Samsung recently took to the stage to unveil the new Galaxy Note 7 phablet – a phone that has been hailed by many experts as the best ever yet to have come from the South Korean tech giant.
While this is good news for Sammy lovers, the story could be better for those who enjoy the stock Android experience. This stems from the fact that Google and HTC are working on a new Nexus 2016 set of phones to replace the still magnificent Nexus 6P and the mid-range Nexus 5X. Just recently, HTC documents leaked details of the upcoming Nexus 2016 phones, but there is no official word confirming of their existence.
Still, the numerous rumors that have been doing rounds all over have out forward quite a number of interesting features and specs that might easily tempt some undecided Samsung Galaxy Note 7 enthusiasts to stick around and wait for the Google Nexus 2016 Marlin, the flagship variant of the two handsets. The other is known as Sailfish and even though it will reportedly pack the same hardware specs as its flagship counterpart, it will lack on some fronts, for instance, display quality and size.
As for the Google Nexus 2016 Marlin, a recent leak can confirm that the phone will indeed share the same hardware configuration with the already announced Samsung Galaxy Note 7. As pointed out earlier, the Note 7 has been hailed as the most powerful phone at this time, but with the Nexus 2016 having the same specs and buoyed by the presence of a stock Android Nougat experience out of the box, there is no doubt that the latter deal is more tempting.
According to the leak, Google Nexus 2016 Marlin will be powered by a Snapdragon 820 SoC that is paired with an Adreno 530 GPU and a decent RAM of 4GB. As for the display unit, you get a 5.5-inch AMOLED panel with 2560 by 1440 pixels of resolution. There is only 32GB of storage, but Google is expected to provide more storage options since the Nexus line of devices is known for its lack of support for microSD cards.
HTC will reportedly be using glass and metal in designing the Google Nexus 2016 Marlin. The glass part will be protected by the new Gorilla Glass 5. As for the cameras, there will be a 13MP snapper on the back and an 8MP lens on the front.
Looking carefully at these supposed Nexus 2016 Marlin specs will tell you something about this phone – that it will bring tight competition to the new Galaxy Note 7. The latter has more of the same specs only that it adds some real estate on the screen with its 5.7-inch Super AMOLED panel and support for S-Pen input, but as for the rest of the specs, they remain unchanged. You also get the same hardware specs under the hood, although non-U.S. variants have an Exynos 8890 SoC on board.
Samsung Galaxy Note 7 has an iris scanner on the front panel, something that will for sure remain exclusive to the phone for the foreseeable future. But still, Nexus 2016 users can rely on the speedy fingerprint scanner that is expected to be fixed on the back of the phone. The Note 7 also packs a 12MP DualPixel camera on the back and a 5MP selfie sensor, but the two lenses have proved to be the best in 2016 so far.
Google Nexus 2016 Marlin will offer the same battery life as the Galaxy Note 7, or probably even longer. This is because the latter has a 3500mAh unit while the former is rumored to keep Nexus 6P’s 3450mAh unit. Given the reduced screen size, it could mean the slightly smaller handset delivers longer battery life than the Note 7. Software-wise, the Galaxy Note 7 lags behind with its Android Marshmallow OS, even though the company has promised to avail the Nougat update before the end of this year.
Price and release date
In case you didn’t know, Samsung Galaxy Note 7 was announced on August 2 and is set to start official shipping this Friday, August 19. As usual with Galaxy Note handsets, the newest member of the family is quite pricey. The best deal you can get for a new, carrier-branded Note 7 is $850. On the contrary, there are reports that Google will moderately price its Nexus 2016 handsets, with the flagship Marlin expected to sit around the $500 region.
If this materializes, it would add more weight to whatever reasons you have to wait for the release of the Google Nexus 2016 phones. Would it? Share your views in the comments section.
I have a 128GB Nexus 6P but the Note 7 is so appealing that i’m going to give it a try. I can still get Android 7.0 on the 6P so why not. 🙂