[Deal] Channel the inner ‘tinkerer’ with the Complete Arudino Starter Kit for only $76
Are you a builder? Maybe builder is a bit of an overstatement but if you like to tinker around and dream of owning a workshop where you can lose track of the hours while you piece together some new pet project then you are certainly not alone. Many of us have fond memories of building things with Legos, K’nex, Erector sets or even putting together models. Why should the fun end just because we’ve grown up? If you have a hankering to craft something a bit more sophisticated, our Arduino Starter Kit & Course Bundle is perfect for you!
Arduinos are micro-controllers that make the process of building precision interactive electronics simple and fun. The unit detects its surroundings by analyzing inputs from various built-in sensors and reacts by controlling accessories, lights, motors or just about anything else you can dream up. Now, the power of the Arduino is in your hands with our Complete Arduino Starter Kit & Course Bundle.
- ARDX Arduino Starter Kit
- Arduino Step-by-Step ‘Your Guide to the Internet of Thing’s Course
- Arduino ‘Make a Remote-Controlled Car’ Course
- Beginning Arduino ‘Make Your Own Environment Monitor System’ Course
You’ll get everything you need to begin your own builds including the actual hardware and over 17 hours of expert tutelage. You’ll even learnt to be able to build a high-tech remote-controlled car! This bundle would regularly cost over $500 but AndroidGuys readers can steal this deal for just $75.99 and get to creating right away. Just try not to go full Frankenstein on us.
You can find this, and many other great tech bargains through our Deals page. Backed by StackCommerce, there are daily promos, giveaways, freebies, and much more!
AndroidGuys Deals: Complete Arduino Starter Kit and Course Bundle
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Review: Check out the QiStone+, the universal wireless charger
Qi wireless charging is one of the newest and most convenient technologies for charging your phone. Along with Quick Charging, Qi charging is changing the charging game. Flagship phones like the Samsung Galaxy Note 5 and Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge+ come standard with this feature and the market for third party antennas to enable wireless charging is booming.
Today we’re going to take a look at the QiStone+, the universal wireless charger from Fonesalesman. What does a universal wireless charger mean? Well, this little device can not only charge your phone via Qi wireless charging, but you can also recharge the QiStone+ with another Qi wireless charger. Pretty cool, right?
One of the first things you might notice about the QiStone+ is how much the “stone” part of it’s name really describes it. This thing wouldn’t stick out in your garden amongst the other stones. It’s grey and smooth and only about 4 inches long, almost 3 inches wide, and half an inch thick.
The outside of the device looks like the Sandstone backing of the OnePlus One, but it’s much smoother. If you have a phone with a slippery back, like the Note 5, it won’t fall off this charger without a push, but there’s definitely not a bunch of grip here. It can be good not to have that kind of friction because you don’t want to damage the surface of your phone.
QiStone+ vs. Samsung Galaxy Note 5
The charging surface is pretty big top to bottom, but where you may run into trouble is left to right. The charging radius doesn’t extend very wide. Luckily, it isn’t that hard to find the sweet spot on this charger. You shouldn’t have to search around for it like on other chargers. When you do find the charging sweet spot, you’ll hear a beep. It’s a loud beep. It’s an annoying beep. And there’s no way to turn it off. If I have one gripe with the QiStone+, it’s that beep.
The bottom of the device has some grippy feet and is printed with the regulatory information, along with a QiStone+ logo. Moving your way to the side of the device, you’ll find a blue LED the lets you know your phone is charging if that loud beep isn’t enough. There is a capacitive area on the bottom right corner of the device that, when you press, lights up the four green LEDs. These LEDs are the battery indicators and give you an easy way to identify how much battery you have left to use.
The battery inside is 4000mAh, which is big enough to charge almost all of today’s flagship phones from dead to full. One thing you do need to keep in mind with wireless chargers, is that there is some power loss in transfer. The QiStone+ has a charging efficiency of 74.6%, so in real world situations you’re going to get about 3000mAh out of the battery, enough to charge up a Note 5 or Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge+.
In addition to being able to charge your phone wirelessly, there is an additional USB port where you can plug in a cable to charge a second device. Fonesalesman also indicates that using this port, the device can act as a data passthrough device as well. The device does sound hollow when knocking on it, which leaves me wondering if there was more room for a bigger battery. With battery banks routinely reaching over 10,000mAh for much cheaper than the QiStone+, a bigger battery would make this an instant buy for me.
I tested the QiStone+ with 5 cases. I was able to charge my Note 5 with the Spigen Neo Hybrid, Incipio DualPro, Urban Armour Gear, and Ringke Slim Case. I had less than stellar results with the Boxwave Dual+Max Holster Case. I don’t have any more cases that approach how thick the Dual+ Max Holster Case is, but if you have a case like an OtterBox you may have issues wirelessly charging.
