Nexus 6 release date, OS and design
Google has officially announced the Nexus 6 , an enormous
smartphone that could easily be mistaken for a tablet that acts as a
phone. It's basically a giant Moto X (2014) with some nifty new
features and beefed-up specs.
As expected, it's running Android 5.0 (aka Android Lollipop) and this
thing is huge. With a 5.9-inch display and at 10mm thick, the new
Nexus 6 is going to be quite a beast of a smartphone, and we're
liking the sound of that.
Why? First, the large QHD display is going to be great for watching
videos, reading stuff and looking at pictures. Second, the larger,
slightly thicker phone means bigger 3220mAh battery. Let's dig into
this thing, shall we?
Cut to the chase
What is it? Google's sixth iteration of its Nexus line
When is it out? Pre-orders start October 23 with it arriving in
November
What will it cost? Starts at $649 unlocked (around £400, AU
$700)
Nexus 6 release date and price
When is it coming? Soon! You'll be able to pre-order the Nexus 6
from the Google Play Store from October 23 for $649 in the US (that
means we're probably looking around £400, AU$700).
Yes, you read that price correctly. Why the sudden jump from what
used to be an affordable line of smartphones from Google? Well,
premium specs come with premium price tags.
Let's go back two years when the $350 Nexus 4 came as a shock to
everyone. How on earth could a phone be so cheap off contract?
The Nexus 5 didn't disappoint, either, with a bigger display, better
battery and arguably prettier design. Still affordable.
Now we've got this whopping $649 phone, but along with it comes a
massive 2560 x 1440 display. The only other phone to boast that
resolution is the 5.5-inch LG G3 .
Moreover, we've got an f/2.0 13MP camera on the back and a 3,220
mAh battery. Couple this with an Adreno 420, 2.7GHz processor and
3GB RAM in 32GB and 64GB packages and it's easy to see where
that price comes in.
Moreover, the battery technology is awesome. If its capacity weren't
beastly enough, it has a quick charge feature that allows you to get
about six hours of life on a 15-minute charge. This alone should be
enough to convince heavy Android power users to hop on the
bandwagon.
Android 5.0 Lollipop
The Nexus 6 is the first device running what's now known as
Android Lollipop (formerly Android L). There are still a host of
features that we're looking forward to digging into when Android 5.0
Lollipop drops, as we've only been able to preview the developer
version.
If you're wondering when other manufacturers, like HTC, Samsung
and LG, will update their flagship devices with Android 5.0, you can
probably start seeing it roll out anywhere between 1-3 months from
now.
Android 5.0 Lollipop release date, news and features
Hello, Moto
While the Nexus range of smartphones may generally carry the
search giant's name, the reality is Google doesn't actually build the
devices. Instead it leaves it to the professionals, with HTC, Samsung
and LG all producing Nexus devices in the past.
Motorola builds the Nexus 6, and like we said before, it looks like a
very large Moto X. If it weren't for the dramatic size, it could easily
be confused for a Moto X, except the back of the device has the
massive Nexus logo emblazoned on it.
So far, it looks like the Nexus 6 is going to come in black and white,
just like the Nexus 5 and Nexus 4 before it.
Moreover, if you're hoping for the same customization options as
the Moto X, you'll be out of luck. No Moto Maker for this Google
phone.
Nexus 6 design
While we've appreciated the simplicity and clean design of the Nexus
5, we're happy to see the Nexus 6 spiced up a little with the Moto X-
esque (say that out loud) design.
The display is quite large at 5.9 inches, but the height of the phone
is 159.3mm, which is just a touch taller than the 5.5-inch displayed
iPhone 6 Plus (158.1mm). It's impressive what you can do without a
big honking home button eating up so much phone real estate.
It is wider though, at 82.98mm and we've already mentioned the
chunky 10.06mm depth as well - there's no question about it, the
Nexus 6 will dominate your palm. At 184g it's also on the heavier
side, so you might want to strengthen your wrists before splashing
the cash here.
The front will likely have Corning Gorilla Glass, undoubtedly strong
and scratch-resistant as any other Android device. Don't confuse
that with being shatter-proof, however, as resilience to scratching
doesn't mean it won't crack.
The back has the same gentle slope of the Moto X (2014), and
appears to have a plastic, soft-touch finish. You'll find the 13MP
camera on the back there with a ring flash just like the Moto X,
power button on the right side along with the volume rocker.
Nexus 6 display, power, camera and more
Nexus 6 display
The display is big. At 5.9 inches, we're tempted to call this thing a
tablet more than a phone since chances of this thing fitting in your
pockets are slim. However, the Nexus 6's big display doesn't skimp
on resolution.
Its QHD, 2560 x 1440 AMOLED display with a 493ppi pixel density
will not disappoint, and you can start watching all your favorite
YouTube videos at those higher resolutions for the videos that
support it.
The smartphone that launched this QHD madness is the LG G3 , of
course, and it is beautiful. We'd imagine the Nexus 6 looking just as
good despite being slightly larger.
Nexus 6 power
Under the hood of the Nexus 6 you'll find a 2.7GHz Snapdragon 805
processor and Adreno 420 GPU, although the amount of RAM
stuffed inside the device still remains a mystery, although rumors
suggest it could be 3GB.
In short though, there's plenty of power here to keep Android
Lollipop ticking along nicely, and movies and games should look
great and run smoothly on the Nexus 6.
Nexus 6 camera
There's a slight concern with the 13MP camera on the Nexus 6 as
both the Nexus line and Motorola devices of yesteryear were mostly
disappointing when it came to camera performance and image
quality.
Although with an inflated price tag, we're expecting better than
average. Don't let us down, Motorola!
