Google doesn’t believe in star-studded over the top launch events like Apple and has unveiled one of the leakiest smartphones Nexus 5 alongside Android 4.4 KitKat.
Announced by Sundar Pichai, SVP, Android, Chrome & Apps through a blog post, the Nexus 5 is indeed manufactured by LG and features a 4.95-inch HD display at 445 ppi protected by Gorilla Glass 3; runs Android 4.4 KitKat; is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 SoC clocked at 2.3GHz; 2GB RAM; 16GB / 32GB storage; 8-megapixel rear OIS camera and a 1.3-megapixel front shooter; wireless charging; 2300mAh battery offering talktime juice for up to 17 hours; 4G LTE; microUSB; SlimPort; stereo audio jack; and other usual suspects.
Nexus 5 is already available on Google Play without any contracts U.S., Canada, U.K., Australia, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Japan and Korea at just $349. The smartphone will be made available in India as well. “Just in the time for the holidays, Nexus 5 will be available soon at the following retailers: Sprint, T-Mobile, Amazon, Best Buy and RadioShack”, reads the blog post.
In the UK, Nexus 5 is also available from the Carphone Warehouse for £295 or free on a £32 per month 3G O2 contract. Play Store has listed the 16GB Nexus 5 for £299 while the 32GB model costs £339.
Pichai also released the latest iteration of Google’s mobile operating system – Android 4.4 KitKat. According to Pichai, Android 4.4 KitKat has a slimmed down memory footprint as they have removed the unnecessary background services that were consuming a lot of memory as well as battery juice.
“The first thing you’ll notice about KitKat is we’ve made the experience much more engaging: the book you’re reading, the game you’re playing, or the movie you’re watching—now all of these take center stage with the new immersive mode, which automatically hides everything except what you really want to see”, noted Pichai in the blog post.
