How to Record 4K Video on the Nexus 6

The new Nexus 6 is a powerful smartphone packed with lots of features, and one of those is a much improved 13 megapixel camera with optical image stabilization. It even has the option to record in full Ultra High Definition, also known as 4K video recording.

These days are screen sizes and resolutions continue to grow, all the way up to the 5.96-inch 2560 x 1440 Quad-HD display on Google’s Nexus 6. The same can be said about TVs, and for those with a new 4K TV that want to record and enjoy full 4K video on the Nexus 6, below we’ll explain how to do exactly that.

Read: Nexus 6 Review

Google’s new Nexus 6 smartphone has a lot of features and plenty to offer. To start you’ll want to check out our full review linked to above, as you may learn a few new things, then for those who own the device head on past the break to learn how to enable 4k video recording on your new smartphone.

For obvious reasons 4K video recording isn’t enabled by default on the Nexus 6. For one, it takes up tons of space, and two, if you have automatic backup enable you’ll be syncing huge files to the cloud and using up your precious data plan. It makes sense to have UHD 4K video recording disabled by default, but finding it may not be as easy as many would expect.

Heading into the camera app and tapping the 3 dots (menu button) won’t actually give you any of the resolution options you’re looking for. Instead, you’ll have to get to the “main” setting tab in the Google Camera app to enable 4K. There’s other settings in here too, like manual exposure controls, so check out the quick instructions below.

Instructions

Users will start by opening the camera app, then swiping from the left side to pull out the camera options. There’s no tab telling you a swipe will pull this out, but a tutorial on first use should have shown you this menu was here. Swipe from the left to get your shooting modes. Photo Sphere, Panorama, Lens Blur, regular Camera, and of course Video. From here it doesn’t matter if you’re on video or not, select the gear-shaped settings icon on the top right.

Once you’re in the camera and head into settings, just select “resolution & quality” and then the third option is “back camera video”.

Tapping “back camera video” will give you a popup allowing the user to select from three video recording modes. Since there is no need for low resolution recording these days, there’s only three options: 720p, 1080p, and UHD 4K. Simply select “UHD 4K” and hit back, and you’re all set for some truly ultra high-def video recording and playback.

The Nexus 6 is set by default to record in full 1080p, which is plenty for most, but if you have a fancy new 4K TV or computer monitor or plan to get one this holiday season (Black Friday anyone?) these settings will be ones you’ll want to know about.

It isn’t the easiest set of camera options and settings, but one swipe and 3-4 taps is all it takes to have your Nexus 6 fully ready to record in 4K UHD video. That’s it. You’re all set, but be prepared for large file sizes when uploading to YouTube or transferring to your computer for processing.

Read: Nexus 6: 5 Things I Don’t Like

Sadly the Nexus 6 has an excellent camera and 4K video recording capabilities, but there’s no slow-mo or time lapse options, something we wish was included with Android 5.0 Lollipop. Surely some advanced options will arrive from 3rd party apps, but for now, this is as good as it gets for Nexus users.

Give it a try and let us know how 4K video recording works for you.