Google announces the next generation of Nexus devices, the Nexus 6 smartphone, the Nexus 9 tablet and the Nexus Player STB, via the medium of unassuming blogpost. It also reveals what the "L" in Android L stands for-- Lollipop.
Google describes Android Lollipop, the 5th iteration of the OS, as the most ambitious Android release yet, with over 5000 new APIs for developers, a UI design philosophy consistent across all devices ("Material Design") and and battery saver feature, among others.
But back to the actual Lollipop-powered devices. The first is the Nexus 6, a 6-inch (bigger than either iPhone 6 Plus or Galaxy Note 4) smartphone developed by Google's Motorola. It features a contoured aluminum frame, a 5.96-inch 2560 x 1440 resolution display, 32 or 64GB internal storage dual-front facing stereo speakers and 13MP rear-facing camera.
Powering all is a Snapdragon 805 processor, while the 3220 mAh battery includes a Turbo Charger allowing one to charge up to 6 hours of phone use in only 15 minutes.
Meanwhile the new tablet portion of the Nexus lineup, the Nexus 9, is an HTC production. An 8.9-inch number with "brushed metal sides" and a 2048 x 4536 4:3 aspect ratio display, it carries a 64-bit Nvidia Tegra K1 processor, 2GB RAM, 16 or 32GB of internal storage and BoomSound speaker technology.
Google says the tablet is "small enough to easily carry around in one hand, yet big enough to work on," and offers a companion keyboard folio accessory one can fold in two different configurations.
The final Nexus addition is also the first running on Android TV-- the Nexus Player, an Asus collaboration that, much like Amazon's Fire TV, is essentially a streaming media STB/games console combo. The 4.7-inch puck-shaped device does Chromecast-style streaming and allows customers to play Android smartphone games on their HDTV.
Connectivity comes through 802.11ac wifi, and Google offers an optional gamepad accessory for console-style gaming. An included remote handles general control, as well as voice searches via built-in microphone.
All the above mentioned Nexus devices should hit the market from November 2014, while users of previous generation Nexus devices should get an Android 5.0/Lollipop upgrade "in the coming weeks."
