Display
This is one of the areas where Google + Motorola decided to upgrade. This sports a 5.9inch 2K AMOLED panel w/ 2560 x 1440 resolution + 493ppi. So this is obviously a higher grade display and it shows when you look at it. With an AMOLED screen, the colors aren't as saturated as you'd expect but it is present (for those of you who are concerned about that kind of stuff). Great to see Google + Motorola future-proofing this w/ an elegant display ideal for media, typing, gaming, and much more.
Performance/Battery Life
Handling this Nexus chipset is the familiar face of Qualcomm's Snapdragon processors. Inside is a quad-core 2.7GHz Snapdragon 805 CPU coupled w/ 3GB of RAM. Equipped w/ enough to keep your device running like new throughout your 2-year contract (for those who don't go for the unlocked models). This performs just as good as you would expect. Running pure Android, this thing has no problems on gaming and everything w/ a breeze. This is a true beast on the overall performance side of things as it is equipped to handle plenty.
Good battery life but the massive screen prevents it from being great.
Keeping the N6 juiced is a hefty 3220 mAh battery inside. Motorola is notorious for their great battery-lasting hardware/software. But that massive 2K display is a drainer. Don't get me wrong, this miles better than last year's Nexus but for those of you expect Droid Maxx-like battery life. Heavy (and I mean heavy) usage of using Hangouts, emailing, tweeting, adding content to Buffer, a few phone calls, and being connected to my Moto 360 got me reaching for the charger around 4PM. While moderate to heavy got me closer over a day on a single charge.
FYI: the Turbo charger ONLY has maximum effect when the battery is low so don't expect it to charge it to full in minutes when you're only at 60% or so.
Cameras
Motorola equipped this Nexus w/ a f/2.0 13MP sensor w/ OIS + dual LED ring flash. It is capable of shooting video in 4K as well. Overall I did manage to get great images. The performance isn't as consistent as I would have liked it to be but for the most part. Sometimes you get great images and other times the results are grainy w/ diluted colors. The low-light performance is actually a lot better than anticipated - coming from Motorola. The shutter speed could be a bit faster. The time it takes to hit the shutter button then to capture the photo has a slight delay. Amongst all of its imperfections, its still a solid-to-good shooter. We go a bit more in-depth in our upcoming camera test of this year's Nexus.
Nexus 6 Camera Test
Software
Android L is Lollipop and it is the truth. We highlighted many of its new features within the Nexus 9 review. Making everything super clean + great animations w/ an overall brighter color palette. Google has put their best foot forward w/ v5.0 Lollipop.
Ok Google you win. I sold my iPhone 5 as Lollipop is my new home.
All of Google's core apps have gotten the Material Design treatment w/ better look. Just about all of them have made its way to the Play Store for all by now. But there is still many great elements that only the stock update can offer. Like the new clean-looking keyboard, your multiple Chrome tabs are in the Recently-Opened Apps, improved notifications window w/ redesigned quick settings, built-in battery saving mode, and the addition of new default apps: Helpouts + Google Express. None of the Moto X voice-related features has come along for the ride as that is a Motorola exclusive but 'OK Google' is still present. It even works w/ when the screen is off. If you didn't feel it before you can feel it now. In Duarte we trust.