I have very few gripes with the QiStone+. The beep is annoying, the USB port only charges at 1A, and it’s a bit on the pricey side. The fact that a $50 charger doesn’t come with a wall adapter is kind of inexcusable, but the positives massively outweigh the negatives.
This thing is so small you can easily slip it into your jeans pocket or a bag when you leave the house. It’s stylish enough not to look too geeky and you can charge a few devices at the same time with it. If you’re one who keeps these in a bag for long periods of time, don’t worry about scratching this thing. I tried my best to get it to scratch in real world situations with no luck.
All in all, I would say I recommend the QiStone+. You can pick it up on FoneSalesmans’s website here or on Amazon here. Unfortunately, there are no in-store options.
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Grab the official Nexus 5X and Nexus 6P wallpapers here
When new devices are released, we are always clamoring to get our hands on them. However, some of us aren’t as fortunate as others, and can’t afford to jump on the pre-order bandwagon. So for those who can’t get their hands on the device, we need to get our fix of the latest devices. When there aren’t new icons or anything of that sort, we resort to the official wallpapers.
What made the Huawei Nexus 6P and LG Nexus 5X so “fun” was that when Google announced Marshmallow, there were certain wallpapers, but when the new devices were released, they featured wallpapers that couldn’t be found. You could go through Google’s Earth View and try and find them, but it’ll take you hours and hours, and you’ll probably still come up empty. (I tried this route, and only found the Nexus 5X wallpaper with the Nexus 6P wallpaper nowhere to be found. Thanks to two users on Reddit, leshpack and ZeGuitarist, they were kind enough to extract the official wallpapers, and share them with the world.
So scroll down a bit more and download your wallpaper of choice, and let us know what you think about Google’s two latest devices. Have you been able to pick either of these up yet? What are your impressions of the Nexus 6P and Nexus 5X. Drop us a line in the comment below and let us know.
The post Grab the official Nexus 5X and Nexus 6P wallpapers here appeared first on AndroidGuys.
Beats Pill+ Speaker Launches Alongside New Colors for Solo2 Headphones
A few new products from Beats by Dre have been made available to customers today, beginning with the launch of the new Beats Pill+ Speaker for $229.95. The Bluetooth speaker was announced earlier in the month with an expected launch date in November, but has made its way to online availability a few days early. The Pill+ Speaker introduces a new design into the line-up of Beats portable speakers and includes an extended 12-hour battery life along with a new iOS companion app.
Also introduced today by Beats are new “Luxe Edition” colors for the Solo2 On-Ear Headphones, including Blue, Silver, Black, and Red. The $199.95 headphones offer the same features as the other editions of the Solo2, but with “a refined glossy finish and polished accents.” The Solo2 Headphones in the new “Luxe Edition” colors and the Beats Pill+ Speaker — available in white and black — can both be purchased right now from Apple’s online store.
Airbnb wants to book your whole trip
Outside of a limited concierge service, Airbnb hasn’t done much beyond getting you a room — you’re on your own if you want a tour. That might change very soon, however. Airbnb is testing Journeys, a travel agent-like service that covers the whole experience. The fixed-price option covers basics like accommodation, meals and transportation, but also provides a hand-picked host who’ll show you around town. You could visit locals’ favorite eateries, attend parties or even go skydiving. About the only thing you’d have to worry about is getting to the city in the first place.
Source: The Next Web
Samsung Galaxy Note 5 review: A change for the best?
Samsung completely revamped its entire Galaxy smartphone line this year, focusing on premium build materials. Their sales numbers have been dropping off in the recent past with their Galaxy line, especially in countries like China where Apple and Huawei are seeing tremendous growth. Overall Samsung still sells more smartphones than any other manufacturer by a wide margin. The days of Samsung dominating the smartphone market appear to be in threat as others steal market share.
To slow the declining sales numbers, Samsung shook up management in hopes that changes would start from the top and work its way down. The new management team had a clear vision of what it wanted: it took the utilitarian, do everything devices, and turned them into a superficial devices that looked great for the masses while eliminating features it deemed useless like the removable battery and microSd card slot. Ironically they still kept features most of us find useless like duplicate apps which I will delve into in the software section.
The Samsung Galaxy Note line has been my favorite over the past few years and by no small margin.The Note line typically offers the best specs and hardware of any calendar year and can handle all tasks I throw its way.
When I was given the opportunity to review the Samsung Galaxy Note 5, I was more than happy to do it. Samsung is hoping a new design and construction of one of its best selling smartphones will help turn the sales tide back in their direction. Lets check it out.
