Using the Google Nexus 6P in 2022 - Review

The Google Nexus 6P made by Huawei was the best & final Nexus flagship before Google moved to the Pixel - and what a smartphone it was. How does it hold up 6 years later, and why was it so great?
Nexus 5X Review - • Using the Google Nexus...
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0:00 - Introduction
0:36 - The Nexus 6 Premium
4:17 - Design
8:35 - Camera
10:26 - Hardware & Usability
13:59 - Conclusion
Music:
pastebin.com/PygyQdWm

[@91Tech]

The Google Nexus 6P(remium) was the final Nexus flagship- and what a flagship it was. Anyone here ever use it over the years? --I'm on vacation at the moment, coming home soon but I'm enjoying Vancouver Island and the beautiful ocean! Hopefully I'll be decently active on Discord once I get back, so if you'd like to join we'd love to have you! - discord.io/91tech

[@Castawot.]

Can You Do a Video On Linux Phones/Linage OS?

[@kimchithatisnicelyfermente4627]

I bought a used one at one of our retailer (this phone didn't sell in our country) in 2016 , beside my old galaxy s4. the s4 died unfortunately, but the 6P is still working

[@martin1649]

no fun city

[@janeleekeller]

Hope You have a Great Time on Vancouver Island Josh 😊. JaneLee 🕊️ 9/4/21

[@hayaschu626]

I used it from 2017 to 2019 but the battery died

[@rollie3333]

This was the best phone I ever had

[@wht-rabt-obj]

Agreed. I loved this phone.

[@oneminutewonder77]

Maybe it's just me but there's a lot of things with older devices that I prefer over the more modern devices. The aluminum frames that devices used to have were great. The great front facing speakers that old HTC phones used to have as well.

[@donutves]

I had that phone, that frame bent like butter. Maybe those frames weren't too amazing

[@asadfarraj]

Indeed, the design, for one, was awesome too. Sure, the bezels were huge, but they were still beautifully designed and used. Few phones were able to do that. The OnePlus 3-5 and iPhones come to mind. Something about the symmetry just hits the looks, whereas most phones today aren't symmetrical at the front.

[@thosko98]

That was a problem with the 6p specifically, I remember it getting roasted by JerryRigEverything back in the day. @@donutves

[@Smeagol0857]

Still have this phone with me. Used it daily for about 5 years unmodified, and still loving it for its sleek design, fast charging (at the time), and the pure Android experience. Now, it's a backup phone and for trying out various new apps/experimental OS. Didn't experience the fame BLOD, but did experience random rebooting/restarting on some occasion in the later years. Thought it was BLOD, but discovered it was actually due to the power button pressed by the bent frame near that area (fixing it did require taking the case apart and make slight "adjustment" to the frame). Battery was replaced once by myself; it's do-able once you have watched various videos on how to do it on YT, but it was slight pain in the butt to remove the camera's glass bezel (it will crack if one is not delicate when removing it and so ordering extra with the battery will be a wise move). Upgraded to Pixel Experience running Android 10 recently. While it's usable, the phone will feel just slightly laggy compare to stock ROM (Android 8.1). I would say Custom ROM based on Android 9 maybe be a better compromise if one wants to have newer ROM and good performance if using it daily.

[@andusensei]

I have my old 6P back from release. Gave it a new battery and a Pixel Experience ROM based on Android 11 and it's great at a code scanner for my car lol.

[@goldibollocks]

I still have a 6p lying around here. Sadly, the battery is completely dead or I would use it for watching KZbin because of the amazing front-facing speakers!

[@ShellymanStudios]

I got mine laying around lol

[@kxngvizz8029]

I'm still using mine lool

[@dudeimgeorge]

Paid for a battery swap and it worked like a boss still loll

[@yangertitenyar4624]

I'm still using the 6p for listening to music... And I really do love the design...

