My User Experience with the Nexus 6P
Subhankar Bhattacharya
My user experience with Nexus 6P
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This is not a review but rather a user experience of using Nexus 6P for one solid week. I cannot give a review of the device because I am not qualified on Android to properly review a device and that too a Nexus. What is little unique about this experience sharing is, this is my first proper Android experience (more on this later) and after being an iOS user for past 5 years of so. I have used iPhone 4, 4s, 5 and now currently on iPhone 6.
iPhone for me is predominantly for business having replaced my erstwhile BlackBerry. I always wanted a second device and this time opted for the Nexus and this also happens to be my first Nexus.
I have made attempts to use Android before and have tried Galaxy Note 2, Galaxy Note 3, HTC One, but there was always something missing and that was the simplicity of the iOS. I found Samsung and HTC phones to be convoluted with so many features and making the user experience confusing.
Some of the founder members of this IAUG group has been my closest friends and after consultation with them, I decided to try the Nexus - which is supposed to be google’s vision of what Android should be for the end user.
So here is what I feel
Build Quality
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Now let me put this straight, this is a top notch premium built device. For me this is heavier than my iPhone 6 and that is for the aluminum being used and the large battery. Whether it bends? I don't know and I don't care… if you wear skin tight pants and you still prefer to put this large size phone in those pockets and on top of which if you decide to sit and practice yoga and what not, then your phone might bend and that's your problem. If you have any knowledge about material science, Aluminum is a malleable metal and if something is made of Aluminum and it is rock strong then that is Aluminum alloy and it will be heavy. If you need a lighter phone made up of pure Aluminum, you need to take care of it. All these useless bend tests, scratch test and what not are majorly done by folks in United States and UK and there is a reason why Psychiatrists are some of the highest paid people in those countries.
Camera
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You guys may take my opinion in this section with a pinch of salt. I am extremely picky about this subject and photography being one of my passion, I am little choosy about my opinion here.
With my years in photography, I have spent many initial years pixel peeping and image processing has been my subject of choice in engineering as well and with my little experience, I can state that
, this camera is far superior than iPhone 6 but inferior as compared to Note 5. Having said this, the stuff for all users, is a fantastic camera and I am very happy to take pictures with it even with some of its limitations and glitches.
Let me explain in a simple manner. If you take generic shots in broad daylight or even landscape shots and you have basic idea about exposure and where to focus etc, you will hardly feel the difference between Nexus and Note 5. The difference will be very obvious when you start taking shots where details are very important - for example handicrafts, jewellery sets, macro shots, any product photography - the other day I tried taking a close up of a Persian carpet showing the designs etc.. Differences will be clear.
But these are all one of situations and I would be happy to carry this Nexus in travels along with my main travel camera Fuji x-t1. I am taking many pictures with it and I am very very satisfied.
Still there is a BUT existing and that BUT is, this thing takes better pictures in HDR+ mode even in a good lighting conditions. Which means for any lighting conditions if you take a normal picture and the one with HDR+ ON, the HDR turns out to be a better picture. This is something which is not exactly what it should be. HDR is a mode which is used when there is way too much contrasting light situations - imagine under a strong sunlight, you are standing in the shade of a tree. HDR will bring out details in highlights and as well as shadows.
But this thing is not only doing that but it is also making the overall picture look better by enhancing the color, adjusting on the overall exposure. This is beyond conventional HDR and that is probably why this is called as HDR+ as this is doing something more than just HDR adjustments. I am liking the result nevertheless and I am using if, but HDR is a controversial subject and many photographer, do not use HDR because they think it is cheating :) usernot really photography.
To cut it short, HDR gives better picture than the normal mode under almost all lighting conditions and this is the reason why by default the HDR+ mode is ON in the camera settings, which is slightly unusual.
You guys might be thinking, what's the big deal, keep using the HDR+ and get over this. Well the issue is HDR+ is a two stage process - you take the picture in the camera and then the image processing software in the camera applies those magic to make the picture look good and this two stage process makes your camera SLOW. If you are on a sightseeing trip taking pictures, go ahead and use HDR to your heart out, but if you are shooting sports or you are in a party and want to take photos in quick succession, this is slow and will frustrate you a little and you have to let go few shots unless you friends want to give you extra time. The results nevertheless would be fabulous.
