Xiaomi Mi4C review

? WHAT IS THE XIAOMI MI4C

The latest member of the Mi4 family, the Mi4C is Xiaomi's attempt to secure some more mid-range market share before the launch of the hotly anticipated Mi5 early in 2016

Boasting a polycarbonate body, 5-inch 1080p screen, USB Type-C, Snapdragon 808 processor and Xiaomi's Android-based MIUI 7 operating system, it offers similar power to Google's recently-released Nexus 5X – but at less than half the cost

XIAOMI MI4C – DESIGN AND BUILD

Like its forerunner the Mi4i, the Mi4C has an all-plastic exterior. The polycarbonate shell brings to mind the iPhone 5C, but the finish is matte rather than glossy, increasing grip in the hand. While metal-clad smartphones are becoming more common due to the premium nature of the materials, you can't accuse the Mi4C of feeling cheap and nasty; the case is solid and well-made, with no creakiness to speak of

This is partly down to the fact that the battery inside can’t be removed, ensuring that the unit can be sealed tightly and securely at the point of manufacture. With a height of 138mm and thickness of 7.8mm, it's a pleasingly compact unit - certainly much smaller than the Nexus 5X, which boasts a similar-sized screen

The front of the phone showcases the 1080p, 5-inch IPS LCD screen, which has the three traditional Android commands at the bottom. At the top you'll see the Mi logo, earpiece and front-facing 5-megapixel camera. Around the rear are a 13-megapixel snapper, dual-LED flash and speaker, which is surprisingly loud and punchy

The left-hand side has the micro-SIM tray – which can accommodate two SIMs, as is the tradition with many phones aimed at the Chinese market – while the right-hand side has the volume rocker and power button

On the top of the phone you'll find the 3.5mm headphone socket. Personally, I’d have preferred this to be along the bottom edge, like it is with the Galaxy S6. An IR blaster sits up here too, which turns the phone into a remote control for your TV or stereo

On the bottom there's the USB Type-C connector – a first for Xiaomi. This banishes the issue of plugging the power lead in the wrong way around, and also means the phone supports faster data transfer (assuming the other device also has Type-C) and quick charging

There's no fingerprint scanner, nor NFC inside, so the Mi4C won't support Google's contactless Android Pay system when it rolls out next year. The lack of NFC is disappointing when you consider how long it has been commonplace in other Android handsets, but Xiaomi has claimed in the past that very few people actually use it. That might have been true a few years ago, but thanks to Apple's efforts in the contactless payment arena, it's about to become a pretty essential feature – and it's a shame the Mi4C doesn't have it

The lack of a microSD card slot may also put off some buyers. Instead you're stuck with the standard 16GB of storage (32GB if you opt for the more expensive model, which also has an extra 1GB of RAM)

XIAOMI MI4C – DISPLAY

The 1,080 x 1,920 pixel IPS LCD screen on the Mi4C is 5-inches from corner to corner and boasts a 441ppi pixel density – more than adequate for a display of this size. For an LCD panel the contrast is excellent, with deep, convincing blacks mixing neatly with brighter, more vibrant colours. For a phone that costs this little, it's a remarkable display in terms of quality

Xiaomi has included a sunlight mode, which makes the screen easier to see outdoors. In general it works well – although the shininess of the glass that covers the display does sometimes make it hard to see past the glare and reflections

While we're on the topic of glass, it's worth pointing out that Xiaomi hasn't specified what material has been used here – there's no mention of Gorilla Glass anywhere in the specification list. While this doesn't preclude the use of some form of protective covering, I noticed that the screen on my review unit has already picked up quite a deep scratch, so it might be prudent to treat the phone with kid gloves

One feature I really liked – which was disabled in the options menu by default – is the ability to double-tap the display to wake up the handset. I'm amazed that more mobile manufacturers don't include this as standard in their products

XIAOMI MI4C – MIUI 7

Xiaomi, like the vast majority of Android OEMs, places its own UI skin over the top of Google's mobile OS. MIUI is one of the more comprehensive skins on the market, boasting its own user account system and marketplace, and is now up to version 7, which looks more like Apple's iOS than ever before. Xiaomi has been criticised in the past for slavishly copying the iPhone maker's every move, and if you've used iOS recently then you'll spot a lot of similarities here

There's no app drawer, as you'd find on most Android phone. Instead, all of your apps are arranged on your homescreen, just like they are in iOS. Xiaomi has also adopted a "flat" design for app icons, again taking its lead from Apple. Another "borrowed" idea is alert badges on icons, denoting unread messages or notifications. Many other elements of the UI are stylistically similar, such as the Wallpaper settings menu

Such shameless replication of ideas would be annoying were it not for the fact that they all work so well. Xiaomi has combined the best elements of Android – such as a more robust notification system and wider user customisation (you can apply user-generated themes to the UI and even create your own) – with the best aspects of iOS to deliver a Frankenstein-style OS that offers an intuitive and appealing experience. Every element is meticulously designed and rendered, making stock Android look a bit dull and uninspired in comparison. This is perhaps a matter of personal preference, but I vastly prefer MIUI to Android 6.0 Marshmallow on the Nexus 5X in terms of pure aesthetics

