Nexus 6P has almost as good a camera as the Galaxy S6 Edge says DxOMark

The team at DxOMark are photographers. They do this for their day job and they’re good at it, so when the Nexus 6P scores an 84, just two points behind the top ranked Galaxy S6 Edge, and takes second place overall above the LG G4 (another notably awesome phone camera), we sit up and take notice.

Since the launch of Android we’ve had a bad time when it comes to cameras. Ex-Googler Vic Gundotra famously said after the launch of the Nexus 4 ‘We are committed to making Nexus phones insanely great cameras’. A quick check through my Google Photos history will show that Nexus cameras, though getting progressively better, haven’t been great.

This year has seen a stream of Android phones with excellent quality cameras released, the Galaxy S6 series, and LG G4 are two that come immediately to mind – the Nexus 6P sits between these two phones on the list with that score of 84.

The Nexus 6P isn’t perfect, DxOMark lists issues with low-light performance and highlights being blown out in high dynamic scenes, as well as issues with taking a shot before Auto-Focus has converged.

But with the bad is the good and there are some good results with the Nexus 6P reportedly showing the best results they’ve tested to date in preserving details low-light conditions. The camera also has good detail preservation outdoors and good Auto-Focus, white balance, colour rendering and well exposed images. The flash even gets a nod for good white balance and colour rendering.

The camera on the Nexus 6P has a few unique features you won’t get on the Nexus 5X including Slow Motion video up to 240fps on the Nexus 6P- something you can check out in this test sample video from Dave Burke :

The Nexus 6P also gets smart burst which lets you take a series of shots at 30fps and then choose the best image from the lot or just save that as an animated GIF.

Even the launch of the camera app has a Nexus 6P exclusive, with the ability to double tap the power button to launch the camera app instantly.

The Nexus 6P is shaping up to be a heck of a phone, even with a hefty price tag. If you’re serious about phone photography, this could be a good phone to keep your eye on.