[@awesomerocker01]

I bought mine brand new in late 2017, but after a little under 2.5 years in early 2020, it died on me and got the infamous infinite boot loop. I take really good care of my phones, so this was a big surprise for me. AccuBattery put my original battery health at 90% and I never had any early shutdown issues. I stuck it in the freezer for 40 minutes and was able to get it to boot for just long enough with lots of trial and error to unlock the bootloader and apply the 4 core patch fix. The phone's working again now, but it's really slow. It was an amazing phone while it lasted, but afterwards, I moved on and bought a new Pixel 3a XL.

[@antikommunistischaktion]

Even with the quad-core patch I've heard these devices will still eventually die permanently. Luckily when my second 6P bootlooped I was already running a custom ROM (meaning I already had an unlocked bootloader) so I was able to flash the quad-core patch and backup my data. Recovery mode still worked fine my guess is TWRP only fired up the 4 LITTLE cores.

[@brittanyeccles9820]

My 6p also died from the reboot loop. So sad...such a great phone!!

[@rin5387]

I bought Oppo A57 varian 3/32Gb in 2017. I still use it now, the main problem is the touch screen is not that responsive anymore, the battery drains so fast.. Maybe in the new year 2022, I would get a new phone.

[@Slydime917]

Yeah it died to a bootloop to me as well after 2 years... very unexpexcted and disappointing

[@johnjohnson7092]

Mine just went to bootloop again after dropping it and was about to have had it and put it away for more coming weeks until I simply held the volume up and power buttons for like 2 damn minutes (patience is key), now it is back booting up.

[@thegmodfreak1]

I preordered this phone and loved it to death for around 7 months. Eventually I started to notice issues with the aluminum frame bending, and had some bad screen burn-in and performance issues with android processes constantly crashing. I had to get rid of it when it died at 68% one day, and never looked back. I feel like this phone was just a few glaring hardware issues away from being my favorite that I've owned, but ultimately it was my shortest-lived phone.

[@dudeimgeorge]

Unlucky. That phone was fucking supreme

[@Jushwa]

Yeah the battery issues with this phone were horrible. On my third battery. But yeah the phone shutting down and leaving me stranded a few times wasn't fun.

[@hayaschu626]

@@Jushwa I have one as my 3rd backup lol still 1st battary but will die very soon

[@timothyhockemeyer]

I have two of them. One has the battery issue, but it didn't develop until around three years. The other is perfect to this day. I use them for streaming purposes (and as Home security cameras prior to that using Alfred) so the battery issue isn't an important. Was a great phone in its time and I was super disappointed when they changed to Pixel and left us rooters behind, though they courted with a Nexus root kit for the life of the nexus line

[@Jaylin7878g]

Your experience with the phone was identical to mine

[@theodoretekkers]

I love his videos. So informative and interesting. I love how Josh shows light on past devices we forget about

[@timothyhockemeyer]

It's 2023 and I have two Nexus 6Ps I use as twitch devices to monitor my stream on one and to respond to my chat on the other. I actually still use a Nexus 6 (Motorola built) also for my KZbin stream. These older devices still work for specific uses. Prior to the is was using them with Alfred as Home security cameras. There's lots of creative ways to make use of old phones.

[@MsSoulBlader]

Still have mine, it makes for a good paperweight these days but I still can't get over how good the design is!

[@RedxDJCashpal]

i had one lying around with a busted LCD. Today i replaced the battery with a new one and also changed the LCD display/digitizer. This phone brings back nostalgia for me and at that time, it was the best phone you could get in my opinion. People would always ask my what kind of phone I had when they would notice how loud it is with dual facing speakers or how crisp the display is. Still holds up

[@chandrapowell2495]

I wish I knew how to do all that. I took loved this phone and still compare every phone to it's size and width.

[@williambowles3379]

I’ve been binge watching all of your videos all day because I’ve had my second vaccine. And your videos are so good ! Thank you for the time, effort and dedication you put into making these videos

[@levi.m1_]

6 FEET AWAY FROM ME ROBOT!!!!

[@lillywho]

@@levi.m1_ Beep boop?

[@levi.m1_]

@@lillywho AHHHHH

[@mikejaques4702]

What is vaccine?

[@15heartz]

Any sudden side effects?

[@Icarus_Tactical]

it’s nice to know google is going back to their roots with the Pixel 5A and 6

[@langstonbelin]

5a sucks.

