Google announced its new suite of Nexus devices last week, including the Nexus 6 smartphone and Nexus 9 tablet. The Nexus 6 iterates on last year’s Nexus 5 with a faster 2.7GHz Snapdragon 805 processor, 3 GB of RAM, 3220 mAh, 13 MP camera, water-resistance, dual front-facing speakers, and most notably, a massive 5.96-inch screen. Though the screen is bigger than the Galaxy Note 4 and iPhone 6 Plus, the physical dimensions are nearly identical to the 6 Plus, meaning the Nexus 6 fits a bigger screen into the same form factor that we’ve seen from the most recent batch of “phablet” devices. Its display is only an inch smaller than Google’s own Nexus 7, a potential indicator that consumers would rather have one device that does the job of a phone and tablet than two. The Nexus 6 will retail for $650 unlocked, and, unlike traditional Nexus devices, can be purchased on-contract through all major wireless carriers starting October 29.
The Nexus 9 seems to be Google’s response to both the iPad Air and iPad mini – it’s a 9-inch tablet that’s got performance to match the iPad Air, but comes in a sort of in-between screen size relative to the iPad Air’s 9.7 inches and the iPad mini and Nexus 7’s 7 inches. It’s priced competitively, starting at $400 for 16 GB and $479 for 32, compared to the iPad Air at $500 and $600. The Nexus 9 takes another departure from previous Nexus tablets in its aspect ratio of 4:3, making it suitable for both viewing video content in landscape and reading or browsing the web in portrait. The Nexus 7 and 10 had an aspect ratio of 16:10, which was more suitable for landscape use than portrait. A long-running strength of the iPad versus other tablets has been its versatility in use cases, so it’s good to see the Nexus tablets finally catching up in this regard.
This year’s Nexus line is markedly different from that of previous years in a number of ways. Previously, the goal of the Nexus project was to achieve a perfect balance of the latest specs and an affordable off-contract price, to create what were essentially reference devices for Android hardware manufacturers. Google has made 6 of these phones so far, partnering with manufacturers like HTC, Samsung, LG, and now Motorola for each release. The phones have traditionally been $350 or less unlocked, and typically not available on major carriers like Verizon, though T-Mobile has offered each year’s model. In order to maintain the specs-to-price balance, Google has often had to compromise on certain aspects of the phones’ internals. This usually manifested in the form of mediocre camera performance, bland industrial design, and a general lack of cutting-edge hardware features you’d find on flagship devices from HTC and Samsung. This is the first year Google has gone all-out with specs and hardware features, moving the phone to a higher-end price point.
However, the main draw of the Nexus line has always been the stock, vanilla, un-skinned Android operating system that the phones ship with. Since late 2010, almost all major Android phones run custom-made manufacturer skins that slow down performance, include unnecessary features, and make the user interface look terrible. Now granted, at one point, Android’s stock user interface looked terrible by itself, but since the launch of version 4.0 of the operating system in 2011, custom skins haven’t really been necessary to improve the look of the software. The Nexus program was conceived 4 years ago to give developers and power users an alternative to the abundance of Android phones with skins that, at best, added extra features not already a part of the operating system, and at worst, slowed down performance, decreased battery life, and made the software look ugly.
The Nexus phones have been incredibly successful in recent years, selling out instantly every time they’re first made available to order. While the Nexus 6 may not sell out immediately this time, due to its increased price, it should appease customers that were unhappy with the camera or design of the Nexus 5, and value the unadulterated Android experience above all else in a smartphone.
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