The Nexus 6 Review
by Brandon Chester on November 12, 2014 1:00 PM ESTVideo Performance
By moving from the 4:3 8MP sensor in the Nexus 5 to a 4:3 13MP sensor, Google has been able to enable UHD (3840x2160) video recording on the Nexus 6. Google can also benefit from improvements in Snapdragon 805 allowing for higher quality video encoding. With Snapdragon 805 only capable of HEVC decode, we're still looking at H.264 encoding on videos for the current generation of devices. Unfortunately, Google does not include a 1080p60 recording mode on the Nexus 6, so both 1080p and UHD recording modes are at 30fps.
For 1080p content the Nexus 6 encodes with an average bitrate of 17Mbps and uses the Baseline H.264 profile. I don't know why Google isn't using the Main or High profile for their video recording, as Baseline is typically used in applications like video chat where quality isn't a big concern. I have no complaints about the quality of the video itself, although the OIS doesn't do as much to reduce the shake in the video as I imagined it would.
UHD video is encoded with an average bitrate of 42Mbps, and is again Baseline H.264. Compared to the 1080p video there's a significant increase in overall detail, particularly with the branches of the trees and smaller objects like leaves on the ground which tend to show up as large blurry areas in the 1080p footage. Something I noticed when testing the UHD recording on the Nexus 6 is that it has a tendency to drop frames, which is demonstrated in the video below.
As you can see, there are a few areas where the video framerate dips below 30fps during a fast movement, and several moments where the video will stop and then skip forward. I haven't been able to determine a cause for this, but Samsung and other OEMs have been able to do UHD recording at 30fps on their devices that use essentially the same hardware as the Nexus 6 which leads me to believe it's an issue that is rooted in software.
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Chiropteran - Wednesday, November 12, 2014 - link
Isn't that like using windows XP test results and labeling them as Windows 8? The performance of the N5 might well change (for the worse) with Lollipop...vshah - Wednesday, November 12, 2014 - link
this is pretty terrible. devices should be labeled as tested.tuxRoller - Wednesday, November 12, 2014 - link
Regarding the camera, it's arguable how good/bad the actual hardware is given that, until lollipop, we haven't had a way to get at the RAWs. Now that we can, we can see what the device captures, and the quality of the post-processing.From various sources (both reddit, and forbes) the results seem to be that with a bit of work using rawtherapee you get significantly better results. What remains is for someone to produce an app that makes better choices than google.
Considering that google has used pretty good image sensors with the last couple of nexii, the only unknown is lens quality. Hopefully someone will perform a test with another lollipop device that uses the same sensors as the N5/N6 but different lens and examine the DNG image, with settings as close to like-for-like as possible.
anactoraaron - Wednesday, November 12, 2014 - link
But camera software improvements can reduce latency and focus to capture time though.Spawne32 - Wednesday, November 12, 2014 - link
I would imagine both phones are running a "dev preview" as the battery bug which is clearly rearing its ugly head in the battery tests, were only fixed 2 days ago.Brandon Chester - Wednesday, November 12, 2014 - link
There was no mention of battery improvements in the small update that shipped on Monday.gregspruce - Wednesday, November 12, 2014 - link
Droid Turbo review?Chaser - Wednesday, November 12, 2014 - link
I can help. Large phone with (built in Kevlar case). Dim display. No simultaneous voice and data on "Americas most reliable network".gregspruce - Thursday, November 13, 2014 - link
I have the phone, I just want to see their take on it.BTW, display is more than readable in direct sunlight, so...
Also not the first phone to ditch dual modems and lose simultaneous voice and data pre-VoLTE.
The Turbo is fantastic, absolutely the best choice on Verizon right now, my friends on other networks are a little jealous currently, especially in light all of the Nexus reviews.
humjaba - Wednesday, November 12, 2014 - link
Damn. Still looking for something >5" that gets stellar battery life, that I can get on AT&T, and that won't cost me my first born son. The Sony Z3 looks perfect but I'm not interested in paying that price off-contract. Maybe I'll have to start hunting for a oneplus one invite...