[@Andrew982_]

@@langstonbelin No I think the main reason for the hate is the limited availability, it’s only in the U.S and Japan iirc

[@langstonbelin]

@@Andrew982_ it just has bad specs for the price.

[@cristianchacon740]

I love the Huawei Nexus 6p (I just noticed my profile photo is still my 6P. I've delt with the slight bend, boot looping, and battery issues. Boot looping was fixed with a script you install on twrp which makes it run the 4 small cores rather than the 4 big cores that go bad. The battery replacement wasn't so bad and it's still running till this day. It's even the less common now 128GB model and will definitely use it for more years to come as a collectable that is.

[@necessarychange7779]

Very good review in 2021 on this phone great review 👍🏾💯

[@lillywho]

Slight correction here: I'm pretty sure the manufacturers themselves had most of the hand in designing the devices. I'm actually not quite sure how much influence Google actually had in the devices, probably just a few key stone points of the feature list rather than most of the engineering footwork. The big Google stamp was actually the software and probably some of the design language.

[@antikommunistischaktion]

That's true with the Nexus devices all the way up until the Nexus 6 with those being based on another device from that OEM, but the Nexus 5x and 6p were wholly designed by Google.

[@brittanyeccles9820]

Oh I miss my 6p. It did the reboot loop and died. But it's my favorite phone. I know must phones have the same features now but back in the day the front speakers were the best!!! Great phone, great video. Thank you!!

[@littlesoldier1985]

Good review, man.

[@keitaparada1497]

I use to use the Microsoft lumia 950 xl, it was amazing I replaced the battery with a higher capacity battery and it lasted really long. The 950xl still feels modern then the 6p. Great video

[@antikommunistischaktion]

I have very mixed memories about this phone. On the one hand it was amazing premium hardware at the time, on the other hand I had both major game-ending issues with the phone, battery and bootlooping. The one I actually ordered had the battery issue, except it didn't drop to zero randomly it'd just only give me 90 minutes of battery life no matter what, even if it was sitting on my desk idle. The replacement for that one eventually bootlooped and luckily it happened on the weekend Google was RMAing these devices with Pixel XLs.

[@Luke-gk4ir]

I bought this phone brand new and used it up to 2020 with pixel experience. Two batteries later it was the best phone I ever had and by far the longest I've ever had a phone. I'd like to find one new in box to bring back the memories and for a nice keepsake. I had many secondary devices but this beat all of them for a while and my now current s21 ultra holds it's place in my pocket along with a slightly dated iphone 11 pro max.

[@aurathedraak7909]

Never had a Nexus and I always wanted.

[@ImalVlog]

Always enjoying your video.. its so satisfying.... Keep up the good work.... 🥰🥰🥰

[@efftee]

Both the 5x & 6p were made by different manufacturers and yet they were still both plagued by hardware issues

[@08viperstrike]

I like how you're an apple user who objectively critiques android phones. You deserve a sub

[@Mizzlenum]

I just sold my nexus 6p today... I had it in my drawer of phone museum. I loved this phone for the logest time along with the lg v30. What a beautiful display and front stereo speakers. PPI highert thant 500. Images just looked georgeous on this screen.

[@Acko90ve]

I'm watching this video on my Google Nexus 6P! 😀

[@macmomazz]

How did you survive the bootloop?!?🤷🏿‍♂️

[@Acko90ve]

@@macmomazz I don't have that.

[@pierrezbl8224]

@@macmomazz turn off 4 core cpu and it'll boot fine.

[@tuntufyewistone2242]

And me

[@agoodun]

Just beautiful 😍 the og nexus 4 and 5 were the best. Also just remembered when the app drawer actually had an icon... Lol

[@kadeemscheme]

This was the last phone I bought brand new and swapped the battery when it started to go. Took so many great pictures with this phone

[@kinorai]

Boy that was and remains my favorite phone ever! Loved it! -Sent from a pixel 5... Love it but, it's no longer exciting to have a new phone, they are all the same..

