From Google Play Store : Bright red Nexus 5 now available in India

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCcLwxz_6iyEDQC6ThMhpcnUEE_60MAvZj1OF_ObuGTJCEqXJDVtvHSJs0IfCCMg7zukD41jzpnQt6PMNtb8suiEUFXliYfCOnevDfGBid-gLjvagi2BXikVDhJdaRW87sy3TwpOQDZsk/s1600/N5Red.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="370" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCcLwxz_6iyEDQC6ThMhpcnUEE_60MAvZj1OF_ObuGTJCEqXJDVtvHSJs0IfCCMg7zukD41jzpnQt6PMNtb8suiEUFXliYfCOnevDfGBid-gLjvagi2BXikVDhJdaRW87sy3TwpOQDZsk/s1600/N5Red.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>red Nexus 5</i></td></tr> </tbody></table> <span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Google and LG have announced the Nexus 5 smartphone in a new bright red colour option which is now available in India through Google Play </span><b style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://play.google.com/store/devices" rel="nofollow" style="-webkit-transition: color 0.1s linear 0s; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.1s linear 0s; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">store</a></b><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">. Google is offering the LG made Nexus 5 Bright Red with same configuration as the other Nexus 5 models. The bright red version of the phone is available in 16 GB and 32 GB models for Rs 28,999 and Rs 32,999 respectively.</span><br /> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.7px; line-height: 23px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.7px; line-height: 23px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; vertical-align: baseline;"> The Nexus 5 has a 4.95-inch IPS display with full HD resolution and Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection. Nexus 5 houses a powerful quad-core 2.3 <abbr style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" title="click here to know more about GHz">GHz</abbr> Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 mobile system-on-chip, 2 GB RAM and runs Android 4.4 KitKat out of the box. Recently, Google has released the new Android 4.4.2 KitKat update for the Nexus 5 devices to add some performance improvements.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.7px; line-height: 23px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <br /></div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.7px; line-height: 23px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <br /></div>

From Google Play Store : Bright red Nexus 5 now available in India

red Nexus 5 Google and LG have announced the Nexus 5 smartphone in a new bright red colour option which is now available in India throug...

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Thinking of Buying A Nexus 5? Here’s A Real Life Review

