- Nexus 5X and 6P. The former is the logical replacement for the old Nexus 5. The latter is the logical replacement of the Nexus 6. Both have a fingerprint sensor on the back. Both have allegedly high quality cameras and USB-C charging. The 5X, made by LG, is plastic bodied, just like the previous 5, and is meant to come in at a reasonable price. The 6P, made by Huawei, is metal bodied and is meant to go head-to-head with other high-end "phablet" phones like the iPhone 6 Plus. The only feature that seems to be gone, relative to older Nexus phones, is the deletion of wireless charging. That kinda sucks, but the fast-charging aspect should be a winner.

I've already ordered myself a Nexus 5S. It will be here in a few weeks. I hope, since my older Nexus 5 is experiencing intermittent problems that might well be hardware failures.

- New Chromecast. Still a cute little cheap stick-shaped thing, but now the HDMI connector is hanging off a three inch cable, so it's easier to shoehorn in tight quarters. Also, it's got better WiFi (802.11ac) and it supports 1080p (versus 720p in the old one). There's also a new "Chromecast Audio" that just has a headphone jack. Google has said that they're supporting multiroom streaming now. If this actually works, then it's Sonos-on-the-cheap, which is fantastic. I might consider something like putting some bookshelf speakers, a cheap class-D stereo amp, and a Chromecast Audio in our dining room on a side table so we could have dinner music. (Kinda too bad they didn't do an integrated version and resurrect the Nexus Q.)

- New "Pixel C" - a 10" Android tablet with a magnetically attaching keyboard. If you like the 10" tablet segment, this seems neat. Among other things, the tablet can inductively charge the keyboard, which then speaks to it via Bluetooth. Note that while they use the "Pixel" name, this isn't a Chromebook. It's an Android tablet. Also with USB-C.

Food for thought:

So now my transition to USB-C begins. I'll get one charger with the new phone, but right now I've got Micro-USB chargers everywhere. Car. Work. Home upstairs. Home downstairs. Everywhere.

Monoprice wants a remarkably high $25 for a proper 3-foot USB-C cable that supports the full USB 3.1 high speed spec. Google offers one for $20, but it only does USB 2.0 data transfer speed. Perhaps more importantly, Google offers a USB-A to USB-C cable, such as you might connect to your computer or any of your other charging accessories. That's only $12.99 but, again, only USB 2.0 speeds.

So, yeah, I'm probably going to hold off a few months until the inevitable deluge of USB-C chargers, batteries, cables, and such all slam into the marketplace.

I like the slip there.

I too have ordered my 5X. As soon as it was announced I started refreshing the Google store like mad. About 20 minutes after the presentation ended we got the refresh and a couple minutes my phone was ordered.

I'm very disappointed about the lack of wireless charging because I have a really nice Tylt charger, but I'll still use it for my Nexus 7. I keep reading that they got rid of Qi because they figured it was worth having the fast charging. I'm not sure why you can't have both, and I don't care about fast charging when I'm sleeping. I also really like phone docks, though the marketplace doesn't seem to. At least it'll be nice to not have to worry about which way the charger plugs in.

I'm most excited about the camera on the new phone. The Nexus 6 had a good camera but not great. The Nexus 5 has a truly terrible camera, so they had to improve there. Google kept saying the camera will launch quickly and be really fast at taking photos. I feel like I'm in an abusive relationship here, though. Every time I come back the camera works great for a while, then eventually I'm pressing the shutter button and the photo just won't take. There's something about Android that makes it get wonky over time.


Immediately after ordering the Nexus 5X, I ordered two Chromecast Audio devices. I can't tell you how excited I am for these things. I've wanted a multi-room audio system for years, but the cheapest you can do that with Sonos is $400. I already have various speaker systems I can repurpose, so my minimum is $70. I also love the ability to share the current playlist. My wife can start playing music on the Chromecast, and I can open the same app and add to the playlist or skip to the next song. They showed this happening with Spotify but said nothing about support for other apps. I would assume it works with Google Music.


