The Google Nexus 6 - 3 months on. Likes? Dislikes? Thoughts? Concerns?

[VW Maverick]

The Nexus 6, three months on | Android Central

Good excuse to get some opinions on the Google Nexus 6 by Motorola.
It's been out for a bit so let's get some feedback.

Don't want this to turn into a complaint only thread.
Even with a couple of concerns, the device has many upsides and if you reply, you hopefully still have it.

As for me, I still love it and have since Day 1.
It is my one and only/daily driver device.
I have had ZERO problems. Several questions, but no problems.
I just unlocked the bootloader and rooted it. I am running CM12 nightlies on it and even did the LED hack to get that working (which is cool).
Loving the basic, no nonsense, no bloat set up.

So sound off on your thoughts of the Nexus 6.

Mav.

 

[Aquila]

Love mine, it's pretty much awesome sauce.

 

[anon(5506951)]

I think if I got one, I'd have to pay someone to root it for me, since I'm chicken, lol. I would want to unencrypt, enable the LED and install whatever was needed to maximize the battery. I just wouldn't want to void the warranty.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[TraderGary]

I'm 2 months in here. I've also had absolutely zero problems and love this thing. The only thing that I have found to be problematic is the exterior. If it only had the same exterior as the Nexus 5, the Nexus 7, and my new Nexus 9. I had absolutely no need for a case on any of those devices. However my Nexus 6 is downright slippery. I have a wet bar of Ivory soap that is not as slippery as my Nexus 6. So this is the first device that I had to keep in a case. Thanks to Mav, I purchased the cruzerlite bugdroid TPU case and it works just fine but it adds a lot of bulk. I'm still looking for the perfect case. Any suggestions?

 

[Aquila]

I went with Spigen for the same slipperiness issue, makes the phone LOOK HUGE but doesn't seem to actually be that different in pocket, etc.

 

[grover5]

I got the spigen slim armor case. Its great. I've only had the nexus 6 for a week but I think its fantastic. I see no lag based on encryption and the battery has been better than I expected. The screen is amazing. Link to the case but I'd get it on amazon. Its much cheaper there.

http://www.spigen.com/nexus-6-case-slim-armor.html

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[Orion78]

Two months in and I'm still in love with this phone. I love the big gorgeous screen. Reading and watching vids is super. My battery life is awesome. Lollipop is beautiful and smooth. I have a Spigen ultra hybrid case to show off the back. I can see myself with this phone for a long time.

 

[Aquila]

I got the spigen slim armor case. Its great. I've only had the nexus 6 for a week but I think its fantastic. I see no lag based on encryption and the battery has been better than I expected. The screen is amazing. Link to the case but I'd get it on amazon. Its much cheaper there.

Spigen Nexus 6 Slim Armor Case | Spigen

Posted via the Android Central App

That's the one I bought (white and black) and I got it from Amazon.

 

[Greg C]

The Nexus 6 is the best phone I've had. At first I was concerned about the size. I wasn't sure I would like such a large device. Well I am used to the size now. It doesn't appear so big now. I'm glad the screen is large... the display is beautiful. I'm glad that Motorola included the turbo charger. For such a large battery it will take quite a bit longer to charge without it. The only thing I wish the Nexus 6 had was an LED light for notifications and even that I am used to not having.

 

[cozzy123]

Awesome phone! Only things I could possibly knock are a somewhat slippery shell and the graphic performance isn't always lag free. I think they can tune that slight lag with an update though (I usually only notice the lag when the phone hasn't been restarted in two days or so).

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[radgatt]

I like my phone overall. I like the sound quality that the speakers put out. I like the size of the phone even though I sometimes have trouble doing things with one hand. I don't like how close the buttons on the side are to one another. I wish they were spread out just a little bit further like on the Moto X. The picture quality on the camera is more than acceptable for me. The slippery back is something that I got rid of with a case. The software is something that I like. It does have some bugs but I'm confident that Google is working on those with a software update. I do miss some of the Motorola features that were on my Moto X. I actually prefer to have Motorola's Moto Display vs Google's Ambient Display since Moto Display is more consistent than Ambient Display has been. Besides that, it's one helluva phone.