For all of its cloning, Xiaomi does have some ideas of its own. New to the Mi4C is the concept of "Edge Controls", which allow you to perform certain actions by double-tapping the side of the phone with your finger. You can set this feature to take you backwards through the UI, which is by far the most useful application. The other is to take a photo when the camera app is running, but this isn't quite as effective – the process of tapping the phone usually means the resultant photo is blurry

MIUI 7 is available in two forms: developmental and stable. Most units imported to the West by Chinese resellers will come with the former installed, as development ROMs can easily be hacked and packaged with a wide range of useful (and not so useful) apps. The main reason, however, is so that Western users can gain access to Google's suite of programs, which don't come with the Mi4C as standard

Even so, you'll want to flash the global stable ROM the moment your phone arrives, which is a simple matter of downloading the file to the phone's internal storage and using the MIUI Updater app to flash the update. You'll lose Google apps, but it will also remove any bothersome bloatware that will almost certainly have been included by the ROM creator, leaving you with a more stable version of MIUI 7

It also means you’ll have an unrooted phone – out of the box, my Mi4C review unit was rooted and therefore wouldn't play nice with some of my essential downloads, such as the Barclays mobile banking app. You can get Google apps back by installing a program from the Mi Market. While the entire process takes only a few minutes, it might be a bit beyond casual users, so keep this in mind when mulling over a potential purchase

XIAOMI MI4C – PERFORMANCE, SPEAKERS & CALL QUALITY

The similar-looking Mi4i was saddled with a Snapdragon 615, but Xiaomi isn't cutting corners with its successor. The Mi4C has a Snapdragon 808 – the same chipset seen in LG's flagship G4 and Nexus 5X devices. It's backed with 2GB of RAM, although a 3GB variant – with more storage to boot – is also available

Despite the technical parity with the Nexus 5X, I actually found the Mi4C supplied a faster, smoother experience overall. This is almost certainly down to the optimisations found within MIUI 7, which seems to prioritise touchscreen responsiveness and animations, giving the phone an iOS-like level of smoothness. However, like the Nexus 5X, the Mi4C becomes hot very quickly, which suggests that Qualcomm's problems with the overheating Snapdragon 810 haven't been totally solved with the revised 808

In terms of benchmarks, the Mi4C predictably ranks alongside the Nexus 5X. Using Geekbench, the phone returns a single-core score of 1,285, while the 5X scores 1,263. The same app's multi-core score is 3,336 for the Mi4C and 3436 on the 5X. That's impressive in itself – after all, the 5X costs more than twice as much as Xiaomi's phone – but the AnTuTu test is even more striking. The Mi4C scores over 50,000, placing it above the LG G4, Xiaomi Redmi Note 2 and HTC One (M8). While the price is undeniably a budget one, the handset is capable of delivering mid-to-top tier performance

The Mi4C's main mono speaker is located on the rear of the phone, which means when it's in your pocket – screen facing in – you're more likely to hear it in public. It's not as loud as the one on the Nexus 6 or Galaxy S6, and there's some distortion at full volume, but compared to the feeble speaker on the Nexus 5X, the difference is like night and day

Thanks to a second noise-cancelling microphone, the Mi4C performs brilliantly when it comes to making and receiving phone calls. Audio quality is high, and I never experienced any issues hearing the person on the other end of the line

If you're with O2 – or use an operator that uses O2's network, such as Giffgaff or Tesco Mobile – then you'll be limited to just 3G data on the Mi4C. It supports the 1,800MHz and 2,600MHz 4G LTE bands, but not the 800MHz 4G band that O2's network uses

XIAOMI MI4C – CAMERA

It wasn't very long ago that mid- and budget-level smartphone owners had to endure terrible cameras with basic options and poor video recording, but those days seem to be well and truly behind us. The Mi4C sports a 13-megapixel sensor – made by either Sony or Samsung, depending on which production batch you have – with phase-detection autofocus, two-tone dual-LED flash, 1080p video recording and much more besides

Colours are suitably rich

Photos are full of detail

Night time shots aren't terrible

Compared to the unacceptably sluggish camera seen on the Nexus 5X, the one on the Mi4C feels fast and responsive – not quite Galaxy S6 standard, but certainly impressive for a phone in this price bracket. Focus time – even in low light – is swift, although the lack of optical image stabilisation does mean that some shots end up a little blurry. It's a bit much to expect a budget device to come with OIS, however – Apple reserved the feature for the iPhone 6S Plus, but denied it to iPhone 6S owners

The biggest gains are felt within the camera software, which Xiaomi has constructed from scratch, and – surprise, surprise – is heavily inspired by Apple's own camera app. HDR, face detection and on-the-fly filters all come as standard, as do a few unusual features, such as a fish-eye lens effect and an audio-shutter option, which allows you to trigger the photo using your voice

Manual controls are also supported, so you can tinker with elements such as the white balance and ISO. Compared to the frustratingly slow, buggy and feature-poor camera app on the Nexus 5X, this is a joy to use

