These are just some impressions I’ll randomly throw out about the 6P (32g Aluminum in NY, NY) as a G4 user. I’ll try to keep them short. I don’t think I’ll be successful.
Coming from the G4, which I thought had pretty good build quality with it’s interchangeable leather back and ever so slightly curved display, picking up that cool metal frame out of the box was a totally different beast. This thing is incredible in the hand. It’s got real weight to it that the G4 lacks, and it’s overall just solid. I bought the Aluminum one cause I liked the contrast between the light gray and black, and how the “nexus” on the back stands out over the black version. It feels premium, which is cliché but hey, it IS what it is. I actually find myself worrying a little less over maintenance of the 6P then the G4 due to that leather back. As nice as it was at first, I found myself hiding it at the very first sight of rain, messy hands, you name it. I’m super careful with both devices, but at the end of the day you can always wipe off the back of the N6. You can argue that the leather back of the G4 is more of a pain in terms of maintenance then I’d prefer. Back to Nexus land, with my girlfriend having a 6 Plus, and my friend having both a Moto N6 & a Galaxy S6 Edge+, trying to be as objective as possible the winner goes to the 6P in terms of build quality. It’s just that good.
That screen. Again, my G4 has what I believe to be the best LCD screen on the market. The 6P’s screen, I think, edge’s that out. That’s not saying I believe the 6P’s screen is a little better than the G4, that’s me still saying that the 6P is fantastic and the G4’s is nearly that damn good too. LG’s claim to fame is how true to life the G4’s display is, and when putting certain wallpapers on both, they probably are right as the 6P’s screen tended to make reds in a wallpaper a little on the orange side. However, without a better way to explain it, the 6P’s screen just looks “funner”. Those blacks, and the way colors get so deep and seemingly punch you in the eye socket, It’s a viewing experience that you can really show off.
On a display side note, upon putting them side to side with the Edge Plus, there are situations where the Edge looks ever so slightly better, and others where actually the 6P looks better. But if you were to ever be splitting hairs, here’s where you do it. I can’t call a clear winner. Oh, and it stomps on the Moto N6. As expected.
Front facing speakers. Wow. I never had front facing speakers. I did not get the hype. Who cares? I listen to music with headphones. Well, I retract all of it. As I’m typing away here, I’ve got the 6P next to me playing some Spotify (yeah I still need to cash in my Play Music gift) and It’s simply a joy. Fills my smallish apartment just fine. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not ready to throw out my speakers anytime soon, but this is officially a phone feature I’ll be keeping on my list going forward. A little curious why speaker phone calls don’t use both speakers, but whatevs. Definitely the loudest speaker phone I’ve ever used regardless. The G4’s single rear speaker, up to my 6P purchase, I thought was good. Now, it’s just passable.
User experience/UI. Like I’ve said, I came from the LG G4. Before that, the G3 and before that, the G2 (one of my favorite’s of all time) On the G4, I thought the UI (or UX, whatever you like) was good. Pretty good, actually, ya know? I mean, Smart Notice was kinda useful and pointless all in one. The Icons.. eh, there’s icon packs for that. The app draw… eh, there’s Nova or GNL for that. Which you wanted to switch to anyway cause after some use, the LG UI tends to redraw itself more frequently then I’d like when using everything stock. And it’s mostly, pretty much, almost all the timeish smooth. Oh, and turn off that left screen “learn how to use your G4!” garbage. No LG, stop it. Then you use the Nexus, and in all the little ways, it’s a huge difference. So this is how Android it suppose to operate. It’s hard to articulate the noticeable difference in feeling when running pure Marshmallow over a UI that’s “close to” or “near” stock. The subtle animations, the cohesiveness over how everything works with each other. Google Messenger just works better on the 6P then it ever did on the G4. The GNL just flows smoother on the 6P then it ever did on the G4. It feels, dare I say, premium. Experiencing the 6P, I must join the masses when I say that LG needs to get their **** together with there “UX”. In a nutshell, the 6P runs and feels modern and current whereas the G4 feels ok, but dated.
