When Google acquired Motorola in 2011 for $12.5 billion, everyone thought this was Google’s first step into manufacturing their own smartphones. As it turned out, Google didn’t quite know what to do with Motorola and ended up selling the company two years later to Lenovo, for a much lower price.
Throughout the two years, Google has helped in the development of the Moto X and Project Ara, but they never became fully invested in Motorola. It looks like after the acquisition they will finally partner, to develop the Nexus 6 device.
The Nexus 6 has been reported on for quite some time, Motorola, Asus, LG and HTC have been noted to be developing the smartphone, leading to conflicting reports on the design, specs and when it will be available.
It looks like Motorola will develop a phablet sized smartphone, 5.9-inches, similar to the Galaxy Note 3. This would be against Motorola’s normal size range for smartphones, the Moto X only had a 4.3-inch screen.
Codenamed Shamu, the Nexus 6 will have a fingerprint sensor and top-notch specs. In the original report by Android Police, they claim the screen has an unknown resolution, potentially 2560 x 1440 to really show off the 5.9-inch screen.
The Nexus 6 and Nexus 9 should both be available whenever Google launches Android L. Currently in preview, the next update to Android will provide a new design language, more features to Google Now and Android Wear integration.
The Nexus 9 will reportedly be developed by HTC, codenamed Volantis. We have heard various rumors on Volantis and it is high-time Google developed another Nexus tablet, after the Nexus 7 (2013 edition) failed to impress.
It would be a bit odd that in the two years of ownership, Google decided to partner with LG, Asus and Samsung, but keep Motorola out of the Nexus projects, but as soon as they are owned by Lenovo, Google hit them up for a partnership.