Overall Design
Without question, the new Galaxy Note 5 put aesthetics ahead of all other features. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as it really is one of the best looking phones of 2015, if not the best. Off the top of my head, I cannot think of one other device that looks as good as the Note 5. The device is framed in metal and is covered with Gorilla Glass 4 on the front and back, giving it a super clean look. The Note 5 I have comes in a deep midnight blue, which Samsung calls Black Sapphire, and is absolutely stunning. It’s a nice change from simple black or silver that we have been seeing since the arrival of smartphones.
Being glass on both sides makes the Note 5 feel incredibly fragile. Almost all of us have seen the consequence of drops as a shattered screen, either through our own devices or someone we know. I’m not someone who really likes to use cases as I feel it: 1. ruins the look of the phone 2. adds unnecessary bulk 3. adds more cost. I don’t see a point in buying a phone for its looks only to cover it up later. With that being said, I am playing Russian Roulette by not using a case on the Note 5, and because of that I am always holding it a little tighter than previous phones. Having a shattered screen AND a shattered back panel would end the desire for a great looking phone rather quickly.
Another downside to having a glass back panel, is the Note 5 is a fingerprint magnet. It looks greasy immediately and every time I would show the phone off to someone, I would have to wipe it down first so it didn’t look so dirty. This was an annoying side effect from having glossy plastic phones, but having glass just brings that problem back again.
Another sacrifice, at the expense of design, is the lack of a microSD card slot. Samsung, once a pioneer in keeping expandable memory alive, is now forsaking it for aesthetics. Like the Apple iPhone, memory upgrades come in $100 increments, but at least the Note 5 comes in a base 32GB model in the US. This is a deal breaker for some, and I don’t understand why Samsung did away with it other than to assume it was to drive up revenue through memory upgrades. There are other metal phones like the HTC One M9 that provide memory card slots.
Overall, you can’t argue the Note 5 looks incredible. But there’s a cost to looking so good in that it attracts fingerprints and now runs the risk of having a shattered screen as well as back cover.
Processor – Exynos 7420
Samsung decided to forego Qualcomm this year and thankfully so. Qualcomm, for the first time in years, ran into overheating and throttling issues with the Snapdragon 810 which would have held the Note 5 back from performing its best. Instead they came out with their own octa-core Exynos 7420 which they used in their Galaxy S line and it proved to be ultra speedy. Almost everything performed quickly with the occasional hiccup which could be attributed to software. Overall this is one area the Note 5 shines in and the internal hardware should perform for years to come.
No other phone matches the hardware performance of the Note 5 in benchmark tests.
Display
The Note 5 comes with a nearly identical 2k, 5.7″ Super AMOLED display found on the Note 4 and it is simply the best display you can get your hands on today. According to some expert reviewers, the colors aren’t perfect but I think they look stunning. The contrast ratio is unmatched by LED displays, and in full sunlight you can still read the Note 5’s display, even with sunglasses on.
The area where I enjoy the screen the most is when I review the photos . The level of detail and color is unmatched by any other phone and makes looking at photos a fun experience.
Text and movies are equally stunning on this 5.7″ inch display and since the Note 3, I really have given up on tablets as a source for media consumption as the screen size is perfect for me. I tried using the Nexus 6 this year, and had fears the larger screen would make it hard to go back to a smaller screen. Instead I found that the 6″ inch display was just a little too big for me to handle and verified my love of the 5.7″ display size.
S-Pen
The S-Pen, also known as a stylus, is the most distinctive feature about the Samsung Galaxy Note 5. It is where the Note derived its name for it is a tool designed for taking notes. No other device does the stylus as good as the Note and Apple saw the success of the stylus and came out with its own “Pencil”. A new design feature in the Note 5 is a spring loaded stylus which pops out at the push of a button. This does help contribute to a much cleaner look, but one big issue is if you put the stylus in upside down it will break off inside of the device causing a set of issues. So don’t put it in upside down.
The S-Pen is perfect for jotting down notes, phone numbers, drawing, or even navigating the display as it is pin-point accurate. It isn’t a feature everyone uses on a regular basis, but for those of us who do, like me, we absolutely love it. As a medicinal chemist, there aren’t many tools outside of paper notebooks that are easy to draw chemical structures in, but this note handles my needs perfectly. I can jot down chemical structures and keep them all stored on my phone without having to go through old notebooks. I love it, but for many it might not be useful as typing on a keyboard is quicker than pulling out the stylus.
An added feature to this year’s Note is the ability to takes notes on the screen when the phone is off. Yeah, that’s right when you pull the stylus out of the phone, you can write on the unlit display in white lettering and it will auto-save to your device when you hit the power button. This makes for super quick note taking and is a very advanced feature no other phone has.
Whether you love doodling, taking notes, editing pictures or using the stylus as a navigation tool, the S-Pen is unique and sets the Note line apart from all other phones.