Speaking of Google Music, they're now matching Apple's family plan of $15/month for up to six family members. They really had to do this. I was still on the introductory price of $7.99/month, but my wife is on the $9.99 plan so this will already save money for just the two of us, and I'll probably add our mothers and my brother in law.

The other announcement I found interesting was the album sharing in Google Photos. For a long time now, I've been wondering what the best way is for my wife and I to combine our photo collections. Now it's possible to combine photos from two collections, and share those albums. It's a nice feature, but part of me still thinks it's a little clunky. I'm still not sure if we'll use it because it requires a bit of work. It also assumes that all photos are taken as part of specific events or occasions. With a toddler around, my wife and I end up taking hundreds of completely random photos just when our kid is doing something hilarious and/or adorable. I guess those could all be part of one album, but like I said, it's still clunky. I'm still not sure what the best solution is...

All in all, it was a good announcement. I was happy about the live stream, although the video seemed to have a hard time with the Windows 95 screensaver they were using as their background.

And as long as I'm being catty, the presenters really didn't bring their A games today. From Sundar to almost every last presenter, none of them seemed comfortable on stage. I also wonder if the guy who presented the new flagship phones looked at everyone back stage and wondered if he might have made the wrong style choice (which he seemed about 15 years too old for anyway). Ooof, sorry about that. Had to get that off my chest. As pompous as I find all Apple presentations, at least they have style

I should also mention the new protection plan Google is offering on these phones, which gives you two years of coverage from hardware failure AND accidental damage! I added the $69 plan to my Nexus 5X, even though I've not really been one to get warranties before. Here's why:

I'm not sure if I've mentioned it here yet, but I made the stupid mistake of going to the pool and not realizing my Nexus 6 was in my pocket. Now it's completely dead. I had thought that my TMobile Jump plan effectively gave me insurance coverage against my phone, but it turns out to not be as good as I'd hoped. Apparently all it entitles me to is an early upgrade for a lower price. So I could replace this Nexus 6 for $175 and continue to rent it for something like $25/month. I decided that instead of flushing that money down the drain, I'll buy my phone out-right.

I love that this protection plan means that if I'm dumb enough to take my phone to the pool again, I'll have a new one shipped to me in one business day.

I am indeed getting a 5X, not a "5S". Sigh.

Google Music family plan:

Yeah, I'm still on the $8/mo intro plan for Google Music. I have my wife's phone logged into my account, which works, but also means she's logged into Google as me. That's okay for her, but not okay for my daughter. The family plan seems like it solves this problem. Clearly, the next step is to get a car that does the Android Auto thing. (*Sigh*)

The protection plan:

I had to pony up $150 to get the screen of my Nexus 5 replaced after it cracked. That sucked, but it needed to be done. So that's one broken screen since I first got a smartphone in, what, 2008? The protection plan costs $69 for two years of coverage. So... if my expectation is one cracked screen every 4-5 years, then the price is about right. I decided to spend the money.

Chromecast Audio / whole home audio:

My Home Theater Upgrade of Doom project involves moving the current big TV into our master bedroom and getting a 4K set to replace it. That TV (a circa 2008 Sony XBR) has "real" speakers, unlike the useless speakers they put in modern 1cm-thick televisions. So, at least in theory, stick a video Chromecast stick in it and I've now got the TV, in my bedroom, participating in whole-home audio. That seems pretty sweet.

(And, of course, I can always use outboard speakers, an amp, etc.)

Camera:

When the Nexus 5 was brand new, the camera had some awful latency issues. They fixed that. I'd say the Nexus 5 quality is "good enough" but I look forward to having something better. From a long-term perspective, remembering back to my very first digital camera (Canon G1, with a massive 1GB IBM Microdrive), I can only marvel at people who complain about the quality of smartphone cameras.


USB-C:

I spent more time digging around Amazon. I found one USB-C charger, but it only does 5V/2A (versus 5V/3A which the phone can consume). I found other USB-C cables, but they're only "USB 2.0 speed". Ahh, the market confusion is going to be immense until this all settles out.

