9to5 Google claims this is the Nexus 6/X.

[lothar]

The Nexus One was not cheap. The Nexus S was not cheap. The Nexus 6 ain't cheap. So half of them have had normal prices, while the other half have been lower cost. That does not say anything definitive either way. I already quoted Sundar explaining what the Nexus program is. This whole "Nexus = cheap" definition was created by fans, not by Google.

I predict they'll sell more of the N6 than the 5, because it will be on all carriers. We've all wanted stock Android to reach more of the people, well this is the way to do it.

I agree with you on the 1st paragraph and disagree with you on the 2nd.

An even better way to do that is make a phone that costs $200 less which would mean that it would be free with contract on US carriers. Cut as much or sacrifice whatever you have to reach that "free with contract" price goal.

 

[Red Storm]

Great argument. You used 2 phones from 4 and 5 yrs ago and say that it wasn't cheap. Skipping the last 3 Nexus line.

Please read my post again. I said half of the Nexus phones have been priced normally, while the other half have been lower cost. So Nexus phones have been both normal priced and low priced (and the low priced ones came with obvious shortcomings), which means it isn't definitive either way.

The way to do it would have been to price it like the Nexus 4 or 5 and create a marketing campaign around it. It worked pretty well for the OnePlus One and CyanogenMod.

And piss off all their OEM partners? It would be like MS making the Surface Pro line very cheap, that would anger all their OEM partners and they might forget about making Windows tablets at all.

No, being on all the carriers is the way to do it. There is this sense of entitlement from certain people that Nexus phones are supposed to have high end specs with low end prices, and that is simply wrong.

I agree with you on the 1st paragraph and disagree with you on the 2nd.

An even better way to do that is make a phone that costs $200 less which would mean that it would be free with contract on US carriers. Cut as much or sacrifice whatever you have to reach that "free with contract" price goal.

NO! I don't want another Nexus 4/5, I want a true flagship with no obvious corner cutting.

 

[lothar]

The way to do it would have been to price it like the Nexus 4 or 5 and create a marketing campaign around it. It worked pretty well for the OnePlus One and CyanogenMod.

I don't think the marketing campaign of the OnePlus one was as successful as you think.
Define what you mean by "worked pretty well". Do you have any hard numbers for how many units were sold?
Most people I know who were pretty interested in the phone lost interest due to either their delays, limited invites/availability, smash your current phone to get a free phone marketing, shoddy quality problems of their touch screens, little to no support except in China, or all of the above.

 

[lothar]

NO! I don't want another Nexus 4/5, I want a true flagship with no obvious corner cutting.

What corners did the Nexus 5 cut?

 

[Red Storm]

What corners did the Nexus 5 cut?

Camera, battery, and to a lesser extent the speaker.

 

[lothar]

Camera, battery, and to a lesser extent the speaker.

And was there any Android phone that didn't cut any of those corners and many more?
Name me any flagship Android device, and I can prove to you it cut corners on one of those things somewhere, or others.

HTC One M7: Camera
S4: Speaker, battery
LG G2: Speaker
Moto X: Camera, battery

HTC One M8: Camera
S5: Speaker
LG G3: Battery, speaker
Moto X2: Camera, battery.

My point is that regardless of the price point, there is always some compromise/corner cutting somewhere. It doesn't matter if its a $400 device or a$650 one.

 

[Red Storm]

And was there any Android phone that didn't cut any of those corners and many more?
Name me any flagship Android device, and I can prove to you it cut corners on one of those things somewhere, or others.

HTC One M7: Camera
S4: Speaker, battery
LG G2: Speaker
Moto X: Camera, battery

HTC One M8: Camera
S5: Speaker
LG G3: Battery, speaker
Moto X2: Camera, battery.

My point is that regardless of the price point, there is always some compromise/corner cutting somewhere. It doesn't matter if its a $400 device or a$650 one.

Notice the Nexus 5 is the only one with three shortcomings...

I don't see any compromises with the Nexus 6, looks like a pure beast of a phone, and supposedly a single model will have band support for all NA carriers.

