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  • Muyoso - Wednesday, November 12, 2014 - link

    Go ahead and tell me again why the $649 pricetag is justified because this is the "no compromises" Nexus we have been waiting for. . . . . . .
  • Affectionate-Bed-980 - Wednesday, November 12, 2014 - link

    In come the Nexus apologists that say this is a developer's phone!

    I say this as someone who's owned 4 Nexus phones and have been disappointed in battery and camera each time.
  • Muyoso - Wednesday, November 12, 2014 - link

    The thing is, with prior Nexus phones, the battery and camera shortcomings could be justified because of the price. At $649, Google has to be high. Aluminum trim ain't that special.
  • dishayu - Wednesday, November 12, 2014 - link

    It's a fair price for the device. It's not cheap for US Americans because your retarded mobile carriers. For the rest of the world, where BYOD plans are without contract and dirt cheap, the phone is priced very competitively. It's cheaper than a Galaxy S5, HTC One M8 and LG G3 where I live.
  • Frenetic Pony - Thursday, November 13, 2014 - link

    Ouch, really? Just googled a G3, unlocked its $450 here. Ahh international markets, exchange rates and etc. Will you ever make things sensible?
  • dishayu - Thursday, November 13, 2014 - link

    The prices of the G3 have indeed dropped considerably but the nexus 6 is still priced at par with competition. Just checked Clove.co.uk and here are the prices :

    HTC One M8 : 499 GBP
    Note 4 : 575 GBP
    Xperia Z3 : 515 GBP
    Nexus 6 32GB : 499 GBP (play store)
  • ws3 - Thursday, November 13, 2014 - link

    That's all beside the point. Previous Nexus phones were priced considerably below the off-contract price of other phones with similar specs. This one isn't. That is the only claim being made.
  • Acreo Aeneas - Sunday, November 23, 2014 - link

    Maybe you should reread the article. Other than a few previous Nexus phones, the rest were about on pay pricing wise with the mainstream competition.
  • Delfang - Thursday, November 13, 2014 - link

    The fact that Z3 is available for 450 GBP on Amazon make your point invalid.
  • garretelder - Thursday, December 4, 2014 - link

    I'm personally not very impressed with the Nexus 6 (and neither is rankings like http://www.topreport.org/phones/ for example).
  • Ortanon - Wednesday, November 12, 2014 - link

    =(
  • seanleeforever - Wednesday, November 12, 2014 - link

    Nexus lines were speed on cheap. after owning few nexus devices i made the jump to Note 4 and could not be happier.
    like DLeRium said, i have always been EXTREMELY disappointed in nexus line for everything other than processor power. looks like the Nexus 6 is no different. the battery life test shows how far behind the nexus line is to samsung's device given the same spec.
    and those camera shots, eventhough it a improvement to the old, is not that great.

    and most importantly, note 4 cost 550 dollar (750-200 if pre ordered in the U.S.), it is superior than nexus 6 in nearly every area. there is no sense in getting the nexus 6.
  • Vepsa - Wednesday, November 12, 2014 - link

    Having owned a Galaxy Nexus and a current Note 3, I am very glad Verizon will be getting the Nexus 6. I cannot stand TouchWiz and find my self doing a lot more on my Nexus 7 that I do on my Note 3. Yes, the camera isn't as good and the Exchange client isn't as good, but I prefer the stock Android experience a lot more. Now if you'll excuse me, I must check for the Lollipop update on my N7 again (2013 LTE).
  • seanleeforever - Wednesday, November 12, 2014 - link

    that's the beauty of andriod, everyone has his/her favorite flavor.
    there was a period of time where i preferred stock andriod, which was why i had few nexuses, including the original nexus one. the main issue was the UI response. when hardware were underpowered, the UI response between a stocked andriod and skinned andriod was huge. however, at least in the Note 4 (sd 805), there is no trace of slowing down running touch wiz (and note 4's touch wiz is quite different from note 3). read any review any where and you can see it.
    then it comes to functionality. it is safe to say the reason it is called the note is because the pen and the mufti-tasking it brings. if you just want a big screen, there are number of alternatives. and touch wiz is just brilliant way of doing multi tasking, whether to minimize a window or doing split screen. and the pen interface is also brilliant. you cannot get those support in stock andriod. there really isn't anything that stock can do that touch wiz cannot, but the opposite isn't true at all.
  • wolrah - Wednesday, November 12, 2014 - link

    FYI, the pen works just fine in AOSP ROMs. My housemate has a Note 3 running Cyanogenmod and has no problems with it.

    Multitasking in both split-screen and popup forms has been available for some time in some AOSP ROMs and is available in most others through Xposed Framework extensions. Multitasking was one of the few things I liked on TouchWiz, so when I switched my GS4 over that was the first thing I installed.

    AOSP out of the box may not have all the same apps that TouchWiz bundles, but there is nothing I'm aware of that can not be replicated with easily installed free apps.
  • seanleeforever - Wednesday, November 12, 2014 - link

    there are levels of "working", i don't suppose his Note 3 has the pen shortcuts that's available the moment he pull out the pen, or screen write with ocr, or s note sync between devices? of course then you could say: there is an app for that, drop box to sync files and etc.. but why change something that's not broken? let alone of the inconvenience it brings?
    alternatively, i would like to say, what could you not do on stock touch wiz that you could do on AOSP?
    nowadays, it is really a personally preference to mod the rom not a necessity (sort like how i like build my own PC rather than buy one). in fact, stock rom will likely cause reduced performance/battery life. just check out the google play edition of S4 and One.
  • akdj - Friday, November 14, 2014 - link

    I'm with SeanLee here
    As a Note user (1 & 3 --- on NEXT so I'm paid off next month and I'll be selling to update to the N4) as well as Nexus owner, several phones, Nexus 7 (bothe the '12 & '13 models) ...even the original Xoom hangin with iPad 1 in a box, in the closet somewhere.
    I'm 43 now. We own a family business, have mortgages, car payments, coaching baseball and wrestling and 'enjoying' my technology hobby if and when given the chance
    When the chance comes, I'm different today than five years ago. I don't want to flash my ROM, hang out at XDA or troubleshoot challenges post root
    I want a phone or a tablet that 'works', that's supported (widely and by typically trust worthy and hard working/creative and detailed developers) by the Play Store, easy to update and find what I need with support if I 'F' something up!
    I'm also a user of iOS. iPhone is my personal set. iPad my tablet of choice and the Note 3 (this afternoon the N4) specifically for business and is with me everywhere.
    I don't wear 'skinny' jeans, but I've never had an issue getting the Note 3 in my pockets. I'm with the author as well. Years of iOS usage for phones and the Note (specifically the '3'---I couldn't get outta the original Note quickly enough!) changed that for me.
    That said, this new Nexus does look to be a let down with the price hike without the 'calibration' and efficiency of the other flagships on the market. The hardware, camera, even design look great! But over 5/5 ½" without a stylus but smaller than an iPad seems ...maybe not useless, to me.
    Maybe the better word would be overkill
    Anyway, as always, YMMV
  • mlambert890 - Saturday, December 20, 2014 - link

    Odd because I immediately noticed UI hitching on the Note 4 AT THE SAMSUNG kiosk and immediately wrote it off. Dealt with it on the Note and Note 2... Not interested.