Battery Life
The Galaxy Note 5 comes with a 3000mAh battery, which is smaller than last years Note 4, but it also comes with Qualcomm’s Quick Charge 2.0 and built-in wireless charging. The trade-off was the removable battery which every other Note had and for some that is a deal breaker. I would dare to guess that most people never need to change their batteries for an instant refill, but for many Note enthusiasts this is something that broke our heart.
The Note is designed to be a powerhouse, not just a typical texting and web browsing machine. Note users adore the line because of the versatility it offers and probably use their phones more than the average user. This means they need a versatile and long lasting battery as the last thing they need is to be sitting next to a wall waiting for their phones to be charged. Nothing beats swapping in a fresh battery to bring the charge up to 100% within one minute. Not even Quick Charge 2.0 can beat that.
With that being said, the Note 5 does have excellent battery life and I found myself being able to make it through a full day with moderate to heavy usage. Over two solid months with the Note 5 as my daily driver, I did not see a decline in the quality of the internal battery, but there were many days when I was traveling where I had to pull out an external battery to keep my phone charged. Again, this feature isn’t necessary for everyone, but for me it was a heart breaker knowing I once had a feature that could get me to 100% power in one minute.
The addition of wireless charging was something I actually came to enjoy. Not having to plug in my phone when I went to sleep, or sat at my lab bench was really nice. Wireless chargers these days are really efficient and the Note 5 even charges faster than the last generation wireless chargers with a compatible device.
Having fast wireless charging and Quick Charge 2.0 are two features most people will love. I love them too, but I just wish Samsung kept the removable battery option which will be a deal breaker for some die-hard enthusiasts.
Camera
The camera in the Note 5 is really one of the best cameras you can get in a smartphone. Samsung knows everyone is taking more and more pictures documenting our food, pets, children, sunsets and everything else you can think of. The camera on the Note 5 really shines and is not only fast, but it is super clear and performs well on every level. It does well with action shots, still shots, close-ups, selfies, panoramic scenes, and night shots.
The specs of the camera are nothing short of impressive: 16MP, optical image stabilization, LED flash, 1/2.6′ sensor, HDR, with a 5MP wide front shooter. Check out some of my samples below to gauge for yourself. You will be hard pressed to find a better camera than what comes with the Note 5.
Software
I have the AT&T model of the Note 5 which runs Android Lollipop 5.1.1. This is a very stable version of Android which is skinned with Samsung’s own Touchwiz. Touchwiz brings a lot of useful features like Multi-Window or S-Pen, but it also brings a ton of useless features. Installed on the Note 5 are duplicate apps of what Android already provides. Samsung forces duplicate apps onto its devices like Samsung Pay(Android Pay), S-Voice(Ok Google), Gallery(Google Photos), Galaxy App Store(Google Play Store), email, phone dialer and texting. This can be confusing for some and I have yet to find someone who actually prefers the duplicate Samsung apps over Google’s apps.
In addition to duplicate apps, Samsung also lets AT&T provide a whole host of its own apps which can only be deactivated wasting more than 1GB of precious memory. As a consumer, I don’t think it is right that we pay for an expected amount of advertised memory(32GB), only to have it wasted with apps we do not want and cannot delete. It’s this behavior from Samsung that is really causing the downfall of sales as customers don’t want to be confused with duplicate apps or apps they don’t want. If Samsung really wants to take a lesson, they need to take a hard look at iOS and see how they limit bloat on its devices.
I’ve used stock Android on the Nexus 6 and it is normally very fast. With Samsung’s Touchwiz over-layed onto Android, I’ve seen more hiccups than I would like with a processor that beats all others in benchmark tests. The software itself is still fast by any measure, but there are times when apps lag and close on their own which I attribute to Touchwiz.
The other thing to be aware of, with Samsung, is terrible timing with updates. Other manufacturers have committed to updating their phones to the latest Android version within reasonable amounts of time, but Samsung works on its own schedule and should be a major concern to anyone who uses their phones more than six months.
Many reviewers like myself use phones for maybe three months until they get a new one. Reviews on software will usually be positive as the device they are reviewing usually comes with the software that is most up-to date. I decided to not upgrade my Samsung Galaxy Note Edge for one year, to really try to understand why so many users complain about slow updates, and boy oh boy, did I feel their pain. My Note Edge ran for six months on the buggy Android 5.0 and I could barely make it to 5pm on a single charge. My phone constantly lagged due to memory leaks and overheated on a regular basis. When I asked AT&T and Samsung when I would get an update to fix these bugs, the answer was indefinite. Samsung has yet to commit to Android 6.0 on my Note Edge which is just one year old and still costs $950 new.
