Shamu is official: Google unveils the Nexus 6, will ship with Android 5.0 Lollipop

[Shawn Knight]

Shamu has arrived. Google’s long-rumored Nexus 6 smartphone was officially unveiled on Wednesday alongside the Nexus 9 tablet and the Nexus Player. It'll arrive sporting the search giant’s latest operating system, Android 5.0 Lollipop.

Co-developed with soon-to-be ex-Google company Motorola, the Nexus 6 is Google’s answer to the iPhone 6 Plus and the Galaxy Note 4. It packs a massive 5.96-inch Quad HD display operating at a resolution of 2,560 x 1,440 (493 PPI) which is by far the largest Nexus device Google has ever offered.

Under the hood is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 805 quad-core chip clocked at 2.7GHz, Adreno 420 graphics and your choice of 32GB or 64GB of internal storage. The handset features a 13-megapixel rear-facing, f/2.0 camera with optical image stabilization, a 2-megapixel camera on the front, dual front-facing speakers and a large 3,220mAh battery that Google claims is good for more than 24 hours of use.

The phone also includes Motorola’s Turbo Charger which can offer up to six hours of use from only 15 minutes of charging under the right circumstances.

Google has yet to reveal how much RAM the Nexus 6 is packing.

The announcement comes less than a day ahead of Apple’s media event where they are expected to unveil updated iPads and iMacs.

The Nexus 6 will be available for pre-order starting October 29 with availability slated for sometime in November through AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, US Cellular and Verizon on contract. Additionally, the handset will be sold unlocked and contract-free priced at $649. It’ll be available in blue and white color schemes.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/58446-shamu-official-google-unveils-nexus-6-ship-android.html

 

[Matt12345170]

Meh, the whole point of the nexus devices to me were the great price/performance ratio. With this new price point I just can't justify getting it vs and other premium phone. It may be a very nice phone, but the whole point of the nexus phone line just died for me

 

[yRaz]

Meh, the whole point of the nexus devices to me were the great price/performance ratio. With this new price point I just can't justify getting it vs and other premium phone. It may be a very nice phone, but the whole point of the nexus phone line just died for me

I know the nexus being budget minded was a big selling point for people, but it was known as a cheap device. It performed alright and didn't exactly hold up over time. No offense to fans of the devices.

Anyway, I think google wants to distance themselves from being know as someone who releases cheap products and they may very well have done that with this new device

 

[VitalyT]

Meh, the whole point of the nexus devices to me were the great price/performance ratio. With this new price point I just can't justify getting it vs and other premium phone. It may be a very nice phone, but the whole point of the nexus phone line just died for me

I agree. At this price point, Note 4 is a better phone for anyone looking for a large Android. Stylus alone is a very attractive addition to justify the choice, and then better rear and front cameras. Plus, Note 4 is more compact and thus more usable. Nexus 6 is even larger than the gargantuan iPhone 6 Plus.

 

[Matt12345170]

I know the nexus being budget minded was a big selling point for people, but it was known as a cheap device. It performed alright and didn't exactly hold up over time. No offense to fans of the devices.

Anyway, I think google wants to distance themselves from being know as someone who releases cheap products and they may very well have done that with this new device

I mean, it's certainly a nice phone, but I don't think it will sell nearly as well, for close to the same price range, they are now competing with marketing giants like Samsung, Apple, and any other high end phone, and your probably right..that might have been their idea, I just don't know how this one will pan out for them! Time will tell!

 

[Skidmarksdeluxe]

Meh, the whole point of the nexus devices to me were the great price/performance ratio. With this new price point I just can't justify getting it vs and other premium phone. It may be a very nice phone, but the whole point of the nexus phone line just died for me

Nobody can seriously justify buying high end devices, they're for bragging rights only (which despite the recession remains extremely popular) and for a company to show what they can do.

 

[Guest]

I'd rather have this than a note. It's all about a good clean OS.

 

[veLa]

Meh, the whole point of the nexus devices to me were the great price/performance ratio. With this new price point I just can't justify getting it vs and other premium phone. It may be a very nice phone, but the whole point of the nexus phone line just died for me

100% agreed. The thing that made the Nexus 4 & 5 so great was that if you were on contract and your phone broke, you were able to snatch up a Nexus for $300 and be just as satisfied as you would be with whatever the latest Galaxy device was.

