Google Unveils Android 5.0 Lollipop, Nexus 6 Smartphone, Nexus 9 Tablet, and Nexus Player

Android L is now formally known as Android Lollipop. Since Google already released Android L preview a few month ago, we already know what’s new in Android 5.0 Lollipop with key changes including material design user interface, ART replacing Dalvik, better battery management, 64-bit support, etc… Google also announced three hardware platforms running Android 5.0: Nexus 6 Smartphone, Nexus 9 Tablet, and Nexus Player (Android TV)

Motorola Nexus 6 Smartphone

Hardware specifications:

• SoC – Qualcomm Snapdragon 805 quad core Krait 450 processor @ 2.7 GHz with Adreno 420 GPU
• System Memory – 3GB RAM
• Storage – 32 or 64 GB eMMC – No micro SD slot
• Display – 5.96” 1440×2560 AMOLED display (493 ppi). 16:9 Aspect ratio.
• Connectivity – 802.11 ac 2×2 (MIMO), Bluetooth 4.1, NFC
• Cellular Network (nano SIM):
  • North America:
    • GSM – 850/900/1800/1900MHz
    • CDMA Band Class – 0/1/10
    • WCDMA Bands – 1/2/4/5/8
    • LTE Bands – 2/3/4/5/7/12/13/17/25/26/29/41
    • CA DL Bands – B2-B13, B2-B17, B2-29, B4-B5, B4-B13, B4-B17, B4-B29
  • Rest of World:
    • GSM: 850/900/1800/1900MHz
    • CDMA – not supported
    • WCDMA Bands – 1/2/4/5/6/8/9/19
    • LTE Bands – 1/3/5/7/8/9/19/20/28/41
    • CA DL – B3-B5, B3-B8
• Audio – Dual front-facing speakers, 3.5 mm audio
• USB – 1x micro USB 2.0 port
• Camera
  • 13MP rear-facing with optical image stabilization dual LED ring flash (up to 4K @ 30 fps video recording)
  • 2MP front-facing camera
• Sensors – GPS, accelerometer, gyroscope, magnetometer, ambient light sensor, barometer
• Battery – 3220 mAh. Up to 330 hours in standby, up to 24 hours talk time, up to 10 hours video playbacks, about up to 10 hours internet (Wi-Fi or LTE).
• Dimensions – 82.98 x 159 .26 x 10.06 mm
• Weight – 184 grams

The phone is clearly high-end, but there aren’t any innovative new hardware features that I could see, and all innovation resides in Android 5.0 operating system. The phone will be vailable for pre-order starting October 29th for $649 (unlocked), and ship in sometimes November. Visit Google Nexus 6 page for details.

HTC Nexus 9 Tablet

Technical specifications:

• SoC – 64-bit Nvidia Tegra K1 Dual core Denver @ 2.3GHz with 192-core Kepler GPU
• System Memory – 2 GB RAM
• Storage – 16 or 32 GB eMMC – No micro SD slot
• Display – 8.9″ QXGA (2048×1536) IPS LCD. 4:3 aspect ratio
• Connectivity – 802.11 ac 2×2 (MIMO), Bluetooth 4.1, NFC
• Cellular Network – Quad-band GSM, CDMA, Penta-band HSPA, LTE
• Audio – Dual front-facing speakers with HTC BoomSound, dual microphones, 3.5 mm audio
• USB – 1x micro USB 2.0 port
• Camera
  • 8MP Rear camera with  auto-focus, and LED flash
  • 1.6 MP front-facing camera
• Sensors – GPS, accelerometer, gyroscope, magnetometer, ambient light sensor
• Battery – 6700 mAh. Up 9.5 hours for either Wi-Fi browsing or video playback, up to 8.5 hours for LTE browsing, up to 30 days standby with either Wi-Fi or LTE.
• Dimensions – 153.68mm x 228.25mm x 7.95mm
• Weight – 425g (Wi-Fi), 436g (LTE)

Nexus 9 tablets will be the first and only 64-bit ARM Android 5.0 devices at launch. The Nexus 9 will be available for pre-order on October 17, starting at $399 for the Wi-Fi/16GB version, and up to $599 for the LTE/32GB version, with shipping expected for November 3. More information is available on Google Nexus 9 page.

Asus Nexus Player

Nexus player specifications:

• SoC – Intel Atom quad core processor @ 1.8GHz with Imagination PowerVR Series 6 Graphics 2D/3D Engine.
• System Memory – 1GB RAM
• Storage – 8GB storage
• Video Output – HDMI up to 1080p60
• Connectivity – 802.11ac 2×2 (MIMO), Bluetooth 4.1
• USB – 1x micro USB port
• Power – 18W DC power (12V/1.5A?)
• Dimensions – 120mm x 120mm x 20mm
• Weight – 235g

The media player will come with a voice search capable Bluetooth Smart (BLE) remote control with two AAA batteries, a power adapter, a quick start guide, and a warranty, safety and regulatory booklet. There’s also an optional wireless gamepad. There’s no Ethernet port, so you’d have to make sure your Wi-Fi network is up to the task. It should be no issue for high definition online videos, but depending on your environment, it might become problematic to playback videos such as Blu-ray rips from your NAS (If that’s even supported/allowed on Android TV).

Nexus Player will go up for pre-order October 17 for $99, and start shipping on November 3. The gamepad will be $39. More information may be found on Google Nexus Player page.

If you don’t feel like buying a new devices, you’ll still get Android 5.0 Lollipopon your Nexus 4, 5, 7, 10 as well as “Google Play edition” devices in the coming weeks. Android 5.0 SDK and Nexus (preview) images will be released on October 17.

Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft)

Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.

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