Dual phone launches are definitely a thing this year. Apple launched both the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus just a few weeks ago, Samsung had the Galaxy Note5 and the Galaxy S6 Edge launched at the same time and now its Google’s turn with the announcement of the brand new Nexus 5X and 6P earlier today.

The smaller of the two is the Nexus 5X which is made by LG. It has a 5.2-inch IPS LCD display with Full HD resolution (424ppi) and is protected by a layer of Gorilla Glass 3.

The innards is composed of a Snapdragon 808 chipset with a hexa-core processor, 2GB of RAM, an Adreno 418 GPU and up to 32GB of non-expandable internal storage.

A 12.3MP camera is situated at the back of the device that features an f/2.0 aperture lens. The rear camera is capable of capturing 2160p videos and adopts the laser-assisted autofocus technology from the G4. The front camera has a 5MP sensor and an f/2.0 lens.

The Nexus 5X also has a 2700mAh battery, a fingerprint sensor, NFC, Bluetooth v4.2, Wi-Fi ac, GPS/GLONASS, 3 microphones, a single front-facing speaker and a microUSB Type-C port.

On the other end is the Nexus 6P which is made by Huawei. The 6P is the first Nexus device with an all-metal body. It has a 5.7-inch AMOLED display with QHD resolution.

The Nexus 6P has the same 12.3MP sensor at the back of the 5X but has an upgraded front-facing camera with an 8MP sensor in contrast to the Nexus 5X’s 5MP camera.

Another department that’s getting the upgraded specs is the chipset section. The Nexus 6P sports a Snapdragon 810 chip with 3GB of RAM and up to 128GB of non-expandable internal storage. The battery has also been bumped up to 3450mAh compared to the 5X’s 2700mAh cell.

Just like its smaller brother, the Nexus 6P will be using the Type-C USB port, which in case you haven’t heard has that reversible standard. Also, both phones will run the latest version of Android – Android 6.0 Marshmallow.

Both phones will come in a variety of colors including carbon, quartz and ice for the Nexus 5X, and Aluminum, graphite, frost and gold colors. The smaller 5X will start around $380 once it is released this week, while the Nexus 6P will start at $500 for the 32GB version. 
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The newest breed of Nexus devices has just made their debut today via a blog post on Google’s website. As expected, the Nexus tablet was built by HTC while the phablet was from Motorola.

The Nexus 9 tablet will have an 8.9-inch display with a screen resolution of 2048 x 1536. The device’s brains will be supplied by Nvidia with its Tegra K1 chip with a 2.3GHz processor, 2GB of RAM, a Kepler DX1 GPU, and either 16GB or 32GB of non-expandable storage.

The tablet will also have BoomSound stereo speakers, an 8MP+1.6MP camera combo and a 6700mAh battery. There’s also an optional keyboard for pro users that magnetically attaches itself at the back of the Nexus 9.

Also announced today is the 6-inch Google Nexus 6 phablet. The device is manufactured by Motorola and features a premium display with a resolution of 2560 x 1440 pixels and a screen density of 496ppi.

Under the hood there’s a Qualcomm Snapdragon 805 chipset with a 2.65GHz quad-core processor, 3GB of RAM and either 32GB or 64GB of non-expandable storage. There’s also a 13MP f/2.0 rear camera with dual-LED flash and a 2MP front-facing snapper.

Power is supplied by a 3220mAh non-replaceable battery and features Turbo Charging technology that allows the phone to provide 6 hours of battery after only 15 minutes of charging.

Both devices will run the latest release of Android – version 5.0 Lollipop. The Nexus 6 is now available on the Google Play store for $649 (32GB version) while the Nexus 9 will be available by November 3 but Google will start taking pre-orders starting tomorrow.

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Shortly before the release of the Nexus 5, there were rumors about which company will Google choose to produce the next Nexus phone. Back then Motorola wasn’t in the running since according to Google, the company hasn’t produced devices that meet their standards. And hence, LG became the hardware partner for the Nexus 5.

But now, it seems Google has changed its mind about Motorola, especially after it has infused the company with its technology before it was sold to Lenovo. According to a report by Android Police, Motorola is now working on a possible Nexus phone codenamed “Shamu” with a 5.9-inch display.