[@aleccino]

Such an attractive phone! Love that camera bar

[@quietbox2627]

I'm glad I got to experience all the different phones over the years

[@AdmiralSym]

I really loved my Nexus 5 and later 6P. I also had an HTC One M7 as my first phone so the 6P was a nice return to that sort of build. My coworker has a pixel 6 Pro and had no idea what I was talking about when I said it looked pretty similar to the Nexus 6P

[@chriscrowder3313]

I've used my 6p for a while as my primary phone, and even changed the battery once, and it is still an exceptional phone.

[@sebyo7650]

I bought mine when it first came out in 2015. Replaced the battery 11/2015, the battery was fried. Guessing it was due to overcharging, leaving it plugged in overnight many a times. Have a little problem rebooting by itself occasionally. Very unpredictable when battery gets to 15%, turns off by itself. Im still using it as a backup phone. Still going strong. Able to games like Call of Duty 2 and other other games similar to call of duty.

[@ambig1]

The phone I kept as a novelty item even after using it for 3 years, the phone which got stolen, the phone which I miss. All metal, cold in hands, thin and best value for money, in 2015 It had QHD (2560*1440p), after 7 years no top end phones are offering such a resolution.

[@ronlevon4294]

Phones that have aluminum or plastic back are pretty easy to open. It takes about 30 min to replace a battery even for average user ( u need some simple tools, can be bought as a bindle with a battery). .

[@jeffthevomitguy1178]

Damn, my man is almost running out of 5 year old devices waiting for that iPhone 13 to drop. 😂 let’s goooo

[@asadfarraj]

I really, REALLY dig that screen, and the look of that clean, symmetrical display. I hate the fact that I've never had a phone so well designed. Oh well, at least I do have my first phone and it's not some $100 budget one.

[@bajaracer31]

My favorite phone I've owned!

[@herald1953]

Man, i really grew fond of phones that released in 2015 - 2016 for its size, still easily operable with one hand (especially the iphone SE)

[@Jushwa]

It's even wider than my 12 pro max lmao

[@NicksterNOC]

I saved up and bought one senior year of high school then accidentally took it in the ocean when I went surfing a month later. I was devastated. It was such an amazing phone and I didn't have insurance on it. The form factor, rear finger print sensor, display, front facing speakers, and UI are 10/10. I then used some old hand-me-down iphones from my parents, then a OnePlus 7 Pro (which is also an incredible phone). Now I'm waiting on my backordered iPhone 14 Pro Max to ship. It's the best phone period right now, and it would be kind of cool to try Apple again at this stage.

[@rozsi4]

Had one, loved it especially for those speakers, but after nearly 2 years it suddenly stucked in a bootloop.

[@siloPIRATE]

Just over two years in, mine also got stuck in a boot loop

[@chiahong4553]

best phone ever...and the camera on 6p is much better than my current s10 plus

[@kevinfightsbears]

I remember having this phone back in the day, it was fantastic but sadly it died when it got the bootloop

[@nikolaypetkov4510]

I love your humor.

[@Ashl3ycastle]

One of my favourite phones

[@arifproject]

still using mine daily as an alarm, been through 2 battery change over the years

[@xiondFirst]

I used to have the nexus 4, 5 and 5x and man it brings memories of teenage anxt.

[@carlsouthern]

I had this exact thought a couple of days ago.

[@NehemYah810]

WOW I can’t believe I COMPLETELY forgot about this phone!!!!!! I owned the 5x but this is a VERY forgotten phone.

[@Garrettdx1988]

I think it'd be cool to have a Nexus line of lower cost phones alongside the Pixel phones. I know the they have the A series now, but it's not the same.

[@Itsmikebitch]

Intro music gets me everytime.

[@darklugia7]

I bought this new and it entered bootloop after running an official, non-beta software update. Phone was in always in a case and no physical damage. It did this in my 11th month with the phone and neither Google or Huawei would take responsibility for the warranty. Jumped to iOS from that point. I’ve only had 2 iPhones in that time due to how many years Apple provides their devices the latest software update. I’ve also never had an issue when approaching Apple RE: my standard device warranty.

[@themauriciobunch2442]

That was my favorite Nexus phone!