So if you’re a typical user, be aware that Samsung may or may not update your version of Android and that will leave you stuck with security vulnerabilities and bugs that are addressed in the latest updates.
With that said, the Note 5 software is quick and does have nice features like themes and Multi-Window which is something yet to be found on stock Android devices. I still would prefer much less bloat and a simpler user experience.
Summary
I really think highly of the Samsung Galaxy Note 5 in more areas than not. I admire its beauty and think it has incredible hardware specs that set the bar for other manufacturers. Its camera, S-Pen and display are second to none. But Touchwiz and Samsung’s poor record of updating software make me hesitate in recommending this phone to the average consumer. Yet, most will probably prefer the new design over having a removable battery and expandable memory.
For die-hard Note fans, I can see most of them sticking with their Note 4 in hopes Samsung will get back to its utilitarian ways and put aesthetics second to function and software updates. I’ve seen more first-time users now though as they simply love the design of the Note 5 and that scares me. It might validate that Samsung was right with putting looks first and they may never get back to what made the original Note series great – complete versatility.
Regardless, if you understand the risks in software updates, and do not care about expandable memory or a replaceable battery the Samsung Galaxy Note 5 is a worthy option.
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Master the art of image manipulation with Sketch Master (app review)
Image manipulation on Android is nothing new. It’s been around since the early days of Google Play, then known as Android Market. Sketch Master is another one of those apps pining for that valuable space on your phone.
Sketch Master overview
Sketch Master is an app that allows you to manipulate an image through a series of filters, stickers, frames, and many other tools created for image manipulation. You can choose from one of your images already on you phone or you can use your camera and start from scratch. Many of the filters, stickers, and frames are free, but there are a few that require an in app purchase of $1.49 each.
The app is ad supported, but an ad-free version of the app can be found on google play for $1.49 as well.
Sketch Master setup
The setup is pretty easy. Aside from downloading the app from Google Play, you’ll need to create an an Adobe account, or if you currently have an Adobe ID, you can just log in using your existing credentials. In doing so, you’ll unlock various filters and overlays.
Sketch Master usage
The app is dead simple and very intuitive to use. You start off with a set of predefined filters designed around making the image look like it was sketched or painted. You’re not required to select any of the filters. If you want, you can select the original image as your base before proceeding to the next round of edits.
Once you move into the 2nd round of image edits, you’ll find the overlays and additional filters. In order to fully master and acquaint yourself with all the different options, you’ll need to click on the all of the various filters to see what you think.
This is where I found the app to be very enjoyable. I thought it was rather fun exploring the different filters and playing around with the stickers. There is even a meme generator that makes meme creation fairly easy.
The app’s UI, loosely follows Google’s Material design. It’s not bad, but I prefer the standard Material Design to this slight re-imagining.
The ads, for the most part, were fairly unobtrusive. There are a few full page ads that you can easily close, but for $1.49 you can get rid of them all, which, if you like the app, will be a small sacrifice.
One thing that I would like to see is a tighter integration with Adobe. It would be pretty cool if your images would sync with Adobe’s Creative Cloud. I mean, the developer already requires the Adobe ID to unlock certain effects, so it shouldn’t be to much more of a stretch to be able to sync your images with your creative cloud work space.
What we liked
- Easy to use
- Fun filters and stickers
- Lots of effects, filters, and stickers to choose from
What could be better
- Better integration with Adobe Creative Cloud
- The UI could follow Google’s material design a little closer
4.13 out of 5 stars
Overall this is a fun app to use, especially if you enjoy fine tuning your images. This, of course, goes far beyond the sepia tones of the early Instagram days and makes playing around with your images fun.
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AudioFly AF45 in-ear headphones review
I recently got the opportunity to review AudioFly’s complete performance in-ear headphone collection. There are four headphones in this collection that each fit into a consumer’s budget. There is the under $50 pair, the under $75 pair, the around $100 pair, and the around $200 pair. I recently reviewed the AF33 earphones that were the most budget conscious. Today, I’m taking a look at the AF45 earphones that that up the quality and the price.
Unboxing and Accessories
The package these headphones come in is actually pretty cool. Inside the plastic cover will all of the pictures and information about the AF45’s, there is a simple cardboard box with the AudioFly logo printed on it.
Opening it from the front, all the sides fold down and you are presented with the headphones all all their accessories neatly packaged in a foam insert. This nice display makes everything appear premium when first opening the box. Included in the package are the AF45 earphones, a selection of different sized ear tips, a nice vinyl carrying pouch, and some info about warranties and instructions.
The carrying pouch is pretty nice, although it is a tad small. You will be wrapping your earphones pretty tightly to get them crammed in there, and good luck carrying the extra ear tips in the pouch as well. The AudioFly name is embossed on one side with the website and phrase “Designed in Australia” printed on the other.