XIAOMI MI4C – BATTERY

For a phone that’s so compact and svelte, it's surprising to find that the Mi4C packs a 3,080mAh battery – quite a high-capacity unit for this kind of phone. By comparison, the Nexus 5X has a 2,700mAh battery and the Galaxy S6 has a 2,550mAh battery

MIUI 7 comes with a power profile manager that allows you to scale back the processor in order to conserve juice, but we were pleasantly surprised to find that we didn't really need it. Even with moderate usage the Mi4C comfortably lasted well over a day, and in some cases we were able to wring almost two out of a single charge. If you choose to use both SIM card slots on the phone then you'll see a considerable drop in stamina, however

The fact that it supports USB Type-C and comes with a quick-charging wall charger also helps. While it doesn't top up as quickly as the blisteringly fast Galaxy S6, the Mi4C doesn't need long on the mains before it reaches 100%

??? SHOULD I BUY THE XIAOMI MI4C

Based on the specs, build quality and software alone, the answer is a resounding yes. The Mi4C is well made, has a fantastic 1080p screen, sports a wonderful camera and is compact and comfortable to use. It also has one of the best Android UI skins on the block in the shape of MIUI 7 – even if it does copy Apple's iOS to an almost shameless degree

However, as we always say when reviewing phones primarily intended for the Chinese market, buyers should beware that this isn’t like purchasing a handset from your local high-street retailer. It will most likely come with software you won't want, and therefore you'll need to go to a little more effort to ensure you get a stable version of the firmware and you're able to use Google's suite of apps. It's not as onerous a task as it sounds, but it's worth keeping in mind before making a purchase

It's also worth noting that the Mi4C supports 4G on only certain UK networks, and lacks features such as NFC and fingerprint security – two things that are becoming very common on smartphones. There's no microSD card slot, either. These grumbles might sink any other handset, but on a device that costs £160, they're far easier to stomach

VERDICT

The Mi4C comes with some caveats, but the fact that it offers the same power as the Nexus 5X at less than half the price makes it a purchase I can fully recommend

Nexus 6P review

NEXUS 6P – LONG TERM REVIEW

The Nexus 6P was the first phone I ever scored a perfect 5/5, and at the time I said it was the best Android phone you could buy. It’s about 7 months later now, and I’m still confident in saying this is one of the best phones out there. Yes, the Samsung Galaxy S7 and HTC 10 scored 5/5 and 4.5/5 respectively and are both great phones, but if you’re looking for something with a bigger screen I would still highly recommend Google and Huawei’s 6P

The Snapdragon 810 and 3GB RAM is still a fine combination and it makes for a fast phone. While the Nexus 5X seems to have suffered some performance issues, the 6P is as smooth and quick as it was on day one

There have been a couple of updates to the camera – it’s much faster now – and you’ve of course got Android N (which we’ll hear more about at Google I/O) coming at some point towards the end of the year

My one quibble about the longevity of the Nexus 6P comes with its build. I’ve been using a silver model and it’s fine, but I have seen a couple of black models with much of the back paint coming off. This leaves an ugly finish, and not something you’d expect from a pricey phone

That aside, everything else still gets the thumbs up. The screen is great, camera reliable and the battery will easily make it through the day. It struggles to go two days though, but then so do most phones of this size

I noted in my original review that USB-C was something of an annoyance simply because it wasn’t widely adopted but I feel that issue has subsided somewhat. A lot of the 2016 flagships have USB-C – LG G5, Huawei P9 and HTC 10 – and it’s becoming more and more common in laptops too

NEXUS 6P – LONG TERM VERDICT

I still love the Nexus 6P. It’s easily the best phone Google and Huawei have ever made and it seems to stand the test of time very well. Considering Google often has it on special offer, it can be even more of a bargain

   ...Read my original review below

? WHAT IS THE NEXUS 6P

The Nexus 6P is the follow up to the poor Nexus 6 and the second pure Android device we’ve seen from Google this year after the mostly impressive Nexus 5X. It's made by Huawei, and it's fantastic

It’s the first Nexus that doesn’t make any compromises and offers buyers a stunning metal design, high-end specs and an unadulterated version of Android. It's pricier than the 5X, but it's clear to see where the extra money has gone

Armed with these perks the Nexus 6P impresses in every area and is, along with the Samsung Galaxy S7, the best high end Android smartphone you can buy right now

NEXUS 6P – DESIGN

Apparently the ‘P’ in the 6P stands for ‘premium’. Premium is a word overused in reviews but, as much as I hate it, it’s the best way to describe the overall design of the Nexus 6P

And, that shouldn’t really be a surprise. Even though Huawei’s own phones always fall down due to overbearing software, the Chinese firm has been excelling in design for a while now. This year’s Mate S being the best yet

Just like the Mate S, the Nexus 6P has an all metal design, with heavily chamfered edges leading into a Gorilla Glass 4 coated display. The antenna bands are cleverly hidden, while the flat sides and ever so slightly curved back make it a thing of pleasure to hold

