The Nexus 6 Thread

[Alatar]

I looked at this thing in store at TMobile in Woodburn, OR.

This thing is, quite simply put, ridiculously massive. It's definitely nice, though.

But massive.

So massive.

[JKam]

wind mobile is running a sweepstakes for 50 of them today. Just RT every 15 min. Hope someone on RS wins!

https://twitter.com/WINDmobile

[Hakkaboy]

i have a white 32gb that is being shipped to me right now from Google. I have changed my mind. If anyone is interested PM me

[Gh0stRider]

Originally Posted by JKam

wind mobile is running a sweepstakes for 50 of them today. Just RT every 15 min. Hope someone on RS wins!

https://twitter.com/WINDmobile

I RT'd all day....didn't win SHIT!!

[Gucci Mane]

Originally Posted by Gh0stRider

I RT'd all day....didn't win SHIT!!

same here.

[JKam]

Same.. At least I know someone who won.

[R5x]

Phone finally arrived yesterday from play store. The white version I got is definitely better at hiding all the finger prints vs the blue ones I've played with in store.

Size is quite ridiculous coming from a nexus 5. Reception seems worse on Telus and my signal graph in battery stats and the actual signal strength in settings confirms this. Not sure how much this kills the battery but first night I wasn't too impressed with battery life. Will hopefully improve over time.

Speakers are awesome though!

[Hakkaboy]

any other impressions?

[R5x]

After a week using this phone I have a pretty good idea of how it is for anyone looking to upgrade. I came from using a Nexus 5 and exclusively Nexus phones for the past 3 generations and have always rooted and flashed custom kernels on phones. So not your average novice user that expects a great experience our of the box.
Warning: very long post ahead. TLDR: Great phone, too expensive in Canada, best Nexus I've used. Compromises as always that shouldn't be there at this price range.

Size: Both good and bad. Everything looks better on a big screen. Videos especially. Just awesome. No problems fitting this in my jeans (I don't wear skinny; nor baggy - somewhere in the middle) and in dress pants for work. Hard to find a place to prop this thing up in my RSX for navigation.

Hardware design: Slippery as hell compared to every Nexus I've used. The back has no grip. The sides are very thin and make it difficult to grab quickly. Almost dropped twice taking out of pocket quickly (I've never ever dropped my phones doing that). Phone is top heavy and uneven thickness from top to bottom which gives it a fairly unbalanced feel when texting since the phone is being held near the bottom. Back dimple is overrated except when using as a phone. Curved back is great for feel in hand when browsing or doing two handed things on phone; horrible for texting on table since it wobbles. Aluminum frame and build quality is awesome and shits over all previous Nexus phones and plastic phones. Way more premium feel. Overall feels great when grip is secure and feels much thinner than it is.

Battery life: Mediocre out of the box. Has weak radio compared to Nexus 5 which really affects idle battery drain. I have bad LTE reception in my house and the effect on the battery is very noticeable. Cell standby in battery stats shows time without signal being 50-60% sometimes (I average around 100-120dBm). Never had this issue with any other Nexus phone. My standby time on this phone is equal or worse than on Nexus 5, which is disgraceful when you're comparing a 3200mAh battery to a 2300mAh battery.
Huge bug in lollipop right now when using mobile data and anything that may keep the connection alive when idle eg. messaging apps (WhatsApp, hangouts especially) and Google Now. The mobile radio stays awake and I often get 2-3 hours of "mobile radio active" in my battery stats for these apps. Hangouts and WhatsApp frequently are near the top of my battery usage list (even above screen on time despite using screen for 2+ hours) because of this and I don't even use them very heavily when this happens (phone is in pocket during work for 8 hours with a few random messages sent every couple hours). Problem is not there when using Wi-Fi. Definitely a bug and a huge battery drain. Will try to Greenify apps today as per recommendations on XDA and reddit. Greenify works for hangouts (still get push notifications) and Gmail but not WhatsApp.
Overall, battery still lasts me just fine for a single day but given I'm a light to medium user I'm disappointed.

