Google unveils Nexus 5, to be available in India soon.

NEW DELHI: Google today took the curtains off the Nexus 5 smartphone and Android 4.4 (KitKat), the latest version of its mobile operating system. The company said that the device is now available in major international markets via Play Store, but also announced that it is coming soon to India.

Nexus 5 will cost Rs 28,999 and Rs 32,999 for the 16 and 32GB variants in the market, as per a listing on Google's Play Store. This price bracket for the top-end handset is much lower than that of corresponding models by the likes of Apple, Samsung, HTC, Sony and LG.

Also read: Google launches Android 4.4, made for budget devices

In line with leaked details, the new Nexus 5 smartphone has a 4.95-inch LCD screen with Full HD (1080p) resolution and protected by Gorilla Glass 3 panel. It packs the 2.2GHz quad-core Snapdragon 800 processor under the hood, with 2GB RAM. The device will be available in 16 and 32GB versions (with no microSD support) and come in white and black colours.

On the back, Nexus 5 sports an 8MP camera with optical image stabilization, 1/3.2-inch sensor and f/2.4 aperture. LED flash is present on the back, while a 1.3MP unit is used in front. Its connectivity suite consists of 2G, 3G, 4G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0 and LE, NFC and microUSB. Powered by a 2,300mAh battery, this device has wireless charging and will cost $349 in the US market without contract.

Instead of the glass body that was used in Nexus 4, the new model sports a plastic shell with a "silky texture," as the chief of Android Sundar Pichai put it. Early hands-on reviews of the device say that this material has soft touch matte finish similar to that of Nexus 7 tablet. Instead of plastic, volume rocker and Power/Lock keys are made of technical ceramic material.

Just like Nexus 4, Google has partnered with LG to manufacture the new device.

Google's new smartphone comes on the day when Apple's iPad Air hits major international markets and iPhone 5S and 5C launch in India.

The new Android 4.4 operating system that was launched today has been optimized for low-cost smartphones and tablets and is currently available only for Nexus 5. It will be released for Nexus 7 and Nexus 10 tablets, Nexus 4 smartphone and the Google Play versions of Samsung Galaxy S4 and HTC One in coming weeks.

No Nexus 5 yet, but new rumors continue to fly

Tuesday was one of the rumored reveal dates for a new Google Nexus phone, but the Google Play store remains unchanged and a fresh batch of rumors is circulating.

Was the Nexus 5 launch shut down by the shutdown?

(Credit: FCC)

We don't yet have an official Nexus 5 smartphone, but there's all kinds of new gossip about the next pure Android phone from Google to speculate about.

Tuesday had been one of the most widely circulated potential reveal dates for the Nexus 5, but as I write this it's past noon on the West Coast and Google is still mum about any new hardware (in truth, if we were going to see something Tuesday, invites or some other event details would have gone out days ago).

Instead, a whole new crop of rumors have sprung forth in the absence of any hard news, as if compelled to fill the vacuum that apparently both nature and technology abhor.

Most interesting, but least believable in my mind, is the suggestion that Google plans to introduce not only a Nexus 5 in the coming weeks, but also a new LTE-enabled Nexus 4. According to a Romanian Android blog that I'd never heard of before, the Nexus 5 will launch at $399 for 16GB and $449 for 32GB, and an LTE Nexus 4 will start at $299 for 16GB or $349 for 32GB.

Previously, the price of the Nexus 5 was rumored to be $299. $399 might be a more likely price point, but I do have one question about releasing a Nexus 5 at the same time as a new Nexus 4: why?

Why would Google do that? The very idea seems completely counter-intuitive to the point of the whole Nexus program, which is to offer leading-edge Android reference designs that showcase Google's vision for the direction of the mobile OS. Google slashed the price of the Nexus 4 to clear out its stock and focus on the next generation of Android. Why would it bring the phone back just to fragment things and distract from that goal?

Nexus 5 shut down by the shutdown?
What fascinates me more than rumors of a Nexus 4 encore is some of the speculation over why the Nexus 5 hasn't emerged from the shadows yet. It could be that a launch closer to Halloween was always the plan -- I still think that could tie in nicely with the Android 4.4 KitKatlaunch -- or it could be that massive furloughs at the FCC and numerous other federal agencies could be to blame.

You might remember that we saw some FCC certification docs for what appear to be the Nexus 5 last month, but what if Google wasn't able to get everything it needed to get past the federal bureaucracy before it shut down two weeks ago?

That leads us to another rumor that's been getting fresh attention this week -- the notion that Google could launch the "Nexus Gem" smartwatch alongside the Nexus 5 and Android KitKat. Could it be that such a device is currently stuck in the same bureaucratic limbo as countless passport renewals and well... almost all of NASA?

Presumably Google wants to release the Nexus 5 within the next four weeks at the latest to make sure it's available before Black Friday and the kickoff of the holiday shopping season. If there have been delays tied to the shutdown, the company is going to need to figure out some kind of workaround, if possible. If Google and the U.S. Congress cant sort themselves out in time, I'll plan a massive Crave road trip to Tim Hornyak's house in Canada to check out the new Nexus gear.

Meanwhile, we can just continue to hope that Google has been planning to release its new schwag at the end of this month all along.

Leaked video

Google Nexus 5 specs leaked

Internet media is abuzz with rumours of Google's next-generation Nexus smartphone. The upcoming device - likely to be called Nexus 5-- is expected to be showcased by the internet giant in October end, alongside Android 4.4 (KitKat).

