Nexus!
Pixel! Chromecast! Marshmallow! Man, oh man: Today's Google event was
just oozing with news. There's a ton of new stuff to digest -- and some
of the most interesting info is in the easy-to-miss detail.
Not
to fear, my friends: I've got you covered. Here are the key takeaways --
and some accompanying tasty tidbits -- you, you, you oughta know....
1. You'll have a choice of two new Nexus phones this year -- and they're both pretty darn affordable.
As
most of us were expecting, Google is launching not one but two new
Nexus phones: the 5.2-in. LG-made Nexus 5X and the larger Huawei-made
Nexus 6P. Unlike last year's surprisingly expensive Nexus 6, the new
phones are both fantastic deals, at least on paper: $379 for the base
model of the Nexus 5X and $499 for the starting-level Nexus 6P.
Last
year's Nexus 6, for comparison, started at $649 -- a price that's
competitive with off-contract phones in general but quite high compared
to Google's traditional Nexus pricing.
The Nexus 5X, at left, and Nexus 6P, at right
Both
new Nexii promise top-notch camera quality (as do most new phones these
days, to be fair, so we shall see). Both include fingerprint sensors
and new USB Type-C connector ports -- the latter of which is probably
going to be a blessing and a curse for a while but will definitely be a
welcomed change in the long run.
The two phones are up for presale in the Google Play Store now and slated to start shipping "later in October."
Interesting tidbits:
This
year's Nexus devices have a new element Google is calling the "Android
Sensor Hub." It's described as a low-power processor that helps the
phone recognize gestures and activity, so it can know when you pick up
the device or are moving around in different ways -- all without
consuming much power. (If that sounds familiar, you've probably used a
Motorola phone in the past few years.)
In true Google style, the
fingerprint sensors on the Nexus devices will continue to learn over
time -- recognizing more nuances of your fingerprint and thus growing
even faster and more accurate in their recognition capabilities.
Both
phones are designed to work with all U.S. carriers (yes, even Verizon).
They'll also work with Google's own Google Fi wireless service.
If
you order a Nexus phone by October 25th in the U.S., you'll get a $50
Google Play credit -- which effectively drops the starting prices down
to $330 for the 5X and $450 for the 6P (provided you buy apps, movies,
or music and will use the credit). Both phones also come with a 90-day
Google Music All Access subscription, so long as you haven't had such a
subscription before.
Google's offering a new insurance option for its
Nexus devices. Dubbed Nexus Protect, the program gives you an extra
year of protection for mechanical problems (on top of the
already-included one year manufacturer warranty) and two years of
protection for accidental damage. If your phone is damaged, Google will
ship you a new one "as early as the next business day," and Google will
cover the shipping costs. The insurance costs $69 for the 5X and $89 for
the 6P; it includes up to two accidental damage claims, each of which
is subject to a $79 deductible.
We still don't know why Google went
with "X" for the smaller phone and "P" for the larger. The letters are
presumably meant to differentiate the devices from previous Nexus
phones, but why "X" and "P"? No one's saying.
2. Google's making its own convertible Android tablet -- but it isn't a Nexus device.
The
Pixel C is a high-end Android device from the same team responsible for
Google's top-of-the-line Chromebook Pixel devices. (The "C" there
stands for "convertible." See? Sensible letter-naming isn't so hard!
Google's new Pixel C Android convertible
The
system looks a lot like the impressive Dell Venue 10 8000 convertible I
reviewed earlier this year, only with the style and quality you'd
expect from a Pixel-branded device. It starts at the same price, too:
$499 for the tablet alone and an extra $149 for the laptop-creating
keyboard attachment.
And don't be misled: This bad boy runs
Android, not Chrome OS. It'll launch "in time for the holidays,"
according to Google, with Android 6.0 on board.
Interesting tidbits:
The
Pixel C follows the same design as the Chromebook Pixel laptop, all the
way down to the multicolored lightbar on its lid -- which, just like
the one on the latest Pixel model, can be tapped to get a quick visual
indicator of your current battery level.
The Pixel C's keyboard
attachment does have its own battery -- but it's one you'll never
manually charge. (Again, similar to what Dell did with its device.) The
keyboard pulls its charge from the Pixel anytime it's attached and
closed. Google says it'll last for over two months of "active daily
usage" with each complete charge.
While the Pixel C isn't a Nexus
device by name, Google seems to be treating it the same way as far as
software updates go: The company promises the device will get updates
"every six weeks," matching the Nexus program's new commitment to
regular security patch rollouts.
So from all of this, we can deduce
that the "Nexus" brand now refers to more affordable flagship Android
devices, made by a third-party Android manufacturer with Google's close
involvement -- while the "Pixel" brand refers to top-of-the-line devices
created by Google on its own.
3. Android 6.0, Marshmallow, will start to show up next week
The
key phrase there is "start to" -- remember, Google typically sends out
software in phases, and the company's rollouts affect only its own Nexus
devices.
That being said, if you have a Nexus 5 (the original
version), Nexus 6, Nexus 7 (presumably only the 2013 version), Nexus 9,
or Nexus Player, next week is the time to keep your eyes open for that
elusive update prompt. That means the Nexus 4 and Nexus 10 have
apparently reached the end of their update cycles and won't be getting
any Marshmallow love (sorry, Charlie).