Along the sides you’ve got a well placed standby button just above a nice, clicky volume rocker. That power button is slightly textured, so you can easily jump straight to it. This is a small touch, but the details are important

Flip the phone over and the Nexus branding is stencilled in vertically with the circular fingerprint scanner sitting just above. Google is calling this Nexus Imprint – I’m not sure why it needs a name – and it’s up there with the iPhone 6S and Xperia Z5 in terms of speed

I’m a big fan of the fingerprint reader being on the back. It’s the natural place my finger reaches for when I pick the phone up and it takes just a slight touch to zip past the lockscreen and plonk you right on the homescreen. Pair it with the super fast set-up process – it takes about 20-seconds, whereas the iPhone can take over a minute – and Marshmallow's baked in fingerprint scanner support and you’ve got a fantastic security package

Now, if there’s one Nexus 6P design choice that’s caused a bit of a stir since the leaked images first hit the interwebs it’s the glass covered hump running across the top

This houses the camera, flash plus a bevy of sensors. Others might disagree, but I like it. Unlike the smaller humps on the iPhone 6S or Galaxy S6, having it across the whole width means it doesn’t wobble when I use the phone on a table and the periscope-like design is nicely eye-catching

It’s far from the ugly, eyesore some refer to it as, and if it makes the camera better then I’m even more for it. But, if you’re still against it, I would suggest grabbing the black model as it hides it better than the white or silver versions

With a 5.7-inch screen, the Nexus 6P is a big phone. But, phones in general are getting bigger and it doesn’t feel anywhere near as cumbersome as the Nexus 6. It’s slimmer and lacks the monstrous width that ruined the 2014 Nexus

Thanks to the almost non-existent side bezels the whole phone isn’t much bigger than the 5.4-inch screen toting Blackberry Priv and it’s slightly smaller than the 5.5-inch iPhone 6S Plus

It could be smaller too, but Google and Huawei decided to have dual front-facing stereo speakers flank the display. Again, they made the right choice. Proper sounding speakers are always better than a few weedy holes on the back

My only criticism about the Nexus 6P, and this is ridiculously minor, is I would prefer the headphone jack to be on the bottom, rather than on the top

This is by far and away the best looking Nexus yet, and its use of metal, glass and eye-catching design choices put it right up there with Samsung’s Note 5 and Apple’s iPhone 6S when it comes to visual allure

NEXUS 6P – DISPLAY

The Nexus 6P's 5.7-inch display features a Samsung AMOLED panel, with a pixel-dense quad-HD resolution and boy, is it good

While the Nexus 6 suffered with poor viewing angles and whites that almost looked pink, the screen on the 6P is rich in accurate colours and has nicely inky blacks. As it’s AMOLED, whites can look a little muddy but really, come on, that’s a small sacrifice I can live with

Colours have a vivid punch – blues, reds and oranges pop out, but they’re still accurately shown, while the green shades in Marshmallow’s stock wallpaper look exceptional. Some might say they’re too saturated, but I’d disagree, especially when you compare it to those truly over-saturated panels Samsung used a couple of years ago

If you prefer things a little more toned down, Google has sneakily added an sRGB display mode deep inside the Settings menu. It cools the colours down a bit, but I prefer the original mode

Viewing angles are fantastic, as is outdoor visibility. I’d like a slight hint more brightness though, and the screen's auto setting is a bit dodgy. It judders noticeably as it changes, but i've found this an issue on most Android phones

Ambient Display is another bonus that comes from the AMOLED panel. Pick the phone up, or wave your hand over it, and a brief black and white view of the time or any current notifications will pop-up. It’s great – handy if the phones on your desk and it doesn’t use as much battery as lighting up the whole panel

NEXUS 6P – CAMERA

Poor camera performance has been a constant issue on past Nexus devices. Slow focusing, even slower post-production, blurry results and unresponsive apps were all common. Thankfully, the camera experience on the Nexus 6P is really good. It might not quite match the Note 5 for sheer all-round pictures, but it certainly makes a strong go at it

The Nexus 6P comes loaded with a 12MP sensor, complete with laser auto-focus – as opposed to the phase detection method preferred by Sony – and larger 1.55µm pixels that let in more light than your average megapixels. That last point is important, because the Nexus 6P doesn’t have OIS (optical image stabilisation)

A double-click on the standby button takes you straight into the new camera UI, it’s been spruced up a bit and it’s very fast – both in opening and focussing – but it does lack the suite of manual settings LG and Samsung users have gotten used to. A third-party app – Camera FV-5, is one of the better ones – sorts this problem out though

 The Nexus 6P accurately captures colour, but you can see the large amount of details here and below

 The shot below was taken in a darker environment but detail still shines through

The camera also does a good job at not overblowing skies

The laser assisted focus system locks onto targets quickly, and it does a good job at finding the right point in macro shots. Sometimes in lower-light situations it can take a bit longer, but I’ve yet to find a phone that doesn’t

Picture quality is fantastic, right up there with the Samsung Galaxy S7, iPhone 6S Plus and LG G4. It might posses less megapixels than the Sony Xperia Z5, but the the faster interface means I tend to get better shots with the Nexus 6P

