The three major smartphones of the second half of 2014 are now out and we now know the specifications look like for the iPhone 6 Plus (Apple’s first phablet), the Galaxy Note 4 ( which launched in India yesterday for Rs 58,300) and the new Nexus 6 smartphone which was announced yesterday.
So when it comes to the specs battle which smartphone stands out? We take a quick look at all three.
Screen and Design: Google has gone big with the Nexus 6. Not only has the company bumped up the size and made it the biggest Nexus smartphone (it has a 5.96-inch screen) to be released since the series started, the screen resolution has also been improved up to quad-HD which is 1440×2560 pixels (around 493 pixels per inch).
As far as the Galaxy Note 4 is concerned, it has a 5.7-inch screen with a a Quad HD Super AMOLED display (2560 x1440 pixels resolution) with a pixel density of 515 pixels per inch. So in the pixels battle, the Nexus 6 and Note 4 are an even match.
As far as the iPhone 6 Plus, the screen size is the smallest in this phablet which is 5.5-inches. The screen resolution is 1080p and comes to around 401 pixels per inch. Clearly the Note 4 is ahead where the number of pixels go, but at the end of the day it should noted that where screen is concerned, both the Nexus 6 and Note 4 are offering excellent options. It’s only the iPhone 6 Plus that is lagging behind.
As far as design is concerned, the iPhone 6 Plus is still ahead of both phones, despite the #bendgate jokes. Note 4 still has that weird leather design in the back although without the faux stitches and doesn’t look very different from the Note 3.
The Nexus 6 has followed the Nexus series design of curved edges. The back cover has a distinctly Moto X feel to it though, with the camera lens being bang in the middle and the M logo of the Motorola right below that.
At the end of the day, design is a personal preference, but for now iPhone 6 Plus is the best looking of the lot.
Processor, Memory, Specs: It’s evident that the Nexus 6 is expected to compete with the Galaxy Note 4. The Nexus 6 has a 2.7 GHz Quad-core Snapdragon 805 processor and comes with 3GB RAM which is the same as the Note 4 version that is getting launched in India. Nexus 6, however, will come only in 32 GB and 64 GB memory options, except that it doesn’t support a microSD.
The Note 4, however, does support microSD slot and according to the latest info on the Samsung India e-store, it can support up to 64GB.
With the iPhone 6 Plus we know that it has an A8 chip which supports 64-bit architecture and comes with the M8 motion co-processor. Apple claims that it comes with 2 billion transistors, making it 25 percent faster for any ordinary computing task and 50 percent faster for graphics than the iPhone 5s which was pretty nifty. According to ChipWorks, who had a detailed look at this processor, it’s still a dual-core processor.
Where Apple’s memory space is concerned, this time it’s 16 GB and then straight to 64 GB and finally, 128 GB.
If you want the extra space, then the Nexus 6 and the Note 4 are probably going to be the options for you to consider.
Camera: With the Nexus 6 we see that Google has decided to bump up the camera to 13 megapixels from 8 megapixels in Nexus 5. The Nexus 6 camera has Optical Image Stabilisation (OIS) as well, which was there in Nexus 5 too. The front camera in Nexus 6 is 2 megapixels.
Where the Note 4 is concerned, the camera resolution is higher at 16 megapixel with OIS and it has 3.7 megapixel front camera which has wide-selfie mode to allow people to squeeze in bigger groups when taking a selfie. Like any other Samsung Galaxy device, the Note 4’s camera also offers a ton of features and modes.
Apple has of course stuck to the 8 megapixel rear camera and a 1.2 megapixel front camera. The upgrades in Apple’s camera is with regard to a new feature called focus pixels which are basically phase detect sensors that are dedicated to determine the focus distance, which reduces the twitching you see when cameras are trying to acquire focus with the contrast detect AF. Essentially the iPhone 6 Plus will allow you to focus faster when taking a picture. Additionally there’s slow-mo mode for video shooting which is at 240 frames per second.
With the Nexus 6, we haven’t heard much about what the special camera features are, so it seems a little underwhelming for now. If pixels are what you crave, the Note 4 is likely to be your choice.
Battery: According to Google, the Nexus 6 will have 24-hour battery, something that can only be confirmed once we’ve tested it. The smartphone has 3220 mAh battery and Motorola and Google are also providing the Turbo Charger which takes 15 minutes to get up to an additional 6 hours of battery life.
In addition to this Nexus 6 runs Android 5.0 aka Lollipop which has a Project Volta that offers new tools and APIs to help apps run efficiently and conserve power.
Where the Galaxy Note 4 is concerned, it has a similar 3220mAh battery pack and Samsung is also providing something called Fast Charging which will take the smartphone from 0 to 50 percent battery is just flat 30 minutes.
On the iPhone 6 Plus, Apple too is promising some serious commitments to a decent battery life, although not as high as either Note 4 or Nexus 6. iPhone 6 Plus has a talktime of up to 14 hours on 3G, with upto 10 days standby time and 11 hours of video playback time.
Given that Apple’s battery woes are legendary, for those looking to escape these, the Nexus 6 could be a possible option.
Pricing: The 32 GB version of the Nexus 5 was launched at Rs 32,990 in India but given that Moto X 2 Gen was launched at a slightly lower price of Rs 31, 990 too, don’t except the Nexus 6 to be priced similar to this. Given that Google and Motorola have given this a serious bump up in specs, except this to be priced slightly higher. It would safe to see this as the most premium smartphone yet from Google. In the US, the phone is going to be priced at $649.
Where the Note 4 is concerned, Samsung launched it a price of Rs 58,300, which is a truly high price for a smartphone. But then of course, Apple’s iPhone 6 Plus takes the cake when it comes to pricing. It starts at Rs 62,500 for the 16 GB version and the 64 version is another 9000 bucks extra at Rs 71,500. The 128 GB version Rs 80,500.
It’s obvious that as far as the price is concerned, it’s best to wait till the Nexus 6’s final price is announced before going for either the Note 4 or the iPhone 6 Plus. Of course, if you’re a die-hard fan of either series, the price in either case won’t be a bother.
