HTC's been used to living at the top of our charts for the last couple of years, and while it's not quite managed it in 2015, it's still a phone with the best build quality out there.
None of the old favourites are missing, so BoomSound enhancement still really turbocharges the audio and the Sense overlay remains one of our favourites, thanks to being sophisticated and really powerful.
The camera has been boosted to 20.7MP, although doesn't have the impressive snapping power of some of the other phones on the market, and the design language still means this is one of our favourite phones to stick in the pocket.
It's a touch more expensive than before, and doesn't take a huge leap forward from last year's model - but then again, that was nearly perfect, so where was HTC to go?
Design
Let's get this out the way at the start – the design is, by far, the most amazing part of the HTC One M9. HTC is calling it "jewellery-grade," with each one hand-finished by craftsmen, and it certainly shows.
The one-piece fascia is complemented beautifully by the two tone metallic rim (on my review unit, the silver and gold variant). The grey and gold versions will look less impressive, given they've lost the two-tone appeal, but that doesn't mean they won't be as nice to hold.
Actually, I'm pretty sure they'll be nicer than this model. There's something about the design right now that I really don't like, the rear edge proving to be quite sharp in the hand. It's not going to draw blood, but when I used the gunmetal grey preview device in Barcelona it definitely felt closer to the One M8 in style, with more of a comfortable curve. The reason for this hasn't been confirmed by HTC, but I get the feeling it's something to do with the colouring process.
The other thing that's changed here – and not for the better – is the power button transferring to the right-hand side of the phone.
This is a more natural place for it to live, making it easier to turn the screen on and off. However, HTC has inexplicably made it the same size and shape as the volume buttons above, so feeling for it without explicitly looking means I often hit the volume key instead. The microSD slot is right above the trio of buttons too, and as it's slightly indented can cause confusion when trying to change volume in the pocket. It's hard to tell which is which, even with the phone in your hand – the extra ridges on the power button don't help enough.
While the decisions HTC has made to improve the One M9's design don't seem to have hit the mark, there's no doubt this is a finely crafted phone, and is probably the best on the market in that respect.
The two-tone finish is superb, the weight and balance is even better than before, and the precision I spoke of earlier is the overriding feeling.
The sharp edges of the BoomSound speakers are well-defined, and while it's heavy at 157g, especially compared to the iPhone 6 or Galaxy S6, Apple's is the only device that can come close to beating the attractive packaging here – and I prefer the weight and balance HTC has created.
I'd definitely chuck it in a case though. After two days I'd already dented the bottom through it falling a foot onto the floor, and those nicks are really noticeable on the premium casing.
Performance
The performance of the HTC One M9 is excellent, as noted. There are too many judders in this early version of the software that I anticipate will be ironed out in a very short time, but when it's opening apps or searching the web everything is crisper than last year.
I wish I could it say it would stay that way for the next two years that you'll own this phone, but when you start filling it with apps you'll get an inevitable slowdown as they start doing things in the background.
Always keep things clean and safe, kids. A factory reset once in a while doesn't hurt.
The GeekBench 3 results show a very impressive score, and remember this isn't really the full performance of the phone as HTC has throttled it slightly so it doesn't go burning hot.
That points out something huge about today's phones: they're pointlessly powerful. The octa-core processor can be pushed to insane speeds if you don't care too much about battery, but in day to day life it won't hit anywhere close to that limit, meaning HTC can dial back the power without a worry.
With that in mind, why does it matter how powerful the phone is? It's like buying a high performance sports car that will never see the track. It's good to know you've got that headroom to put your foot down when you want it, and the acceleration is great, but push it too hard and you'll be in trouble.
Even with the lower power, the HTC One M9 is one of the most powerful smartphones we've tested, though topped by the insane skills of the iPad Air 2.
For gaming, flying through multiple apps and more it's got the power – but then when you're trying to browse high resolution pictures in the gallery and it takes a second to load the fully sharp image, that experience is ruined.
Shout out for call quality though – the ability to grab signal is very good indeed, which is even more impressive when you think how much metal is in this phone.
Metal usually equals no phone signal at all, so it's good to see that HTC has somehow managed to improve this area. I was a really big fan of using the One M9 to make something as old-fashioned as a phone call.
Camera
HTC's given up on the UltraPixel idea with the One M9, at least for its main camera. Instead it's gone for the same 20.7MP sensor found in the Sony Xperia Z3, aiming to wow with the higher number of megapixels stuffed in.
