Google Announces Motorola-Made Nexus 6 and HTC-Made Nexus 9 201
An anonymous reader writes In addition to Android 5.0 Lollipop, Google today also announced the first devices running the new version of its mobile operating system: the Nexus 6 and the Nexus 9. The former is a phablet built by Motorola, and the latter is a tablet built by HTC. The Nexus 6 is going up for pre-order on October 29, starting at $649. The Nexus 9 meanwhile is going up for pre-order this Friday (October 17), and you'll also be able to get it in stores on November 3.
Meh (Score:5, Insightful)
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I think that NVidia has a pretty good one for 299. The Tablet Shield. [techcrunch.com]
Re:Meh (Score:5, Informative)
Google has arranged a release with 5 major US carriers simultaneously -- Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint, and US Cellular. They will be available under contract at a big discount (up front cost $50 or so instead of $650). The carriers probably put pressure on Google to keep the unlocked price high so we perceive a value to the contract.
Re:Meh (Score:5, Insightful)
In other words, AT&T and Verizon will sell crippled, ruined, defective-by-design phones with locked bootloaders masquerading as real "Nexus" devices, tainting the brand name as badly as Verizon's Galaxy Nexus did. :-(
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Google's doing a fine job on it's own, I'm still pissed that my microSD card is virtually worthless as most apps are no longer allowed to use it. I bought a beefy card because a couple of apps needed a large amount of space only to discover that they couldn't be moved nor could they be made to use the space on the card for their cache files. What's more, none of the apps that move things to the card work.
Considering that the phone has a microSD card slot, I shouldn't have to look up whether or not the curre
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You may now feel less pissed.
https://code.google.com/p/chro... [google.com]
Maybe I missed it, but what does re-adding ext2/3/4 support to chrome OS have to do with SD Card support on Android?
Re:Meh (Score:5, Interesting)
The page that the Nexus 6 [google.com] is presented on still has a link to the Nexus 5 [google.com]. My personal theory at this time (unproven) is that they're keeping the Nexus 5 around as their lower-end model, since they don't have anything to replace its price point with. Hell, the Nexus 5 page now shows the device running Android L (Lollipop.)
Re:Meh (Score:4, Interesting)
The page that the Nexus 6 [google.com] is presented on still has a link to the Nexus 5 [google.com]. My personal theory at this time (unproven) is that they're keeping the Nexus 5 around as their lower-end model, since they don't have anything to replace its price point with. Hell, the Nexus 5 page now shows the device running Android L (Lollipop.)
While the Nexus 5 is not as enormous as the Nexus 6, it is anything but small.
Which is the chief problem with the various "mini" models available today. Not a one is actually a small, well featured phone. They are simply old and/or reduced spec phones every bit as big as the first wave of large phones.
Re:Meh (Score:4, Informative)
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets... [arstechnica.com]
We just have to wait and see if we can actually buy it.
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It's available in Europe and seems to be selling pretty well on Amazon UK right now. I don't know why Sony ignores the US ...
If I was looking for a phone right now I'd be seriously considering the Z3 compact. Seems pretty much the perfect size to me, and the battery life is insane [theverge.com].
Re:Meh (Score:4, Informative)
Huge warning about the Z3 -- Sony implemented a chunk of the camera firmware in a way that causes it to be crippled forever if you unlock the bootloader... and as of at least a few days ago, there was no root exploit that didn't depend upon having an unlocked bootloader. There probably will be one eventually... but you might be waiting a LONG time to get it. Ask yourself whether you'll still be happy with the phone if you end up not being able to root it for months (or ever), and if you'll still be satisfied with it if the low-light performance goes to hell as a consequence of unlocking the bootloader.
Put another way, don't buy a Z3 unless you know beyond doubt there's a working root exploit for it that doesn't require an unlocked bootloader, and make equally sure that the phone you're buying has a ROM that hasn't slammed the door and locked out that root method. You'll still lose a chunk of the camera's functionality for the duration of your use of a custom ROM, but at least you'll preserve the ability to restore the phone back to stock at some future time if desired.
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The Z3 Compact is no exception. It has a 4.6" screen, making it much closer in size to to the 4.95" Nexus 5 than the 3.5" Iphone 4 that is the usual benchmark for a small phone. It also has a screen resolution of 720 x 1280 pixels. That's not bad but it is definitely cut down from the 1080 x 1920 pixels of the full size Z3.
The other mini's are worse, of course, but the Z3 Compact is the not the savior of small phone aficionados.
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I am quite happy with my Nexus 4. I could have maybe dealt with the 5 but surely the 6 is more than what is going to fit in my shirt pocket.
