Google Nexus 6 Review: A Massive Smartphone, with Bigger Potential

There are big phones, and then there are big phones. Google’s new Nexus 6 falls into the latter category. Packing an absolutely massive 6-inch display, the Nexus 6 dwarfs all but the largest of the large smartphones.

Available through each of the Big Four carriers for $199 with a two-year contract (or $649 unlocked), the Nexus 6 is not only the latest member of Google’s coveted Nexus line of smartphones, but it’s also the most advanced.

With a 13-megapixel camera, gorgeous display, all-day battery life, and Google’s latest Android 5.0 Lollipop operating system, the Nexus 6 has all the makings of a must-have smartphone. But is this monster too big for its own good?

Size and design
The Nexus 6 is Google’s own vision of how a smarphone should look and work. It also closely resembles Motorola’s own Moto X (Google owned Motorola for a while). In fact, the Nexus 6 is basically a stretched-out version of the X. It’s got the same curved metal frame, same dual flash around its rear camera, and the same giant Motorola M on its back panel.

The Nexus 6, however, is far bigger than its cousin. Just how big is Google’s beast? At 6.3 × 3.3 × 0.4 inches, the Nexus 6 is taller, thicker, and wider than both Apple’s iPhone 6 Plus and Samsung’s Galaxy Note 4.

Still, it’s impressive that the Nexus 6, with its larger 6-inch display, isn’t that much bigger than the 6 Plus and Note 4 considering that both phones have smaller 5.5-inch and 5.7-inch displays, respectively.

There’s no hiding the Nexus 6’s weight, though. At 6.5 ounces, Google’s phone outweighs both the iPhone 6 Plus (6.1 ounces) and the Note 4 (6.2 ounces).

How big is too big?
Unfortunately, the Nexus 6’s outsized dimensions make it virtually impossible to use with one hand. Short of professional basketball players and actual giants, I don’t think anyone can stretch his thumb from one side of the Nexus’ screen to the other.

That means you can’t text, dial phone numbers, or even press the Nexus’ back button without awkwardly repositioning your grip or using your other hand to hold this behemoth. And if you’re into super-tight skinny jeans, you might want to rethink your wardrobe before picking up the Nexus 6.

But those are the kinds of sacrifices you make if you want a smartphone with a giant screen. Speaking of which …

Screen
The Nexus 6’s 2560 × 1440 display offers absolutely gorgeous visuals. Thanks to its AMOLED (active matrix of organic light-emitting diodes) screen technology, colors look brilliantly bold, though a bit exaggerated, and blacks are as inky as the void.

Samsung’s Galaxy Note 4, which uses a Super AMOLED display that helps improve outdoor readability, offers a similar viewing experience. Apple’s iPhone 6 Plus, on the other hand, uses an LCD display. And while colors may not appear as vibrant on Apple’s handset, they do look more accurate.

Like the Note 4, the Nexus 6 tends to give whites a slightly blue tint. The iPhone 6 Plus doesn’t have this issue.

There really is nothing quite like reading websites and watching videos on the Nexus 6’s gigantic screen. I’ve never been a fan of streaming movies with my phone, but the Nexus 6’s display actually makes it enjoyable. It’s not exactly the same as watching something on, say, a tablet, but it’s certainly better than your average midsized phone.

Android Lollipop
The first smartphone to come loaded with Google’s Android 5.0 Lollipop, the Nexus 6 is unburdened by the often-cumbersome interface skins that HTC, LG, and Samsung install on their phones. This is Android as Google intended, and it’s fantastic.

If you’ve used Android before, Lollipop will be a pretty big change. The new operating system is designed to look brighter and uses “flatter” icons that look less three-dimensional. It’s a cool aesthetic change, and one that I’m sure most people will enjoy.

Lollipop also comes with a boatload of new features, including guest user accounts that allow you to hand off your phone to a family member or colleague without worrying that she’ll gain access to your private apps and notifications.

While we’re on the topic of notifications, Lollipop has given them a new look and feel, too. Now you can read your notifications including text messages and social media updates directly on your phone’s lock screen. Don’t want the world to see what your friends instant message you? Just set your lock screen notifications to private, and no one will be the wiser.

