HTC has begun fulfilling pre-orders for the Nexus 9 tablet today. Unfortunately, it seems the tablet is hard to find in the Play Store, much like the Nexus 6. Google has had a few years to deal with Nexus launches, so it\'s strange that this year it\'s doing so badly with the launch of the Nexus 6 and Nexus 9. Either the devices are much more popular than last year\'s Nexus 5 and what they expected, or they didn\'t expect to sell too many of them in the first place.
Google hasn\'t launched a new Nexus tablet in two years, and tablets aren\'t some of the hottest selling products right now. As for the Nexus 6, they may have realized the 6\" screen would appeal to even fewer people than the Nexus 5 did, and prepared fewer units. Regardless of the reason, hopefully, it won\'t take too long for Google to start selling new units soon.
The Nexus 9 is the first Android tablet to have an Nvidia Denver CPU that has very high single-threaded performance. However, it doesn\'t have a very high multi-threaded performance due to the fact that it\'s only a dual-core CPU. Many other chips powering Android devices have four cores or more, so they may score higher in multi-threaded benchmarks and possibly even perform better in heavy multi-tasking.
The device is also the first to come with Android 5.0 Lollipop, a major redesign of Android both in terms of looks and in terms of functionality. The new version arrives with over 5,000 new APIs. Many are new, while others are just overhauled to make third-party developers\' jobs easier.
The Nexus 9 is one of the few Android tablets to have a 4:3 ratio, much like iPads. The 16:10 ratio of Android tablets has made them almost unusable in portrait mode if they are over 8\" large. The new 4:3 ratio does increase the letterboxes for movies and videos a little, but the trade-off in usability for most other apps is probably worth it. The tablet also has a 2048 x 1536 resolution, which is the same as the iPad Air 2, but the tablet is slightly smaller with a screen size of 8.9\". This should also make it a little easier to hold.
Other specs include 2 GB of RAM, 16 GB of storage for the base model, 802.11ac Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.1, DLNA, 8MP rear camera, 1.6MP front-camera and a 6,700 mAh battery.
The 16 GB Wi-Fi version is now being sold for $400, and the 32 GB version costs $480, but as mentioned earlier, it will be hard to find them in the Play Store. If you do find one, the tablet should ship within \"1-2 days.\" The 32 GB LTE version will be \"coming soon.\"
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Reviews:
Engadget: <click here for link>
I didn\'t expect to feel so torn about the Nexus 9. On the one hand, Android 5.0 Lollipop is refreshing, what with its snappiness and welcoming redesign. On the other, I can\'t help but feel a little frustrated that Google and HTC compromised on the Nexus 9\'s screen, speakers and design. I get the rationale. The software\'s the real highlight here, so they didn\'t feel the need to go bonkers with the hardware niceties (and the costs that come with them). What that all boils down to is a tablet that\'s stunning in some ways and seemingly average in others. Long story short: If you want to live on Android\'s bleeding edge, buy a Nexus 9. Buy it because of Lollipop. Those few shortcomings won\'t overshadow all the good that Google and HTC have done here. But if that\'s not you -- if you don\'t demand the latest software that springs forth from Mountain View\'s depths as soon as it\'s ready -- there are plenty of attractive options that might fit your life a little better.
The Verge: <click here for link>
This year, Google was given an unexpected opportunity. Apple’s annual refresh of its tablet line didn’t blow anyone away, and actually left many disappointed, hoping for more. Had Google hit everything right with the Nexus 9 — the price, the hardware, the performance, and the software — it could have really challenged Apple’s position.
But unfortunately, the Nexus 9 just isn’t as good as it needs to be. It’s priced as high or higher than Apple’s tablets, but doesn’t offer anything in terms of hardware or performance to sway someone from just purchasing an iPad instead. The Nexus 9 would make a killer $249 or $299 tablet, but at $399, even last year’s iPad Air is a better buy for the vast majority of people. And if you want something smaller than the iPad Air, last year’s iPad mini 2 undercuts the Nexus 9 by a full $100, while offering a better experience all around. It’s hard to recommend the Nexus 9 to anyone outside of diehard Android fans.
Beating the iPad is hard. Many have tried, many have failed. The Nexus 9 is Google’s closest shot yet, but it still misses the mark.