[@Vienna3080]

Damn i feel old that the last Nexus was 6 years ago

[@DavidNikkiZane]

I had two of these last year and they both died from battery problems. Otherwise it held up surprisingly well. I am now using a pixel 3

[@ensiyehghavampour4703]

Have had it for 6 years and love it. Pity I do not think I can update the android any more.

[@deathdogg0]

I remember when Android 8 and 8.1 had just come out. I don't use Android but I follow its news and it seems like it was just yesterday when people were dying to get their hands on it.

[@Castawot.]

I have only (and still use) android 8 and 7. They are both great OS, but I can’t run Sonos S2 And some other Essentials so i am using an iPhone 8 Plus Now.

[@user-qp2vx1km1h]

Android 5 was the big one IMO.

[@wht-rabt-obj]

I loved my 6P. That full metal jacket was premium.

[@oscarcastro4767]

This was a great phone. My battery was having serious problems less than a year of use. Google gave me a new Pixel XL due to the problems.

[@PrabuSelva]

Watching in Nexus 6P today Sep 2021 ... My First Android Phone is Nexus 6P Before that had a Nokia Symbian Currently Using as a backup phone

[@rsaosp]

3:20 I had (and still have) a nexus 6p, where the battery would charge from 75-100% in about 2 minutes, and when the phone goes down to ~75%, it would shut down, and if i plugged it in, it would restart at 75%, but if i left it unplugged, it would boot loop and shut down eventually. Luckily a battery replacement fixed it though.

[@weesamexpress6730]

The Pixel 6's Camera bump was like a nod to the Google Nexus 6p

[@Iziik]

9:55 your doggo looks exactly like mine.

[@ralfkhoo2164]

Still looks slick at today context

[@firisrozley5768]

Granted that Huawei smartphones being popular in my country 🇲🇾 prior to GMS ban, it's no surprise that Nexus 6P was the only Google phone that was available officially. Too bad that for official Google Pixel phones since the OG one, we have to import those from our neighbor Singapore & the pricing that they charge is more expensive compared to China-branded smartphones with similar specs.

[@uytin99]

you can flash android 11 easily, which is more feature rich and with faster perfomance

[@jimgillespie7026]

I'm still rockin' the 6P. I'm on my third one I think. Maybe fourth. The boot loop nightmare, the shutting down with 85% power, and even the one that turned into a horse shoe shape has not deterred me yet. I can change out a battery in about 15 minutes and have a spare waiting in the wings for when the battery I put in last night goes out. This is my first smart phone so I have nothing else to compare to. Imagine being in line at a Tool concert and expecting to show your E Ticket but the 'ol 6P has other ideas. I guess I like being abused by my gadgets so I'll just do the $15 battery upgrades until I lose the two phones I have left.

[@nayanbhalotia]

Absolutely loved this phone and it has to be one of the best phones I’ve used. Shame that my phone died because of the bootloop, and neither Huawei nor Google provided any support in India.

[@servissop151]

You can slam it in the freezer for long enough to make it boot and apply a patch for it

[@pratikhake]

This phone was amazing

[@shadowstrangler1]

the 6p was my last phone until i got the note 9. I miss the styling.

[@JeremyPegram]

I'm watching this on my 6p right now. Using it as a backup. Its kinda slow, but other than that I have no big problems.

[@KJBigBelter]

FAVE PHONE EVER!

[@markbidwell654]

never had any problems with my Nexus 6P - until now - i reset the phone, so now it won't update ANY Playstore apps. any suggestions =-? i cannot update Google Play services, so i cannot anything in the Google Play Store (correct?) - phone is showing 31 updates pending

[@fullepisodez5482]

This phone was sooo good. I used to have it and i think it still lools better than most modern phones. HTC M8 is still the most gorgeous phone to this date. Do a vid on it :)

[@Evenmost]

Still use m8 using custom rom as backup.

[@Onthe9thlife3730]

Currently looking to upgrade from the nexus 6p, had it for several years and every year I've had to replace the battery. Only replacing now because the most recent battery hasn't lasted 6 months and the camera isn't good at picking up true colour on images (which has always been that way, more so for bright vibrant hues than dull images). Camera also didn't take good night time photos. I do like the backing and as a person who has dyspraxia it's survived many many drops (always in a strong casing but has occasionally popped the glass on the front out of the frame causing the side buttons to not work, just push it back in and good to go) going to miss it.

