Google Announcement Brings the Nexus 5X, Nexus 6P, and New Chromecast and Chromecast Audio, Release Dates, Specs, and Prices

Sep 29, 2015 01:09 PM EDT

At 9 AM Pacific Time today, CEO Sundar Pichai took the stage in San Francisco at the big event in order to talk about how Google is doing overall.  Generally, events such as from big tech companies start with a lot of excellent statistics of how the company is doing, and giving a figure of 1.4 billion active Android devices in the last 30 days, and one especially interesting figure where he says: "there will be more Chromebooks than every other device combined" in U.S. schools soon.  The rest of the announcements were devoted to the new devices like the Nexus 5X and Nexus 6P, as well as new features for Android 6.0, also known as Android M or Marshmallow.  There were also some new announcements about Chromecast, including the addition of Chromecast Audio. 

According to the Verge, Dave Burke then took the stage to officially announce the Nexus 5X and the Nexus 6P.  There has been a lot of information leaked about these mobile devices, and he started with the Nexus 6P. 

The Nexus 6P is made from Huawei out of anodized aluminum at 7.3 mm thick with a 5.7 inch WQHD AMOLED display that will come in Frost White, Aluminum, and Graphite.  It is about the size of the iPhone 6 Plus, but it has a USB Type-C port that can charge a device twice as fast.  It also features stereo forward facing speakers, as well as a 12.3 Megapixel "Sony imaging sensor", as well as a 5 Megapixel front-facing camera.  Also involved is the "Nexus Imprint", which is a "seamless way of authenticating using a fingerprint". 

Just so you know, it will come with Android 6.0, out of the box, as will the Nexus 5X.  As expected, the Nexus 5X device is made by LG, and has a 5.2 display weighing in at 136 grams. The battery is a 2700 mAh, and it has a 64-bit processor.  It also has the Nexus Imprint fingerprint scanner as well as USB Type-C.  It will come in Carbon Black, Sports White, and Ice Blue. 

These phones can apparently be purchased at the Google store, and that might be an exclusivity deal.  They will ship "later in October" with the Nexus 5X starting at $379 and the Nexus 6P starting at $499.  They will be fully unlocked and should work with major carriers. 

In addition to the Nexus 5X and 6P, Burke talked a lot about cameras, like how the 6P is optimized for indoor photography, and how the pixels on these devices are bigger than the ones on the iPhone 6S Plus, as well as a laser-detect autofocus.  There was even a chart giving a Nexus 6P comparison against the iPhone 6S and iPhone 6.  There is talk about how the camera can do slow motion, with the 5X capable of 120 frames per second (fps), and the Nexus 6P at 240 fps.  There is also a "smart burst" feature to take photos at 30 fps for GIFs, and a new feature of double-tapping on the power button to launch the camera. 

There was also talk of an "Android Sensor Hub", which gives the new Nexus devices the power to know what it is that you are doing.  It tracks where the phone is going so the user can turn on the ambient display and such.  As for the fingerprint system, the new Nexus Imprint can recognize a fingerprint in 60 milliseconds.  This fingerprint scan can be used to authorize app purchases in the Play Store. 

There was also time to talk about new features for Android 6.0 with voice search from the lock screen, a charging indicator telling you how long until the phone is charged, and the "heads-up notifications" being made simpler.  There is an app drawer to quickly search for applications, and then puts apps it thinks you want at the top.  By the way, newer Nexus devices will have fewer preloaded apps on board.  Also new is "Now on Tap", which allows Google searches happen automatically from any application, as well as Voice Interactions for apps as well. However, Marshmallow also has a "Doze" feature which allows Android devices to be a lot more efficient at 30 percent longer. 

There were other new programs announced for working with Project Fi, the Google Music Family Plan, and new features on Google Photos.  As expected, Google then talked about Chromecast.  Apparently, Showtime is going to work with it, as well as the NBA and NHL, even Sling TV will be coming "in the next few weeks".  The Chromecast application has been redesigned for "partner" applications like Twitch, ESPN, YouTube, Hulu, and Netflix". 

There are also two new Chromecast products.  One is the New Chromecast, a circular device with an HDMI cable on a little cable that attaches to the HDMI port on the television, and it supports 5 GHz Wi-Fi. 

The other is Chromecast Audio, a small device that plugs into a home speaker to stream audio over Wi-Fi from existing applications.  It is also circular shaped, made to plug into a 3.5 mm jack, and it is available today starting at $35.