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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brentwgraham - Wednesday, November 12, 2014 - link
I pre-ordered the Nexus 6... I'm now wavering and considering either a Note 4 or an Xperia Z3...Good news is they bungled the launch so badly that mine hasn't even shipped yet.
Coup27 - Wednesday, November 12, 2014 - link
I also have a Z3 having come from an S4. The Z3 is awesome. I put the two side by side before selling my S4 and the display is much better on the Z3. The S4 had a green tint where as the Z3 seems to be accurate in colour reproduction and white point. The speakers produce a much better sound with the only negative being they aren't very loud. The design is great, but did take some getting used to. Finally, batter life is on another level. My S4 used to die after 2 days. With exactly the same usage I can easily hit 3 and still have some left.grayson_carr - Wednesday, November 12, 2014 - link
Well, guess I will stick with my Nexus 5 for now. The poor display brightness and calibration killed it for me. Not to mention the fact that he said the Nexus 5 feels faster on Lollipop. The size and price don't do the Nexus 6 any favors either. I love the Note 4 hardware, camera performance, accurate display calibration setting, and battery life, but after playing with one in store several times, I just don't think I can deal with how slow it felt and how many frames it dropped in pedestrian scrolling tasks.sqeaky_fartz - Wednesday, November 12, 2014 - link
Are the front facing speakers actually stereo, or is it like the 2nd gen Moto X in that regard?Brandon Chester - Wednesday, November 12, 2014 - link
Actually stereo.lostleaf - Friday, November 14, 2014 - link
Are you able to comment on the sound for the stereo speakers? I would like a comparison to the htc one m7 or m8.Spawne32 - Wednesday, November 12, 2014 - link
I can honestly say I wouldn't even remotely consider this phone an upgrade from the Nexus 5, which was a game changer for me in terms of sub $400 dollar smart phones. This is exactly what I expected with the switch from LG to motorola for the OEM for the nexus 6, a ridiculously high price tag for mediocre performance. It's a damn shame to see google stray away from providing a good quality phone at a reasonable price to some ridiculous hunk of crap at almost a $700 dollar price tag.tipoo - Wednesday, November 12, 2014 - link
I still think the performance degradation test makes more sense if you divide by the first cycle. The way it is, if a phone with performance of 100 drops 40%, and a phone with performance of 50 drops 10%, the first one will have dropped a lot more, but still show higher total performance in the end, when the test is about seeing how badly the device throttles.tipoo - Wednesday, November 12, 2014 - link
The system and web benchmarks show a regression from the nexus 5...Hmm.tipoo - Wednesday, November 12, 2014 - link
There are also some lag issues...I'm kind of relieved to see it has some lag issues, as that means Nvidias Denver isn't the culprit in the Nexus 9.