New Nexus Devices

Google just announced Android L as Android 5.0 Lollipop. And as per tradition, with every release of a major update to Android, new Nexus devices are also unveiled. And this year we have the Nexus 9, a tablet from HTC and the Nexus 6, a large phone by Motorola and last but not least the first device to run Android TV, the Nexus Player by ASUS.

First off, the Nexus 9 is a 8.9″ tablet with 4:3 viewing ratio with a 2048×1536 (2K) screen. The 4:3 viewing ratio is quite a surprise as Google stuck with 16:9 ratio for both the Nexus 7 tablets and a 16:10 ratio for the Nexus 10. Is this departure from 16:9 a sign that Google is indirectly agreeing with Apple that 4:3 is the best ratio for a tablet?

Well enough about the screen, it is powered by a NVIDIA Tegra K1 dual core (gasp!) 64 bit processor running at up to 2.3GHz. What’s interesting about this is instead of the regular K1 which are 32 bit quad cores based on the A15 architecture, these are 64 bit cores. This should mean that NVIDIA is basing their new K1 on the A57 architecture which supports 64 bit. And thanks to it being built by HTC you also get stereo frontal speakers with HTC BoomSound enhancement. From the press photos, the speakers are very subtle looking. Here’s hoping they don’t sound subtle at all. It has a 8MP rear camera and a 1.6MP front camera and comes in either 16GB or 32GB WiFi variants and a 32GB LTE version. As usual, no microSD expansion for Nexus devices. The pricing for this tablet on the Google Play store is as follows: 16GB for $399 USD, 32 GB for $479 USD, and 32GB LTE for $599 USD.

“A bigger phone with more everything.” To me that is quite true since this Nexus has more speakers (stereo now), more megapixels in the camera, larger screen, and also more processing power. Anyway, it has a 5.96″ 2560×1440 AMOLED screen, a Snapdragon 805 processor, and also a 13MP camera with OIS and f/2.0 aperture. What really sounds nice to me in this phone is that it comes with a 3220mAh battery. Let’s hope it also translate to good battery life. Google also included fast charge in this device, promising 6 hours of use with only 15 minutes of charging. And once again, no microSD card expansion. However it comes in larger capacities that before. Coming in 32GB and 64GB variants, I think that finally it may be time to retire the “NO MICROSD SLOT” argument against the Nexus 6. It is also quite a step away from previous Nexus’s considering that it carries a the stylised M logo on the back. Previous Nexus phones never carried their OEM’s logos. The gigantic handset will be available for preorder beginning in late October from the Google Play Store starting from $649 USD which makes it the most expensive Nexus phone ever.

I actually wish that they would stop trying to make smart set top boxes and focus on portable devices. But Google did launch the Nexus player which has some pretty beefy specs too. A 1.8GHz Intel Atom quad core processor is powering this little puck of a console. However the 1GB RAM is quite a let down for me. It only has 8GB of memory thus no storing entire k-drama series on this thing. The remote is voice enabled so you can talk to your TV if that is your thing. And if you just want to play games on your TV, there is a wireless gamepad (sold separately).

These are the services Google hopes you will use on the Nexus Player. While personally I would prefer a HTPC set up in my living room compared to these consoles, there will definitely be some who prefer the compact size of the Player. Costing $99 USD, it is definitely cheaper than a HTPC though.

SOURCE: Google Blog