[Deal] You can now pick up a brand new, factory unlocked Nexus 6 for $299.99 on eBay
If Google’s recently-announced Nexus 5X or Nexus 6P didn’t tickle your fancy and you find yourself still drawn towards bagging yourself the original Nexus 6, you’re in luck as independent retailer, QualityCellz, has just taken to eBay to kicked off a fantastic sale on the device. For a limited time only, you can pick up a brand new, factory unlocked 32GB LTE model of the handset for just $299.99.
For those thinking that the Nexus 6 is old hat now because it has a couple younger siblings on the way, it’s not. It’s a very powerful device that’s still able to compete with many of the flagship smartphones currently on the market. This is a direct result of its beefy internals, which include a 6-inch qHD display, a 2.7GHz Snapdragon 805 processor, 3GB of RAM, Adreno 420 GPU and a 3,220mAh battery.
It’s important to bear in mind that as this is an unlocked variant of the Nexus 6, it will only work on GSM carriers like T-Mobile and AT&T and not with CDMA carriers like Verizon and Sprint. A full list of supported carrier bands can be seen below:
- 2G : 850/900/1800/1900
- 3G : 850/900/1900/2100
- 4G LTE : 1(2100), 2(1900), 3(1800), 4(1700/2100), 5(850), 7(2600), 8(900), 17(700), 20(800), 28(700)
If you like the sound of the Nexus 6 and would like to take advantage of this deal – hit the source link below.
Source: eBay
Come comment on this article: [Deal] You can now pick up a brand new, factory unlocked Nexus 6 for $299.99 on eBay
Google explains why wireless charging was excluded from new Nexus phones
The team in charge of the new Nexus phones launched yesterday had a session on Reddit today to freely answer questions from Nexus fans. A lot of us were bothered by the exclusion of wireless charging, a smartphone feature Google began with the Nexus 4 and was carried to each subsequent Nexus, until now.
Therefore, of course the question came up in the Q&A: “Was it a conscious decision to leave out Qi wireless charging, or was it a cost or design necessity?”
Here was the answer:
“Thanks for being a Nexus fan! We added Qi wireless charging starting with N4 because plugging in USB micro B was such a hassle! (Which way is up!?) With this year’s Nexii, we support USB Type-C which has a reversible connector so there’s no more guessing. AND it charges incredibly swiftly: 1% to 100% in 97 mins on the 6P for example (the first ~45 mins of charging is especially fast). Meanwhile, wireless charging adds z (thickness). So, ease of plugging in + fast charging + optimizing for thinness made us double down on Type-C instead of wireless!“
There you have it folks. While I give the Nexus team props for doing this kind of session at all (and addressing these tough questions), I’m not feeling this answer.
Specifically, I have a hard time buying that wireless charging has existed because inserting microUSB was such a hassle. It’s more work to plug in at all. That is why people like wireless charging and that was the selling point – no plugging.
The other justification the team gave was that they felt thinness took priority. I also question this response. How thicker would it have been and would we care?
What do you think about Google’s answer to no wireless charging?
Source: Reddit
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Nexus 6P has the second best mobile camera (according to DxOMark)
The Nexus line-up has never been famous for its cameras. In fact, some of us are willing to say a few of their devices have had significantly disappointing photographic results. This is why most of us weren’t expecting much out of the Nexus 6P camera technology (and let’s not even mention the Nexus 5X). Furthermore, things started getting worrisome to some of you once Google started talking about the lack of OIS (optical image stabilization). Is this going to be a huge fail?
Google spent a good deal of time talking about the new camera in the Nexus 6P, and they swore it didn’t need OIS, as the new device uses 1.55 micron pixel technology. This new system allows for more light to be registered by the sensor, something similar to what we have seen with HTC’s UltraPixel method. This, along with the f/2.0 aperture should help make for good results. But how good? That was the question we were all asking ourselves during the prolonged announcement.
We will have to wait until our own review to pass judgement on this matter, but if you are to believe camera experts DxOMark, the Nexus 6P camera is much better than we expected. In an extensive review of the smartphone’s shooter, the team’s results show that this camera is actually the second best in the industry, beaten only by the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge.
The Nexus 6P and its 84 rating now sit above devices like the LG G4, iPhone 6 Plus, Galaxy Note 4 and many others. DxOMark used pre-production samples to perform its review, putting it through a series of unspecified tests. Here’s what they found.
Photo
Pros
- Impressive detail preservation in low light conditions, by far the best tested to date.
- Good detail preservation in outdoor conditions.
