous.
4.7" should be the plus, if you ask me. I'm dreading the day my 3.5" phone dies and has no reasonable modern replacement.
EDIT: I'm open to switching to Android for my next phone if anyone can point my to a small one. Priorities are good camera, ok battery life, and not awful build quality. And maybe good support from Cyanogen? I'm out of the loop on Android and don't have a sense of how important that is these days. But IIRC Cyanogen comes with real permissions control and some other things I'd like, coming from iOS. Halp!
I can hold it normally and comfortably reach the entire screen with my thumb. I can also hold it in strange ways like with my 4th finger on the top edge and my thumb on the bottom, and still reach the entire screen with my index finger. I'm sure that last one sounds weird, but I do it surprisingly often (mostly while laying down).
The gigantic phones remind me of 17" laptops. I can see it making sense if you don't have another computer, but hell if I want to carry one around. For phones, it's just a big thing in my pocket that's trying to be redundant with my surface. All I need is phone calls, texting, GPS/maps, snapcat, music, and (usually reading only) email and OneNote.
A 6" screen doesn't make any of those things easier or more convenient.
It's true that you use a 5" phone differently than a 3.5" phone. But a 5" phone comes with a lot of advantages of its own, which you might find hard to recognize if that's not what you're using.
> All I need is phone calls, texting, GPS/maps, snapcat, music, and (usually reading only) email and OneNote.
Well that's probably just because you use your current phone for these things. Who's to say that the bigger screen won't make you do more or other things with it?
I'm not trying to pick on your taste, or say that your taste is wrong. This is just a reply to the general sentiment that you express which I see expressed many times in these discussions. I'm saying that many people complaining about these large sizes are just complaining that they can't use their new phone in exactly the same way as their old one. As if that is some self-evident bad thing. But it comes down purely to taste and - as with anything that depends on taste - it doesn't hurt to try something new sometimes.
> Well that's probably just because you use your current phone for these things. Who's to say that the bigger screen won't make you do more or other things with it?
You may be right. But even so, I spend enough time on my phone even with the limited uses. If I had a bigger screen, maybe I'd use it for reading and writing emails. But I don't know that I want to.
If I could get a 6" phone that was as comfortable to read on as my Nook, I'd be all over it. The e-ink versions, not the Nook HD. Reading books is a great use case for a screen bigger than 3.5".
Addendum - Fundamentally, I see my phone as a minor utility/convenience item. I use it for occasional tasks like making dinner reservations, finding cheap gas, ordering takeout, finding ATMs, tracking runs, checking weather forecasts. None of those things need a 6" screen.
I'm sure Safari would be better on one, but I don't want to make it easier to sit around and browse the internet. As it stands, viewing photos is the best justification that I can come up with. I think these phones are just designed for a different sort of user. But people like me can't be that uncommon, can we?
"If I could get a 6" phone that was as comfortable to read on as my Nook, I'd be all over it. The e-ink versions, not the Nook HD. Reading books is a great use case for a screen bigger than 3.5"."
My next phone is very likely to be a YotaPhone, which includes an e-ink screen. The first model was terrible but the second model is shaping up very nicely. Perhaps you might be interested too...
http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/reviews/mobile-phone/3504276/yota...
Glad I could help you find something you like, I think it's awesome too. :-) I seriously doubt it'll be $960 at launch, even if that's what the data we have now suggests. I have no idea about cases, perhaps you could drop Yota Devices a line... http://yotaphone.com/ru-en/feedback/
> Addendum - Fundamentally, I see my phone as a minor utility/convenience item. I use it for occasional tasks like making dinner reservations, finding cheap gas, ordering takeout, finding ATMs, tracking runs, checking weather forecasts.
Again, that is probably only because you view your current phone as such. Who's to say that you won't see a larger phone an even more useful tool? I'm not saying that you will, I'm saying you haven't tried and therefore don't know.
> None of those things need a 6" screen.
It's not really a question of necessity. I agree. My contention is that you should not be dismissive of 6" (or 4.5" , or 5") devices a priori because "you don't need it" - because there is a chance you'll enjoy it more. If user experience matters to you, then it wouldn't hurt to give it a try. If it doesn't, there are some small sub $150 Windows Phones that fit those needs marvelously. And that's fine too.
I do intend to do T-Mobile's 7-day network "Test Drive" once they switch it from the 5S to the 6, so I'll find out for sure then.
