Mountain View, Calif. – The first phone and tablet with Android 5.0 Lollipop OS will be the Motorola-made Nexus 6 smartphone with 6-inch display and the HTC-made Nexus 9 with 8.9-inch display and 64-bit processor, Google announced.
The Google-marketed tablet will be available for pre-order Oct. 17 from Google and in stores starting Nov. 3. The Nexus 6 phone will be available for pre-order in late October and in stores in November. An unlocked GSM/W-CDMA/LTE version will be available through Google’s Play store, and versions locked on specific carriers will also be available through carriers, including AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, U.S. Cellular and Verizon. Carrier rollouts will be subject to carrier certification tests.
Android 5.0 Lollipop will be available as a download for the Nexus 4, 5, 7, 10 devices and on Google Play edition devices in the coming weeks, Google said.
Lollipop updates for Motorola phones are also in the works, said Motorola, which plans updates at unspecified times for such phones as the first- and second-generation Moto X and Moto G, Moto G with 4G LTE, Moto E, Droid Ultra, Droid Maxx and Droid Mini.
Separately, Google announced that first device running Android TV – the Asus-made Nexus Player streaming-media player– will be available for pre-order Oct. 17 and in stores starting Nov. 3.
The Lollipop-based streaming-media player for movies, music and videos is also an Android gaming device that lets people use a game pad to play Android games on a HDTV. Users can resume play on their phone or tablet. The Nexus Player is also Google Cast Ready so consumers can cast content from almost any Chromebook, Android or iOS phone, or Android or iOS tablet to a TV.
No prices were announced.
With the LTE-equipped Nexus 6, consumers get a phone with 5.96-inch 16×9 quad-HD 1440 by 2560 display with 493 ppi. It also comes with 2.7GHz quad-core processor, 32GB or 64GB embedded memory, and 3220mAh battery that runs up to 24 hours on a charge. The phone is also equipped with 13-megapixel front camera with f/2.0 lens, 4K video capture at 30fps, optical image stabilization, and dual-LED flash. It’s accompanied by a 2-magapixel front camera. Other key features include Wi-Fi ac with 2×2 MIMO, Bluetooth 4.1 with NFC, dual front speakers, and ability to run for six hours on a 15-minute charge.
The tablet is HTC’s first in years and features LTE, Nvidia Tegra K1 2.3GHz 64-bit processor, 2GB RAM, 4 by 3 QXGA 2046 by 1536 display, 8- and 1.6-megapixel cameras, 16 and 32GB of embedded memory, Wi-Fi ac with 2×2 MIMO, and Bluetooth 4.1 with NFC.
A separately sold magnetically attached keyboard will let users type ad different angles.
On the tablet and phone, Lollipop enables a consistent user interface across devices, and it connects a user’s Android devices, enabling users to move from device to device and pick up where they left off. Songs, photos, apps, and recent searches on one device can be immediately used across devices, the company said.
Content is also said to respond to touch and voice in more intuitive ways, and transitions between tasks are more fluid, Google said.
Consumers will also be able to adjust settings so that only certain people and notifications get through at specific times. When such a notification comes through, users will be able to see it from the lockscreen.
A new battery-saver feature extends the life of a device by up to 90 minutes, and multiple user accounts and guest-user mode are available to keep personal information private. Users can also secure a device with a PIN, password, pattern, or by pairing a device like a smartwatch or car with Smart Lock.
Additional Lollipop detailers are available at android.com.
