The Nexus 6 (codenamed Shamu) is a

phablet A phablet (, ) is a mobile device combining or straddling the size formats of smartphones and tablets. The word is a blend word of ''phone'' and ''tablet''. The term was largely unused by the late 2010s, since average phone sizes eventually morph ...

co-developed by

Google Google LLC (, ) is an American multinational corporation and technology company focusing on online advertising, search engine technology, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, consumer electronics, and artificial ...

and

Motorola Mobility Motorola Mobility LLC, marketing as Motorola, is an American consumer electronics manufacturer primarily producing smartphones and other mobile devices running Android (operating system), Android. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Chinese te ...

that runs the Android

operating system An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware and software resources, and provides common daemon (computing), services for computer programs. Time-sharing operating systems scheduler (computing), schedule tasks for ...

. It is the successor to the Nexus 5, and the sixth smartphone in the

Google Nexus Google Nexus is a discontinued line of consumer electronic mobile devices that ran a stock version of the Android (operating system), Android operating system. Google managed the design, development, marketing, and support of these devices, but ...

series, which is a family of Android consumer devices marketed by Google and built by an original equipment manufacturer partner. The Nexus 6 and the HTC

Nexus 9 The Nexus 9 (codenamed Volantis or Flounder) is a tablet computer co-developed by Google and HTC that runs the Android operating system. It is the fourth tablet in the Google Nexus series, a family of Android consumer devices marketed by Googl ...

served as the launch devices for Android 5.0 "Lollipop". The Nexus 6's design and hardware is very similar to that of the second-generation Moto X, which was released around the same time, with the Nexus 6 being enlarged with higher specifications.

Release

The Nexus 6 was unveiled on October 15, 2014, with pre-order availability since October 29, 2014, and a delivery date in early November. Off-contract pricing in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

was US$649 for the 32 GB model and US$699 for the 64 GB model. The Nexus 6 was available through Google Play Store,

Best Buy Best Buy Co., Inc. is an American multinational consumer electronics retailer headquartered in Richfield, Minnesota. Originally founded by Richard M. Schulze and James Wheeler in 1966 as an audio specialty store called Sound of Music, it was r ...

T-Mobile T-Mobile is the brand of telecommunications by Deutsche Telekom Deutsche Telekom AG (, ; often just Telekom, DTAG or DT; stylised as ·T·) is a partially state-owned German telecommunications company headquartered in Bonn and the largest telec ...

AT&T AT&T Inc., an abbreviation for its predecessor's former name, the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the w ...

, Sprint, U.S. Cellular, and Verizon Wireless in the United States. In November 2014, availability was announced for 12 other countries, including

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

, the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

and the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. The AT&T version is SIM-locked, with

tethering Tethering or phone-as-modem (PAM) is the sharing of a mobile device's cellular data connection with other connected computers. It effectively turns the transmitting device into a modem to allow others to use its cellular network as a gateway for ...

disabled until a fee is paid to enable it, and comes with custom ringtones. On January 26, 2015, Motorola (now a subsidiary of Chinese firm

Lenovo Lenovo Group Limited, trading as Lenovo ( , zh, c=联想, p=Liánxiǎng), is a Chinese multinational technology company specializing in designing, manufacturing, and marketing consumer electronics, personal computers, software, servers, conv ...

) announced that a similar device would be released in China, named Moto X Pro; it excludes Google services and applications, but still runs a similarly stock version of Android. On April 22, 2015, it was announced that the Nexus 6 would be the only phone then supported by Google's new Project Fi venture. Following the September 2015 release of the Nexus 6's successor, the Nexus 6P, Google stopped selling the Nexus 6 on the Play Store in December 2015. Google has a stated policy of at least two years of software updates and three years (or 18 months after the last sale date on the Play Store, whichever is longer) of security updates. The Nexus 6 had guaranteed software updates through October 2016 and security patches through October 2017; however, Google announced that the Nexus 6 would receive the Android 7.1 update. This update was initially expected in December 2016, but it was delayed until January 5, 2017 due to a "last minute bug". In January 2017, Google announced that the Nexus 6, along with the

tablet, would not receive the Android 8 update, making 7.1.2 the last major software update from Google themselves; however, the phone was to continue to receive monthly security patches while retaining the last major Android version received until October 2017.

Specifications

Hardware

The Nexus 6 is powered by a 2.7 GHz quad-core Snapdragon 805 processor with 3 GB of RAM, and either 32 or 64 GB of internal storage. It features a 3220 mAh battery with quick charging technology that promises to deliver six hours of operation after 15 minutes of charging. The Nexus 6 uses a 5.96-inch (marketed as six-inch) QHD

AMOLED AMOLED (active-matrix organic light-emitting diode; ) is a type of OLED display device technology. OLED describes a specific type of thin-film-display technology in which organic compounds form the electroluminescence, electroluminescent materi ...

