Marco Angelo D'Souza
HTC Nexus 9 the premier tablet which runs on Android Lollipop operating system was finally launched in India. It stands exactly in between the iPad Mini and the iPad Air 2, with its 8.9-inch super LCD screen.
The Nexus logo is emblazoned in the centre of the device while the rear camera and the LED flash sit on the top left corner.
Nexus 9 from Google is the successor of the Nexus 7 tablet and the first tablet to come with Android 5.0 Lollipop out of the box.
Nexus 9 comes with Corning Gorilla Glass 3 for protection. The tablet has a resolution of 1536 x 2048 pixelsat 320 ppi and 4:3 aspect ratio. The 4:3 aspect ratio of the screen wastes a lot of real estate while watching movies.
The display quality is sharp and clear. The 32GB variant offers around 25GB of usable storage. There is no memory card slot. USB OTG is not supported in the Nexus 9. The user will have to rely on cloud storage for extra memory.
The gadget packs 2GB of RAM with a dual-core 2.3GHz processor; clearly good enough for almost any task. The device heats up occasionally during gaming sessions or while watching videos.
The device comes with an 8MP rear camera with flash and a 1.6MP front camera. The quality of the front camera is good enough to make video calls. The quality of the rear camera is quite good in daylight. However, in low lighting situation, the images are not of a great quality.
The 6700 mAh battery is a bit disappointing. If you are a moderate user, the 6-7 hours of battery life should be okay for you. On standby, the device lasts for about three days.
The device is priced at Rs 44,900 for a 32GB variant and Rs 28,900 for a 16GB variant.
The Nexus 9 is an impressive Android tablet for regular usage. The price point (the iPad Air 2 retails at around Rs 36,000 for the 16GB Wi-Fi only and Rs 46,000for Wi-Fi plus Cellular), the Nexus 9 has its task cut out. The Nexus 9 is a brilliant blend of a much improved Google (Lollipop) UI and top notch hardware.
