It is a well known fact that Android lovers appreciate the pure, bloatware-free version of Android along with the promise of timely OTA updates directly from Google. Huawei has gradually started to grow in Indian market with its Honor series and this year they were given the task to make a premium flagship Nexus device which we believe they have done it pretty well. The Nexus 6P is perhaps one of the best devices made by Huawei so far having traits from Honor 7. We fortunately got a chance to try out the handset at the India launch in Delhi. Do give it a read on our first impressions of the device below.
DESIGN
The beauty of the Nexus 6P is its build that is slim, light and so well built which leaves us in a dilemma to declare it delicate or sturdy at the same time. This is the first metal-unibody Nexus device from Google. The back of the device and the frame are made from aeronautical-grade anodised aluminium. The front is all black with a set of front stereo speakers, on the right-hand side you will find the power key followed by the volume buttons while the ejectable SIM slot has been placed on the left and at the bottom you have a USB-Type C port. The device is curved at the right place with chamfered edges, on the rear side of the device we have a protruding black strip on top that houses the camera module. The “The Nexus Imprint” is placed just below the camera module and its placement is ideal for your index finger to reach which makes the device unlock without any extra effort.
Fun-Fact: Nexus 6P is the first Nexus phone to have been manufactured by a Chinese company.
DISPLAY
The Nexus 6P sports a 5.7-inch Quad HD Super AMOLED display having 2560×1440 resolution and I must say the display is sharp, vivid with great viewing angles and deep black levels. The device offers a great media experience all thanks to front-facing stereo speakers and eye-popping crispiness of the display. The 5.7-inch display though seems big in terms of numbers but it feels very comfortable in hand. To protect this beautiful display a layer of fourth-gen Gorilla Glass has been added to protect the display from minor scratches.
PERFORMANCE
The Nexus 6P is packed with a Qualcomm MSM8994 Snapdragon 810 chipset with a Quad-core 1.55 GHz Cortex-A53 & Quad-core 2.0 GHz Cortex-A57 CPU, coupled with 3GB of RAM. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 processor is well for known for being a speedy high-end chip and frequent overheating, along with this the Nexus 6P has an aluminium body so technically this device should be perfect for baking cookies, we still have to do a full review of the device to find out more about this issue. But the device never got too toasty when we were using it. The Nexus devices usually don’t have a good record when it comes to battery life and we hope the 3450mAh battery does well. The Nexus 6P has a high-end hardware with Android M which creates a smooth, intuitive user experience. Overall the device performs well and delivers a lag-free user experience.
CAMERA
Nexus devices are infamous for their pathetic camera modules, but this time Google has tried their best to change this perception. The Nexus 6P houses a 12.3MP rear shooter with a F/2.0 aperture and 1.55um pixel size. We took some shots with the device and we are quite impressed with its rear shooter. For capturing Selfies we have a 8 MP front facing camera and it captures nice and crisp images which would look beautiful on social networking platforms. You can just double press the power button for quick access to the camera straight from the lock screen. With the updated camera app I’m still not a fan of the stock Android camera application it’s personally way too barebones for me, but we are highly impressed by the camera module in this device.
Google Now on Tap
Few months ago Google demonstrated Now on Tap feature at Google I/O and we were excited to use this feature on our devices. Now on Tap works across the entire operating system, but it’s particularly impressive when you try to use it inside any app like Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp messenger etc. It’s still in an early stage but we tried using it on Youtube application and it showed results as expected. The use case of now on tap is still limited although this feature has a lot of potential and can evolve into a solid highlight of the Android operating system.
Pricing and availability
Huawei Nexus 6P will be available in 2 storage options 32GB and 64GB variant priced at INR 39,999 and INR 42,999 respectively. The device is already available for Pre-booking in two color options – Aluminium and Graphite. The device start shipping starting November 2. The device is exclusively available on Flipkart with tempting pre-booking offers.
OUR FIRST IMPRESSIONS
The Nexus 6P is built using premium materials with best in class display, powerful camera module and a high capacity battery seems like an impressive device. But we are a bit worried about its survival as devices like Galaxy S6 and LG G4 offer great competition to this device that fall under same price segment. We are still not sure about the heating issues caused by Snapdragon 810 chipset and how Huawei has managed to tackle these issues. Also lack of expandable storage and unavailability on 128GB variant might be a deal breaker for many. We would still hold our final verdict for detailed Review.