That step away from Ultrapixels is a big disappointment, as HTC was the one big Android brand striking out against the need for loads of pixels to take a good picture, instead going for the innovative combo of a 4MP sensor that could nab loads of light and a secondary sensor for clever effects.
So how good is the new camera, trying to stand shoulder to shoulder with the best from Samsung and Sony? A good camera today needs to have a fast start up and shutter speed, excellent detail, accurate color reproduction and good low light performance, and it's clear HTC has gone in hard for all of these.
The One M9 generally has a very good performance in most conditions, whether it's low light, bright scenes or changeable conditions. The sharpness of the pictures is clear and the color tone, although a little more muted, looks more mature than the over-coloration of the One M8.
What's clear is there's a lot of post-processing going on throughout the photography process, and it's very good for the most part. It's evident that HTC has tried to offset the loss of low-light performance by boosting the exposure after the shutter is pressed – but this results in a lot of noise.
The flash isn't brilliant either, with the high power light taking over night pictures. The amber LED in there is designed to help improve skin tone, and while it does do that, the entire snap is a little over exposed.
The big annoyances here, though, are the shutter speed (and, to an extent, the start up time, which is far behind the iPhone 6 and the Galaxy S6) and the time taken to autofocus as well.
The biggest culprit was HDR mode, which forced the One M9 to pause for a while before even beginning to start processing the shot in darker conditions. Again, this isn't the sort of thing I'd have expected from a next-generation processor.
And the result, thanks to the lack of autofocus and the slow start to processing, is often muddy and lacks definition.
So while low light performance has dipped appreciably, the general performance has more than improved enough to take its place. In general daylight, I was really impressed with the performance of the One M9. OK, it's nothing different to the rest of the market, but it gives you quality and sharpness time and again.
The field of view is lowered though, thanks to the higher number of megapixels. This means you don't get as much info into the sensor, and where Apple is improving this year on year, HTC just took a step backwards to get more pixels into the mix.
The front facing camera, now using the UltraPixel sensor from the rear of the One M8, is miles better.
It captures a huge amount of detail and really removes the need for a flash – something a lot of people have been calling for on other handsets.
The beauty modes are still present, with the ability to smooth skin and increase the size of your eyes to a scary level. Face fusion, where you can work out what the demon spawn of you and your friend would look like, is also offered – and great fun down the bar.
The other area that HTC has traditionally been strong is the after effects party, with the Zoe ability to take short videos and mix them with pictures a really cool trick.
This year, Zoe has been moved to a separate app, been taken off as a camera option and been replaced in post processing with a lot of, well, useless effects.
I don't really get why HTC is making such a big deal about the ability to do things like double expose your photos – they just end up looking like you've messed up two snaps, unless they happen to perfectly complement one another.
Similarly the prism and stripe effects, allowing you to 'remix' your image – it just seems like a good way to create a Pink Floyd album cover. It doesn't make them look any better, and it's certainly not something I'd share on social media and be proud of.
Friday, October 30, 2015
Thursday, October 22, 2015
Nexus 6
Design
It takes two hands to properly operate the Nexus 6, but this Android phone feels better in my increasingly ambidextrous grasp for its size. Motorola's design, borrowed from the Moto X, gives it a sturdy BendGate-free aluminum metal frame and palm-pleasing gently curved back. It's sloped, so while the contoured sides run as thin as 0.15 in. (3.8mm), the thicker hump is 0.39 in. (10.1mm). The height and width are a normal 6.27 in. (159.3mm) x 3.15 in. (83.0mm). Nexus 6 pushes an edge-to-edge display with no physical buttons, so the - by comparison - "small" 5.5-inch iPhone 6 Plus isn't too far off: 6.22 in. (158.1mm) x 3.06 in. (77.8mm). At 6.49 oz. (184g), it weighs more than the new iPhone or Samsung Galaxy Note 4. But there's a good chance that if you can fit Apple's biggest smartphone in your skinny jeans, you're also going to be able to squeeze this oversized Android into a pocket too. You might not always be able to get it out as easily, especially when driving or sitting down. The curve feels natural against my hands, and the back, while made of hard plastic, is at least smooth. It doesn't try to mask the material with fake leather stitching or bumpy plastic. Nexus 6's shell is different from the rubberized Nexus 5, but I found it a lot easier to grip than its "premium," but far-too-slippery competitors that feature an all-metal design from top to bottom. With the aluminum iPhone 6, I felt like I needed a sleek-design-defeating case not to drop it. This is a familiar Motorola device almost all of the way through, down to the dimpled logo on the back where my finger automatically rested when on a call. But it skips out on the Moto Maker customizations like wood