Just to provide a counterpoint: I'm still rocking a 3.5 year old Nexus 5 with almost zero evidence of its age (the battery discharges a bit faster than it used to but it's not noticeable enough to even warrant a new battery).

Yeah I am happily using a Nexus 5 too. Unfortunately, even though it still works well it is no longer receiving security updates. I would pay for someone to provide these and will consider moving to a new plate for my next phone.

LineageOS[1] might let you wring another year or two out (formerly known as Cyanogenmod). I still have my old N5 in a drawer, so far I have been happy with my 6P...

1: https://wiki.lineageos.org/devices/hammerhead

I'd still be using my Nexus 5 if all the antennas embedded in the back plate hadn't started losing their connections (no wireless charging, wifi and GPS signal are super-spotty).

The beauty of the Nexus 5 is virtually everything is replaceable and an easy DIY project. Sure, you may not be able to get every part OEM, but I've extended the life of mine several times now (including replacing the entire rear housing) as it's still the best phone I've ever owned.

I replaced the back plate, cleaned the contacts, and such. No joy.

Are they connected with leaf-spring contacts? If so, and if you haven't already, try cleaning the contacts with isopropyl, the closer to 100% the better. RF is screwy enough to be magical, and if there's skin oil or something on the contacts, that might be enough to cause the issues you're seeing.

Something like that. They actually look like they might have coiled springs providing tension to the leaves on the phone side, and then contacts kind of laminated on ribbon cables in the back panel.

- contacts visible in back cover (the 4 yellow contacts for wireless charging are the easiest to see): https://i.ytimg.com/vi/-RWgjtEwQYQ/maxresdefault.jpg

- spring-loaded contacts in the phone (3 around the camera, 2 on the opposite top corner, 4 match up with the wireless charging points): http://images.anandtech.com/doci/7517/Nexus5-1552.jpg

In mine, the back cover flexes, and contact isn't always maintained for all the connections. I've cleaned them with contact cleaner, and alcohol, tried bending the leaves to provide more pressure, etc. I also replaced the back at one point. Like the original, it would be fine for a while, then need readjustment. The body of the phone has a few thin, brittle parts, which started cracking (the back really wasn't designed to be removed often). I feel like the wear+tear on the phone body and constant mechanical maintenance just wasn't worth it.

Prior to opening the sucker because of the wireless charging not working, there shouldn't've been any finger oils on the contacts (or, I'd hope).

The wifi connectors are something like MMX . The qxi charging coil is leaf spring. I still have my Nexus 5 after 3 years and it runs great. Would get a pixel but no wireless charging.

Not really trying to ding the Nexus line itself, honestly I loved them overall. My N1 far surpassed my expectations, and lived on yet another year after I gave it to a friend. I liked the 6P quite a lot. The 5X/6P generation does seem to have fairly widely reported and consistent issues however.

They used to be subsidized by Google and offered at a lower price point, but at flagship levels they have greater competition. I guess it's time for me to consider yet another new territory with this round... device insurance.

Insurance is such a mine field. Tmobile for example will charge you $175 deductible for a claim. Add that into the $10/month for the plan, and you might as well just go buy a used phone off craigslist if something goes wrong.

Wells Fargo credit cards and the Chase Ink Preferred credit card both provide device insurance if you pay your monthly bill with the card.

You have been out of security support for a long time - apps, web pages and video clips can pwn your device.

That's surprisingly terrible. Unbelievable. To think that Google can't even support its own devices after 3 years whilst the Linux ecosystem supports a silly number of devices and platforms, substantially on a volunteer basis

Speaking of voluntarily basis, here is 7.1.1 on the N5:

https://download.lineageos.org/hammerhead

3 years is the absolute best case you can get, if you buy the device on release day.

You get only 1.5 years it's been on the market for 1.5 years.

This is terrible. I too have this phone and it still works perfectly, no repairs have been required. Are we now supposed to buy a new phone every year? Every two years? This is getting absurd.

Also, Windows at least tells you that support for your version is coming to an end. Google/Android has not notified me in any way that my device is not being supported anymore, that new updates will not be coming, what that might mean for me and what they suggest I should do.

I'm running Cyanogenmod on the Nexus 5 with dec/16 patchlevel. It comes as a minimal base over which you can install whatever apps you want. You can also install LineageOS or Sailfish OS. This is better than the level of support Google provides.

I have the same experience with my Note 3. This three-year-old device still works better than most new phones, except for drastically shorter battery life.

Two colleagues also still use this device, and one is contemplating replacing it because the latest Facebook app won't run on his Android 4.3, and he is not receiving a carrier update. My Note 3 is updated to Android 5.0.