- Accurate and fast autofocus in all conditions.
- Good white balance and color rendering in outdoor conditions.
- Flash: Good flash behavior with good detail preservation, white balance and color rendering.
- Images are well exposed.
Cons
- Visible irregularities in exposure, color, texture and noise due to HDR+ mode activation in low light conditions.
- In high dynamic scenes, the highlights of the images are occasionally blown out.
- When triggered, the shot is taken before the autofocus has converged.
Video
Pros
- -Good global exposure, white balance and color rendering.
- -The autofocus is fast and accurate.
- -Low noise level in all conditions.
Cons
- The strong jello effect due to the stabilization provides unpleasant videos during motions scenes.
- Refocus are visible under illuminant changes and thefocus is lost during tracking movement.
- Fine details are lost in low light conditions.
- Color shading is visible in low light and indoor conditions.
Those are some impressive results, but keep in mind this is only one source’s opinion. Regardless of how credible DxOMark may be, we would rather wait until more details start showing up. You can be sure we will be taking care of a full review of the phone, so keep your eyes open for more details on this camera.
Nexus 5X and 6P: Moving forward with a couple steps back
What would a phone launch be without an AndroidGuys impression? Even more so, a duo Nexus phone launch. Everyone now knows the full scoop (and the barrage of leaks can thankfully stop). As the dust settles, I’d like to know to how Nexus fans received the news. I know one thing: everything wasn’t perfect in Nexus-land, and it still isn’t.
Don’t get me wrong, we did get some stellar devices. And the Nexus 5 sequel happened, which means that Google listened! That in itself is such a good thing.
Each new Nexus phone is a top-performer. The Huawei-made Nexus 6P has a more-reasonably sized 5.7″ display (compared to the monstrous 6″ screen in last year’s Nexus 6). It has a considerable battery at 3,450mAh. The latest USB Type-C port includes super fast charging (unlike the OnePlus 2). The fingerprint scanner is speedy and doesn’t require you to turn the phone on first (unlike Galaxy devices).
The LG-made Nexus 5X scales very nicely for it’s cheaper pricetag. The inferior Snapdragon 808 SoC will make little difference compared to the 810 (although, the 2GB of RAM is a little tough to swallow). We have the same important features of the Nexus 6P: 12.3MP (1.55 µm pixels) rear sensor, USB Type-C port, and fingerprint sensor.
All this is fine and dandy, but I just can’t get past the fact that Google stepped backwards in a couple ways. One of those is minor (at least I hoping) – the exclusion of OIS on the rear camera. Google claims that the larger pixel size of the sensor (which lets in more light, not unlike HTC’s Ultrapixel approach) negates the need for OIS. I’m not completely convinced on that, but I will give Google the benefit of the doubt until we get a review unit.
The other nag is a bit more bothersome. Did you hear any mention of wireless charging in the Nexus announcement? It’s because neither phone has it. If this is the first time you’re hearing this, I’ll give you second to collect your jaw from the ground.
Google created the wireless charging phone, with the Nexus 4. And every Nexus phone had it since then. Why on Earth would Google abandon the future?
You may argue that fast wired charging makes wireless charging pointless, because it’s slow. That doesn’t mean you abandon it. That means you work to improve it. Look at what Samsung did recently, the Note5 and S6 Edge+ have fast wireless charging.
And what are you supposed to tell everyone that invested in wireless chargers everywhere in their home, car, and work?
/rant
Do you agree with my view of the launch? Are you satisfied or disappointed with the Nexus of this year? Sound off in the comments below!
The post Nexus 5X and 6P: Moving forward with a couple steps back appeared first on AndroidGuys.
Google and LG’s 5X is the Nexus for the rest of us
When Google (and Motorola) showed off the Nexus 6 last year, most nerds were excited. Others, making up a surprisingly vocal minority, reacted as though the companies dropped ice cubes down the backs of their shirts. Bigger isn’t always better, and they were more than a little concerned that the days of easy-to-grip Nexus phones were nearly over. They were wrong. To go with the big-screened Nexus 6P, Google once again teamed up with LG on a Nexus 5 — the 5X this time — and it’s shaping up to be the successor that N5 fans have been hoping for. Slideshow-324001
First off, yes, it nestles nice and easily into even small hands (mine are probably slightly above-average but there were some surprisingly tiny mitts at this event). The 5.2-inch 1080p IPS LCD, cutesy rounded aesthetic and the plastic body’s almost-nutty lightness make the Nexus 5X feel much more compact than it actually is. And as if it needed even more cute fuel, you’ll be able to get it in a fetching robin’s egg blue that’s a little reminiscent of that phone Nextbit is working on. Naturally, none of this would be worth a damn if the 5X failed as a phone, and it definitely doesn’t. You see, there’s a Snapdragon 808 (which we’ve seen in the LG G4 previously) and 2GB of RAM here — easily plenty of horsepower for anyone who doesn’t want/need to live on the bleeding edge of phone performance. I spent maybe a half hour with the thing in total and couldn’t get it to stutter or flip out, even with the non-final version of Android 6.0 Marshmallow running on it. Not bad.
