Smartphones are getting insanely good!

So the Nexus 6 has landed, and it’s a pretty big change for the Nexus range. Nexus’, Nexi?, were always cost effective showcases that gave the user a good enough smartphone, not necessarily the best of the many Android offerings, but the bloat free software of the stock OS was the hook.

Now Google appears to be moving away from that space and is offering, through hardware partner Motorola this time around, a pretty premium experience. Top of the line processor, huge amounts of ram, a massive 6 inch screen, with a pixel count that is probably unnecessary on a phone but sounds cool, and hopefully a decent camera, though that has never been Moto’s strong point, and is a bit of an ‘all right’ offering in their Moto X 2014, of which this is really a steroid packed sibling.

I realised over the last year rocking a Nexus 5, which is a good phone, but the battery life is woeful, and the camera is ‘all right’, that I need/want an ultra portable tablet, smaller than the 7 inch or mini variety, that happens to make phone calls, as an always around tool.

I had a hands on play with the iPhone 6 Plus and it’s a stunningly lovely piece of technology, and partnered with the Apple Watch, if it’s as good as Jony Ive promises, solves every daily tech need I’d have and then some.

I’ve yet to see an Android Wear device to complete the tech package I’d want. The Moto 360 is a generation or two from that, but a good start, the others all look like garbage.

Let me just be clear I’m not into hating on either Android or iOS both are superb, third parties can sometimes cock up the Android experience with software tweaks or hardware howlers, but both offer a pretty comprehensive ‘digital lifestyle’.

While I was set on the 6 Plus, the Nexus is a pretty superb looking product. The only thing that might let it down is how it feels in the hand/pocket, and the camera. The iPhone’s camera is outstanding, it always is, and I’m unsure whether Motorola can even come close. As for the feel, while the Nexus is unashamedly curvy in the age of the skinny phone, Moto do a pretty good job making their X feel great.

Given that the price for both is pretty much the same, the two points above are going to be the deal breaker, and even one of them I think will be fine. So it comes down to the camera.

It’s great to see Nexus step up and make a play for the premium market, and it makes it all the more difficult to choose between the handful of top notch devices out there. First world problems :-)