 

[Robbie317]

It does everything I want/need it to do and then some.. It's head and shoulders better than the Nexus 5 it replaced...

Battery life could be better but it's not an issue.. Specially coming from the Nexus 5... Super heavy use on my Nexus 6 and it still goes 8 - 10 hours on a single charge with 5 hours screen on... My average use it takes me 15 - 17 hours with 3+ hours screen on, Top charging while at my desk at work and it isn't an issue at all, Only time it's come remotely close to being an issue is on a busy Saturday where I am out and about all day... and even then it still made it through the day just wouldn't have made it far into the night, but that is where the turbo charger came in handy... Get home plug it up for 30 - 45 minutes while getting ready to go back out and I can now go all night...

Sucker feels built like a tank... Super solid feeling in the hand, early on it felt heavy but now it just feels solid.. I bought 5 different cases and as of right now I've settled on the Ringke Max in gun Metal.. I have their slim case as well, a Diztronic, Spigen hybrid, Tudia............ I didn't think mine was slick to the touch naked but I was more afraid of dropping it because of the size thus the case.. and I have dropped it a couple of times.... but luckily not a single scratch... Not sure how it would have taken those drops without a case... Glad I didn't have to figure it out.

I disabled Ambient display.. Loved it when I got notifications but hated how it lit up every time I moved the phone or bumped my desk... I wish it had more options/settings... Like ONLY coming on when you get a text, email or what not.... Not every time I pick it up or move it...

I could probably go for a complete silent mode vs only going down to vibrate (But I think I read that is coming with the next update) The vibration mode is super strong in my phone... It freaking shakes my whole desk.. I can hear it rattle the desk or my nightstand from across the room... I've had to actually put my phone in the "NONE" mode at night when I go to bed or it would wake me up with every email I got..

Great overall device... LOVE IT!!!

 

[Jeremy8000]

For me, it's almost the perfect phone in every way. Performance is as good or better than any other phone I've tried, the display is gorgeous, sound is even better I had anticipated even given early praise it received before I got mine, battery life is more than sufficient for my needs, network connectivity is exceptional, I haven't experienced any lag whatsoever, and, as unlikely as it is that I would move to another carrier, I know that I could do so without missing a beat or having to go through the trouble of migrating data over and running through an initial configuration.

The only things I would change if I could have one made bespoke would be to give it the option of leather/wood backs as offered on the Moto X via Moto Maker, and addition of a memory card slot - but that is far from a necessity as I have a Meenova on my keychain if I ever really were to need it

For my purposes, there is no other phone currently manufactured that hits all the checkboxes for me like the N6.

 

[anon(5506951)]

For those of you that have the Nexus 6 and use it on T-Mobile, did you get it from the Play store or Motorola? How is the signal strength, are you able to get 4G/LTE? Do you have to be on contract to take advantage of 4G/LTE speeds? I ask because I'm on prepaid, and have only ever been HSPA+ speeds because my current S3 is an international variant.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[Robbie317]

For those of you that have the Nexus 6 and use it on T-Mobile, did you get it from the Play store or Motorola? How is the signal strength, are you able to get 4G/LTE? Do you have to be on contract to take advantage of 4G/LTE speeds? I ask because I'm on prepaid, and have only ever been HSPA+ speeds because my current S3 is an international variant.

Posted via the Android Central App

I got mine from Motorola and use it on T-Mobile... Here in Dallas it works amazingly... Very strong signal in this area... Call quality has been great... I get 4G LTE pretty much every where across Dallas and Fort Worth... 3G and HSPA+ once you get 10+ miles outside of the city in the more rural areas but that has improved in the year since I switched to T-Mobile... Driving the hour plus up to Oklahoma (which I only do a couple of times per year) the 4G LTE signal up along 35 and 75 headed north has expanded considerably from back in August when I made that trip (I just went two weeks ago) I know they bought a ton of 700 mhz spectrum in North Texas which once turned on SHOULD improve that coverage even more and that reach should be awesome some time later this year......

