Nexus 5x - Nexus never again.

[Zucca]

Yesterday evening on the couch watching TV. Checked the phone, no messages, put down the phone again on the couch. 15 minutes later, pick up the phone again. Dead. No images. Muerto. Kaputt. Oh well battery is drained, but strange. Plugged in the charger. It will not charge. Power button I see Google splash screen and then nada, nothing it shouts down.
Tried the recovery android circus, again it will not pass the google splash screen. Oh well I took the phone apart and disconnected the battery, waited 10 minuted and reconneted the battery. I had no hope, but who knows. Confirmed it still no pass the google scrap screen. 90% HW Problem. Today I try to reflash image form adb, but again I have no hope.
https://forum.xda-developers.com/nexus-5x/help/guide-fix-bootloop-locked-bootloader-t3608679
I think I got stung by the bootloop Nexus 5X.

Bye Bye Nexus, I am in the shopping for a Samsung S8 (I want the 3000mAh battery).

Those mobile phone are splenid devices, they will work 90% for two years and then by design they must fail. That's a clear design spec to me, life span two years no more, customers will  change device anyway. 

A few days later...

Yes, confirmed HW Problem. The bastard gets hot on the back top part of the phone. When it is cool down it somehow works and I was able to erase all my data (data were already bucked up) and reformat.

According to my experience and google the N5x is a ticking bomb, look what you need to do to save the data with this stupid phone...


https://hackaday.com/2018/01/16/a-salty-solution-for-a-dead-nexus-5x/

and of course I will try to repair it...


https://hackaday.com/2017/03/21/fix-a-brick-fighting-the-nexus-5x-bootloop/

Now I will buy something else... sorry Nexus you lost a customer.

[Halcyon]

Probably a similar issue that plagued the LG G4's. Over time, the one of the BGA chips wouldn't make proper contact, forcing it into a boot loop. You could try reflowing the memory/SOC/CPU ?

I have a Samsung Galaxy S8 - Brilliant phone, but get yourself a case! One drop and you'll smash the front/rear glass.

[Zucca]

You could try reflowing the memory/SOC/CPU ?

you bet I will, that's the fun part. Unfortunately I am out of my Lab so it will happen in September.
Yeah, never a phone without the bumper (aka cover).

[KaneTW]

I've had a N5x since it was released and it still works fine. Not my actively used phone anymore, but I gave it to my parents and it works well.

Not a big fan of Samsung phones. Using OnePlus 5T at the moment and very happy with it.

[a59d1]

I've had two N5Xs die on me. Reflowing the motherboard with hot air gave me a few minutes to copy my data off. Not going to get an LG phone again.

[chris_leyson]

My Nexus 5 is still going strong after 6 years but needs a new battery now, probably get another 5 years out of it. Noticed that the 5x was withdrawn after only one year, only has 5MP camera, issues with boot loops and issues with the touch screen when the charger is plugged in. Either a lot of common mode from the power supply, unlikely, or LG don't test phones for conducted immunity. Some touch screen controllers are good and some are crap when it comes to conducted immunity.

[chickenHeadKnob]

@chris-leyson

My Nexus 5 is about the same vintage. Started to have battery decline last year so replaced with an after market bat. Was not a particularly  difficult job for anyone with the skills of forum members here as long as you have good spudgers. The bat connector was a bit "dicky" and tight to put back, and I broke one female plastic clip retainer that hold the halves together but it is working just like new now.

I am somewhat of an old luddite with phones and hardly use mine. I noticed battery usage was  variable even though I keep the bare minimum running. The only apps I use are google maps and the alarm app, and then only rarely. I am such a doddering fogey. I also turn off bluetooth and WiFi most of the time. In-spite of that I noticed strange power consumption both with the old and new battery. Android be 'doin some shit in the background that it doesn't account for in the power consumption tabulation. I found that performing power off and clearing the gunk out restores performance.

I have a feeling the boot loop phenomena hit me 4 years ago and then went away. I don't let the phone upgrade itself when it wants to, instead I force it to my schedule every 4 months or so. On one of those upgrade occasions (it was kitkat something) it kept on downloading and rebooting. Fed up I turned it off, the back was warm, it never gets warm when I use it!. Some hours later I turned on again and it worked fine ever since (knock wood)

[NiHaoMike]

I have had several phones and tablets stop working, but they mostly were the ones used for cryptocurrency mining, which pushes the devices harder than they were designed for. In my experience, ZTE devices (Snapdragon 210 or 410) generally fail after 6 months-1 year of mining by not being able to boot all the way, while TI OMAP devices tend to fail by blowing a voltage regulator. Moto Es, however, are surprisingly robust and all 3 of mine outlasted 4 ZTEs, over 2 years of 24/7 mining and still hard at work.

[GeorgeOfTheJungle]

When my Nexus 5 battery started to die I changed it for a moto x4. Only the Nexus camera was better, everything else was worse, specially the battery life was never good enough in the Nexus 5.

