At the Google event yesterday, the Mountain View company confirmed that the Nexus product lineup is dead. In its place, the company has launched the sophisticated and much more premium Pixel smartphones. Even the price of the 32GB Google Pixel is Rs. 57,000, making it cheaper by a hair than the upcoming iPhone 7. However, the Nexus line-up of phones was never this costly. In fact, the Nexus series was supposed to be the pure Google phone for the masses. We took a trip down memory lane, looking back at the Nexus devices from Google, and the journey to the Pixel phones.
Nexus One
The Nexus One was the first of its kind. Made by HTC in 2010, this was the first phone from Google running on Android 2.1 Eclair OS. Soon after, HTC brought the Desire smartphone running Android Froyo with HTC’s Sense UI layered on top. However, Nexus One wasn't the first phone to run Android. In 2009 HTC launched the HTC dream, which ran on Android 1.6 Donut and was in fact the first phone to run on Android.
Quick Specs:
SoC: Qualcomm Snapdragon 200
Display: 3.7-inch, 480p
RAM: 512MB
Storage: 512MB
Camera: 5MP
OS: Android v2.1 Eclair
Nexus S
Again in 2010, Google partnered with Samsung to launch the Nexus S. The phone is best remembered for its slightly curved glass touch screen, which was termed as “Contour Display”. The device was based on the first Samsung Galaxy S flagship phone. It was also the first Nexus device to feature NFC.
Quick Specs:
SoC: Exynos 3
Display: 4-inch, 480p
RAM: 512MB
Storage: 4GB
Camera: 5MP, VGA
OS: Android v2.3 Gingerbread
Galaxy Nexus
Next year in 2011, Samsung was given another chance at making the Nexus and the Galaxy Nexus was born. This phone marked the departure of the capacitive touch navigation keys, in its place, the phone relied on software navigation keys, right on the display. This was also the first Nexus phone to introduce an HD display to the Nexus lineup. Samsung also continued the slightly curved design from the previous Nexus, but this time it had a hump at the back as well.
Quick Specs:
SoC: TI OMAP 4460
Display: 4.65-inch, 720p
RAM: 1GB
Storage: 16GB
Camera: 5MP, 1.3MP
OS: Android v4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich
Nexus 4
In 2012, Google partnered with LG and came up with the Nexus 4. Based on the LG Optimus G, the Nexus 4 was strikingly different than previous phones and is still considered one of the best looking smartphones till date. It featured glass panels on the front and back, giving it the unique, suave look. With the Nexus 4, the Nexus line jumped from a 512MB RAM to a 2GB RAM and had a quad-core SoC to match. However, the phone did not support LTE, but only HSPA+.
Quick Specs:
SoC: Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro
Display: 4.7-inch, 720p
RAM: 2GB
Storage: 8/16GB
Camera: 8MP, 1.3MP
OS: Android v4.2 Jellybean
Nexus 5
With the Nexus 5, LG continued to work with Google and the phone become quite popular at its time. At launch, it wasn't the most powerful smartphone but at the end of the day, it did offer a smooth Android experience. The reason for its popularity was also the fact that it was not as expensive as other flagship devices at the time, but still offered the best of Android.
Quick Specs:
SoC: Qualcomm Snapdragon 800
Display: 4.95-inch, 1080p
RAM: 2GB
Storage: 16/32GB
Camera: 8MP, 1.3MP
OS: Android v5.0 Lollipop
Nexus 6
In 2014, when Motorola was still a part of Google, the company developed the Nexus 6. It was big, bulky, but a very powerful device. It had a 5.98-inch display making it quite unwieldy. The display also became a subject of memes and various jokes on the internet. If you have one, check your updates as Android Nougat update is available on the device.
Quick Specs:
SoC: Qualcomm Snapdragon 805
Display: 5.96-inch, 1440p
RAM: 3GB
Storage: 32/64GB
Camera: 13MP, 2MP
OS: Android v5.0 Lollipop
Nexus 5X
Last year, Google announced two Nexus devices, one was this, the Nexus 5X and the other being the bigger Nexus 6P. The 5X, which was made by LG had a similar design as the very popular Nexus 5, but with improved specifications. The phone offered a really good performance, even though it featured an older processor and just 2GB of RAM. The really impressive bit was the 12.3MP rear camera, which was at that time, the best Nexus camera.
Quick Specs:
SoC: Qualcomm Snapdragon 808
Display: 5.2-inch, 1080p
RAM: 2GB
Storage: 16/32GB
Camera: 12.3MP, 5MP
OS: Android v7.0 Nougat
Nexus 6P
The Nexus 6P, also a Google flagship from last year, is still one of the best devices you can buy today. Offering a beautiful 2K panel and a really good build quality, the Nexus 6P remains a crowd favourite. Made by Huawei, the phone was a true flagship, unlike many other previous Nexus devices, which did not offer flagship class specifications. The Google Nexus 5X and the 6P were also the first devices to feature a fingerprint scanner.
Quick Specs:
SoC: Qualcomm Snapdragon 810
Display: 5.7-inch, 1440p
RAM: 3GB
Storage: 32/64GB
Camera: 12.3MP, 8MP
OS: Android v7.0 Nougat
Beyond Nexus
Google won’t be making any more Nexus devices from now on and in its place, we will see Pixel phones henceforth. As you may know, the newly launched Pixel phones are not cheap and that may put off many potential buyers, me included. However, the new phones offer the best of Google and current gen hardware, which should be enough to lure in the loyalists. So, would you buy one?
Google Pixel
Quick Specs:
SoC: Qualcomm Snapdragon 821
Display: 5-inch, 1080p
RAM: 4GB
Storage: 32/128GB
Camera: 12MP, 8MP
OS: Android v7.0 Nougat
Price: Rs. 57,000 / 66.000
Google Pixel XL
Quick Specs:
SoC: Qualcomm Snapdragon 821
Display: 5.5-inch, 1440p
RAM: 4GB
Storage: 32/128GB
Camera: 12MP, 8MP
OS: Android v7.0 Nougat
Price: Rs. 67,000 / 76.000