That’s a crazy idea, because Nexus phones were never supposed to be popular. Google first released them as reference devices, phones the company could point to and say, “This is what Android can be.” Developers use Nexus phones to test their apps, and fans get them so they always have access to the latest versions of Android. But you can only buy a Nexus from Google; they’re not available from carriers, and in terms of popularity, that’s usually enough to count most phones out.
However, a phone this strong can’t be ignored. The Nexus 6P has a speedy processor, a great camera and the best battery life we’ve seen from any modern handheld. With fun and useful extra features and Android Marshmallow to top it all off, it’s no wonder the 6P earns our admiration.
Given its 5.7-inch, 1440p display, the Nexus 6P is a phablet, about the same size and thickness as Apple’s iPhone 6s Plus. Despite its size, it wasn’t uncomfortable to hold in our testing – a consequence, we suspect, of the ever-so-gentle curvature of its back cover and the perfect placement of its Nexus Imprint scanner. This is a premium phone with a premium build, every bit as impressive as a Samsung or Apple flagship.
In fairness, though, it’s not as unique. Built by the Chinese manufacturer Huawei (pronounced roughly the same as “WAH-way”), the 6P feels like an amalgamation of its competition. The aluminum frame and beveled edges evoke Samsung’s Galaxy Note 5; wide speaker lines above and below the display seem pulled from Motorola’s Moto X. Fortunately, the back cover remains distinctly Huawei: slick aluminum, the Nexus logo and fingerprint scanner, and a camera and sensor bump that’s like nothing else on the market.
That sensor bump is a real oddity. Bold, black and flattened out like a mesa above an aluminum plain, it immediately draws the eye, if not in the best way. The Nexus 6P isn’t an ugly phone by any means, but the black bar is distracting, especially when you first unbox the device. It does make orienting the phone a lot easier, and after extended use, we found we didn’t mind it.
Of course, the real joy of any Nexus device is access to a pure version of the latest Android platform – in this case, Android 6.0 Marshmallow. Marshmallow comes with a bunch of improvements, but our favorite is probably Doze, a battery-saving feature that shuts off all non-essential functions in the phone when it’s put down, then brings them back online as soon as you pick the device up again. With Doze, you can forget to plug in your phone at night, wake up in the morning and find that the battery’s only ticked down a couple percentage points.
The Nexus 6P is one of only a few modern phablets that don’t have optical image stabilization. It’s easy to accidentally shake your phone when you tap the photo button, and OIS helps to minimize the shudder and blurriness that can result.
Most big phones have the space to fit OIS’s larger camera electronics, so it’s usually an auto include; the tech’s absence here is curious. Google argues that by putting bigger pixels into the 6P’s sensor, the camera can drink in more light in a shorter timeframe. This means the shutter doesn’t have to be open as long, which itself helps to reduce blur.
It’s not a perfect solution. We still managed to take plenty of slightly blurry photos by not being careful as we lined up shots. Taken as a whole, the Nexus 6P easily outshines huge swaths of the competition. With a mild amount of care, its 12.3MP sensor grabs sharp details that are color rich without being overly noisy. You can capture 4K video at 30fps, and at lower resolutions, the phone can manage 240fps video, which translates into stunning slow-motion shots. Even the front-facing camera is impressive, an 8MP sensor that can shoot 1080p video.
Beneath the hood of the Nexus 6P, Huawei’s installed the latest version of Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 810 processor. We ran the octa-core system on a chip (SoC) through over 100 separate benchmark tests using 10 different suites, and it proved to be a workhorse. Apple’s iPhone 6s remains our reigning speed champion, but the Nexus 6P came close and beat out Samsung’s Galaxy S6 and Note 5 in our graphics tests.
Given the size and power of the 6P, it’s perhaps most apt to compare it, not with the iPhone 6s, but the bigger, more expensive 6s Plus. Yet Apple’s latest phablet starts at 16GB of storage; the 6P comes with at least 32GB, upgradable to 64GB or 128GB. In essence, you can get a phone that’s the same size and shape as the iPhone 6s Plus with twice the storage for hundreds less. There's a staggering price difference, and it makes the Nexus 6P an amazing value pick.
There are two basic types of battery tests you can run on a phone. The first is an intensive test, which strains your phone’s processor as though you are binge playing a high-end 3D game for hours on end. The other is a display test; instead of pushing the CPU, it keeps the display running to see how long the phone can last through light, continuous usage.
We run both battery tests as part of our smartphone reviews, and the Nexus 6P gave us superlative results. It managed six hours 20 minutes in our intensive test. That’s unquestionably impressive, but how often will you be playing games on your phone that long? The real test was our web browsing run, and the 6P’s results were staggering: almost 12 and a half hours. It’s the best showing we’ve seen from any phone this year. Combined with Marshmallow’s Doze feature, you should only need to charge your 6P every other day. This is longevity we’ve been waiting too long to experience from our phones, and it delighted us.
The Nexus 6P, like its baby brother the 5X, has two standout features that set it apart from the competition: a USB Type-C charging port and Nexus Imprint. Despite its improvements to the USB standard – a reversible plug, bi-directional charging and fast charging, to name a few – USB-C can actually be something of a nuisance at this early stage of adoption.
Chances are you have a complete set of regular micro-USB charging cables that don’t work with the new standard. Eventually, everything will use USB-C and you’ll have plenty of extra cables on-hand; to get there, though, you have to buy all those new cables now.
Type-C is a fun extra, but the real gem here is Nexus Imprint. Having reviewed the world’s top smartphones and used our fair share of fingerprint scanners, we’re confident when we say that Nexus Imprint is the best fingerprint scanner around. It’s phenomenally fast, requiring the simplest of taps to recognize your identity and unlock the phone. The circular indent on the back of the phone makes finding it easy, and it’s positioned low enough that reaching it doesn’t require stretching your fingers.
The Nexus 6P is an oddity. It’s a flagship phone that costs hundreds less than its competition. It has a massive camera bump that doesn’t pack optical image stabilization yet still manages to take impressive photos. Its starting model includes bountiful storage, its battery lasts ages and its processor burns through benchmarks. Still, it’s not available from any of the major carriers, and it’s made by Huawei – a manufacturer that, to this point, has been unproven in the American market.
Well, consider Huawei proven; they just put together one of the best smartphones we’ve ever reviewed.
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