Another iPad competitor is on the way, with November 3 pegged for the Nexus 9 release date.
The Nexus 9 release date comes with another tablet on the market, but Android's new OS Lollipop should offer a candied alternative to Apple's heavyweights.
The Nexus 9 is expected to elbow Nexus 10 out of the scene, considered a good enough in-betweener for the smartphone and tablet. Early reviews of the device don't consider it a strong competitor for the iPad, but Google's next foray into the tablet arena stands on its own merits.
Google and HTC's next release adds one inch to their smallest tablet to date, and although the Nexus 9 release date is two weeks away, pre-orders are available as early as October17 (to ship in two weeks' time). The Google Play Store and Amazon offers users first crack at initial release.
The Nexus 9 specs shines in dimensions; with its 8.9-inch display, it strikes the ideal balance between the iPad Mini 3 and the iPad Air 2. IPS LCD technology lies underneath the Gorilla Glass 3 display.
With a 2048 x 1536 resolution, the display is satisfactory with a dense 287ppi count and 4:3 aspect ratio. A 2.3 GHz processor and 2GB RAM rounds up the specs, enough to compete with Apple's recent offerings.
Buyers should expect a heftier price tag come the Nexus 9 release date, though. The device costs US$399 for the 16GB model; without an expandable microSD storage option, the 32GB model costs US$479. An LTE, 32GB version follows upon initial release, priced at US$599 (techradar.com).
The Verge hands-on review for the device consider it serviceable, and the dimension is in the Goldilocks zone of tablet sizes.
"It's a weird in-betweener kind of tablet, but even after just a few minutes of use it makes smaller tablets feel too small and bigger tablets feel too big. On a first impression, at least, it's pretty much Goldilocks."
