Google launches Android OS 5.0 codenamed 'Lollipop', intros new Nexus line

By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

Google today revealed the next version of its Android OS and while the look and feel of the leading mobile OS is more mature than ever before with Material Design, the search and advertising company continued its tact in naming their OS after something sweet.

Codenamed Lollipop, Android 5.0 is set to break cover in a bunch of new devices including a larger Nexus 6 phablet made by Motorola, the Nexus 6, a 9-inch tablet made by HTC and a new Nexus Player set top box that expand the functionality first seen on the Chromcast dongle.

Older Nexus 4, Nexus 5, Nexus 7, Nexus 10, and Google Play Edition devices should get the update in the coming weeks. 

Lollipop is a huge update, and is acknowledged by Google as being their largest and most ambitious release to date with over 5,000 new APIs for developers. The last major number release from Google was Ice Cream Sandwich in 2011, all the updates since then have been somewhat incremental.

Nexus 6

The Motorola-made Nexus 6 runs on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 805 processor, 3GB of RAM, and has a 5.96-inch QHD AMOLED display. It has a 13-megapixel rear camera and 2-megapixel front camera. It’ll have either 32GB or 64GB internal storage and a 3,220mAh battery that supports ultra-fast charging. If you buy directly from Google, it will cost US$749 for the 32GB model and $799 for the 64GB variant. TELUS plans to carry the device later this year.

Nexus 9

The Nexus 9 is powered by an NVIDIA Tegra K1 64-bit dual-core processor and has a 2K (2048 x 1536) resolution display. It is equipped with an 8-megapixel rear camera and 1.6-megapixel front camera. The HTC-made Nexus comes with signature dual front-facing speakers with BoomSound technology. It’ll come in 16GB, 32GB, and 32GB LTE models and will be available worldwide starting Oct. 17. It’ll be up for pre-orders soon in Future Shop/Best Buy. And TELUS and Rogers plan to carry the LTE version in late November.

Nexus Player

The new Nexus Player will be the first set-top box to run on the new Android TV platform. The Asus-made device looks like a puck with around 4.7-inches in diameter. Its remote has a few buttons and comes integrated with voice search. It has 8GB internal storage and can stream over 802.11ac WiFi. It imitates Chromecast’s features and will let you play Android games on it. You can use a game controller with it but that’s sold separately. The Nexus Player will retail for $99 and the game controller will set you back $39. These will be available only through Google Play Store.