Maybe an extra 1.2" of screen is just the thing for comfortably finding gas stations. But does it make up for having to carry it around all the time?
For reference, http://i.imgur.com/ZbodDFx.png and my 4S are the entire contents of my pockets on a typical day. No car clicker, no trifold wallet, small phone.
> many people complaining about these large sizes are just complaining that they can't use their new phone in exactly the same way as their old one.
I don't care what i can and can't use the phone for (to reasonable extents), i care about the constraints it adds to the rest of my life. If it can't fit in my pocket everything else i do that does not involve the phone just suffers (yes, some things in life actually still happen outside the phone).
It's so easy to use. Sure I can reach any point on a 5 inch screen, but I'm reaching to touch half of the screen. The 3.5 inch screens everything is just their under your finger. It's fantastic.
For me it's a combination of ease of use and ease of carrying.
The iPhone 5 fit comfortably in one hand and was small enough for easy one-handed use. It was also big enough (for me) to read text without much effort (I have, once corrected with contacts, fantastically good vision though).
For carrying, I normally wear cargo pants so this isn't a huge issue. But when I go out or get dressed up for something the iPhone 5 fit comfortably into slack front pockets for me. The iPhone 6 is big enough that it makes a noticeable bulge when I sit down. It's also causes my pants to feel uncomfortably tight around my thigh. This leaves me the option of either pulling it out and setting it on the table (rude on a date, seems like I'm setting up to receive a call or texts) or leaving it in the car (an option, but not when I'm trying to meet up with people and someone gets lost (every time) and calls me for directions).
I have the HTC One Mini[1]. It is small with a nice screen, camera and battery life. It isn't going to impress anyone but I can use it comfortably and keep it in my pocket.
Honestly I'm hoping for a 4" screen or smaller. Maybe it doesn't exist. And though the screen is 0.3" smaller than the Z3 Compact that ZenoArrow mentioned, the One Mini is taller and thicker, and only slightly narrower.
In the same ballpack though, so I'll need to do some digging and find out how the cameras and all that stack up.
Only marginally smaller than an iPhone 6, sadly. 4.6" vs 4.7" screen, though the smaller top/bottom bezel helps with pocket size, if not screen reaching.
Still more reasonable than the new Moto G/X and all their 5+ inch ilk. I'll keep it in mind!
Anyone have a comparison with the Z1 Compact? Trying to decide whether I should regret recently buying the Z1C, despite knowing the Z3C was days away from launch. :P At least it was cheaper, and already supports CyanogenMod. Though I could have had fun helping port CM to the Z3C, too.
I could, but app developers are already ignoring the 3.5" screen devices to the point where it's getting unusable. Not interested in tying myself into several more years of it.
One of the things I've always respected about Apple (even though I loathe the company) is how they have fought hard against the size thing. Apple's largest laptops are the same size as many company's smallest devices. I love me a little 11" laptop device but so few companies make good ones.
I hope Google will resurrect the Nexus 4 brand as a budget device and release a non-phone wifi-only device for kids at some point.
Man, I don't even want a budget phone, I want a full on high-end phone with a reasonably-sized screen. My Moto X is 4.7 inches and I think it's a tad too large. I'm willing to pay for great hardware, a big battery, and lots of storage, but I need it to fit in my hand.
It seemed like very many years ago there were no big phones around. When the Note (1) launched it was revolutionary for its size (in 2011). If you compare the Note (1) to phones around today it is "average" at 5.3 inches.
I think the pendulum has swung too far in the stupid direction now. I purchased a Note (1) in 2011 because at that time bigger was better, but even for me now phones are getting too large. That's partly why I skipped the LG G3 (5.5 inch), why I'll skip the Nexus 6, and why I no longer buy the Note range (now up to 5.7 inch).
My sweet spot is 5-5.2 inches, no bigger. Anything larger and when you sit you notice it in your pocket (and I have decently large pockets).
What's funny is the 3 people I know who switched to the 6 from the 4S, they all wanted a bigger phone and are all complaining that the 6 is too big as well as too thin.
Yes, Nexus 5 is great except for the battery life. I hate that this is so huge, and that it has a physical home button. The larger battery (thanks to larger screen) will be an improvement to battery issues, though.
The present obsession with "bigger is better" is perplexing to me. I know some use cases are facilitated by larger displays, and they are valuable to people with poor eyesight, but I've never once in my life thought "boy, I wish my phone was even larger." A phone I cannot fit in my pocket is virtually useless to me.
