Mobile this week: Nexus 6 review; Nexus 5 runs great on Lollipop

Nexus 6 camera

This was a big week for Google Android as the first official Nexus 6 reviews appeared along with carrier pre-orders for the handset. Overall, you can’t help but be impressed by the newest Nexus phone which boasts some of the latest and greatest hardware. And of course, it runs Android 5.0 Lollipop, along with its new material design look.

Nexus 6 gravity

Google Nexus phones of the past haven’t always been this competitive with other currently available flagship phones. Either the camera wasn’t nearly as good or the processor wasn’t the best. The missing or mediocre feature depends on the model. This time around, it’s hard to find a problem to point to (minus a few software glitches that I expect will quickly be addressed): The Nexus 6 is fast, has good battery life, is packed with memory and lots of pixels on the 6-inch display.

If you want the big screen and pure Android experience, this a great choice. If you don’t, all is not lost as I noted earlier this week:

“Here’s the thing: Once Android 5.0 is rolled out from handset makers, you’d get much of the same experience in a comparable but smaller phone in either the Moto X or the Motorola Droid Turbo. The Moto X is available for all major U.S. carriers while the Turbo is on Verizon only. But both have high-resolution screens, fast processors, and battery life that’s comparable or better.”

It turns out that Motorola already started releasing Android 5.0 to its phones this week, so there’s little to no wait for the new software.

I’m already wondering if Motorola’s X and Droid Turbo will outsell the Nexus 6, even though this time around Google’s phone is available from all major U.S. carriers, which is a first. In fact, I suspect they well because many people here aren’t yet ready for that big of a phone; evidence appeared this week that the smaller iPhone 6 is outselling the iPhone 6 Plus by roughly a 2 to 1 margin.

From a software perspective, there’s much to like about Android 5.0 and it runs really well on last year’s Nexus 5. I installed Lollipop manually as I couldn’t wait for Google to push the software out to handsets.

Nexus 5 with Android 5

I’m seeing a clean, solid experience on the updated phone: Some of the glitches I noted on the Nexus 6 aren’t happening on the Nexus 5. Performance seems at least as good as before, if not better as well.

Most importantly is the noticeable improvement in the picture quality as output from the 8 megapixel camera might have been the most glaring weakness in last year’s Nexus phone. Overall, I’m happy with the software running on the Nexus 5: It got me to dust off the older model and start using it again.

Images by Kevin C. Tofel/Gigaom

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