So in short - super stuff from Google , but you are still not there in the pinnacle.
I am reading 2016 Nexus would be done by LG again in the lines of G5 or whatever and I hope to get something even better. Till then this will be used but that small thing will remain :)
Display
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This display is not the Note 5 display. Note 5 has the best display available on a smartphone today and it beats every model hands down on all display parameters. So when you compare the Nexus display this is not the absolute best display available but is it bad? No it is one of the fantastic display i have seen and I am liking this display better than my iPhone 6. The Nexus display is also an AMOLED panel and manufactured by Samsung. The reason why the Note 5 display fares better is because of the luminous intensity. To put this in a more simplistic manner if you see the display of Nexus and Note 5 side by side - for the same brightness level the Note 5 display appears brighter than Nexus and hence it appears more glamorous and appealing. This is due to the different luminosity of the panel being used in Note 5. It may have some flipside as well when it comes to power consumption and Note 5 panel should theoretically consume more power than Nexus 5 giving us a better power saving in Nexus.
I have not played with the 4K display being launched by Sony, so cannot really comment on that respect. Overall the Nexus display is fantastic, colors are bit saturated, text is crisp and clear. Definitely a winner.
During the first batches, there has been reports of a bad display with the Nexus devices. Few devices from the box came with strange yellow tint or purple hue. One of my very close friend in this forum had the problem and he is getting his device replaced. I turned out to be lucky and not much problems. Some of these problems seems to be auto correcting itself after some time, nevertheless if it happens with anyone its very annoying at the least. With electronics getting a lemon is always a possibility and I have had an iPhone 4s replaced within two weeks for a broken camera.
USB-C
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This thing is insane. I have gone from 38% to 75% in exactly 12 minutes and after having been used this for past one week, I feel every phone should have either usb-c or quick charge. USB-C is preferred because it is more heat friendly.
The way I see this is, many a times after a full day in office when I am travelling to Bangalore or Chennai on business, I reach airport for the late evening flight and after I am done with security checks I have only 15 minutes to board the flight, I just need to find a wall point in the lobby or in a coffee shop and give myself just 10 minutes to get rolling again. This is absolutely wonderful.
Only operational issue is, till the time USB-C charger gets widely available, keep this charger safe and don't lose or misplace it. Once the accessories starts readily available, get yourself a spare one.
Software & Performance
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Let's talk about performance first. This is a new phone, stock Android, snapdragon 810 processor, google's latest operating system - there is no way why this phone should be slow and it is NOT. I have been using it extensively and not even once I had application crash, force closes etc. So in short very superior performance without any bloatwares.
I am not particularly qualified to talk about Android operating system as my years of experience has been with iOS, but I am finding stock Android to be simple, intuitive, efficient and very easy to use. Its really far away from the unnecessary customizations vendors like Samsung does and I don't see any point there. It makes the software more confusing and convoluted for the simple power user like me who wants ease and performance in all possible ways.
Battery
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Give all to the marshmallow doze feature here. I am getting 4.5+ hours of screen ON time before it plunges down to 30%.
Giving an estimation of battery is the most difficult situation as everyone has a different usage pattern and above which different network conditions, coverage and apps, notifications etc, makes every case unique.
However the doze will keep all of us running and coupled with quick charge, this thing will rock and coming from the world of iPhones, I have nothing to jerk about.
Conclusion
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I am very happy with the purchase and this thing is surely going to stay with me and I will be a regular Nexus user for forthcoming years for sure…
Hope I could share my feelings as a user about this device. I have omitted other obvious details which you can refer more or less everywhere. Still any of you have any comments or questions - reply to this email.
Regards
Subhankar (Suvo) Bhattacharya
Prakash Shetty
Superb and impeccable review dada ...simply loved reading it 👍
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Sanket Shah
All these useless bend tests, scratch test and what not are majorly done by folks in United States and UK and there is a reason why Psychiatrists are some of the highest paid people in those countries.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/indian-android/CADmvDTxcNnTim%2BK3MkE4uV7Cx_%3D0UTMBoxXW5H7c951T3yzvWQ%40mail.gmail.com.
Sanket Shah