Google Unveils Android 5.0 Lollipop On New Nexus 6 Smartphone, Nexus 9 Tablet

Google on Wednesday took the wraps off its much anticipated Android 5.0 Lollipop operating system, along with a reveal of the Nexus 6 smartphone and Nexus 9 tablet. The news also came with the unveil of the Nexus Player, a device that streams shows, movies, games and other media content to TVs.

The product announcements were revealed in a blogpost and follows the media frenzy that came with last month's iPhone 6 launch event that featured everything from video montages to a closing performance by U2.

Nexus 9 and Nexus player will be available for pre-order on Friday and will hit stores Nov. 3, according to Google. Specific dates for the Nexus 6 were not disclosed, but the company said its new phablet will be available for pre-order later this month and would hit stores in November.

[Related: Google To Release Nexus Phablet Bigger Than iPhone 6 Plus And Galaxy Note 4]

The Nexus 6 is priced at $649 for the 32GB model and $699 for 64GB without a contract.

The Nexus 9 will sell for $399 for 16GB, $479 for 64GB and an LTE-enabled version of the 32GB model will come at $599.

The Nexus 6, Google's new big-screen smartphone, is manufactured by Motorola, which is being sold by Google to Lenovo for $2.9 billion.

The smartphone features a 5.96-inch display, making it about a half inch bigger than the new iPhone 6 Plus. The quad-HD screen has a resolution of 1440x2560 (493 ppi), while the phone runs on 2.7GHz Snapdragon 805 quad-core processor.

Google also boasted in its blog post about the phone's battery-saving features and fast-charging capabilities. The company said the new battery saver feature extends the battery life up to 90 minutes. Google said the Nexus 6 battery can get up to 24 hours of battery life, but it varies depending on usage.

The phone also has a Turbo Charger, allowing users to get up to six hours of battery life on just 15 minutes of charging.

The new Nexus 6 has a 13MP camera, featuring optical image stabilization technology, allowing users to take better pictures in poor lighting and eliminating motion blur. The camera also has an f2.o lens and HDR+ technology.

"The hardware specs look impressive, but I’m not sure I understand the push to bigger and bigger screens," said David Felton, founder of Norwalk, Conn.-based solutions provider Canaan Technology. "At some point, aren’t these manufacturers, including Apple, going to cannibalize their mini-tablets? Or is this trend of phones with 6-inch-plus screens an early indicator of the death of mini-tablets? My money is on the latter.

Google's new Nexus tablet is manufactured by HTC and features an 8.9-inch LCD display. It comes in a black, gold or white aluminum casing and weighs just over a pound. The tablet is powered by a 64-bit dual-core Nvidia Tegra K1 processor and features an 8MP primary camera in addition to a 1.6MP secondary camera.

Both new Nexus devices will run on the new Android 5.0 Lollipop, which up until today, was referred to as Android L. It was first announced at Google I/O.

"I think the real star of the show for all three devices is Lollipop more so than the hardware," Felton said. "Android historically releases hardware to usher in a new OS version, because carriers rely on the hardware sales, and the data plans they require."

The faster and more powerful Android operating system is advertised as making waves with its interconnectivity features, in addition to its multi-tasking capabilities that lets users seamlessly switch through apps and media content. The OS features an enhanced user interface with brighter colors, smoother pace and more.

PUBLISHED OCT. 15, 2014