New round of Nexus devices - 9, Player, 6 - and Lollipop OS

[kryss]

Nexus 9 is an 8.9" tablet from HTC...and they've gone the iPad route and devolved to 4:3. Nice looking spec, magnetic keyboard stand out soon too. US$400 for the wifi 16GB model (CDN$429 for me).

Nexus player seems to be the Google Ouya, CDN$109 for the player, then $45 on top for a controller? WTH.

Nexus 6 is this years mobile phone, made by Motorola. Not up for pre-order yet but rumoured to be a stupid $749 from Google.


I'm looking at the 9 with keyboard as a mobile computing solution for school, as getting a computer in the library is nearly impossible sometimes. I'd been looking at Chromebooks which are a lot more reasonable at ~$300 and do all I need them to really. I'm going to wait for them to have the wifi only model on BestBuy with the keyboard before I further consider taking the plunge and dropping $500.

[charlesr]

Erm.... $749????

What on earth does it do? The Nexus 5 is a brilliant phone (only held back if you are bothered about lack of SD slot) and is ?260. Super fast, no bloat, decent enough camera. 5" seems too big for me though, so 6" is a non-starter.

[kryss]

Yeah I quite agree. I'm still using the Nexus 4 I got when from the second shipment back in early 2013 and it's perfect still. I would probably find the Nexus 5 a little big as the 4 is that way.

[Brad]

Nexus 5 is great. I've liked all the nexus devices so far.

[kryss]

Same here, and the 5 is the only one I don't have. My 10 is still fast as hell, as is the 2013 n7. The older n7 is starting to show its age though. Probably about time I uninstalled a few apps on it...And stop playing Star Wars Commander.

[Brad]

While I'm here. I got one of those hard glass screen protectors:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00HOLTS7O/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Highly recommended. Goes on easy with no bubbles and if you get the position a bit wrong it's dead easy to pry it off and drop it back on again. You can basically hold it above the screen using the forefingers and thumbs of both hands for perfect alignment and then you just kinda drop it on and you watch it seal itself to the screen. Way better than any of the film devices I've used in the past.

[bash]

I really dont see who will be buying the N6 due to its size. If it was a thin as the i6+ then could understand but it'll be thicker than the N5 which was never a thin phone to begin with!

I hope the Nexus Player gets hacked about, fancy buying one and using it as a emu player. Chromecast features are an added bonus for my non smart TV.

[kryss]

Surely Ouya would do that with better support? And you don't have to fork out extra for a controller.

[Digfox]

I haven't seen official prices for the UK yet. Although I run an iPhone (5S) still I did buy the Nexus 7 (2013) partly becuase it was half the price of an iPad Mini and was perfect for the odd bit of internet browsing, Plex and Netflix etc. If the Nexus devices start to creep up too far in price then I'm unlikely to replace my Nexus with another one when the time comes.

The Nexus player is intriguing becuase of the potential app support, but I am keen to see if Apple do anything more with their TV device. Also the Chromecast/Rasperry Pi combination is a killer for me at the moment.

[Marmotta]

The Nexus 9 looks half decent, but I'm more interested in the Player and whether it'll play nicely with a Moto 360 and Plex. I intend to buy a new Moto X; the Nexus 6 is far too big (and expensive) for my likes.

[usman]

Had a Nexus 4. Hated the UI. Was kind of glad when punk kids nicked it from my '83 Cressida.

Don't like Google, don;t like their design sense.

[kryss]

Nexus 6 up on the Play store and confirmed for $749 for the 32GB version.

[kryss]

Got my N7 and N10 on 5.0 now and thought I would post a few opinions.

Changes I don't like:
Holding the power button to get a menu only gives you the option to turn off the device. Annoying, as I always used it to turn on silent mode.
...
Yup, that's about it.

Changes I do like:
Added separate control option for flashlight (camera flash) on/off from top drop-down menu.
Left and right drop down menus have been amalgamated into a single, dual stage drop down - first is the same as the normal notification section (left), then a second swipe down brings the full right section as well.
The open apps button brings not a vertical or horizontal line of mini windows, but a front/back wheel style display.

In two minds about:
The "material" style. It has yet to grow on me.


Generally, the speed of my N7 has actually increased, but the N10 seems to be a little hit or miss. Waiting on the update for my N4.


edit::

Images of 5.0 for all applicable Nexus devices are here: https://developers.google.com/android/nexus/images
Be aware there is apparently an issue with messaging on N4 and N5 devices.

[charlesr]

How about battery life dude?

[Brad]

I reckon the battery life on my n5 is worse now.