Anything larger than my (already too large) Nexus 5 is a complete non-starter for me. I can see a place for these models in a lineup that includes smaller models, but the Nexus series does not seem to operate that way. This will be the first Nexus phone I will never own.
It's the exact same width as my Galaxy Note GT-N7000, which fits nicely in my back pocket. I love the large screen, and a slightly larger screen would be awesome.
The intended market is people who don't carry their phone in their pockets, e.g. women who don't wear pockets that can fit a standard-size phone anyway. If you're just putting it in your purse, the extra inch isn't ab problem.
They are serving the whole market. You may be thinking, "I need a decent sized phone that can fit into my pocket, and I'll just use my laptop/desktop for the heavier lifting."
The vast majority of the market is thinking: "I need a computer and I also need a phone, but I can only afford one." Obviously, this second segment wants the screen to be large, because they don't have an even larger screen sitting at home.
> but I've never once in my life thought "boy, I wish my phone was even larger."
Labeling these "phones" is the wrong thing to do. These are computers that happen to have some lineage with phones. I think the ultimate aim is this: most people don't need computers, they need and want a single device. A phone with a small display is inadequate for that, but a phone with a display this big could be more than enough for a lot of people, for almost all purposes.
I used every nexus phone too. When I first heard about Nexus 6 specs I thought they are ridiculous too. Then I was given Nexus 6 couple months ago. At first I thought you have to be crazy to use it. After 30 minutes I thoughts it's actually not that bad. After one day, I loved it...
It feels big sometimes, but I really didn't mind it. There is small dent on the back of Nexus 6 which helps you hold it with one hand. The screen is fantastic and doing anything on this phone is such a pleasure. I type a lot, and I found it much easier to type on larger screen. Sometimes I had to use my Nexus 5, and I really struggled and thought it's too small!
And you'd be wrong because resolution has gone up. I can ably read very small text on a 1080p screen which I wouldn't be able to on a lower res one. The larger form factor means I can take advantage of all that extra DPI ably.
I know resolution has gone up. I didn't say otherwise. I can also read small text.
Neither of those points is an argument against what I claimed. I was stating that resolution has gone up, along with screen sizes, but that the default text rendering size has not gotten any smaller (i.e. they're not putting more stuff on the screen).
The Moto X has been a Nexus-ish device at carrier prices. This is an actual Nexus device, still at carrier prices.
If it was < $400, I might have sold my 5 and given it a go. At $650, I have no incentive to go for this vs. any other device (or to upgrade at all for that matter).
I was confused by that too, seems they switched the definition of front and rear. The new "way" is used consistently also on the Nexus 9 and Nexus 5 tabs.
Hey jclark, I read some of your comments on another thread and wanted to ask how extensive your knowledge on optics is. We might be interested in looking for someone to help us consult in this subject. If it's something you might be interested in please email me at louis8989 at gmail dot com thanks
So apparently there is no 7" tablet anymore. I think that makes sense, since the 7" tablets get cannibalized by the ever growing smartphones. After I bought a Nexus 7 I started to carry it around all the time. I used my Galaxy Nexus less and less (only for calls and whatsapp) so after a short time (when the Galaxy Nexus started to show its age) I decided I can live with an even smaller (and not so flexible) phone and bought an 5s. Now, with the Nexus 6 I may be able to retire both and get back to only carrying one device with me.
Yup, good point. I think the sweet spot for phones is about 5 inches now (up to about 5.3 with thin bezels) and for tablets it's probably around 8-9 inches.
When I bought my gf a Nexus 7 and she still had her iphone 4 (3.5 inch), the Nexus made a lot of sense. But now that she has a Nexus 5, she doesn't use it nearly as often, and if she had a nexus 6 that effect would be even greater.
7" screen was the perfect size for reading books and comics in my opinion. I'd preferred to have gotten a new 7" with smaller bezels. Might as well skip this Nexus generation.
Yes but tablets are great for pleasure. I wouldnt use my iPad to do work on but for browsing the internet on the couch or reading emails (usually non-work) it really excels for me.
But I may be changing my mind as soon as my iPhone 6 plus gets here.
There's no real special technology there, if you do the math on their claim it works out to a maximum power draw from the charger of 12-15W, which is about on par with most tablets. This is just a function of having a large surface area to dissipate waste heat.