    Of course as with all things if you don't WANT to notice it you probably won't

    Despite having near desktop level power the Note 4 absolutely still slows down thanks to TouchWiz though.
  • Jdotjdot7 - Wednesday, November 12, 2014 - link

    Nexus lines were pretty decent. I just got the Nexus 5 like 3 months ago and I honestly can't say I'd choose any other smartphone currently. It was cheap as hell, I've had screen-on times over 6 hours and it's just a nice little phone that doesn't lose its appeal with age, something very rare in smartphones. I'd still choose a Nexus 5 even among the current crop, I was expecting to at least somewhat like the Nexus 6 but this review basically showed that Google went in the opposite direction.
  • Spunjji - Friday, November 14, 2014 - link

    This definitely reflects my own sentiments. I'm actually rather pleased; for the first time ever I've owned an Android phone for more than 12 months without wanting to replace it / throw it at a wall.
  • synaesthetic - Thursday, November 27, 2014 - link

    I'm still deeply in love with my Nexus 4 despite it being two years old, but the 16GB storage is starting to chafe a bit. I'll be looking at trading up, selling the N4 to fund a 32GB Nexus 5. It's a better phone in practically every way and I really think LG did a fantastic job on both the N4 and the N5.

    The N6 is just... really, it's confusing. I don't get it. How could they fuck this up?
  • EleGenius - Tuesday, January 27, 2015 - link

    I felt the same way about my Nexus 4 but after water damage I purchased the Nexus 6 as the N5 was no longer available from the Play Store. I rooted the N6 for the notification light and Titanium Backup, turned off ambient display, installed brightness pro (quick manual control from any screen with one touch), and I'm loving the device. I get about two days worth of battery without playing games. I'll admit It's taken me about a week to get use to it but now it's easily my right hand and going back to the N4 in a way seems silly.

    My wifi connections and cellular signal with T-Mobile has been solid. I’ve noticed only one issue and that’s within the first 10 seconds after the phone has restarted there's a slight delay (I think it's the encryption being initialized) but after that I think the update 5.0.1 has resolved the encryption speed as the phone is as fast if not quicker then I am.

    If you're happy with your N4, keep it it’s a good device. My N4 ran Loliopop very well except for the random daily reboots which I haven’t experienced on the N6. If you upgrade to the N6, I think you'll find it's a great device too even if it first comes off as confusing. My only caveat would be smaller hands and if you wear tight pants with small pockets. I'm 6'3" - 6'4" with above average fingers and can use this device one handed. I can see where people with smaller hands may run into handling issues. This device fits very well in my front pockets too. A little snug when wearing jeans but still completely manageable.

    I was bothered by the N6 at first but now after owning it it’s easily my favorite Nexus to date. I use my N6 more then my N7 and with it rooted for the notification light (Light Flow) it’s like having by N4 back but better, much better. Don’t throw the N6 out yet, it’s turning out to be a solid device that’s now become my digital right hand. If you give it a chance I think you may find the same to be true.
  • jimv1983 - Thursday, November 13, 2014 - link

    How anyone could ever go from a Nexus device with stock Android to a Samsung phone running that TouchWiz garbage amazes me.
  • grayson_carr - Thursday, November 13, 2014 - link

    Same. Samsung owners are always going around talking about how fast their phones are... no lag, no slowdowns, perfectly smooth, etc, but every time I go into a store to play with a new Samsung phone on launch day, it feels slow as hell, dropping frames left and right, compared to my Nexus devices. The GS5 and Note 4 are no exception. Maybe Samsung phones feel fast compared to older phones, especially older Samsung phones, and maybe that's why so many people think they are fast, but they just don't perform at the same level as modern Nexus, Motorola, and HTC phones. If they did, I would have a Note 4 in my pocket right now, because I love the camera, screen, and build, and I can live with the cluttered and slightly garish software.
  • akdj - Friday, November 14, 2014 - link

    Change the launcher
    The Note 3 SMOKED the Nexus 5
    The Note 4 SMOKES the Nexus 6
    And it's NOTHING to do with the 'hardware' as it's essentially the same. That said, something in the software isn't allowing the Nexus 6 to run ANYwhere nearly as quickly, efficiently and smoothly as ANY other Android flagships. Period.
    That was the same issue with the Nexus 5 ( that and the shitty camera )
  • akdj - Friday, November 14, 2014 - link

    Wish there was an edit ...
    Because you're essentially admitting TouchWiz is superior to 'stock' Android. TouchWiz @ release was trash. Through the release of the G3--->& everything but the kitchen sink.
    Since then with the S4 & 5, Note 2, 3, & now 4---> Samsung's spent MORE time developing the compelling features of TouchWiz while elimating the 'duff'
    The carriers and their bloat ass to the crap. I've owmed them all, and when it comes to 'large phones' or phablets, there's not an equal to the Note 4
  • theduckofdeath - Friday, November 14, 2014 - link

    You'd have to go really far back in history to find trash TouchWiz. TouchWiz had a hardware accelerated UI on the GS2. Yeah, that was with Android 2.x. I agree the TouchWiz Samsung used on the original Galaxy S needed a lot of tweaking, thanks to horrible choices of file systems and really sloppy colour and sound calibration. But since the GS2, I've never felt the need to root a Samsung phone.
  • mlambert890 - Saturday, December 20, 2014 - link

    Far back? TouchWiz has noticeable user experience impact ON THE NOTE 4

    Samsung zealots simply don't notice or are in denial, but anyone objective IMMEDIATELY sees it.

    When you go to swipe to the left and your 8 core desktop level phone pauses? That's not normal just FYI. Benchmarks don't tell that tale.