In an attempt to make a sports analogy out of the two, the G4 is the team with a billion dollar payroll that bought players left and right from different teams (The camera front and back, the leather back, the “Quantum” display) and on paper, they’re some of the best in the league. But they have very little chemistry with each other, and thought the team gets it’s wins, they don’t play like a very well oiled unit and it slows during the course of the season. The N6 is that team that’s all home grown talent, which has finally hit it’s stride and has also become one of the best in the league. Everybody always knowns where everyone is on the ice (hockey fan, go Rangers) and they’re impossible to beat.
Battery life on the 6P bests the G4 relatively easily. I will be fair and mention that the 6P is brand new whereas I’ve got months of use on the G4 already, but with that said I still feel the difference. I never reach for the charger for the 6P during the course of the day, and I always have a decent amount left at night. And I’m more on the heavy side of usage. I had a spare battery with the G4, and depending on the day I had to make sure I brought it with me.
Things I don’t like about the 6P. You have no idea how many times I have headphones on, pull out the phone from my pocket and reach for the fingerprint sensor only to remember it’s upside down. Really, really, really wish the headphone jack was on the bottom.
So far, that’s really it.
Things I miss about the G4. As much as I spent time before blasting the UI, LG put some tricks in there that I used regularly. I had a QuickMemo/Screenshot soft key button added to take a quick screen shot, draw on the screen, and quickly share it with somebody. This was incredibly useful when I wanted to point something out on my screen to somebody and could just circle it, and sent it on it’s way. I still sometimes find myself trying to tap on the screen to turn it off, or use the fingerprint button on the back to take a picture (as the volume down button acted like a shutter). I got a free 128 gig SD card from LG, which was awesome and completely useless with the 6P. I only bought the 32g variant so I have to be mindful of how much I’m putting on here.
I thought I’d miss the camera, and yes the camera on the G4 is so, so good. However the 6P camera is also so, so good. It’s hard to call a winner here. Some situations I preferred the G4, and others I actually think the 6P bests it. Even in low light, where I expected to miss the G4 the most. I really haven’t done enough camera tests to tell which one I really like better, so these are just purely initial impressions.
I’ll try to answer any questions if anyone has any. I’m not an experienced reviewer (no kidding) but so far I’m super impressed with the Nexus. My plan is to eventually even out my usage and go back and froth between the two, but I have to admit that that first jump back to the G4 isn’t going going to be an easy one. Hope some of this was useful to some of you guys and gals.
Coming from the G4, which I thought had pretty good build quality with it’s interchangeable leather back and ever so slightly curved display, picking up that cool metal frame out of the box was a totally different beast. This thing is incredible in the hand. It’s got real weight to it that the G4 lacks, and it’s overall just solid. I bought the Aluminum one cause I liked the contrast between the light gray and black, and how the “nexus” on the back stands out over the black version. It feels premium, which is cliché but hey, it IS what it is. I actually find myself worrying a little less over maintenance of the 6P then the G4 due to that leather back. As nice as it was at first, I found myself hiding it at the very first sight of rain, messy hands, you name it. I’m super careful with both devices, but at the end of the day you can always wipe off the back of the N6. You can argue that the leather back of the G4 is more of a pain in terms of maintenance then I’d prefer. Back to Nexus land, with my girlfriend having a 6 Plus, and my friend having both a Moto N6 & a Galaxy S6 Edge+, trying to be as objective as possible the winner goes to the 6P in terms of build quality. It’s just that good.
That screen. Again, my G4 has what I believe to be the best LCD screen on the market. The 6P’s screen, I think, edge’s that out. That’s not saying I believe the 6P’s screen is a little better than the G4, that’s me still saying that the 6P is fantastic and the G4’s is nearly that damn good too. LG’s claim to fame is how true to life the G4’s display is, and when putting certain wallpapers on both, they probably are right as the 6P’s screen tended to make reds in a wallpaper a little on the orange side. However, without a better way to explain it, the 6P’s screen just looks “funner”. Those blacks, and the way colors get so deep and seemingly punch you in the eye socket, It’s a viewing experience that you can really show off.
On a display side note, upon putting them side to side with the Edge Plus, there are situations where the Edge looks ever so slightly better, and others where actually the 6P looks better. But if you were to ever be splitting hairs, here’s where you do it. I can’t call a clear winner. Oh, and it stomps on the Moto N6. As expected.