Got a non-Nexus phone?
Only time will tell how the various manufacturers fare with upgrade
speediness this go-round. (Here's how they all did with Lollipop, which
may or may not serve as an indication of what to expect.) So far, HTC
has come forward to say it'll be sending Marshmallow to its One M9 and
One M8 starting later this year and then to a handful of other models
after that. Some manufacturers are better than others at communicating,
but odds are, we'll hear from at least a few other companies about their
plans before long.
Interesting tidbits:
Much
of what's inside Marshmallow is no secret, but there are a few new
elements pointed out at today's event that haven't gotten much attention
before. One is a new charging speed indicator that'll appear on the
Android 6.0 lock screen and let you know when your phone is in a
fast-charging mode.
Marshmallow introduces a new app drawer with
search, A-to-Z indexing, and a dynamic list of favorite apps at its top.
The favorites change based on time of day (i.e. what apps you're most
likely to use in the morning or evening) and sequence (i.e. what apps
you're most likely to use following your most recent activity).
Even
though the new app drawer is technically considered a Marshmallow-level
element, you can actually check it out on any Android device right now.
Just grab the Google Now Launcher from the Play Store, if you aren't
already using it; the new app drawer arrived to the app a few days back.
Google
says Android 6.0 includes fewer preloaded apps than ever, and a quarter
of the preinstalled programs have been moved to a "post setup
installation page" that allows them to be easily uninstalled. That's a
great change in concept, but unfortunately, the real problem with
bloatware is the crap manufacturers and carriers add on top of Google's
software -- and that's something this move can't and won't directly
address.
4. Google Photos is getting some fancy new features.
Google's
already-excellent photo service is getting some serious love with a few
new features -- two of which address a couple of my chief complaints.
First
and perhaps most exciting is the addition of a new shared photo albums
feature. It allows two people to "own" and control an album -- so, for
instance, my wife and I could both add photos of our daughter to a
single album from our own individual phones and accounts. That feature
is launching "later this year."
Photos is finally gaining support for Chromecast, too, so you can wirelessly beam photos from your Android device to your TV.
And
Photos is getting a new option for privately labeling people in your
photo collection, which should -- in theory -- make it easier to keep
track of faces (which Photos already does automatically, but not always
with 100% success).
Interesting tidbit:
In
addition to being able to assign a co-owner to an album, as mentioned
above, the new album-sharing feature will allow you to invite others to
"subscribe" to an album and then receive notifications anytime new
images are added.
5. Google Play Music is getting a new family plan.
Right
now, you can subscribe to Google's All Access streaming service for 10
bucks a month. Starting later this year, you'll be able to pay just $5
more to get a family-level membership -- which will give you unlimited
streaming for up to six people on their own individual accounts and
devices.
Interesting tidbit:
Google
hasn't yet said if or how this will affect the service's current
limitations when it comes to per-year device authorizations. If you
change phones or flash ROMs a lot, you know what I'm talking about. If
you don't, well, this factor probably won't matter for you. But for a
subset of users, myself included, it'll be a very interesting area to
watch.
6. Chromecast is getting a makeover -- and a new Sonos-like expansion option.
More than two years after its release, Google's dead-simple streaming stick is getting fresh hardware.
The
new Chromecast -- still just $35 -- has an updated look (which doesn't
really mean much since you probably plug it into the back of your TV and
then never see it again, anyway, but nevertheless). It also offers
improved Wi-Fi performance and faster play times, thanks to a new system
that starts to load content before you even ask for it. Google says
waiting should be cut down by as much as 80% from what the current
generation product delivers
The new $35 Chromecast streaming device
Perhaps
more significant, Google is also launching a new Chromecast Audio
device that lets you turn any old speaker into part of your connected
sound system. You just plug the device into a speaker -- via a 3.5mm,
RCA, or optical input port -- and you can then cast audio to it from any
computer or mobile device, just like you cast video now.
The
coolest part is yet to come: a multi-room synchronization feature
that'll give you Sonos-like functionality -- being able to send audio to
multiple speakers in different parts of your house -- at a fraction of
the cost (provided you already have your own speakers, of course). That
feature won't be present until later this year, when it's set to arrive
via an over-the-air software update.
Interesting tidbits:
In
addition to working with any Chromecast-compatible apps, Chromecast
Audio will allow you to mirror the sound from an Android device or from
any Chrome tab on a computer -- so you can easily pump over audio from
anything you have streaming.
Google added some new features into the
existing Chromecast app today that are available to any Chromecast
owners -- including those with the original first-generation devices.
Highlights include an expanded photo frame feature with support for
Facebook and Flickr (as well as for Google Photos) and a game-mirroring
feature that makes it possible to play multi-player games on your TV
using Android devices as controllers.
Whew! Quite the collection
of goodies to mull over, eh? There's much more to be said about all of
this stuff -- and rest assured: We'll get to it soon.
Stay tuned, gang. The end of 2015 is going to be anything but quiet.
- ۹۴/۰۷/۰۹