Google unveils Nexus 9, Nexus 6, Lollipop and more

[BookAdmin]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

$649 unlocked? Google's crazy! That's way overpriced.

Overpriced and too big

[Crowl]

Originally Posted by Prestidigitweeze

Judging from their excellent work on the G3, it looks as though LG learned a lot from their collaboration with Google. I'm hoping that HTC will, too, and will be able to recover from their losses. I've always liked that company's approach.

Not sure the hardware companies are tending to learn much from the software company about designing hardware, the nexus 5 was an lg g2 with a newer version of android and they are the ones that deserve the credit for their improved designs.

[Crowl]

Originally Posted by Prestidigitweeze

My point is that a few new smartphone companies have been outpacing the giants in Korea and China by offering similarly spec'd hardware at half the price -- particularly Xiaomi. A few of the thirteen new smartphone companies in Asia poised to compete with Samsung might be operating at a loss, but probably not all. Those companies make companies like Samsung appear to be pursuing luxury pricing.

Their pricing has absolutely nothing to do with them trying to establish them in the market at all, nope nothing at all.

Why is everyone obsessed with talking about the price of the Nexus 6?

I'm more interested in the Nexus 9, which is far less expensive than the N6 despite its size (though the screen dimensions seem odd).

It is not so much the price of that phone so much as the way it seems to mark a departure from the previous approach of selling devices at cost combined with tablets having even less need for upgrades than phones since in their case size changes have a much lower impact on the uses you might have for it.

Incidentally, this new tablet's 'odd dimensions' should make it more comfortable for reading on compared with the nexus 10 so it is quite odd that it is not provoking more interest on here.

[Barty]

I AM interested in the nexus 9 but my head has been turned by seeing the OLED screen, which means Samsung pretty much right now. Unfortunately I hear they stick the S with their inferior processor instead of going with a snapdragon. Plus the bloatware and slower update. Ugh.

[Kirtai]

Originally Posted by Prestidigitweeze

I'm more interested in the Nexus 9, which is far less expensive than the N6 despite its size (though the screen dimensions seem odd).

Phones have a lot more costs such as patent licencing, regulatory approval and testing, etc. Cramming the same functionality into a smaller space costs more too.

I'm quite interested in the 9, I want a good comic reader.

[roninmedia]

I'm only interested in the Nexus 9 for the fact that my tablet usage is mostly intended for PDF reading and until now, the only high end option was the iPad.

Disappointed in the lack of a bigger storage capacity combined with the price jump going to 32GB from 16 GB.

[xendula]

Originally Posted by roninmedia

I'm only interested in the Nexus 9 for the fact that my tablet usage is mostly intended for PDF reading and until now, the only high end option was the iPad.

Disappointed in the lack of a bigger storage capacity combined with the price jump going to 32GB from 16 GB.

I've researched alternatives for 3:4 screen Android tablets, and there are zero high-end ones. None. There is only the pretty but underwhelming Iconia A, as far as I can tell. But. The iPad mini 2 now starts at 299 and is only 349 with 32GB, and the ipad Air 1 starts at $399, so at this point, I could never spend $399+ for the Nexus 9. No friggin way.

I just need the mouse support, so I am considering either jailbreaking the one I have, or getting a Mini to jailbreak it so i can use a mouse with it, ... would still be cheaper than the Nexus 9, as crazy as it sounds.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by xendula

The iPad mini 2 now starts at 299 and is only 349 with 32GB,...

$249 and $299 for refurbs.

[xendula]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

$249 and $299 for refurbs.

True, I oly considered the better ones, starting with the Mini 2, since the Mini 1 is no comparison to the Nexus 9.

[Prestidigitweeze]

One of the cooler aspects of aging might be this: feeling less obliged to assert your smidgen of correctness when you’re misread, since to write is to be misread. No one but you is inside your cranium and everyone has different associations with language and style.

I think I’m feeling a bit more relaxed than I used to about being misunderstood, especially in ways that are harmless.

Originally Posted by Crowl

Not sure the hardware companies are tending to learn much from the software company about designing hardware, the nexus 5 was an lg g2 with a newer version of android and they are the ones that deserve the credit for their improved designs.