Colours are accurate, the sensor doesn’t overexposure and detail is off the charts. The auto HDR mode also does a great job, though processing of HDR snaps takes marginally longer and there’s a bit of background action going on after you’re done

I’m impressed with the daylight results, but the low-light performance is even more surprising. Yes, the lack of OIS does mean you have to try a bit harder to keep the phone still, but pictures look ace. The night sky is dark, bright spots don’t ruin the whole image and more times than not I get a really good shot using the 6P in low light

 Low-light shots look fantastic

4K video, predictably, looks sharp – again you need to keep extra still to compensate for the lack of OIS – and 240fps slow-mo footage (the Nexus 5X can only capture 120fps) is just as smooth as the iPhone

The fantastic package is rounded off with one of the finest selfie cameras on the market. The 8MP sensor produces crisp, well-lit snaps in all sorts of conditions

The Nexus 6P easily has the best camera ever seen on a Google phone, and it doesn’t fall too far behind the high-end competition. Maybe OIS would have improved the set-up even more and the HDR mode is a little slow, but they’re my only complaints

NEXUS 6P – SOFTWARE

Nexus devices were never really meant to consumer products. They were there to showcase developers the latest version of Android, and all the new fancy things it can do. That vision has changed slightly, I see a lot of Nexus 5’s around the place, but they’re still the best place to experience Android how Google intended it

The Nexus 6P runs Android 6.0 Marshmallow. We’ve got a full review of it linked below, but the TL;DR version is that it’s the most complete version of the operating system yet

Thanks to Doze, standby times – those hours in the day when your phone is just sitting idle on a desk – are much improved and the updated permissions system adds much needed privacy controls to Android

Google’s fantastic Siri and Cortana rival Now has been improved too, with Now on Tap scanning your screen for interesting news and information when you hold down the home button. It’s not perfect yet, but I think it could be the next big Android feature

There are loads of other tweaks and changes littered across Marshmallow, all of which make it the most user-friendly version to date. It also downright beats iOS when it comes to looks, something I wouldn’t have been saying a few years ago

Marshmallow, however, is no longer than latest version of Android. Google has now announced Android N, which could be version 6.1 or 7.0. It's only in a developer preview at the moment, but should start hitting Nexus device later in the year

The biggest addition is split-screen multitasking, but there are improvements to Doze and a rejigged notification panel

NEXUS 6P – PERFORMANCE AND SOUND

After using the Nexus 6P for just a few hours I noticed something – it doesn’t have any of those moments of slowdown and stand-stills that even the most powerful of Android phones have always suffered

The slight pause when you tap on an app icon or the judder after a keyboard press has been completely killed. It didn’t, in any way, ruin those other phones, in fact it was something I just got used to, but it’s noticeable now it’s gone

Running the Nexus 6P is Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 810 CPU paired with 3GB RAM. It’s a common combo for 2015 flagships, but it excels here. It's not as fast the 2016 flagship CPU, the 820, but it's speedy still

I’ve experienced none of the overheating problems that previously plagued the 810 chip – the only time the Nexus 6P gets warm to the touch is either when it's fast charging or installing a whole load of apps – and it’s an absolute performance beast

Lag is nowhere to be seen, which makes for smooth gaming whether you’re wasting a couple of minutes with Monument Valley and getting deep into a round of Asphalt 8

In some ways, it feels just as fast as the iPhone 6S Plus. I’m not talking about in terms of specs or benchmarks, but in real life day-to-day actual use. It’s like Google and Huawei have managed to perfectly optimise the software experience with the chipset

I didn't notice any disparity in performance between it and the Note 5 or OnePlus 2, despite the fact the Nexus 6P features 3GB, not 4GB of RAM. Jumping between apps, even beefy games, doesn’t cause any problems and keeps your current state saved for a surprisingly long amount of time

For those interested, the Nexus 6P picks up a score 4,245 on GeekBench’s Multi-core test. Meaning it’ll sit just below the iPhone 6S Plus (4417) and a lot lower than the S6 Edge + (5,014). I wouldn’t read too much into it, real world use is on easily on par with those devices

The sound pumped out by the dual front-facing speakers is fantastic, for a phone anyway, though they don’t quite reach the quality set by Motorola’s Moto X Style. They’re on par with HTC’s Boomsound though, dishing out detailed noise even when cranked up. It makes such a difference whether you’re watching YouTube, listening to Spotify or just waking up to an alarm in the morning

NFC support is here, important for Android Pay, as is Bluetooth 4.2 and Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac. Call quality on Three’s UK network is excellent and the mics do a good job of blocking out ambient noise

NEXUS 6P - BATTERY LIFE AND USB-C

The 3,450 battery tucked inside the Nexus 6P isn’t going to redefine how long phones can last for, but it’ll easily go the day and well into the next with general use

Unplugging at around 7am, the phone can make it through the working day. By 6pm I’m at about 60%, and by midnight it’s sitting at 40%. Thanks to Marshmallow’s Doze feature, standby time is fantastic and overnight the phone only loses a couple of percent. It can then carry on the until the afternoon

