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Google Announces Motorola-Made Nexus 6 and HTC-Made Nexus 9
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.
I think the amazing part of this whole story is Motorola is still in business.
Wake me up when there's a small one for $350 again.
I though Tyrell made the Nexus 6?
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.
If you were me, you'd be good lookin'. - six string samurai
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/ 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 other carriers is based on fragmented spectrum.
The phone looks massively overpiced. Tablet doesn't seem too unreasonable but I don't see any compelling reason to switch from my Nexus 10.
Please oh please may that term die a quick painless death.
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...
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
CDMA Band Class: 0/1/10
WCDMA Bands: 1/2/4/5/8
LTE Bands: 2/3/4/5/7/12/13/17/25/26/29/41
CA DL Bands: B2-B13, B2-B17, B2-29, B4-B5, B4-B13, B4-B17, B4-B29
Does it have BOTH? Or are there 2 models of phone?
If it has both, I'll be switching to this when my contracts up.
And it is powered by an Intel chip. Interesting that Google decided to go with Intel 64-bit SoC instead of ARM. This is a big win for Intel
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 really matter though - the Nexus 5 is still a pretty respectable spec.
Sigs are so 1990s. No way would I be seen dead with one.
I just wanted a new 3rd gen Nexus 7 with a spec bump. Cheap but durable. For in-home (bed) use; wifi-only is fine. $199. Sold.
Maybe next year. Or maybe not.
I don't need nor want a big tablet. I can't replace the 7" tablet with a 6" phone (no upside). The 9" I'm sure is a nice size and all, but it's going to be at least twice the price. No go.
Belief is the currency of delusion.
Can you pre-order the Darryl Hannah model? Or do I have to get Rutger Hauer?
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't the only one with the issue.
So... was NOT a fan LG after that. And I don't know how much faith I'm willing to put in a Nexus phone if it released with that big of a bug.
Maybe he typed it on an iPhone.
"Tell me doctor, with all of your defenses, are there any provisions for an attack by killer bees?"
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.
Galaxy S5 Google Play Edition
Moto X 2nd has a smaller, lower resolution display, less RAM, and a slower SoC. Many people will prefer the smaller size of the Moto X however.
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.
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.
"[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz
This may be the only time android users can experience a 69! Well, outside a LUG, that is.
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Stay away from the Nexus 6 -- its a killer.
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.
Did I miss-read the specs? I don't see wireless charging on the Nexus 6. It was one of the best features of the Nexus 4 and 5. Well I guess I will save money by skipping this one.
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.
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.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
I didn't say it was an OS weakness... I said they seem to no longer feel the need to compete on expandability like the Nexus line was originally marketed as. The distinguishing feature is now just Android. Especially with the new high price. $350 for a Nexus 5? That was practically an impulse buy when I dropped my Galaxy Nexus. $650? Not so much.
Thank you very much, I'll keep my Nexus 5.
Unfortunately, I don't know of any cell modem manufacturers other than Qualcomm, so thus, not much option for an open modem platform. Unless you happen to have information on other platforms that are open and mass marketed that could enlighten me.
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?
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 amplifier might not be optimized for a particular carrier's band, the line between "doesn't work" and "doesn't work as well as it does with other carriers" is a lot blurrier than most people realize. Put another way, it's not rocket science. American phones aren't physically INCAPABLE of interoperating with multiple networks... they're arbitrarily PROGRAMMED to be incompatible.
Get a Blu Dash 5.5 or something like that then. There are a ton of choices. Blue, ZTE, Huwei, and others all make things with plenty of choices. I'm not going to suggest someone buy some farkle brand in order to simply disprove that there aren't modern phones with replaceable batteries.
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.
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.
I admit I was getting scared while reading it, since the work "feminism" is everywhere on the internet (c)
Google decided to compete with Apple for the stupid people it seems.
With the Nexus 5 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.
The Neo900 has found a cell modem manufacturer that, while still closed source, at least doesn't required a shared-memory driver with all the security problems that brings.
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. How unique is the fast charging?
And I'm particularly annoyed because I'm on T-Mobile, which has their new Wi-Fi calling/texting feature, but it's not supported with the 5. (Rumor was the 6 would support it.)
Ooh, a sarcasm detector. Oh, that's a real useful invention.
I just got a OPO and this Nexus 6 does look awesome. No idea how I'll get it in EU though, so there's that.
But better hardware, probably a better camera (does the OPO have OIS?), Android L. Mm.
Also, less buggy touchscreen (looking at you Cyanogenmod/HW manufacturer)
I was eagerly anticipating the Nexus 9. However, when I read the Google product page I was very disappointed.
For $400, I expected it to have 3+ GB of RAM and more than 16 GB of storage. What kind of specs are those? Is this 2012? Hell, I would have been willing to pay even *more* for a Nexus 9 if it only had decent specs, but alas, that's not an option.
