Google Nexus 6P Tips and Tricks

Android 6.0 (Marshmallow)
Phone: Google Nexus 6P
Factory OS: Android 6.0 (Marshmallow)

Have you updated your Operating System?
Then view tips for the most recent OS version(s): Android 9 (Pie) & Android 8 (Oreo)
Or view tips for all Android versions

If you are not happy with your notification light, then you can change and tweak it. Go to the Play Store and download an App called Light Flow.

You might need to enable the notification light before the App works. Go to Settings – Device – Sounds and notifications – LED Indicator.

If you find yourself woken up by notifications, text messages or incoming calls, then there is a handy feature called Blocking mode.

To enable this go to Settings – Do not disturb.

Next, select Enable now or Enable as scheduled.

The latter option will give you options to set the time period for your Do not disurb.

You can also add exceptions to allow notifications from certain contacts that you don’t mind bothering you.

Sometimes you may need your screen to stay on when plugged in via USB.

To do this, Drag down your notifications screen and press Settings. Then under System, select Developer Options. Then check Stay Awake.

If you can’t see Developer options then you need to enable this.

Go to Settings – System – About device – Software info and press on Build number 7 times. Developer options will now appear in the System section of your settings.

Android now comes with some great battery management built into the OS.

Pull down your notifications screen and select Settings.

Then go to Battery and you will see some useful stats such as the time remaining.

There are also two other options:
– Power saving mode and
– Ultra power saving mode

Select one of these to really make your phone last the distance.

Be warned that these can limit your device quite considerably as certain features will be disabled in order to conserve battery life.

Having notifications come through on the lock screen can be handy because you don’t have to unlock your phone to see what the notification is about.

The problem with this is that someone may see the content of a notification (a text message for example) which you would like to keep private.

To change this setting to only display that the notification has arrived (rather than the actual content), then go to Settings – Lock screen and security.

Then select Notifications on lock screen

From here you can enable or disable which apps you can show notifications from or at the top, select to Show or Hide notifications.

When browsing on your phone you may notice images are quite blurry. This is because your telecom provider is compressing the images before they are downloaded on to your phone.

There is no way to prevent this, but if you have a WiFi connection nearby, then you can turn that on. This will mean that all browser downloads come through the WiFi connection, rather than the carrier, and your images will appear normally.

To quickly hide the on-screen keyboard, press the Back button

While using the standard Android Video App, you can lock the your screen while watching videos by pressing the power button.

This will disable the touchscreen buttons while the video is playing, but it won’t turn the screen off like the lock key normally does.

Note, this will only work on video files that you are playing that are stored on your phone and using the native Video App. It won’t work for videos played within websites, such as YouTube videos or other Apps such as MX Player, which have their own lock screen settings.

If you call someone regularly this can be useful as you will have a shortcut to them usefully placed on your home screen.

To bookmark a Contact on your Home Screen, then first go into your Contacts App.

Find the Contact you want to add to the Home Screen and press on them.

Then press More or the Menu key and select Add shortcut to home.

Then go to your Home Screen, find the Contact you’ve just added. Press, hold and drag to another position.

If this doesn’t work, then try this alternative method:
Go to one of your home screens.

Find a blank space, long press and hold.

Select Widgets, then scroll until you see the Contacts Widget. From here there are various options to add contacts to your home screen as bookmarks.

WARNING: Making your volume or music louder can damage your hearing.

Most phones have their volumes limited by local laws to protect your hearing. There is a way to boost your volume however.

Go to the Play Store and download an App called Volume Booster or Volume+ FREE or Ultimate Volume Booster

You may need to Root your phone for this App to work, but read the instructions in the App’s description.