It is October 2015, and Google has finally delivered the ‘Premium’ Nexus the world has been waiting for. Manufactured by Huawei, the Nexus 6P is a technical high-water mark for the line, featuring a full-metal unibody made of aeronautical-grade aluminium. It is a large, sophisticated 178g device with a unique ‘visor’ at the top that houses the camera and various sensors. In the UK, it has arrived as the definitive choice for the Android purist who refuses to compromise on build quality or camera performance.
The technical headline is the 5.7-inch Quad HD AMOLED display (2560 x 1440) and the inclusion of the ‘Nexus Imprint’ fingerprint sensor on the rear, one of the fastest and most accurate biometrics on the market. Under the hood, it is powered by a refined version of the Snapdragon 810 (v2.1) and 3GB of RAM, ensuring it runs ‘Stock’ Android 6.0 Marshmallow with flawless fluidity. It is also one of the first major smartphones to adopt USB-C for charging and data, offering ‘fast charging’ that provides seven hours of use from just ten minutes of plug-in time.
The camera is a major technical leap forward for the Nexus brand. It features a 12.3-megapixel Sony sensor with massive 1.55µm pixels, designed specifically to capture more light in dim conditions. While it lacks OIS, the raw sensor performance and Google’s HDR+ processing result in some of the best photos of 2015. It also features dual front-facing stereo speakers and a massive 3450 mAh battery. The Nexus 6P is the ultimate expression of the Nexus philosophy; it is a powerful, beautifully built, and uncompromisingly ‘Google’ experience that proved the search giant could play in the premium hardware space.