    TouchWiz has REAL WORLD performance impact in exchange for zero benefit

    Yes you can change launchers, root the phone, install hacked ROMs, and get a PhD in phone. Or you can just avoid Samsung
  • nafhan - Wednesday, November 12, 2014 - link

    Eh, I've gotta' say I feel extremely satisfied with buying a Nexus 5 (yes, 5) last week.
  • grayson_carr - Thursday, November 13, 2014 - link

    If Google put a slightly larger battery and the camera from the Nexus 6 in a revamped Nexus 5, I would buy it in a heartbeat. The processor, RAM, and screen are shockingly all still great, even a year in. It's still as fast, if not faster in day to day tasks than the Nexus 6 (and pretty much every other phone), and the sub pixel density of the screen is actually higher than the Nexus 6, not to mention much better brightness and color calibration!
  • Spunjji - Friday, November 14, 2014 - link

    A better battery and camera in this would persuade me to upgrade in a heartbeat. I only hope that if they eventually replace the 5 with an equivalently-sized phone (5 2015?) they keep the wonderful screen.
  • niva - Friday, November 21, 2014 - link

    Yes, I'm hoping for a Nexus 5 refresh with all the new fluff like the chip/ram/camera and battery. I think the Nexus 5 design and screen are perfect. My wife has a Nexus 5 and I'm still on my Gnex. Was hoping to get the 6 but with the size and price I'm going to wait some more. Roll on the Enyxos 810 phones and I might get whatever runs pure Android.

    PS. I cannot stand Touchwiz/Sense and whatever LG and Sony are doing on their "flagships." Thankfully Motorola has mostly stock interface.
  • techconc - Friday, November 14, 2014 - link

    LOL! Good luck with that. The Nexus 5 is known to have weak radio signals and overall poor cell and WIFI reception. Not exactly the best choice and it's not really competitive with recent devices.
  • owan - Wednesday, November 12, 2014 - link

    Because Google isn't a charity?
  • synaesthetic - Thursday, November 27, 2014 - link

    Google would have been better off making another "almost-flagship" at the $350 price point. I've been using Nexus devices since the Nexus S, but now... no, it's just too damn big and too damn expensive.
  • algarblandom - Wednesday, November 12, 2014 - link

    Having a Nexus 5, I see very few reasons to upgrade to this, unless you stronly like phablets. But in almost every area (battery life, camera, cpu performance, software..) it is almost a draw.
  • anactoraaron - Wednesday, November 12, 2014 - link

    I'm curious, you've listed the nexus 5 as running lollipop in the first comparison chart... is it running the dev preview or the official release (that's MIA to the public)? Also, are the rest of the charts where the nexus 5 is listed results from the original kitkat release or from a lollipop build? I'm asking because the camera experience was greatly improved with the dev preview for the 5.

    Also I was worried about the display with moto making the 6... looks like that was justified. The 6 needs a price drop to sell IMO. As you state, the Note 4 is so much better on battery life and display and can be had for only $100 more (if you have T-Mobile anyway).
  • anactoraaron - Wednesday, November 12, 2014 - link

    I'm just saying it's confusing to show the 5 as having Lollipop but show the original test results from 4.4.
  • DILLIGAFF - Wednesday, November 12, 2014 - link

    amen

    AT are comparing apples to oranges in charts and then writing words about pumpkins. i think the methodology error is that you (you as in AT staff) combined a performance review of a new os and a performance review of a new piece of hardware one too many times when it comes to phones. it worked for a while but this release its clear as mud... the outcome is that this review basically sitting in a vacuum- nothing to compare to objectively, so now your subjective comments are worth more than the benchmarks, which at this point are arbitrary. it's like benchmarking a new motherboard and using a just-released retail windows 8.1 on the tests of that new board, while the other motherboards in the benchmark charts are run on an windows 7 or windows 8. except there is no label in the charts to indicate which device is running what os. i bet if you did this with pc benchmarks people would flame you to death.

    while i understand your position with a new device and os combination making things more difficult to test, you make things more confusing by labeling the spec table for nexus5 as having os lolipop...yet the bench charts you show are for nexus 5 running the original release of kitkat.

    imho to address this issue in this specific review you should run additional benches for nexus 5 on lollipop (google released the production images on their dev site today) and add them to this review's charts. that way, the label in the spec table correlates to what i see in the charts. and that way, we have at least 2 lolipop devices to visually compare to each other in terms of performance. add the moto G and X performance numbers running lolipop for extra brownie points.

    i am not trying to attack the writer/editor, i love this site, just asking for additional data so i can see an apples to apples performance comparison of the new device to an older device running same os release. maybe i am just too traditional....
  • Brandon Chester - Wednesday, November 12, 2014 - link

    I put Lollipop because Google will be rolling it out soon, but the results from all the tests are the original N5 results in Bench. I had been using the Lollipop preview on the N5 for an upcoming Android L review, which is how I determined that the N6 has regressions in UI performance. However, I disagree with the idea that there are any improvements to the camera on the N5 going from 4.4 to 5.0. I didn't notice any, and the software isn't going to save the camera system from just being inherently not very good.
  • Chiropteran - Wednesday, November 12, 2014 - link

    Isn't that like using windows XP test results and labeling them as Windows 8? The performance of the N5 might well change (for the worse) with Lollipop...
  • vshah - Wednesday, November 12, 2014 - link

    this is pretty terrible. devices should be labeled as tested.
  • tuxRoller - Wednesday, November 12, 2014 - link

    Regarding the camera, it's arguable how good/bad the actual hardware is given that, until lollipop, we haven't had a way to get at the RAWs. Now that we can, we can see what the device captures, and the quality of the post-processing.
    From various sources (both reddit, and forbes) the results seem to be that with a bit of work using rawtherapee you get significantly better results. What remains is for someone to produce an app that makes better choices than google.
    Considering that google has used pretty good image sensors with the last couple of nexii, the only unknown is lens quality. Hopefully someone will perform a test with another lollipop device that uses the same sensors as the N5/N6 but different lens and examine the DNG image, with settings as close to like-for-like as possible.
  • anactoraaron - Wednesday, November 12, 2014 - link

    But camera software improvements can reduce latency and focus to capture time though.
  • Spawne32 - Wednesday, November 12, 2014 - link

    I would imagine both phones are running a "dev preview" as the battery bug which is clearly rearing its ugly head in the battery tests, were only fixed 2 days ago.
  • Brandon Chester - Wednesday, November 12, 2014 - link

    There was no mention of battery improvements in the small update that shipped on Monday.
  • gregspruce - Wednesday, November 12, 2014 - link