The phone will allegedly launch in Q3 2013 just in time for the release of Android L. There are also rumors that the device will have a fingerprint sensor. As for the rest of the specs, the device is said to have similar internals as the upcoming Moto X+1.

Aside from Shamu, HTC is also reportedly working on a Nexus device – this time a tablet with an 8-inch display. Whether or not these rumors are true remain unknown, but if their announcement dates are indeed scheduled on the third quarter of the year, then we won’t need to wait that long to fully get to know these devices.

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We’ve previously heard rumours that HTC and Google might be working again for a Nexus device. Today, we caught more details about the alleged Nexus tablet that will be built by the Taiwanese phone-maker.

According to a report by Android Police, the tablet (codenamed Volantis) will have an 8.9-inch display with a resolution of 2048 x 1440 pixels, an Nvidia Tegra K1 64-bit chipset with 2GB of RAM, and 16GB or 32GB of internal storage. The device will also have an 8MP camera at the back with optical image stabilization and a 3MP camera on the front.

The body of the tablet will be built using zero-gap aluminium construction. The device will likely be offered in two versions – a Wi-Fi only version that will weigh 418g and a 4G LTE version that tips the scales at 427g.

Pricing for the HTC tablet is expected to be at $399 and $499 for the 16GB and 32GB Wi-Fi only versions respectively, while those with LTE will obviously command higher prices. The alleged Nexus tablet is slated to arrive by Q4 2014.

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The Nexus brand has always been Google’s trademark for devices that offer the purest Android experience. But now it seems the search giant is planning to replace the line-up as well as the corresponding branding with that meant for high-end devices and will be called Android Silver.

Apparently, the change in branding will also come with corresponding changes in how the devices will be marketed. With Android Silver, Google plans to offer handsets with no third-party bloatware and provide timely OS updates similar to how Apple pushes updates to iPhones.

The devices that will bear the Android Silver branding will reportedly adhere closely to guidelines and specifications provided by Google. Moreover, the search giant will cover all the development and marketing costs of its hardware partners. There are also rumours that Google will offer a hotline service similar to what Amazon is offering.

At the moment, the most likely hardware partners to start with the shift would be Motorola and LG, while Samsung, HTC and Sony may likely follow afterwards.

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HTC was the first manufacturer that Google partnered with for the Android operating system with the HTC Dream and the first ever Nexus device – the Nexus One. However, the partnership with Google and HTC kind of got cold after other manufacturers such as LG, Samsung and Asus came into the scene. However, according to a report by the DigiTimes, Google might rekindle its previous romance with HTC with a new Nexus tablet.

This new tablet will be an 8-inch model in contrast to the 7-inch tab that Asus has successfully built for the past two years as well as the 10-inch model that Samsung has built in the past. According to the Digitimes, Google’s decision to review its Nexus partnership with HTC stems from its intention for a new design push. At the same time, Asus is reportedly now more interested in creating tablets under its own MeMo, Fonepad and PadFone brands.

Details of the tablet aren’t available yet, but Google’s annual developer conference, Google I/O is scheduled on the last week of June so we might get some details there, especially in terms of its specs. But for the design, HTC has always been known for producing top-notch devices in terms of design and build quality so we should expect the same level of craftsmanship we’ve seen on previous HTC products such as the HTC One.

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A few weeks ago, reports came in about Google’s plan to update the default camera on Android and give it more relevant features found not only in other platforms but also in other Android smartphones.

Today, the company from Mountain View has released the revamped version of the default camera app on Android. And just like what the reports said, the app update gains a few nifty tricks.

For starters, the camera now gets a lens-blur feature that recreates the blurred effect seen on images captured by cameras with bigger lenses. This functionality is achieved by allowing the camera to capture multiple shots, each of which are used by the app’s algorithm to estimate and calculate the depth of object for a 3D map that enables the user to zoom a particular part of the image even when the shot has already been taken.

The app also now has a 100% viewfinder that should allow users to see everything in the picture on the screen before the image is captured without any dropped pixels. Taking panorama photos should also be easier and there’s now a photo-sphere mode that can capture up to 50MP images.

The app is now available on the Google Play Store but will only be compatible with Android 4.4. And do note that some features may not be available for other devices.

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