PenTile PenTile matrix is a family of patented subpixel matrix schemes used in Electronic visual display, electronic device displays. PenTile is a trademark of Samsung. PenTile matrices are used in AMOLED and LCD displays. These Pixel geometry, subpixel l ...

(RGBG) display with a resolution of 2560×1440 pixels (493 PPI), and includes a 13-megapixel rear-facing camera with optical image stabilization (OIS), surrounded by a dual LED flash ring, and a two-megapixel camera on front. Like its predecessor, the Nexus 6 does not have a microSD card slot, a removable battery, or an FM radio receiver/transmitter. The Nexus 6's hardware supports USB On-The-Go for storage devices, the functionality was originally disabled by software but was enabled in later Android updates.

Variants

Software

The Nexus 6 was Google's first phone to launch with HDR+. HDR+ which takes a burst of shots with short exposures, selectively aligning the sharpest shots and averaging them using

computational photography Computational photography refers to digital image capture and processing techniques that use digital computation instead of optical processes. Computational photography can improve the capabilities of a camera, or introduce features that were no ...

techniques. Short exposures avoids blur, blowing out highlights and averaging multiple shots reduces noise. HDR+ is similar to

lucky imaging Lucky imaging (also called lucky exposures) is one form of speckle imaging used for astrophotography. Speckle imaging techniques use a high-speed camera with shutter speed, exposure times short enough (100 ms or less) so that the changes in ...

used in

astrophotography Astrophotography, also known as astronomical imaging, is the photography or imaging of astronomical objects, celestial events, or areas of the night sky. The first photograph of an astronomical object (the Moon) was taken in 1839, but it was no ...

. HDR+ is processed on the Qualcomm Hexagon DSP. The Nexus 6 was released with Android 5.0 Lollipop. The Nexus 6 was the first Android device to have integrated IMS WiFi calling on T-Mobile, which was issued via an OTA update. WiFi Calling on T-Mobile's network has existed since 2007, although this is the first time native WiFi calling has been integrated into the core of Android. Previously T-Mobile offered WiFi calling on select Android handsets using software from Kineto Wireless. In September 2015, Android 5.1.1 was rolled out to the Nexus 6, containing a fix for the Stagefright bug. In November 2015, Nexus 6 started receiving Android 6.0 Marshmallow update across the world. The following month, the Nexus 6 became one of the first devices to get the Android 6.0.1 update. On August 22, 2016, Android 7.0 Nougat began rolling out to several supported Nexus devices; however the one for Nexus 6 was delayed. Weeks after the official roll-out, Google stated that the Nexus 6 release would come "in the coming weeks." Nougat was eventually released for the Nexus 6 on October 3, 2016, 6 weeks after the official Nougat release. There has been no official statement on what caused the delay. On October 11, 2016, Google officially announced Android 7.1 Nougat after it had been debuted with the

Google Pixel Google Pixel is a brand of portable Consumer electronics, consumer electronic devices developed by Google that run either ChromeOS or the Pixel version of the Android (operating system), Android operating system. The main line of Pixel products ...

release the week before. This announcement confirmed that the Nexus 6, along with other supported devices, would receive Android 7.1 in early December. On December 5, 2016, Google announced the official release of Android 7.1.2 Nougat with most supported Google devices receiving the update; however, the Nexus 6 was not included. On December 27, 2016, Google told Android Police that a "last minute bug" was discovered and will delay the update until "early January". Google officially released Android 7.1.2 for the Nexus 6 on January 5, 2017.

Reception

Matt Swider from

TechRadar ''TechRadar'' is an online technology publication owned by Future plc. It has editorial teams in the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia that provide news and reviews of tech products and gadgets. It was launched in 2008 and expanded t ...

wrote: "Nexus 6 proves that Google's Nexus program is not only far from dead, it's alive and kicking with a powerful 6-inch phablet that runs its latest Android software. It's bigger than the Note 4, but not better." The Nexus 6 was given 4.5 out of 5 stars in the TechRadar review.

Known issues

* Some devices delivered through AT&T had a bug that causes the devices to boot to a black screen. AT&T will replace these defective units. * Devices with Sprint SIM cards experience issues with receiving calls. * Some devices have an issue that causes the phone's back panel to come off. The issue may be due to the glue used for the back panel or the expanding battery pack that could be a fire hazard. Motorola is offering replacements for affected devices. * It is heard that Google is downgrading Nexus 6 phones from Android 7.1.2 to 7.0 for unknown reason. * The Nexus logo on the back of a device is known to peel off.

References

External links

* * * – official site (archived) {{Android tablets Android (operating system) devices Google Nexus Mobile phones introduced in 2014 Discontinued flagship smartphones Motorola smartphones Phablets Mobile phones with 4K video recording