[@VaunShiz]

If you go to the forums for this phone , most users have had to replace the battery multiple times

[@missdelad.deladela7748]

Agree, it has Pixel 6 vibe to it!

[@siloPIRATE]

3:14 boot loops is what killed mine. Before then, Android 8 made my Nexus 6P lag everywhere so I had to use Nova to get the performance I had back. Google and Huawei took no responsibility. I don’t think there was a lawsuit in the UK over this phone, so we got nothing. Loved the phone and Android. Had an iPhone ever since.

[@davinp]

The main problem with old phones like this is that they don't get Android Security Updates anymore. Most manufactures stop providing security updates after 2 years. Also, most phones have non removable batteries, so you likely cannot replace it.

[@biasedthoughts]

I loved this phone. Sadly it had the battery and random power off issues. Replaced it with a 3a xl. I still think those 3a-5a phones were the best pixels. Never had an issue.

[@Brsrafal]

just got one for my mom only problem i have is in some aps the bottow 3 buttons home back they dont show in some aps it makes it hard to go back

[@asap_wednes]

これKZbinとかの動画の縦横比が画面と一緒でなおかつフロントにスピーカーが向いてるから動画用スマホとしてめちゃくちゃいいと思ってます。

[@iamapie13]

I had a nexus 6 and it was great, I loved it but the battery went so bad it wouldn't hold a charge for 5 minutes even at full

[@Profetorum]

I've been using my nexus 6p since feb 2016 and just today i installed a new rom. Gotta say, android 10 and above feels laggy, with some bugs and often discontinued. Phone is getting too old even for updated roms. Anyway, only issue i came up with was battery wise-phone started turning off around 40% battery. Replaced the battery once in (almost) 6 years, just that (have to thank all the modders for those smart charging mods for low current charging and stuff)

[@joshuabergeman354]

Wait, Google copied the square camera bump from the iPhone? You do realize that that square camera bump on the iPhone was introduced in the iPhone 11 which came out in September of 2019 and the Pixel got their square camera bump on the Pixel 4 that was released in October of 2019! So while Apple came out with it first it was by just one month.

[@ypyr]

I came here because I have my 6p sitting in the drawer since I moved on to the Pixel 2Xl (and now on pixel 5). I've placed the 6p on sale for a few years now but only today I got a ping asking if it's still for sale. I took out my 6p to turn it on again and felt sentimental about parting with it! Haha should I keep it as a Google fan collectible instead?

[@YGAPlayz]

Yes

[@YourTypicalAverageAsianGuy]

Yes

[@itsyeeoledskoolfurry3208]

You could maybe think of This phones timeline as a TECH Colab with a bunch of Tech Companies. ^u^

[@mazherhossain1959]

I still use this phone....😁😁

[@collinsaidoo5853]

Great and smart phone

[@Razor-gx2dq]

Nice

[@ac346673]

This was one of the very first phones to feature USB-C.

[@rollinggeez3043]

Yes it was

[@rollinggeez3043]

Only downside of the phone was the battery I remember mine was stuck on the Google logo couldn't get to the menu so have to factory reset lost all my phone it does take good photos one thing I like the phone

[@AjaySharma-st5gn]

This phone used to be my fav but due to budget constraints hand to buy op3t

[@Rubinrock1989]

Its still my daily driver..

[@allenorozcolopez3689]

Did you ever have a problem with no audio while recording video??

[@j3sv1n]

4:53 How's Google *copying* the square camera look of the iPhones when both of them came out in 2019???? Infact, Google even revealed the design of the Pixel 4 much much before any of those phones even came out. So, how's that copying??

[@antikommunistischaktion]

It's important to note that although he is 95% objective when reviewing Android phones, he still is an Apple user so that 5% slips in sometimes.

[@xbotscythe]

@@antikommunistischaktion yeah, and besides of all things to have a bias about a camera shape is the least of my worries tbh