The recent launch of two new Nexus smartphones, the Nexus 5X and Nexus 6P, allowed users to join the development team in a Reddit Ask Me Anything session.
There, team members David Burke, Hiroshi Lockheimer, Sandeep Waraich and Krishna Kumar offered answers to questions regarding the new Nexus models. The fingerprint security, missing wireless charging capacity and the issues the Nexus 6P has with the camera were under debate.
Firstly, the team explained the names of the two new products, pointing out that while the "X" in the Nexus 5X symbolizes the essence of the NeXus brand, the "P" found in Nexus 6P stands for "Premium."
Secondly, the Nexus team addressed the lack of support for Qi wireless charging. It said that providing USB Type-C support for the handsets instead of wireless charging was deliberate, and for good reason. According to the team, the quick charging technology featured on both devices is not only fast, but contributes to the slimness of the smartphones. The addition of wireless charging would've bulked up the two new phones.
"[E]ase of plugging in + fast charging + optimizing for thinness made us double down on Type-C instead of wireless," the developers noted.They confirmed that the USB Type-C port only works under USB 2.0 technology.
Some questions targeted the security systems of the smartphones.
"Fingerprint features are securely encrypted on the device, and processed in the secure Trustzone protected area of memory," the team said.It added that fingerprint APIs on Android 6.0 Marshmallow block apps' access to the fingerprint material.
The Nexus 6P camera bump was another hot topic during the discussion. It was a challenge to have an attractive silhouette and a powerful camera in the same device, but the company managed to do it. The Nexus 6P contains a powerful 1.55 um pixel sensor, LED-flash, LDAF and NFC coils. The Premium Nexus phone is also the first full-metal Nexus smartphone, with a seamless aluminium chassis.
"The idea here was to strike a balance between premium features/experiences and affordability," the team wrote on Reddit.
The Google team made clear that the Nexus 6P uses a high-end WQHD AMOLED display panel from Samsung. It also said that the rear cameras of the two devices are identical, but the Nexus 6P benefits from an electronic image stabilizer (EIS).
It further mentioned that Google is cooperating with T-Mobile, the U.S. telecom carrier, so that VoLTE and Band 12 support is available for its phones.