Guess I will have to wait for a viable 64-bit Android tablet. Maybe next year.
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.
Right, which is the problem. If the carriers all allow it... it really is a carrier agnostic phone. I can not stand to be locked into a carrier or a contract. But given the current system you basically are. There is no point in getting a pay as you go phone, you can't GO anywhere.
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.
Not so much. It's not collusion, it's a cost/feature tradeoff. First, Qualcomm makes chipsets that support every carrier under the sun, so it has nothing to do with them. When a handset OEM goes to design their phone, they specify which carriers to support. Throwing bands at the wall to see what sticks is not a popular approach because each additional band you add has a cost in money (from Qualcomm for engineering and testing) and space (the radio filters themselves are physical). Usually Qualcomm will sell you a chipset that has X number of "slots" available for different frequencies to support, and you have to pick them. The more slots you want, the higher the BOM cost to you of the chipset, where even a few $ per unit can be a big deal in a competitive market.
On top of that, a device manufacturer will also spend millions of dollars to test and certify their their device with each carrier (as well as porting and testing the carrier's own unique "deck" of preloaded bloatw.... er, apps), and invest lots of engineering time. You don't want to support every carrier under the sun unless you really think they are going to bring you meaningful sales volumes to justify the time and resource expense.
Even in cases where the RF amplifier might not be optimized for a particular carrier's band, the line between "doesn't work" and "doesn't work as well as it does with other carriers" is a lot blurrier than most people realize.
That may be technically true, but it's not the way that the wireless business works. There's no such thing in the big-time cellular world as "it kinda sorta works on our network, so what the heck, why not?" Carriers don't want to take the chance of a bad performing device making a customer think the network sucks and cancel their contract as a result. Device makers don't want devices returned because they "sorta work." Neither wants the customer service hassle associated with it. So for both carriers and device makers, there is a powerful incentive to make sure a device works solidly on a particular carrier or they won't support it.
"95% of all Slashdot
Searching brings up Intel, MediaTek, Broadcom and Nvidia.
The Blackphone uses an Nvidia modem; which supposedly doesn't need to share memory.
I'm assuming the Nexus 9 will use an Nvidia modem as part of their SoC as well.
The problem with Android Lollipop [for developers] is [still] the "android fragmentation" problem, which Google is trying to address with its Android One program. Lollipop has 5000 new API's, but developers have to program to the lowest common denominator, which is probably pre-4.0.
This is in contrast to Apple. Most devices get upgraded to the latest iOS in short order [3-6 mos]. IIRC, an author writing an iOS developers' book stripped all pre-iOS8 from it, because he felt that iOS8 was just so much better. Whether he's right or wrong doesn't matter as much as the fact that he can do it because of the iOS upgrade cycle. This makes iOS development much easier than Android development.
The latest Linux runs quite well on older devices. So should Android. This is just like a PC game that, during install, speed tests the machine and backs off on things like resolution, anti-aliasing, etc. to make it run smoothly.
Android One needs even more teeth:
- Vendors _must_ upgrade old devices [even at a loss] unless they can prove [to Google] that it won't run due to memory, etc.
- Vendors shouldn't force people to upgrade their device just to get the latest Android, just because the vendor wants to force this by refusing to upgrade Android on "last year's device".
I have a Galaxy S3 and Samsung has upgraded it every six months. I really like the fact that they're not forcing me to upgrade the device just to get the latest/best Android OS. As as result, they've got my loyalty. When I do [eventually] upgrade my device [at a time of my choosing], Samsung's firmware upgrade policy will be a major factor in my staying with them.
If Google can't get vendors to cooperate [even better] on this, it should offer backports of Lollipop [API's] to older versions via Google Play. This helps consumers with older devices, Android developers, Google, and even the [recalcitrant] vendors [even though they might vehemently disagree].
Like a good neighbor, fsck is there
I don't think they are actually retiring the Nexus 5, it is still available if you want a cheaper 5" device. Okay, no SD card, but the battery is not hard to replace.
As for accessories, I like NFC. No cables, no pairing. Omron make some nice health monitoring products that communicate via NFC.
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
Nokia 130.
Which is the Apple model again. Which, I guess, if it works why change it? The Nexus 5 definitely does not have a user removable battery- I have one right in front of me. The screen isn't hard to replace either but it is not a user replaceable part. I'm really just commenting on the fact that the Nexus line was originally marketed as affordable and for those of us that would use features like SD cards. Now that they've got both feet in the door they can jack up the price and drop features.
NFC is just the pairing stage is it not? My understanding of the technology was that it was really only for when devices are nearly touching. Or do you mean monitoring device monitors then transfers data later?
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.