See you next year, Google.
TechCrunch: <click here for link>
Google’s Nexus tablet line has always offered a good balance of performance and value for those interested in an Android slate. The HTC-made Nexus 9 is among the best Android tablets in terms of pure performance. In that regard it lives up to this tradition, and also shows that despite taking a few years off, HTC can still go toe-to-toe with other Android OEMs in the tablet game. But at $399 the Nexus 9 has to square off against the iPad Air, which Apple still sells at the new price of $399. Lollipop gives the Nexus 9 some built-in software features that the iPad can’t match, including multiple user account switching, but ultimately Apple’s iOS tablets still blow away Android slates when it comes to third-party software choice and quality.
If you’re still looking primarily for a tablet outside Apple’s ecosystem, however, the Nexus 9 has no real peer; its unadorned Lollipop OS trumps anything from Samsung, and its closest competitor is probably the Nvidia Shield Tablet, which, while definitely better for an audience concerned specifically with gaming (and crossover PC gaming in particular), can’t quite match the Nexus 9 in terms of features and specs that appeal to a broader consumer tablet audience.
TechRadar: <click here for link>
Google\'s Nexus 9 tablet has display size and price that\'s indicative of everything you need to know about how it stacks up against the iPad Air 2. It\'s just a little less.
The smaller 8.9-inch screen is good enough until you sit it next to the richer-looking, laminated 9.7-inch iPad display. The LCD backlight bleeding didn\'t help in our comparison tests either. Among Androids, its 4:3 aspect ratio makes it a great two-handed upgrade over last year\'s narrower and slower Nexus 7. It\'s almost as thin, but nowhere near as sub-pencil-thin as Apple\'s \"laser-cut\" iPad.
More design cues appear to have been taken from the ASUS-made Nexus 7 than HTC\'s own all-metal HTC One M8. The soft rubberized back is easy to grip, yet doesn\'t feel as premium. That\'s a problem because this Android tablet costs much more than last year\'s model. It starts at $399 (£319, about AU$450) for the 16GB version, and that space fills up rather quickly.
Android 5.0 Lollipop gives Google\'s slate a software facelift, even if the hardware construction isn\'t especially innovative. The Material Design theme is where this tablet shines in terms of look, while lockscreen notifications and priority mode add overdue functionality. It helps us forget about Google\'s lack of a cohesive messaging app strategy that challenges iMessages on iOS 8.
Nexus 9 is a few tenths of an inch shy of matching the iPad Air 2, which wouldn\'t be so bad if the display and design didn\'t come up short as well.
We\'ll continue testing Nexus 9, considering the new, late-breaking update from Google and will give it a final score considering what we find.
Gizmodo: <click here for link>
Should You Buy It
Probably not. The more expensive iPad Air 2 blows it away from a performance standpoint, and the original iPad Air is now priced identically to the Nexus 9. Even though it\'s a year older it will probably serve you better as an all-around tablet, due to some of the Nexus 9\'s performance and fit-and-finish failings. Not to mention that the iPad mini 2 starts at $300 — or $350 for 32GB — and it\'s only an inch smaller than the Nexus 9. Just wanna watch movies and TV? The $380 Kindle Fire HDX 8.9 has a great screen and best-in-class audio that no other tablet can match.
In Android-world, the Nexus 9\'s competition is less fierce. The fantastic 7-inch Shield Tablet is getting stock Lollipop, but it\'s on the smaller side. The Galaxy Tab S 8.4 starts at $400 and has a beautiful screen, but it\'s also loaded up with Samsung\'s TouchWiz UI, which slows it down and uglies it up. So if you want stock Android and stock Android specifically (who can blame you?) the Nexus 9 is fine. Good even! But not quite great.
Don\'t get me wrong: the Nexus 9 isn\'t an irredeemably bad device; it\'s just a pretty mediocre option in a world full of other tablets that really stand out in one way or another. In a world that\'s already full of tablets that work just fine for the most part, you need to have a really good excuse to buy a new one. Killer performance should be the Nexus 9\'s strong suit, but right now it just doesn\'t stick the landing. So unless you\'re a Nexus junkie, there\'s really no reason to get a Nexus 9 in place of, or in addition to anything else.
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