 

[Crono]

Google the BoM of whatever phone you think is the least flawed. Chances are it's under $400, and possibly under $300. Anything above (allow a small amount for other costs and things like marketing) that is simply profit. Pricing a flagship at $600 doesn't guarantee anything, it's all dependent on manufacturer decisions and tradeoffs. Not a one of these manufacturers is putting $500 worth of hardware or R&D into a $600 phone. Not Samsung, Apple, LG, HTC, Sony, etc.

I mentioned OnePlus because they showed it's possible to make a decent (if poorly QCed and supported) phone for half the price of the other flagships. Even if you allow $100 more to get the screen exactly perfect, you wouldn't be at $600.The OPO could have been a Nexus-killer if they hadn't used the same screen as the iPhone 6 Plus, and put some money into better support. For their first phone (ignoring the fact that they are essentially Oppo) they still managed to demonstrate it's possible to make an affordable flagship. Considering half the Nexuses were affordably priced, I don't see why the 6 shouldn't have been.

 

[Red Storm]

Google the BoM of whatever phone you think is the least flawed. Chances are it's under $400, and possibly under $300. Anything above that is simply profit. Pricing a flagship at $600 doesn't guarantee anything, it's all dependent on manufacturer decisions on what to focus on.
I mentioned OnePlus because they showed it's possible to make a decent (if poorly QCed and supported) phone for half the price of the other flagships. Even if you allow $100 more to get the screen exactly perfect, you wouldn't be at $600.

Are you expecting them all to sell their phones for razor thin margins...? Sure I'd love a $300 Nexus 6, but I know that's fantasy. These aren't charities, they are companies aiming to make money. Google can't just create a Nexus 6 and severely undercut the same OEMs that are building phones for their own mobile OS. The Nexus 5 was cheap, but it had a cheap camera, poor battery life, and a poor speaker.

I had a OnePlus One. Got it for ~$350, it was buggy so I sold it. Had the yellow banding issue but that didn't really bother me. I did have unresponsive touch screen issues as well randomly losing cellular connectivity requiring a reboot. That's not acceptable. Even for the low, low price of $350 I didn't feel it was worth it. It's great that there are phones like the OPO, but let's not pretend it doesn't have faults or corners were cut (be they specific to the phone or the company, more money in quality control may have spotted and fixed the issues I described for example).

 

[lothar]

Notice the Nexus 5 is the only one with three shortcomings...

I don't see any compromises with the Nexus 6, looks like a pure beast of a phone, and supposedly a single model will have band support for all NA carriers.

That's only because I used your criteria though. If I added more criteria I care about such as size, TouchWiz, Sense, bloated manufacturer/carrier crap, root/boot/modding capability, and many more I'm sure those phones will have more than 3 short comings.


HTC One M7: Camera, Sense, complicated root/boot loader process
S4: Speaker, battery, size, TouchWiz, cheap feel, complicated root/boot loader process.
LG G2: Speaker, size, whatever LG calls it's crappy skin, complicated root/boot loader process
Moto X: Camera, battery, complicated root/boot loader process

HTC One M8: Camera, Sense, size, complicated root/boot loader process
S5: Speaker, size, TouchWiz, cheap feel, complicated root/boot loader process
LG G3: Battery, speaker, size, whatever LG calls it's crappy skin, complicated root/boot loader process
Moto X2: Camera, battery, size, complicated root/boot loader process

 

[Crono]

Are you expecting them all to sell their phones for razor thin margins...? Sure I'd love a $300 Nexus 6, but I know that's fantasy. These aren't charities, they are companies aiming to make money. Google can't just create a Nexus 6 and severely undercut the same OEMs that are building phones for their own mobile OS. The Nexus 5 was cheap, but it had a cheap camera, poor battery life, and a poor speaker.

I had a OnePlus One. Got it for ~$350, it was buggy so I sold it. Had the yellow banding issue but that didn't really bother me. I did have unresponsive touch screen issues as well randomly losing cellular connectivity requiring a reboot. That's not acceptable. Even for the low, low price of $350 I didn't feel it was worth it. It's great that there are phones like the OPO, but let's not pretend it doesn't have faults or corners were cut (be they specific to the phone or the company, more money in quality control may have spotted and fixed the issues I described for example).