finishes and far-too-supple leather backs. Nexus 6 colors are limited to two: either Cloud White or Midnight Blue with the advantage of both being compatible with Qi wireless chargers, a feature all of those tricked-out Moto X phones don't support. It's also missing the Moto Active Display functionality. Waving my hand above the three IR sensors of the Moto X triggered a mostly unlit screen with just the current time and notification icons. Pressing down on these icons revealed more information like email teasers. Active Display is nowhere to be found here, even though it was a great a battery-saving idea that made notifications very glanceable. Instead, there's the less reliable Ambient Display mode that provides a greyed-out lockscreen whenever you lift the phone up suddenly. This doesn't always work. Nexus 6 misses the boat when it comes to a fingerprint scanner to rival Apple's Touch ID. Apparently, the iPhone-maker is inadvertently responsible for killing Motorola's biometric design plans because it bought supplier AuthenTec. You won't find a working LED light indicator here either. Recently, a developer discovered that the phone does emit one of these notifications pulses, but it's disabled. Turning it on requires a rooted phone. Also missing, or at least inconsistent, is the Nexus 9 tablet's knock-to-wake feature. It actually works sometimes and turns on that greyed-out screen, but other times I get no response at all. "Hello, is anyone home?," I keep asking. Maybe a firmware update can resolve this in the future but that hasn't arrived in the months since the original launch.
Interface
Stock Android remains one of the best reasons to own a Nexus device. Its software is void of the often unnecessary third-party overlays and pre-installed apps that simply get in my way. Sure, skins like Samsung TouchWiz, LG Optimus and HTC Sense look and run better today than they did two years ago, but pure Android is the way to go. There's no getting around the fact that Nexus devices, like all Google Play Edition devices, receive future Android updates almost immediately without carrier intervention. That matters as much this year as it does next year. We're gearing up for Google's successor to Android Lollipop, Android 6.0 Marshmallow, which will be released later this year. While it probably won't be as big a leap as Android Lollipop was compared to Android KitKat, it's still set to come with some exciting new features, and it's a good bet that the Nexus 6 will be one of the first handsets to get the update. Right now though it's all about Android 5.0 Lollipop, last fall's pre-installed version of the operating system. It sports a flat, yet layered theme among its menus and apps. Google calls this "Material Design," and it sort of lifts 2D layers to the third dimension with a combination of shadows cast by key and ambient lights. The new look also dials back the visual non-essentials, but punches up the color. Menus aren't as dark as they were on Android 4.4 KitKat, and apps share in this same geometry-focused design and splash of color. So far this applies to Google's slate of apps like Gmail, Google Play Movies & TV and Google Maps. The company is driving a simplified, unified layout throughout its ecosystem. There's also a big difference to how Android 5.0 Lollipop functions, and I didn't even have to unlock my Nexus 6 to see the very first change - it was right there on the lockscreen. Lockscreen notifications bring the hidden notification panel to the forefront with email alerts, text messages exchanges, app updates and so forth. It's all easily glanceable like on iOS 8. Such a move would normally introduce a privacy problem. Google, however, nipped that issue in the bud within the "Sound & Notifications" settings menu. With nothing to hide, I can "Show all notification content," keep certain items confidential via "Hide sensitive notification content," or turn everything off with "Don't show notifications at all." Better yet, I can block notifications on an app-by-app basis through this same handy menu. Priority Mode is Google's more advanced take on Apple's Do Not Disturb feature. It silences the Nexus 6 indefinitely or in intervals ranging from 15 minutes to 8 hours. Like the lockscreen notifications, certain apps and callers can be allowed or disallowed via whitelisting, and I've since ditched my third-party Silence app for this new, system-wide feature. Priority Mode isn't part of Quick Settings like I had expected. It's activated by pressing the volume key in either direction and following the on-screen toggles. Quick Settings does have some new additions, however. The pulldown menu doesn't require two fingers simultaneously. That still works, but now you can do one swipe for notifications, then another swipe to reveal this hidden quick settings menu. It's a lot less awkward. It's still impossible to add to or rearrange the quick settings. What you see is what you get. Thankfully, new buttons alongside Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and Airplane Mode include Flashlight and the Chromecast "Cast Screen" button. A brightness slider, while not necessarily new, is no longer hidden behind its own submenu. One less step is what quick settings is all about. New features are already on the way too, with Android 5.1 set to roll out any moment at time of writing. That brings support for multiple SIM cards and high definition voice calls to the Nexus 6, as well as a new Device Protection mode, which keeps a lost or stolen handset locked until you sign in with your Google account.
