Hello, and Welcome to the Video Gadgets Journal: connecting your with your Technology.
This is the Google Motorola Nexus 6, a smartphone.
By design, smartphones don't have many physical, tacticle buttons because they rely on their
touch screen.
However, the buttons they do have are very important.
The Nexus 6 has just two: a power and volume rocker.
So let's investigate them in a little more detail.
There are two principle reasons why I've decided to do a review specifically looking at the
Nexus 6 power and volume buttons.
The first being that, after my experience with the truly horrific, spongy, crappy buttons
on the Nexus 9, I'm quite sensitive to build quality on Nexus devices now.
And, the Nexus 6 is one epically sized phone and I wanted to dissect whether this has a
big impact on how you use the phone.
So first thing to note: because of the size of the Nexus 6, your little pinky finger must
sit at the base of the phone to provide extra support and the physical power button is much
further down the whole length of the phone at about two third's length.
As usual, it's your thumb that's going to be doing the pressing work and if you rest
the corner of the handset into your palm it will feel more or less natural.
What is unusual is that the volume buttons are directly underneath the power button which
is more like a tablet configuration.
There's nothing at all on the left edge of the phone because those fingers are going
to be doing nothing but supporting the size and weight of the Nexus 6.
So, two buttons within close proximity to each other that you expect to control with
one hand might suggest some accidental presses of the wrong button.
Fortunately I have found that not to be the case.
The power button has a serrated texture to it and is it much smaller compared to the
smooth and ample sized volume rocker.
So, though touch alone, you definitely know which buttons you are pressing.
The tactile feedback from both buttons is excellent.
They have a real spring and click to them and you can even press the buttons at their
extreme edges and they will still respond with a positive action on your device.
This is definitely not a repeat of the build quality issues on the HTC Nexus 9?
But when it comes to scale, the buttons are dwarfed by the size of the Nexus 6.
Watch as I pan out from a close shot, the Nexus 6 just keeps going, and going and going
and buttons almost get swallowed up by the whole thing.
Strangely, the Galaxy S4 has large power and volume buttons and I feel as the buttons should
be more akin to the size you might find on a Nexus 7, just so that you can always find
them on a phone this big.
Another thing to be weary of is that although the Nexus 6 is quite thick, it's all centred
to the middle of the handset, the actual edges of the Nexus 6 are very thin; too thin infact.
It feels sometimes like your clawing at the device to get a good grip and it also means
the buttons are super slim to fit on that trim.
It's not a deal breaker by any means, it just leads to more cumbersome use.
Again, take a look at the Galaxy S4: A smaller phone, but a larger trim for better grip and
bigger buttons.
Another thing, and this might be an unfair criticism, but I miss a physical home button.
And the Nexus (out of the box anyway) doesn't come with a double tap to wake feature.
There is an ambient light feature which is supposed to display the screen when you pick
up the phone, but it's not 100% reliable.
So the only concrete way to unlock the Nexus 6 is to pick it up, secure it in your hands
and then press the relatively small power button on that thin trim.
Compare that to how quickly you can do that with smaller handsets with home buttons.
I'm sure you'll agree that there is something to be said about having small agile devices
(if you can call a 5-inch Galaxy S4 small.
So the power and volume buttons themselves are solid, responsive and have a premium feel
to them.
But I think this is going to be something I'll be saying quite often: the Nexus 6 changes
things.
It size demands that both the designers and users adapt to this new phablet form of smart
device.
It's less intuitive and requires more precise and effort.
Only time will tell whether I can adjust to these demands.
What do you think?
Could you cope with such changes or does it really matter about two little buttons on
one monster of a handset.