    Droid Turbo review?
  • Chaser - Wednesday, November 12, 2014 - link

    I can help. Large phone with (built in Kevlar case). Dim display. No simultaneous voice and data on "Americas most reliable network".
  • gregspruce - Thursday, November 13, 2014 - link

    I have the phone, I just want to see their take on it.
    BTW, display is more than readable in direct sunlight, so...
    Also not the first phone to ditch dual modems and lose simultaneous voice and data pre-VoLTE.
    The Turbo is fantastic, absolutely the best choice on Verizon right now, my friends on other networks are a little jealous currently, especially in light all of the Nexus reviews.
  • humjaba - Wednesday, November 12, 2014 - link

    Damn. Still looking for something >5" that gets stellar battery life, that I can get on AT&T, and that won't cost me my first born son. The Sony Z3 looks perfect but I'm not interested in paying that price off-contract. Maybe I'll have to start hunting for a oneplus one invite...
  • Craigwhite3 - Wednesday, November 12, 2014 - link

    OnePlus is the way to go. Battery life and performance are outstanding.

    I get more than double the life of my Nexus 5, 30% more than my Galaxy S5 and still comparing to my iPhone 6.
  • smorebuds - Wednesday, November 12, 2014 - link

    FYI there's another preorder session for the OPO in a few days.

    http://preorder.oneplus.net/
  • echoe - Wednesday, November 12, 2014 - link

    you may want to try an lg g2, i bought one from ebay [$230!] and it's pretty good. :)
  • MonkeyPaw - Wednesday, November 12, 2014 - link

    If you can deal with an ecosystem change, the Lumia 1520 is awesome (and should be cheap by now). To give you an idea, today I streamed several hours of Pandora, browsed for a few hours, listed to 3 podcasts, made a few calls, read this entire article, and I sit at 53%.
  • Midwayman - Wednesday, November 12, 2014 - link

    What a piece of crap. I can't imagine buying one, let alone at a premium price after this review.
  • dragonsqrrl - Wednesday, November 12, 2014 - link

    Android: Biggar is Bettar!!
  • ASEdouardD - Wednesday, November 12, 2014 - link

    Very informative review as usual for Anandtech. Really the most definitive you can get.

    Although just a little advice: you should work on your writing skills. It feels a little schoolworkish sometimes.
  • danbob999 - Wednesday, November 12, 2014 - link

    Worst Nexus release since the Nexus S. Or maybe ever.
    I still recommend the Nexus 5. The Nexus 6 isn't worth the price premium.
  • smartthanyou - Wednesday, November 12, 2014 - link

    Oh well. I was really interested in the Nexus 6 but the display calibration issue and shorter battery life killed it for me. Maybe if it was $100-150 cheaper I would be tempted but not at its current price.
  • edsib1 - Wednesday, November 12, 2014 - link

    I'd still take the G3 over the Nexus 6. Much better to hold in the hand, plus a microSD slot, and a £100 cheaper here in the UK (£400 rather than £500 sim only).
  • Chaser - Wednesday, November 12, 2014 - link

    If battery life matters there are better choices besides both those phones.
  • Shftup - Wednesday, November 12, 2014 - link

    Hi, can you validate the build, etc:
    Android Version: 5.0
    Build Number: LRX21I
    Kernel Version: 3.10.40-gb2ab3cc

    Thanks
  • Kensei - Wednesday, November 12, 2014 - link

    Is the Nexus 6 meant to be the next version of the Nexus 5.... or will there be an update to the Nexus 5 down the road?
  • meowmanjack - Wednesday, November 12, 2014 - link

    Were you able to test wireless charging at all? I'm curious if Motorola included an alignment magnet near the coil so it plays nice with the Nexus 5's wireless charging pad.
  • mpokwsths - Wednesday, November 12, 2014 - link

    I don't see NAND benchmarks. In all previous reviews they were present. Could it be because of the performance doubling that Lollipop brought (in all the Nexus devices) using the same Androbench app? When, in a previous review, I mentioned that, the answer I got was "it is probably a dev preview incompatibility". Now we have the final Lollipop release...
  • mpokwsths - Wednesday, November 12, 2014 - link

    Or maybe that performance if only under Lollipop accurate???
    To the readers that haven't heard anything about that:
    http://www.anandtech.com/comments/8613/the-samsung...
  • Brandon Chester - Wednesday, November 12, 2014 - link

    If you read the Misc section you'll see that the results were inaccurate when I tried to test, as in they were insanely slow, not fast.
  • p-zilla - Wednesday, November 12, 2014 - link

    Brandon, this is almost definitely due to having disk encryption on. Can you encrypt a Nexus 5 and do a comparison?
  • tipoo - Wednesday, November 12, 2014 - link

    Look at the Ars Technica review. Storage performance isn't looking that hot, slower sequential reads probably are responsible for some of the slowness opening apps.
  • Chaser - Wednesday, November 12, 2014 - link

    Imagine all the people that pre-ordered this phone. I recently bought the Sony Xperia Z3. Amazing phone with unprecedented battery life. Mostly because Sony's designers made a smart move and didn't fall for the Quad HD hype bandwagon. It has a brilliantly bright and vivid display and in the tradition of Sony, absolutely outstanding audio quality that I can take in the shower with me if I choose :)
  • brentwgraham - Wednesday, November 12, 2014 - link

    I pre-ordered the Nexus 6... I'm now wavering and considering either a Note 4 or an Xperia Z3...

    Good news is they bungled the launch so badly that mine hasn't even shipped yet.
  • Coup27 - Wednesday, November 12, 2014 - link

    I also have a Z3 having come from an S4. The Z3 is awesome. I put the two side by side before selling my S4 and the display is much better on the Z3. The S4 had a green tint where as the Z3 seems to be accurate in colour reproduction and white point. The speakers produce a much better sound with the only negative being they aren't very loud. The design is great, but did take some getting used to. Finally, batter life is on another level. My S4 used to die after 2 days. With exactly the same usage I can easily hit 3 and still have some left.
  • grayson_carr - Wednesday, November 12, 2014 - link

    Well, guess I will stick with my Nexus 5 for now. The poor display brightness and calibration killed it for me. Not to mention the fact that he said the Nexus 5 feels faster on Lollipop. The size and price don't do the Nexus 6 any favors either. I love the Note 4 hardware, camera performance, accurate display calibration setting, and battery life, but after playing with one in store several times, I just don't think I can deal with how slow it felt and how many frames it dropped in pedestrian scrolling tasks.
  • sqeaky_fartz - Wednesday, November 12, 2014 - link