I loved my N5 but the battery wasn't user replaceable. I am not one to crack open my phone (plus the power switch died). I got a 5x .. decent phone but had speed slowdowns since day 1. I made the mistake of getting a 16 GB version (lack of expansion is mind boggling). I'm also disappointed with the Pixel's price. Might get an iPhone next.

The Nexus 5 is very user serviceable - all the parts a labelled, most things just clip on/off. Replacing the power switch is a 10 minute job, and costs ~$5.

If only these things had screws! My biggest issue was opening it up (popping out the screen, digitizer, etc.) and putting it together back to its original state.

Replaced mine twice after it's not replaceable anymore (overheated I think) - need to replace whole mainboard.

Echoing this with a Note4, I get updates from Samsung almost every month (bi-monthly for the most part). Runs brilliantly.

It's great that it gets security updates, but these are updates for a 2015 operating system (Marshmallow). It is extremely sad that I device from 2014 with an $800 introduction price does not get the yearly Android updates beyond 2015.

For comparison, my iPhone 5s (that I recently replaced) from 2013, received iOS 10 and was still butter-smooth [1]. It will most likely also get iOS 11 this year.

tl;dr: you should expect/demand more from a device that almost costs a grand.

[1] I replaced it because I wanted more storage and live photos.

I love my N5, but the battery is dying, and I've also had to replace the power button too.

I would like to keep using it, but the battery plus the lack of software updates is pushing me back into the market...

(When I become Prime Minister, providing only 3 years of security support for a product that ought to last at least 5 will become illegal...)

I have a Nexus 5 as well. Mine has some cracks along the bezel but is otherwise fine. The battery is really wearing down a lot though. I think I may get an iPhone when it dies. There's no way I'm shelling out premium cash for a Pixel.

I have a similar experience with my nexus 5 before switching to the pixel. I've dropped it many times on the ground without a case or screen protector and it kept going. It's battery life was noticeable worse after ~3 years.

This has been also my gripe with Android. I have been developing for Android for over 5 years, and slowly switching to MBP, Xcode and iOS development since last year. And not turning back to Android dev for the meantime. My iPhone5s is still using the latest iOS version, so I have all the next several years to use this as a test device.

While Android on the other hand, I have countless dead phones because either Android N is not coming on it, especially Android O. And the Pixel phones from last 2 years is gonna be dead within this year. I feel like Google has no hope on how to solve this anymore. My minimum SDK is still at 19. My Android code has a lot of Build code check for backwards compatibility. Compared to my iOS code, there is completely none. Google should have address this issue since Marshmallow. But it is too late now.

And there is no Nexus phones here, so the devs here only has Samsung, LG and low cost phones which has no Google support.

A Nexus 4 handed down to my son recently stopped working when he dropped it, smashing the screen. Gave him my cast off Nexus 5 that was still storming great. My wife's Nexus 5 was working perfectly, though we replaced it with an iPhone 7 (to her great dismay, it turns out). My own Nexus 6P has worked perfectly, but for dev reasons I replaced it with a GS8 (which is simply a stunning device in every way, including the fact that I immediately dropped a UHS-1 64GB SD card it in and now do my data churning development on that).

The point, I guess, is that anecdotes vary. Heck, my son has been toying around with the G1 and G2, and Nexus One, I had sitting in drawers.

Yeah, devices dying that fast isn't the norm. That said, Apple will take better care of you inside or outside warranty. To be fair, that has been Apple's schtick for a long time, google is just getting into this business model.

I've had a good experience only once with Apple once out of three times I've taken items in, when they replaced the logic board on my MBP a week after the program to replace for that model ended. They still refuse to honor well known fraying problems with their MagSafe adapters. The other time involved a 2010 MBP battery replacement that should have taken 15 minutes to half an hour, maybe an hour (I was told as much). It ended up taking four hours and they never contacted me when it was ready. If Apple was willing to sell parts to their customers, I would have had it done in 10 minutes.

Honestly, I've had about the same experience with Google (specifically Project Fi) with a different set of issues. I can't really say that one company is better than the other, and I doubt it would be easy to find reliable data to make a case for one or the other.

Why would you do data churning on a phone over a PC or laptop? Not being rude, I'm curious.

I work on video products which entails an enormous amount of very high bitrate mobile video. Maybe it's a unwarranted fear, but I always feel like I'm killing the onboard flash so using a disposable SD card is always just comforting.

My 6P encountered severe battery issues (apparently a common issue). Google replaced it. You might want to try to do the same.

Was that while it was still in warranty? Mine N6P started dying at ~20% about a month after my warranty expired and I'm thinking about trying to get a replacement.

I did the exact same thing -- ask for a battery replacement a month after the warranty expired -- and they said yes. I think they basically have a silent recall situation on early 6Ps, regardless of warranty.