Front facing speakers. Wow. I never had front facing speakers. I did not get the hype. Who cares? I listen to music with headphones. Well, I retract all of it. As I’m typing away here, I’ve got the 6P next to me playing some Spotify (yeah I still need to cash in my Play Music gift) and It’s simply a joy. Fills my smallish apartment just fine. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not ready to throw out my speakers anytime soon, but this is officially a phone feature I’ll be keeping on my list going forward. A little curious why speaker phone calls don’t use both speakers, but whatevs. Definitely the loudest speaker phone I’ve ever used regardless. The G4’s single rear speaker, up to my 6P purchase, I thought was good. Now, it’s just passable.
User experience/UI. Like I’ve said, I came from the LG G4. Before that, the G3 and before that, the G2 (one of my favorite’s of all time) On the G4, I thought the UI (or UX, whatever you like) was good. Pretty good, actually, ya know? I mean, Smart Notice was kinda useful and pointless all in one. The Icons.. eh, there’s icon packs for that. The app draw… eh, there’s Nova or GNL for that. Which you wanted to switch to anyway cause after some use, the LG UI tends to redraw itself more frequently then I’d like when using everything stock. And it’s mostly, pretty much, almost all the timeish smooth. Oh, and turn off that left screen “learn how to use your G4!” garbage. No LG, stop it. Then you use the Nexus, and in all the little ways, it’s a huge difference. So this is how Android it suppose to operate. It’s hard to articulate the noticeable difference in feeling when running pure Marshmallow over a UI that’s “close to” or “near” stock. The subtle animations, the cohesiveness over how everything works with each other. Google Messenger just works better on the 6P then it ever did on the G4. The GNL just flows smoother on the 6P then it ever did on the G4. It feels, dare I say, premium. Experiencing the 6P, I must join the masses when I say that LG needs to get their **** together with there “UX”. In a nutshell, the 6P runs and feels modern and current whereas the G4 feels ok, but dated.
In an attempt to make a sports analogy out of the two, the G4 is the team with a billion dollar payroll that bought players left and right from different teams (The camera front and back, the leather back, the “Quantum” display) and on paper, they’re some of the best in the league. But they have very little chemistry with each other, and thought the team gets it’s wins, they don’t play like a very well oiled unit and it slows during the course of the season. The N6 is that team that’s all home grown talent, which has finally hit it’s stride and has also become one of the best in the league. Everybody always knowns where everyone is on the ice (hockey fan, go Rangers) and they’re impossible to beat.
Battery life on the 6P bests the G4 relatively easily. I will be fair and mention that the 6P is brand new whereas I’ve got months of use on the G4 already, but with that said I still feel the difference. I never reach for the charger for the 6P during the course of the day, and I always have a decent amount left at night. And I’m more on the heavy side of usage. I had a spare battery with the G4, and depending on the day I had to make sure I brought it with me.
Things I don’t like about the 6P. You have no idea how many times I have headphones on, pull out the phone from my pocket and reach for the fingerprint sensor only to remember it’s upside down. Really, really, really wish the headphone jack was on the bottom.
So far, that’s really it.
Things I miss about the G4. As much as I spent time before blasting the UI, LG put some tricks in there that I used regularly. I had a QuickMemo/Screenshot soft key button added to take a quick screen shot, draw on the screen, and quickly share it with somebody. This was incredibly useful when I wanted to point something out on my screen to somebody and could just circle it, and sent it on it’s way. I still sometimes find myself trying to tap on the screen to turn it off, or use the fingerprint button on the back to take a picture (as the volume down button acted like a shutter). I got a free 128 gig SD card from LG, which was awesome and completely useless with the 6P. I only bought the 32g variant so I have to be mindful of how much I’m putting on here.
I thought I’d miss the camera, and yes the camera on the G4 is so, so good. However the 6P camera is also so, so good. It’s hard to call a winner here. Some situations I preferred the G4, and others I actually think the 6P bests it. Even in low light, where I expected to miss the G4 the most. I really haven’t done enough camera tests to tell which one I really like better, so these are just purely initial impressions.
I’ll try to answer any questions if anyone has any. I’m not an experienced reviewer (no kidding) but so far I’m super impressed with the Nexus. My plan is to eventually even out my usage and go back and froth between the two, but I have to admit that that first jump back to the G4 isn’t going going to be an easy one. Hope some of this was useful to some of you guys and gals.
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