What’s more, because the Nexus is a Google phone, it will receive operating system updates as soon as Google makes them available. HTC, LG, and Samsung, on the other hand, can take weeks to push out Android updates for their phones.

Looking for more
There’s just one problem with the fact that the Nexus 6 runs a pure version of Android Lollipop, which is that the interface doesn’t make navigating the phone with one hand very easy.

With the Galaxy Note 4, Samsung included a one-handed mode that makes navigating through the phone’s various menus easier with one hand. Likewise, Apple’s iPhone 6 Plus includes a Reachability mode that brings the app icons at the top of the screen down to within reach of your thumb — hence Reachability — by double-tapping the home button.

There are no such features included in Android Lollipop.

That leads me to the larger issue with the Nexus, which is that Google doesn’t do much with the phone’s larger screen. Sure, videos and websites look beautiful, but beyond being big, there’s not much to the Nexus.

Samsung’s Note 4, on the other hand, lets you open multiple apps onscreen at the same time. The Note 4 also gets Samsung’s S Pen stylus, which lets you write directly on the phone’s screen. Even Apple’s iPhone 6 Plus gives you at least a little bit more functionality by giving you a special landscape view with certain Apple apps.

I’m sure at some point someone will release an app that adds a one-handed mode or takes greater advantage of the Nexus’ big screen. I just wish Google had included something like that from the start.

Camera
The Nexus 6’s 13-megapixel camera takes absolutely beautiful photos. Pictures I shot with the phone were consistently clear and colorful. Even photos taken in low-light situations looked wonderful.

In a three-way contest between the Nexus, the iPhone 6 Plus, and the Note 4, I’d still give the top spot to the iPhone 6, as it’s able to fire off photos faster than both the Nexus and Note 4 and offers slightly more accurate colors. Still, the Nexus’ camera is easily one of the best I’ve used.

The Nexus has optical image stabilization (OIS), like the iPhone 6 Plus (but not the iPhone 6). It helps compensate for shaky hand movements by physically moving the camera lens, so you shouldn’t have to worry too much about blurry photos. In practice, though, I found the Nexus 6’s videos were far shakier than the Note 4’s.

Battery
One of the benefits of having a big-screen phone is that they are able to pack massive batteries. The Nexus 6 includes a monster 3,220 mAh battery. Google claims that the Nexus 6 can get you up to 9½ hours of Web surfing over Wi-Fi, which isn’t much of a stretch from what I experienced.

I used the handset on and off watching videos, reading websites, and streaming music for a day and a half before I needed to reach for my charger. Like many new smartphones, including the Moto X and Note 4, the Nexus 6 features a high-speed charger that can add six hours of battery life to your Nexus with just 15 minutes of charge time.

The feature works only when the phone’s battery is nearly depleted, though, to prevent it from being damaged.

If you’re running low on a charge and there’s no power outlet to be found, you can enable Android Lollipop’s built-in battery saver feature, which can give you an extra 90 minutes of battery life.

Should you buy it?
I’m a sucker for big-screen smartphones. I like that they make reading websites easier, that videos are actually worth watching on them, and that games are easier to control with them. And the Nexus 6 does all of this very well.

The fact that the handset runs an unaltered version of Google’s Android Lollipop is an even bigger reason to love this smartphone. Oh, and then there’s its gorgeous display and impressive camera. I just wish Google did more with the Nexus 6’s enormous display.

The Nexus 6 is a very good phone, but Samsung’s Galaxy Note 4 is the best big-screen phone you can buy today. Sure, I wish it, like the Nexus 6, ran an untouched version of Android, but the fact remains that it’s easier to hold and lets you do more with its large screen.

If you’re an Android purist in search of a giant smartphone, the Nexus 6 can’t be beat. But if you want a large phone that truly takes advantage of its substantial size, then go with the Note 4.

Email Daniel at dhowley@yahoo-inc.com; follow him on Twitter at @DanielHowley or on Google+ here.