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlim7dP9nMh35AQIuqlindn_5WsEMK01dTcHkUWyXeL0frUFB9CZgGCZU15c4RN8-SZ5tN_Wq4LYgDa84fwakbUhMx9fXSpYWf1qwvc02vSgE4ZJyQjt7mtjm_kiCq5FDrlSTRWBGdMe0w/s1600/DSCF0017-300x225.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlim7dP9nMh35AQIuqlindn_5WsEMK01dTcHkUWyXeL0frUFB9CZgGCZU15c4RN8-SZ5tN_Wq4LYgDa84fwakbUhMx9fXSpYWf1qwvc02vSgE4ZJyQjt7mtjm_kiCq5FDrlSTRWBGdMe0w/s400/DSCF0017-300x225.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div><h3 style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 24px; font-weight: 400; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 8px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">First impressions</span></h3><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 15px; line-height: 28px; margin-bottom: 16px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The Nexus 5 comes with a pretty standard assortment of accessories: a longer-than-usual USB cable, a 1.2A mains plug, SIM card ejector tool and a few booklets. There are no headphones, but given that most in-box headphones tend to be fairly substandard, this isn’t a massive loss.</span></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 15px; line-height: 28px; margin-bottom: 16px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I ordered the 16GB white version, and it really is a beautiful thing.</span></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 15px; line-height: 28px; margin-bottom: 16px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Like all other Nexuses, the 5 has no branding whatsoever on the front. It only has a subtle notification light below the screen and a camera, speaker and some sensors above the screen. On the white version, the speaker is the only thing that stands out, which is helpful as it helps orientate the phone when you take it out of your pocket.</span></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 15px; line-height: 28px; margin-bottom: 16px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The Nexus 5 uses the newer <em style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Gorilla Glass 3</em> for the screen, so it’s both tougher and more scratch-resistant than that found on the Nexus 4.</span></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 15px; line-height: 28px; margin-bottom: 16px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">On both colour models the sides are black. The power and volume buttons are in their usual places, the headphone jack is on the top and a micro-USB port is on the bottom. <span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The volume and power buttons are made out of ceramic, although I’m uncertain of the benefit of this.</span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 15px; line-height: 28px; margin-bottom: 16px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://d0od.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/DSCF0041.jpg" style="-webkit-transition: color 250ms ease; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: color 250ms ease; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="Back of the Nexus 5" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-2771" height="225" src="http://d0od.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/DSCF0041-300x225.jpg" style="border: none; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline; float: left; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; height: auto; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 16px 0px 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;" width="300" /></a><span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Perhaps more unusually the speaker is also on the bottom. Even though there’s two grilles at the bottom on the phone, there’s only one speaker, and the other grille is used for the microphone. This is slightly disappointing and at the moment there appears to be a bug affecting the quality of the speaker in some apps, as Android Central </span><a href="http://www.androidcentral.com/nexus-5-speaker-yes-there-s-only-one-and-software-may-be-hurting-what-you-hear" style="-webkit-transition: color 250ms ease; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: color 250ms ease; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">confirmed</a><span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">.</span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 15px; line-height: 28px; margin-bottom: 16px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The positioning of the speaker can be a little annoying, as you can cover them with your finger and muffle the sound, especially when holding the phone landscape while playing motion controlled games like Riptide GP2.</span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 15px; line-height: 28px; margin-bottom: 16px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The back itself is a wonderfully silky and smooth, high quality plastic, with a landscape Nexus logo centrally across it, a tiny portrait LG logo below it and hardly visible legal information.</span></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 15px; line-height: 28px; margin-bottom: 16px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The rear camera protrudes slightly out of the top-right corner of the device, with the LED flash located below it.</span></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 15px; line-height: 28px; margin-bottom: 16px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Finally, neither the back cover nor the battery can be removed. We’ll cover the importance of this in a moment.</span></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 15px; line-height: 28px; margin-bottom: 16px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Overall, the device feels solid, well made and it never creaks.