Some Amazon listed accessories block the flash

Oct 1, 2015 08:37 GMT  ·  By

Google officially unveiled its next-gen flagship a few days ago, which is called the Nexus 6P. The device boasts a full aluminum body, comes with an improved camera and seems to be a pretty cool device overall.

Immediately after the launch, third-party case makers announced their protective offerings for the Nexus 6P, but even if some of them look good and seem useful, you should be very weary of what you choose.

According to a post on the xda-developers forum, some of the cases for the Nexus 6P listed on Amazon come with a major flaw - they cover up the laser auto focus used with the rear camera. The sensor for the laser auto focus lives on the back bar, located on the right side of the flash.

It turns out that blocking the laser auto focus could severely damage the entire focusing mechanism of the phone, thus rendering the camera pretty much useless on the device. So unless you want to be left without a main shooter, you’d better take extra care when choosing a protective case for your Nexus.

Be careful what you spend your money on

When Google announced the Nexus 6P, it wasn’t immediately clear where the AF sensor was located on the device, due to the black bar across the phone. But in the Nexus 6P launch video, you can see the AF sensor sitting there on the right of the flash.

Now, if you look at the Google-approved cases for the flagship, you’ll see the camera cutout includes the AF sensor, leaving it free to do its job correctly. Then go on to compare these cases to the ones listed on Amazon (this one too), and it becomes pretty obvious that the material on the back covers the area next to the flash. You’d better stay away from them if you want your phone to be working properly.

The trouble is that these smartphone cases were probably built based on leaked imagery and before the real-life Nexus 6P was officially presented to the masses. Even so, these third-party case makers should do the right thing and remove these faulty products from sale. But they probably won’t. So you have been warned.

Nexus 6P cases, good and bad (6 Images)

Huawei 6P's autofocus sensor
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