Why Nexus 6P - A Review by Biju Menon after 6 months of usage

Why Nexus 6P could be the phone you are looking for?

“NEXUS” the name/ brand is already famous among the Smartphone users, many are still using their old nexus and are happy with the kind of “ELITE” user privilege they get numerous software updates. The only worry for a Nexus user has been the hardware limitation as it ages

That is why the new Huawei Nexus 6P is a show stealer, unlike the previous NEXUS devices this doesn’t have a Poly Carbonate finish or a cheap plastic body , this (NEXUS 6P) has  a unique aluminium Unibody which adds classy looks and stability to the device.

Most of the consumers when they plan to buy a smartphone they care about the brand, price, hardware specs and software and compare it with other devices in the same range, however these are all things we think about before we invest, after we invest and buy we just want to see how does the phone perform as per the expectations set by us and if the experience is vivid and smooth.

I have been using the NEXUS 6P for over a month now and I’ll be sharing my experience with the phone and 5 reasons why I would recommend this device.

1.   Design and Display.

·       NEXUS 6P is first in its clan with an Aerospace grade aluminium Unibody, makes it sturdy and strong.

·       Premium finish stands out in public and makes other phones look too ordinary.

·       WQHD 1440P with 515ppi and AMOLED screen absolutely magical display, your movies, pictures and even TEXT just got more attractive.

·       Just not the looks the phone is actually “COOL”, after playing hours of “NOVA 3” and “Asphalt 8” device neither got heated up nor froze on me.

·       Dual speaker in the front is very LOUD and very clear. (Experience to believe).

·       Fast and accurate,Finger print censor.                

·        Too big to carry, one hand usage is a challenge till you gets used to it.

2.   Camera

·       12.3 MP Rear camera with 1.55 micron pixels makes your photos not just dynamic but also clear when it is stretched. The micron pixels help you to get more details of the picture by avoiding grains on the picture captured.

·       The Laser auto focus with dual LED flash helps in low light photography and let us use features like Lens Blur (aperture exposure), Photo sphere and a totally updated Panoramic shot.

·       Video recording is of 4K, FHD and HD is so good that you can SHOOT a movie with this device.              

·       Missing all the EMUI shortcuts for camera.

·       Stock camera app has very limited features, upgrading to a decent 3^rd party camera app without AD’s seems very difficult.

·       Wish I could compress the file size, takes up a lot of memory.(Regular sync with Google Photos helps though).

·       8MP front camera is made for great selfies, groupies.

·       Front camera HD recording and for great quality Video calling on Skype, wechat etc.

Battery and charging:-

·       This was one of the biggest worries of all the previous NEXUS series phones but with 3450 mAh and doze mode of Marshmallow it really helps me to get through a busy working day without worrying about charging it again.

·       With USB C type charger and fast charging (optional) it’s very easy to charge the phone. Within an hour the device gets charged for over 60 % that lasts for good 6-7 hours.

·       Batter Optimization and Battery saver mode really helps when needed.

 Marshmallow:-

·       Advanced APP drawer makes the phone look tidy and easy to use.

·       Word selection while copying text is easier.

·       Google TAP ON NOW is a great upgrade on Google launcher.

·       DO NOT DISTURB options for busy days.

·       Darker and system UI themes available to customize the phone as per your need.

·       Permission manager for the application you download lets you decide and choose what access you want the application to get from your phone. (Contacts/Camera).

Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 + Adreno GPU 430 + 3GB DDR4 LP RAM experience.

           

·       I love playing games on Mobile especially games with a lot of graphics, like NOVA 3, Asphalt 8, Mortal Combat and many more, so far in a month or so I have used the NEXUS 6P the experience has been breathtaking, No lags, No crashing of the game nor the phone gets too heated up after hours of gaming. Device has been exceptional well and performing above expectation of a gamer.

·       Multitasking between 15-20 apps without a second delay is what I wanted and is what I’m getting with the NEXUS 6P.

·       Connectivity of 4G or WIFI works flawlessly.

    - END OF DOC -

 

China’s increased importance among leading handset core IC vendors : Huawei is No:1

Source : https://technology.ihs.com/

China’s increased importance among leading handset core IC vendors

Quarter after quarter, the smartphone market continues to be dominated by Apple and Samsung as the two combined to ship over 35% of the smartphones in the second quarter this year. While this is a considerable portion of the market, the two leaders have seen their collective share drop from a high of almost 50% in the first quarter of 2012. One of the drivers behind the decreasing concentration in the smartphone market is the emergence of Chinese OEMs.

Driven in part by the rapid adoption of LTE in China last year, both global and domestically focused Chinese OEMs increased in prominence.  Huawei, Xiaomi, ZTE, Coolpad, TCL-Alcatel, OPPO, and Gionee shipped almost 26% of smartphones in 2014. This was up from 20% from 2013.  As the transition from ultra-low cost or feature phones to smartphones continues to play out China’s importance is growing.

Although its share decreased slightly, Qualcomm remains the revenue market share leader, even among the major Chinese OEMs above. However, MediaTek is making big strides and saw its revenue share among leading Chinese handset OEMs increase last year; as the company moved from shipping no LTE chipsets in 2013 to shipping over 30 million by the end of the 2014. China’s rapid LTE subscriber growth last year was a major contributor to this progress. With its focus on what it calls the “super-mid” smartphone tier, MediaTek had a leading or significant market share at many Chinese based OEMs last year. The Taiwanese fabless semiconductor supplier held top revenue share positions at TCL-Alcatel and Lenovo in 2014 and significant share at other leading Chinese OEMs such as Xiaomi and ZTE.

Tsinghua (via Spreadtrum and RDA) also participated in the core IC market, competing with MediaTek for baseband and supporting core IC share. Qorvo and Skyworks were the major suppliers of RF front-end content for the brands above. A contributing factor to Qualcomm’s decrease in market share was Huawei’s increased reliance on its own internally produced handset core ICs from its Hisilicon subsidiary including applications processors, baseband, RF transceivers, and power management ICs

Despite their success with major Chinese OEMs, MediaTek made only moderate progress in the overall core handset IC market last year. The Taiwan based semiconductor supplier remained the third largest in the core handset IC market based on revenue, behind Qualcomm and Samsung. 

However, MediaTek did gain ground on Samsung who remained flat as Apple began to lean on TSMC for its applications processors, starting with the A8. MediaTek’s market share in handset core IC revenue grew from 8% to 10% as Samsung’s remained at 13% last year. Other core IC suppliers such as Spreadtrum (Tsinghua) and Leadcore supplied ICs to many entry level smartphones, but due to their low-end focus, held only marginal market share last year among the leading Chinese OEMs above.

While 2014 was a marquee year for smartphone shipments in China, with shipment growth of over 27% annually, 2015 is reflecting a maturing market with shipments expected to grow less than 3%. Suppliers and OEMs who were successful in the Chinese market in 2013 and 2014 are well served looking for growth from other countries in Asia, such as India, as well as the Latin American markets. These are two regions which IHS anticipates will hold a five year CAGR in the double digits. While the internationally successful Chinese OEMs have already achieved momentum outside of the country, chipset suppliers turnkey or reference design programs such as those from Qualcomm, MediaTek, and even Spreadtrum could help the smaller but up-and-coming OEMs achieve traction outside of China as well.