My expectation is that the confusion will be ongoing.

Once unpackaged and in use, how are consumers supposed to easily determine which USB-C cables or charging devices are which, when eyeing several random cable and chargers in a drawer?

How would they even know that certain cables or device/charger combinations will not work as well as other combinations? Even when people buy all new device hardware, older cables tend to get reused and mixed up with newer cables. If the cable fits into the socket, people will (attempt to) use it.

The various 'USB' power ratings and compatibility modes alone seems ample territory for confusion.

I'm just dumping these links here so I don't have to keep hunting around for them later on.

Monoprice has a nice page for all things USB-C. They notably distinguish between a $25 all-purpose "USB 3.1 cable" for $24.99 and a "USB 2.0 charging cable" for $12.99, or a "USB 2.0 USB-C Male to USB-A Male" cable" (such as you might plug into a computer or into a pre-existing charger) for $9.99.

Notably missing from Monoprice's page is something to hook your computer's USB 3.0 type A connector to your phone's USB-C connector with the full-blown USB 3.0 performance.

For that, if you still want a name-brand cable (which I think is wise these days), the answer seems to be Belkin, who also has a landing page for USB-C products. Belkin's USB-A to USB-C high-speed cable is $29.99. Their USB-C to USB-C cable (equivalent to the above Monoprice all-purpose cable) is $29.99.

So... Belkin has the cable you need to get full-speed connections from your phone to your computer. Monoprice has the best prices on everything else. Belkin helpfully marks their higher-end cables with a "SS^10" logo (image below, if it works). Monoprice has no similar marking for the equivalent cable. This implies that the Belkin cable definitely supports USB-C's 10Gbps mode. The Monoprice cable claims to also support 10Gbps (vs regular USB 3.0's "SuperSpeed" 5Gbps).



The only other "name brand" I can think of that I might actually trust is Anker. Here's Anker's USB-C landing page. They've got the USB3 data cable for your computer for only $12.99. That's definitely the best deal on that so far. Their USB-C to USB-C cable, for $9.99 sounds awesome, but it's only "USB 2.0 speed" (even though you have to dig to find that out). (EDIT: the Anker USB3 data cable, which they will eventually be selling through Amazon, is "currently unavailable".)

EDIT: here are some other USB 3 data cables, such as you might connect to your computer:
NewLobo - $12.99, 1 meter
Joto - $10.99, 1 meter (they also claim to have a full-speed data cable, also for $10.99).
CableMatters - $11.99, 1 meter


Okay, what about chargers?

Google offers a universal 60W charger, such as you might use for the fancy Chromebook Pixel, and they also offer a 15W universal charger, such as you might use for your phone. Both have hardwired cables, which makes them cheaper (only one USB-C connector) but also makes them a good deal less useful.

Google will eventually also be selling a dual-port USB-C charger. It's only 22.5W but can deliver up to 15W for one port if the other one is willing to go lower. So there's a negotiation of some sort. (Why not just do a 30W power supply?)

Apple, conversely, has a 29W charger for the new MacBook for $49. Here's a comparison of it with the 60W Google charger.

Anker is working on some portable USB batteries that do USB-C. They're all listed as "coming soon" as is their "PowerPort+" charger, which has three USB-A ports and one USB-C port for charging all the things. (I have a 5-way Anker charger that I use when the family is traveling... to charge all the things.) This, again, is listed as "coming soon". Now, just imagine if this Anker thing can somehow put out 60W. Wouldn't that be a game-changer? You could use it as an external battery for a laptop or to charge up your phone. That would be spectacular. We'll see.


What about car chargers?

There are a ton of Qualcomm QuickCharge chargers out there, but that's not the same thing as USB-C, and the magic auto-sensing chips that figure out for each device what voltage and current it's willing to tolerate will need to be revved.