Performance
Nexus 6 running Android 5.0 Lollipop clears all but one rival smartphone when it comes to benchmarks: the Samsung Galaxy Note 4. It's awful close, and that's no surprise. Google's specs mirror it chip-for-chip with a 2.7GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 805 quad-core processor, Adreno 420 GPU and 3GB of RAM. Nexus 6 aces Geekbench 3 benchmarking tests with an average multi-core score of 3294. It's significantly faster than the smaller iPhone 6 Plus (2911) and Samsung Galaxy S5 (2905). Alas, the Galaxy Note 4 eeks out a win with a benchmarking score of 3,352. A real overachieving nerd with a pocket-protected S-Pen in its frame, if that's what you want. The recently released Samsung Galaxy S6 and HTC One M9 also upstage the Nexus 6, with scores of 4,846 and 3,803, respectively. Despite the newer handsets scoring higher, these numbers translate into stellar performance from the Nexus 6. Google's phablet is venturing into tablet territory, and the recent Nexus 9 slate averaged 3,492 in the same tests. It's pushing the boundaries of more than just physical size. The one and only slowdown I saw was during the boot-up process. It took 1 minute 33 seconds to start this thing up. At first slow start times seemed more like a glitch that can be addressed in a post-launch firmware update, however a year after launch and the Nexus 6 still takes its sweet time when booting up. Right now, streaming movies and playing CPU-intensive games hasn't slowed this phone down one bit. That's a good sign if you're going to hold onto this smartphone for two whole years.
Camera
Nexus 6's camera certainly bests the flawed photos of 2013's Nexus 5 snapper and it's way more accurate than the rest of Motorola's oversaturated lineup. The improvements are care of the Sony IMX214 CMOS sensor, a wider f/2.0 aperture and optical image stabilization, all attributes that aren't a part of the new Moto X. It's a 13-megapixels - the same as the OnePlus One camera - and holds its own next to the 21-megapixel Droid Turbo for two reasons: it has better shot-for-shot color accuracy and OIS. Both the Moto X and Droid Turbo have tried to impress with vibrant, Instagram-like colors for each shot. It works in some cases like photos of the sky or buildings, but when it occasionally turns your skin different hues, it's unfortunate. That's why I appreciate the fact that the Nexus 6 is closer to reality. It's still a bit warm in natural light and grainier than it should be in low-light situations, but a marked improvement. The problems are only abundantly clear when comparisons are drawn between its camera and the Galaxy Note 4 camera. Samsung's color accuracy and post-processing skills can't be beat. All of this is true of the front-facing camera too. It's a bit redder and grainier in low light when using that 2 megapixels. The Note 4 and the front-flash-equipped HTC Desire Eye do a better job if you're looking for selfies in your local pub. I found the Nexus 6 autofocus to be comparable and even snappier in some instances, but the Note 4's camera is just chock-full of options not in Google's very straightforward default. Sure, Photosphere is a neat camera trick that works on Google+, but its an overall bare bones camera app that's easily overpowered by third-party alternatives in the Play Store. And sadly, Motorola hasn't brought over the camera twist shortcut that launches the Moto X app. Video is a little more straightforward. It shoots 4K video at 30 frames per second, but if you're not playing it back on a 4K TV, it's hard to justify the space on a quad HD smartphone. That's where the 1080p video recording option is much more relevant. You can find camera samples on the next page and I'll be adding more of my photo-snapping results throughout the week with additional analysis.
