Google has finally taken the wraps off its much awaited Nexus 5 smartphone and the Android 4.4 KitKat operating system.
The search engine giant made the announcement via a press release on Thursday, October 31.
"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," says Google's Sundar Pichai in a blog post.
The Nexus 5 smartphone sports a 5-inch Full IPS LCD 1080p display with a pixel resolution of 444 ppi. The device measures 137.84 x69.17 x 8.59mm, weighs 130gms, and LG claims it's the "slimmest and fastest Nexus phone ever made."
The smartphone also houses a quad-core Snapdragon 800 processor which is clocked at 2.3GHz. The 4G LTE-enabled smartphone has 2GB of RAM and will be available in 16GB and 32GB on-board storage options. The Nexus 5 packs in an 8-megapixel primary camera with OIS, autofocus and LED flash. It also features a 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera.
The smartphone supports NFC, Bluetooth 4.0 and wireless charging. It packs in a 2,300mAh non-removable battery and will come pre-loaded with Android 4.4 KitKat.
"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," says Pichai.
The unlocked off-contract Nexus 5 is now available via the Google Play stores in the U.S., Canada, the UK, Australia, Germany, Spain, France, Italy, Japan and Korea. The smartphone will be coming soon to India as well.
The 16GB and 32GB versions of the smartphone will set consumers back by $349 and $399, respectively. The smartphone will be available in black and white color options.
Android 4.4, KitKat will also be available for the Nexus 4, Nexus 7, and Nexus 10 soon. Non-Nexus devices like the Google Play editions of the Samsung Galaxy S4 and HTC One will benefit from the software update in the "coming weeks."
