Today brings an end to all the rumours, leaks and speculation “” the LG-made Google Nexus 5 is finally official and is available to buy in the Google Play stores in U.S., Canada, U.K., Australia, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Japan and Korea today.
Here are the basics of what you need to know: This year’s Nexus handset is a 5-incher with a 1080p display, a 2.3GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 CPU and 2GB of RAM. Storage comes in 16 and 32GB configurations. The Nexus 5 is the first Nexus device to ship with an OIS (optical image stabilization) camera which comes in at 8 MP, which should compensate for hand motion in photos. It’s also packing a 2300mAh battery and wireless charging capabilities.
It will cost $349 for the 16 GB version in the US and $399 for the 32 GB version. Those are stellar prices when you look at what you are getting. The top of the line specs makes this such a compelling buy; my hands are itching for it. Here is the official spec sheet from Google:
| Screen | 4.95“ 1920×1080 display (445 ppi) Full HD IPS Corning® Gorilla® Glass 3 |
| Camera | 1.3MP front facing 8MP rear facing with Optical Image Stabilization |
| Dimensions | 69.17×137.84×8.59 mm |
| Weight | 4.59 ounces (130g) |
| Battery | 2300 mAh Talk time up to 17 hours ** Standby time up to 300 hours ** Internet use time up to 8.5 hours on WiFi, up to 7 hours on LTE ** Wireless Charging built in |
| Audio | Builtin speaker, 3.5mm stereo audio connector |
| Processing | CPU: Qualcomm Snapdragonâ„¢ 800, 2.26GHz GPU: Adreno 330, 450MHz |
| Wireless | Dualband WiFi (2.4G/5G) 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac NFC (Android Beam) Bluetooth 4.0 |
| Networks (North America) | GSM: 850/900/1800/1900 MHz CDMA: Band Class: 0/1/10 WCDMA: Bands: 1/2/4/5/6/8/19 LTE: Bands: 1/2/4/5/17/19/25/26/41 |
| Networks (Rest of World) | GSM: 850/900/1800/1900 MHz WCDMA: Bands: 1/2/4/5/6/8 LTE: Bands: 1/3/5/7/8/20 |
| Memory | Choose 16GB or 32GB internal storage (actual formatted capacity will be less) 2GB RAM |
| Ports and Connectors | microUSB SlimPortâ„¢ enabled 3.5mm stereo audio jack Dual microphones Ceramic power and volume buttons |
| Sensors | GPS Gyroscope Accelerometer Compass Proximity/Ambient Light Pressure Hall |
And here is Google‘s official press release:
Android for all and the new Nexus 5
Just in time for Halloween, we have two new treats for Android fans. First, we’re excited to unwrap our latest platform release, KitKat, which delivers a smarter, more immersive Android experience to even more people. And second, we’re introducing Nexus 5-a new Nexus phone developed with LG.
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.
Bringing more Google smarts to Android
Behind the polish on the screen is the power under the hood. Take the Phone app, which for most people hasn’t really changed since the days of flip phones. Now, we’re making calling easier than ever, by helping you search across your contacts, nearby places, or even Google Apps accounts (like your company’s directory), directly from within the app. And with the new Hangouts app, all of your SMS and MMS messages are together in the same place, alongside your other conversations and video calls, so you’ll never miss a message no matter how your friends send it. This is just a small taste of KitKat-learn more on our site.
Google has always focused on helping users get immediate access to the information they need, and we want to bring this same convenience and power to users on Android. With the new Nexus 5 launcher, Google smarts are deeply integrated into the phone you carry around with you, so getting to the information you need is simple, easy and fast. Swipe once from the home screen to get Google Now literally at your fingertips. Put Google to work for you by saying “OK, Google” to launch voice search, send a text, get directions or even play a song you want to hear. And in the coming weeks, we’re enhancing Now with important new card types that bring you information about contextual topics that interest you such as updates from a favorite website or blog.
Reaching the next 1 billion users
Building a platform that makes mobile phones accessible for everyone has always been at the heart of Android. Until now, some lower-end Android phones couldn’t benefit from more recent Android releases due to memory constraints. With KitKat, we’ve slimmed down Android’s memory footprint by doing things like removing unnecessary background services and reducing the memory consumption of features that you use all the time. We did this not only within Android but across Google services like Chrome and YouTube. RAM (or memory) is one of the most expensive parts of a phone, and now Android can run comfortably on the 512MB of RAM devices that are popular in much of the world, bringing the latest goodies in Android 4.4 within reach for the next billion smartphone users.
Introducing Nexus 5
Along with our sweet naming tradition, we also introduce a new device with each platform release to showcase the latest Android innovations. For KitKat, we partnered with LG to develop Nexus 5 — the slimmest and fastest Nexus phone ever made. Its design is simple and refined to showcase the 5″ Full HD display. Nexus 5 also keeps you connected at blazing speeds with 4G/LTE and ultra fast wifi. The advanced new lens on Nexus 5 captures more light for brighter night and sharper action shots. And with optical image stabilization, you no longer have to worry about shaky hands and blurry pictures. A new HDR+ mode automatically snaps a rapid burst of photos and combines them to give you the best possible single shot. Learn more on our site.
Nexus 5 is available today, unlocked and without a contract, on Google Play in the U.S., Canada, U.K., Australia, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Japan and Korea (and coming soon to India), starting at $349. 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.
Android 4.4, KitKat, which comes on Nexus 5, will also soon be available on Nexus 4, 7, 10, the Samsung Galaxy S4 and HTC One Google Play edition devices in the coming weeks.
How’s that for a treat?
