If you’re a die-hard Nexus fan like a few of us here are at Android Headlines, you were probably counting down the days until the official release of the next Nexus smartphone. Anticipation had been building for months thanks to the many leaks and rumours that preceded the official release off the Nexus 6, and one of the most whispered about rumours was the talk of Google increasing the size of their flagship device. When the Nexus 6 was finally revealed to the public just two short weeks ago, those rumours were confirmed when we saw that the Nexus 6 would sport a 5.9 inch screen, up from the 4.95 inches of the Nexus 5. It’s safe to say that following its release, the two most common statements people made when discussing the Nexus 6 were “Wow that’s a big phone!” or “That costs so much more than the Nexus 5!”. Pricing talk aside, the people at Google are well aware of people’s concerns regarding their larger than usual phone and, in a recent interview, Google’s VP of product management revealed that the company wholeheartedly embraces its venture into phablet territory.
When speaking with the people at CNET, Brian Rakowski was asked about Google’s decision to drastically increase the size of their flagship smartphone and his response indicates that Google believes people who may initially balk at the idea of carrying around such a large device simply need to try it out before making any judgements as they will most likely enjoy it. Specifically, he said about these skeptics “if you gave them a phablet for a week, 50 percent of those would say they like it and not go back.” One can’t help but agree with Rakowski considering that Google is certainly not the first OEM to create a large smartphone and you don’t need to be an industry insider insider to know that when it comes to the size of their smartphones, the opinion of most consumers is “the bigger, the better”.
Since the Nexus 6 was unveiled there has been article after article with tech writers waxing philosophical about its size but, at the end of the day, this is simply Google making a smart financial decision. Consumer demand indicates that people want phones with big screens and what any manufacturer wants is, of course, sales. Aside from that, Google really needed to do something special to distinguish itself from the vast array of other smartphone manufacturers and, no matter if you’re a Nexus fan or not, after taking one look at the Nexus 6 you know that it’s an intriguing device.