An hour of streaming Fargo on Netflix ate through 7% – which is very good – while a 30 minute Hitman Sniper session took it from 34% to 27%

For a thin device, with such a high-res display, the battery life is what I would expect

It was pretty much confirmed by Google during the unveiling of Marshmallow, but the Nexus 6P is one of the first phones to ditch the microUSB charging standard for the new USB-C port. Samsung decided against adding this to the Galaxy S7, but did the LG G5 does use it

This is both great, and slightly annoying. It’s great because USB-C is the connection of the future. In a few years it’ll charge your phone, laptop and hopefully everything else. It’s also reversible, like Apple’s Lightning cable, which is a godsend when you’re fumbling around trying to plug your phone in at night

But, it renders my entire drawer of microUSB cables useless and replacement USB-C ones are still a little pricey. If I forget my cable, the chances of something having a spare are very slim

Google has also decided the included plug is USB-C to USC-C, and while I appreciate you get both a USB-C to USB-C and regular USB-A to USB-C cable, the latter is pretty small and probably best used as back-up. Left on your desk at work, perhaps

As Marshmallow has proper USB-C support, fast charging is supported on the Nexus 6P. Though only if you use the included charger and plug. I can juice up fully in just under an hour, and it reaches 60% in about 30-minutes

You won’t get any of the faster USB speeds if you plug it into your computer, as the port itself is still USB 2.0. In reality, this doesn’t make much difference. I don’t think i’ve transferred anything from my computer to my phone – or vice-versa – in a number of years so speeds aren’t an issue

??? SHOULD YOU BUY THE NEXUS 6P

If you want a large Android phone, you want the Nexus 6P. It’s the best phone both Google and Huawei have ever made, and it’s pretty much the best Android device I have ever used. If you want something smaller though, the Samsung Galaxy S7 is a great choice

Whereas other Nexus devices have compromised in certain areas, this one doesn’t. The screen, battery, processor, camera, build quality are all as good as, if not better, than the competition

Would I like wireless charging? Yes, but no metal phones currently have this. Would I like a microSD card? Yep, but again no Google Nexus device has ever had one and I don't think they ever will

There’s also the price to take into consideration. The 32GB base model starts off at £449 an extra £50 bumps it up to 64GB and for £579 you get 128GB. That’s £210 cheaper than the corresponding iPhone 6S Plus. It’s great value, no doubt about it

So, that’s all the boxes ticked. Well done Google and Huawei, you’ve made the best phone of 2015

VERDICT

The first no compromise Nexus is a beautiful, fast and worthy canvas for Android Marshmallow

Samsung Galaxy Edge review

? WHAT IS THE SAMSUNG GALAXY NOTE EDGE

The Samsung Galaxy Note Edge is basically the Note 4 with one peculiar addition, a curved screen. Bizarrely, though, it's only curved on the right side of the phone and the reason isn’t really clear. Samsung hasn’t explained why it’s there and after the time we have spent with it, we are not sure either

Priced at an expensive £650, the Note 4 could well give us a glimpse of phone design in the future, in its current state though, we can't really see the benefits of the Edge to make you want to spend your money on it

SAMSUNG GALAXY NOTE EDGE: DESIGN

It doesn’t take long to realise how the curved edge changes the way you handle this phone. Unlike the Note 4, which comfortably balances its large frame with the slightly curved back and raised corners, wrapping your fingers around to grip in one hand has a slightly pinching effect. It’s not as comfortable to hold as the Note 4 or the iPhone 6 Plus. That’s down to the fact that it now replaces the anodized aluminium trim on that side, creating a more unbalanced feel

Surprisingly, though, the extra screen segment doesn’t make the Note Edge much heavier. The Edge weighs in at just 174g, with the Note 4 a couple of grams heavier at 176g. It’s only a fraction thicker, too – 8.5mm vs 8.3mm on the Note 4. Everything apart from that second screen is the same

Note 4 and Note Edge side-by-side

That means the Edge retains many of things that made us love the Note 4. The faux-leather plastic back – minus the horrible fake stitching of the Note 3 – gives the Edge a nice, assured grip and the back is removable so you can get to battery, the micro SD card slot and of course get your micro SIM card in place. Disappointingly, however, the slightly raised corners, which gave the Note 4 an extra degree of protection, are gone

The buttons are largely in the same place and the home button packs in Samsung’s improved Touch ID-rivalling fingerprint recognition sensor. The exception is the standby button, which is now at the top of the phone to accommodate the curved screen. That makes it more of a stretch reaching a finger up to it, which is irritating

For S-Pen users, the Wacom-powered stylus is still intact of course, housed in the same compartment. Around the back you’ll find the same small speaker and camera sensor with heart rate sensor just below

SAMSUNG GALAXY NOTE EDGE: SCREEN

IIf you cover up that second screen, this is the same outstanding display from the the Note 4. It’s a slightly smaller 5.6-inch Super AMOLED panel with the same Gorilla Glass 4 protection that Samsung sneakily unveiled without telling anyone

