Motorola Nexus 6 v HTC One M8, One M7: Reasons How New Nexus Can Match HTC Flagship Phones

HTC BlinkFeed, Zoe, BoomSound and Sense UI deliver high usability purposes to HTC One M8 and One M7 users while Motorola Nexus 6 only features the vanilla perks of Android 5.0 Lollipop. Can an Android 5.0 vanilla match the HTC-based features on the HTC One Family?

Notifications: BlinkFeed Or Upgrades On Android 5.0

HTC BlinkFeed contains online feeds from personalised sources modified by the user. It can cover social media clients, news sites, sport scores and a lot more. What is the alternative available on Nexus 6?

- New version of the Notification Centre on Android 5.0 enables control over messages and feeds.

- These notifications are viewable via lock screen with option to hide sensitive contents.

- Priority Mode allows filtering of notifications to lessen disruptions during busy hours or during a selected downtime hours.

- Modify notifications from each app, contents or disable altogether.

- Intelligent ranking of notifications based on contacts and type of communication.

- Apps such as Flipboard can provide a single space where all feeds are kept.

Camera: HTC Zoe Or Google Camera

HTC Zoe features advanced camera options to users who apply filters, effects and remixes on photos and videos captured on HTC One M8 or One M7. How can Motorola Nexus 6 match that camera app?

- Download HTC Zoe itself from the Google Play Store for free.

- Use both Google Camera and HTC Zoe on Nexus 6 for appropriate and favourable scenarios.

Audio Experience: BoomSound Or Vanilla

HTC One M8 and M7 have BoomSound audio enhancer to increase the volume of up to 95 decibels. Motorola Nexus 6 does not have any special audio engines to boost volume but there are ways to improve audio experience.

- Use the audio equaliser on the music or video player to control outputs of the dual front-facing stereo speakers.

- BoomSound is an app which can be replicated by downloading similar apps from the Play Store.

User Interface: HTC Sense Or Material Design

HTC Sense UI is an overlay to the vanilla UI of Android OS that controls most parts of any HTC smartphone. Material Design UI is the latest interface found on Android 5.0 Lollipop that works across several apps and services on Nexus 6. So which customisation will be more flexible?

- Material Design UI is default and vanilla which remains lighter on memory compared to HTC Sense UI.

- Select Dark Material or Light Material theme to match personality and lifestyle.

- Download home launchers from the Play Store in case the Material Design becomes boring and select the default launcher desired to be used every day.

Google Nexus 6 unlocked variant is expected to be priced at $649 on October 29 with 32 GB storage space while HTC One M8 unlocked variant with 32 GB storage space is currently priced at $732 in Amazon. HTC One M7 unlocked variant with 32 GB storage space is sold at $499 in Amazon as well.