Google has officially revealed the highly anticipated LG Nexus 4 over on its official blog, boasting wireless charging capabilities and the latest version of Android Jelly Bean (version 4.2).
It will be sold as an 8GB version for $299 and a 16GB version for $349 on November 13 through the Google Play store. The handset will be unlocked and without a contract, with first availability for customers in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, France, Germany, Spain and Canada. It is currently unknown when other countries will follow.
“The 16GB version will also be available through T-Mobile for $199, with a 2-year contract,” added Andy Rubin, SVP, Mobile and Digital Content at Google.
The Nexus 4 has been unveiled today along with two other devices; a tweaked Nexus 7 with 3G support and 32GB of storage, as well as the larger Nexus 10 tablet. At the same time, LG has revealed the following technical specifications about the Nexus 4 smartphone:
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• 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
The information, by and large, matches up with the technical specifications for the device reported by The Next Web’s own Matt Brian earlier this month.
Dr. Jong-seok Park, President and CEO of LG Electronics Mobile Com-munications Company, said: “LG is proud and excited to play this role in helping build the latest Nexus smart-phone. Users will be delighted by the perfectly balanced combination of form and function with the latest generation of Android.”
The Nexus 4, along with the Nexus 7 and Nexus 10, will all run Android version 4.2. It includes a new “Photo Sphere” feature, which allows users to capture images that the company says “are literally larger than life”. It essentially means that users can stitch photographs not only from left to right for panoramic images, but up and down too to create stunning 360-degree images. Google says any “Photo Sphere” can then be uploaded to Google+ or added to Google Maps.
The blog post published today also includes other new details about Android version 4.2, such as Gesture Typing and the latest version of Google Now. Similar to Swype, it means Nexus 4 owners will be able to glide their finger across multiple letters in order to create the desired word or sentence. Google says the latest version of Jelly Bean will also add support for for Miracast wireless displays, “so you can watch movies, YouTube videos, and play games right on your HDTV wirelessly.”
All three devices can be seen in a promotional video uploaded today on the Google Nexus YouTube channel.
The announcement comes on the same day that Google was due to hold an event in New York focused on Android. However, it was called off understandably due to Hurricane Sandy. A video showing off the device was also uploaded to YouTube by a blogger earlier today.
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