Screen: Inaccurate colors but I expected that with an uncalibrated amoled and from reviews. Greenish/yellowish tint noticeable but I've since corrected that with a custom kernel. No burn in so far so I'm thankful for that. Blacks are ridiculously nice and given the shit I've given amoled in the past I'm impressed with screen overall. Very sharp and nice. Honestly can't tell the difference between QHD and HD for everyday use. No sensitivity issues and usability complaints. It's plenty bright indoors and outdoors and I use it at 20-50% brightness all the time (adaptive brightness off). Pink/red tint present at lowest brightness only when adaptive brightness on. Adaptive brightness leads to battery drain from sensor_id wakelock.

Speed: Very fast. No complaints. Initial slight stutters so I unencrypted it. Seems fine now. Will re-encrypt this week to compare. Feels like a blown up nexus 5 so if that was fast enough then it's comparable. No memory leak problem.

Camera: Great sensor, bad software. The same old Nexus story. Slow HDR+ shutter speed (great results though), instant Non-HDR shutter (acceptable image quality), videos are fine (OIS performance should have been better though).

Speakers: So good. Will never buy another phone without front facing stereo speakers if I can help it. Annoying software design where notifications, ringtones, alerts, etc are all set to be ascending in volume and start off very low in volume. No way to disable yet. Questionable decision and annoying.

Overall love this phone but it could have been so much more. The US price of $650 is about the limit for it. Maybe $550-600 would be ideal. Overpriced in Canada for the problems it currently has. Despite it being a Nexus and getting lots of updates, experience tells me that Google will likely not address the software problems I've noticed (battery, radio reception, camera especially) which is disappointing.

[Spoon]

Originally Posted by R5x

Slippery as hell compared to every Nexus I've used. The back has no grip.

Reminds me of when I upgraded from an N4 to an N5. Felt like heaven when I first held it.

[!MiKrofT]

Originally Posted by R5x

After a week using this phone I have a pretty good idea of how it is for anyone looking to upgrade. I came from using a Nexus 5 and exclusively Nexus phones for the past 3 generations and have always rooted and flashed custom kernels on phones. So not your average novice user that expects a great experience our of the box.
Warning: very long post ahead. TLDR: Great phone, too expensive in Canada, best Nexus I've used. Compromises as always that shouldn't be there at this price range.

Size: Both good and bad. Everything looks better on a big screen. Videos especially. Just awesome. No problems fitting this in my jeans (I don't wear skinny; nor baggy - somewhere in the middle) and in dress pants for work. Hard to find a place to prop this thing up in my RSX for navigation.

Hardware design: Slippery as hell compared to every Nexus I've used. The back has no grip. The sides are very thin and make it difficult to grab quickly. Almost dropped twice taking out of pocket quickly (I've never ever dropped my phones doing that). Phone is top heavy and uneven thickness from top to bottom which gives it a fairly unbalanced feel when texting since the phone is being held near the bottom. Back dimple is overrated except when using as a phone. Curved back is great for feel in hand when browsing or doing two handed things on phone; horrible for texting on table since it wobbles. Aluminum frame and build quality is awesome and shits over all previous Nexus phones and plastic phones. Way more premium feel. Overall feels great when grip is secure and feels much thinner than it is.

Battery life: Mediocre out of the box. Has weak radio compared to Nexus 5 which really affects idle battery drain. I have bad LTE reception in my house and the effect on the battery is very noticeable. Cell standby in battery stats shows time without signal being 50-60% sometimes (I average around 100-120dBm). Never had this issue with any other Nexus phone. My standby time on this phone is equal or worse than on Nexus 5, which is disgraceful when you're comparing a 3200mAh battery to a 2300mAh battery.
Huge bug in lollipop right now when using mobile data and anything that may keep the connection alive when idle eg. messaging apps (WhatsApp, hangouts especially) and Google Now. The mobile radio stays awake and I often get 2-3 hours of "mobile radio active" in my battery stats for these apps. Hangouts and WhatsApp frequently are near the top of my battery usage list (even above screen on time despite using screen for 2+ hours) because of this and I don't even use them very heavily when this happens (phone is in pocket during work for 8 hours with a few random messages sent every couple hours). Problem is not there when using Wi-Fi. Definitely a bug and a huge battery drain. Will try to Greenify apps today as per recommendations on XDA and reddit. Greenify works for hangouts (still get push notifications) and Gmail but not WhatsApp.
Overall, battery still lasts me just fine for a single day but given I'm a light to medium user I'm disappointed.

