The video opens asking, “Remember an old phone?” “Like unsupported old?” It uses the same plinky-plinky music featured in Google’s new Pixel promo video, and the words parody Google’s own which ask, “Need a new phone?” “Like new new?” We’re then treated to glamor shots of the Nexus 6, Motorola’s last Nexus phone effort released in 2014, along with notes on how its high specification still stands up today, how it was the first Android phone with 5.0 Lollipop installed, and that it has several features not seen on the new Pixel phones.
We may being given a rose-tinted view of the Nexus 6 — the fact it’s absolutely enormous is its biggest (sorry) drawback — but the overall point of the video is a good one, the phone is still very capable. Google has already updated it to Android 7.0, and an update to Android 7.1 will arrive in December, but Nougat represents the last set of major software updates for the Nexus 6. Google promises updates for two years, and the Nexus 6 has now reached that age, hence the “unsupported” line at the start of the video.
In Google’s world, the Nexus 6 is now old. The YouTube video argues the phone isn’t really old at all. Hardcore Nexus owners commenting on the video agree, with many saying they won’t be trading in the Nexus 6 for a newer Pixel phone. Following the Pixel phone announcement, tweets sent from the official Nexus Twitter account indicated Google has retired the Nexus brand, at least for smartphones.
Google certainly wants, and arguably needs, you to embrace its Pixel phones. Do you have an “old” Nexus phone in your hand right now, and will you be trading it in for a new Pixel?
