Google places a big bet with its Nexus 6 (pictures)

Say goodbye to the Nexus philosophy of old, which was to deliver good-but-not-mindblowing specs for a hard-to-beat price. Google's new, Motorola-made Nexus 6 aims for the top of the pile.

We'll call it a Nexus device, but the look and feel of this 6-inch handset fits into Motorola's Moto family, looking like a larger Moto X.

With its 6-inch screen, the Nexus 6 is quite the handful. Its wider frame and slightly heavier weight compared with those of other large-screen phones make a certain amount of sense since its screen is bigger, too. But the gain in overall footprint didn't go unnoticed.

See that transparent ring around the camera lens? It houses the dual-LED flash for the Nexus 6's 13-megapixel camera.

Its 1,440-pixel display makes images and video look gorgeous, though not every third-party icon is optimized for the high resolution.

A curved backing follows the curve of your palm.

The power/lock button and volume rocker live on the phone's right spine.

With Android 5.0 Lollipop comes a new OS look and feel, like these square icons in the app tray.

The new Nexus 6 is a top performer, but it faces extremely stiff competition, especially among large-screen phones. For even more pros and cons, dive into CNET's full Google Nexus 6 review.