I felt exactly the same way, everything was well thought out (camera, battery, speakers, etc...) apart from the screen size. The consensus seems to be that 5 inches is the absolute maximum for most people (aside from phablet fans). It's such a shame because it's so close to perfect (for this generation at least). I do wonder what kind of market research phone companies do because I could have very easily predicted this negative outcome, and I'm sure plenty of other people could too. At least it should be the first Nexus phone with decent battery life.
Given that ( > 5 inches ) outnumbers smaller by 9:5 I'd say the consensus is that big phones are fine.
Aside: I remember the incredulity when I bought a 5" Dell Streak 5 four years ago. "You're going to make a phone call on that tablet?" Nowadays it would disappear in that line-up.
"Given that ( > 5 inches ) outnumbers smaller by 9:5 I'd say the consensus is that big phones are fine."
You're mixing things up, the reality is that there's a difference between what people actually want and what gets produced.
I have a feeling I won't be able to convince you on screen size (despite many of the comments on this post being about the screen being too large), so let's choose battery life as a talking point. Everyone who has owned a smartphone knows how critical battery life is to the user experience, yet time and time again we see companies skimping on battery life. Instead they make their phones slimmer, or with super high pixel counts, or just cut costs on factors that don't influence the appearance. Why do you think they do this? Do you really think they are paying attention to what matters in a phone?
In india at least people want larger displays. For most of them mobile would be their primary computer/internet connected device hence its desirable to have maximum size as possible. You can even get 5" for less $100(if you visit flipkart nearly 50% android mobiles have 5" or more). You want bigger batteries as well which comes with some mobiles. But at least with battery you can keep charging.
6" is the perfect size, I've been saying this for years. (It was particularly obvious with the nexus 7 - just too big for a pocket). I'm looking to replace my Galaxy Note 2 this January, so I'm looking forward to a comparison between the Nexus 6 and the Note 4.
This thing is a beast in every sense of the word! also with dual front speakers! That can make a huge difference in sound quality.
However it looks like this is heading to $500+ territory so the days of a cheap good Nexus may be coming to an end. Looks like the Moto E etc is filling that niche.
The Nexus 5 is still available, which I hope they keep refreshing and maintaining its price point. But yea, Moto G, or E for anything cheaper is the way to go.
This was the most disappointing thing for me. While it might be a fantastic device, and I might still choose it, at that price I'll be more carefully considering the alternatives. The Nexus 5, with its specifications and price point, was a no-brainer. This one doesn't make that decision quite to simple.
I don't understand the appeal of having dual front speakers, whats the point?. This is a feature a very small group of people will find useful, but adds to the price.
I have an HTC One with dual front speakers. Before I bought one (for reasons entirely unrelated to the speakers) I would have agreed. But now that I have them, I frequently find myself casually plopping my phone down for some music while I cook or do other chores. It's one of those things that, for me, inserts itself into your life in unexpected ways.
I love to watch Netflix on my phone when I'm doing the dishes. The 90 degree change in going from a backwards-facing speaker to the Nexus 5's downward facing speaker made a huge difference in the sound quality. I'm really looking forward to having stereo, forward-facing audio.
If I scroll to the "Introducing Lollipop, our sweetest release yet" section, there's a google now card for a coffee place I've been to recently (in Portland, OR for that matter ...).
I think he's saying that in the last few years Google has become extremely thirsty for all king of user data. Their latest Android apps by default send a ton of personal data to the Google servers. E.g. the Android keyboard periodically uploads a list of the hundred most often typed words, unless you go to settings and disable this "feature".
I think he's saying that any modern phone has firmware on it that has the keys owned by a third party other than the purchaser of the hardware. Anyone with the keys can potentially be 'thirty for user data', which may include "Peaceful-country-turned-regime's" 's, new owners.
No I was merely stating the Google's business model is subsidised via owning your data. Which then they can manipulate/share at their discretion. Which is fine because you get an affordable piece of tech right? ... right? ...
It's true. There's no selective control of permissions per app on Android. This is a glaring omission. Eg, granting permission for the app to use the internet, while denying access to your address book. This is important for maintaining control of your private data.
Google needs to do better on this front. Apple introduced selective permissions at least, but Google is way behind.
The Nexus 6 has smaller bezel on the top and bottom than the iPhone 6+ which has to make space for the TouchID/Home button. Android uses on-screen soft buttons.
My biggest peeve with the onscreen buttons (using flagship Galaxy Nexus) is accidentally pressing them, primarily when I'm trying to take a selfie with the rear camera. It's insanely frustrating the way the orientation moves them around and trying to find the on-screen shutter button rather than clicking the home button.
