New Delhi: Google on Monday launched its two new devices - Nexus 4 smartphone and Nexus 10 tablet. It also updated its smaller, Nexus 7 tablet released earlier this year. They all run Android 4.2, a new flavour of Jelly Bean, which includes the latest version of Google Now and other new features.
Nexus 4
The Nexus 4 smartphone is being made by LG Electronics Inc. and features a minor update to Google's Android operating system, which now powers more than 500 million devices worldwide. A more comprehensive makeover, known as Key Lime Pie, is expected next year.
The Nexus 4 features a 4.7-inch True HD IPS Plus display with a resolution of 1280-by-768 pixels, supported by Zerogap Touch technology. The screen is scratch resistant, and is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 2. The phone sports an 8 megapixel camera.
The Nexus 4 is armed with Qualcomm's Snapdragon S4 Pro processor with 1.5GHz Quad-Core Krait CPUs, and 2GB of RAM. Nexus 4 comes with the latest Google apps. The latest version of Google Now is built-in.
Another new feature called Photo Sphere stitches together 360-degree pictures of rooms and landscapes. The high-resolution photos created with this tool are similar to the shots shown in Google's Street View feature in its online maps.
"This is the first time we collaborated with LG to build a Nexus device," said Andy Ru-bin, Senior Vice President of Mobile and Digital Content at Google.
Nexus 4: Key specifications
- Chipset: Qualcomm Snapdragon™ S4 Pro processor with 1.5GHz Quad-Core Krait CPUs
- Operating System: Android 4.2, Jelly Bean
- Network: 3G (WCDMA), HSPA+
- Display: 4.7-inch WXGA True HD IPS Plus (1280 x 768 pixels)
- Memory: 8GB / 16GB
- RAM: 2GB
- Camera: 8.0MP rear / 1.3MP HD front
- Battery: 2,100mAh Li-Polymer (embedded) / Talk time: 15.3 hours / Standby: 390 hours
- Size: 133.9 x 68.7 x 9.1mm
- Weight: 139g
- Other: Wireless charging, NFC
Nexus 4: Price and availability
A 16-gigabyte model of the Nexus 4 will sell for $199 with a two-year contract to buy phone service and Internet access from T-Mobile. A contract-free version is available for $299 with 8 gigabytes of storage and $349 for the 16-gigabyte model. Google is touting the Nexus 4's wireless charging capability as a major selling point.
Nexus 4 is sold unlocked and is GSM/HSPA+ compatible so it will operate on more than 200 network providers worldwide. It will be available to purchase in both an 8GB version and a 16GB version on Google Play starting November 13 in the US, UK, Canada, Germany, France, Spain and Australia. Offline availability in Europe, Central/South Americas, Asia, CIS and the Middle East will begin from the end of November.
The Nexus 4 smartphone is expected to be available in India by the end of November.
Nexus 10
The larger Nexus tablet is being made by Samsung Electronics Co. and features a display screen that measures about 10 inches diagonally, about the same size as Apple Inc.'s top-selling iPad.
Ehe tablet has a 10.055-inch display at 2560x1600 pixels(300ppi). The tablet is claimed to have a battery that will get you up to nine hours of video playback and more than 500 hours of standby time.
The Nexus 10 has a set of front-facing stereo speakers, According to Google, what makes Nexus 10 unique is that it's the first truly shareable tablet. With Android 4.2, users can add multiple users and switch between them instantly right from the lockscreen.
The tablet runs Android 4.2, a new flavor of Jelly Bean, which includes the latest version of Google Now and other new features.
Nexus 10: Price and availability
The Nexus 10 tablet with 16 gigabytes of storage will sell for $399 and 32GB for 32GB for $499. That's $100 less than the comparable version of the latest iPad. The Nexus tablet will go on sale in the Google Play Store starting November 13 in the US, UK, Australia, France, Germany, Spain, Canada and Japan.
Google's introduction of a larger tablet comes less than a week after Apple announced it's making a smaller, less expensive iPad with a 7.9-inch display to compete against the Nexus 7 and Amazon.com Inc.'s Kindle Fire. The iPad Mini will be available in stores Friday.
Nexus 7
Google also updated its smaller, Nexus 7 tablet released earlier this year. It increased the storage on the $199 version of the device to 16GB from 8GB, and introduced a new $299 version of the Nexus 7 with a cellular data service option.
The former is available in US, UK, Australia, France, Germany, Spain, Canada and Japan, and also through our retail partners Gamestop, Office Depot, Office Max, Staples, Walmart, while the latter will go on sale starting November 13 in the Google Play store in US, UK, Australia, France, Germany, Spain and Canada.
The 8-gigabyte version of Nexus 7, which had sold for $199, will be discontinued. The cheapest Nexus 7 is still pricier than the Kindle Fire, which starts at $159 for a no-frills model.
Analysts estimate Google has sold several million Nexus 7 tablets so far. Google declined to disclose how many units have shipped. The tablet "has been an amazing success," said Hugo Barra, Android's director of product management. "We had to work extra hard to meet demand."
Nexus 7 owners have been buying and looking at so much content on the tablet that Google decided to create a larger version with Samsung, Barra said. The Nexus 7 is made by AsusTek Computer Inc.
Besides adding more hardware to its online store, Google is expanding its music library to include Warner Music Group's catalog. Warner had been the only holdout among the major music labels when Google began selling music a year ago to compete with Apple's iTunes stores. The company also said it will begin selling music in Europe beginning November 13.
The Android update includes a feature called Gesture Typing, which tries to anticipate what words a user wants to enter as they are entering text. The guesses are based on an analysis of typical sentence structures and users' past entries.
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