    Are the front facing speakers actually stereo, or is it like the 2nd gen Moto X in that regard?
  • Brandon Chester - Wednesday, November 12, 2014 - link

    Actually stereo.
  • lostleaf - Friday, November 14, 2014 - link

    Are you able to comment on the sound for the stereo speakers? I would like a comparison to the htc one m7 or m8.
  • Spawne32 - Wednesday, November 12, 2014 - link

    I can honestly say I wouldn't even remotely consider this phone an upgrade from the Nexus 5, which was a game changer for me in terms of sub $400 dollar smart phones. This is exactly what I expected with the switch from LG to motorola for the OEM for the nexus 6, a ridiculously high price tag for mediocre performance. It's a damn shame to see google stray away from providing a good quality phone at a reasonable price to some ridiculous hunk of crap at almost a $700 dollar price tag.
  • tipoo - Wednesday, November 12, 2014 - link

    I still think the performance degradation test makes more sense if you divide by the first cycle. The way it is, if a phone with performance of 100 drops 40%, and a phone with performance of 50 drops 10%, the first one will have dropped a lot more, but still show higher total performance in the end, when the test is about seeing how badly the device throttles.
  • tipoo - Wednesday, November 12, 2014 - link

    The system and web benchmarks show a regression from the nexus 5...Hmm.
  • tipoo - Wednesday, November 12, 2014 - link

    There are also some lag issues...I'm kind of relieved to see it has some lag issues, as that means Nvidias Denver isn't the culprit in the Nexus 9.
  • metayoshi - Wednesday, November 12, 2014 - link

    I wonder if that degradation in color accuracy is due to the phone being closely related to the Moto X (2014). It looks like the Moto X was even worse than what the Nexus 6 is doing right now. Maybe it was a mistake for Google to pick Motorola for this phone, as Samsung's, LG's, and HTC's latest flagships are all decent across the board. I was going to stick with my Nexus 5 either way, but it's kind of sad seeing Google go this route with the Nexus 6.
  • waldoh - Wednesday, November 12, 2014 - link

    I REALLY REALLY wanted to like this device and finally move away from Apple crap but in the android world benchmarks and specs are key. This device falls short in almost every category.
  • Donkey2008 - Friday, November 14, 2014 - link

    Funny, I really really wanted to move away from Apple, but after using a LG G3 for 2 weeks I saw how completely clunky, amateurish and unpolished Android is and went back to Apple. Enjoy your half-baked phone you clown.
  • Impulses - Wednesday, November 12, 2014 - link

    They need to let Sony build a Nexus, I'm sure they'd jump at the chance given their limited market penetration stateside... And they've been consistently good lately with battery life, camera, and build quality.
  • pjcamp - Wednesday, November 12, 2014 - link

    Wait a minnit -- you skipped one. Where is the Z3 review?
  • Cinnabuns - Wednesday, November 12, 2014 - link

    Agreed. At the moment it looks like the Z3 is the best Android phone out there in terms of battery life and camera but I'd love to see a rigorous review from the likes of AnandTech before getting one. I'm coming from a Nexus 4 and my main beef with it is the abysmal battery life. Reading this review, it's clear that I will not get a Nexus 6 as a replacement, seeing as it's not even a bargain and it's worse than its flagship competition.

    Unfortunately, it seems AT never reviews Sony stuff.
  • Andrei Frumusanu - Wednesday, November 12, 2014 - link

    Unfortunately we still don't have a proper channel with Sony to be able to acquire review units. I hope to change this in the future and tried to reach out to them but sadly thing haven't advanced in that regard.
  • skinygeek - Thursday, November 13, 2014 - link

    Why do you need a review unit for Reviewing a Phone. You can just buy it. Is this the excuse for not reviewing lot of other phones ?
  • vshah - Thursday, November 13, 2014 - link

    can't you just buy one?
  • SantaAna12 - Wednesday, November 12, 2014 - link

    Wow, what a letdown.
    I was going to say my usual: "No SD Card NO Deal!"

    But there is really no need. Still selling the cloud on crap hardware. Disappointing!
  • tuxRoller - Wednesday, November 12, 2014 - link

    Google really screwed up this years nexus devices.
    They are what I always buy, so now I'm left in a bit of a lurch.
    Probably will wait for the 64bit transition next (snapdragon 810, or exynos 7, though I'd prefer to avoid img gpus).
  • hpglow - Wednesday, November 12, 2014 - link

    I'm a little taken back by the poor battery life compared to the note 4. The screen is a little larger but damn.
  • modulusshift - Wednesday, November 12, 2014 - link

    Hey, can we please get a storage benchmark on this? Ars claims it has big problems, is that a memory supplier issue? Thank you!
  • jaysns - Wednesday, November 12, 2014 - link

    Apparently there is a huge performance hit when switching on encryption on the Nexus 5 http://www.reddit.com/r/nexus6/comments/2m4jra/une...

    Can only hope this is a bug as this will pretty dramatically affect how the device performs.
  • 1032724311 - Wednesday, November 12, 2014 - link

    系统还是原来是原生系统 可终端设备已经不是原来的nexus的味道了
  • spikebike - Thursday, November 13, 2014 - link

    So for twice the money (or so) of the nexus 5 we get a phone that loses many benchmarks (battery life, cpu, brightness, saturation) to the nexus 5. What's worse is that the nexus 5 was already trailing in battery life to begin with.

    Here's hoping google adopts some of the better phones into the GPE program.
  • Nevod - Thursday, November 13, 2014 - link

    What seems to be most strange is the really poor battery life. Note 4 has just a bit smaller screen (10% difference only) yet more than 50% longer life. The cause isn't obvious, they both have AMOLED screens of same resolution, exactly same battery capacity and similar performance. The only differences are SoC (I get that it's the most important thing, but modern SoCs aren't that different in efficiency IIRC) and perhaps screen quality. When Galaxy Nexus came out, it had screen ahead of everyone else - but it was immature and extremely power hungry, paired with an already outdated SoC which GPU was overloaded with screen's resolution it had really poor battery life in browsing. Displays advanced and soon even screens with much smaller pitch were more efficient, processes shrank and GPUs consumed modest power on higher resolutions.