Design and Build Quality
I have found that the build quality is the biggest improvement with these over the AF33’s. Instead of the plastic cable on the less expensive model, the AF45’s have a braided cable that feels much more premium. AudioFly calls this their “Audiofelx” cable and says it is made for outstanding durability. I have not been able to test these headphone’s durability for a long period of time so I cannot attest to any durability claims.
What I can tell you is that this cable feels extremely premium, and I have noticed no frays or tears in the time I have spent using it. I would definitely bet on this cable outlasting the plastic on on the AF33. 
One problem with this cable is that you will notice it causes quite a bit of noise. It is not the quietest cable out there, and if you are walking around wearing these earphones, you will definitely notice some cable noise.
The other parts of the earphones are mostly the same. Most of the earphones are made of plastic, but that keeps them light and comfortable to wear in your ear. There are actually aluminium caps at the ends of the shells that give them a nice, quality look. The design of the earphones makes them extremely comfortable to wear for long periods of time, and I believe these are neck-and-neck with the AF33’s for second best comfort in AudioFly’s performance earphone collection.
Sound Quality
AudioFly touts that the AF45 has a custom voiced 11mm dynamic driver that “yeilds beautifully balanced bass, round mids, and a crisp high end for incredible definition,” but do they live up to that claim?
For the most part, it is a resounding yes. There is a wonderful balance to the sound, and listening to music is a delight. The low end was smooth and just punchy enough for my linking, but I am not one to like extremely punchy bass. This is matched with equally powerful mids and highs that both sound amazing.
When listening to music, separation is pretty impressive with individual voices and instruments being easily pinpointed. I noticed that detail was the main thing lacking, especially in the high end. Sometimes, sounds seemed to meld together in the highs. That being said, the AF45’s performed quite well over all.
The AudioFly AF45’s are fantastic for listening to music, and I imagine most people will not notice or care about the somewhat lack of detail in the highs. There is also an in-line mic on these earphones, and call quality sounds great on both ends. These earphones provide a great listening experience for their $70 price point.
If you are looking for a nice sounding pair of budget earphones, the AudioFly AF45 do a fantastic job compared to other earphones in this price range. The design is appealing, and the cable feels durable even if it is somewhat noisy. You can go and grab the AF45 straight from AudioFly’s website or you can get them from Amazon (which is running a great deal right now!)
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Nexus 6P review
Buy the Nexus 6P from the Google Store
The Nexus line represents what Google views as the essential Android experience. But as good as they were, there have always been a few reasons why Nexus devices fell short of being considered the complete package. Be it a disappointing camera or lack of hardware features, each new Nexus, while highly anticipated and respected, would generally be just behind the flagships of any given year.
With the Nexus 6P, Google is hoping to continue what it started last year with the Nexus 6, by bringing to consumers a truly compelling high-end smartphone made to compete with current generation flagships. With a new partnership with Huawei in place, does Google manage to finally put all the pieces together? We find out, in this comprehensive Nexus 6P review!
Design
Design takes on a whole new outlook in the Nexus 6P. Huawei is at the helm of creating what might feel like the most premium Nexus device yet, with the device featuring a full metal unibody design with flat sides, which helps with the handling of this large smartphone.
The buttons are all on the right side, and offer a solid tactile feedback when pressed, while the power button is textured, making it very easy to find. The headphone jack is up top, and at the bottom is the USB Type-C port. This port marks the start of a new ecosystem for everyone to get used to, but it is admittedly going to take some time for that to happen. The new cord is Type-C on both sides and fully reversible, and, as useful as that is, you will need to remember to take the cable with you when you’re away from home, as Type-C charging cables are still a rarity.
The 5.7-inch display dominates the front, and above and below it is the dual-front facing speaker setup, which is always a welcome addition. Turning over to the back brings us to the new hardware offerings, but also a couple of unique design aspects as well. As seen with the last few Nexus smartphones, the Nexus logo is oriented vertically. This time, the logo is painted right onto the metal back, instead of being an insert made of a plastic that can peel off in time.
Above the logo is the new fingerprint scanner, lined by a shiny circle, and finally, there is the black bar up top, that houses the camera package, including the laser auto focus system and the flash. This bar might not have looked that great in the early product renders, but it does actually fit quite well as a new defining aesthetic for the premium Nexus phone. It does protrude however, albeit not by much.
Metal plays a big role in how the the Nexus 6P looks and feels, but the inclusion of the last two features on the back are what really make this device stand out, with the Nexus logo, the fingerprint reader, and the black bar making for a very recognizable smartphone.
Another plus is that the handling experience is fantastic. The flat sides are easy to grip, the metal feels nice and cool in the hand, and the heft makes this phone exude feelings of high build quality.
