Nexus 6 Performance With Android 5.1

Features
By Matt Humrick
published

Does the Android 5.1 update bring performance and battery life improvements to the Nexus 6?

Introduction

In our Nexus 6 review, we saw its Snapdragon 805 SoC deliver strong CPU and GPU performance while running the initial Android 5.0 release. Internal storage performance however, was a point of contention.
Google Nexus 6

With Android Lollipop, Google announced that full disk encryption (FDE), an optional feature available since Android Honeycomb, would be enabled by default. This requirement was later revoked due to performance issues on certain classes of hardware, the Nexus 6, having shipped with FDE enabled, being a prime example.

At the conclusion of our initial performance analysis, Google released the Android 5.1 update, which includes some patches meant to address the performance impact of using FDE on the Nexus 6, in addition to changes that affect overall system performance and battery life.

In light of these changes, it's worth taking a second look at the Nexus 6, comparing performance after installing the Android 5.1 update to the initial 5.0 release.


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Matt Humrick
10 Comments Comment from the forums
  • ZolaIII
    Just to point out how CPU clocking logic effect busses on Qualcomm SoCs. For instance if 1 core CPU frequency fell down under the minimum frequently than is tied to max bus frequency it will narrow & memory bandwidth & this will impact GPU performance badly under GPU intensive tasks. For me it looks like that on-demand scheduler is working more as it should under 5.1. Including patch sets from Linux kernel 3.12~3.21 (on demand to use more mid frequencies) should be just enough to address performance regressions still savings (even litle more) juice. They should really disable file encryption on any ARM V7 build. Switching to last stable GCC should increase user experience greatly, it's funny they still use 4.6. To address possible fluctuations & determine real impact of changes do the tests again with performance governor & disable MP decision (hot plug) for GPU tests.
    Reply
  • zodiacfml
    Ouch. Glad I bought the N5 last year.
    Reply
  • endeavour37a
    I have an old LG G2 and it does not even have filters :(
    Reply
  • theusual
    Be sure to upgrade 'Android System WebView' through Google Play as well as for me it didn't upgrade automatically and was causing app issues.
    Reply
  • Plyro109
    Sorry. Browser seems to be autofilling and submitting in every comment thread I visit.
    Reply
  • Tracy Kohler
    Get that stupid bar off the top of my screen please! It takes up a whole INCH of screen space (and vertical space is LIMITED already on this wide CRAP they call monitors today).

    I guess I'll have to come up with a way to kill it and still be able to navigate, other than scrolling. Go back to pages with a bar at top or bottom for index. While your at it FIRE the guy/gal who decided an inch of real estate on a monitor is OK to block all day. He/she will only piss off users over and over (hired from win8 team?...LOL).
    Reply
  • Senecaz
    TL, DR : Lollipop s*cks! next update please...
    Reply
  • musical marv
    15881932 said:
    TL, DR : Lollipop s*cks! next update please...
    Why do you say Loliipop sucks?

    Reply
  • musical marv
    15881932 said:
    TL, DR : Lollipop s*cks! next update please...
    Back Up what you post here and do not ignore it.

    Reply
  • endeavour37a
    I thought Tom's was a place we could have opinions and points of view we could share and express freely, how does one back up what they like and don't like? I sort of like 5.0 but it's just fine if some else does not, I ignore a lot of stuff myself.
    Reply