Today Google officially announced the Nexus 5, a phone we all didn’t know about. Hell no, thanks to the leaks the surprises weren’t many this time. The Nexus 5 is the first phone preloaded with Google’s Android 4.4 Kitkat in its purest form. KitKat was also launched alongside the Nexus.
Nexus 5
The Tech Specifications haven’t change much from those in the leaks. The device is 4.95 inches as earlier rumoured at 1920×1080 display (445 ppi, Full HD IPS &Corning® Gorilla® Glass 3. It carries a Snapdragon™ 800, 2.3GHz processor, 2 GB RAM, HDR+, dual band wifi, 4G/LTE, and a 2300mAh battery, bluetooth 4.0 and it ships in two sizes and colors, both 16GB and 32 GB versions at $349 and $399 respectively then you get to choose either a white or black phone. You also get to wake the Nexus 5 by saying a command ‘Ok Google’.
The Nexus 5 wasn’t the only announcement Google made today, more announcements were made. Lets start with a wireless charger for the Nexus 5,
A wireless charger for the Nexus 5
Google announced a a revamp wireless charger for the Nexus 5, 7 the charger might be able to charge any Qi-compatible device, such as last year’s Nexus 4, but only devices that have the magnets built in to them (the Nexus 5 and Nexus 7) will be able to actually stick to the charger. The charger is square. I cant predict the effect of the magnets on the Nexus 5’s compass, lets hope Google planned that out well.
The Galaxy Nexus wont receive Android Kitkat 4.4
The Galaxy Nexus wont be recieving Android Kitkat, because its over 2 years old since it was launched in 2011. Which means it falls in otside the 18 month support window, the Galaxy nexus still has the hardware requirement to run Kitkat, the Galaxy Nexus has 1 GB RAM yet the minimum requirements are 512mb RAM. If Google follows this system the Nexus 4, will be out of date soon, lets hope the Developers at XDA do a good job about this.
Google has updated Google Play Services to version 4.0.
The new Google Play Services release has the Google Mobile Ads SDK, and also makes improvements to geofencing, Google+, and Google Wallet Instant Buy APIs. Google Play Services 4.0 has dropped support for Android 2.2 (Froyo). Since most Android Devices are running Gingerbread and above, dropping support for froyo wouldn’t be a bad idea. The Google Play services SDK is available for download to developers.
A new Google Mobile Ads SDK in Google Play services now provides “seamless improvements” to end users. That means bug fixes are pushed automatically to users without developers having to do anything. We might have more relevant ads in apps. Google Wallet API has also been improved.
Android 4.4 KitKat
New features of Kitkat include Improved Caller IDs, where your phone searches through Google databases & Google maps to get you the details of an unknown caller, The lock screen has full album art when playing music, you can add widgets to the homescreen and access some features without unlocking the device. Hangouts replaces the default messaging app which means you can get your SMS through hangouts. Hangouts supports wireless printing. How could i end with this? Just say ‘Ok Google Now’ to launch voice search, send a text, get directions or even play a song without touching the screen, this will work when you are in your homescreen or in Google now.
Moto X Camera app can now be updated through Google Play
The Moto X camera app update was being slowed down by carriers and now Google has decided to update the camera app through Google Play.
There you have it, Google update for a day!
