Google Nexus 6P

Google didn’t wow too many people with the original Nexus 6, but they hope to change people’s mind with the 6P. Created by Chinese manufacturer Huawei, the 6P is the first Google phone experts consider a “flagship.” Unlike previous version, the 6P sports an aluminum body and chamfered edges. When compared to its predecessor it is taller, thinner and narrower, making it much easier for experts to grip the phone. It does veer towards the heavy side at 178 grams, but reviewers actually liked the additional weight as the phone felt more solid. The only minor quibble they had was with the slight bulge on the back of the phone that houses various components like the camera and flash. While noticeable, they add the additional panel does not throw off the overall balance and it provides a visual flair. A couple new additions to the Nexus lineup is the addition of a rear fingerprint reader, which they mention was incredibly accurate and fast and a new USB-C charging port.

The Nexus 6P comes with a 5.7-inch, 2560 x 1440 Super AMOLED display. This works out to an incredible pixel density of 518ppi. As The Verge states, “you’ll never see the pixels.” It isn’t just sharp though. Critics in general consider it a great screen due to its high contrast and vibrant colors. Like other AMOLED screens, they did notice some oversaturation, but it was mostly negligible. Besides this, they were happy to see that colors remained accurate regardless of the viewing angle or screen brightness.

Google didn’t skimp on the hardware either. The 6P comes equipped with a 2.0GHz octa-core processor and 3GB of RAM. As expected, critics didn’t experience any lag whether they were just navigating through the home screen, multitasking or playing a 3D game. They describe its performance as “super-fast” and “extremely responsive.” For those that download a lot of apps, it comes with up to 128GB of storage. Due to the unibody, metal design it unfortunately does not offer a microSD slot or removable battery. Still, there aren’t too many problems in terms of battery life. Experts were able to get a full day of life during moderate use.

The biggest improvement for the Nexus 6P is its camera. Google turned to Sony for its 12MP rear camera sensor, which experts agree was the right call. The pixels on the sensor are larger, which allows the camera to bring in more light faster. In practice, they were able to produce highly detailed and color rich images in sunlight. While some found the saturation almost too rich, it actually provided them with better color accuracy. They were a bit let down with its low light performance. Without optical image stabilization technology, most of their pictures came out blurry and grainy. Sometimes they noticed it would over-brighten or over-process images. With that said, they still state that it is one of the best Android smartphone cameras on the market. Even the front 8MP “selfie” camera managed to impress reviewers as colors were fairly accurate. Unfortunately, the basic camera app itself comes with no added filters and only a handful of basic modes like smart burst and HDR.

While there are some small issues here and there, the overwhelming consensus among reviewers is that the Nexus 6P is a definite buy. Stuff.TV states, “It’s a good-value phone that offers good or great results in just about every area.” Wired adds, “The Nexus 6P is absolutely the best Nexus phone ever. Hell, it’s the best Android phone ever…Everything Google could do, it did. It proved how good Android can be…”