Google launches Nexus 6, Nexus 9 and Nexus Player (pics)

The Internet giant on Wednesday introduced the Nexus 9, a tablet with an 8.9-inch display manufactured by Taiwanese hardware maker HTC, the Nexus 6, a smartphone with a 6-inch display made by Motorola Mobility, and the Nexus Player, a streaming media player by Asus and the first device running Android TV. 

As with past Nexus launches, the devices serve as a showcase for the latest version of Google's Android mobile operating system, dubbed Lollipop, but previously...

referred to as "L."

Nexus 9 

Google has just announced the Nexus 9, an Android 5.0 tablet that the company designed in collaboration with HTC. Pre-orders will begin on October 17th and you can expect the tablet to start showing up in stores on November 3rd. Nexus 9 is available in either black or white and comes in three configurations: 16GB for $399, 32GB for $479, and an LTE-enabled 32GB model for $599. Sadly, you can't expand that storage through microSD, so we'd recommend opting for the 32GB SKU. (The LTE version and a "sand" color won't be released until "later this year.")

Google's planning to launch Nexus 9 in 29 countries over the coming weeks. In the US, it'll be sold through Amazon, Best Buy, Gamestop, Google Play, Office Depot, Office Max, QVC/HSN, Radio Shack, Staples, and Walmart. US wireless carriers including T-Mobile will also carry it directly; the Uncarrier will kick off sales November 12th according to this tweet.

A 4:3 SCREEN AND POWERFUL HARDWARE

As with most HTC-manufactured products, the Nexus 9 features a premium metal build (at least on the sides) and an 8.9-inch QVGA (2048x1536) display. That screen has a ratio of 4:3 as opposed to 16:9, and HTC has also brought its BoomSound speaker technology to this tablet. Google is also emphasizing what's powering the hardware here: a 64-bit processor — the first for a Nexus product. More specifically, it's Nvidia's Tegra K1 chipset. The device also features 2GB of RAM and, on average, around 9 hours of battery life.

Google says this form factor is "small enough to easily carry around in one hand, yet big enough to work on." And there's a real focus on productivity here: Google is also releasing a keyboard attachment that "magnetically attaches to the Nexus 9, folds into two different angles and rests securely on your lap like a laptop." So all at once, Google and HTC are going after both the Microsoft Surface and the huge number of consumers who seek aftermarket keyboards for Apple's iPad line. The Nexus 9 certainly isn't cheap — especially compared to Amazon's cutthroat pricing — but seems like a solid piece of hardware meant to fully showcase Android L's work and play capabilities.

Nexus 6

Google is today introducing the Nexus 6, the latest in its line of smartphones designed to show off the capabilities of new Android releases. This is the biggest Nexus phone that Google has released yet, adopting a 6-inch display — bigger than both the iPhone 6 Plus and Galaxy Note 4. Like the Note 4, Google's Nexus 6 also uses a Quad HD display, which means that text and images on the phone should still be really sharp, despite its large size. The phone has a Snapdragon 805 processor, a 13-megapixel rear camera, a 2-megapixel front camera, a 3220 mAh battery, and two front-facing speakers. It can include either 32 or 64GB of internal storage and comes in either blue or white.

IT'S THE MOTO X MADE WAY BIGGER

Nexus phones have always been lightly modified versions of existing smartphones — the Nexus 5, for instance, was based off of the LG G2 — and there's no hiding here that the Nexus 6 is a blown up version of Motorola's updated Moto X. Just like the Moto X, the Nexus 6 features metal trim around the outside, a circular flash ring, and even a dimpled Motorola logo. That's by no means a bad thing, though: the Moto X is a very nicely made phone, so the more cues the Nexus 6 takes from it, the better.

The Nexus 6 comes running Android 5.0 Lollipop, which is also being launched today. Lollipop was first demonstrated back in June, when Google showcased a brand new design style for Android that adopted a playful and colorful look based around simple shapes and sheets of paper. Lollipop is also said to include a battery saving feature that can extend a phone's life by up to 90 minutes. On top of that, the Nexus 6 also includes one of Motorola's Turbo Chargers, which can charge the phone back up to six hours worth of battery life in 15 minutes — so Google clearly wants you to be able to keep this thing going.

The Nexus 6 is going to be sold unlocked for $649, making it far more expensive than any other Nexus model to date. Google has long used the Nexus line as a way to help expose people to stock Android by giving its phones a low price, but that's also meant that Google likely hasn't made much — if any — real money on them. With this new pricing, it appears as though Google's priorities are changing. Or at the very least, it's no longer willing to stomach the costs associated with pricing a phone so low.

The Nexus 6 will be available to preorder on October 29th and available in stores beginning in November. You'll also be able to buy it on monthly contract. The unlocked model will work on all four major US carriers, and Google says it'll also be offered through AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon Wireless, US Cellular, and Sprint. Google is continuing to sell the Nexus 5 as well.

The Nexus line has been Google's attempt to create devices running the "pure" Android experience, in which the hardware manufacturer -- in this case Asus, HTC and Motorola -- is forbidden from making tweaks to the Android user interface, altering the software or preloading custom apps. Nexus products are seen as the closest thing to a "Google" product, and typically garner buzz among the Android fan community, helping past vendor partners such as LG gain credibility.