Though past Nexus smartphones have taken design cues from the manufacturer’s own offerings, Huawei benefits from a lesser known identity in the West, while of course, also designing a uniquely exquisite smartphone. Simply put, the Nexus 6P certainly lives up to the “premium” moniker.
Display
The Nexus 6P comes with a 5.7-inch AMOLED display with a 2560 x 1440 resolution, resulting in a pixel density of 518 ppi. Quad HD has become the mark of a high-end smartphone over the past year or so, and with the AMOLED construction bringing the higher color saturation levels, this display offers a very enjoyable viewing experience. Colors pop on this display, benefiting from the deep blacks that allow for a higher level of contrast. Sharpness is also impressive, as is the case with any Quad HD screen, and the display also gets plenty bright.
The only real problem we had with the display was when it came to using Ambient Display, which is meant to show a power saving overview of the notifications, but doesn’t trigger very easily. In fact, other than actually picking up the device, there is no other way of activating this otherwise nice feature, and some form of gesture controls would have certainly been useful here.
Performance
Under the hood, the Nexus 6P comes with an octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 processor, clocked at 2 GHz, and backed by the Adreno 430 GPU and 3 GB of RAM. This processing package remains the 2015 flagship standard, and the great experiences seen with the other high-end smartphones throughout the year is also found here. Of course, the pure Android software experience plays a big part in keeping things moving along swimmingly.
Moving through the homescreens, opening and closing applications, and multi-tasking have all been an absolute breeze. Gaming on this device has also been a treat, not only because of the processing package, but also because of the display and the dual front-facing speaker setup, that all contribute towards enhancing the overall experience. Once again, the Nexus proves that it isn’t just sheer power that allows for great performance, and that software optimizations are certainly needed to properly take advantage of the all the power that is available.
Hardware
While Nexus smartphones have historically been quite bare-bones in terms of hardware, featuring just the essentials, there has been a shift in focus with the latest Nexus flagship, starting with the fingerprint scanner on the back.
Fingerprint reading is now an built-in feature of Android 6.0 Marshmallow, which Google calls Nexus Imprint, that is backed by Huawei’s pedigree of good fingerprint scanner iterations, which really shows with the Nexus 6P. The set up process is very simple, and using the scanner is even easier. All you need to do is rest the finger on the circular area on the back, and when the phone is off, it wakes up unlocked and ready to go, without even showing the lockscreen. Apart from letting you immediately replace patterns, passwords, and swipes as the unlock method, the fingerprint scanner can also be used in conjunction with Android Pay, for an additional layer of security when using the mobile payment system.
Moving to the front is where you will see the dual speaker setup, that provides a really good sound experience. They get pretty loud and provide a good amount of body to the sound, which is great, especially when compared to any of the bottom or rear-mounted speakers out there. As an alternative to using headphones when watching videos and playing games, these speakers have definitely been up to the task.
Phone call quality has been to the point, and we have used the phone on the T-Mobile and Google Fi networks without any issues. Speaking of network compatibility, the Nexus 6P is compatible with every major carrier in the US, making it a pretty easy choice as an unlocked offering.
There is no expandable storage via microSD available here, but the 32 GB of in-built storage of the base model should be enough for most. Of course, 64 GB and 128 GB options are available as well for those who want it.
Battery gets a huge boost, not only because of the large 3,450 mAh unit that the device packs, but also courtesy of a new power saving feature introduced with Android 6.0 Marshmallow, called Doze. Doze relies on all of the different sensors to put applications in a deeper state of sleep than usual. The sensors need to be left alone and not be triggered at all, which essentially means leaving the phone untouched. It does seem to work quite well, and it kept the battery from draining almost at all when in standby. The basic message here is to abstain from habitually waking your device up if you want good battery life, but at least Doze is helping make that down time count.
The large capacity of the battery is a big plus as well, allowing for an impressively long life. Though usage varies from user to user, but by leveraging Doze and doing less power intensive tasks, the Nexus 6P can go for two full days with moderate usage. When you do need the charge the device, USB Type-C makes this a very easy task. Granted, Qualcomm Quick Charge does go by the wayside here, but the higher power current Type-C still allows for a quick recharge, with the device battery going from 0 to 100 is under 90 minutes. Battery is probably one of the best parts of the Nexus 6P, because with all of the good this phone brings to the table, being able to enjoy it all for a long time is the icing on the cake.
Camera
If there was one aspect where the Nexus line consistently fell short, it was in the camera department. This year, the Nexus 6P has to contend with what has been a pretty incredible year for smartphone cameras, and fortunately, the device has risen to the challenge.
