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Despite releasing at the end of 2014, there has been no serious challenger to the Nexus 9 as the premier Android tablet since – so we think it's worth taking a look at the current Android king. Launching with the latest Android Lollipop OS, a powerful Nvidia Tegra K1 chip and a price tag of under £300 – is this the tablet you should be buying?
For the Nexus 9, Google commissioned HTC to manufacture their flagship tablet. While this may seem strange (as previously HTC had not built a tablet since 2011), the Nexus 9 was made and with impressive specifications too. It ditches the previous low-cost strategy Google had in place, instead targeting the high-end of the market.
Features
- 8.9-inch QXGA (2048*1536) display.
- Dual-core Nvidia Tegra K1 CPU.
- 2GB RAM.
- Android Lollipop 5.0.
- 16 or 32GB internal storage, not expandable.
- 8MP primary camera, 1.6MP secondary.
- 6700 mAh battery.
It is safe to say we were not blown away by the packaging of the Nexus 9. The box is made of fairly thin card, and is an off-white sort of colour.
The box itself is very plain, with just a large ‘9' adorning the front.
Inside is the usual combination of product documentation, AC adapter and microUSB cable.
With the new pricing strategy Google implemented with both the Nexus 6 and 9 – namely, going after the high-end of the market – it would not be unreasonable to think we could expect a premium design to the Nexus 9. Sadly, this was not quite the case.
The back of the tablet is made of a matte white plastic (though it also comes in black), which is of a similar feel to that found on the ZenFone range of 2014.
It is easy to hold, but it lacks the quality feel one would expect from a £300 device. It is nowhere near the same premium build as the iPad Air, for instance, which you can now buy for £329 or less. Considering the Air weighs just 44g more, it does not seem much of a compromise.
The white back plastic is also prone to picking up smudges and dirt easily, so it may be best to go for the black option – the front bezel is black in either of the colour options.
There is the benefit of stereo speakers, though, in classic HTC style – at top and bottom of the tablet. This is a good move, as when watching a film or TV show in landscape orientation, the speakers deliver a well-rounded sound.
The standard microUSB port is at the bottom of the Nexus 9, with the on/off switch and volume rocker atop the right-hand edge. A headphone jack at the top-left finishes things off.
The Nexus 9 is probably the first major Android device to go for a 4:3 aspect ratio – the same as found on all Apple tablets.
This means HTC have eschewed the common widescreen FHD panel for the Nexus, going instead for a QXGA display – 2048*1536. On the 8.9-inch screen, this gives us a pixel density of 281 PPI. On a phone this might be a little too low, on a tablet is it more than enough – as typically you would hold a tablet further away than a phone.
In other areas, the brightness is satisfactory, but most problems arise from the reflective screen. Something like a matte screen protector may help here as it is very hard to use outside.
Viewing angles are great, thanks to the IPS panel included by HTC. There is no distortion while tilting the screen, and text remains clear. Sharing the screen while watching a TV show, for instance, would present no problems at all for the Nexus 9.
Colour reproduction is good, but not exceptional. Deeper colours have a tendency to seem slightly ‘washed-out', so perhaps the Nexus would benefit from an enhanced contrast ratio. It's not awful, but not quite as good as we would expect from an IPS panel on a £300 device.
The Nexus 9 was the launch device for Android's newest OS – Lollipop. We review the Nexus with Lollipop 5.0 installed.
Lollipop has given Android a bit of a face-lift, following Apple's lead when they upgraded their visuals with iOS 7. Stock icons in the default Google Now launcher are flatter, for instance, just one of several modifications that give Lollipop a modern look.
The settings menu has adopted a very clean green-on-white colour scheme, while the settings themselves are in columns – meaning the page does not go on forever with the amount of settings there are.
The drop-down notification panel has also been tweaked, with one swipe down showing any actual notifications, while another swipe will bring down the quick settings menu.
Google Now launcher itself now features a white background, with the colourful apps looking clean and sleek against it. It is a more beautiful Android, but remains as customisable as ever.
Under the hood, things are well managed by an unusual Nvidia Tegra K1 chip – it certainly makes a difference from all the Snapdragon CPU's that most devices feature. Alongside this is the usual 2GB RAM.
It is certainly a powerful unit, as the benchmarks will attest. Before that, though, we look at how the device performs in the real world, with everyday usage.
The Nexus 9 will not let you down in that area. The Tegra K1 ploughed through extensive multi-tasking, with the Nexus remaining very responsive despite having several apps open and running in the background. Games, too, were comfortably managed – Temple Run 2 on the highest quality settings displayed no sign of lag or stuttering.
To come to the benchmarks then, the Nexus 9 also proved very adept here. In Geekbench 3, it scored a huge 1962 for single-core performance, with 3373 the multi-core score. This comfortably beat the iPad Air's scores, which posted 1465 and 2643 respectively.
In the 3DMark Ice Storm Unlimited test, it also did very well, scoring 24473. Again, this is a way ahead of the iPad Air on 21651.
The primary shooter on the Nexus 9 is 8MP, taking images at a native resolution of 3280*2460. There is a 1.6MP secondary camera on the front. As it is a Google device, Google's own camera app is used.
The camera really is nothing special, but then again the camera is rarely an area manufacturers focus on with tablets.
Images have a reasonably good depth of colour and detail, with acceptable lighting too. Often the camera would fail to accurately make out the sky in outdoor shots, so it seems exposure in sunlight is an issue.
Mostly, though, image quality is sound, with 8MP providing a good amount of detail to your photos. The front camera, too, is fairly decent – more than enough for selfies or Skype chats.
Included within the Nexus 9 is a 6700 mAh battery – less than the 8600 mAh unit in the iPad Air.
Despite this, it still performs admirably. During our usage of it, one full charge would last about 2 days. This was with WiFi and auto-sync constantly on, on-top of our benchmark tests, gaming and word processing.
For a tablet you can have faith in to take on-the-go, this seems a good choice.
We also ran Battery Drainer, an app by Dan Michlin, which turns everything on, runs the brightness at full and vibrates constantly. After 30 minutes, the battery had fallen just 6% – compared to an 18% drop when we ran the same test on the OPPO R5.
It is a good battery, and should last most users a couple of days on a single charge.We find that mobile devices tend to prioritise either style or substance – and the Nexus 9 definitely prioritises the latter. The Tegra K1 CPU chip is a beastly performer, ripping through the benchmarks and handling normal usage very well.
The battery life is also strong, and should last more than a day on a single charge, provided usage is not extreme.
For a tablet, the 8MP camera is more than good enough – since tablets are not often used primarily for their camera capabilities anyway. When you do use it though, colours reproduce well and lighting is quite good. It does have a tendency to overexpose images with strong sunlight.
While the 8.9-inch display is crisp with 281 PPI, colours do seem washed-out slightly so that is a bit disappointing. To offset this, though, there are excellent viewing angles, so sharing the screen is no problem at all.
The design is the weakest area of the tablet. It is just not premium, and feels like something we would expect from a sub-£150 device rather than a £300 flagship. We like the stereo speakers included, but the plastic back is a definite let-down.
If you can look past this, it's a great tablet and a nice size, too. If you're after a device with a premium feel, though, you may be better off with the iPad Air.
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Pros
- Very powerful chip.
- Sharp resolution.
- Strong viewing angles.
- Solid battery life.
- Decent camera.
- Stereo speakers.
Cons
- Cheap design.
- Colour reproduction is not the best.
KitGuru says: It is certainly a powerful tablet, so if you need something to handle heavy tasks, look no further than the Nexus 9. Unfortunately, it is let down by its build quality.