    Here, however, everything is nearly identical to Note 4. What is the cause of such a difference? Is the screen on N6 really is such a power hog (who's the supplier, anyway? Samsung, I suppose?). Though even the screen itself shouldn't be so problematic. Is the Exynos, and Mali in particular so much more efficient? Unlikely. I do think that this is caused by software, as seemingly it was with most Nexus phones - they were never really good at battery life. Even the Lollipop doesn't seem to help that.
  • darkich - Thursday, November 13, 2014 - link

    Yeah,on top of all that, Lollipop is said to make HUGE power efficiency gains over KitKat.
    So this story is a major upset to some MYTHS.
    What happened with pure, clean Android (supposedly more efficient), and the bloated, messy Samsung ROM (supposedly less efficient)?
    If the myths are true, Note 4 with Lollipop should have ridiculously better efficiency than this, on basically equal hardware.
  • darkich - Thursday, November 13, 2014 - link

    Oh and btw, the Samsung Note 4 ROM is vastly better than this.
    Besides offering the richest possible multitasking options, and all the S Pen extras, it actually makes one handed use easily possible.
    This aspect keeps on getting ignored in the reviews just because reviewers arent even thinking about using it.

    I ignored the one handed option too for months on my Note 3, but slowly it sank in, and now I see it as an essential piece of any proper phablet software.
  • Nevod - Thursday, November 13, 2014 - link

    I've re-read battery and display parts of Nexus 6 and Note 4 reviews and now I think I do get it. Looks like Nexus 6 indeed has a problematic screen, like the Galaxy Nexus had before - it has way too high power consumption and low max brightness. However, that by itself shouldn't cause too much of a problem in real use (unless you are typically browsing in direct sunlight).

    Battery life test is done at 200 nits, almost the max of 250 nits for Nexus 6. GNex at that brightness level had some serious power consumption from display alone, well over 1 watt, so screen's power consumption dominates the test done like that. IRL, you don't just load the page over and over, with modest CPU and GPU load, you actually scroll a lot, seriously loading GPU - you actually scroll way more than you do anything else, so RL web browsing life is dominated by GPU power consumption, as the screen is usually running at low brightness level and it's contribution to power consumption isn't that big.

    So, I suppose, while for sure Nexus 6 will have less battery life than Note 4 due to crappy screen tech, in real life, there shouldn't be too much of a difference, probably around 10%, 15% at most.
  • darkich - Friday, November 14, 2014 - link

    Good observation.
    Now I just wish Display Mate tests the Nexus and reveals the power consumption of the screen.

    AMOLED is inherently power hungry on white background surfaces(browsing) and even the latest generation doesn't alleviate that weakness.
    I can only guess how bad can it be combined with the screen used for Nexus 6
  • grayson_carr - Thursday, November 13, 2014 - link

    In addition to newer, more efficient, AMOLED tech in the Note 4, I'm wondering if Samsung throttles down the CPU more aggressively on their phones to save battery. Maybe that is the real cause of the TouchWiz lag and frame dropping as well?
  • darkich - Thursday, November 13, 2014 - link

    Lag and frame drops on the Note 4?
    Go watch and read some reviews and let me know if you find some of that
  • HisDivineOrder - Thursday, November 13, 2014 - link

    "Nexus 7 (16GB, Black, Wi-Fi only) is no longer available for sale."
    "Nexus 7 (32GB, Black, Wi-Fi only) is no longer available for sale."

    Check Google Play.

    Thus, it is untrue that "[t]hat hasn't changed at all in the past few weeks. The Nexus 5 and Nexus 7 are both still available, and they still provide a very high quality experience, arguably better than some other smartphones that are both newer and more expensive." It has changed. The Nexus 5 and 7 may be available in other places for the time being, but Google is clearly replacing the Nexus 5 and 7 with the Nexus 6 and 9. So the entry price point (and entry size point) are decidedly different with the official Google experience than they were.

    Hell, even the Nexus 9 shipped days ago and most of us are still waiting on the Nexus 7 to be updated. So not even your statement that we bought the Nexus device to get the OS ASAP is true anymore.

    I don't think I'm going to read your article any further since you're so obviously wrong about little things that make all the difference. How can your judgement of the Nexus 6 be correct if you aren't even correct about verifying Google's replacement of the older Nexus devices? You probably aren't even judging the new versus the old in the context of full replacement, instead thinking that just because remaining stock are currently present at other stores that that means you're seeing Google keeping the product on the market.

    Removing the Nexus 7 in particular from Google Play the very same day that they listed the Nexus 9 on their official store is as close to confirmation as you'll likely get that there will be no more Nexus 7 soon.

    I'm sure your article is great, but when you don't know that Nexus 7 was replaced (not supplemented) I think your conclusion is destined to be wrong.
  • vwtodd - Thursday, November 13, 2014 - link

    Forgive the naivety but can the screen be re-calibrated with a future software update? Is this something that Google can adjust going forward?
  • grayson_carr - Thursday, November 13, 2014 - link

    Yes, it's very possible, but it's also very unlikely because they would risk annoying users who got used to and / or enjoy the punchiness and oversaturated colors. And if they were going to do it, they would have done it before launch. But if enough people complained to them and submitted feedback, they might consider it.
  • Taronga - Thursday, November 13, 2014 - link

    I'm a Nexus 4 and 5 user and have generally been extremely happy with the Nexus phones--so much so, that I preordered the Nexus 6 a week ago.

    I admit that I was already wavering a bit due to the size of the phone, but hearing about the (lack of) display brightness and accuracy, battery life, and the missing notification light have made me decide to skip the phone.

    I contacted Motorola yesterday to cancel my order (which only took 50 minutes on hold with the philippines call center) only to be told that I can't cancel a preorder!! Yes, even though my phone isn't due to be shipped for another 2-3 weeks, apparently Motorola has no way to cancel an order in their system. Motorola's way of "canceling" and order is to ship you a phone half-way around the world and then have the customer ship it back...
  • Delfang - Thursday, November 13, 2014 - link

    I find it ridiculous for not compare the battery life against Xperia Z3 when you included multiple variations of Galaxy S5.
  • Coup27 - Thursday, November 13, 2014 - link

    They haven't tested the Z3 so how can they include any figures?
  • foxingworth - Thursday, November 13, 2014 - link

    Not to get sidetracked, but I am disappointed to see that the Lumia 930 WiFi performance got added to the database. That review was a joke. That reviewer connected the AC-compatible phone to an N router and called it good enough.

    Please remove that phone from the database so it doesn't get unfairly compared to the other properly reviewed phones. Us Windows Phone users have it bad enough.

    I miss Klug <3
  • Brett Howse - Friday, November 14, 2014 - link

    It's removed and I was "that reviewer".

