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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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...