The Nexus announcements come ahead of an Apple press event scheduled for Thursday, in which it's expected to unveil new iPads and Macs. For the Cupertino, Calif.-based electronics giant, which last month introduced new larger-screen iPhones and a smartwatch, iPad sales have been a sore spot. The iPad still leads the tablet world with more than 32 percent of the market, but its share has dwindled since last year, when it held 40 percent. Samsung tablets, which run Android, have gained ground this year with 22 percent of the market, up from 17.5 percent, according to IDC.

The news also arrives as Google tries to take more control of Android, the most widely-used operating system in the world for smartphones and tablets, with 80 percent market share, according to IDC. By comparison, Apple's iOS, which powers iPhones and iPads, has around 17 percent of the market.

Last month, Google launched its Android One initiative in India, an effort to bring high-quality affordable smartphones to emerging markets. For the project, Google essentially guides handset makers in which components to use for the phone, which cost around $100. Phones made under the Android One rubric will also run an unaltered version of Android.

The new version of Android illustrates Google's desire to unify Android in its many iterations. When the company introduced it at its I/O developer conference in June, Google showed off "material design," a push by Google to control the visual aesthetics of Android, and make the user interface feel consistent across all mobile products, as well as on the Web.

"Lollipop is made for a world where moving throughout the day means interacting with a bunch of different screens--from phones and tablets to TVs," Sundar Pichai, senior vice president of Android, Chrome and apps for Google, said in a blog post Wednesday.

The new Android software also gives developers more control over how notifications are displayed on devices, and aims to increase battery efficiency through a project called Volta. Further more, Lollipop includes a battery saver feature that extends the life of a device by 90 minutes.

Lollipop also includes multiple user accounts, a guest user mode and the ability to use different security measures such as a PIN, password, pattern or by linking to a secure device like a watch.

Nexus Player

The first device running Google's new Android TV platform will be the Nexus Player, a set-top streaming box made by Google and Asus. The device is being announced today, and it's Google's latest in a very long line of attempts to take over your TV. Though Google's past attempts have been fairly unsuccessful, Android TV looks like it could be a different story. Announced back in June, Android TV has a good-looking interface that allows you to stream music, movies, and TV shows. You can also play Android games on it, and it can mimic the Chromecast's features too, all of which make it sound like it could turn out to be a useful little box.

VOICE SEARCH RIGHT FROM THE REMOTE

The Nexus Player takes the shape of a sleek-looking puck around 4.7-inches in diameter. It comes with a tiny remote with just a few buttons on it, one of which allows you to enable a microphone to perform a voice search — it's actually a lot like what you'd find with Amazon's Fire TV. The box includes 8GB of internal storage and is able to stream over 802.11ac Wi-Fi, which is the newest standard out there right now. The Nexus Player also supports a game controller, but it's sold separately.

Google will sell the Nexus Player for $99 and its game controller for $39, according toRecode. The Nexus Player will be available to preorder on Friday, and you'll be able to buy it in stores beginning November 3rd.

New vendors get their Nexus shot

For HTC, the collaboration with Google is a bright spot for the company as it has pared down its device offerings and deals with slumping revenue. The last time it worked with Google was on the original Nexus One in 2010.

Since then, HTC has largely stuck to its own smartphones and its Sense user interface. In March, the company unveiled its flagship HTC One M8, an aluminum-built phone that has received critical praise but has yet to capture mainstream audiences with their eyes on the newest iPhones and Samsung models. Last week, HTC introduced the Desire Eye smartphone, a more affordable option that hopes to cash in on the zeitgeist of "selfies," with a powerful front-facing camera for digital self-portraits.

It has been more than three years since HTC attempted to breach the tablet market with an Android-powered device. Its first tablet, the HTC Flyer, was sold at Best Buy and at Sprint as the HTC Evo View 4G, and was a flop at a time when the iPad was the only tablet that consumers were interested in.

But Motorola had been taken out of the running for Nexus devices after Google purchased the company in 2012, a move that increased tensions since it put Google in direct competition with its Android partners. But the opportunity opened up again after Google announced that it would sell Motorola to Chinese vendor Lenovo in a deal expected to close by the end of the year.

Asus, meanwhile, has had success with Google through the Nexus 7. Google touts the Nexus Player as the first device running Android TV, software designed to power set-top boxes, and a "first-of-its-kind" Android gaming device. Taking the idea of moving from one device to another, Google touts the ability to start playing a game on your TV through the Nexus Player and then continue on an Android phone. The Nexus Player is also Google Cast Ready, allowing any Chromebook, Android or iOS device to send entertainment to the device.

Google also said Lollipop will come to the Nexus 5 smartphone, Nexus 7 and Nexus 10 tablets and Google Play edition devices in the coming weeks.

Source:http://www.t3.com/news/google-launches-nexus-6-nexus-9-and-nexus-player
http://www.cnet.com/news/google-unveils-nexus-9-tablet-nexus-6-phone-nexus-player-streamer/
http://www.theverge.com/2014/10/15/6982145/nexus-6-announced-google-specs-availability
http://www.theverge.com/2014/10/15/6982223/google-htc-nexus-9-announcement-pricing-release-date
http://www.theverge.com/2014/10/15/6982375/google-nexus-player-android-tv-set-top-box-announced