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Amen, even my Nexus 4 is bigger than I really want. Honestly I might even tolerate the size, but that price is absolutely ridiculous, going from a $300+ phone to a $600+ phone, and they STILL didn't include a damn SD Card slot? Sorry Google, hope this goes well for you but I will not touch this piece of junk. Maybe I'll try the OnePlus One, the FairPhone, or hopefully some other compact and unlocked phone will come out in the future.
Luckily for me, the specs of my Nexus 4 are still more than enough to ru
Re:Meh (Score:4, Insightful)
Why couldn't they have hit the sweet spot - 5", 1080p, and focused on camera quality & battery life?
Google doesn't understand hardware.
Re:Meh (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Meh (Score:5, Insightful)
Why couldn't they have hit the sweet spot - 5", 1080p, and focused on camera quality & battery life?
Google doesn't understand what I want in hardware.
FTFY.
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Why couldn't they have hit the sweet spot - 5", 1080p, and focused on camera quality & battery life?
They already did that with the Moto G2.
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The 2nd gen Moto G isn't 1080p, and it's not exactly a flagship phone performance-wise (although it's very nice). Thankfully, it looks as though Google is keeping the N5 around for another year ...
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Of course they do. You just don't understand the market.
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I'm not so sure there's a big market for 6" phablets yet -- that's going into uncharted territory, somewhere not even Samsung dared to go (this year's Note 4 has the same screen size as last year's Note 3, at 5.7"). At some point, phones are simply going to get too big for people, and this phone is going to be very hard to fit in a pocket or use one-handed.
It's also worth pointing out that Google's previous Nexii have had very mixed success sales-wise, so I'm not sure you can really assume that they've got
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Yep. They've pretty much ruined the Google phone formula with this overpriced phablet.
5", 1080p, 2+GB RAM and enough CPU to make the browser work properly. That's all the phone I care to suffer.
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I think you've pretty much described the Nexus 5.
Re:Meh (Score:5, Informative)
Here ya go: http://oneplus.net/ [oneplus.net]
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So they take that and make the 6 cost double and close to iPhone/Samsung territory?
So much for that...
Nexus 6 (Score:5, Funny)
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Time... to die...
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The Thing is, there was a problem with those models, someone in engineering called Annie made a mistake in a background routine that caused the OS to keep trying to phone home to keep in touch with a Master Control Program, causing the Wrath of Google who were afraid the whole thing would end up on Conan so they pulled the whole thing from the shelves before someone drew First Blood.
So now we have Nexus 6: The Sequel.
Will it fit in my front pocket? (Score:2)
My Note 2 is at the edge of discomfort already. I'm not going to buy a Fanny pack. Hrm.. maybe JNCO can stage a come-back with Phablet pocket bags.
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That's a feature patented by Apple apparently.
phablet (Score:2)
Please oh please may that term die a quick painless death.
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I hope it does along with the form factor...
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No. The phablet term is not going to be allowed to die. It concisely expresses contempt for crazy huge "phones" and those of us that know better than to expect our phones to be portable movie theaters will continue to use it freely.
Deal.
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"...and those of us that know better ..."
I see you 'know better' and know the correct way to use a device.
Aren't you special. This should be familiar to you:
http://goo.gl/YwYdZG [goo.gl]
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I thought Phondle-slab was better.
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The term, not necessarily the device. If you want a device that size then fine. Just don't call it a phablet.
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You're welcome: http://www.motorolasolutions.c... [motorolasolutions.com]
Runs Windows Mobile though, so it's useless.
Also announced Nexus player (Score:5, Interesting)
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Why is it a big win for Intel? Regardless of how cool it is (and I think it's cool, and am maybe considering getting one -- especially if I can put normal Linux on it), Google isn't going to sell enough of them for anybody to care.
(I know this because no Nexus devices sell well enough for anybody to care... even things as comprehensively awesome as the Nexus 5 aren't marketed well enough to the dumb [m]asses to outsell the contract-carrier schmuck-phones like the Galaxy Note and iPhone.)
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Yes, because nobody bought chromecasts or chomrbooks either, so who give a whack?
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Do we know it's 64-bit? Some Atoms are artificially crippled to 32-bit-only.
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Pass - Had major issues with Nexus 5 (from LG) (Score:2)
I decided to give the Nexus 5 Google Play Edition a chance. It was a (relatively) decent price, decent kit, and a nice screen. It didn't have as many features as the latest Galaxy but it was still quite good. And I was digging the latest Android screenshots so I got it shortly after release.
It had a major Microphone bug.
It didn't matter where I held it, but the mic would sometimes die out and nobody could hear me. At all. I eventually left myself a voicemail at work and could BARELY hear myself.
I wasn'
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LG messed up the 7 too. I read somewhere that it's battery issues may be tied to the substandard wiring people were observing, when they took the unit apart. I have much better luck with the 10.
Re:Pass - Had major issues with Nexus 5 (from LG) (Score:4, Informative)
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Huh? The Nexus 7, both variants, was manufactured by Asus.
