Nexus 5 Briefly Appears on Google Play - Starts at $349
by Brian Klug on October 17, 2013 9:48 PM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- Mobile
- Nexus 5
In what may be one of the most interesting leaks thus far in the road to the official Nexus 5 announcement, today Google seems to have accidentally confirmed both the Nexus 5's name, appearance, and starting price. The Nexus 5 went live on the Nexus category of Google Play, with the name and starting price of $349. It has since been changed back to show the Nexus 4.
We've already seen its appearance in a Google KitKat video, later from the FCC, and finally in the leaked service manuals for the LG-D821 variant (which I believe is the EMEA banding variant, LG-D820 will be for the USA), someone also dug up a higher resolution image of the Nexus 5 confirming its appearance.
So we know some specs (MSM8974 Snapdragon 800, with LTE and likely an 8 MP camera with OIS), and price $349, all we need is an official launch date and announcement.
Source: @MKBHD, Android Police
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blacktrance - Friday, October 18, 2013 - link
I know this has better specs than the Nexus 4, but aesthetically it's a step backwards.hughlle - Friday, October 18, 2013 - link
that's the thing about aesthetics. They're totally subjective. The aesthetics of the N4 were a complete deal breaker for me, this however i love.Tetracycloide - Friday, October 18, 2013 - link
I'm more interested in how functional the exterior of the device is and anything is more functional than a glass back.hughlle - Friday, October 18, 2013 - link
Exactly. I refused to buy it because of the back. Sparkly glass. No thanks.jonup - Friday, October 18, 2013 - link
11 months later, the glass back is still non-issue. Stop talking from a script.stepz - Friday, October 18, 2013 - link
So your phone hasn't even once entered magic hovercraft mode and slid down to the floor from an imperceptibly angled surface? Not a deal breaker for me, although it can be a glass back breaker if you're not careful.Spunjji - Monday, October 21, 2013 - link
This. This happens to my girlfriend's N4 every day... I keep telling her to buy a case!Chil - Friday, October 18, 2013 - link
The interesting part to me is Hangouts instead of Messaging. Does this finally mean SMS over WiFi?jramskov - Friday, October 18, 2013 - link
I don't think you'll ever get SMS over WiFi, but something similar to iMessage where SMS and iMessages are integrated seamlessly in one app and the application figures out whether you can use iMessage or needs to use SMS. The advantage of Google Hangout would be that it is available on IOS as well. It could also be a problem, depending on how they implement it and how people have Hangout configured.uhuznaa - Friday, October 18, 2013 - link
It could also be a problem for some people if this means you'll have all your SMS end up at Google's server for some reason.Anyway, I find it interesting that the 16 GB Nexus 5 will be at the same price point as the 32 GB Nexus 7 LTE. For me it gets more and more tempting to reconfigure my habits to a smaller and simple smartphone (maybe a cheap Nokia Lumia) and a decent tablet. Having a 5" smartphone and a very similar 7" tablet with exactly the same OS which differ just by 2" in display size and nothing else seems a bit pointless...