Screen: Inaccurate colors but I expected that with an uncalibrated amoled and from reviews. Greenish/yellowish tint noticeable but I've since corrected that with a custom kernel. No burn in so far so I'm thankful for that. Blacks are ridiculously nice and given the shit I've given amoled in the past I'm impressed with screen overall. Very sharp and nice. Honestly can't tell the difference between QHD and HD for everyday use. No sensitivity issues and usability complaints. It's plenty bright indoors and outdoors and I use it at 20-50% brightness all the time (adaptive brightness off). Pink/red tint present at lowest brightness only when adaptive brightness on. Adaptive brightness leads to battery drain from sensor_id wakelock.

Speed: Very fast. No complaints. Initial slight stutters so I unencrypted it. Seems fine now. Will re-encrypt this week to compare. Feels like a blown up nexus 5 so if that was fast enough then it's comparable. No memory leak problem.

Camera: Great sensor, bad software. The same old Nexus story. Slow HDR+ shutter speed (great results though), instant Non-HDR shutter (acceptable image quality), videos are fine (OIS performance should have been better though).

Speakers: So good. Will never buy another phone without front facing stereo speakers if I can help it. Annoying software design where notifications, ringtones, alerts, etc are all set to be ascending in volume and start off very low in volume. No way to disable yet. Questionable decision and annoying.

Overall love this phone but it could have been so much more. The US price of $650 is about the limit for it. Maybe $550-600 would be ideal. Overpriced in Canada for the problems it currently has. Despite it being a Nexus and getting lots of updates, experience tells me that Google will likely not address the software problems I've noticed (battery, radio reception, camera especially) which is disappointing.

Thanks for the info regarding the mobile data. I was wondering why some apps had like 10+ hours of mobile radio time

[Gululu]

just got hold of word, Moto X Pro (nexus 6 equivalent) will be released on 26th. Will be exact same specs as the Nexus 6, except without GAPPS instead will be replaced with Lenovo bloat (no big deal).

Those who are looking to buy nexus 6 off contract should wait for the Moto X Pro

[Traum]

Originally Posted by Gululu

just got hold of word, Moto X Pro (nexus 6 equivalent) will be released on 26th. Will be exact same specs as the Nexus 6, except without GAPPS instead will be replaced with Lenovo bloat (no big deal).

Those who are looking to buy nexus 6 off contract should wait for the Moto X Pro

Does it mean the Moto X Pro can be re-flashed with Google OTA image then? Also, are you suggesting that it'll be cheaper to buy off contract than the Nex6?

[Tr1ll]

Nexus 6 back in stock via Google Play Canada along with new cases | MobileSyrup.com

Only Midnight Blue in 32GB

[Tim Budong]

Like R5x... Exclusive Nexus user since the early HTC Magic days...

I finally got myself this phone for the reason that it supports band3 LTE for travel purposes...

Big phone..gonna find a case then root.

Which Roms guys... I hear Purity is the way to go still lol

[Gh0stRider]

more than I can afford pal.....Nexus 6

[Tim Budong]

dev community sucks for this phone

[R5x]

Yeah the development on this phone is not all that great. I think it has to do with the high price, large size, low/slow adoption rate, lack of stock initially, and the increase in the number of more affordable alternatives (One+ one especially) that really made this less popular than the n4 and n5.
The ROM scene is pretty stale too and everyone is just cherry picking and building the same features into every ROM. Not much interesting.

What I want is for a ROM that can truly tweak ambient display. I hate that every time I lift or move it it triggers the pulsing. Yet if I disable the feature then I don't have anything that lights up due to the loss of the notification led.

The bugs in lollipop has really annoyed me lately too. The battery life is still pretty subpar on LTE due to that mobile radio active bug.
The camera still sucks. I hate all the reviews and people on reddit/XDA that keep showing how great their pics are. The fact is the camera experience blows on stock android due to the slow shutter and crappy focusing. I don't care how great the results are when it's such a bad experience taking the photo and inconsistency.

