My only Android phones have been the Nexus S, Nexus 4, and now my wife's Nexus 5 until I find a replacement for my broken N4. On each of them, I've run stock Android for about as long as it takes to install CyanogenMod. There's something to be said for the clean, factory-fresh "pure Android" experience, and that's certainly what drew me to the Nexus brand in the first place, but CyanogenMod has managed to simultaneously erase nearly every drawback it once had compared to stock while adding all those goodies you mentioned. At this point, CyanogenMod is rock-solid stable on so many devices that pure Android really isn't that big of a deal.

Which is fine, because for me,at least, the Nexus line has been less about the "pure about getting an affordable phone that's just a shade behind the best hardware at the time it's released. You know you'll get a fast phone, maybe not the best camera or most polished design, but it'll work for several major Android versions, get a lot of attention from the CyanogenMod developers, and if it's outdated in 12-18 months, well, you can buy the next one and for two phones, you've paid about as much as other people did for their flagship manufacturer-branded devices.

Which makes the Nexus 6 a real head-scratcher to me. I'm sure it's a great device, and I guess it's about time Google put their own logo on a flagship-level product, but at a time when the "pure Android" selling point doesn't seem to mean what it used to, they're totally abandoning the value strategy. Now, for all I know, maybe they were losing a ton of money on the Nexus devices, or they just wanted to make more on this phone, but for more than twice the cost, I don't see how anyone can say that it's more than twice the phone the Nexus 5 is, adjusting for 12 months of spec inflation, and that's the premium you pay for getting the best product in a given segment at a given time.

So, yeah, as I said in another thread, I decided to go with the OnePlus One. I was nervous about going with such a new company with no track record to speak of, but the specs compare quite well, and if the Nexus 4 can run Lollipop, then I'm not at all worried about the OPO being able to get through at least a few major Android versions. I will miss the built-in wireless charging (though I'll probably add a Qi receiver and deal with the ugliness/inconvenience) but that and the other things the N6 has over the OPO really don't add up to ~$300 in value for me.

If money were no object, maybe I'd get the N6, but I'd certainly want to hold one in my hands first to see if it is too much phone. Since money is an object, well, it wasn't really a close decision in the end.