The Nexus 6 Review
by Brandon Chester on November 12, 2014 1:00 PM ESTCPU Performance
Much like other recent Android flagship devices, the Nexus 6 uses Qualcomm's Snapdragon 805 APQ8084. It's built on TSMC's 28nm HPm process, and it will be Qualcomm's final chip based on their Krait architecture. Although the use of a Krait CPU unfortunately means we don't get to take advantage of the 64-bit support built into Android Lollipop, it's still one of the fastest chips you'll find in an Android device today and will remain so until the first half of 2015. In order to measure CPU performance with some degree of comparability between different platforms, we turn to our typical suite of browser benchmarks, along with BaseMark OS II.
As you can see, the Nexus 6 performs how you would expect a Snapdragon 805 device to perform. All of its scores are similar to the Galaxy Note 4 and Galaxy S5 LTE-A, with the exception of the extremely high BaseMark OS II Graphics score which I believe is some sort of error relating to the compatibility of the benchmark with Android Lollipop.
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metayoshi - Wednesday, November 12, 2014 - link
I wonder if that degradation in color accuracy is due to the phone being closely related to the Moto X (2014). It looks like the Moto X was even worse than what the Nexus 6 is doing right now. Maybe it was a mistake for Google to pick Motorola for this phone, as Samsung's, LG's, and HTC's latest flagships are all decent across the board. I was going to stick with my Nexus 5 either way, but it's kind of sad seeing Google go this route with the Nexus 6.waldoh - Wednesday, November 12, 2014 - link
I REALLY REALLY wanted to like this device and finally move away from Apple crap but in the android world benchmarks and specs are key. This device falls short in almost every category.Donkey2008 - Friday, November 14, 2014 - link
Funny, I really really wanted to move away from Apple, but after using a LG G3 for 2 weeks I saw how completely clunky, amateurish and unpolished Android is and went back to Apple. Enjoy your half-baked phone you clown.Impulses - Wednesday, November 12, 2014 - link
They need to let Sony build a Nexus, I'm sure they'd jump at the chance given their limited market penetration stateside... And they've been consistently good lately with battery life, camera, and build quality.pjcamp - Wednesday, November 12, 2014 - link
Wait a minnit -- you skipped one. Where is the Z3 review?Cinnabuns - Wednesday, November 12, 2014 - link
Agreed. At the moment it looks like the Z3 is the best Android phone out there in terms of battery life and camera but I'd love to see a rigorous review from the likes of AnandTech before getting one. I'm coming from a Nexus 4 and my main beef with it is the abysmal battery life. Reading this review, it's clear that I will not get a Nexus 6 as a replacement, seeing as it's not even a bargain and it's worse than its flagship competition.Unfortunately, it seems AT never reviews Sony stuff.
Andrei Frumusanu - Wednesday, November 12, 2014 - link
Unfortunately we still don't have a proper channel with Sony to be able to acquire review units. I hope to change this in the future and tried to reach out to them but sadly thing haven't advanced in that regard.skinygeek - Thursday, November 13, 2014 - link
Why do you need a review unit for Reviewing a Phone. You can just buy it. Is this the excuse for not reviewing lot of other phones ?vshah - Thursday, November 13, 2014 - link
can't you just buy one?SantaAna12 - Wednesday, November 12, 2014 - link
Wow, what a letdown.I was going to say my usual: "No SD Card NO Deal!"
But there is really no need. Still selling the cloud on crap hardware. Disappointing!