Not razor-thin, but certainly not double the cost of the phone. What perfect phone do you own now versus the apparently overly-flawed Nexus 5 which was priced at $400 (and I assume still profitably)? As far as I can tell, there was no flagship at the same time as the Nexus 6 that wasn't flawed. Certainly not the Galaxys.

The truth is that Google/Motorola is pricing the Nexus 6 high because they can, and not because it costs that much to produce. They could easily make a profit at $400 or less. I'd even take 1080p over 1440p and still say it's a no compromise phone if it brought it down to $350.

You know what, though, I'll be happy with the new price if Google is reducing the Nexus 5 price in anticipation. Been meaning to get one, and the value is great even if it's last gen. Lollipop should sing on it.

 

[waldoh]

You all understand the nexus 6 is priced at $650 because the moto x is $500 right?

If it were priced any lower with such a spec bump no one would buy the moto x...

The $650 price tag was probably set by Motorola rather than google.

 

[amyklai]

The truth is that Google/Motorola is pricing the Nexus 6 high because they can

We'll see if that holds true. Until now, Nexus buyers were a price conscious bunch that wanted to buy high end devices (albeit with a few drawbacks) for mid-range prices.

I'm pretty sceptical that this type of demographic will suddenly be willing to buy high-end devices for high-end prices.

 

[Crono]

We'll see if that holds true. Until now, Nexus buyers were a price conscious bunch that wanted to buy high end devices (albeit with a few drawbacks) for mid-range prices.

I'm pretty sceptical that this type of demographic will suddenly be willing to buy high-end devices for high-end prices.

I agree. They can price it that high, but it's going to come down if it doesn't happen to have a stunning camera or something else I am missing from just the specs. Even the original Moto X wasn't a big seller initially, despite the number of positive reviews. Sure, outdated specs were part of the problem, but so was the pricing: almost everyone agreed the price was too high at launch.

The same thing will happen to the 6. There are too many alternatives for it to sell well, not until or unless it's priced to move. Even Samsung realizes you need some added features and marketing weight to push a phone at that price, even with very high specifications. How Motorola thinks it will sell the Nexus 6 is beyond me. They can move some, I'm sure, to hardcore fans, but not in the same quantities Samsung, LG, HTC, or Sony can with their flagships.

Perhaps it doesn't even matter. Is the Lenovo acquisition of Motorola finished yet?

 

[Trombe]

You all understand the nexus 6 is priced at $650 because the moto x is $500 right?

If it were priced any lower with such a spec bump no one would buy the moto x...

The $650 price tag was probably set by Motorola rather than google.

You mean like how the G2 was $600 and the Nexus 5 was $350-$400?

 

[Bateluer]

I'll weigh in; I'm sure the Nexus 6 is a finely engineered, finely crafted Motorola phone. But I do not want a phone that large. I'm sorry, Nexus or not, I'm not a phablet person. I'll be going with the Z3. Just as powerful, just as long lasting in the battery life dept, and probably a better camera.

 

[SpacemanSpiffVT]

I have to agree that google completely got pricing wrong on this phone AND keeping nexus 5 the same price.
They should have released a lower priced upgrade to the nexus 5 and this phone instead. This will be the worst selling nexus by far unless it shows itself to be much better than the other flagships.

The nexus 9 though, I still may get that. There is a lack of good android tablets, it might fit the bill.

 

[kpkp]

Camera, battery, and to a lesser extent the speaker.

• hardware wise the camera in the N5 didn't cut many corners, on paper is a solid camera and it had OIS before all the Galaxys and iPhones, so it was not a cheap part
  
• how much would additional 300mah cost, 0.50$? This were likely concession made to LG so they can differentiate the LG G2 a bit easier or weird Google politics/philosophy.
  For the LOLs if we take the weight of the N5 & N6 and the battery size we can see that the ratio battery size/device weight is actually worse in the N6, we also get similar results if we take the ration battery size/display area, so yeah...