/rant.
May go iPhone next time for the first time in many years. Google just can't get it right year in and year out.

[Tim Budong]

Originally Posted by R5x

Yeah the development on this phone is not all that great. I think it has to do with the high price, large size, low/slow adoption rate, lack of stock initially, and the increase in the number of more affordable alternatives (One+ one especially) that really made this less popular than the n4 and n5.
The ROM scene is pretty stale too and everyone is just cherry picking and building the same features into every ROM. Not much interesting.

What I want is for a ROM that can truly tweak ambient display. I hate that every time I lift or move it it triggers the pulsing. Yet if I disable the feature then I don't have anything that lights up due to the loss of the notification led.

The bugs in lollipop has really annoyed me lately too. The battery life is still pretty subpar on LTE due to that mobile radio active bug.
The camera still sucks. I hate all the reviews and people on reddit/XDA that keep showing how great their pics are. The fact is the camera experience blows on stock android due to the slow shutter and crappy focusing. I don't care how great the results are when it's such a bad experience taking the photo and inconsistency.

/rant.
May go iPhone next time for the first time in many years. Google just can't get it right year in and year out.

and all your above reasons is why I was very slow to adapt to the 6. Download lightflow, there is a LED light on the top speaker.

I will be going to chroma later tonight just to try it out.

[R5x]

Originally Posted by Tim Budong

and all your above reasons is why I was very slow to adapt to the 6. Download lightflow, there is a LED light on the top speaker.

I will be going to chroma later tonight just to try it out.

Yeah I've tried several roms that enable the LED for notifications. It works ok, but it's a solid light and not blinking. Kind of annoying. The last I read about Lightflow, it works, but a lot of people had wakelock issues and bugs.

The only rom i know of that is able to do the blinking LED is MeanPop, but it basically prevents the phone from deep sleeping to achieve this via a wakelock which tanks the battery life more.

As an aside, I tried using an iPhone 6+ for half a week as a daily phone a while back to compare with the N6. It's honestly a great phone and I was surprised how much I liked it after disliking iOS since last using the 3gs. The fact you don't have to worry about wakelocks and garbage like that already makes me want to jump ship.

[Gucci Mane]

Originally Posted by R5x

Yeah I've tried several roms that enable the LED for notifications. It works ok, but it's a solid light and not blinking. Kind of annoying. The last I read about Lightflow, it works, but a lot of people had wakelock issues and bugs.

The only rom i know of that is able to do the blinking LED is MeanPop, but it basically prevents the phone from deep sleeping to achieve this via a wakelock which tanks the battery life more.

As an aside, I tried using an iPhone 6+ for half a week as a daily phone a while back to compare with the N6. It's honestly a great phone and I was surprised how much I liked it after disliking iOS since last using the 3gs. The fact you don't have to worry about wakelocks and garbage like that already makes me want to jump ship.

you'll get sick of ios real quick. the os is great in that its stable and hardly ever has crashes, but its just too damn simple. it always seems to want to take an extra step for everything. for example, if you get sent an instagram link, it'll open up in safari and then give you the option to open it in app. WTF? little shit like that drove me nuts especially since i didnt like using safari and you cant even change your default browser.

i'm now using an s6. fucking fantastic phone with a camera thats just as good as or better than the ip6. touchwiz was always the main killer for samsung products for me and honestly its toned down quite a bit now.

[Traum]

Given the sales numbers and "issues" the Nexus 6 have had, I wonder whether Google would internally consider it to be a success like the previous Nexus phones. More importantly, what are they going to do with the next gen Nexus device? They don't always have to pump a new one out on a yearly basis, even though that has pretty much been the norm. But if they were to come out with one, that new phone is only 6 months or so away...

Really makes you wonder what they're up to...

[RE-Jo]

I'm more curious as to what the next phone will be called, Nexus 7?

[Traum]

^^ I think it might be simpler to just call it Nexus 2015.

[Tim Budong]

rooted stock+franco
let see how this performs