October 15, 2014: In the fierce race of smartphone and tablets, Google releases two new devices in Nexus series to rival the existing players like Samsung, Apple and Xiaomi. Like before Google collaborates with other vendors to make these devices. Motorola made Nexus 6 is a 6 inch aluminium Phablet with Quad HD screen (493 ppi), 2.7 GHz Snapdragon 805 processor, 13/2 MP Rear/Front camera and 3220 mAh battery. The 3 GB RAM phone is known to support DC HSDPA, LTE Cat 4 FDD and has two front facing speakers. According to most of the websites, the phone looks similar to MOTO X and has no SD card support either. 32 GB and 64 GB memory variants will be available where the first one costs $650 (without any contract).
HTC made Nexus 9 is a 8.9 inch tablet with QVGA screen (2048 X 1536) screen, 2.3 GHz Nvidias Tegra K1 processor, 2 GB RAM and whopping 6700 mAh Battery. Among the three colors ( black, white and sand), all except the sand color LTE variant will be available to buy this November. This tablet with soft grip and moderate weight, will compete well with iPad Air (though some new device is launching tomorrow), Samsung S Tab, and Microsoft Surface. Magnetic keyboard can be added with the tablet to do some office work. The first 64 bit device from Google also supports HTC's own boom sound speaker technology. The price of the 16 GB device is $400 whereas 32 GB variant costs $480 and the 32 GB LTE variant will cost $600.
Both of the new devices runs the latest OS: Android 5.0 L (L for Lollipop), also being the first ones to get the new and pure OS. The colorful new OS dubbed as Material Design is known to have new lock screen, new notification bar, new multitasking menu, new ways to access Voice assistant, higher battery efficiency and 64 bit support. The interesting one among others is the kill switch feature that can kill your stolen phone and make useless, the first OS to have this and others will definitely follow suit. As the Android 5.0 Lollipop was already speculated to be the biggest Android release after long, the features says it has live up to the rumors but I could only tell when I get the OS in hand, probably with a new device. Meanwhile I have not even managed to get Android 4.4 Kitkat for my phone though my tablet: Mipad comes with it but I am still waiting the official MIUI 6 for Mipad. If you compare Xiaomi Mipad with HTC Nexus 9 by specs, both lacks the 3G network which is not a big deal if you have WiFi around for most of the time. But 7.9 inch screen of mipad (over 8.9 inch of nexus 9) is perfect for reading with lighter weight to lift for long and the best part of Xiaomi devices being the tempting price of $ 250. Oh I love my Mipad so much.
It seems Google has brought these new devices to compete well with the flagships of biggest players, but the price seems to be more as compared to other vendors as it comes without any new features/innovations. More review when the unboxing unfolds.
