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The Nexus 5 has entered officialdom at last, costing £299 for the 16GB model, and £339 for the 32GB option from Google Play. It’s the biggest Google phone yet, packing a mammoth 4.95-inch display.
Currently Google’s Play Store only shows you the black, 16GB Nexus 5 (though this will likely be fixed before long), but you can see the white version and the 32GB version by changing the words in the URL to ‘white’ or ’32’ instead of ‘black’ and ’16’. Or just follow these links:
- White 32GB
- White 16GB
- Black 32GB
Despite that screen size — which puts the Nexus 5 on par with 5-inch mobiles like the Samsung Galaxy S4 and Sony Xperia Z — Google’s latest Android flagship phone is quite light, tipping the scales at just 130g, which is 18g heavier than the iPhone 5S.
The display itself has a 1,920×1,080-pixel resolution, for a cornea-scorching 445 pixel-per-inch count, and is slathered with Corning’s Gorilla Glass 3.
On sale in the UK today, the Nexus 5 packs a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor and 2GB of RAM. The Nexus 4 was — at the time — one of the most powerful mobiles we’d ever encountered, so we’re expecting great things from its successor.
Unlike its forebear, the Nexus 5 has 4G for speedier data. On the back there’s an 8-megpaixel camera, while a 1.3-megapixel front-facing snapper handles your video calls and selfies. A new HDR+ camera feature is on board, which Google says will help you take photos in tricky lighting situations.
The Nexus 5 comes in 16 or 32GB versions, though there’s no microSD card slot, so you’ll be stuck with the storage it comes with.
Android 4.4 KitKat
The Nexus 5 will be the first phone to run Android 4.4 KitKat, the latest version of Google’s mobile operating system. KitKat introduces a new transparent launcher, revamped status bars and a more condensed font, for crisper on-screen text.
One exciting new feature is a redesigned dialler, which accesses Google Maps’ servers to let you search for numbers that aren’t in your contacts — handy for getting hold of a local hairdresser for an emergency perm.
Google says KitKat also requires less memory, which may help it to run better on older Android phones. The Chrome browser app in KitKat uses 16 per cent less memory than it does in Jelly Bean, Google told CNET.
Are you going to buy the Nexus 5? Let me know in the comments, or on the nexus of opinion that is our Facebook wall.
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