Is the Nexus 6 camera any good? DxOMark thinks so

The Nexus 6 is making its rounds on all of the review channels this week, next up, the folks at DxOMark have put the new 13MP camera to the test. I’ll just go ahead and spoil the rest of this article right now, the Nexus 6 did quite well, landing in 6th place of all smartphones ever tested.

DxOMark, if you are not familiar, puts the cameras on devices through the paces in a controlled set of tests. Photos and videos are both evaluated in over a half dozen different tests and provided a score out of 100. The Nexus 6 clocked in with a final overall score of 78.

Neighboring the Nexus 6 on the list are the Nokia 808 Pureview with a score of 77 and coming in at 79 is a three-way tie between the Sony Xperia Z2 and Z3, both with the same 20.7MP sensor, and the Samsung Galaxy S5, with its 16MP ISOCELL sensor. As far as Android devices go, that’s it, Google and Motorola should be very proud of their inclusion in the top 10 best cameras on a phone around today. Of course, fuel the rage, both the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus came in at a score of 82.

There is even better news for those of us that take a lot of photos, but not many videos. The score of 78 for the Nexus 6 is a combination of photo abilities, which clocked in at 81, and video, which bombed with a 74. Photography marks were lost for a slow autofocus, some sharpness inconsistencies and a pinkish hue in the white balance in overcast and cloudy conditions.

On the pros list for the Nexus 6, DxOMark reports great exposure and contrast levels. That autofocus may be slow, but it is stable and consistent. Colors come through nice and true, or pretty close. Finally, and this is full credit to Motorola for the new dual LED flash ring design found here and on the new Moto X, the flash scores very high.

If you decide to take a video with your Nexus 6, be prepared for what DxOMark considers to be a relatively poor image stabilization experience, with an autofocus that tends to overshoot when refocusing on a new object. Basically, go ahead and mount up on a tripod for best results. Truth is, if you can overcome these two negatives, video capture should be very good on the Nexus 6, with scores ranging from 82 up to 93 in various measures.

You can be certain that we will be taking the Snapdragon 805 powered Nexus 6 for our own spin, beyond our initial review with its large collection of camera samples, of course. We are very happy to see that the 13MP sensor is playing hardball with the 16MP and 20.7MP competition. For now, head on over to DxOMark to see all they had to say about the Nexus 6 in their camera review.

Considering the camera performance of previous Nexus devices, will the new high end approach of the Nexus 6 change your purchasing decisions?