The Android threat.

[Sean]

Quick summary for anyone who's missed it and doesn't want to go hunting, UK pricing is yet to be revealed.

Nexus 6:
Nexus 6
GSM Arenas page on it with all the gubbins.
Made by Motorola, featuring a 6 inch display, dual front facing speakers, 13mp rear camera with optical image stabilization, flash etc and inside you get a 2.7 GHz quad core processor.
The cost is $649 (about £400) for the 32GB model or $699 (around £440) for the 64GB version. Release date is next month.

The Nexus 9:
Nexus 9
GSM Arenas page.
Made by HTC, with a 9 inch IPS display, 8mp back facing camera, with flash, and inside running a Quad-core 2.3 ghz processor.
The cost is $399 (about £250) for the 16GB model, $479 (about £300) for the 32GB version, or $599 (about £375) for the 4G 32GB model. Should be hitting the Google Play online store on the 3rd November.

Both devices to run Android 5.0 lollipop.

They also unveiled the Nexus Player.

[siteguru]

Replace the $ with £ and reduce by no more than 20% and you'll have the likely UK prices.

$649 = £520
$699 = £560
$399 = £320
$479 = £380
$599 = £480

Unless they heavily discount them like they did with the previous Nexus versions.

[Ekona]

Yay, just what the world needs, another tablet size to fuck around with!

[Dan]

General impression I get is that it's being designed as a sequel to the N5, but I wonder if it's actually going to coexist.

Called it \o/

Going to stick with my N5. N10 is broken. Currently trying to return it. Deciding whether to replace with N9 or a Surface Pro 3.

[Mr.Clark]

I'd be tempted by a Surface Pro. They look awesome. I'm trying to hint to work that they should let me play with one.

Don't take that as buying advice though. I have no idea if they're actually any good, or value for money.

Make sure you get the patch to fix the dodgy touchscreen.

It picked up an OTA as soon as I connected it to the wireless.

I have 4G! Amazingly, it works on my 3 PAYG SIM without any work on my part. The downside, it only works in bits of Milton Keynes.

Liking the double-tap to turn the screen on and off. Also, can just say "OK Google" on the homescreen and it opens the Google Now voice search.

Battery life is awesome, screen is massive and beautiful. I'd have noticed any issues straight away, right?

And what a jump from 8GB to 64GB. Worth not having a micro-SD slot for that.

And then the Nexus 6 costs a bomb.

Feeling like I won on that deal...

No spare invites yet, but if anyone wants one let me know and I'll send some out on a first-come-first-served basis.

[kingweed]

Don't get a surface mate, they'll pretty rubbish. They look good and have great specs ect but the os is really crap which for me is the most important aspect of tablets.

Stick to an ipad. Or a nexus tablet if you must.

[RB]

The surface pro runs Windows. What's crap about windows?
I like mine. It runs Photoshop well enough that I sold my ultrabook.

[Dan]

The surface pro runs Windows. What's crap about windows?

To be fair, I wouldn't touch a Surface 2 (runs Windows RT), but the Surface Pro 3 (runs Windows 8.1) is a very different kettle of fish. The more I read about it, the more I like it.

Only question is, 128gb/4gb or 256gb/8gb. i3 is obviously a no, and the i7 is too expensive. My desktop has 8gb RAM, and uses about 3 when just web browsing, so leaning towards the bigger one...

[kingweed]

The surface pro runs Windows. What's crap about windows?

To be fair, I wouldn't touch a Surface 2 (runs Windows RT), but the Surface Pro 3 (runs Windows 8.1) is a very different kettle of fish. The more I read about it, the more I like it.

Only question is, 128gb/4gb or 256gb/8gb. i3 is obviously a no, and the i7 is too expensive. My desktop has 8gb RAM, and uses about 3 when just web browsing, so leaning towards the bigger one...

Ah my bad, maybe its different then. I tried that Windows RT what a pile of shite that is, it put me off so bad I actually went off the surface altogether!

[Mr.Clark]

I'd stick Windows 10 on it. Mainly to play with the switching between tablet mode and desktop mode.

If you can afford it, I'd always lean towards the better specs. If it's non-upgradable, you may not need all 8GB now, but in a couple of years... who knows.

[Dan]

Now I'm thinking I might wait for the Surface Pro 4. Turns out MS didn't have time to put the new Intel M CPUs in the 3. They apparently have a much lower TDP and therefore battery life will be much better, and the problems with overheating and subsequent throttling of the i5s and i7s under heavy load will probably go away...

[Ekona]

TDP?

[Dan]

The thermal design power (TDP), sometimes called thermal design point, is the maximum amount of heat generated by the CPU that the cooling system in a computer is required to dissipate in typical operation.

If you have two processors which are otherwise identical but the second has a lower TDP then it will generate less heat operating at full load, which means lower power consumption (less of your battery is wasted warming up the air rather than performing instructions) and lower temperatures (quieter, less cooling required). Of some importance in a desktop, but pretty crucial in something with a tablet form factor.

[Ekona]

Perfect, thanks

[Sean]

The pricing for the Nexus 6 has been revealed, but not a release date (although it expected to be the 1st December).

The 32GB version of the giant Motorola-manufactured handset will cost £499, while the 64GB iteration will be £549. Google is offering six months of free access to the £9.99 a month Google Play Music streaming service, if the Nexus 6 is purchased by the end of 2014.