Every year, the most highly anticipated Android smartphone for Android fans is undoubtedly the Nexus. The unadulterated Android experience, as Google intended it to be. This year however, we got 2 Nexus smartphones to deal with. The first being the Nexus 5X which I had a quick look at earlier on, and the other being the bigger, and more premium looking Nexus 6P. So without further ado, let’s talk about the Nexus 6P.
P is for Premium
The "P" in the “6P” is supposed to stand for “Premium”, and the phone definitely feels that way with its metal and glass construction. The phone feels great in the hand, and feels extremely solid. With a 5.7" display, the phone is undeniably a phablet. But, compared to the behemoth which is the Nexus 6, the slimmer waistline help makes it a lot easier to use one-handed.
The visor hump on the rear of the phone was a topic of much discussion when leaked images of the 6P first appeared. In real life, the hump is actually pretty subtle, and since it’s stretch across the phone it doesn’t cause the phone to wobble when placed on a flat surface. The visor is not just for aesthetic purposes of course. It houses some antennas, the laser autofocus, the camera, the flash, and the NFC chip. I actually quite like the look of it.
But there are still a few things I could nitpick about though. The buttons on the sides while nicely crafted, does wobble a little side to side. The plastic panel on the bottom rear of the phone doesn’t sit completely flushed too on my unit, with one side being raised a little bit more than the other.
Overall, unlike the Nexus 5X which has an understated, and utilitarian design, the Nexus 6P lives up to its “Premium” moniker.
A great visual and aural experience
The 5.7” QHD AMOLED display upfront is supposedly sourced from the latest generation of AMOLED panels from Samsung (which in my opinion makes the best looking display on a smartphone to date). However when comparing it side by side with the Note 5, it still seemed a little less impressive, which is probably just down to calibration. Nonetheless, it definitely ranks up there as one of the best looking displays on a smartphone.
On the top and bottom of the screen, there are dual front firing stereo speakers, which is always welcomed in my books. They still don’t sound as good as HTC’s Boomsound speakers which is the yardstick for smartphone speakers, but they do sound rich enough, and has sufficient volume. I did notice that on my unit the top speaker sound ever so slightly louder than the bottom speaker, but not enough to make a fuss over.
Nexus Imprint
On the rear of the device above the Nexus logo, you have a fingerprint sensor. Just like the Nexus 5X, the fingerprint sensor is one of the fastest I have used on a smartphone to date. It is not just fast at unlocking the device every single time, but it is fast as well to set up. It only takes 6 taps to set up a fingerprint, and over time, the fingerprint sensor will “learn” to recognise your fingerprints better.
With it being rear mounted, it makes it a little harder to use when the phone is placed on a table. However, when taking the phone out of your pocket, the fingerprint sensor is perfectly placed to read your index finger. By the time the phone is out of your pocket, the screen is already turned on and unlocked.
A little long in the tooth, but still a top performer
With the newer Snapdragon 820 chipset just round the corner, the Snapdragon 810 that the Nexus 6P uses is getting a little bit long in the tooth. While it is Qualcomm’s best showing this year, compared to its competitor’s offering like Samsung’s Exynos 7420, it falls a little behind. Thankfully with a stock Android build, the software is lean enough to ensure speedy performance.
Comparing it to the Note 5, day to day performance seems just a tad smoother and faster. But when it comes to playing intensive games like Need For Speed: No Limits, the Note 5 loads the game noticeably faster, and is generally a little bit smoother. No doubt helped by the faster UFS 2.0 storage.
Thermal management (a topic that is unavoidable with Qualcomm’s chipset this year) is actually pretty decent on the Nexus 6P. There are occasions where the phone gets really warm, like when using the camera extensively under the hot sun, or while setting up the phone while installing/updating apps. Most of the time under normal usage though, the phone doesn’t seem to warm up as easily as other SD 810 devices like the Xperia Z3+, Xperia Z5, or One M9.
Comparing the Nexus 5X to the 6P, other than having 1 more GB of RAM (2GB vs 3GB), the 6P also uses the newer LPDDR4 instead of the 5X’s LPDDR3. This, plus the beefier processor gives the 6P noticeably better performance. Just use the camera to capture an HDR+ image and you will see the difference in the processing time.
Unadulterated Android Experience
While I personally prefer the stock Android experience, it can be a bit bare bones for your regular consumer. Comparing to the Note 5 which is one of the best phablet in the market today, it doesn't have multi-window mode which really comes in handy at times for watching a video podcast on YouTube while browsing the web. It doesn’t have S-Pen to make use of that large display for taking down notes or drawing. It doesn't have pop-up video player so you can catch up on your favourite TV shows while messaging your friends. It doesn't even have a file manager out of the box.
Granted, this is a Nexus, so you can also tweak it, or install a custom ROM easily to enable those features. However, your regular consumer aren't going to bother with that. Then again, the Nexus brand hasn't always been the most consumer facing product. But with Google seemingly trying to push the Nexus brand in that direction, it is still something worth noting.
