Thoughts on the Nexus 6 and Nexus 9

Exactly what the title says

I'm considering either the Nexus 6 or the Note 4 as my next phone. But with the Nexus I don't have to root and flash a different ROM to get rid of that horrendous TouchWiz UI, it's a proper OS right out of the box. The specs seem impressive. It's nice that they finally made a 64 gig Nexus phone - I have about 40 gigs of music on my SD card on the Note 3, so this is a nice addition for the people that need more storage. And finally there might be a Nexus with a decent camera, here's hoping that will be the case. Nexus phones always had shitty cameras. I don't mind the screen size since it uses a NavBar instead of hardware buttons, so it should feel more or less like my Note 3. I also don't mind the price - you get what you pay for, great specs, and (looks to be) a great phone. Don't want a white one, and not sure about that dark blue color choice... I'll definitely get the Nexus 9! Bigger than a Nexus 7, front-facing stereo speakers (yes!), and it seems Nvidia has finally made a great mobile chip.

The Nexus 6 is way to big and way too expensive. I would go for the Nexus 5, Moto X, or Moto G

Nexus 6 and 9 is a weak generation of devices. It's conservative to let Google roll out Android-L without too much problems. The next generation will no doubt be nicer in my opinion. Nexus has become a premium brand, and it reflects in the price... maybe it's not that interesting any more.

I don't have much experience with Nexus devices, but if you want to get rid of TouchWiz on a Note device entirely that also means you lose support for the SPen which is the only unique feature the phone really has.

There are custom ROMs that build on TouchWiz that keep the SPen functionality however.

Not completely true. I have the Note II and while it does not have the Samsung suite of S-Pen apps the pen works perfectly with drawing apps, writing apps and with the browser for mouse hover use (preview images, expand dropdowns...). The opensource implementations are quite good. 

I cannot say for the Note 4/3 but I would imagine it would be the same story there, it is a selling feature and they have the ground work done.

EDIT: Should be pointed out I am running OMNI with zero touchwiz, I am using Apex Launcher. You can also get system apps to reintegrate almost all the S-Pen stuff from Touchwiz roms, but  don't like the default S-Pen stuff. 

For the Nexus 6, I like it and I say that as a guy with not large hands. I use the Note 2 and I am completely happy with its size and usability so the extra size would not be an issue. The only thing I don't like is the 1440p screen. But I have zero intention of changing my phone in the next year So i am not excited by it in a potential purchase sense. 

The Nexus 9 is what I am interested in. I dont have a tablet currently and I really like the Nexus 7 that my Mum has. Like the 7 I will wait for next years Nexus 9 to drop nvidia like the lackluster chip it is and get the better second version.  Other than the K1 it looks like a solid device and exactly what I am looking for next year should be good. 

Nexus 6 looks like the lost sight of what the Nexus devices should be. Go after a nexus 5 instead if you want a Nexus phone. I am not a big tablet person, so I have no thoughts on the Nexus 9.

How is the K1 lackluster? As far as I can tell it's better than anything else on the market aside from perhaps Apple's A8 in CPU power. But as far as I'm aware there aren't any benches for the Denver dual-core version in the Nexus 9.

I am going solely on past history of Nvidia mobile chips. They are wonderful for about 3 months and then out of date. Even if the K1 is amazing it will be held back by android that has to run on every thing and Nvidia's complete disregard for open source. I really don't see it doing well at all. Time will tell, I may be wrong on this but I will wait it out. 

I hear where you're coming from. Nvidia's mobile chips were always the first ones on the market (1st dual-core, 1st quad-core, 1st "next gen" quad core), only to be overtaken by other chips weeks after. Not only in benchmarks but overall experience. Many people reported poor performance out of them. Me including, with the 1st gen Nexus 7. That Tegra 3 was shit no matter which ROM and/or kernel I used. Although the K1 does seem like a very solid performer, at least from everything I've heard about it. But yeah, I think I'll wait a month or two and see what everybody else is saying about it before buying Nexus 9.

I am not going to go on about the size, many people complain saying anything over 5in is too big, since practically all flagships are over 5in and the nexus 6 is not much bigger than the note 4, I think they are being a bit narrow-minded. Nor will I comment about that rumoured price, it is only a rumor!

 

What I will mention however is the absurd lack of a microSD, on a device that particularly lends itself to media consumption and prosumers/enthusiasts which increase the likelyhood of needing one, it is absurd that there is not atleast one, infact two would be awesome and why-not?

Also if this is going to be priced anywhere near that of the note 4, hell even the note 3 or the one-plus-one or the lg G3/G2 then I would say this is not a particularly good buy due to the lack of the micro-sd, I am sure the screens on the notes look far better and there multi-window software and some of their camera software (for taking notes in class) looks quiet good and necessary for a phone of that size.

IMHO you would have a much better experience out of the box with a Note3/4 or even a one-plus-one, it would be hard to recommend, and I have a nexus phone, and think of samsung as the apple of android...

i for one am going to be buying myself the nexus 6. I have had the S3 since it first came out and its starting to show its age sadly.

For the price, it's a tough call between Samsung's Note and the Nexus 6.

I was in the same position as you, my friend. But, when I saw how much the Nexus 6 will cost, I just said no. Instead, I opted for the LG G3, it's great, it has a very nice size screen (5.5inches) and it is "Quad HD", very nice. And, it's only £310 from some shops. 

 

 

Highly recommend.