</span></div><h3 style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 24px; font-weight: 400; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 8px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Hardware</span></h3><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 15px; line-height: 28px; margin-bottom: 16px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It’s a <span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">5 inch display with a full HD resolution </span>at 445ppi (pixels per inch) and actually pleasing to look at. Even the smallest icons are crisp and the overall display is bright. </span></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 15px; line-height: 28px; margin-bottom: 16px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Aside from being, perhaps, a little bit big, there are a few niggles to be found with it. Even then, most of these only depend on how you hold the phone. It’s quite big, so it’s difficult to reach some areas of the screen sometimes. The narrow screen margins can also cause unwanted touches, but on the other hand keep the size of the phone small.</span></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 15px; line-height: 28px; margin-bottom: 16px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The screen is also unreasonably light, so you’ll probably end up keeping it at 5–10% (or even 0% in dark conditions, where it can still be too bright) instead of automatic brightness. Since the screen is clearly visible outside at this time of year on 10% darkness, I’d also imagine it’ll produce no visibility problems in the summer either.</span></div><h4 style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; font-weight: 400; line-height: 24px; margin: 0px 0px 8px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Camera</span></h4><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 15px; line-height: 28px; margin-bottom: 16px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">There’s a 1.3MP camera on the front and an 8MP camera with optical image stabilisation at the back. While I haven’t seen that much of a change with the front camera, the back camera is a big improvement over both my Galaxy Nexus and my Nexus 10. While it’s not a mind-blowing camera, it’s now far beyond what you need to shoot with a smartphone and the photos look good. They’re crisp and the colours are vibrant.</span></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 15px; line-height: 28px; margin-bottom: 16px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I took a selection of shots which you can see below, but unfortunately I did not have the ability to experiment with low light shots. I’ve included both normal and HDR+ versions. The latter certainly look more pretty, but a bit oversaturated in places.</span></div><h4 style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; font-weight: 400; line-height: 24px; margin: 0px 0px 8px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></h4><h4 style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; font-weight: 400; line-height: 24px; margin: 0px 0px 8px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Battery</span></h4><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 15px; line-height: 28px; margin-bottom: 16px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Now, the battery. This is definitely the worst thing about this phone. For the first 6 days of using it I found it to be awful, to the point where it barely lasts my usual 7–16 daily routine of tweeting, messaging and listening to music. However, on the day of writing it has improved considerably, leaving me with 33% rather than 10-15%. It’s definitely inconsistent, and the response on Google+ seems to reflect this: a few people get <a href="https://plus.google.com/111299594167177765377/posts/DjQKa31Ub2V" style="-webkit-transition: color 250ms ease; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: color 250ms ease; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="really great battery life">really great battery life</a> and a few people can barely make it through the day.</span></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 15px; line-height: 28px; margin-bottom: 16px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">On the brighter side, this phone does have <span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Qi wireless charging</span> so you can charge it without any wires (apart from the one going to the charger, of course!).</span></div><h4 style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; font-weight: 400; line-height: 24px; margin: 0px 0px 8px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Performance</span></h4><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 15px; line-height: 28px; margin-bottom: 16px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">As far as the performance goes, this Nexus 5 is fantastic. It whooshes through all parts of the OS, and games too. I played popular games like <em style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Riptide GP2</em> and <em style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Temple Run 2</em> and they ran without any lag whatsoever.</span></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 15px; line-height: 28px; margin-bottom: 16px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The phone also scored 28696 points in the AnTuTu Benchmark, making it the second most powerful device just behind the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 and with the Samsung Galaxy S4 close behind it. The previous iteration of the Nexus, the Nexus 4, is 9 places below the Nexus 5.</span></div><h3 style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 24px; font-weight: 400; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 8px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">KitKat</span></h3><div dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 15px; line-height: 28px; margin-bottom: 16px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Even though we’ve already covered the new features in Android 4.4, I’ll take another look at some of them here now that I actually got to use them.As with most other Nexus devices, the release of a new phone also marks the release of a new version of their Android operating system. This time it’s Android 4.4 KitKat, mainly bringing support for Android on low-power devices, not that this applies to the Nexus 5. It also bears support for many features specific to the Nexus 5 at the moment.</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 15px; line-height: 28px; margin-bottom: 16px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Source : <a href="http://www.omgchrome.com/google-nexus-5-review/">OMG Chrome</a></span></i></div>