[chris_leyson]

@ chickenHeadKnob Thanks for the heads up. Might just go ahead and replace the battery, need to find some good spudgers though. I think these days as manfactures put pressure on the designers to get products to market quicker and get costs down sometimes things slip through the net.
@GeorgeOfTheJungle Nice camera, shame about the tiny battery.

[GeorgeOfTheJungle]

In the end it will turn out that Apple's iPhone throttling was a good thing?

[Mr. Scram]

Yes, this model is unfortunately known for this issue. I don't think the issues can be extrapolated to other models or market segments, though. According to the Consumer Technology Association smartphones have a technological lifespan of a little under 5 years, which is less than a lot of other electronics but more than the attention span of most owners. Of course phones tend to suffer a fair amount of abuse too, more than a television or mixer.

https://www.cta.tech/News/Blog/Articles/2014/September/The-Life-Expectancy-of-Electronics.aspx

[Zucca]

Well on WE I should be able to got my hands on a Samsung S8. I drool for the 3000mAh.
Another thing I learn in this mess: heat is the enemy. I will buy a cover not too thick, the phone must be stay as cool as possible.

[Mr. Scram]

Well on WE I should be able to got my hands on a Samsung S8. I drool for the 3000mAh.
Another thing I learn in this mess: heat is the enemy. I will buy a cover not too thick, the phone must be stay as cool as possible.

Luckily for us, large batteries are becoming the standard. Having a phone with a 4000 mAh or more isn't very exceptional any more.

[Zucca]

Yeah, but I want a big battery with a small screen. 4000mAh are those small laptop screen mobiles, too big for me.
Ahh the old nokia times, 1 week and then recharge it.

[D3f1ant]

I love my OnePlus phones, no bloat, regular firmware updates and priced well. I do miss the Samsung Note stylus tho, very tempted to try a Note 9 when  it comes out

[VEGETA]

I have Nexus 4 and still going nice except I changed the screen with a Chinese clone since it started to have dead pixels. Nexus 6P is very good too if you want a better choice, Nexus 5 wasn't really popular for some reason.

[Zucca]

Endet up buying the Samsung s8 two weeks ago. I was very happy until today I dropped the phone (with cover) and cracked the a little the top left corner.

FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

I keep calm, I stay calm, I must control myself.

I will do the surgery when I (finally) broke more than 10% of the glass or when the battery will start to go wonky.

Lord have mercy I am a sinner.

 

[Halcyon]

I love my OnePlus phones, no bloat, regular firmware updates and priced well.

Except that the Chinese are watching your every move ;-)

Endet up buying the Samsung s8 two weeks ago. I was very happy until today I dropped the phone (with cover) and cracked the a little the top left corner.

FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

Yep, did the exact same thing myself. The Samsung S8 was the first phone I've had with glass all over it. All my previous phones would just fall apart when dropped; pop the battery back in and off you go again. I was cocky and said I didn't need a cover... how wrong I was.

Thankfully the repair was fairly cheap, $300 for a new LCD, battery and metal bezel around the edge. I also bought a case. ;-)

[Mr. Scram]

Except that the Chinese are watching your every move ;-)

What's your source?

Besides, pick your poison. A mobile phone is a tracking device in multiple ways.

[Mr. Scram]

$300 cheap? You buy fully fledged and quite nice phones for that.

[Halcyon]

Except that the Chinese are watching your every move ;-)

What's your source?

Besides, pick your poison. A mobile phone is a tracking device in multiple ways.

My comment was slightly tongue-in-cheek. I am well aware of what phones record these days.

$300 cheap? You buy fully fledged and quite nice phones for that.

Compared to $418.95 for screen-only damage or $818.95 for "other" damage that Apple charges for their current phone, $300 for an almost brand new phone is cheap.

[Zucca]

300$ was a deal back then, but today you can buy a new S8 for 350€ (what I did).
The new glass with digitizer should cost no more than 100€, but I will wait so the prices will go down further more.

[Mr. Scram]

My comment was slightly tongue-in-cheek. I am well aware of what phones record these days.

Compared to $418.95 for screen-only damage or $818.95 for "other" damage that Apple charges for their current phone, $300 for an almost brand new phone is cheap.

Compared to $250 for a brand new phone with performance that's mostly different in benchmarks it's not a cheap repair.

[Halcyon]

My comment was slightly tongue-in-cheek. I am well aware of what phones record these days.

Compared to $418.95 for screen-only damage or $818.95 for "other" damage that Apple charges for their current phone, $300 for an almost brand new phone is cheap.

Compared to $250 for a brand new phone with performance that's mostly different in benchmarks it's not a cheap repair.

Sure.

But that's like saying the cost of a service on a Maserati costs the same as a Great Wall off the showroom floor. Apples and oranges.
To me, while $300 is something I would have much rather spent on something else, it was a fraction of the cost of the device itself and a cost I can easily absorb in my budget. For $300, Samsung essentially replaced every component in the phone except for the motherboard, not bad.

I chose to buy the Samsung S8 after careful consideration. $250 phones simply didn't meet my desired specifications or requirements.