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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metayoshi - Wednesday, November 12, 2014 - link
I wonder if that degradation in color accuracy is due to the phone being closely related to the Moto X (2014). It looks like the Moto X was even worse than what the Nexus 6 is doing right now. Maybe it was a mistake for Google to pick Motorola for this phone, as Samsung's, LG's, and HTC's latest flagships are all decent across the board. I was going to stick with my Nexus 5 either way, but it's kind of sad seeing Google go this route with the Nexus 6.waldoh - Wednesday, November 12, 2014 - link
I REALLY REALLY wanted to like this device and finally move away from Apple crap but in the android world benchmarks and specs are key. This device falls short in almost every category.Donkey2008 - Friday, November 14, 2014 - link
Funny, I really really wanted to move away from Apple, but after using a LG G3 for 2 weeks I saw how completely clunky, amateurish and unpolished Android is and went back to Apple. Enjoy your half-baked phone you clown.Impulses - Wednesday, November 12, 2014 - link
They need to let Sony build a Nexus, I'm sure they'd jump at the chance given their limited market penetration stateside... And they've been consistently good lately with battery life, camera, and build quality.pjcamp - Wednesday, November 12, 2014 - link
Wait a minnit -- you skipped one. Where is the Z3 review?Cinnabuns - Wednesday, November 12, 2014 - link
Agreed. At the moment it looks like the Z3 is the best Android phone out there in terms of battery life and camera but I'd love to see a rigorous review from the likes of AnandTech before getting one. I'm coming from a Nexus 4 and my main beef with it is the abysmal battery life. Reading this review, it's clear that I will not get a Nexus 6 as a replacement, seeing as it's not even a bargain and it's worse than its flagship competition.Unfortunately, it seems AT never reviews Sony stuff.
Andrei Frumusanu - Wednesday, November 12, 2014 - link
Unfortunately we still don't have a proper channel with Sony to be able to acquire review units. I hope to change this in the future and tried to reach out to them but sadly thing haven't advanced in that regard.skinygeek - Thursday, November 13, 2014 - link
Why do you need a review unit for Reviewing a Phone. You can just buy it. Is this the excuse for not reviewing lot of other phones ?vshah - Thursday, November 13, 2014 - link
can't you just buy one?SantaAna12 - Wednesday, November 12, 2014 - link
Wow, what a letdown.I was going to say my usual: "No SD Card NO Deal!"
But there is really no need. Still selling the cloud on crap hardware. Disappointing!