It takes two hands to properly operate the Nexus 6, but this Android phone feels better in my increasingly ambidextrous grasp for its size. Motorola's design, borrowed from the Moto X, gives it a sturdy BendGate-free aluminum metal frame and palm-pleasing gently curved back. It's sloped, so while the contoured sides run as thin as 0.15 in. (3.8mm), the thicker hump is 0.39 in. (10.1mm). The height and width are a normal 6.27 in. (159.3mm) x 3.15 in. (83.0mm). Nexus 6 pushes an edge-to-edge display with no physical buttons, so the - by comparison - "small" 5.5-inch iPhone 6 Plus isn't too far off: 6.22 in. (158.1mm) x 3.06 in. (77.8mm). At 6.49 oz. (184g), it weighs more than the new iPhone or Samsung Galaxy Note 4. But there's a good chance that if you can fit Apple's biggest smartphone in your skinny jeans, you're also going to be able to squeeze this oversized Android into a pocket too. You might not always be able to get it out as easily, especially when driving or sitting down. The curve feels natural against my hands, and the back, while made of hard plastic, is at least smooth. It doesn't try to mask the material with fake leather stitching or bumpy plastic. Nexus 6's shell is different from the rubberized Nexus 5, but I found it a lot easier to grip than its "premium," but far-too-slippery competitors that feature an all-metal design from top to bottom. With the aluminum iPhone 6, I felt like I needed a sleek-design-defeating case not to drop it. This is a familiar Motorola device almost all of the way through, down to the dimpled logo on the back where my finger automatically rested when on a call. But it skips out on the Moto Maker customizations like wood finishes and far-too-supple leather backs. Nexus 6 colors are limited to two: either Cloud White or Midnight Blue with the advantage of both being compatible with Qi wireless chargers, a feature all of those tricked-out Moto X phones don't support. It's also missing the Moto Active Display functionality. Waving my hand above the three IR sensors of the Moto X triggered a mostly unlit screen with just the current time and notification icons. Pressing down on these icons revealed more information like email teasers. Active Display is nowhere to be found here, even though it was a great a battery-saving idea that made notifications very glanceable. Instead, there's the less reliable Ambient Display mode that provides a greyed-out lockscreen whenever you lift the phone up suddenly. This doesn't always work. Nexus 6 misses the boat when it comes to a fingerprint scanner to rival Apple's Touch ID. Apparently, the iPhone-maker is inadvertently responsible for killing Motorola's biometric design plans because it bought supplier AuthenTec. You won't find a working LED light indicator here either. Recently, a developer discovered that the phone does emit one of these notifications pulses, but it's disabled. Turning it on requires a rooted phone. Also missing, or at least inconsistent, is the Nexus 9 tablet's knock-to-wake feature. It actually works sometimes and turns on that greyed-out screen, but other times I get no response at all. "Hello, is anyone home?," I keep asking. Maybe a firmware update can resolve this in the future but that hasn't arrived in the months since the original launch.
Stock Android remains one of the best reasons to own a Nexus device. Its software is void of the often unnecessary third-party overlays and pre-installed apps that simply get in my way. Sure, skins like Samsung TouchWiz, LG Optimus and HTC Sense look and run better today than they did two years ago, but pure Android is the way to go. There's no getting around the fact that Nexus devices, like all Google Play Edition devices, receive future Android updates almost immediately without carrier intervention. That matters as much this year as it does next year. We're gearing up for Google's successor to Android Lollipop, Android 6.0 Marshmallow, which will be released later this year. While it probably won't be as big a leap as Android Lollipop was compared to Android KitKat, it's still set to come with some exciting new features, and it's a good bet that the Nexus 6 will be one of the first handsets to get the update. Right now though it's all about Android 5.0 Lollipop, last fall's pre-installed version of the operating system. It sports a flat, yet layered theme among its menus and apps. Google calls this "Material Design," and it sort of lifts 2D layers to the third dimension with a combination of shadows cast by key and ambient lights. The new look also dials back the visual non-essentials, but punches up the color. Menus aren't as dark as they were on Android 4.4 KitKat, and apps share in this same geometry-focused design and splash of color. So far this applies to Google's slate of apps like Gmail, Google Play Movies & TV and Google Maps. The company is driving a simplified, unified layout throughout its ecosystem. There's also a big difference to how Android 5.0 Lollipop functions, and I didn't even have to unlock my Nexus 6 to see the very first change - it was right there on the lockscreen. Lockscreen notifications bring the hidden notification panel to the forefront with email alerts, text messages exchanges, app updates and so forth. It's all easily glanceable like on iOS 8. Such a move would normally introduce a privacy problem. Google, however, nipped that issue in the bud within the "Sound & Notifications" settings menu. With nothing to hide, I can "Show all notification content," keep certain items confidential via "Hide sensitive notification content," or turn everything off with "Don't show notifications at all." Better yet, I can block notifications on an app-by-app basis through this same handy menu. Priority Mode is Google's more advanced take on Apple's Do Not Disturb feature. It silences the Nexus 6 indefinitely or in intervals ranging from 15 minutes to 8 hours. Like the lockscreen notifications, certain apps and callers can be allowed or disallowed via whitelisting, and I've since ditched my third-party Silence app for this new, system-wide feature. Priority Mode isn't part of Quick Settings like I had expected. It's activated by pressing the volume key in either direction and following the on-screen toggles. Quick Settings does have some new additions, however. The pulldown menu doesn't require two fingers simultaneously. That still works, but now you can do one swipe for notifications, then another swipe to reveal this hidden quick settings menu. It's a lot less awkward. It's still impossible to add to or rearrange the quick settings. What you see is what you get. Thankfully, new buttons alongside Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and Airplane Mode include Flashlight and the Chromecast "Cast Screen" button. A brightness slider, while not necessarily new, is no longer hidden behind its own submenu. One less step is what quick settings is all about. New features are already on the way too, with Android 5.1 set to roll out any moment at time of writing. That brings support for multiple SIM cards and high definition voice calls to the Nexus 6, as well as a new Device Protection mode, which keeps a lost or stolen handset locked until you sign in with your Google account.