    Apparently wifi scores are the single most critical piece of any smartphone review so this won't happen again.
  • jaysns - Thursday, November 13, 2014 - link

    If you do the storage performance tests with the encryption enabled and disabled on the Nexus 5 you see a huge difference. As the 6 comes with this on by default and does not have a way to manually disable this (as far as I know) I'd love to see a follow up article by Anandtech on this issue and see if they can reproduce this and possibly find a way to disable it on the Nexus 6 and compare results. Based on what I've seen, if I can't disable it, or their storage is really just that slow, it would make a difference on my purchasing decision and possibly help other in the same boat. So please do a follow if you can :)
  • Vizsla1986 - Thursday, November 13, 2014 - link

    This particular review is an outlier against all the others, which are basically raves. Some of that is explicable - a lot of sites do pro forma reviews colored by a priori bias - but not all.

    Since I'm someone who purchased the original Moto X (loved it), upgraded to the Droid Turbo a couple of weeks ago (hated it. Returned it immediately) and then bought a 2nd Gen Moto X, a couple of comments based on actual experience.

    1) Everyone needs to look at specs with a jaundiced eye. Sometimes they matter (storage) and sometimes it's contextual (RAM, for example. Depends on how system is used) but most of the time it's about throughput.

    2) The Moto X was at least as fast, if not faster on throughput then every phone I compared it to, despite worse specs. A lot of that was display. 720 p is a lot easier on a system than 1080, but also not nearly as good. The 2nd gen. Moto X is *faster* in everyway, IMHO, than the Droid Turbo. I'd say that's also display-related, but the difference here is that the Turbo's screen (same as the Nexus 6) wasn't any better to my eyes than the Moto X 1080. YMMV, but one should carefully check this out. If you can't tell the difference (or much of one) consider the system impact.

    2) The Moto X is clearly as fast (actually seems faster) as the Turbo despite an 801 chip compatred to the 805, and different clock speeds. Since I haven't had a chance to handle the Nexus 6, I can't compare, but I would urge anyone considering to pick the the two phones and compare throughput.

    3) Clearly the Phablet Nexus 6 is a different experience than a smaller phone. I'm struck, though, that every single review I've read (maybe 6 of them now) has screamed themselves hoarse about how good the Nexus screen is. It's ok to be different, but *that* different? I'd recheck my report if I were the only person criticizing what everyone else thought the best thing about the phone. That's not different. That's idiosyncratic. On a phone this big, display quality is a simple thing to judge. There may be subtleties presenting on measurement, but one should be able at a glance to judge good or bad. I find this review suspect on that ground, never mind the measurements. FWIW, the DROID TURBO was bright enough. So is the Moto X. Why should the Nexus 6 be so different?

    4) The price seems eminently reasonable, considering dimensions and specs. I understand why people want to see a cheaper Nexus alternative, but pricing needs to compared against delivered value, not just what one wished for.

    5) Battery life. FWIW, I have never, ever, ever never needed to recharge any of the three Motorola phones I've had recently (Moto X Nos. 1 & 2 and the Droid Turbo)before going to bed. Once in a while I've drained to to a 10% remaining, but that would be it. The Turbo had an immense batterry (3900), so that's one explnation, but the 2nd Gen Motox X has only 2400 (from memory. Might be 2200). No problem. Motorola engineers are good at designing systems that get through the day on a charge. The Nexus has what? 3200? That ought to be good enough.

    To be fair, everything depends on usage, and I'm not the hardest guy on batteries out there. I watch very little media (so no display drain), mostly calls, text and browsing. Someone else might have a much worse time of it. All I can attest to is my Moto phones have been spectacularly good (for me, anyway).

    When I make a major purchase, I always check various vendors and compare thoroughly. If this review were in a purchase matrix I was running, I'd throw it out. It's always been a good policy for me to disregard the high and low bidders (or reviews) unless there was an exceptional circumstance. I don't see one here. I don't trust this review. I can't remember ever saying that about any other AnandTech report.
  • Graag - Sunday, November 16, 2014 - link

    >This particular review is an outlier against all the others, which are basically raves. Some of that is explicable - a lot of sites do pro forma reviews colored by a priori bias - but not all.

    This is not true at all. Both the arstechnica and Verge reviews also found the Nexus 6 to be "meh".
  • randomlinh - Friday, November 28, 2014 - link

    I dunno, most of the reviews seemed like a mixed bag to me, though leaning positive. But on the screen... AT is one of the only site to give tested numbers. Everyone has been a subjective "it looks great, just a little dim, but probably bright enough". That's not entirely helpful.

    The Note 4 gets a huge nod from displaymate which seems to mirror the results here: http://www.displaymate.com/Color_Accuracy_ShootOut...
  • gg555 - Thursday, November 13, 2014 - link

    Sigh. No review of the noise cancellation. No mention of whether or not it has the four microphone noise cancellation found in the Moto X. No mention of whether it uses Motorola's CrystalTalk, Qualcomm's Fluence, Audience, or some other noise cancellation.

    My favorite part of the AnandTech cell phone reviews has totally died. And they were the only one doing it. What a shame.
  • davidc1 - Saturday, November 15, 2014 - link

    Yes, yes, yes! Why no mention of audio quality, call quality, noise cancellation, etc, etc. Very disappointed.
  • lanwellon - Thursday, November 13, 2014 - link

    Hi, Brandon, I think you should point out that the reason why the Nexus 6 use the battery so quick is not all because of the bigger screen and more powerful CPU, please be noticed that in all the mobile phones you tested in this table, Nexus 6 is the only one running Android L, and Google enabled FDE (Full-Disk Encryption) function by default from Android 5.0. From my experience using Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) FDE function, this can be a reason that cause the battery running down very fast. iPhone also enable FDE function by default, but it seems that Apple optimized it pretty well, so the impact to the battery usage is not that big.
  • ol1bit - Friday, November 14, 2014 - link

    There is always a segment of the population that buys Nexus devices because they are factory boxes. This is too make sure people who want a Samsung, HTC, etc. phone are not swayed by the low price to a Nexus device. Goggle doesn't want manufactures to die off, the price of a phone is not how they make their money.
  • murphsp1 - Friday, November 14, 2014 - link

    I have owned several Nexus devices and must say that the battery life numbers on this one look terribly disappointing ... and will only get worse over time. I just hope that more manufacturers start to understand that many would happily trade off an extra mm or two in thickness for an extra day of battery life. Now, fingers crossed that the Google Play edition of the Droid Turbo is coming ...
  • mars2k - Friday, November 14, 2014 - link

    Wow, old age is setting in. “I don’t like big phones so why would anyone else”. I just got my first phablet Galaxy Note 4, they did a great job on that btw. Larger up to a point is better for me. I travel and my phone is my GPS. Much better on the larger phone. Does anyone remember what it was like to have good paper maps? I could go on about how size really does matter but you get the point.
  • drtunx - Friday, November 14, 2014 - link

    Hi Brandon, this was an excellent review. I really enjoyed reading it. The poor display calibration is a huge disappointment especially after the Nexus 5, like you stated. Question: Do you think display calibration can be improved with an OTA ? Its almost a deal breaker for me and would love to know your thoughts on whether there is even a possibility of fixing that like many other software bugs currently present. Thank you.
  • resma - Friday, November 14, 2014 - link

    Turning down the screens to 200 nits (with modern screens that is about 1/3 of the maximum brightness) is a huge advantage to LCD displays, since AMOLED uses approx the same amount of energy until the pixels are really off.

