Nexus 6: 5 Features Buyers Will Love

The Nexus 6 is packed full of features that will give you phone envy, and below we’re going to show off a few of those for prospective buyers that may still be on the fence regarding this big and expensive new flagship Android smartphone.

Google announced the brand new Nexus 6 last month along with a Nexus 9 tablet, the Nexus Player and of course the completely redesigned Android 5.0 Lollipop update. Motorola designed the Nexus 6, which looks a lot like the Moto X 2014 update, but it includes new features that buyers will enjoy right out of the box. Most of those come from Android 5.0, and below is a look at 5 or so things you’ll love.

Read: Nexus 6 Review

A few weeks back the Nexus 6 went up for pre-order but didn’t last long, selling out in a matter of minutes. Many buyers were angry with the pre-order problems, but rest assured, all five carriers will be offering it soon and you’ll have a chance to get one. For those who’ve ordered, or plan to, read on to hear about and see five features you’ll love about this new handset.

While the Nexus 6 release date is still a small mystery, T-Mobile delayed its release from the 12th (as stated in video below) to the 19th, and Sprint has the Nexus 6 available today. AT&T orders start shipping next week, and we’re still waiting for news from Verizon and US Cellular.

While we wait for more carriers to confirm details and all the Nexus 6 release date information to arrive, we figured a quick video was in order showing off a few features we’re enjoying on the device. Our full review above went over many of them, but there’s a few worth mentioning.

There is a lot to cover on the Nexus 6, as it has a lot to offer. What we’re focusing on here though is the display, resolution, ambient display notifications, lockscreen, and of course those front facing speakers. Many of you wanted more details than our initial hands-on, so here they are in our video review below.

Screen Size & Resolution

As you can see from the video above, the display is simply gorgeous. Our first video the brightness was turned down, so this time around we cranked things up. Rest assured, the Nexus 6 display is bright, crisp, and beautiful. Colors are wonderful and viewing angles are great. The 5.96-inch 2560 x 1440 Quad-HD displays looks better than the LG G3, and comparable or better than the Note 4.

Ambient Display

We mainly wanted to show off the new “Ambient Display” feature and the front facing speakers, as many reviews didn’t show that on video. Ambient Display is very similar to Active display, or now called Moto Display from the Moto X. You’ll get these quick pulsing black and white notifications on the display without ever unlocking it. When new ones arrive it lights up momentarily, then turns off to save battery life.

This is enabled out of the box, and it works great. It doesn’t turn on with a wave over the screen like the Moto X, but pick up the Nexus 6 and the screen very lightly illuminates and shows you the notifications. One tap and the screen comes to life and you’re ready to interact with them right from the lockscreen. It works great in practice, shouldn’t hurt battery life much, and replaces the notification LED many have been asking about. There’s no LED notification light on the Nexus 6, but ambient display takes care of that. However, it also accidentally lets me turn on the display, and even unlock the phone while carrying it, so I’ve disabled it today to see how I like it being off.

Front Speakers

Then of course those front facing speakers. They’re excellent. Arguably better than the HTC One M8 and Moto X. They’re loud, clear, and crisp. My songs of choice in the video are pretty crisp and may of made it sound sharper than it actually is. Mids and bass aren’t amazing, but certainly good enough, and better than most.

Read: Nexus 6 & Nexus 9 Photos & Details

We’re not sure why more manufacturers haven’t joined the front facing speaker bandwagon, but have a feeling more will be doing so in the coming months, and with future releases.

Battery Life

As we stated in our full Nexus 6 review, the battery life isn’t amazing, but it’s some of the better battery life of any Nexus smartphone I’ve ever owned. Yes some reviews state always-on display with web-browsing may net you worse battery life than the Nexus 5, but then again this thing has a huge display.

I’ve been using the Nexus 6 extensively over the past two weeks, and not once did the battery last less than 10 hours, even on the most busy and taxing days. That may not be stunning or best in class, no, but it’s certainly enough to get through any rough work day. Then a drop on the charger for 30 minutes took me from 19% to 48%. Yes, 30 minutes and you’ll have enough battery to last the rest of the evening and well into the next day using the Turbo Charger.

These are just a few of many features buyers will love, and we’ll be showing off more about the Nexus 6 in the coming days and weeks.