And as far as I've seen, both of them have proven to be excellent devices.
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You must have gotten lucky. I've found many threads with people complaining about the same problems I've seen.
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You must have gotten lucky. I've found many threads with people complaining about the same problems I've seen.
Well, since I had two of the original Nexus 7s and there are currently four of the 2013 model in my house, I must be really lucky :-)
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Yeah, I realized that after I posted. I confused the manufacturer with my 4 (which is pretty decent).
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That sounds smart.
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I assume you had it replaced free-of-charge under warranty, and ended up with a perfectly good replacement? Google are very good with replacing Nexus phones bought through the play store -- you get sent a replacement phone before you ship your old phone off.
And if you didn't, you're still at least two weeks within the warranty period ... it's not too late :)
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Funny.
Obviously the rumor is LG isn't making it. That wasn't my issue. My last sentence summed it up
If Google wants to promote their Nexus line as THE official TEMPLATE for their phones... and misses such a HUGE design flaw that impacts the core aspect of the device (being a phone) then I'm not going to trust future Nexus versions for a while either. Because either they didn't care enough to notice it, or didn't care enough to do something drastic to delay the release or AT THE LEAST put out a press rele
Bring the 10 Back (Score:3)
I have the 4, the 7 (2nd gen) and the 10. The Nexus 10 is the best smart anything I ever bought. Good speakers and nice sized screen. I can go a couple weeks between recharges. That should have been their flagship product.
I thought the 7, despite all the stellar reviews was garbage. Crummy battery life makes it unusable. I might get a day or two on this. The random reboots don't help either.
I have pretty much the exact same software on both, except that I confine my video watching to the 10. I'm lucky if I can even check my twitter feed on the 7, without having to plug it in everyday.
I don't see the point of the 9. A 7 is about the best you can comfortably manage with one hand. If you have to use two anyway, then they should have just moved up to an 11 or a 12.
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awesome (Score:2)
Beware (Score:2)
HTC (Score:2, Insightful)
HTC made some great stuff. Many times in the last weeks I have been asked how I like my new iPhone. I have a two-year old HTC One (m7).
But my old phone still has higher resolution than the brand new 6, higher DPI, more RAM, and working NFC. I assume the HTC One m8 is even better now, with a new version coming out soon.
I hope the 9 is great and gets HTC running full steam again.
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I will admit I hate that so much cruft is installed by default. They have this "Blink feed" crap that takes up a whole panel and there is no way to remove it. Not cool.
Then Verizon force-installs a bunch of crapware too. I don't want to spend time rooting my phone to purge that crap. Forced software installs are my only complaint on this phone...
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As you said, Google supports these. Which means the "SLA" is minimum 18 months from release, so you reasonably will have the "latest and greatest" for about 2 years, considering at what pace updates come out. Generally they keep doing minor releases a bit after that too, its just you're not guaranteed the next major Android version, though Cyanogen and whatsnot tend to support nexus devices pretty well afterward.
Its not as long as I'd like it to be, but at least there's no surprise with Nexus.
$649 for that? (Score:2)
Google decided to compete with Apple for the stupid people it seems.
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It's amazing how companies can manage to survive when they are owned by Google.
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They make money, why is that amazing?
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Do they?
http://investor.google.com/ear... [google.com] seems to suggest that they are losing money:
"Motorola Mobile Segment Operating Loss - Motorola Mobile segment operating loss in the fourth quarter of 2013 was $384 million, or -31% of Motorola Mobile segment revenues. This compares to segment operating loss of $152 million, or -10% of Motorola Mobile segment revenues in the fourth quarter of 2012."
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Motorola's last two or three android phones were flipping amazing. So maybe they also have that going for them?
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Yeah I wasn't really commenting on the success or failure of Motorola as an organization. Was only saying that no matter how well or poorly Motorola was doing, they are owned by Google and therefore have a lot of contingency available in the event they lose money.
Which, upon further investigation, they seem to be doing.
Re: The amazing part (Score:5, Informative)
Re: The amazing part (Score:5, Funny)
It's amazing I was wrong. Dammit! :)
Re: The amazing part (Score:4, Funny)
Hmm...have to say I didn't find any points in this conversation to be amazing.
Re: The amazing part (Score:5, Funny)
It's amazing I was wrong. Dammit! :)
It's amazing that someone admitted they were wrong. Consider +2 to your credibility.
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Hmmm... did I misread something? Please enlighten me. As for posting anonymously, meh. I try not to get too hung up on stuff like Karma or whatever else people worry about.
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If I can properly decode your sentence (which I suspect got fragmented because you tried to change the way you expressed it three to fours times before hitting submit), you are expressing a suspicion that it will only be available for AT&T and T-Mobile.
