Google's best Nexus with bigger and badder specs than iPhone 6 Plus
Google Nexus 6 is a supersized version of the new Moto Xthat has been given a two-handed booster shot and appropriately received a post-surgery Lollipop. The results? It's among the best phones to date.
This phablet-sized smartphone is the first to run Android 5.0 Lollipop and, really, there's no better way to experience all of the changes Google has made to its operating system.
It parades the colorful new Material Design interface on a massive 6-inch display, moves seamlessly between apps thanks to the latest Snapdragon processor and 3GB of RAM, and lasts all day in most cases with a Qi-chargeable 3220 mAh battery.
These Nexus 6 specs are enough to edge-to-edge out Apple's mighty iPhone 6 Plus. It feels better to hold in my hand, and typing is easier thanks to Androids always-superior keyboards options.
It's also missing the Moto Active Display functionality. Waving my hand above the three IR sensors of the Moto X triggered a mostly unlit screen with just the current time and notification icons. Pressing down on these icons revealed more information like email teasers.
Active Display is nowhere to be found here, even though it was a great a battery-saving idea that made notifications very glanceable. Instead, there's the less reliable Ambient Display mode that provides a greyed-out lockscreen whenever you lift the phone up suddenly. This doesn't always work.
Nexus 6 seems to have missed the boat when it comes fingerprint scanner to rival Apple's Touch ID and you won't find a working LED light indicator here either. Recently, a developer discovered that the phone does emit one of these notifications pulses, but it's disabled. Turning it on requires a rooted phone.
Also missing, or at least inconsistent, is the Nexus 9 tablet's tablet knock-to-wake feature. It actually works sometimes and turns on that greyed-out screen, but other times I get no response at all. "Hello, is anyone home?," I keep asking. Maybe a firmware update can resolve this in the future.
Nexus 6 does, however, inherit the new Moto X's ridge-filled power button. This helped me differentiate between the right-side located power and volume buttons in the dark. More phone manufacturers need to steal this design idea. I won't tell.
Phablet manufacturers also need to take note of these front-facing speakers. The stereo sound is almost as good as HTC's BoomSound technology because it points the sound in the right direction. I'm tired of backward-facing speaker grills.
The top of the Nexus 6, at its frame's thickest point, is a 3.5mm headphone jack along with the nanoSIM card slot. Sadly, there's no MicroSD slot to speak of. You're locked into 32GB or 64GB.
It's also not waterproof like other IP67-certified Androids. It's merely "water resistant" and has Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protecting the 6-inch AMOLED display that I'll peer at next.
Camera
Nexus 6's camera certainly bests the flawed photos of last year's Nexus 5snapper and it's way more accurate than the rest of Motorola's oversaturated lineup.
The improvements are care of the Sony IMX214 CMOS sensor, a wider f/2.0 aperture and optical image stabilization, all attributes that aren't a part of the new Moto X
It's 13-megapixels - the same as the OnePlus One camera - and holds its own next to the 21-megapixel Droid Turbo for two reasons: it has better shot-for-shot color accuracy and OIS.
Both the Moto X and Droid Turbo have tried to impress with vibrant, Instagram-like colors for each shot. It works in some cases like photos of the sky or buildings, but when it occasionally turns your skin different hues, it's unfortunate.
That's why I appreciate the fact that the Nexus 6 is closer to reality. It's still a bit warm in natural light and grainier than it should be in low-light situations, but a marked improvement..
