Nexus 6 review—The “premium” price still comes with compromises

Specs at a glance: Google Nexus 6
Screen	2560×1440 5.96" (493 ppi) AMOLED
OS	Android 5.0, Lollipop
CPU	2.7GHz quad-core Snapdragon 805
RAM	3GB
GPU	Adreno 420
Storage	32GB or 64GB
Networking	802.11ac, Bluetooth 4.1
Cellular Bands	Americas SKUGSM: 850/900/1800/1900 MHzCDMA: 0/1/10WCDMA: 1/2/4/5/8LTE: 2/3/4/5/7/12/13/17/25/26/29/41CA DL: B2-B13, B2-B17, B2-29, B4-B5, B4-B13, B4-B17, B4-B29 Rest of world SKU GSM: 850/900/1800/1900 MHzCDMA: not supportedWCDMA: 1/2/4/5/6/8/9/19LTE: 1/3/5/7/8/9/19/20/28/41CA DL: B3-B5, B3-B8
Ports	Micro USB 2.0, headphones
Camera	13MP rear camera with OIS, 2MP front camera
Size	6.27" × 3.27" × 0.4" (159.26 x 82.98 x 10.06mm)
Weight	6.2 oz. (176g)
Battery	3220 mAh
Starting price	$249 with two-year contract, $649 unlocked
Other perks	NFC, wireless charging, "turbo" charging, Ambient notifications, always-on voice commands

Another year, another Nexus phone. Google's flagship devices are the fast track for the newest software, but they've typically been devices of compromise. A bad camera, no LTE, or a poor battery—there's always something. The compromises were usually easy to forgive thanks to the incredible—probably subsidized—pricing scheme that Google has used in the past.

This year, Google has tapped the newly Lenovo owned Motorola to build a massive, 6-inch monster of a phone with a 1440p screen. It has nearly doubled the price up from $350 for the Nexus 5 to a whopping $650 for an unlocked Nexus 6. Google says they're aiming for more "premium" devices this year, and the company is working with all four big US carriers to offer the phone with a two-year contract.

The price is well into the range of flagship devices from other companies, and it makes us less forgiving of any faults we might come across. The Nexus 6 is still not really expensive for what it is, though. Consider that an unlocked Galaxy Note 4 costs around $800 and has a smaller screen, and you're still getting a deal on Google's giant phablet.

The most important part of any phone is the software, and the Nexus 6 is one of the first phones with Android 5.0 Lollipop. The new OS is one of the biggest releases from Google in years, so we're covering all the software changes in a separate review. Be sure to check that out for an idea of the new software packed into the Nexus 6.

The Nexus 6 isn't the only game in town for Lollipop, though. The 2014 Moto X has already been updated to the new OS, and the Nexus 5 is still a fine phone that's still for sale at $350. That predecessor will probably be the Nexus 6's biggest competition.

How big is too big? It changes every year

And yes, "big" is the word of the day with the Nexus 6. It features a massive 6-inch, 2560×1440 AMOLED display which makes it the biggest mainstream smartphone out there.

Every year a company seems to push the envelope of smartphone screen sizes, and every year someone declares the new model to be "too big." When Steve Jobs unveiled the first iPhone in 2007, he called the 3.5-inch screen "giant"—laughable today. In 2009, Engadget described the 4.3-inch HTC HD2 as "a hulking, intimidating, massive slab of a gadget." Today, the HD2 would qualify as a "mini" device—the Sony Z3 "Compact" is 4.6 inches. In 2011, Cnet said the 5.3-inch Galaxy Note would require "clown-style pantaloons" to fit into a pocket, but now even iPhones hit 5.5 inches.

Size standards change annually, and despite the hyperbole at the time, we somehow manage to deal with ever-larger devices. At six inches, the Nexus 6 is the new high-water mark for mainstream screen sizes, making us again question how big of a device we can deal with.

But, it's really not too big.

Well, let's elaborate. The first day, we swore it was too big. Every time we held the Nexus 6, we felt it would drop, probably shatter into a million pieces, and maybe even dent the floor because it was just so huge.

As the days passed, though, we got more and more used to it. After about a week, going back to the Nexus 5 felt like using a tiny toy replica of a smartphone. The point is, you can't just walk into a store and try it for a few minutes—you've got to live with something this large for a week to get used to it.

The Nexus 6 will still fit in a pocket, but it's big enough that it can restrict movement a bit. You won't want to do any vigorous activity while lugging this around. If you normally carry your phone in a bag or purse, though, you won't have a problem. And Motorola has done a great job with the bezels, squeezing a 6-inch screen into a body that is only about 1mm taller and 5mm wider than the iPhone 6 Plus.

The Nexus 6 comes in two colors: white and blue. The blue really comes out in pure-white lighting like under the fluorescent lights of our photo setup, but in certain lighting it can look almost black. The overall phone design is that of a super-sized Moto X.

The front is an all-black glass face with relatively tiny bezels. On the top and bottom of the screen are speaker grills, and unlike the Moto X, the Nexus 6 has a front facing speaker behind each speaker grill. The speaker grills stick out of the screen slightly, so if you put the device face-down, the speakers act as little feet. The speakers are blaringly loud on the max setting. It's not something you'd want to seriously listen to music on, but it's great for games, notifications, alarms, and speakerphone.

On the back, the usual "Nexus" logo was changed from same-color lettering on the Nexus 5 to shiny chrome letters on the Nexus 6. It's a little shouty, especially on the blue version where the colors are contrasting. It's also not centered, since it has to share space with the Motorola dimple on the back. The back feels like it was designed for the Motorola logo and camera—which would look nice and minimal—and then Google came along and slapped a huge "Nexus" logo on the back. It's almost Verizon-like.

Google says it's aiming for a "premium" product, and at least on the build quality side of things, this device does a good job of living up to that. Unlike the smooshy, marshmallow-like back of the Nexus 9, the Nexus 6 has a rock-hard plastic back that feels like the milled "polycarbonate" backs from a recent Nokia phone. Along with the aluminum sides, the whole device feels like a solid brick that could double as a hammer and/or weapon in a pinch.

The back is rounded to fit nicely into a hand; thus, the tradeoff is that it becomes a seesaw on a table.

The screen

One of the more interesting features of the 6-inch, 2560×1440 AMOLED screen is that, on the lowest brightness, it turns pink. We're going to call this a feature, and not a bug, since the screen can do normal-color low brightness at about the same level as the Note 4 (2 cd/m²). While Samsung just stopped at that point with its AMOLED screen, Motorola takes things a step further and goes for the absolute lowest brightness without regard for color accuracy. This pink mode allows the Nexus 6 to hit (0.9 cd/m²)—one of the darkest displays we've ever seen. The pinkness doesn't really bother us when we're just trying to get stuff done in the dark. Our primary concern is not being blinded.

Because of the way brightness works in Lollipop, you're only able to get this pink mode in a dark environment. "Adaptive Brightness" is meant to be on all the time. It works like automatic brightness, but there is still a slider you can adjust.

When you're not in the dark, the colors on the screen are fine. It's still an AMOLED display, though, so you're still dealing with oversaturated colors.