"In a post published to the Google Research blog this past week..."
Uh huh...
And even in GOOGLE'S example shot (the one on the mountain) the HDR one looks worse.
Thanks for making my point.
Posted via the Android Central App
When speaking of one's opinion, it is impossible for someone else to make their point - they can only agree or disagree. I don't think it was clear if TraderGary had done either, but rather was just providing additional information.
I suspect if a poll were done regarding people's opinions of which of those pictures looks better, a substantial majority would agree with the Petapixel author in preferring the results of the HDR-derived image. That doesn't make you or anyone else who would choose the non-HDR wrong, per se, as it's subjective, a matter of opinion.
It's clear that you're dissatisfied with the Nexus 6 camera performance and see HDR as negatively impacting picture performance (something I generally only find to be the case with shots involving motion), and I sincerely hope you find an app which will resolve your concerns to your satisfaction. If we're basing performance on the court of public opinion, though, HDR mode is usually a good thing with the stock app.
The availability of the new camera API to developers is still a very new thing. We can all rest confident that existing apps will be improved, and new apps launched, to take advantage of that to deliver substantially better performance. Sony's IMX214 Exmor sensor is a very, very capable unit.