Yes, it is finally here – the much talked about, the much awaited Nexus 6 will soon be launched by Google. And it is just not the Nexus 6 smartphone, but the latest Android OS – The Lollipop – will also debut on various Nexus devices.
Google has also announced launch of their next version of tablet – The Nexus 9. It will be available on Google Play store starting October 17th. Apart from this, Nexus Player, Google’s first device running new Android TV platform also makes a debut.
Let us look at each of these launches in more detail.
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Nexus 6 – Price, Specification & More
The rumours that have been around for quite a while seem to be true – Nexus 6 is a huge phone, literally. It comes with a humongous 5.96 inch screen. And with that kind of screen size, it is getting dangerously close to being a tablet, rather than being a phone.
Only Google knows the reason why they opted to go for such a big screen – because at that size it will be a huge turn-off for many (including yours truly).
I have been a avid Nexus user since start and have never given a second thought before buying any of the previous versions. However, that is not the same for Nexus 6. I am not sure if I will be able to lug around such a huge phone with me all the time.
But, once you go past beyond the size issue, everything else seems to be pretty much what you would expect from a next generation Nexus Smartphone.
Nexus 6 has Quad core Krait 450 CPU 2.7GHz (Qualcomm Snapdragon 805 SOC) coupled with Adreno 420 GPU. With 3GB of RAM to boot, the device should run buttery even with the heaviest of apps and games. The Gorilla Glass 3 screen has a QHD resolution (2560X1440) and AMOLED display with 493 ppi color depth.
One of the major gripe with previous Nexus smartphones is the camera – and looks Nexus 6 is going to see some good improvement there. The rear camera is a 13Mp with optical image stabilization and
Dual LED ring flash. At f/2.0 aperture, the camera is expected to perform well in low light conditions as well. The device allows for 4K video capture at 30 frames per second.
At 184 grams, Nexus 6 is neither light or too weighty – it is right in the middle.
Another complaint about Nexus devices has always been it’s battery and by coming up with such a large screen, I am not sure if we may see any major improvements in that department. Though the Nexus 6 battery is rated at 3220 mAH, only time will tell how long the battery will last!
However, Nexus 6 does have a nifty feature of turbo charging where they promise six hours of use with only 15 minutes of charge. Now that could be a life-saver for people who perennially drain their battery long before the day ends!
Apart from this, Nexus 6 sports all the features that you would expect from top of the line Android smartphone. And yes, if it is not obvious, Nexus 6 will come with Android 5.0 Lollipop OS.
And lastly the price – Google has not officially announced the price for Nexus 6. However, rumours suggest that it will be on the higher side around USD 550 to USD 650. II , for one, don’t think so. In my view, it should be in the region of USD399 to USD 499. (we will update the post as soon as we get some sort of confirmation)
In India, I expect Nexus 6 to be priced around Rs. 35,000
Android 5.0 Lollipop OS
Google has finally made a official announcement on Lollipop and this is a big leap from their previous version KitKat. It features a completely new UI and Google calls it Material Design.
In Google’s own words, “Lollipop is our largest, most ambitious release on Android with over 5,000 new APIs for developers. Lollipop is designed to be flexible, to work on all your devices and to be customized for you the way you see fit. And just like Android has always been, it’s designed to be shared.”
While design is one aspect of Lollipop, it essentially makes it easy for users to interact with multiple device screens — from phones and tablets to TVs.
With every new iteration of Android, the OS’s power and battery management is getting better. In Lollipop, Google has introduced a new battery saver feature that extends the life of the device by up to 90 minutes.
Apart from this, Lollipop will see many new features including multiple user accounts, guest user mode and improved security features.
Android Lollipop will be pre-installed on Nexus 6 and Nexus 9 and will soon be updated on Nexus 5 and Nexus 7 (2013). However, there is a great news for Nexus 7 (2012) and Nexus 4 owners. They will also be getting the new Lollipop update. It is good to see that Google is offering updates on these devices even after the official update window of “18 months from launch” has already passed.
Nexus 9 Tablet
Google’s new tablet is an 9-inch screen tablet (and hence the name) that has an aspect ratio of 4:3, features Gorilla Glass 3 and has a QXGA resolution (2048X1536). The tablet has a 2.3 GHz 64-bit NVIDIA Tegra K1 Dual Denver processor coupled with 192-core Kepler GPU. It has an 8mp rear camera and a 1.6mp front camera.
Nexus 9 has 2GB RM and comes in 16Gb and 32Gb storage variant. The best part about this tablet is that it has LTE connectivity apart from having Quad-band GSM, CDMA and Penta-band HSPA.
Nexus 9’s battery has a 6700 mAh battery that will easily last close to 10 hours of active usage.
You can find more details on Nexus 9 here.
The price of Nexus 9 is not officially announced as yet (we will update it as soon as we learn about it.)
Nexus Player
This is an interesting launch by Google, and something that they had announced at Google I/O earlier this year. Nexus Player is essentially a a streaming set-top box made by Google and Asus. The device connects to your TV and allows you to stream music, movies, and TV shows. Nexus player can also play Android games on it, and it supports casting (ala chromecast),
Nexus Player is a round black device that measures less than 5 inches in diameter and comes with 8GB of internal storage and is able to stream over 802.11ac Wi-Fi. It has 1.8GHz Quad Core, Intel Atom processor with a HDMI out port.
Check out more specifications on Nexus Player
The Nexus Player will be available for preorder at the Google Play Store on October 17 in the US for $99. For other countries, Google has not made any announcements as yet, but it should start making debut in other countries couple of months down the line!
[Note: We will shortly be releasing a guide on how you could order these devices from US play store, so you can get your hands on them even before they get launched in India. So stay tuned!]
[…] much talked about, the much awaited Nexus 6 will soon be launched by Google. Along with it they also announced Nexus 9, Android Lollipop and Nexus […]