It's a Qualcomm 805, so competitive with the iPhone 6's chip, but certainly not massively faster than it (and in practice somewhat slower in many scenarios). As we should remember from the Pentium 4 age, megahertz are not everything.
Very nice that all the physical buttons are on one side and also in the middle of the phone. The biggest gripe I have with the iPhone 6 Plus is that every time I try to lock it, I turn up the volume, and vice versa. The buttons are also way too high on the device.
Not that it's particularly important, but the Nexus 6 was the model of the androids in Blade Runner, but I'm not sure if this phone is "more human than human." :)
Really. They've been demonstrated to be easy to break. You leave your impossible-to-change fingerprints (basically your permanent "password") lying around everywhere you go. I'm quite happy that android manufacturers aren't encouraging users to think that profligate "security" is a feature.
Great! This is why I bought an HTC One M8 instead of a Nexus 5. Great for speakerphone or if you do watch a video on that high resolution display.
It amazes me how the essentials get sacrificed really easily and that consumers often don't demand better when they are purchasing. I would buy a Mac, but I do have to demand a matte screen instead of just getting accustomed to glare.
The glare has been reduced a lot in recent Macs. I'm not sure if it's as good as the anti-glare screen you could order for some MacBook Pros in the past, though.
I'm thinking the real deal-breaker for me will be the camera, which seems to be the same as the mediocre Moto X camera. Otherwise, it looks like a nice device. Nothing particularly amazing, except for stock Lollipop.
The trend of correlating device number (i.e. Nexus 'X') with screen size is going in the wrong direction. 6 is already too big (and heavy) for some. Next year, there'll be no distinction between phones & tablets.
Edit: Disappointed with the pricing too: $649. Google had set a good trend with Nexus series - Awesome devices at exception price. All that's gone. Kind of against the Android One initiative.
This matters a lot because screen size is only an approximate indicator of device size. For instance, the iPhone 6 Plus has a 5.5" screen and yet is very noticeably larger than the Samsung Galaxy Note 3, which has a larger 5.7" screen.
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[ 3731 ms ] story [ 4050 ms ] threadProblem is that most consumers who would buy those monitors would expect every application to run on it without problem, that includes games and for that you need to spend a lot of money on GPUs.
http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/peripherals/f/35...
Anecdotal, but a friend and I both have problems with ours, and he got lucky with the 1.1 firmware revision (Dell won't let you upgrade it, you have to go through support for a replacement, and they'll send you a refurb that might have the newer firmware because they decided it would cost too much to update their existing inventory). And even then it might not work. He's waiting on Dell Support for his 3rd unit.
Do yourself a favor and wait until DisplayPort 1.3 is widespread and can drive a 4k screen without using Multi-stream Transport. It's not worth the headache.
Right now my computer is convinced that the left and right halves of my screen are separate displays and nothing will convince it otherwise. Other times MST will fail to connect and it only picks up 1/2 the resolution in the middle, with 1/4 width black bars on the left and right. From what I remember reading, Dell botched the DisplayPort handshake, and the workarounds that AMD/Nvidia have put into their drivers to try and fix it aren't 100%.
I need to return mine for backlight flicker too. But I'll write that off an an excusable manufacturing flaw that's going to pop up occasionally on some number of any model.
EDIT: Just for perspective, this is a screen with an MSRP around $1100, though we both bought ours on sale. The amount of shit we're dealing with for a screen that expensive is not reasonable.
Ordinarily I would scream "driver problem" at that one, but the 2nd screen did not have this problem with the same GPU and driver installation. (That one just randomly disconnected and reconnected every 30 seconds or so)
He's trying it on different computers next, further updates as events warrant...
Hooked up to his Mac. It flickers on and then goes blank.Even running at 30 Hz on single-stream transport, it doesn't work over DisplayPort. HDMI works at 30 Hz, but DisplayPort 1.2 with MST is the only option with enough bandwidth for 4k at 60 Hz.
It reminds me of getting an external monitor for my T420 from Dell and seeing that DisplayPort to DisplayPort 1.2 cables are practically non-existant. I ended up getting one after hours of search online, the only proper manufacturer of these being Lenovo itself. I wonder if the situation gets any better...
http://jmswrnr.com/blog/the-firmware-issues-of-dell-up3214q-...