It would’ve been easy for Google and LG to just shrug and phone things in with a weak-sauce camera, but that’s thankfully not the case. The Nexus 5X shares an impressive 12.3-megapixel rear camera with the 6P, which means it also shares those sweet, photon-slurping 1.55-micron pixels. Both did a solid job snapping photos in a weirdly lit, uncomfortably packed demo room, but we’ll have to wait until we get a review unit before we can pass any real judgment. The similarities don’t end there, either — Google really is looking at these things as siblings. Both have the Nexus Imprint fingerprint scanner (which worked well) and a USB Type-C charging port. While the 5X is a sort of love letter to a certain kind of Nexus fan, its limited memory options will make it harder for hardcore mobile nerds to take seriously. Yes, yes, Google has sunk plenty of cash and effort into building its cloud, and the original N5 didn’t have a memory card slot either, but it still sucks that the 5X will only be available with 16 or 32GB of storage and without any way to expand it further.
Speaking of which, you’ll be able to pre-order a Nexus 5X today, with the first shipments going out sometime in October. At this early stage, the hardware seems promising and Marshmallow already appears to be a worthy update (even if the nature of Android has already been changing a bit). We can’t blame you if you want more info before you pull the trigger — just stay tuned for our full review.
Get all the news from today’s Google event right here.
What is Nexus Protect?
Today, we finally heard all the details about Google’s duo of Nexus phones. One interesting detail that may have slipped by is Nexus Protect – Google’s new insurance program for ease of mind when choosing a Nexus. Everyone seems to have insurance in some form or another, let’s go over Google’s approach.
Nexus phones come with a one year warranty against hardware failures by default. With Nexus Protect, Google up’s that to two years. Also, you’ll have two years to not worry if your butter-fingers let you down and cause your precious phone to fall to its death. If this does occur, Google states that you’ll get your replacement as early as the next business day.
Google says that the program will protect your phone up to 2 incidents. Although you purchase the insurance when buying the Nexus phone, the claims won’t be handled by Google. They’ve partnered with Assurant Solutions, so this is where you make the claim.
However, note that if your device malfunctions on its own in the first year, you still call Google (according to their support documentation).
The cost of the insurance is proportional for the Nexus phones. The price to cover the cheaper Nexus 5X will be $69, while the more expensive Nexus 6P will run $89. There is a deductible, at $79 a claim. It seems like that deductible price applies to either Nexus phone.
Another interesting fact is that the coverage stays with the phone. Therefore, if there’s no complication if you sell the phone, and it can even be a selling point to the buyer.
What do you think about Google stepping into the phone insurance game? Are the prices reasonable?
Source: Google | Google Support
The post What is Nexus Protect? appeared first on AndroidGuys.
The After Math: Google Nexus 2015 press event
Google held a press conference in San Francisco this morning to announce a slew of new and updated devices. We saw two powerful new mobile phones, the Nexus 5x and 6P, as well as a new iteration of the Chromecast (and its new audio-only cousin). Google also unveiled its take on the Microsoft Surface with its Pixel C convertablet. Here’s how all these new products stack up, by the numbers.
Slideshow-323786
Meet the Nexus 6P, Google and Huawei’s shockingly svelte flagship
After last year’s unwieldy attempt, Google had to think a little more carefully about how its nerd-friendly Nexus line should work and feel. Rather than just offer one new phone today, Google showed off two — the Nexus 5X and 6P — meant for different subsets of people. The former? It provides enough horsepower for the masses in a body that normal humans won’t have trouble carrying (and I’ll have a deeper dive ready shortly). The 6P, on the other hand, is the more sophisticated cousin, and more impressive than it might look at first glance. Slideshow-323971
First off, it’s just as sleek and light as you’d expect a modern Huawei phone to be — the designs might be different, but you can definitely feel some of the P8’s unibody metal DNA here. In fact, it’s just that devotion to metal that drew Google to Huawei in the first place. As an Android team staffer casually mentioned while showing me the phone, Huawei is one of only a few companies that can make these unibody metal chassis at scale, and that sturdier direction is what Google was gunning for this year.