One of the most important aspect of the Nexus brand is undoubtedly its fast, and consistent updates. When a new version of Android is released, the Nexus phones will always be first in line to get those updates. I'm not just talking about “bugs fixing” or “new features” updates though. The more important updates are those monthly security updates. While a lot of companies have committed to monthly security updates much like Google has, the only company I have confidence in meeting those datelines are Google themselves.
Biting into that fluffy Marshmallow
As I have talked about in my Nexus 5X blog post, a lot of what comes with Android 6.0 Marshmallow are under the hood. The biggest visual change is that the app drawer now scrolls vertically instead of horizontally?
(Doze: Better battery standby drain)
(Google Now on Tap: Contextual personal assistant)
(App permissions: more granular control)
(Nexus Imprint for better security)
Some of the features will be immediately useful, and noticeable such as Doze, Nexus Imprint, and App Permissions. Others like Google Now on Tap will get increasingly more useful as Google improves the service over time much like Google Now.
Other than that, this is the stock Android experience that Android purists know and love.
(There is an improved SD card support which is going to be huge for lower end devices with limited internal memory, but as it's a Nexus, there is no SD card slot. Still worth mentioning though.)
More efficient standby
One of the gripes I had with Android devices for a long while was the battery drain during standby, something the iOS really excelled in. With recent devices, it has been less of an issue as other OEMs have found ways to optimise the system better. Now we have the "Doze" feature built right into Android, hopefully that will mean more devices will get to enjoy better standby battery consumption.
Battery life isn't as fantastic as you would expect from a 3,450 mAh battery, but for what it is, it's decent enough to last me a day of use easily. While Doze works great while the phone is on standby, the drain while the phone is in use is still faster than I would have expected from a battery this size.
Rapid recharging
The bright side is that the phone actually charges pretty quickly with the bundled charger. It uses 5V/3A charging through USB Type C power delivery instead of utilising Qualcomm’s Quick Charge technology. While the rapid charging standard that Google is using is an open standard, and I'm normally all for open standards, in this case it's a little bittersweet.
First of all, spare chargers are not that easy to obtain just yet. Secondly, it uses a USB Type C connector, which very few devices are using for now. Compatibility is going to be part of the growing pains with the new Type C standard, but the bright side is that it should get a lot better next year. Thankfully, unlike the Nexus 5X, Google did include a USB A to USB Type C cable in the box which is nice. People typically don't upgrade their computers as often as they do phones, so I'm willing to bet that at this point, only a small percentage of people will have a USB Type C port on their computer.
The best camera on a Nexus to date
With the Nexus 5X, we got a good glimpse of the camera capabilities of the current crop of Nexus devices. It was good, but not without its flaws. The Nexus 6P is no different, which shouldn't be surprising since they are using the same sensor, but it does improve in some areas.
In daylight, the photos looks vibrant. It may not be the most colour accurate, but it does make the photos look good. A minor gripe I have is how auto HDR+ mode doesn't seem to work for daylight. Overexposed area in shots are still common to see. Having a wider angle lens means that you can't go as close to a subject when taking macro shots, but not a huge deal.
In low light, despite the lack of OIS, the Nexus 6P manages to impress. With HDR+ preserving a lot of details despite a noisier shot compared to phones with OIS like the S6 or the G4. Shutter Speed was kept fast too, so I don't really find myself missing OIS here. The minor gripe is that HDR+ processing can take a few seconds, but it is less of a nuisance as the more powerful processor compared to the Nexus 5X means a noticeably faster processing time.
(Video is where the lack of OIS really hurt the 6P. Video looks visibly more choppy compared to other devices with OIS or EIS.)
(When cropped in, you can still see the details on the railings)
A more capable processor package also meant that the Nexus 6P is able to capture 240fps slow-motion videos compared to the Nexus 5X's 120fps.
All in all, this is the best camera put on a Nexus smartphone just yet. In fact, it is one of the best few camera on a smartphone to date. While it may not beat the likes of the Galaxy S6 or the LG G4, it certainly hold its own still.
Full resolution images comparison: Nexus 6P, Nexus 5X, Nexus 5, Nexus 6, iPhone 6S, Galaxy Note 5, Galaxy S6, LG G4, One M9, Xperia Z5
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The real new Nexus
Unlike the Nexus 5X which seems like a Nexus 5 v2.0, the Nexus 6P feels like a brand new Nexus. It feels like the best device to showcase Android 6.0 Marshmallow. Other than its size, there is little that I can complain about the device. It is a well built device with premium materials, the screen looks great, it comes packing with high end specifications, and it has a pretty good camera too. There is very little that I can complain about the Nexus 6P, which brings us to the question, is this the best Android phone in the market right now?
Yes!
This is a phone that showcases the latest and greatest from Android, and it does that convincingly. Despite promises from other manufacturers about fast software updates and security patches, they are never going to be as quick as Google. Despite manufacturers promising they’ve toned down their bloated custom blend of Android on their devices, they are never going to be as lean as on a Nexus device.
While the Nexus 6P might not have the best specifications or features in the market, it gets the basics right, and does very little wrong. It's a smartphone that provides a great user experience that I think most people will enjoy. It's an Android phone that just works.
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