Or did we? If you frequent this mobile specific site, then there’s every chance that you’re that type of person to also check out others… and possibly read the associated comments. A lot of these comments concerning any given Nexus may revolve around how the various Nexus devices are either being sold at a loss, or at cost, or possibly fractionally above cost in a drive to promote the look, feel and experience of stock Android.
There are also inevitably comments which talk about how the Nexus devices are compromised in some way to get those devices in a lower cost bracket compared to other flagship phones. This isn’t going to get into who said what and why, because that isn’t important, but there truly are devices which could last longer on battery, not least the Note series, or the Sony Z series. There have also been a lot of discussion on how ‘not flagship’ the camera experience has been. Nobody can accuse a Nexus device for having being one of the best to take a photo. Not the least, there’s been talk of how those Nexus (Nexuses, Nexus’, Nexi – what is the accepted plural?) aren’t in the same field in terms of build quality as say an iPhone 4S or 5, or the various incarnations of the HTC One. Need I mention other complaints, such as the speakers not being loud or clear enough even for conference calls?
The Nexus 6 seems like a no-holds-barred, take-no-prisoners attempt to answer those critics. It has.. It has more.
There’s that hugely high 493ppi DPA screen which appears to be absolutely gorgeous. We haven’t seen it in the flesh yet, so we don’t know whether its been calibrated the same way as the Nexus 5 was. At 3220 mAh the battery should be enough to last for over a day, even without the extra features built into Lollipop. And the camera. Oh, the camera. That f/2.0, 13 megapixel beastie. Motorola had issues with the original Moto X, and Nexus phones really did need that HDR update as well as the UI clean-up. But the 2014 Moto X addressed a lot of the previous generations issues. I’m fully expecting that this camera will be more than fit for purpose. Flagship? Maybe. It doesn’t hurt with the 4K video capture, slo mo, and all those other good things.
Add in dual front speakers, and a starting memory of 32GB.
It isn’t just a phone, it’s a beast. Its what Android purists and aficionado’s have been crying out for. However there’s a cost for building a phone that ticks so many boxes. That costs is – well, it’s the cost. If this phone doesn’t come out near twice the price of the Nexus 5, it would be very surprising indeed, considering the number of time it always ends up a 1:1 dollar/pound conversation when it comes to tech.
Therein lies the problem. One of the appeals of the previous devices was the saying that you’d get 90% of the flagship functionality for 50% of the price. The Nexus 6 gives you 100% of flagship functionality for 100% of the price. There’s no decision to be made on whether you’d be happy to pay half for most everything. If you want the pure Nexus, its either this or something like the Moto X… or you could rely on last year’s Nexus 5, which is still available.
As much as the new Nexus currently appeals, its now got to be weighed against getting a 32GB 2014 Moto X. At 5.2 inches, it means you won’t be carrying around something Note or iPhone 6 plus sized in your pocket, and the specs are still top of the line. There’s nothing wrong with the Nexus 5 either. But it just won’t be the newest.
People complained. Now they have what they wanted. Boy, is there a cost to that.