If you are a new Nexus 6 customer or Nexus follower then there is more good news. It seems the Nexus 6 has pole-vaulted into sixth place on DxOMark’s Mobile Image Quality Tests, with an overall score of 78. It was only beat by some top competitors. Most notably, the iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone 6, Samsung Galaxy S5, Sony Xperia Z3 and Sony Xperia Z2. The rest of the top ten (following the Nexus 6) included the Nokia 808 Pureview, the Sony Xperia Z1, Apple iPhone 5S and Samsung Galaxy S4. This is quite a coup for a Nexus smartphone which in the past has always contained a camera which seemed more like an afterthought.
Google really changed this up with their latest Nexus 6 made by Motorola. They basically took a great phone, the Moto X, and increased the size and specifications, including the camera area. The Nexus 6 incorporate a 13MP sensor and then added auto-focus, a dual-toned LED Flash Ring (that literally encircles the camera lens), a f/2 lens, an HDR+ mode and kept the Optical Image Stabilization (OIS) of its predecessor. This is a far cry from the Nexus 5, that only had an 8MP sensor and single LED flash off to the side on the lens.
The scores that separate the top ten are all fairly close and this shows us that the quality of mobile phone cameras is getting very good overall. Each device is tested by taking photos and by video scores and then these two scores are averaged together. For instance, the Nexus 6 received a score of 81 for taking photos, but only 74 for its video capabilities…these two averaged together gives us its 78 overall score. The highest scoring apple products (iPhone 6 Plus and iPhone 6) each received an overall score of 82,. The Galaxy S5, Sony Xperia Z3 and Xperia Z2 all received 79’s and the Nexus 6 fell in at 78. So 4 points is all that separated it from number one!
DxOMark said that the Nexus 6 Pros in the Photo department were: Good overall exposure, excellent detail preservation when shooting in bright light conditions, strong and pleasant color when shooting outdoors, good detail preservation, color rendering and exposure when using flash and the Autofocus is stable and repeatable. The Cons included: Slightly pink White Balance shooting in overcast and cloudy conditions, sharpness noticeably inconsistent between image center and corners and Autofocus performance slow in both low and good light conditions. Please hit us up on our Google+ Page and let us know what you think of the Nexus 6 camera and your experiences as they start to roll out to customers. As always we would love to hear from you.
