[Nexus 9 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] GedBlake:
Hi, djbenny1...

I've generally avoided answering such questions in the past, partially because the answer is going to be hugely subjective, and partially because it also depends on what your expectations of the device are. If you plan on playing lots of graphic, GPU intensive, high octane video games on it, I would be inclined to look elsewhere for another device.

And it also depends on what you're prepared to pay for it...

At £130 this represents a significant reduction in price, from the original £319 (for the 16Gb model) and £399 (for the 32Gb model) price points, when the Nexus 9 was announced in the Autumn of last year (2014). A quick Google search reveals that the 16Gb model currently retails for around £250, give or take a few quid.

Leaving aside the dull, uninspiring appearance of the Nexus 9, and the reported hardware problems - the flexi-back, the lightbleed issues, (I never had those issues with my Nexus 9, and I've no idea if HTC made changes to the production process to remedy these problems.), but I would be surprised if they haven't, given how widespread those reports where.

...but leaving aside those issues, the problem with the Nexus 9, IMHO, is it tried to do too many things, too quickly...

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** Implement the new Android RunTime (ART), replacing the old Dalvik runtime, as part of Lollipop. (And compounded further by a memory leak in the initial release version of Lollipop).

** Along with the Nexus 6 smartphone, it was one of the first devices to run Android on a 64bit platform.

** Run Android encrypted (ie, the data partition) by default. Seamless, on-the-fly, encryption, surely has to have some resource penalty (CPU cycles, etc.), resulting in impaired performance - (See my comments later about encryption.)

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All of these elements introduce a multiplicity of 'difficult-to-quantify' variables, whose aggregated deficits cannot be easily foreseen. And introduced together, on one device, and at the same time, seems to me to have been

not the best idea

from Google. There's certainly no doubting Googles audacity with the Nexus 9, introducing these features, but they did too much, too quickly.

I don't pretend to be either a software or a hardware expert, but everything I know about designing new devices and developing software, suggests that a slower process of design, implementation, testing, and feedback is better in the long run. A slower process of iteration...

...rolling out a new feature on a new device - see how it works in the real world. And then later, add-in a second feature, and see how that works out. Maybe wait for the next device release, before adding in a third feature, and so on and so forth. To quote the old aphorism, "Rome wasn't built in a Day", so why did Google attempt to (metaphorically) do so with the Nexus 9 ??

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For my own part, I'm pretty happy with my Nexus 9 :).

I'm currently running it with the 3rd Android M developer preview installed, it's rooted, and as a requirement of acquiring root, it's also unencrypted.

And running it without encryption, made a **BIG** difference to my Nexus 9. See my post

here

from June of this year, and the benchmark results I obtained with AnTuTu as a result of decrypting it.

With regard to the oft reported problem of Chrome reloading tabs... yes, it does do this, but I can't say this is a major problem for me.

I've spent the past few hours drafting and submitting posts on XDA, preparing and sending several emails via MailDroid, and all the while, frequently dipping in and out of Chrome to do some fact checking, and with something like around 20 tabs open. Yes, they do reload (but not every time), but it takes no more than a few seconds. Maybe again, this has something to do with my device not being encrypted. I should also add here, I tend to run Greenify rather aggressively (as I do on all my Android devices), hibernating all the apps I have installed that I can realistically get away with. Obviously I don't hibernate things like widgets, or apps which set alarms, or depend on push notifications... but this leaves more RAM for the 3 or 4 apps I do use on a frequent basis.

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So... My Nexus 9 does what I need it to do, which is primarily web browsing via Chrome, email via MailDroid, and posting here on XDA, via a combination of the XDA Premium 4 app and Chrome.

I'm not a big video game player, but I've been known to occasionally indulge in a game of chess, with Shredder Chess, or a game of Sudoku with Andoku 2. The most graphics intensive games I play on it are Temple Run: Oz and Subway Surfers. Both games run without problem. And I can't say my Nexus 9 gets particularly hot... A little warm, yes... but hot - no.

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So, should you buy one for £130...??

I would say, if you're prepared to tinker with it a little (Unlock the bootloader, flash ElementalX kernel for decryption purposes), then I think there are worse ways of spending £130.

Another way of looking at it is, what alternative devices are available for £130? What specifications do they have? RAM, CPU, version of Android? Likelihood of further updates to Android? If you want to tinker with it, how easy or difficult is to root or unlock the bootloader?

Would I buy one today for £130?

Yes, I would (if I didn't already have one).

The benefit of hindsight is a wonderful thing - a phrase often used with negative connotations, but I use it here positively. Knowing what I know about it now, and having had it for nearly a year, and how to get the best out of it, I would have no hesitation about buying one for that kind of money... :):):) .

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Right, I can't think of anything else to add. Which is probably a good thing... I've rambled on far too long as it is :) .

I don't know if I've clarified a few things for you or muddied the waters further. I hope it's the former :).

Anyway, good luck, with whatever you decide.

Kind Rgrds,

Ged.