Nexus 6 / Moto S ‘Shamu’ Release Date: What is Known About Possible Android Silver Phone So Far

What do we know of the Nexus 6 so far?
Nexus 6 / Moto S ‘Shamu’ Release Date: What is Known About Possible Android Silver Phone So Far
In thie file photo, Google co-founders Larry Page, left, and Sergey Brin pose for photos at their company's headquarters The search giant reported 2014 earnings with a $66 billion revenue in total, of which $18.1 billion was profit or income before taxes. (Ben Margot/AP Photo, File)
8/19/2014
Updated:
8/21/2014

What do we know of the Nexus 6 so far?

Earlier in the year, rumors surfaced that Google was discontinuing the Nexus line, and would shift to a new brand from the Play Edition family.

It was also rumored that Google would start a new Android Silver line, where Google would work together with a number of companies to build high end smart mobile devices like the Nexus, except without the bloatware that comes with versions of Android by these companies.

Google has denied that it has a new initiative and is abandoning the Nexus line, but did not announce any upcoming Nexus devices to replace the Nexus 5 and Nexus 7.

Thus, rumors started in June that LG will be making a 5.5-inch Nexus phone together with Google. The phone, dubbed the Nexus 6, was supposed to be the replacement for the Nexus 6.

Two months later, has been speculated that Motorola are going to be the ones working together with Google to produce the Nexus 6.

The phone is dubbed “Shamu,” came about after Lenovo agreed to buy Motorola in January 2014, which led to Google’s Android unit working together with Motorola for the new phone.

“Shamu” is the name of a killer whale, and is in line with the “sea animal” code names that Google uses for its Nexus line. For example, the Nexus 5 was code named “Hammerhead.”

GFXBench benchmark test suggested that the Motorola phone would have a 5.2-inch QHD display, a 2,649 Mhz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, 2.9GB of RAM, and 24GB of internal storage.

Very recently, tech tipster TK Tech News revealed that a “Moto S,” which he suspects is the Nexus 6 “Shamu,” will be carried by Verizon in the United States.

The Moto S spots a 5.9-inch, 2K display, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 805 with an Adreno 420 GPU, and has a 13 mega-pixel rear camera and a 2.1 mega-pixel front camera. It won’t have a fingerprint scanner, though, a piece of tech that is getting fashionable to include in high end smartphones.

TK Tech suspects that the phone could be the first Android Silver device.

Judging by earlier rumors in the year, and given the lack of a “Nexus” moniker for this upcoming Motorola-Google collaboration, it could be that Google is really shifting to a Android Silver/Google Play Edition style market, and has been sending different signals so as to better surprise and draw attention to its upcoming product when it is released.

 

 

Larry Ong is a New York-based journalist with Epoch Times. He writes about China and Hong Kong. He is also a graduate of the National University of Singapore, where he read history.
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