The Nexus 6 is here. We just unboxed it. Here’s what you can expect to find inside when you pick yours up.
Mobile Phones
It seems like an AGE. We’ve been waiting for the Nexus 6 to arrive for so very, very long. The handset itself is rather special, as it represents yet another switch in the way Google is pitching its Nexus line of smartphones. Previously, the Nexus 4 and Nexus 5 were all about high-end specs and low-end prices, with savings made wherever possible (the camera, for instance).
The Nexus 6 is the polar opposite, however, packing in bleeding edge specs, what promises to be a very decent camera and –– lest we forget –– that insane QHD display. But all this high-end spec and hardware comes at a price, and you’ll know all about that price already: £499 for the base 32GB model. Still, it is worth noting the Nexus 6 is still quite a bit cheaper than the iPhone 6 Plus, the LG G3 and the Samsung Galaxy Note 4.
We’ll be publishing our full review early next week once we’ve had time to play around with and test the Nexus 6 fully. I’ve been using the iPhone 6 Plus for the past couple of months, and one of my initial impressions of the handset is just how much easier it is handle than Apple’s phablet –– it just feels more balanced in the hand. And this is a HUGE thing when you’re talking about handsets with larger than life displays.
Nexus 6 Unboxing: What’s In The Box?
The Nexus 6 is a BIG phone and, accordingly, so too is the box it ships in. Decked out in white with a red band around its centre, the Nexus 6 box is a very minimal affair with nothing actually on the box itself save for an embossed “6” logo on the front.
Next, you take a knife –– or something else equally sharp –– and slit the red band surround, which lets you slide the main compartment of the box out. Inside you’ll find the Nexus 6, perched on a mount, and below that some instructions, complete with a circular SIM-tray popper, and below that the handset’s fast charger and a USB cable.
And that’s pretty much it. The main event is the phone and once you take the plastic protective cover off the front of the handset and switch on the display you’ll see why: the QHD display is mesmerizingly bright, colourful and detailed –– it’s one of the nicest screens I’ve looked at all year.
My worst fear about the Nexus 6, however, was that it would be too big, that I just wouldn’t enjoy using it. I used a Nexus 5 all last year and felt that it was just about perfect with regards to size and weight, so for this reason I was rather dubious about the advent of a 6in Nexus. But once it’s in the hand it doesn’t feel all that big –– granted, I did switch from an iPhone 6 Plus –– and a lot of this is to do with its shape, it is blockier than the iPhone 6 Plus, and its rounded back panel, which rests nicely up against the palm of your hand.
I do find the iPhone 6 Plus way too skinny without a cover on, but the Nexus 6 –– with its chunkier profile –– feels perfectly natural in the hand, even if those with smaller hands might struggle to reach across its expansive display with one hand.
The handset itself looks and feels premium and has a nice gravity to it, which I’m appreciating more and more with each hour that passes. Google and Motorola clearly thought long and hard about how to make the Nexus 6, a large handset by anyone’s standards, accommodating in the hand. Yes, it is big. But it’s not so big that I find it cumbersome to use (unlike Apple’s iPhone 6 Plus without a case).
Inside you’ll find Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 805 CPU alongside 3GB of RAM. The CPU is clocked at 2.7GHz and is a quad-core setup, meaning you get plenty of grunt and it’ll handle everything the Google Play store has, although to really see it shine you might want to check out some high-end games like Real Racing 3 and Dead Trigger 2 (on Max Setting).
Android Lollipop is kind of the star of the show here, though. And it really does look great –– check out our Android Lollipop Review for more details. Google’s been incredibly busy this past year with the launch of Android Wear and Android TV, but the attention to detail it's put into Lollipop is pretty unprecedented –– Android has never looked and felt so cohesive.
Material Design aims to remove any inconsistency inside Google’s platform and across its wider services. It looks great and is very pleasing to the eye, with lots of useful new features like vastly improved multitasking, a new drop down menu and excellent lock screen notifications. I’ve always preferred stock Android (even back in the days of Android Jelly Bean) but, for me, Lollipop is what Android should look like on every device nowadays; there is literally zero reason for OEMs to skin their handsets with custom overlays these days –– everybody could learn a good few lessons from Motorola in this regard.
I’ve only fired off a few shots with the camera, but initial impressions aren’t great. There’s a lot of noise in the shots and the front-facing camera is incredibly grainy, looking almost like a VGA setup. This isn’t a good start, especially after the Nexus 5 camera debacle last year, and I’ll be doing plenty of comparison shots in my review, comparing the Nexus 6’s capabilities to the iPhone 6 Plus, LG G3 and Samsung Galaxy Note 4. For now here's a couple of shots: the top one is from the Nexus 6 and the one below is from the iPhone 6 Plus:
Battery does seem very good, though. The handset was about 60% charged when I first switched it on earlier this afternoon. It is now 8pm and, with pretty heavy use, it has only depleted by 15% –– not too shabby, especially with auto-brightness switched off. The Nexus 6 features Quick Charge too (via its special plug, which you get in the box), which delivers six hours of battery life from a 15 minute charge.
These are just some preliminary thoughts, as a noted earlier. My full review will be going live early next week. By then I’ll have a better idea about Android Lollipop, display performance, the camera, and how well the Nexus 6’s super-large battery performs.
I’m looking forward to testing this one quite a bit!
READ THIS NEXT:
Android Lollipop's Best New Features Detailed – A quick overview of all of Android Lollipop's best new features, including multitasking, software optimisations, Material Design and lots more besides
Nexus 6 vs. Nexus 5: Examining Google’s King-Sized Update – How does 2014's Nexus 6 compared to last year's LG-built Nexus 5?
Nexus 6 vs Moto X (2014): What's The Difference (Beyond Size) – The Moto X 2014 was said to be the inspiration for the Nexus 6. Here we compare the two phones in order to see where the differences (beyond display size) reside.
The Unlikely Resurgence of Motorola – Evan Blass (AKA @evleaks) discusses Motorola's return to form during the past two years.
Google
Google Nexus 6
Android Lollipop
Reviews
Richard Goodwin
20:49, 1 Dec 2014