The Nexus 6 Review
by Brandon Chester on November 12, 2014 1:00 PM ESTWiFi
With the Nexus 6 we see a WiFi solution that hasn't been seen before in a mobile device, Broadcom's BCM4356. Announced at CES earlier this year, BCM4356 is a 2x2 802.11ac part with Bluetooth 4.1 support allowing for improved co-existence between Bluetooth and LTE. For reference, the Nexus 5 shipped with BCM4339 which is a 1x1 802.11ac part. To test WiFi performance on the Nexus 6 we used Iperf and Apple's AirPort Extreme router to try and achieve maximum performance.
The WiFi performance in the Nexus 6 falls into line for what we expect from a 2x2 802.11ac device. While it's slightly slower than Samsung's Galaxy Note 4, it's still much faster than many other devices that are on the market today, and over 3x faster than the WiFi performance of the Nexus 5.
GNSS
Most devices now use the GNSS solution built into Qualcomm's modem. I was someone who suffered the broken GNSS on the original Galaxy S, and I'm thankful that we've come to a point where every smartphone is now able to competently achieve a quick and accurate GNSS lock. In Airplane mode with no assistance information the Nexus 6 was able to achieve a lock in just under 35 seconds with an additional 5 seconds to bring the accuracy to within 10 feet, although both these times will vary greatly depending on the surrounding environment and weather conditions. With assistance info locks take only a matter of seconds.
Misc
To test NAND performance on the Nexus 6 we attempted to use Androbench and Andebench, but both gave results that could not have been accurate and so we are unfortunately unable to test this aspect of the Nexus 6 at this time. Like the new Moto X, the Nexus 6 has Cypress Semiconductor’s CapSense controller. Given that the Nexus 6 has no capacitive buttons, this is likely performing the same impedance-matching antenna tuning as on the Moto X which uses the same type of antenna design. It also has two TFA9890 speaker amplifiers which allows both speakers to be driven at the same time as stereo speakers.
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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
amenAT 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.