 

[Guest]

I'm afraid Google won't be getting any of my money for the N6 or N9. I'll be sticking with my Nexus 5, Nexus 7 and the Nexus 6 is just a stupid size for a phone, as is the iPhone 6 plus.

With this release google has as good as killed off the Nexus name and what it used to stand for. I suppose the upside is they won't run out of stock like the Nexus 5 as I can't imagine they'll sell very well.

 

[mctommy]

Death of the Nexus line... they'll be lucky to sell even 1/3 of what they used to sell because of their positioning of the N6. You are going from mid-range price to high-end price and doing so will alienate a lot of people.

All those middle budget folks will turn to other phones... heck the ZTE max is only $250 but similar size (yes I know, it's a ZTE and the specs are lowered).

 

[baN893]

As a nexus user myself, I think Google may have made a mistake with the pricing of the nexus 6. I'd like to think that a lot of nexus 4 and 5 users chose those devices because they offered decent hardware for good money. Something you might not have encountered with the larger mainstream companies. Now, they've up the price and become more mainstream themselves. Maybe the old folks who stay true to their values will see this as a betrayal and go where the grass is greener. I'm personally very excited for lollipop, so I think I'll stick with the 5 and enjoy that.

 

[Scshadow]

I am utterly shocked that the Nexus 6's headline doesn't mention something about the disappointing price tag. The $649 price tag is the news here, not the phone.

 

[KrisPL]

Really it's great phone and there are users (myself included) which welcome better specs and don't have bloatware aka Samsung version of the system which is ***** to deal with and not often updated (Note 2).

Pen is gimmick which you stop to use after a while because almost everything can be done with your hand.

Really this is answer to iphone plus to have big screen, nice phone and up to date system all the time, which isn't case with Shitsung phones. What was turning me off from other brands were sub-par screens even on best LCD, it's still no match for AMOLED.

If you don't have the money, at least don't hate - and buy something cheaper, if it's enough for your needs. If you need more you'll find a way to get it, probably on contract.

 

[niklabs]

So Nexus 6 is made by Motorola instead of LG right? Just to clarify...I see two big mistakes here:
1. Size: It over 5.5" which is the max size most people can accept for their phone.
2. Price: Way too much to successfully compete with Note 4.
3. More to come...

 

[Arris]

Happy now that I switched to a Sony Z3 after getting a refund for my Nexus 5 when the camera stopped working. 5 inch was the biggest I wanted on a phone but the Z3 was only a few millimeters wider than the Nexus 5 so I accepted the 5.2 inch screen. I also didn't want a resolution above 1920x1080. Battery drain is bad enough without having to either watch non upscaled video or losing more battery to the device doing some upscaling. Half the time my mobile data speed is barely decent enough to stream 720p to the device without distracting amounts of buffering, so no real need of the next resolution up in my mind. I enjoyed the Nexus 4 and 5, particularly the 5 which after a year still has pretty decent specifications for the money.

 

[Guest]

I was really hoping the 5.9 inch rumors were wrong. Well I'm happy with my Nexus 5 for now I guess. The high price is a bit of a surprise, but I didn't buy the Nexus 5 because it was cheap, I bought it because I liked the phone. Clean design, pure android, fastest updates, runs buttery smooth (still does)... I find it odd people call it a budget phone considering the competition when it was released, Google just undercut them hard. I make a high six figure income, my Nexus 5 is still great, I just wanted to buy the latest version (5.9' is way too big for me).

 

[Guest]

I am due to get a new phone. I see more specs than the S5 and iphone 6, 2.7 ghz vs 2.3 and 1.4. it looks to have the best battery life (and turbo charge feature). Newest OS ect ect. I like having the latest greatest. Why the initial backlash? Is this price only? I am a price is no object guy for stuff like this.
What is better?

 

[Ian Forrest]

Have been waiting for this phone, as has our IT contractor; but it is just too big so we will both be going for the Oneplus One or the Oneplus Two which will be released early 2015.

 

[DanUK]

FFS.. have been enduring my shitty old iphone 4s for ages while I wait for the nexus 6 to come out.. in the hopes that it would be a similar but improved Nexus 5.. and now they do this. So disappointed. I guess if the Nexus 5 drops in price I can just get that... or if anyone can recommend me a good android phone that isn't a tablet/trying to be the most expensive gadget out there that would be appreciated.