The Nexus 6P is Google’s flagship phablet and the best phone it has ever made.



Google’s Nexus devices are made in partnership with an electronics manufacturer to showcase what Android can do. Following Motorola last time round, this is the first time Google has partnered with rising Chinese smartphone manufacturer Huawei and the results are excellent.

The 6P is the follow up to Google’s first phablet, the very large 6in Nexus 6. It has a smaller 5.7in screen, which makes it significantly easier to handle, while still providing a big-screen experience.

Aluminium and glass

The new Nexus 6P on the left, last year’s bigger Nexus 6 on the right. Photograph: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian

The all-metal and glass phablet has a plain front – a glass screen with a pair of stereo front-facing speakers at the top and bottom and a notification light in the top left – but the back is relatively unusual.

The curved aluminium body has the Nexus logo printed on its back and a fingerprint scanner two-thirds of the way up. The top bulges in thickness slightly, forming a glass window that contains the camera, as well as NFC and other sensors that don’t work well through metal.

It’s an attractive and distinctive design in a world of flat aluminium slabs. The 6P feels well built and good in the hand. It is 7.3mm thick and weighs 178g, making it as thick as an iPhone 6S Plus but 14g lighter. The Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge+ is thinner at 6.9mm thick and lighter weighing 153g. The Nexus 6P is taller than its rivals, which could make it more difficult to fit into a pocket.

The 5.7in quad HD AMOLED screen is one of the best available. With a pixel density of 518 pixels per inch, it’s easily one of the sharpest, and at phablet size the differences are noticeable. The Nexus 6P’s screen matches that of the Galaxy S6 Edge+ and surpassing Apple’s iPhone 6S Plus, which has 401ppi.

It’s also colourful and bright, but not quite as vibrant as Samsung’s highly saturated AMOLED screens on the Galaxy S6 series, which some may prefer.

The front-facing speakers are some of the best I have heard on a phone, mirroring HTC’s excellent Boom Sound speakers. They are loud, clear and sound even better when the phone is placed on table or desk screen-side up.

Ambient display mode shows recent notifications in black and white when the phone is moved or when they come in. Photograph: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian

Specifications

Screen: 5.7in quad HD AMOLED (518ppi)



5.7in quad HD AMOLED (518ppi) Processor: octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 810



octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 RAM : 3GB of RAM



: 3GB of RAM Storage: 32/64/128GB



32/64/128GB Operating system: Android 6.0 Marshmallow



Android 6.0 Marshmallow Camera: 12.3MP rear camera, 8MP front-facing camera



12.3MP rear camera, 8MP front-facing camera Connectivity: LTE, Wi-Fi, NFC, Bluetooth 4.2, USB-C and GPS



LTE, Wi-Fi, NFC, Bluetooth 4.2, USB-C and GPS Dimensions: 159.3 x 77.8 x 7.3mm



159.3 x 77.8 x 7.3mm Weight: 178g

Snappy for 1.5 days

The Nexus 6P’s build is excellent and the back doesn’t get especially hot despite containing the Snapdragon 810 processor. Photograph: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian

The Nexus 6P has Qualcomm’s current top-of-the-range octa-core Snapdragon 810, which has proved to be a double edged sword for other devices.

In other devices, notably especially the Sony Xperia Z3+, the processor has a tendency to overheat, making the phone overly hot and reducing its performance. While the Nexus 6P does get warm in operation, in my testing it didn’t have an impact. Performance was consistently good, with no noticeable dip when playing games.

It feels the fastest of the phablets currently available, second only to Samsung’s Galaxy S6 Edge+.

Battery life was good but not excellent. I used it as my sole device for more than a week, receiving hundreds of emails, messages and push notifications from the likes of Twitter. I spent 2.5 hours browsing in mixed connectivity conditions, four hours listening to music via Bluetooth headphones, around 20 minutes of gaming and a couple of photos per day.

It would last just under one and a half days. I would wake up with next day with 15% battery, which would see me through till lunchtime. That makes it one of the longer lasting phablets of this year.

Wireless charging and two-day battery life would be nice, but Google’s new Doze power saving system will make it last considerably longer if you leave it idle on a desk for most of the day.

USB-C

USB-C is a step forward for connectors, but will mean new cables. Photograph: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian

Like the Nexus 5X, the 6P has a USB-C port, meaning the power cable can be plugged in either way up. It is significantly less fiddly to use than microUSB. It also charges quickly, reaching 75% in an hour at its fastest rate.

Two cables are provided in the box. One very short standard USB-A to USB-C for plugging the phone into a computer or battery backup and one longer USB-C to USB-C cable for plugging into the charger.

Android 6.0 Marshmallow

Now on Tap is one of the biggest new features for Android 6.0 Marshmallow. Photograph: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian

The Nexus 6P is the first phablet to be available running Google’s latest Android 6.0 Marshmallow. It runs very smoothly and is lag-free, making the phone feel very responsive.

It also has a long standby time thanks to Google’s new power-saving Doze feature. For more information on Doze, app standby and Google’s new Now on Tap digital assistant, please read:

Fingerprint sensor

The fingerprint sensor on the back is accurate, fast and naturally falls under your index finger. Photograph: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian

The Nexus Imprint fingerprint sensor on the back of the phone is the best I have used to date and is that found on the Nexus 5X. It’s fast, accurate and sits naturally under where my index finger lines up when holding the phone. Five fingers can be registered at a time.

By the time I have pulled the phone out of my pocket it is already unlocked and ready to go. However, a downside is that you cannot unlock it without picking up the phone when backside down on a desk.

Third-party app support for the fingerprint scanner is limited but growing. Once you have used a good fingerprint sensor it is difficult to go back to having to enter your pin or password every time.

Camera

The camera is one of the best available, creating detail rich shots with a minimum of effort. Photograph: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian

The Nexus 6P’s 12.3-megapixel camera is excellent. It is the same as the rear camera fitted to the Nexus 5X, and as such produces really great photos, with excellent detail and colour balance in good light, while performing well in low light.

In addition it has a smart burst feature that captures a run of photos at 30 frames per second and automatically picks out a collection of eight photos including what it thinks is the best shot, which invariably I found it was. It will also create quick animated gifs from the burst shot.

The video camera can also do 240 frames-per -second slow motion video, not just 120FPS, which makes for a much more noticeable and rewarding effect.

The 8-megapixel front-facing camera produced shots with surprising detail for selfies, even in mediocre lighting conditions.

Price

The Google Nexus 6P is available in black, silver and white, costing £449 for 32GB of storage, £499 for 64GB and £579 for 128GB.

For comparison, the 16GB iPhone 6S Plus costs £619 and the 32GB Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge+ costs £580. The smaller 16GB Nexus 5X costs £339.

Verdict

The Google Nexus 6P is the best phablet available at the moment, and arguably the best Android smartphone, if its size is not an issue for you.

Despite costing significantly less than the competition, its build, feel and design are top-notch. It is responsive, has an excellent camera and a convenient, accurate and fast fingerprint scanner. Android 6.0 Marshmallow is refined and complements the Nexus 6P.

USB-C is also a lot less fiddly to use and battery life is good enough to see you through one heavy day with enough juice to see you home from a night out.

This is the Google phablet without compromise.

Pros: excellent camera, fantastic fingerprint scanner, great screen, 1.5 days battery life, bloat-free Android 6.0 Marshmallow, great speakers, USB-C Cons: no microSD card slot or removable battery, no wireless charging, quite long

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