For coding / web browsing, how good is the screen (i.e. can you notice lag for those use cases). I have heard mixed things about the Seki 39" but it looks like it could be a great development monitor
Still worth it for the price IMO, the screen real estate makes a huge difference in my productivity.
Flashed it with SE50UY04, the 50 inch models, firmware. Just extracted the zip, put the install.img on a FAT32 formatted USB drive, and went into the secret menu (with the menu open press 0000) and updated the firmware.
After that I started with these calibration numbers: Contrast: 42 Brightness: 66 Color: 34 Sharpness: 0 Color Temp: normal Turned off Noise Correction.
--These settings can be changed in the secret menu - other settings options. Red Gain: 141 Blue Gain: 126 Green Gain: 132 Red Offset: 532 Blue Offset: 510 Green Offset: 504 DCC: Off Backlight: 75
And modified it to my liking. Actually had my Macbook Retina open next to it and sort of color matched. My numbers could vary greatly from these. My backlight is at like 50.
Overall, I'm really happy with it. Yes there is a mouse lag, but the 50" firmware makes it LESS noticeable. Also tbh, you sort of get used to it. In my case I try to minimize mouse usage anyway.
OSX on a "5K" 27" display would maintain the same size of on-screen elements as the current 27" iMac, but everything would be twice as sharp. I would probably buy one in a heartbeat if the price is right.
(Edit: I guess the other alternative is that OSX would use a 4k screen but would do some graphics card tricks to render everything at 5120x3200 and downsample it to 4096x2160, but that's an odd ratio (5/4-ish) so things may not look as good. That's what they do on retina MBP's when you set the display settings to "more space", which renders everything smaller.)
Bigger != Better
EDIT: I'm open to switching to Android for my next phone if anyone can point my to a small one. Priorities are good camera, ok battery life, and not awful build quality. And maybe good support from Cyanogen? I'm out of the loop on Android and don't have a sense of how important that is these days. But IIRC Cyanogen comes with real permissions control and some other things I'd like, coming from iOS. Halp!
The gigantic phones remind me of 17" laptops. I can see it making sense if you don't have another computer, but hell if I want to carry one around. For phones, it's just a big thing in my pocket that's trying to be redundant with my surface. All I need is phone calls, texting, GPS/maps, snapcat, music, and (usually reading only) email and OneNote.
A 6" screen doesn't make any of those things easier or more convenient.
> All I need is phone calls, texting, GPS/maps, snapcat, music, and (usually reading only) email and OneNote.
Well that's probably just because you use your current phone for these things. Who's to say that the bigger screen won't make you do more or other things with it?
I'm not trying to pick on your taste, or say that your taste is wrong. This is just a reply to the general sentiment that you express which I see expressed many times in these discussions. I'm saying that many people complaining about these large sizes are just complaining that they can't use their new phone in exactly the same way as their old one. As if that is some self-evident bad thing. But it comes down purely to taste and - as with anything that depends on taste - it doesn't hurt to try something new sometimes.
You may be right. But even so, I spend enough time on my phone even with the limited uses. If I had a bigger screen, maybe I'd use it for reading and writing emails. But I don't know that I want to.
If I could get a 6" phone that was as comfortable to read on as my Nook, I'd be all over it. The e-ink versions, not the Nook HD. Reading books is a great use case for a screen bigger than 3.5".
Addendum - Fundamentally, I see my phone as a minor utility/convenience item. I use it for occasional tasks like making dinner reservations, finding cheap gas, ordering takeout, finding ATMs, tracking runs, checking weather forecasts. None of those things need a 6" screen.
I'm sure Safari would be better on one, but I don't want to make it easier to sit around and browse the internet. As it stands, viewing photos is the best justification that I can come up with. I think these phones are just designed for a different sort of user. But people like me can't be that uncommon, can we?
My next phone is very likely to be a YotaPhone, which includes an e-ink screen. The first model was terrible but the second model is shaping up very nicely. Perhaps you might be interested too... http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/reviews/mobile-phone/3504276/yota...
I'd be super paranoid about scratching it, since there's no really a safe side to set down. What sort of cases work for that?
Again, that is probably only because you view your current phone as such. Who's to say that you won't see a larger phone an even more useful tool? I'm not saying that you will, I'm saying you haven't tried and therefore don't know.
> None of those things need a 6" screen.
It's not really a question of necessity. I agree. My contention is that you should not be dismissive of 6" (or 4.5" , or 5") devices a priori because "you don't need it" - because there is a chance you'll enjoy it more. If user experience matters to you, then it wouldn't hurt to give it a try. If it doesn't, there are some small sub $150 Windows Phones that fit those needs marvelously. And that's fine too.
