The Nexus line-up has never been famous for its cameras. In fact, some of us are willing to say a few of their devices have had significantly disappointing photographic results. This is why most of us weren’t expecting much out of the Nexus 6P camera technology (and let’s not even mention the Nexus 5X). Furthermore, things started getting worrisome to some of you once Google started talking about the lack of OIS (optical image stabilization). Is this going to be a huge fail?

Google spent a good deal of time talking about the new camera in the Nexus 6P, and they swore it didn’t need OIS, as the new device uses 1.55 micron pixel technology. This new system allows for more light to be registered by the sensor, something similar to what we have seen with HTC’s UltraPixel  method. This, along with the f/2.0 aperture should help make for good results. But how good? That was the question we were all asking ourselves during the prolonged announcement.

We will have to wait until our own review to pass judgement on this matter, but if you are to believe camera experts DxOMark, the Nexus 6P camera is much better than we expected. In an extensive review of the smartphone’s shooter, the team’s results show that this camera is actually the second best in the industry, beaten only by the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge.

The Nexus 6P and its 84 rating now sit above devices like the LG G4, iPhone 6 Plus, Galaxy Note 4 and many others. DxOMark used pre-production samples to perform its review, putting it through a series of unspecified tests. Here’s what they found.

Photo

Pros

• Impressive detail preservation in low light conditions, by far the best tested to date.
• Good detail preservation in outdoor conditions.
• Accurate and fast autofocus in all conditions.
• Good white balance and color rendering in outdoor conditions.
• Flash: Good flash behavior with good detail preservation, white balance and color rendering.
• Images are well exposed.

Cons

• Visible irregularities in exposure, color, texture and noise due to HDR+ mode activation in low light conditions.
• In high dynamic scenes, the highlights of the images are occasionally blown out.
• When triggered, the shot is taken before the autofocus has converged.

Video

Pros

• -Good global exposure, white balance and color rendering.
• -The autofocus is fast and accurate.
• -Low noise level in all conditions.

Cons

• The strong jello effect due to the stabilization provides unpleasant videos during motions scenes.
• Refocus are visible under illuminant changes and thefocus is lost during tracking movement.
• Fine details are lost in low light conditions.
• Color shading is visible in low light and indoor conditions.

Those are some impressive results, but keep in mind this is only one source’s opinion. Regardless of how credible DxOMark may be, we would rather wait until more details start showing up. You can be sure we will be taking care of a full review of the phone, so keep your eyes open for more details on this camera.