That screen in the N6 is what breaks the bank for sure, Samsung isn't selling those for cheap.

 

[lopri]

The more I look at it, the more it looks like Motorola's original phablet product turned-to-Nexus 6.

 

[kpkp]

That was my impression too, there was no plan for a Nexus 6 this year, it became reality only after the Android Silver thing died... So they rebranded the Moto S.

Honestly this makes me think there were no plans for a Nexus phone this year, this is a Motorola phablet with a Nexus logo on it, but atlest Google made them use the old Moto X dimple.

Was there ever a Nexus that was design wise identical to the other phones of the manufacturer. This is a Moto X ctrl+

That's definitely more like the Nexus 4 & LG G then what we are seeing here, this things are identical, down to the brushed power button (only the dimple was changed, because that was just to shinny, or maybe was even a Motorola change of heart since it appears they had plans, that never materialized, with that "fake button dimple").

You could argue that they are so identical that Motorola can't release their own Moto XL after this.

Edit:
I wanted to add another thing about the price, there is one big problem with the Nexus and high prices, Nexus prices in the play store do not drop, while N6 might be a good deal now, it will be worse and worse month by month. While other phones have sales, promotions....
And what's up with the Nexus 5 do they plan of selling it at the same price for 2 years? That's just....

 

[sze5003]

I believe it will still sell. Being in all four carriers means people will be on contract and pay the same amount as any other flagship phone. We are talking about some people who won't be in a contract and have to pay full price.

If one plus one had used better screens and charged $100 more I would still have bought it, assuming no yellow banding. But that wasn't the case despite how low they priced it and it was designed poorly not to mention bad CS.

I too can't understand why they priced it that high but then again why are all other flagship phones priced off contract that high?

Motorola is making money off Google and with their moto x selling at $500+ unlocked, putting out the nexus 6 with better specs but cheaper would be pointless.

 

[NikolaeVarius]

We'll see if that holds true. Until now, Nexus buyers were a price conscious bunch that wanted to buy high end devices (albeit with a few drawbacks) for mid-range prices.

I'm pretty sceptical that this type of demographic will suddenly be willing to buy high-end devices for high-end prices.

I love how people are continuing to make arbitrary claims about the buying power of Nexus buyers.

 

[poofyhairguy]

Motorola is making money off Google and with their moto x selling at $500+ unlocked,

Moto is making money on the $99 contract price. The unlocked Moto Xs aren't really a deal.

 

[DeathReborn]

First things first, this does look like a nice phone with decent specs. However...

I would have considered the Nexus 6 64GB to replace my aging Galaxy S3 16GB (2x 32GB mSD cards) but only at a max price of £500 (this looks like £500+ for 32GB). At 32GB I would run out of space inside 7 months so 32GB is not an option without expandable storage. The Nexus 5 is currently £339 for 32GB and I know the increased specs are not an extra £170 in BoM so the good days for Nexus Phones are now over.

I hope the sales fall flat until the price tumbles to a more Nexus level rather than Nexus Prime currently.

 

[dawheat]

I disagree that it's priced wrong. It's priced competitively in the marketplace and with its specs and quick updates, I think it'll sell very well among users who want this size of phone. To me, the bigger misstep is the size, not the price. The width of the phone is formidable even compared to other phablets and yes you get the great big screen, but I think they slipped a bit over the line of "I can deal with this everyday" for the average user.

The person who loved the Z Ultra and such? Perfect phone.

As for price - if it didn't have the Nexus brand, most of us would be praising the price (guessing $149 or $199 on contract) vs the $299 for the Note 4 and 6 Plus.

Google has no need for a loss leader phone anymore to increase the visibility of Android and less need to highlight the newest OS version b/c of painfully slow OEM adoption. If anything, I would think this is the new, future trend for the Nexus line.

<edit>Now of course, like all consumers I would love for companies to keep selling products to me at cost. OPO has stated they're selling at cost and that with 0 support or carrier margins. That won't last for anyone, even Chinese OEMs who want to break into the overseas market.