Google Shows Off 2 New Nexus Phones, a New Pixel, and More

Two of the products officially unveiled at Google's much-anticipated (at least much-hyped) release announcement were widely and correctly predicted: a pair of new Nexus phones. The flagship is the all-metal Huawei 6P, with a 5.7" AMOLED display (2,560x1,440), 3GB of RAM, and a Snapdragon 810 chip. The Huawei overshadows the nonetheless respectable second offering, the LG-made Nexus 5X, which makes concessions in the form of less RAM (2GB instead of the 6P's 3), smaller battery (2700mAh, instead of 3450) and a lesser Snapdragon chip inside (808, rather than 810). Both phones, though, come with USB-C and with a big upgrade for a line of phones not generally praised for its cameras: a large-pixel 12.3-megapixel Sony camera sensor. Much less predicted: Google announced a new bearer for the Pixel name, after its line of high-end Chromebooks; today's entrant is a tablet, not running Chrome, and it's running Android rather than Chrome OS. The Pixel C tablet will debut sometime later this year; google touts it as "the first Android tablet built end-to-end by Google." Also on the agenda today, news that Android 6 will start hitting Nexus devices next week.

Comments

Why wireless charging?

[SuperKendall]

I don't get why people are so enamored with "wireless" charging.

I put that in scare-quotes because the wireless charging pads all have cords. So instead of just a cord, you have a cord and a pad...

The Apple Watch has wireless charging and I don't find it any handier than using a cable. It can look cleaner but I don't see that it really gets you much.

Re:Why wireless charging?

[kqs]

USB-c connecters are much better than micro-USB, so wear and tear isn't a big issue. Though that's a low bar; micro-USB is terrible.

I do like wireless charging, but if the choice is "micro-USB and Qi" vs "USB-c", I'll take USB-c, thanks.

Re:Why wireless charging?

[countach74]

Wireless charging is one of those things that seems kind of pointless until you try it. I imagine it doesn't have the same sort of utility on a smart watch, though, since you (probably) aren't taking your watch off and putting it on the desk every time you sit down. With wireless charging, since it's as simple as setting your device down, I've found it's substantially easier to keep my phone's battery in the lithium ion's happy 40-80% range. Plus it means I almost always have a pretty good charge on my phone, which is good, since I have a Nexus 5. :) I have to say, the lack of wireless charging's a rather big bummer to me--not that I was looking to upgrade yet.

Re:Good and bad about 5X

[Godai]

I would be bummed b the wireless charging removal except that its so terrible relative to the USB-C charging. The latter has quick charge: 4 hours of life in 10 minutes, and in general, is just way, way faster to charge. Wireless is nice, but it's always super sloooooooow.

Someday there'll be QuckCharge wireless, and I'll be chomping at the bit. But with USB-C (no more mangling of ports!) I really don't care about wireless anymore.

Re:Why Android on Pixel

[kaiser423]

I've had a number of $25 bluteooth keyboards for my tablets and they universally suck. I've probably tried 6-8. This one from Google, that latches strong enough that I can dangle the actual tablet by it, but also removes from the tablet pretty simply/quickly when I don't want it, and charges inductively rather than having to have another charging cable for it, is pretty nice. Maybe not $150 nice, but waaaaaay nicer than a $25 BT keyboard, and just slightly above that $25 price range, the BT keyboard market tops out still without implementing those other features.