Nexus 6P review - hands on

 

The Nexus 5X isn't the only new Nexus phone Google announced today. Following in the footsteps of Motorola's giant Nexus 6, the Huawei-made Nexus 6P takes Android 6.0 Marshmallow into phablet territory for those who prefer a big screen mobile experience.

It's the first time Huawei's made a Nexus device, and it's also the first time I've seen stock Android on a Huawei handset as well, which is a welcome change from its exasperating Emotion UI. What's more, Google says its chassis is made out of aeronautical-grade aluminium - no doubt taking a leaf out of Apple's book with the iPhone 6S - giving it a much more high-end look and feel than the soft-touch plastic on the Nexus 5X.

Measuring just 7.3mm thick, the Nexus 6P shares the same high-end bulid quality as many of Huawei's previous smartphones. It feels great in the hand, and its sculpted rear sits comfortably in your palm. Admittedly, I was a bit skeptical about the protruding camera bar on the back of the phone, but it's actually quite subtle and nowhere near as prominent as I thought it would be. I barely noticed it much when I held it in my hand, and it certainly gives it a very distinct look compared to other top-end smartphones.

The 5.7in 2,560x1,440 resolution display looks particularly lovely, too. Unlike the 5X, though, the 6P has an AMOLED display, ensuring super rich, vibrant colours and ultra pitch perfect blacks. This should really come in handy for Marshmallow's new Ambient Display feature, as this shows you the time as soon as you pick up the handset. It's very similar to Motorola's Moto Display, but with an AMOLED panel on board, it will only illuminate the necessary pixels to show the time, saving battery while still being incredibly practical. To go the lock screen, all you need to do is touch the screen.

 

Of course, the Nexus 6P also comes with Google's brand new Nexus Imprint fingerprint sensor on the back of the phone, which lets you unlock the device in under 600ms from sleep. It also works with Android Pay, Google's contactless payment system, letting you pay for in-app purchases with the touch of a button as well as physical goods via contactless. Google has yet to announce which banks and stores will support the service in the UK, but I'll update this article with more information as soon as it's available.

With a large 3,450mAh battery on board, the Nexus 6P should have plenty of stamina. As you'd expect from a high-end smartphone, its USB Type-C port also supports fast charging, giving you 7 hours of battery life from just 10 minutes charge. This is pretty impressive if true, and Google's new Android Sensor Hub should be able to help extend battery life even longer.

Like Apple's M9 coprocessor on the iPhone 6S, this dedicated low-level processor can handle certain low intensity tasks to save energy. Likewise, Android Marshmallow's new Doze feature can put the phone into deep sleep when it's not moving, allowing it to preserve battery power while still being able to respond to messages and notifications.

In addition to the Sensor Hub, the Nexus 6P is powered by an octa-core 2.0GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 v2.1 processor and 3GB of RAM, so it should have plenty of speed to compete with this year's flagships. Android 6.0 Marshmallow felt lovely and smooth when I tried flicking through apps and surfing the web on the show floor, and Google's new Now on Tap feature only took a second or two to spring into life. We'll be testing Android 6.0 Marshmallow in more detail over the coming days, but rest assured, it runs like a dream on both the 6P and 5X.

 

Surprisingly, the Nexus 6P uses the same 12.3-megapixel camera as the Nexus 5X. Using large 1.55um pixels, its overall picture quality and low light capability should be nigh on identical, but the 6P's camera does come with a few extras. These include 240fps slow-mo video over the Nexus 5X's 120fps slow-mo video, and Smart Burst mode. This lets you capture burst images at 30fps, and you can select the best image from the series or use it to create makeshit GIFs. On the front is an 8-megapixel camera, which has a wide f/2.4 aperture for those all-important selfies.

From what I've seen so far, the Nexus 6P is definitely an attractive prospect. By virtue of having stock Android, it's easily Huawei's best phone yet, and the high-end chassis and big, high-resolution screen are stunning. Sadly, there's no microSD card slot, but the Nexus 6P will be available in 32GB, 64GB and 128GB variations, with prices starting from £449 in the UK. It's available to pre-order from the UK Google Store from today, with the phone going on sale in late October. I'll bring you my full review as soon as review samples are available.