A 12.3 MP rear shooter tries to allow for more light to enter than before, thanks to a 1.5 microns sensor, that may sound minuscule, but is bigger than the sensor found with the vast majority of Android smartphones today. Unfortunately, there is no optical image stabilization, but its absence is felt primarily when recording videos. The combination of fewer, but more effective pixels, and the overall large sensor size helps with light capture and thus allows for better low-light photography. But it’s not just low light performance that sees a big boost – the overall quality is also higher than before.
That said, the camera app is lacking when compared to much of the competition out there, mostly due to the lack of manual controls. It is a good automatic shooter, and fast, even when shooting in HDR+ mode, with the processing being done in the background in the Gallery app. Aside from a few extra modes like Panorama and Lens Blur, there isn’t much else available with this camera app however. On the video side, 4K recording is available, and slow motion capture at 120 fps or 240 fps at a 720p resolution was a lot of fun as well.
Camera samples
Image quality is actually really great, with details captured very well, despite a small, yet noticeable, amount of noise reduction still at play here. Low light situations still require at least a little bit of light to differentiate the subject from the surroundings, but the enhancement here is that the subject is recognizable. Photos benefit from a subtle amount of saturation for nice and vivid colors, but the results are a little different when viewing the images on a screen other than the saturated AMOLED display of the phone.
100% crops
Panorama images were stitched together without too many problems, and HDR+ turned out quite a few good shots as well. HDR+ did strike us as a little moody however, as the highlights were crushed out in some shots, while the focus was on blowing up the shadows in others. Colors were given a much harder punch in every picture though.
HDR camera samples
Overall, we are really happy with the new Nexus camera. It’s much better than on previous iterations, and, more importantly, you no longer have to feel like you’re settling for this camera when compared to its competition.
Software
On the software side of things, Android 6.0 Marshmallow brings the crux of the Nexus experience, the latest and greatest of Android, with timely updates for the foreseeable future. Android has definitely come a long way, and Marshmallow is all about polish, rather than too many flashy new features.
There are a few flashy features to be found of course, with one coming in the form of Google Now on Tap. While Google Now still resides beside the homescreens, it can now be used to search for anything that is currently displayed on the screen, by long pressing the home button. It basically requires text-based areas to pull information from, but the main gripe with the service is that it can be a bit hit and miss. After all, you cannot cherry pick exactly what information it pulls down, so if there aren’t any instantly recognizable Google search terms present, there likely won’t be anything on tap. It is a great feature when it works though, and we are definitely looking forward to seeing how it develops over time.
Other features are less flashy but just as important, such as Doze. The application drawer has also been given a new look, now being a vertical scrolling list. A line at the top houses the four most used applications, which is a nice touch, and there is also a search bar to help you quickly find any application. Finally, there is now a better way of checking and setting up App Permissions, which can all be done from the Settings menu. Further, Android asks if you want an app to access a particular function when the app tries to access it for the first time. For anyone who is a bit apprehensive about security on Android, the full control now available to you might bring a little peace of mind.
Of course, the main reason to get a Nexus device is to get the latest and most optimized version of Android that is available, and that is exactly what you get here. Small tweaks to the animations make Android feel that much smoother, and the overall experience is really impressively snappy. There is also the advantage of timely updates, which is always a big plus.
Specifications
| Display | 5.7-inch AMOLED display 2560 x 1440 resolution, 518ppi |
| Processor | 2 GHz octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 processor Adreno 430 GPU |
| RAM | 3 GB |
| Storage | 32/64/128 GB not expandable |
| Networks | GSM 850/1900 W-CDMA 2/4/5 CDMA 0/1/10 LTE Band 2/4/5/7/12/13/17/25/26/41 |
| Software | Android 6.0 Marshmallow |
| Fingerprint scanner | Yes |
| Camera | 12.3MP rear-facing camera 8MP front-facing camera |
| Battery | Non-removable 3450 mAh |
| Dimensions | 159.4 x 77.8 x 7.3mm, 178g |
Gallery
Pricing and final thoughts
The Nexus 6P is priced starting at $499, which may be less than the price of typical flagships, but is still definitely a premium price for the Nexus series. A great experience in a properly premium body means that this device is definitely worth it.
So there you have it for this in-depth look at the Nexus 6P! Some people might scoff at the price, especially those who still consider the Nexus line to be an affordable series that brings with it essential Android experiences. Last year’s Nexus 6 bucked that trend, and the Nexus 6P continues it by truly looking and feeling high-end, while offering a premium experience under the hood, including a camera that finally does justice to the flagship line. If you do want Android in its purest state, either of the two 2015 Nexus smartphones will do, but when looking for a high-end experience, the Nexus 6P takes the crown. As an Android phone that is capable of satisfying just about anyone, the Nexus 6P is definitely worthy of your consideration.
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