All I could find are some no-name things. Here's one that has a USB-C port and a USB-A port. Max power seems to be 5V/2.1A yet this otherwise identical-seeming product claims 5V/3A. I'm not sure I'd trust either one. The short-term solution seems to be this thing with a built-in cord or this other thing, same deal, but also apparently includes a micro-USB cable for the second port. At least both are relatively cheap, since you know you'll be replacing either one later on once you can get higher power car chargers.


What about docking stations?

Not particularly relevant to smartphones, but definitely relevant if you're pondering the new MacBook, there's this docking station with video and Ethernet. Note the negative reviews saying that it can't power a MacBook? Yeah, sigh.

Anker also has some USB hubs / docking stations (some shipping now, some shipping soon). None of the hubs appear to support external charging, but they have an unspecified "docking station" that's "coming soon". We'll see.

dx.com: USB 3.1 Male to Male charging/data cable for CAD$6.65 (delivered).

Impressive, but do you trust the vendor (Cwxuan) to build a cable that actually meets the claimed specs?

Maybe in a year, when this stuff is well established, sure, but right now when it's all brand new? I'd be hesitant to go with an off-brand like this.

I would trust them with my CAD$6.65 rather than throw USD$25+shipping+tax at monoprice for the same thing. If they actually had a cable like that!

I did some digging and came up with three off-brand USB 3.0 A - USB-C cable vendors, priced $11-13 per cable, and selling through Amazon. (Edited into my list above.) That's twice the price of the Cwxuan cable, but if you buy from Amazon, you've at least got the ability to return it easily if it fails.

Here's an example of my concern: yet another no-name branded cable. The specs say 480Mbps in one place, 10Gbps in another place. Which do you believe?

If one end of the cable has a phone on it, who cares

It isn't like Cwxuan is going to be making the cable they are using or even probably the internal bits of the plugs.

I believe the USB connector at the host end of the cable: USB-3.x, so at least 5gb/sec, probably 10gb/sec, if you could find a device for the B-end that actually transfers at anything remotely that quick. The 480mb/sec is just a marketing burp. But at USD$9+shipping, it's still more than double the cost of the dx.com version. Faster delivery though.

Phone storage speed is accelerating. This from Anand's initial iPhone tests, also showing several Android phones right at the threshold for needing more then USB 2 speed for writes, and almost every device is well past USB 2 for reads.

Figures are all in MB/s, anything over ~50 is likely faster then practical USB 2 speeds.


Article source.

Don't forget those are pure sequential reads/writes, the speeds drop dramatically once you start real world reads/writes.

It occurred to me that with an iPhone 6 and 6s (both 128GB) sat here I am in the perfect place to test the real world performance over USB2. The results were a little puzzling.

I used Image Capture to transfer the last two months of photos/videos from both phones (the 6s is an iTunes restore of the 6, they have identical data on them) to my brand new MacBook Pro 15. I checked that both of them transferred the same amount of data, ~435MB. I ran the test three times and averaged.

Oddly, the 6 was faster than the 6s; 25.8 seconds for the 6, 30.1 seconds for the 6s

That equates to 16.8MB/s for the 6 and 14.4MB/s for the 6s, clearly not limited by USB2.

I'd love to know why the 6s was slower !

Those results were worrying me, so I reran them and used a few more data points. Those results were much closer, again the 6 coming out ahead but with the 6s coming in a only a second slower. I guess the 6s was busy doing something in the background on my first attempt

I decided to do some tests on a Windows machine too, so I used Explorer to do some transfers on a suitably fast PC. Those results came out more how I expected, with the 6s being 24.1MB/s and the 6 being 18.4MB/s.

All these speeds are well within the practical throughput of USB2 though. I've just done some transfers from a USB2 connected hard disk to the Mac. Those transfers are at ~40MB/s.

Maybe the iPhone just isn't good at USB transfers and there are other phones that can hit the USB2 limit ? I doubt USB speeds are much of a priority at Apple with them being all in on iCloud.

True, curious to see the followup full results which will have many more tests. The only other graphs there were 4kb random currently.

With spinning disks, there are serious benefits to sequential versus random IO. With Flash, it's a lot less important.