It has a 1,600 x 2,560 screen resolution, so you get an extra 160 pixels courtesy of the curved edge. The 524ppi (pixels per inch) pixel density is less than TrustedReviews Phone of the Year the LG G3 (534ppi), but what really matters here is that clarity is still exceptionally impressive. This is one of the best smartphone displays available

You get the same immensely bright, vibrant and sharp results as the Note 4 and can enjoy those fantastic black levels when watching films watching. Colours are punchy and perhaps out of the box a little too colourful, which is easily solved in the display mode options found inside the Screen settings

As we commented in our Note 4 review, most are unlikely to appreciate the jump from a Full HD 1080p display to a 2K QHD one, but having dropped down to a Galaxy S5 since, picking up the Edge really hammers home the big improvements Samsung is making with its smartphone displays

So, what happens when you add an extra curved screen to an otherwise great one? Well, aside from working independently from the main display from a software point of a view, not a great deal. There's no discernible difference between the two

SAMSUNG GALAXY NOTE EDGE: SOFTWARE AND APPS

The Note Edge runs on Android 4.4 KitKat with Samsung’s TouchWiz UI and it’s largely the same as the Note 4. There’s less of the bloatware than in previous years, but we'd still like to see more stripped away for future handsets. Enhanced features introduced with the Note 4, like Multi-Window, are present, but the curved display adds some unique, if far from perfect, functionality

The main use is to house commonly used apps you’d normally find arranged at the bottom of the screen. That’s things like the web browser, camera and Google Play shortcut. The little star above the row of apps allows you to edit those favourited apps, while swiping up from the bottom gives you quick access to the Edge screen Settings. You can still access this by swiping down from the top of the screen to access, but it's a handy alternative

Above the little star, you can swipe down to see additional features that work on the second screen. There’s a 10cm ruler – we measured against a normal ruler to verify its accuracy – a simple stopwatch and count down clock, a shortcut to the torch flash on the back and the ability to activate the voice search. While the ruler is a nice touch, it's safe to say you can live without most of these Edge screen features

There's scope to customize the Edge screen further, too. You can manage the panels to dictate what’s displayed, like notifications, quick access apps, phone calls, S Health data and even news delivered by Yahoo News. You can download additional panels but essentially most are news feeds. Express me handles what’s displayed on the panel when the phone is locked, while information stream lets you choose what Yahoo!-powered feeds appear

The night clock feature takes full advantage of the bedside table scenario where you don’t have to lift and awaken the display to view the time. Here you can adjust when the night clock jumps into action to save some of those power reserves when it’s not really needed. Lastly, Edge screen text let’s you adjust and personalise the text message that’s shown on the panel

There’s screen orientation support here as well, so when you flip the side upside down the panel will change as well. That makes it more accommodating for left handed users although you are still stuck with having to use phone upside down, which is slightly ridiculous

For all these options, though, we were left unimpressed by the utility of the edge screen. There's some benefit and appeal being able to free up the screen when you are watching video, for example, but most of the applications are tenuous at best

There are other problems, too. Content is displayed on the Edge screen facing in rather than facing out from the display and there's no obvious way to change this. Samsung has missed a trick here. When it's lying flat on a table, it would actually be quite useful to be able to glance over at the Edge and see messages and tweets as they come through

SAMSUNG GALAXY NOTE EDGE: S-PEN AND S-PEN APPS

No Note phone is complete without the S-Pen and it remains one of the key attractions of this phone. The S-Pen technology is based on a Wacom digitizer and while the look of it has slightly changed in comparison to the one included on the Note 3, it’s the changes in accuracy and pressure sensitivity that really matter

In the box alongside your Note Edge, you still get the option of removable plastic and rubber nibs depending on the type of interaction you are planning. Pressure sensitivity is an impressive 2,048dps (degrees per second) to help produce a more accurate, fluid writing and drawing experience

The app support is the same as it is on the Note 4 and pulling the S-Pen out from its cosy little compartment activates the S-Pen launcher. Here you get access to apps like Action Memo and Smart Select, while pre-installed Samsung apps like S Note and S Calendar are fully integrated with the S-Pen technology

Apps like S-Note use the edge screen area to shift the shortcuts that normally reside at the top of the screen to the edge, freeing up space. It’s nice to have a full canvas in drawing apps, but we’re sure people didn’t have that much of a problem the way things were set up already

SAMSUNG GALAXY NOTE EDGE: PERFORMANCE

The Note Edge has the same core specs as the Note 4. That’s means a Snapdragon 805 processor, 3GB of RAM and an Adreno 420 GPU. It’s a monster of a phone that runs just as smoothly and impressively as the Note 4. Samsung’s TouchWiz overlay doesn’t measurably impact on performance either, though we’d still prefer a pure Vanilla Android experience

The benchmarks back up just how well the Note Edge manages everyday and more intensive tasks like video streaming, gaming and multitasking. Until the 64-bit Snapdragon 810 turns up in smartphones in 2015, the 805 and the Tegra K1 are the very best Android phone chips around