Maybe an extra 1.2" of screen is just the thing for comfortably finding gas stations. But does it make up for having to carry it around all the time?
For reference, http://i.imgur.com/ZbodDFx.png and my 4S are the entire contents of my pockets on a typical day. No car clicker, no trifold wallet, small phone.
I don't care what i can and can't use the phone for (to reasonable extents), i care about the constraints it adds to the rest of my life. If it can't fit in my pocket everything else i do that does not involve the phone just suffers (yes, some things in life actually still happen outside the phone).
I want a tiny phone with the best battery life and camera available. I don't care much about anything else.
also i miss being able to share my phone pocket with my wallet
The iPhone 5 fit comfortably in one hand and was small enough for easy one-handed use. It was also big enough (for me) to read text without much effort (I have, once corrected with contacts, fantastically good vision though).
For carrying, I normally wear cargo pants so this isn't a huge issue. But when I go out or get dressed up for something the iPhone 5 fit comfortably into slack front pockets for me. The iPhone 6 is big enough that it makes a noticeable bulge when I sit down. It's also causes my pants to feel uncomfortably tight around my thigh. This leaves me the option of either pulling it out and setting it on the table (rude on a date, seems like I'm setting up to receive a call or texts) or leaving it in the car (an option, but not when I'm trying to meet up with people and someone gets lost (every time) and calls me for directions).
[1] http://www.htc.com/us/smartphones/htc-one-mini/
In the same ballpack though, so I'll need to do some digging and find out how the cameras and all that stack up.
Still more reasonable than the new Moto G/X and all their 5+ inch ilk. I'll keep it in mind!
Also, don't know how accurate this site is, but perhaps this will be of some use... http://versus.com/en/sony-xperia-z1-compact-vs-sony-xperia-z...
Out-of-warranty cost:
iPhone 6 Plus: $329
iPhone 6: $299
iPhone 5s, iPhone 5c, iPhone 5: $269
iPhone 4s: $199
iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 3G, Original iPhone: $149
Case in point, Google Voice: http://imgur.com/Bsq4gYT
I hope Google will resurrect the Nexus 4 brand as a budget device and release a non-phone wifi-only device for kids at some point.
I think the pendulum has swung too far in the stupid direction now. I purchased a Note (1) in 2011 because at that time bigger was better, but even for me now phones are getting too large. That's partly why I skipped the LG G3 (5.5 inch), why I'll skip the Nexus 6, and why I no longer buy the Note range (now up to 5.7 inch).
My sweet spot is 5-5.2 inches, no bigger. Anything larger and when you sit you notice it in your pocket (and I have decently large pockets).
Anything larger than my (already too large) Nexus 5 is a complete non-starter for me. I can see a place for these models in a lineup that includes smaller models, but the Nexus series does not seem to operate that way. This will be the first Nexus phone I will never own.
The vast majority of the market is thinking: "I need a computer and I also need a phone, but I can only afford one." Obviously, this second segment wants the screen to be large, because they don't have an even larger screen sitting at home.
Labeling these "phones" is the wrong thing to do. These are computers that happen to have some lineage with phones. I think the ultimate aim is this: most people don't need computers, they need and want a single device. A phone with a small display is inadequate for that, but a phone with a display this big could be more than enough for a lot of people, for almost all purposes.
Conversely, a pocket that wouldn't fit a Nexus 6 (or Note 3, or iPhone 6, or a decent-size wallet, or...) is virtually useless to me.
It feels big sometimes, but I really didn't mind it. There is small dent on the back of Nexus 6 which helps you hold it with one hand. The screen is fantastic and doing anything on this phone is such a pleasure. I type a lot, and I found it much easier to type on larger screen. Sometimes I had to use my Nexus 5, and I really struggled and thought it's too small!
Really? The physical size is barely bigger than an iPhone 5.
As for the 6, looks a little chunky in photos, but if it's slim with a small enough bezel it could be manageable...
I think this point is backed up by the fact that the rendered text size has not changed in any appreciable way.
Neither of those points is an argument against what I claimed. I was stating that resolution has gone up, along with screen sizes, but that the default text rendering size has not gotten any smaller (i.e. they're not putting more stuff on the screen).