However, according to http://www.google.com/nexus/6/ [google.com] one might be lead to believe it will be available on Sprint, Verizon and US Cellular also (based on pre-order logos). Not intimately familiar with the US cellular market, but I don't think exclusion of
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No, I have a writing disorder and tend to type like that. Sorry. You should see my handwriting. :-)
Keyboards have been a godsend for me.
Anyways... previous Nexus models were GSM which makes sense for the rest of the world. But in the US we have a lot of carriers that are CDMA: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C... [wikipedia.org]
GSM you can move from carrier to carrier. CDMA you cannot.
I've very supprised to see they are going to both types of carriers.
I found the specs:
Channels, North America GSM: 850/900/1800/1900 MHz
CDM
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Ah, I see what you're getting at. We also have carriers that use both CDMA and GSM here. Wikipedia suggests that the North American model of the Nexus 5 supports:
2G/3G/4G LTE
GSM: 850/900/1800/1900 MHz
Model LG-D820 (North America)
CDMA band class: 0/1/10
WCDMA bands: 1/2/4/5/6/8/19
LTE bands: 1/2/4/5/17/19/25/26/41
I would then guess that the Nexus 6 would do the same.
My understanding is that technologies are converging and the technical divide that used to separate two groups of carriers is disappearing.
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Making a phone that can do both CDMA and GSM, and work on multiple carriers' LTE, is a political and business obstacle caused mostly by Qualcomm's complicity with anticompetitive American carriers, not a technical one.
The radios in these phones are overwhelmingly software-defined (and constrained by limits dictated and imposed by the carriers, the most important of which is "thou shall not support the frequencies of any other US carrier, even if the phone is nominally unlocked"). Even in cases where the RF
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FYI, the Nexus 5 is GSM & CDMA, and works just fine on Sprint's network. The only reason it doesn't (or didn't -- maybe it's changed?) work on Verizon's network was because Verizon decided not to allow it, not technological incompatibility.
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Maybe he typed it on an iPhone.
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Yeah, I got one because I didn't want to be on contract or have all the bloatware, and the Nexus 5 is/was great value. Looks like I'll be sticking with it, and maybe even getting a like for like replacement if it breaks, because I don't want a phablet. I have a tablet, what I want in a phone is something I can put in my pocket. The Nexus 5 is pretty much at the limit already.
I'd even buy a more expensive unlocked phone from someone else, but then you've got to put up with the non-standard interfaces.
Doesn't
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Yeah, they just lost me. I hate contracts and have been switching phones fairly regularly, selling the old phone to help pay for the new. So it was perhaps $100 to upgrade each time. Now it's more like $400 to upgrade, and there's lots of quality competition at that price. The only clear advantage it has, assuming you don't absolutely want a phablet, is its version of Android is most up-to-date. I think it's going to lose the Nexus fans, most of whom will stay with the 5, without gaining much of an audience
Re:No SD card, non-removable battery (Score:4, Informative)
Nexus devices no longer offer those features. With the high price-point on this phone it really does seem that Google has abandoned everything that made the Nexus line so much better than the iPhones. I guess they think their OS is prime time enough they no longer have to offer those frills.
As for an accessory port: It's called USB. Bluetooth is also available.
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Because few used them, and they are a maintenance nightmare.
I used them, but I was one of the few.
I don't think it's a OS weakness, I think it's a hardware design choice.
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With the Nexus 5 [google.com] still in up-to-date advertising material, I'd say they haven't abandoned it yet. Hell, the page images show it running Android L and in more backing colours than were on the Play Store as I write this (Black, white, red).
I'm pretty sure that means they're not dropping the '50% of the price of an iPhone' feature of the line.
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I don't consider Apple, Samsung, HTC, or LG to be any less evil than the next one. Couple in whatever your carrier is, there is little to no chance there isn't a scumbag or two in the experience.
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Is there a modern phone with a removable battery, and an SD card slot that isn't locked down?
Galaxy Note 4. Just make sure you buy the T-Mobile version. The Verizon and AT&T versions are pre-crippled with locked bootloaders.
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Searching brings up Intel, MediaTek, Broadcom and Nvidia.
The Blackphone uses an Nvidia modem; which supposedly doesn't need to share memory. [arstechnica.com]
I'm assuming the Nexus 9 will use an Nvidia modem as part of their SoC as well.
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I'm planning on making rubberized case with a handle that turns you phablet into a ping-pong paddle. It'll come with an app that tracks your movements and the movements of the ball using the sensors and camera on the phone, in order to give you advice on how to improve your game.
Wait, does Kickstarter accept obviously sarcastic submissions?
Re:Wireless charging gone? (Score:5, Informative)
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They named it lollipop because it will come with the next evolution in biometric unlocking, tongue-print to unlock. I'm coining the phrase "Unlicking my phone" right now.