I did a quick test with my Nexus 5, connected to the Windows PC reads over USB2 were just a bit slower than the iPhone 6s.

I did one further test, I used iTunes to transfer a 280MB file from the iPhones to the Mac. Both of them were hitting ~35MB/s.

So I'm guessing whatever protocol phones use over USB to pretend to be harddrives is putting an extra overhead that you don't get with real hard disks connected via USB ?

The fact that both phones are maxing out at the same speed would tend to suggest that I'm wrong and that USB2 is the limiting factor.

Ok, not "tend to suggest", I'm clearly wrong. At least with large single files, when not using mass storage (or whatever it is called), these phones are hitting the USB2 limit.

A friend of mine says this USB A-C cable is the only one he has tested so far with the correct CC resistor.

Amazon link

I feel like this was discussed already in previous threads (or maybe in this one), but I have a USB C question.

If I were to plug my Nexus 5X into a MacBook 12" using the C to C cable, what charges? Do they both try? Neither? Negotiate somehow?

BTW, I received my two new Chromecast Audios today. Very easy to set up, and they cast just as you would expect. I have one set up permanently to a kitchen speaker that we use. The other will be attached to a portable speaker that we'll place wherever we need it, including outside, using a battery pack.

At the moment it all works as expected. It...casts. That's great, and it's way better than bluetooth for a bunch of reasons. But I'm still waiting for them to add the multi-room audio capability, and that's when these things become a great buy.

I also ended up ordering a new Chromecast, mostly because it's 1080p now, and has 802.11ac. Later this year I'll probably end up upgrading my Roku 3 to a 4 because I have a 4K TV now.

USB-C allows charging current to flow in either direction. Lots of details. Android M lets you decide which way to go. I have no idea about OS X.

I did a search for news and updates on the USB-C thing, since I'll soon need to order all this gear.

First, here's a detailed rant about Qualcomm QuickCharge vs. USB-C. The author grumbles that the new Nexus phones don't just support QuickCharge to make the transition smoother. I guess Google has decided to take a page out of Apple's playbook and obsolete the older stuff as soon as possible to hasten the adoption of the newer stuff.

Also, Google has confirmed that the Nexus 5X comes with a USB-C-to-USB-C charging cable that connects to an offboard charger, which is then not the same as any of the charging accessories Google offers for sale. I find this curious since this is fundamentally a more expensive proposition (assuming, for the sake of discussion, that USB-C connectors cost real money whereas a hardwired cable to the charger costs nothing). Many commenters are screaming that they're not giving you a USB-A-to-USB-C cable, as you might use to draw power from millions of other things in the world. Of course, that cable isn't particularly expensive. Again, Google seems to be taking the "obsolete the old and hasten the new" approach.

I'm pretty excited. I just received an email this afternoon informing me that my Nexus 5X had shipped yesterday and might arrive as soon as tomorrow! (I say "might" because I don't trust shipping estimates from anyone but Amazon, and even then...).

I didn't think they'd ship until the 21st or 22nd, which meant I wouldn't be able to take nice photos at my friend's wedding in California this weekend. I'm happy I won't have to take a point and shoot along!

I do think, though, that I'll be ordering another charging cable from Amazon or somewhere. I just can't get away with charging at night. I need that A to C cable.

Mine is also apparently en route. A few days ago, I preemptively ordered some USB-A to USB-C cables that claim to support the full data spec. (Cable Matters, made in China, $13/ea on Amazon.) We'll see how well those work.

At least initially, I'm not going to buy a bunch of high-power chargers. When I'm in the car or the office, 2A/5V charging is just fine. The 3A/5V charger will be primarily awesome when doing the power traveller thing, trying to crank as much charging in as little time as possible.

Presumably, in 6 months, there will be a slew of new accessories that get rid of USB-A plugs and are all USB-C, 3A/5V (or more) on every plug. It's cool to imagine something like that which can charge your laptop and your phone, while also acting as a data bridge between them.