What’s New in The Nexus 6P
Who would have thought that Huawei would soon be playing with the big boys. Google’s flagship smartphone Nexus 6P is not only built by Huawei but comes with features that are likely to make it the best seller of 2016. Even before the release of the smartphone the rumors about its features were affirmed by a leak that took place via Reddit. The information was leaked via a PowerPoint presentation which was to be used for the training of retail associates.
The Big Deal About Nexus 6P
Some of you might be inevitably wondering, why Nexus 6P is a big deal? Google’s flagship Nexus phones have been one of the best-selling and arguably best featured Android smartphones for years. Anyone who has been avidly following the new Android models released by top companies would know that the Nexus brand has a special place among Android smartphones. Nexus 6P is an upgrade to Nexus 6 and comes with some nifty upgrades, including USB-C for faster charging, a stylish metallic body, an upgraded camera, with some under the hood performance enhancements.
Huawei Nexus 6P Specifications
Whether you are someone who wants a good smartphone for personal use or a business professional who wants to make use of PowerPoint templates and needs to pitch deck of slides for a sales presentation using a smartphone, the Nexus 6P is likely to be your best smartphone match, especially as far as Android smartphones are concerned. In what is to follow, we will explore the various features of Nexus 6P and analyze its utility for end users
I personally find the generic specifications laid out in standard format to be somewhat sufficient, however, not when it comes to finding out the nitty gritty details such as the expected battery life, camera performance and device usability. Below is a rundown of what to expect from the Nexus 6P in terms of performance and features.
Design, Display and Size
The Nexus 6P is what you would call a phablet, i.e. a hybrid phone which acts both as a smartphone and a tablet. The quad HD 5.7-inch display with 1440 x 2560 resolution offers a large screen size which although might seem as a good thing but for a smartphone you might find it a bit annoying to operate it with both hands. Yes, you will need to operate it using both hands since the size makes it quite difficult for one handed operation of the device. This is something you will require considering before buying the device. As for the quad HD tag, it simply means that the resolution is super sharp and clear.
The device sports an AMOLED capacitive touchscreen with Corning Gorilla Glass 4 and finger smudge resistant oleophobic coating. A part from that, Google has gone metalic with a weight of 178 g, which is slightly lighter than the predecessor Nexus 6. Needless to say, Nexus 6P also supports multitouch gestures.
Performance, OS and Memory
The Nexus 6P’s features the Snapdragon 810 v2.1 processor, with 3GB RAM, an Adreno 430 GPU with the latest Android Marshmallow operating system. In simple words, the processing capability of Nexus 6P mixed with 3GB RAM can take on heavier apps without much of a slowdown. Some initial tests have shown that the Nexus 6P does bog down a bit under stress, however, the performance is much better than HTC One M9 and LG G4. Having said that you can’t expect Nexus 6P to beat top tier devices like iPhone 6S Plus or the Samsung Galaxy Note 5. Moreover, for a phablet 3GB RAM might be a gigabyte short.
Another plus of Nexus 6P is the internal memory options from 32GB, 64GB and 128 GB. However, there is no support for an external memory card.
With the aforementioned features you can smoothly run anything from MS Office apps like Word, PowerPoint or Excel to high-end Android games.
Android Marshmallow has many under the hood changes, amidst few obvious ones. You will notice the battery life to be longer and some changes in app permissions, a part from that the more obvious changes include the UI, Google Now can be accessed upon holding the home buttons which activates it to respond to whatever your are reading, listening to or watching. Moreover, the app drawer scrolls instead of moving horizontally. So you will have to move up/down to access your apps.
Connectivity and Battery Life
With the USB-C port you can forget about putting your charging cable incorrectly. A part from that the charging time is faster than before. With a 3,450mAh battery, Nexus 6P has better capacity as a smartphone than say, Samsung Galaxy S6. You can expect Nexus 6P to last a bit more than a day even if you are a user who can’t get your hands off the phone too often. What you might want to watch out for are the brightness settings which heavily affect how long your battery lasts.
Other connectivity options include; a 3.5mm headphone jack. Loudspeaker support with front stereo speakers. As you would expect in any smart device, Nexus 6P offers connectivity via Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.2, with USB-C being the odd one out.
Other essentials include; GPS, NFC, Fingerprint scanner, accelerometer, compass, barometer, gyro and a proximity sensor.
Camera and Fingerprint Sensor
Nexus 6P features a 12.3MP rear camera which captures 1.55-micron pixels. This means that the camera can capture larger pictures with more light, even in dim light. However, you might find it a bit annoying to notice that pictures come out more yellow than real colors. Moreover, Nexus 6P also does not offer the very handy optical image stabilization feature that LG and Samsung smartphones sport. The front-facing camera is 8 MP and captures shots at 30fps. With Nexus 6P you can now switch between both these cameras in one tap instead of two.
You can use the fingerprint sensor to unlock your phone. It can register up to 5 fingerprints and takes less than 8 seconds to work. The fingerprint sensor is located at the back of the phablet and is far less annoying than Samsung and Apple’s unlocking methods which take too many confusing taps.
The Verdict
Nexus 6P is a mixed bag which tries to compete with top devices like the iPhone 6 Plus or Galaxy S6 with a relatively cheaper price. You shouldn’t expect Nexus 6P to be a replacement for the aforementioned but if you love Nexus devices you will love the 6P, which provides great features considering the price. However, there are a few things you might have to get used to. This includes the design which doesn’t make it any easy to grip the phone with one hand. You might even end up with sore fingers until you get used to the grip. Moreover, the camera quality despite being good is not as premium as the P word in Nexus 6P (P stands for premium).
If you are on a budget, you might find the Nexus 5X to be a suitable match, which is kind of a lighter version of 6P with some stripped down, yet worthy features.