Size matters
The ability to increase the font size and still see the screen at arms length is really nice
If it was < $400, I might have sold my 5 and given it a go. At $650, I have no incentive to go for this vs. any other device (or to upgrade at all for that matter).
Edit: I guess it's $649.
> 13MP front-facing with optical image stabilization > 2MP rear-facing
Is it really 13MP front-facing? Selfie optimization!
Must be a typo (also in the German Translation)
When I bought my gf a Nexus 7 and she still had her iphone 4 (3.5 inch), the Nexus made a lot of sense. But now that she has a Nexus 5, she doesn't use it nearly as often, and if she had a nexus 6 that effect would be even greater.
For me a phablet makes much more sense. I just want a powerful smartphone, for everything else there is my laptop.
But I may be changing my mind as soon as my iPhone 6 plus gets here.
Indeed http://www.google.com/nexus/5/ and http://www.google.com/nexus/9/
>>Get up to 6 hours of use from only 15 minutes of charging.
Here's the current line-up of flagship phones side-by-side:
http://a.disquscdn.com/uploads/mediaembed/images/1338/2298/o...
Given that ( > 5 inches ) outnumbers smaller by 9:5 I'd say the consensus is that big phones are fine.
Aside: I remember the incredulity when I bought a 5" Dell Streak 5 four years ago. "You're going to make a phone call on that tablet?" Nowadays it would disappear in that line-up.
You're mixing things up, the reality is that there's a difference between what people actually want and what gets produced.
I have a feeling I won't be able to convince you on screen size (despite many of the comments on this post being about the screen being too large), so let's choose battery life as a talking point. Everyone who has owned a smartphone knows how critical battery life is to the user experience, yet time and time again we see companies skimping on battery life. Instead they make their phones slimmer, or with super high pixel counts, or just cut costs on factors that don't influence the appearance. Why do you think they do this? Do you really think they are paying attention to what matters in a phone?
FTFY
However it looks like this is heading to $500+ territory so the days of a cheap good Nexus may be coming to an end. Looks like the Moto E etc is filling that niche.
This was the most disappointing thing for me. While it might be a fantastic device, and I might still choose it, at that price I'll be more carefully considering the alternatives. The Nexus 5, with its specifications and price point, was a no-brainer. This one doesn't make that decision quite to simple.
$649 is where I stop paying attention to the Nexus line.
The hours worked to afford the device and it's needed case and accessories make the 6" screen not worth it.
And trying to hide the cost behind a cellular contract brings that cost over a thousand dollars. Stupid.
They'd be so close together that it's hard to imagine there's much of an actual, perceptible stereo field.
It'd be interesting to be able to A/B a phone with one nice speaker and a phone with two nice speakers.
It's uncanny...
I am nowhere near Portland. I suspect you just got lucky. :)
they are all privacy intrusive in some way or another.
it's not all Brand Y vs. Brand X.
Google needs to do better on this front. Apple introduced selective permissions at least, but Google is way behind.
Nexus 6: 5.96" 2560×1440 (493 ppi)
The iPhone 6 Plus is comically enormous. This thing is ridiculous. And the same resolution as the current 27" Apple displays.
2.7 GHz quad core vs iPhone's 1.4 GHz dual core (but 32-bit, vs Apple's 64-bit).
That is some serious hardware.
Not that it's particularly important, but the Nexus 6 was the model of the androids in Blade Runner, but I'm not sure if this phone is "more human than human." :)
http://www.ccc.de/en/updates/2013/ccc-breaks-apple-touchid
https://www.schneier.com/essays/archives/1999/08/biometrics_...
Great! This is why I bought an HTC One M8 instead of a Nexus 5. Great for speakerphone or if you do watch a video on that high resolution display.
It amazes me how the essentials get sacrificed really easily and that consumers often don't demand better when they are purchasing. I would buy a Mac, but I do have to demand a matte screen instead of just getting accustomed to glare.
Edit: Disappointed with the pricing too: $649. Google had set a good trend with Nexus series - Awesome devices at exception price. All that's gone. Kind of against the Android One initiative.
Are the actual dimensions of the phone known?
This matters a lot because screen size is only an approximate indicator of device size. For instance, the iPhone 6 Plus has a 5.5" screen and yet is very noticeably larger than the Samsung Galaxy Note 3, which has a larger 5.7" screen.
Weight : 184g
Source : http://www.google.com/nexus/6/
It's definitely a huge phone, although barely taller than the 6 Plus, which is exactly what I suspected.
Ok, 8cm broad, is not that much as I thought.