[Nexus 6  General] guthrien:
I hesitate to contribute because it seems like people are wanting to believe one thing or another....I've got no axe to grind with the Nexus 6, I think it's a great phone that some reviewers seemed to denigrate in retrospect, even if they said good things on launch. It may not have the best camera, but it's not crap either, and I get sick of hearing how Nexus phones never had good optics until the 6P. My situation was, I had zero plans to upgrade, but I have a family member on my plan who gets my hand me down phones. She busted the Note I had previous, Google happened to be selling 64gb carbon 6Ps that day, an unexpected overnight delivery and now I've had the 6P instead for 4 days.

My initial feeling was, I didn't want to give up the giant screen, as the 6 effectively becomes all the tablet I need. The 6P feels more premium and metal, but I liked the light, smooth feel of the 6. The 6P is better one handed (think Note 5), but without a case I don't like the metal edges as much as the smooth plastic of the 6. While I still prefer the real-estate of the 6, the 6P has one of the best panels I've ever seen on a mobile device. I mentioned the Note 5 before? That's a beautiful phone with the nicest components I've seen, that I would never buy on Verizon or deal with Touchwiz again. Well, this is the Note 5 Nexus, because it has just as good a panel on it which is amazing. The clarity is a step up and it has that wonderful effect that I liked on iphones where it looks like the icons are right under the edge of the screen. Net effect is beautiful, I like to read on my phones and I've never seen text pop like it does on this (outside the previously mentioned Note 5). So do I miss the real estate? Sure, but this is the one of the best screens I've ever seen.

I was happy it also has dual speakers, and I'd say without modification it unquestionably has clearer sound than the 6, both in playing media and on a call. But my 6 was modded with Viper and I don't feel like it's an upgrade, simply better out of the box. Camera? Way faster to focus, and way quicker with a HDR shot which is my personal preference. Still, I feel the Nexus 6 camera was undervalued except in low-light where the 6P is actually not bad. Excellent addition? The fingerprint reader. It works perfectly for me, no more pin-screens or LastPass hangups, it's a true plus.

The other plus I have to give the 6P is that it's noticeably quicker. Switching apps, waiting for tasks to finish or apps to open, etc., it's much faster. I never felt my 6 was slow, but the 6P is always noticeably quicker. One of those things I wouldn't have ever noticed until I used this, because the 6 doesn't feel slow. I would never have complained about lag or any of that garbage. But with a stock kernel, the 6P is quicker and you wouldn't hesitate to notice it if you had to use it all day. And the 810 doesn't get noticeably hot, it gets warm when I'm doing a ton of reboots or something, but so did my 6. I somehow doubt we have the exact configuration here as we did on day 1 of some of the other launches. Believe what you like about that. It charges fast as hell, just like my 6, and now I have to buy new cords when I just bought extras for my Nexus 6 two weeks ago. Not thrilled about that.

I guess what I'm saying to someone on the fence is, yes, sitting here having used both phones in the same week, the 6P feels like a noticeable upgrade in most ways. It 'feels' more expensive (despite not being at launch), it has perhaps the best panel of any device on the market and it runs stock android (natch), and it has a camera almost the equal of other flagships. It's noticeably quicker. HOWEVER...the Nexus 6 felt unique because it was the biggest phone going and it was giant and we've all decided bigger screens are preferable because we do everything on our phones now and I'm a little sad to see that part go. Is one handed operation better? I don't know yet. I still use LMT on both phones. Having this panel might be better, being faster might be better, this camera might be better, but I still miss the feel of the 6. You don't miss what you don't have if you're satisfied with what you got, and I was pretty satisfied with the Nexus 6. It's an upgrade, but damn, it's a year later, it's SUPPOSED to be. Good on you Google, but most people still keep their phones longer, and should, unless you're crazy and on XDA and probably won't, so yes, you'll enjoy the Nexus 6P. A lot of the big devs have moved too, so you'll still get to enjoy quality ROM work. A year from now, the new Nexus will likely be better still. And so it goes.