Google Announces Android 5.0 Lollipop-equipped Nexus 6 Smartphone & Nexus 9 Tablet

A mere day before an anticipated Apple event, Google’s taken the veil off of its much talked-about Nexus 6 smartphone and Nexus 9 tablet. If memory serves me correctly, this is the first time that Google’s announced a phone and a tablet on the same day, but I’d say it’s a good move since the rumormill surrounding both of these has become seriously tedious to follow.

Let’s talk about the Nexus 6 first, a “phablet” smartphone by some definitions. Under-the-hood, the Nexus 6 is driven by a Snapdragon 805 processor clocked at 2.7GHz, while for graphics purposes, it features a combination Krait 450 and Adreno 420 solution. At the back, the phone sports a 13 megapixel f/2 camera capable of recording in 4K, and at the front, a modest 2 megapixel camera can be found. One of the most interesting aspects of the Nexus 6 is that it includes 3GB of RAM – even the Nexus 9 tablet is unable to match it.

Other Nexus 6 perks include a huge 3,220mAh battery, 802.11ac Wi-Fi, NFC, Bluetooth 4.1, and a 2560×1440 IPS display. That’s the same resolution featured on the 27-inch monitor I’m peering into. Something like that isn’t really too surprising at this point, but it’s still a little mind-boggling.

On the tablet front, the Nexus 9 becomes NVIDIA’s latest Tegra K1 win – but this one is a bit more special than the others. The Nexus 9 becomes the first Tegra K1 device to utilize a 64-bit processor (even the high-end SHIELD Tablet sticks to 32-bit). Given that, I’m a little surprised that 3GB of RAM wasn’t included, even if it’s “just because” – alas, the goal of acceptable pricing always has to rear its ugly, disgusting head.

Despite its bigger size, the Nexus 9 isn’t quite as impressive-spec wise outside of the Tegra K1 inclusion when compared to the Nexus 6. Its display is an 2048×1536 IPS (4:3?!?!?!), and like the Nexus 6, it offers 802.11ac Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.1, and NFC.

It’s a definite that the Nexus 6 won’t have a microSD slot, but it seems likely that the Nexus 9 would on account of the fact that previous Nexus tablets have had one. Given its $649 pricetag, I find it a little appalling that the Nexus 6 doesn’t have a microSD slot, but hopefully it’s something that won’t bother many of its purchasers.

As for the Nexus 9, its 16GB model will be soon available for $399. The $649 Nexus 6 mentioned above will be for the 32GB version.