    Please try to compensate for this in your next review, by doing the same test with maximum brightness and adding that chart as well!
  • Brandon Chester - Saturday, November 15, 2014 - link

    Doing the test with maximum brightness would be an unfair comparison of battery life.
  • TheEvilBlight - Monday, November 24, 2014 - link

    Max battery life is a use case for in the open under bright light.
  • hrrmph - Friday, November 14, 2014 - link

    Nexus and Apple are just so scrawny on storage. I'm ready for 1TB phones and tablets already.
  • polygon_21 - Saturday, November 15, 2014 - link

    if apple can have an iphone 6 plus.. i would like to have a nexus 6 minus.. ie.. 4.5-5' device
  • zodiacfml - Saturday, November 15, 2014 - link

    Nah, too expensive. I don't see myself giving up the N5 for this and I have improved its battery life through one app that disables other active apps. It is now a very decent smartphone for me.

    I just don't like the blacks of the N5 when the display is dim.

    My next Nexus would be a slightly larger N5 with an AMOLED full HD display, Curved back/larger battery, stereo speakers, iPhone spec sensors or larger pixels, and h.265 @ 1080p60.
  • p51d007 - Sunday, November 16, 2014 - link

    I'm a power USER, not someone that tinkers with a device. Take it out of the box, plug it in and USE it. Benchmarks don't mean a thing to me, neither do specs, AS LONG as the device is quick & stable. Heck, I kept 4.1.2 on my Note1 because it was flat out stable. Got a Mate2, "saddled" with mid tier specs & OS 4.3JB, but when you optimize a device for the hardware/software, you get a benefit. This thing is flat stable & flies...not from a performance standpoint of benchmarks (I don't use my device to play games, it's a WORK device). No lag (Nova Launcher), apps are quick to load, not one FC or lock up in 6 months. Pay 600 or more for a device...it's your choice, but when I find one that works for 300 bucks? Sign me up every time.
  • RDS - Monday, November 17, 2014 - link

    Is this a "One use case for all" debate :) :)
    Is it a "phone" or is it a Hasselblad with Zeiss Lenses for $5.00. that includes phone capability :)

    $649 for an unlocked aka easy to root and manage device is still cheaper than any other vendor's phone unlocked and not quite as easy to root and manage.
    There are quite a few very good camera apps for Android out there are the people complaining about camera quality using those or are they complaining about the stock camera app comes with the device. Of course none of these apps are going to convert you phone camera lens into a Nikon or Zeiss or Canon. So what are we really whining about here.
    I thought the main value point of the Nexus platform was that you could install whatever you wanted or thought you needed on it.
  • Hrel - Wednesday, November 19, 2014 - link

    4.95” 1080p IPS LCD 5.96” 1440p Super AMOLED

    Right so, Nexus 5 it is then! Wish it didn't have less RAM and worse cameras. :(
  • Acreo Aeneas - Sunday, November 23, 2014 - link

    Brandon,

    Does the recent news about Google's default encryption setting for the Nexus 6 be a significant drain on the battery in your tests? Perhaps we might see a better battery life turnout if encryption was disabled?
  • anonymousmonkey54 - Saturday, November 29, 2014 - link

    I found lots of posts saying that battery life and performance dramatically improved when the phone was decrypted. You guys should probably run the benchmarks again with the phone decrypted to see if the lag is caused by the encryption.
  • p51d007 - Tuesday, December 2, 2014 - link

    No thanks WAY too expensive. 1080p screens, 80x processors, ois cameras (can't anyone hold one still???), OVERKILL. I use to think you had to have the latest/greatest hardware & OS to have a good user experience, but not after buying a 6.1" chinese mid range device 3 months ago. One of my coworkers got one yesterday, it's nice, fast and responsive. I set the display on mid range on his device & my cheap 720p screen, brought up the same pages, launched the same apps and I couldn't tell a difference, other than the apps on his might have launched .2 seconds quicker. Screen display looked just as good on my device as his did at a NORMAL viewing distance. I don't put my eyeball right up to the screen, but a normal distance of almost 1/2 arms length. My device still has 4.3, but the OS/hardware/screen apparently has been tweaked by the manufacturer, and it is flat out fast. I take a lot of work related photos (mostly close up), but have taken a lot of photos when I didn't have my dSLR with me, and IF YOU HOLD A CAMERA STILL, it takes awesome photos. Hey, it's your money, spend it how you want, but I just don't get laying out that much for a device, that the apps don't utilize the hardware to its fullest potential. Most people surf, send text/instagram/twitter/facebook, maybe watch a video, listen to music. Most devices within the last few years, with a LOT less specs, can do that. Most people only run 1 app at a time, close it, open another. I'm talking generally, not "power" users who on larger screens may run 2 apps at a time. Seems like a "slight" bump in performance, just for a little polished metal/plastic, higher density (not really needed) screen, larger battery and OIS in the camera. Unless the price comes WAY down to close to the past Nexus line, I don't see it selling outright, but through carriers, who will of course, add bloat, and try to lock out features. Google started something with the lower price Nexus, and people have become accustomed to that price, not this SKY HIGH price.
  • Milkman128 - Friday, December 5, 2014 - link

    Lock screen notifications! only 5 years late to that game.
  • moyanous - Wednesday, April 8, 2015 - link

    If you wish to view photos in accurate rather than the over-saturated factory default colors then have a look at this app "Calibrated Photo Viewer"

    https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com....

    It's a gallery viewer with pre-calibrated color and gamma corrections for the Nexus 6 (and other devices).

    Both sRGB and Adobe RGB color spaces are supported by the app.

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