 

[Jeremy8000]

For those of you that have the Nexus 6 and use it on T-Mobile, did you get it from the Play store or Motorola? How is the signal strength, are you able to get 4G/LTE? Do you have to be on contract to take advantage of 4G/LTE speeds? I ask because I'm on prepaid, and have only ever been HSPA+ speeds because my current S3 is an international variant.

Posted via the Android Central App

Mine is from the Play store, and works flawlessly with T-Mobile (I also tested it with a Verizon data sim, with which it worked (at least for data) very well as well. Source shouldn't make any difference in how it performs with any network. T-Mobile's S3 doesn't run on their LTE, but unless your plan specifically restricts you to HSPA+, the Nexus 6 should be ine.

View attachment 160278

Holy heck that's fast!

 

[gmermel]

I purposely had the Droid turbo on trial when the Nexus arrived. After only 10 minutes, the size became my definition of "normal"; it was such positive I couldn't deal with the Teenee Tiny Turbo. The feel in the hand is perfect. The Turbo, which has a similar curved back, still felt like a tank, while the Nexus felt perfectly natural. I think the placement of the power button was a stroke of genius. It falls naturally where my finger lands when I hold the phone. A little slick, but I tried a skin and didn't like it as much as naked. No drops so far.....

The battery was my main concern, and I was frightened I'd "have" to stick with the Turbo on that basis. It took a few days to find that this too was not an issue. Maybe 2/3rds the Turbo, but easily makes it through a day (15+ hours, w/ 5 SOT). Once that issue was settled, the Turbo went back.

Performance wise, I'm not too demanding, and it kills my 2 year old Droid Maxx. Not a picture fiend either, and happy with what I get (maybe a little slow).

Over the next weeks I started reaching for it instead of my beloved Nexus 7 as my go-to device at home. As wonderful as the 7's screen is, against the 6 it's somewhat dull and the resolution doesn't measure up. The 6 is large enough to allow me to browse, read, and play my low tech games comfortably, and the curved body makes the 7's boxy shape seem out-dated and almost uncomfortable.

I'm thinking of rooting. No need beyond the ability to use recovery to rebuild the device in case of a reset. And I will if I learn rooting offers battery management options I don't have (any advice on this?). I may root anyway just for the challenge and "opportunity for education".

A downside to all of these upsides is that I use it so much at home I am often down to half charge in the afternoon. Being neurotic about the battery this bothers me, though unnecessarily. I mean really, if I'm out and about am I going to spend another 3 hours SOT. It's more a matter of my history with the Maxx. Much as I hate having battery be an issue, and have always chosen phones with that as my primary criteria, the device is worth making that compromise.|

Did I mention that I love this thing?

 

[Robbie317]

Holy heck that's fast!

lol.. I mostly sit in the 20 - 30 Mbps range around Dallas... A few sweet spots that I hit 60 - 100+... but honestly I can't tell much if any difference between 20 Mbps and 100 Mbps... At least not in loading webpages, uploading pictures or checking Twitter or Facebook or even streaming a movie from Netflix or even Google play. would probably be awesome if I had like 5 device tethering to the phone...

It is super nice to know the speed is there though....

 

[Jeremy8000]

lol.. I mostly sit in the 20 - 30 Mbps range around Dallas... A few sweet spots that I hit 60 - 100+... but honestly I can't tell much if any difference between 20 Mbps and 100 Mbps... At least not in loading webpages, uploading pictures or checking Twitter or Facebook or even streaming a movie from Netflix or even Google play. would probably be awesome if I had like 5 device tethering to the phone...

It is super nice to know the speed is there though....

Yep, that kind of bandwidth is overkill - but better than the alternative. I'm comfortably in the 20Mbps range, which is more than ample for anything I'll do on my device or my device plus one connected via hotspot. The only thing I can think of that would give functional advantage for that kind of bandwidth is if you were to upload streaming 4k video.

 

[Scott7217]

So sound off on your thoughts of the Nexus 6.

It's good to hear people's positive experiences with the Nexus 6.

Most of the time when I read complaints about the Nexus 6, I usually see them in other forums, like in the one for the Nexus 5.


Android Central -- Will you jump from the Nexus 5 to the Nexus 6 (X) or will you stay? (forum link)


Perhaps if people hear about the good things about the Nexus 6, they might change their minds.