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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Hrel - Wednesday, November 19, 2014 - link
4.95” 1080p IPS LCD 5.96” 1440p Super AMOLEDRight 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.