Ah, but everyone says that the G3’s software is leagues better than that of the G2, and LG’s HW/SW integration might well have been influenced by working with Google on the Nexus 4 and 5.

Originally Posted by Crowl

Their pricing has absolutely nothing to do with them trying to establish them in the market at all, nope nothing at all.

There’s a difference between (1) asserting that pricing is an expression purely of wanting to be competitive and (2) being polite to previous posters who feel that pricing is an expression primarily of the cost of manufacturing. You’re under the impression I made assertion (1) when in fact I was being polite about the realities in China and Korea contradicting the assertion in (2). No point in telling someone they’re dead wrong when part of what they say is true, and when I can’t assert (or assume) I’m dead right.

Originally Posted by Crowl

Incidentally, this new tablet's 'odd dimensions' should make it more comfortable for reading on compared with the nexus 10 so it is quite odd that it is not provoking more interest on here.

Yes, I noticed that implication in the article I read. The idea is that holding the N9 vertically would make more sense from a reading standpoint, and the N9’s 2048 x 1536p resolution is fantastic (though the ppi drops to 281 compared to the N7’s 323). Additionally, the N9’s display has the same resolution as the iPad Air 2 only in a slightly less unwieldy package. The fact that the N9 will use a Tegra processor and not Qualcomm’s Snapdragon will probably mean that the N9 will have better audio quality. Combine that with HTC’s history of caring about audio and the odds seem favorable that the N9’s sound quality and speakers will be especially good.

Originally Posted by Kirtai

Phones have a lot more costs such as patent licencing, regulatory approval and testing, etc. Cramming the same functionality into a smaller space costs more too.

I’m not quite sure how (or even if) you got the impression that my saying tablets tended to be cheaper than smartphones implied I didn’t know why that was the case. But perhaps you're simply stating the reasons as you see them, not explaining to me that such reasons exist.

Originally Posted by Kirtai

I'm quite interested in the 9, I want a good comic reader.

I’m interested in it, too, though perhaps for other kinds of use (not to slag graphic novels or your interest in them -- I make a point of trying to find an especially good series to read every two or three years).

[DuckieTigger]

Originally Posted by Nick61

Nexus 9 certainly has good specification and also liked its design but isn't $399 for 16GB a bit pricey? here is a specs comparison with major tablets

It looks to me that the Nexus 9 fits right in price wise. It doesn't jump out as either much more expensive or cheap compared to the others.

[afv011]

Originally Posted by Nick61

Nexus 9 certainly has good specification and also liked its design but isn't $399 for 16GB a bit pricey? here is a specs comparison with major tablets

That table has the wrong CPU for the mini3, the mini 3 has the A7 CPU from last year, not the A8X like the larger ipad. The mini3 has barely changed, it's basically a mini2 with a touchid sensor.

With that in mind, the N9 looks like a better deal, it has the fastest mobile CPU available to date, twice the RAM of the mini while carrying the same price tag.

[Barty]

Well if you're going to compare to Apple, everything looks reasonable But an iPad has no direct alternative. There are lots of android tablets. I just got a galaxy tab S 10.5" with OLED screen (the only reason I bought it) with 3 gig ram for $30 more. Compared to that it's not so hot.

But yeah it is priced fairly. People are disappointed that nexus is not the deal it used to be.

Why in the world are we still stuck with 16 gig as base flash storage? The iPad came out years ago with 16gb. Still the same. Ditto must android tablets. I think the nvidia shield comes with 32 standard but it's aimed at gamers and is an exception.

[DuckieTigger]

Originally Posted by Barty

Why in the world are we still stuck with 16 gig as base flash storage? The iPad came out years ago with 16gb. Still the same. Ditto must android tablets. I think the nvidia shield comes with 32 standard but it's aimed at gamers and is an exception.

Nexus is still considered a developer device, maybe? If it came with 64gb as minimum size, then it may send the wrong idea that for Android to work well it needs a lot of storage. Plus less local storage will make cloud storage / cloud computing look a lot more interesting.

[HarryT]

16GB is ample storage for a person who uses the tablet for tasks like web browsing, email, and reading, which is all that many people do. The 4000+ books on my Nexus 7, for example, occupy a little over 3GB of storage space.