Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

As an iPhone convert, I was a little skeptical about making the move to Nexus and Android as a whole. I thought the transfer of my data would be hard (it wasn't), and I had a bunch of misconceptions about Android that were ultimately way wrong. I've made the switch and I don't think I'm ever going back. What Google has made is not only the iPhone's cheaper competitor, but also the Android OS as it was made to be; in it's purest form. I've always associated the Android OS with bloatware from carriers, resulting in a not so minimal and often ugly-looking phone. I've also never experienced Android on a premium device, meaning that it left a bad taste in my mouth when I used the OS on some cheap devices. But with Nexus, you get the real Android experience. Everything is buttery smooth, fast, fluid, intuitive, and most importantly, customizable. From the ground up, you can make your phone the way you want it to be. It's up to you how you want your phone to work. Anyways, enough about the OS. Let's talk about the phone itself and what makes it great. 1. Price & Value I buy my electronics for the long haul. The 6P is built superbly and has Gorilla Glass protecting its front and back. Despite what other say, I also find it easy to hold and don't worry about losing my grip on it. The 6P is sturdy, sleek, and unique all at the same time. I also want a good deal too. The 6P delivers on both of those fronts. It's main competitor, the iPhone 6s Plus, is $649 unlocked, and that's for a 16GB model. My 32GB 6P cost around ~$400 after some discounts at Best Buy. There's no doubt in my mind that the 6P is one of the best deals on the market right now. 2. Fingerprint Scanner The placement of the fingerprint scanner (top of the back) is perfect. It's just real natural to place your finger there to unlock your phone, nothing awkward about it. You can also log multiple fingerprints too, meaning that you could pick up the phone with either hand and unlock it. If you prefer not having to enter a password, your prints can be used to buy apps from the Play Store and open certain apps. The scanner is also one of the fastest, if not the fastest out there. The scanner is also incredibly accurate as well. In the few days I've used it, I can count on my hand the number of times it's incorrectly read my print, and that's probably user error. Simply put, Google is killing it here. 3. Camera Talk about a nice camera. I'll let the pictures I took do the talking. While Google's camera app leaves a little to be desired at times, it gets the job done. The camera performs great in all kinds of lighting, and is adept at adjusting to its surroundings. 12 MP is as good as it gets right now in smartphones, and while it's not DSLR-quality, your Instagram feed will still look good. Speaking of DSLR, I took some photos with my Nikon D40 for comparison. The first two are Nexus. *the photos below were untouched.* 4. Design/Size First of all, this phone isn't big at all. No, you don't need to be Lana from Archer to use this phone. I upgraded from a meager iPhone 4s, and was quite concerned about this phone's seemingly gargantuan size. But once you get it in hand, you'll see that you were worried about nothing. It's hard to explain, but you'll never want to have a small phone again after your first day with the 6P. It just feels right. Once you learn how to cradle the phone the right way, you'll forget about the phone's size. If you're still worried about the size, check out this site to compare the 6P to your current phone. http://www.phonearena.com/phones/size I will concede that on some apps, it's mildly inconvenient to stretch your finger all the way across the screen, but this is a small tradeoff for the big beautiful screen that you get. I gushed about the design a bit earlier, but it really is the cat's balls. The front-facing speaker is loud and clear, and won't muffle unless you put your phone face down. On the top, the earpiece produces great call quality and makes it easy to hear your caller. The phone is easy to hold, and the power/volume buttons don't get in the way. The aluminum and metal build make the phone feel and look premium, and it seems as if Google didn't cut any corners in designing this unit. 5. Battery Life A lot of critics have been gushing about this, and rightfully so. Without adjusting any of my settings, or using any battery management apps, the 6P can easily make it through a day and then some of heavy use. This varies of course, but I'm content as long as my phone makes it though the day without needing a charge. If you mess with your settings and/or use apps, the 6P can easily last you a couple of days if you manage the battery effectively. You can also easily analyze which apps are effecting battery performance. Using Google's official cable/adaptor, it takes about a little more than an hour for my phone to go from zero to one-hundred. That's from zero to one-hundred real quick. While the whole USB-C setup isn't exactly ubiquitous yet, it's fast and great for data transfer. The USB-C is reversible and can also be used to reverse charge, meaning that your 6P could charge someone else's USB-C device. 6. Software/Hardware As I said before, Android is what you make of it. Marshmallow is a great OS, and that's amplified by the fact that Google gives you no bloatware or add-ons. I believe that out of the box, only around 3 GB of the 32 total GB is occupied. It's the purest form of Android, how it was meant to be. Everything flows great. Google Now and it's cards are also really convenient once it gets to learn about you. The animations are smooth, glitchless, and the phone is fast thanks to 3GB of RAM. Nexus users also get Android updates first before the general populace, meaning your phone is up-to-date. You can expect these Nexus-only benefits to grow in the future as Google makes it like their iPhone. The Nexus is also equipped with real good hardware. The Snapdragon 810 processor, 3GB of RAM, and Adreno 430 GPU all work in harmony to keep your experience with games, apps, and multitasking lag-free. The Samsung AMOLED 1440 display is also one of the best screens on the market right now. Heck, the pictures I took looked way better on my Nexus before I uploaded them on my laptop. Colors are bright and vibrant, and video is top-class. The brightness also has a wide range. At its lowest, the screen is even a little too dark for nighttime use. At it's brightest, it can contend with the bright sun. 7. Cellular Data I've been using Google's Project Fi thus far, and I'm really impressed. I got my SIM card in the mail and a nice phone stand LEGO set from them in the mail free of charge. Porting my number over took about five minutes, and my service has been great. Fi uses T-Mobile and Sprint for data, and places calls over Wi-Fi when possible by using encryption/VPN. Using my phone out and about almost seemed faster than my in-home Internet, and calls over both Wi-Fi and cell were clear and great quality. You can also manage your data in the Settings by alerting you when your data used reaches a certain amount, and you can even set a limit that will turn off your phone's data when exceeded. 8. Misses While the Nexus 6P is great by almost every standard in the book, here are a few things I wish this phone would have. - wireless charging - dual SIM port - expandable micro SD - removable battery - different screenshot option (Pressing power/volume down at the same time is awkward. Thankfully you can long press the home button and press the share button on the left to bypass this.) Overall, the Nexus 6P is probably the best value on the phone market. You've got top-of-the-line performance at a significant discount from its main competitor in the Apple 6s Plus, and you get Android in its greatest form. With a great camera, display, hardware, software, and preferred treatment from Google, the Nexus 6P should be in your pocket. PICS #1 & #2: shot with Nexus 6P; no editing #3 & 4: shot with Nikon D40 DSLR; no editing #5: Backside of 6P #6: My gross hand #7: Backside with camera/mic/scanner #8: Side (SIM port on top left) #9: My home screen. Just showing what cool things you can do with Android. Nova Launcher Prime and Moonshine are the launcher/icon combo I used. #10: Second screen. Same stuff. #11: What the battery screen looks like. Great for analyzing when and what effects your battery.