Its showing in Geekbench 3’s multi-core test sits comfortably in the 3,000+ range, averaging a score of 3,200. That’s roughly the same as the Note 4 and significantly higher than the iPhone 6 Plus (2,863). If power is your main concern here, then the Note Edge is not going to let you down

SAMSUNG GALAXY NOTE EDGE: CAMERA

The Note Edge matches the Note 4’s camera setup, which means it includes one of the best all-round smartphones we’ve used this year. The same 16-megapixel sensor found inside the Galaxy S5 is backed up excellent optical image stabilization to boost low-light and evening shooting performance

For video recording, you can still shoot at a maximum 4K, but we'd still recommend opting for Full HD 1080p shooting, where you'll have the benefit of the most useful video-related features and the optical video stabilization really comes to the rescue when you are shooting at night

Again, Samsung has stripped away some of the features and camera modes left at your disposal, keeping hold of the elements inside the easy-to-use camera app to pick up and shoot good quality images without any performance issues getting in the way

The curved screen changes the camera setup slightly. For landscape shooting, the Edge moves all of the camera app settings to the curved screen, which makes them slightly easier to reach. When you move to portrait mode or shooting selfies, the same options don’t in fact reposition themselves making it a little more awkward for those selfies or profile shots

It’s a shame because in well-lit conditions, up close for macro-style images or from afar, the Note Edge produces sharp, detailed images with lovely, punchy colours. Background detail is still lacking, but this is a solid performer

The same can be said about LED flash performance and HDR. Samsung only opts for a single LED flash, but it delivers rewarding results. Samsung’s HDR mode is arguably the strongest and most impressive among high end smartphones, delicately improving the lighting in high contrast photos without appearing overprocessed or destroying detail

HDR mode off

HDR turned on

Low-light shooting is where the big improvements are made. If you discount the Galaxy K Zoom hybrid smartphone camera, the Note Edge along with the Note are the first of the Samsung flagships phone to include optical image stabilisation. This is a big deal because, unlike the digital image stabilisation you find on most smartphones, optical stabilisation uses a mechanical system to reduce hand-shake in photos, which is far more effective

This means the phone can use slower shutter speeds when shooting in low light, leading to brighter and more detailed photos. It can’t eradicate noise and hand-shake entirely in all conditions, but your photos are better off with it than without

The front-facing camera's 3.7-megapixel sensor with f/1.9 aperture completes the Note 4-esque setup and is well equipped for video chat and stills. If you need to shoot video, the Full HD 1080p video recording support ensures you can still produces smooth, judder-free footage

SAMSUNG GALAXY NOTE EDGE: BATTERY LIFE

The Note Edge relies on the same battery as the Note 3 and not the Note 4. That’s a 3,000 mAh battery instead of a 3,200mAh one, which is something of a surprise especially when you factor the ‘extra’ screen is likely to be more of a drain on the battery

In day-to-day use, it shows. You will have to work harder to get close to two days, something the Note 4 manages easily. During a normal day, checking in on Facebook, Twitter, streaming music and browsing the web during commutes, it can drop to around 30% at 11pm – a safe buffer

A night out will see you initiating the ultra power saving mode, which will restrict features like the camera. That battery life showing is roughly around what we found with the Note 4 prior to a pre-release firmware update, which did improve performance

If you stick to standard definition video you can get 11 hours of video playback with Wi-Fi off and the screen at 50 per cent brightness. That’s two hours shy of what the Note 4 managed and an hour less than the iPhone 6 Plus..

While the battery performance might not be class-leading, the Note Edge is a fast charger. Thanks to support for Snapdragon’s Quick Charge technology, we found a 30-minute charge added 40 per cent, so an hour charge should last you most of the day

SAMSUNG GALAXY NOTE EDGE: CALL AND SOUND QUALITY

Call quality is good but not outstanding, but we suffered no signal dropouts and the noise cancelling mic keeps ambient noise to a minimum

The internal speaker on the back is still pretty ordinary, too. While it’s not a supremely tinny affair, it lacks the warmth we crave for when watching video. This is one area we hope Samsung improves on future Note phones, especially when these ‘mini tablets’ are so good for watching films on

???SHOULD I BUY THE SAMSUNG GALAXY NOTE EDGE

Probably not. The Note Edge is a strange phone to sum up. We loved the Note 4, but for all their similarities the Note Edge doesn’t deliver. We struggled to find a real use for the curved edge. Maybe one day it will have more compelling uses and we appreciate Samsung trying something different, but it's not there yet

There's some minor issues that let down the Note Edge, too, like having to sacrifice battery life and button placement to accommodate the unique design. Perhaps worst of all is the price. SIM-free, the Note Edge costs £50 more than the £600 Note 4 and that's expensive for a feature that is yet to convince

If you have to go for a big phone, we still say the Note 4 is king here with the iPhone 6 Plus a close second. The Note Edge is an interesting idea but Samsung has a way to go before we are sold on it

VERDICT

The Note Edge ultimately fails to sell the concept of a curved screen smartphone. Maybe one day we will love it, but right now it's well wide of the mark.