The device has been leaked several times so far and now information from benchmarking website GFXBench's databa

Codenamed Hammerhead as per GFXBench data, Google Nexus 5 will run on Qualcomm's latest Snapdragon 800 chipset, which is the most powerful in the world right now. The quad-core application processor will be clocked at 2.3GHz and will be complemented by Adreno 330 graphics processor. Its display will have 1920x1080p resolution, with on-screen resolution being 1794x1080p.

These specifications are in line with rumoured features of the handset.

The data also shows that Nexus 5 will run on Android Key Lime Pie, even though the name has been scrapped by Google. The next version of Android will be called KitKat and is expected to debut with the Nexus 5 smartphone.

It is said that the next Nexus smartphone will be manufactured by LG, which makes the current model. Nexus 5 is said to be based on the recently unveiled LG G2 smartphone and it is expected that the device will feature a 4.96-inch display, 2GB RAM and 13MP rear camera.

The currently available Nexus 4 has recently received a price cut in the US and the 8GB variant of the device went out of stock soon thereafter. Now, stocks of the 16GB model of the device have also been depleted and The Verge has reported that Google will not restock it anymore. However, the Nexus 4 is still available for sale in many countries, including India.

LG Nexus 5 launching with Android 4.4 KitKat on 14 October

Phones, LG, Nexus 5, LG Nexus 5, Android 4.4, Android 4.4 KitKat

• By Jake Smith Follow on Twitter

We've seen plenty leaked about the LG Nexus 5 thanks to a Google employee and the FCC, but now, we have an unverified launch date.
According to Ausdroid and several other publications around the net, LG and Google will officially be taking the wraps off the LG Nexus 5 and Android 4.4 KitKat on 14 October. The timing makes sense given past Nexus events held by Google in October, but nothing has actually been confirmed by the company.
Past FCC filings noted the Nexus 5 features Qi wireless charging capabilities inside of the back cover, which will allow customers to place their device on a charging stone and forget cords. You'll find LTE bands (unlike the Nexus 4), NFC, Bluetooth 4.0, and of course, CDMA / EVDO rev A, pentaband DC-HSPA+ and quadband GSM / EDGE.
The FCC documents further revealed a 4.96-inch diagonal for display, hence the Nexus 5 name, with a length and width of 131.9 mm x 68.2 mm. A Snapdragon 800 SoC was also mentioned.
With the LG Nexus 5 allegedly getting Android 4.4 KitKat in mid-October, this means other Nexus handsets will follow in subsequent days. Ausdroid says to expect updates in the fragmentation/screen resizing area, Miracast updates, new Gallery Visualisation, new APIs regarding animations, and new notification widgets. Perhaps most notably, the blue default colour scheme found in past versions of Android will be changed to other preset palette colours.
Of course as we do with all rumours, we suggest you take this one with a healthy grain of salt. At any rate, an October release is sounding more than likely. 

iPhone 5c price disappointment: 'Cheaper iPhone' fails to check-in

Apple unveiled two new iPhones at a special event held at its Cupertino headquarters on Tuesday. It announced iPhone 5s, successor to the iPhone 5, which comes with a lot of new features like a brand new A7 processor, the first 64-bit chip inside a smartphone, improved camera, and, the highlight of the device, a fingerprint-scanner called Touch ID.

Apple also unveiled iPhone 5c, which was widely anticipated to be the low-cost iPhone, but it turned out to be a big disappointment on that aspect. While the iPhone 5c boasts impressive hardware specifications and comes in a wide variety of colours, the key criteria for this iPhone was always going to be the price, and this is where it disappoints.

The iPhone 5c was supposed to be Apple's weapon to take on Android in at least the mid-level smartphone segment, if an entry-level pricing was never going to come to fruition. However, one look at the off-contract pricing for the iPhone 5s in various regions, and all those hopes can be put to rest.

The entry-level 16GB iPhone 5c without a contract has been priced at $549 in the US. That comes out to a whopping Rs. 35,000 at current exchange rates (1 USD = 63.65 INR) and does not include the duties and other charges that come in while pricing a product in India. If you were hoping for a sub-Rs. 25,000 pricing for the iPhone 5c in India, it's safe to say we won't see anything like that.

The pricing in other regions is even worse, with the iPhone 5c priced at 599 euros (approximately Rs. 50,500) in Germany and 469 pounds in the UK (approximately Rs. 47,000). Of course both those prices include VAT, which can be sizeable. Pricing in Hong Kong is HKD 4,688 (approximately Rs. 38,500). However, it's the pricing in China, one of two "emerging markets" - the other being India - that the iPhone 5c was said to be targeting that is really surprising. The iPhone 5c price in China is 4488 Chinese Yuan Renminbi, which works out to over Rs. 46,500, without duties or any other charges.

With just a $100 price difference between the iPhone 5c and the iPhone 5s, it's a little difficult to fathom why the iPhone 5c even exists. The iPhone 5c surely won't help Apple penetrate into any newer markets, and its only selling point seems to the number of colours it's available in.

It seems Apple is not willing to shed its 'premium' tag just yet, and that, more than anything else from Tuesday's event. will surely disappoint millions who were hoping to see Apple in a more 'affordable' avatar.

Iphone News

• iPhone 5c price disappointment: 'Cheaper iPhone' fails to check-in

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