Google reveals Nexus 5 smartphone along with Android update

Google Inc. unveiled the next version of Nexus smartphone on Thursday as well as a new version of its Android mobile operating system under the name of “KitKat”.

When it was released last year, the older version – Nexus 4, was one of the best Android smartphones around, having just one drawback – not supporting LTE (Long Term Evolution – also known as 4G LTE). Google managed to fix the issue this year with the Nexus 5, and it’s overhauling the phone in a number of other ways as well.

Google made the announcement on its Android blog. The new Nexus 5 is built by LG in partnership with Google and sells for a starting price of $349 on the company’s online store. Like other Nexus phones, the Nexus 5 is available unlocked and without the type of two-year plan lock down that wireless carriers often use to appeal to its customers. Later the device would be supplied to bigger retailers such as BestBuy, Amazon and Radioshack along with wireless carriers.

Google presented the Nexus 5 saying is its thinnest phone yet at 8.59 mm. The device also uses the new Snapdragon 800 processor from Qualcomm with a high-definition display.

In his blog post, Google senior Vice President for Android and Chrome Sundar Pichai said the new phone was designed to “showcase the latest Android innovations”. It will ship with the new Android 4.4 version that was also announced on Thursday under the name of KitKat.

“The first thing you’ll notice about KitKat is weve made the experience much more engaging: the book you’re reading, the game you’re playing, or the movie you’re watching — now all of these take center stage with the new immersive mode, which automatically hides everything except what you really want to see,” he wrote.

Sundar Pichai noted that the new version of Android operation system would be optimized to be compatible with phones containing 512 megabytes of RAM as the memory chip is one, if not the priciest component, in a smartphone device.

The 40 analysts polled by CNN Money offering 12-month price forecasts for Google Inc have a median target of 1,100.00, with a high estimate of 1,220.00 and a low estimate of 850.00. The median estimate represents a 6.74% increase from the last price of 1,030.58. The current consensus among 47 polled investment analysts is to buy stock in Google Inc.

Google Inc. reported revenues of $14.89 billion for the quarter ended September 30, 2013, an increase of 12% compared to the third quarter of 2012.

“Google had another strong quarter with $14.9 billion in revenue and great product progress,” said Larry Page, CEO of Google. “We are closing in on our goal of a beautiful, simple, and intuitive experience regardless of your device.”