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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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