scrofulous chow: The Nexus 5 is official, Play Store now taking orders

Friday, November 1, 2013

The Nexus 5 is official, Play Store now taking orders

Nexus 5

Here comes Google and LG's next big thing

Today brings an end to all the rumors, leaks and speculation — the LG-made Google Nexus 5 is finally official and the Google Play Store is now taking orders.

Here's the long and short of it: This year's Nexus handset is a 5-incher with a 1080p display, a 2.3GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 CPU and 2GB of RAM. Storage comes in 16 and 32GB configurations. The Nexus 5 is the first Nexus device to ship with an OIS (optical image stabilization) camera — an 8MP unit — which should compensate for hand motion in photos. It's also packing a 2300mAh battery and wireless charging capabilities.

Two Nexus 5 models will be offered, a North American version with CDMA support, 7-band WCDMA and 9-band LTE, and an international version with 6-band WCDMA and 6-band LTE. For a full list of radio bands and other technical info, check out our full Nexus 5 specs post.

Prices in the UK start at £295; in the U.S. it's $349 for 16GB and $399 for 32GB. It's available to order now on Google Play Store in several countries with 1-2 day shipping times; brick-and-mortar stores in the UK should have it tomorrow (Nov. 1). The first thousand UK buyers who pick up a Nexus 5 from Carphone Warehouse on-contract can claim a free 16GB Nexus 7 (2012). Carphone's on-contract prices start at £32 per month on 3G and £37 on 4G, both from O2.

Naturally, the Nexus 5 runs the all-new Android 4.4 KitKat, which we're still in the process of learning about amid today's announcements. Stay tuned for additional info just as soon as we get it.

Keep it locked to Android Central for more on today's Nexus and Android 4.4 KitKat news as it breaks.