The Nexus 6's 13MP shooter with an f/2.0 aperture, which means it
should do well in low-light situations and it also sports a dual LED
ring flash which hugs the camera lens for a cleaner finish on the
rear.
It is capable of shooting 4K video and has optical image
stabilization, and while this all sounds great we're going to have to
wait and see just how well it works out.
Nexus 6: what we want to see
We're going to leave this last section in here because it's fun to look
back and see which of our wishes came true, and which ones were
denied.
Fans of the cutting edge vanilla Android experience were quick to
fall in love with the Nexus 5 . It ushered in Android 4.4 KitKat with a
sexy Google Experience Launcher on top, but it wasn't perfect.
Here's what our friendly neighbourhood search giant could do to get
us excited about the Nexus 6.
A bigger battery
Battery life has bossed the chart of complaints in the smartphone
market for years now and last year's Nexus was a major offender,
with a constantly high amount of power drainage.
Scraping through a day simply isn't good enough. If you're going to
pack more and more irresistible features into a device with a
gorgeous display, then please give it enough juice to fulfil our
obsessive usage.
A better camera
Google made some swift adjustments to roll out an update that fixed
up the Nexus 5 camera, but it's still an obvious candidate for
improvement. A new version of Android should handle the software
side, but the Nexus 6 is going to need to pack some decent
hardware.
Nokia is the current gold standard with the 41MP-toting Lumia 1020 ,
but the Android pack is pushing 13MP and upwards now. Of course
there's more to a camera than the megapixel count, but there's a lot
more than can be done here.
We want great quality shots, but also fast performance to help us
capture those precious, spontaneous moments as they happen.
A slightly bigger screen
With some clever engineering and some ruthless bezel slicing we're
getting bigger displays without smartphones growing to ridiculous
proportions, although phablets are now a thing. Perhaps the 6 will
refer to the screen size.
Realistically 6 inches might be pushing things too far, but we could
always use more screen real estate.
We'd like to see the Nexus 6 creep up a touch past 5 inches without
becoming unwieldy. A slight increase in screen size without
additional bulk would hit the spot nicely. An edge-to-edge display
has long been a dream for smartphone fans.
A 64-bit processor
Since Apple made the jump to a 64-bit processor in the iPhone 5S
it's inevitable that other manufacturers will want to follow suit. It
doesn't matter if there isn't much obvious short term advantage.
App developers and manufacturers will be able to realize the
potential of this in years to come, but perception is important and
that's reason enough for the Nexus 6 to need a 64-bit processor.
Dual speakers
The front-facing dual-speaker setup on the HTC One M8 is
undeniably nice and the more we consume media on our
smartphones the more important it becomes to get decent sound.
The Nexus 5 had one speaker at the bottom and it was less than
stellar. It's another obvious target for a spot of improvement on the
Nexus 6 and it would be nice if headphones weren't a requirement
for enjoying music on your phone.
A new form
The LG G Flex and the Samsung Galaxy Round have begun the
transition to flexible displays which will enable new form factors.
A gentle curve is not much to get excited about, and it's still
probably too early for the full potential of flexible displays to be
realized, but anything that takes smartphones away from the black
rectangle convention could be good.
A Nexus 6 with a really interesting design and some software
innovation from Google could point the way for the evolution of the
smartphone.
At the very least a kind of secondary display portion on the edge for
at-a-glance functionality and controls. Maybe even a dual-screen
set-up with a low energy secondary display for notifications.
Always listening
The big USP for the Moto X was the voice recognition, allowing you
to issue commands to Google Now without using your hands. The
idea of hands-free operation has always been hampered by the need
to press something first.
If the Nexus 6 was always listening for its master's voice, we might
be tempted to make better use of Google's fortune-telling digital
butler.
Wi-Fi calling
A feature we wouldn't be surprised to see make its way onto the
Nexus 6 is Wi-Fi calling. Apple introduced the feature with the
iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus and its unlikely that Google will be far
behind.
A spokesperson for T-Mobile seemed to let slip that this feature
would be included when talking to 9to5Google - confirming that the
network was currently working on it with Google. The process
involves using Wi-Fi coverage to boost mobile signal and in the case
of T-Mobile is represented by a blue "Talk Bubble" icon.
A 2K display
Full HD with a 1920 x 1080 pixel resolution is still the standard for
top-end Android smartphones, but QHD 2560 x 1440 displays are
just around the corner.
By the time the Nexus 6 is due to arrive the 5.5-inch QHD LG G3 will
be on sale, and maybe even the Samsung Galaxy S5 Prime and HTC
One M8 Prime as well.
It wouldn't be a shock if the Nexus 6 brought us a new level of pixel
density. It's probably too soon for 4K displays, but we're heading in
that direction, and this would at least give a Nexus the headline
grabbing features we love.
Of course, only if it can be done cheaply. We don't want to lose the
low prices we've become accustomed to.
Biometric security
Face Unlock was a gimmicky feature that arrived in Android Ice
Cream Sandwich . It didn't always work and it was easy to spoof
with a photo but finding new ways to effortlessly, but securely,
unlock your smartphone is still on the agenda.
Apple's Touch ID uses your fingerprints and there's a digit scanner
in the Galaxy S5 too. If this kind of security is set to become a new
standard, then the Nexus 6 needs to jump on board.
Indestructibility
We've seen Kevlar coating from Motorola and waterproofing from
Sony and Samsung, and there's no doubt the Nexus line could stand
to toughen up.
You only need to glance at any Nexus 4 or Nexus 5 forum to find
tales of woe from hapless owners with shattered screens.
Flexible display technology could put an end to cracked and broken
screens. Waterproofing has left the rugged category behind and
broken into the mainstream. A Nexus 6 that can survive a dunk and
doesn't need a polycarbonate overcoat is surely on the cards.