Sturdier, in this case, doesn’t mean “heavier.” Like the fantastic-in-plastic 5X, the Nexus 6P feels almost impossibly light, belying the power of the revised Snapdragon 810 with 3GB of RAM thrumming away inside. Can we real talk for a moment? It feels great. It might seem a little tricky putting a chipset with that much power into a slim metal frame, but nothing we could do with it here at the venue could make the thing overheat. Yet another nail in the coffin of those persistent rumors about the 810’s heat-management problems. Anyway, that much power should ensure the 6P runs nice and snappy, which is exactly what I experienced while I was fiddling around with the phone and testing out some of Android 6.0 Marshmallow’s newer features. Throw in a nicely saturated, 5.7-inch WQHD display that showed off some sweet, deep blues and the 6P’s broad strokes are very encouraging ones.
One of the last big question marks leading up to today’s show was the big, black bar that swallowed up the 12.3-megapixel rear camera lens. Turns out, it’s actually hiding quite a lot. I’m told that next to the camera and two-tone LED flash is the near-invisible laser autofocus module and a whole host of coils and antennas to help with connectivity. That’s the problem with metal bodies, right? Too much metal could mean WiFi, cellular or NFC signals get snuffed out, so Google and Huawei shoehorned a bunch of them behind that black plastic bar. Aesthetically it’s still a little weird, but it’s a neat engineering solution that should get the job done — we’ll bring the full low-down once we get a review unit. Same goes for the ballyhooed camera that Google and Huawei dropped into this thing; the shots we got in this dim event space were better than I’d expected, but they require even more scrutiny.
Despite spending about a half hour with the phone, I’m still a little surprised it’s a Huawei. Yes, the company makes good, well-built devices. I simply didn’t expect Google to give it a public pat on the back like this. Being tapped to build a Nexus phone is no sure sign that a company will find huge success, but it is a very nice gesture toward a company that has made many great phones without a glut of admiration.
Get all the news from today’s Google event right here.
Incoming! Android 6.0 Marshmallow to land on Nexus devices starting next week
Proud owner of a previous generation Nexus device? You’ll be happy to know that sometime next week, you’ll be getting a mouthful of Marshmallow.
The Nexus 5, Nexus 6, Nexus 7 (2013), Nexus 9, and Nexus Player will all be receiving the highly-anticipated software update to the latest version of Android. The new Nexus 5X and Nexus 5P will ship with Marshmallow already installed.
Obviously Google can only confirm when its devices will be receiving Android 6.0, so it’s unclear at this time when other OEMs will be joining the Nexus devices with Marshmallow. It is likely going to occur on October 5 as Telus named that date last week.
Come comment on this article: Incoming! Android 6.0 Marshmallow to land on Nexus devices starting next week
Cases and cables for the Nexus 5X and Nexus 6P are live in the Google Store
The Accessories section of the Google Store just got busier. With the introduction of the Nexus 5X and Nexus 6P, Google needed to bring in new cases and cables. Both phones need to cases to protect them (and maybe add style), but the inclusion of cables is more important as Google has implemented USB Type-C ports with the Nexus 5X and Nexus 6P. So now there are all different types of cables that allow your device with a USB Type-C port to work with other phones, ports, and chargers.
Hit the break to see the accessories Google is now selling.
Nexus 5X cases:
- Nexus 5X Folio ($39)
- Nexus 5X Case ($34)
- ADOPTED Protective Case for Nexus 5X ($19)
- Speck CandyShell Grip Case for Nexus ($34)
Nexus 6P cases:
- Nexus 6P Folio ($49)
- Nexus 6P Case ($34)
- ADOPTED Protective Case for Nexus 6P ($19)
- Speck CandyShell Grip Case for Nexus ($34)
USB Type-C chargers and cables:
- Universal 15W USB Type-C Charger ($24)
- Universal 22.5W Dual Port USB ($39)
- USB Type-C to Type-C Cable ($19)
- USB Type-C to USB Standard-A Plug ($12)
- USB Type-C to USB Standard-A Adapter ($12)
- USB Type-C to DisplayPort Cable ($39)
- USB Type-C to HDMI Adapter ($39)
- Universal Type-C Charger, 60W ($59)
Come comment on this article: Cases and cables for the Nexus 5X and Nexus 6P are live in the Google Store
AIVAnet 