It was 2 months after the end of the warranty and I often hear people getting their 6P replaced because of that. A 1-2 years phone should not be unuseable and Google acknowledged that.

I'm also on the 6P; holding off on the Pixel until the next-gen replacement is available (hopefully at saner price levels). I have some battery issues (running battery-guzzling games would often cause the phone to shut down at ~ 40% battery) but otherwise still usable. Just flashed the O beta on it and it looks decent so far.

I wonder if Google will actually expand the Android One program. If it's globally available and also are eligible for beta testing it'd be really nice.

(I have a work iPhone, and the lack of customization is driving me nuts -- no home screen replacement, resource constraints means SwiftKey only supports two concurrent languages and no CJK, no way to associate installed apps with certain URL patterns, Apple Maps is privileged over other map apps...)

I think instead of going Android One, they're working on Android Go more. I think One was really a sort of trial run for Android Go - and with the coming underlying structure to truly separate drivers from the OS - lower end devices might be worthwhile in the near future.

One plus is the best choice. Great hardware, reasonable price, up-to-date Android no horrible skins on top of stock.

My OnePlus One is still going strong, and is as fast as ever.

I'm tempted by the OnePlus Five, but I may wait a few months to see if there are any issues before I purchase one. The customer support at OnePlus is notoriously poor, so I'm keen to wait for the second batch to arrive off the factory floor.

Eh, I liked my OnePlus One well in the beginning, but then the touch screen wouldn't work outside in summer, and failed completely after less than a year. Their customer service was much worse in those days (this was nearly two years ago), so I replaced it myself with an aftermarket screen until that one died a year later, too, though I obviously can't blame OnePlus for that. A friend who also has a OPO had to replace the bottom logic board because his microphone stopped working. Glad to hear yours works fine.

OnePlus provides impressive specs per dollar, and their phones are really nice 95% of the time. The last 5% is where they lost me.

I don't think that iPhones are significantly better. 2-3 out of 100 will die completely (motherboard/screen) in about a year.

Probably the classic infant mortality curve, just as my OnePlus 1 is going strong, a lot of my friends' still have their older phones, because they still work flawlessly.

Maybe it was just bad luck. But 2-3% failure rate sounds very high, can you provide a link with more information?

No, sorry, it's pretty much a hunch/guess/anecdote/observation.

I only found software rates https://www.blancco.com/resources/rs-state-of-mobile-device-... though I know nothing of the veracity of this ... study.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/218777/failure-rates-for... ..

Ah, finally something a bit more relevant: https://www.squaretrade.com/cell-phone-comparison-study-nov-... 2% for iPhone 4.

Thanks for looking it up. I also found the blancco study, but their score includes "crashing apps, WiFi connectivity and other performance issues" so it seems more like a consumer satisfaction survey than a device reliability study.

The squaretrade thing is more interesting, the raw data for the statista link is https://www.squaretrade.com/htm/pdf/iPhone_failure_rates_6_2.... I'd be interested in an update on that, phone materials have changed a lot in the last six or seven years. I would hope that things have improved overall but it would be nice to get confirmation on that.

I love my Oneplus 2

Yup, fellow 5X-bricked user here. I've moved over to OnePlus because I can't trust Google to pick a good supplier for their Nexus phones.

OnePlus has their own issues but I'm not going to drop $400 on a phone that doesn't last more than a year.

Blu makes seemingly decent phones at the 100-250$ range, unlocked, on Amazon. Cameras don't seem amazing, but neither is the Nexus 5 camera.

You mean this Blu?:

https://arstechnica.com/security/2016/11/chinese-company-ins...

Yep. Great phones. As far as 3rd party shit doing stuff... that's the price of using non-Google phones I guess. Plus the battery lasts longer than Google's flagship phones (I've gotta charge a Nexus 5 2 or 3 times a day, it's stupid what tiny batteries the big players ship.)

It's weird but I sort of miss the Nexus 5 camera. A lot of my photos came out quite nicely despite its technical limitations. My 6P's camera is much more accurate, but also pretty bland in terms of colour and tone.

T-Mobile has a promotion[1] where you get a $325 back over 24 months on a Pixel, but at this point I would wait for the next model to come out since as you point out it's not a true flagship.

[1] https://www.t-mobile.com/offer/google-pixel-phone-offer.html

So you got a cheap phone and complain about the cheap experience. They offer a premium phone and you jump ship.

I personally love my pixel but there are more than a few nice Android phones to pick from.

6P is a 'cheap' phone?

Yes. It's half the price of other flagship phones.

I have some hope for HMD/Nokia Android phones. It seems like they're very vanilla android and have been updated with patches on a quick schedule. But only time will tell.