When Apple first released the iPhone 6 Plus, many were happy with Apple's decision to finally cater to those who want a device that's a littler larger than most smartphones. The device now, however, faces some serious competition.
Google released the Nexus 6 phablet a little over a month ago to much fanfare from Android enthusiasts. But which device is actually better?
Design
The Nexus 6 is essentially a larger Motorola Moto X in terms of design. Considering the fact that the Nexus 6 is built by Motorola, that should come as no surprise. The device also includes dual front-facing speakers, a centered camera on the rear of the device, and an aluminum frame.
The iPhone 6 Plus is, by comparison, a larger iPhone 6. It includes the same "premium-looking" design, and a very classy build. It is a little lighter than the Nexus 6, coming in at 129 g, compared with the Nexus's 184 g.
Display
The display on the Nexus 6 is a monster. The 6 in the device's name refers to the screen size, being a whopping 6-inches diagonally. It also has a quad HD (2560 x 1440 pixels) display and a pixel density of 493 ppi.
The display on the iPhone 6 Plus is a little smaller, coming in at 5.5-inches. It's an HD display with a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels.
While both displays certainly are notable, the Nexus 6 is the clear winner here.
Processing Power
The Nexus 6 includes a Snapdragon 805 processor, which is able to run at speeds of up to 2.7 GHz. It also has an Adreno 420 graphics processor and 3 GB of RAM.
The iPhone 6 Plus offers users a 1.4-GHz dual-core 64-bit A8 processor, which should offer plenty of speed for even the power-users among us.
In fact, both devices should be able to offer enough power to those that need it, making the competition fairly even.
Memory and Storage
The iPhone 6 Plus comes in 16 GB, 64 GB and 128 GB variations, with the Nexus 6 coming in either 32 GB or 64 GB versions. The iPhone 6 Plus offers more memory to those that need it, although most people won't.
Camera
The camera is becoming increasingly important, as users prefer to take photos with their smartphone rather than carrying a camera around.
The iPhone 6 Plus offers an 8-megapixel dual-LEP camera which supports 1080p videos at 60 frames per second. It also gives users a 1.2 MP front-facing camera for the selfie-takers among us.
The Nexus 6, however, goes above and beyond. It offers a 13-megapixel camera with a dual-LED flash, allowing users to shoot 4K video at 30 frames per second. The front-facing camera is also better, coming in at 2 MP.
Both devices offer an important feature, which puts them above other competition -- optical image stabilization, which compensates in real time for shaking and vibrating while recording to render a sharp image.
Conclusions
Both devices are clearly great devices, however the Nexus 6 is giving the iPhone 6 Plus a run for its money. Not only that, but the Google Nexus 6 is cheaper, too, coming in at $649 for the 32 GB version and $699 for the 64 GB version, compared with Apple's range of prices from $749 to $949.
