[Nexus 6P Accessories] nickmilla15:
Introduction

With every Android device, accessory availability is one of my biggest concerns. Having been with the Nexus and HTC lines for a long time, this was an intimate, but expected pain. That’s why when I saw Zerolemon put out an extended battery case for the 6P, I was both excited and amused. The thought of adding 8,000+mah of battery to a 5.7” device with such a large footprint due to the front facing speakers was going to be a disaster. But Zerolemon did it, and in what I believe is the most elegant way possible. Sturdy tpu, and clever cutouts for the camera, fingerprint sensor, and ports. Enough intro, let's dive into what’s happening with Version 2.0 of Zerolemon’s Nexus 6P battery case.

This review is going to be mostly a response to the famous AndroidPolice article that infamously bashed this case, and rightly so! You can view that here.

While I didn’t get to test the first version, there’s a reason (or many) they pulled it, and while correcting the fatal camera issue, they fixed a few more. It’s baffling that they released the original case so late in the 6P’s lifetime, and Version 2 just leaves me scratching my head (but admittedly grateful).

Quick Gallery Here

The good stuff:

Capacity: With 8,500mAh of juice, this case will keep your Nexus 6P ticking for almost 2.5 times as long. I don’t know why people say almost three, but let's break it down. 8500/3450= 2.463768. We’ll round that to 2.46, and then generously bump that up to 2.5. What’s the big deal? Like 7100mah, which is larger than the battery in an iPhone 6s. Yikes. Regardless, this case is going to be great for travelling, being out and about all day and night, and or a camping trip.

Protection: The multi-layer design offers ample plastic/TPU(in fairly large quantities) to protect your device. There is a front lip (insert picture), that should have the surface area and depth to save your phone from drops.

LED charge indicators: Four LEDs on the back of the case show the current battery level. A pretty standard feature, but useful nonetheless.

The Not So Good Stuff:

Weight: A naked 6P, without a screen protector or case, weighs 179 grams. The combined weight of the ZeroLemon case and the phone itself pushes that up to about 430 grams, which is more than twice as heavy! When a phone weighs nearly a pound, it makes it cumbersome and tiring to hold or use for long periods of time, and that’s definitely at play here.

Bulk: I’m going to heavily borrow some stats here, but here we go. Putting this case on your phone makes it ridiculously large. So large you’ll not want to carry it around, and it will definitely draw looks. It adds 23mm to the length of the phone, 10mm to its width and 14mm the thickness. It triples the thickness of the phone, destroying every design and engineering feat of the phone.

You’ll be using this thing with two hands at all times, and probably be wishing you had a third to help balance this thing.

Here’s where things really start to differ though. Remember those improvements I was talking about at the beginning of this article? :)

Charging speed: ~~Neither the input or output of the battery pack supports any sort of quick charging. Charging the case, and charging the phone with the case, is slow. It takes several hours to charge the case from empty, so you better not forget to plug it in overnight, because you aren't going to add much juice to it during your 30 minute commute to work.~~ Both the input and output of the device support quick charging over USB C! Admittedly charging both the case and phone from empty will take 7-8 hours, but you can definitely plug it in and top up in thirty minutes.

Camera issues: We've already established that the rear of the ZeroLemon case is thick.~~ In order to accommodate the camera, a deep canal cuts through the back of the case, exposing the lens, LED flash and other sensors. However, the canal is not quite wide enough, leading to an unintentional vignette on the left side of all pictures and video. The shiny plastic on the sides of the cutaway also reflects light, which adds further artifacts to images. As a photography enthusiast, this drives me absolutely insane. How did no one notice this when the product was tested!?!~~ This was the reason the case was discontinued for a bit, and I’m happy to report there are no camera issues here! Snap away on that weekend camping trip :)

Unfortunately the fingerprint reader problems are still very much an issue. Unless you initially trained your phone to recognize your finger tip, you will have to go into your settings and re add your fingers, or repeatedly press them to the sensor in hopes it trains them on that part of your finger (unsuccessful for me).

NFC is no longer blocked! I can confirm it does in fact work now. Android Pay your way to the future!

Assembly: It is a tad confusing, but basically you slide your phone down onto the brick part, place the plastic ring on top of your device and the battery pack, and then slip that into the TPU part. Not super easy, but you should get the hang of it without too much trouble.

Build Quality: The plastic ring looks and feels cheap; I’d definitely handle it with care. The TPU part does very much have those injection molding nibs, but their placement makes them unnoticeable unless you're searching for them. The TPU feels sturdy, and I haven’t noticed any flexing or creaking. The cutout around the headphone jack can hinder the use of certain cables though, due to its shape.

Conclusion:

One day I was going about my business. Using my phone from 7am 6pm. Then I spontaneously agreed to go to a concert. I was tired, but I made it through! My Nexus 6P did not. That night I started looking for a battery case for my 6P, and saw the Android Police review of it. I was willing to even accept the camera issues! I followed the Amazon link, and saw it was discontinued. I then found out why, and heard they would be releasing a newer, tweaked version. So I held out.

My patience rewarded me with a gigantic, but significantly less flawed case than I had anticipated. I can slap this case on and not have to be near a charger for 3-4 days, but make no mistake- I swap to my TechArmor bumper otherwise.

No more NFC blockage, camera artifacts, and the addition of quick charging make this case a buy for anyone who might find themselves in a situation where they’re using their phone excessively, or in a remote area (me). Or people who dislike external battery packs (also me). The only showstopper: the $60 price tag. You be the judge, but I don’t think it’ll disappoint!

Thank you to Lemonzero for providing me with a review unit, and readers can use the coupon code RGSQJDX8 to get a USB C charging station with four UBS ports for just $19.99!