Tag Archives: nexus 9

Nexus 9 – First Impressions

Android, Reviews, Tech News, ,

I received the Google Nexus 9 a few days ago. I will be writing a more detailed review shortly but in the meantime here are my initial thoughts.

This is the 16gb storage version. This had around 8gb storage free. I am not sure why the storage is so low, considering this is meant to be a “pure” Google build. It runs Lollipop.

The Nexus 9 is made by HTC. The Nexus 9 is a 8.9 inch Android Tablet with a 64-bit NVIDIA Tegra K1 2.3GHz, 2GB RAM. It weighs 426g and the battery is meant to last 9.5 hours. HTC’s trademark “Boomsound” front facing speakers are also present.

This is my first Lollipop device and pure Google Experience. Starting up for the first time, the new Lollipop setup menus seemed simpler and more logical. I was up and running in no time. I was excited by the fact that the processor was a Nvidia Tegra K1, meaning all the games I bought specifically for my Nvidia Shield Tablet would work on this tablet. Not so. Only T.E.C. 3001 worked and 3 other games had trouble running. Clearly these games needed updating. T.E.C. 3001 was absolutely brilliant on the Nexus 9, played using the Moga Pro Power Game Controller.

Battery. I need more time, but it does seem to zap juice under certain circumstances eg playing T.E.C. 3001. I will keep an eye out on actual run time to see if I can get around 9.5 hours. It is a shame this isn’t higher, especially as the tablet weighs 426g. It feels slightly heavier than other tablets I have used recently and yet it is lighter than say the Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5. But the illusion of weight does gives it a sturdy feel.

Smoothness. On the whole the Nexus 9 is a nimble affair. Typing on the on screen keyboard is very fast. I have experienced a few redraws of the home screen was pressing the home capacitive button.

And finally for now my lasting impression is those front facing Boomsound loudspeakers. The extra quality makes movies, YouTube and everything else a pleasure.

If you have any questions you would like answering for the main review, please let me know.

Reviews coming soon – updated

Reviews, Tech News, , , , ,

Just a quick heads up and some new reviews coming shortly.

From HTC, the HTC One M9 and the HTC Desire 816.

Tablets – Google Nexus 9

Samsung – Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge and also the Samsung Galaxy A5.

Honor – new devices from Honor

Misc – stuff under NDA

If you have any questions for these devices, please let me know as soon as possible.

The Nexus 9 Tablet – review

Android, Reviews, Tech News,

The Nexus 9 review embargoes have been lifted and a number of tech sites have published their reviews.

Below is a summary of the main reviews from across the web –

Via – http://www.engadget.com/2014/11/03/google-nexus-9-review/?ncid=rss_truncated

PROS -Android 5.0 Lollipop runs like a dream,Material Design face-lift is warm, welcoming,K1 chipset is plenty powerful, despite benchmark oddities

CONS -Screen is solid, not jaw-dropping, BoomSound speakers not as good as M8’s, No expandable memory

Via – http://www.androidpolice.com/2014/11/03/nexus-9-review-a-little-better-on-paper-than-in-practice/

The Good –

Display: I love the 4:3 form factor, and the display itself is very nice. Great colors, what looks to be solid white balance, good brightness, and excellent viewing angles. I can find no real important faults with it.
Android L: Is pretty, adds tons of new features (many of which are quite useful), and beautiful animations throughout the OS. Easily the most mature and thoroughly styled Android has ever looked. It looks great on the Nexus 9.
Fast: The Nexus 9 is, in most situations where linear performance is the primary concern, very quick. Its single-thread benchmark results put it even ahead of Apple’s new iPad Air 2, so that K1 isn’t a slouch.
Front-facing speakers: I don’t really need to extol the virtues of front-facing speakers. They’re obvious.
Software support: OTA updates from Google mean you’ll be the first to get the latest version of Android, of course, with all the good and bad things that entails.

The Not So Good

Battery life: 9.5 hours of Wi-Fi browsing is, as far as my review unit is concerned, a fantasy. Like, there’s just no way. I’m getting half that.
Performance: It’s unpredictable. The Nexus 9 is fast, but it’s twitchy. Apps will randomly take longer to load than normal, longer than I would expect – it doesn’t feel fully optimized. That, or only having two cores is causing issues.
Build quality: It does not feel like a $400 tablet should feel. Not only is it fairly heavy for its size, the plastic back seems to have the same issues the Nexus 5’s did – it deforms under pressure, snaps, and creaks. It is not nice. Also, it’s a finger oil magnet.
Design: I’m sorry, but in my subjective opinion, the Nexus 9 is not a pretty tablet. It is decidedly generic, and not in a cool, stealthy way. It’s boring and drab. The press shots do it too much justice.
Price: All things considered, I find $400 ($480 for 32GB) hard to stomach for a 16GB tablet of this caliber. That’s generation one iPad Air money.

AndroidCentral.com – went on record to say they only got their device on Wednesday and they will spend more time with it so they can write a proper review. That makes sense to me!

Reading a number of reviews last night echoed the findings of the views printed above. Some loved it, some questioned its strengths and others were not blown away. Either way it is a direct take on Apple’s iPad space with a 4:3 aspect ratio but it does not beat the iPad Air at all.