Performance
Nexus 6 running Android 5.0 Lollipop clears all but one rival smartphone when it comes to benchmarks: the Samsung Galaxy Note 4. It's awful close, and that's no surprise. Google's specs mirror it chip-for-chip with a 2.7GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 805 quad-core processor, Adreno 420 GPU and 3GB of RAM. Nexus 6 aces Geekbench 3 benchmarking tests with an average multi-core score of 3294. It's significantly faster than the smaller iPhone 6 Plus (2911) and Samsung Galaxy S5 (2905). Alas, the Galaxy Note 4 eeks out a win with a benchmarking score of 3,352. A real overachieving nerd with a pocket-protected S-Pen in its frame, if that's what you want. The recently released Samsung Galaxy S6 and HTC One M9 also upstage the Nexus 6, with scores of 4,846 and 3,803, respectively. Despite the newer handsets scoring higher, these numbers translate into stellar performance from the Nexus 6. Google's phablet is venturing into tablet territory, and the recent Nexus 9 slate averaged 3,492 in the same tests. It's pushing the boundaries of more than just physical size. The one and only slowdown I saw was during the boot-up process. It took 1 minute 33 seconds to start this thing up. At first slow start times seemed more like a glitch that can be addressed in a post-launch firmware update, however a year after launch and the Nexus 6 still takes its sweet time when booting up. Right now, streaming movies and playing CPU-intensive games hasn't slowed this phone down one bit. That's a good sign if you're going to hold onto this smartphone for two whole years.
Camera
Nexus 6's camera certainly bests the flawed photos of 2013's Nexus 5 snapper and it's way more accurate than the rest of Motorola's oversaturated lineup. The improvements are care of the Sony IMX214 CMOS sensor, a wider f/2.0 aperture and optical image stabilization, all attributes that aren't a part of the new Moto X. It's a 13-megapixels - the same as the OnePlus One camera - and holds its own next to the 21-megapixel Droid Turbo for two reasons: it has better shot-for-shot color accuracy and OIS. Both the Moto X and Droid Turbo have tried to impress with vibrant, Instagram-like colors for each shot. It works in some cases like photos of the sky or buildings, but when it occasionally turns your skin different hues, it's unfortunate. That's why I appreciate the fact that the Nexus 6 is closer to reality. It's still a bit warm in natural light and grainier than it should be in low-light situations, but a marked improvement. The problems are only abundantly clear when comparisons are drawn between its camera and the Galaxy Note 4 camera. Samsung's color accuracy and post-processing skills can't be beat. All of this is true of the front-facing camera too. It's a bit redder and grainier in low light when using that 2 megapixels. The Note 4 and the front-flash-equipped HTC Desire Eye do a better job if you're looking for selfies in your local pub. I found the Nexus 6 autofocus to be comparable and even snappier in some instances, but the Note 4's camera is just chock-full of options not in Google's very straightforward default. Sure, Photosphere is a neat camera trick that works on Google+, but its an overall bare bones camera app that's easily overpowered by third-party alternatives in the Play Store. And sadly, Motorola hasn't brought over the camera twist shortcut that launches the Moto X app. Video is a little more straightforward. It shoots 4K video at 30 frames per second, but if you're not playing it back on a 4K TV, it's hard to justify the space on a quad HD smartphone. That's where the 1080p video recording option is much more relevant. You can find camera samples on the next page and I'll be adding more of my photo-snapping results throughout the week with additional analysis.
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