Thinking of Buying A Nexus 5? Here’s A Real Life Review

First impressions The Nexus 5 comes with a pretty standard assortment of accessories: a longer-than-usual USB cable, a 1.2A mains plug, SIM ...

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[ How to ] Remove Google Now from the Nexus 5 home screen

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUSvHZ_SrIPJASWtndoOjJc3OhJk9RgVacldcwjSalEmqL6VdvLBnjeAP9y75Q4YLAaTO9bW3uQzARHQhYjXS3mYlw5OZo3VmnYkFLTU7zSghqkJuu1_60rCp_eZJ2ZAuZPpDeq2s3zGvN/s1600/Google_Now_Launcher_Nexus_5_610x406.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUSvHZ_SrIPJASWtndoOjJc3OhJk9RgVacldcwjSalEmqL6VdvLBnjeAP9y75Q4YLAaTO9bW3uQzARHQhYjXS3mYlw5OZo3VmnYkFLTU7zSghqkJuu1_60rCp_eZJ2ZAuZPpDeq2s3zGvN/s1600/Google_Now_Launcher_Nexus_5_610x406.jpg" /></span></a></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: subpixel-antialiased; background-color: white; border: 0px; line-height: 19.9950008392334px; margin-top: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">On a Nexus 5 you no longer need to swipe up from the home button to access Google Now. Google Now has a permanent place on your home screen, being the screen furthest to the left. Swiping over will reveal Google Now and all of your personal cards, and of course, you can still access the service by swiping up from the home button.</span></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: subpixel-antialiased; background-color: white; border: 0px; line-height: 19.9950008392334px; margin-top: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">For some, this feature is going to become exponentially more useful, since it's now at the ready instead of somewhat hidden. But for others, I can see how it would be annoying having it set as a dedicated home screen -- especially if you're not a huge fan of Google Now.</span></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: subpixel-antialiased; background-color: white; border: 0px; line-height: 19.9950008392334px; margin-top: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Removing Google Now from your home screen can be accomplished one of two ways. There are advantages and disadvantages to either method, so I'll leave it to you to decide which works best for you.</span></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: subpixel-antialiased; background-color: white; border: 0px; line-height: 19.9950008392334px; margin-top: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></div><div class="cnet-image-div image-MEDIUM float-none" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; clear: both; float: none; line-height: 19.9950008392334px; margin: 10px auto; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 270px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img alt="" class="cnet-image" height="476" src="http://asset0.cbsistatic.com/cnwk.1d/i/tim2/2013/11/08/Google_Now_Launcher_Nexus_5_Disable_270x476.jpg" style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="270" /><span class="image-credit" style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.133em; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">(Credit: Screenshot by Jason Cipriani/CNET)</span></span></span></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: subpixel-antialiased; background-color: white; border: 0px; line-height: 19.9950008392334px; margin-top: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: subpixel-antialiased; background-color: white; border: 0px; line-height: 19.9950008392334px; margin-top: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Turn off Google Now</b><br />The first method is to turn off Google Now altogether. You can do this by launching Google Now and tapping on the menu button followed by Settings. Toggle the Google Now switch to off and accept the warning that your cards will be reset. You'll no longer be able to swipe to the left to view any cards, but you'll still be able to quickly launch Google Search by swiping up from the home button or using the hot phrase "OK Google".</span></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: subpixel-antialiased; background-color: white; border: 0px; line-height: 19.9950008392334px; margin-top: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This does indeed remove Google Now from your list of home screens, but it also kills the functionality Google Now provides. Obviously it's a somewhat small gain for a potentially big loss.</span></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: subpixel-antialiased; background-color: white; border: 0px; line-height: 19.9950008392334px; margin-top: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></div><div class="cnet-image-div image-MEDIUM float-none" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; clear: both; float: none; line-height: 19.9950008392334px; margin: 10px auto; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 270px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img alt="" class="cnet-image" height="476" src="http://asset1.cbsistatic.com/cnwk.1d/i/tim2/2013/11/08/Google_Now_Launcher_Nexus_5_Apex_Launcher_270x476.jpg" style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="270" /><span class="image-credit" style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.133em; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">(Credit: Screenshot by Jason Cipriani/CNET</span>)</span></span></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: subpixel-antialiased; background-color: white; border: 0px; line-height: 19.9950008392334px; margin-top: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: subpixel-antialiased; background-color: white; border: 0px; line-height: 19.9950008392334px; margin-top: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Use another launcher</b><br />The second method is to install a third-party launcher. A launcher on <a href="http://www.cnet.com/android-atlas/" section="luke_topic" style="border: 0px; color: #2964bf; cursor: pointer; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Android</a> is an app that will allow you to customize and tweak your device beyond that of the default launcher installed. Each device manufacturer has its own default launcher, but there are some <i style="border: 0px; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">really</i> good third party launchers.</span></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: subpixel-antialiased; background-color: white; border: 0px; line-height: 19.9950008392334px; margin-top: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Installing a launcher such as <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.teslacoilsw.launcher" style="border: 0px; color: #2964bf; cursor: pointer; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Nova Launcher</a> or <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.anddoes.launcher" style="border: 0px; color: #2964bf; cursor: pointer; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Apex Launcher</a> will allow you to customize not only your app icons, but it will allow you to leave Google Now enabled, while at the same time removing it from your home screen.</span></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: subpixel-antialiased; background-color: white; border: 0px; line-height: 19.9950008392334px; margin-top: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Source : <a href="http://howto.cnet.com/8301-11310_39-57611553-285/how-to-remove-google-now-from-the-nexus-5-home-screen/" target="_blank">CNET</a></span></i></div>

[ How to ] Remove Google Now from the Nexus 5 home screen

On a Nexus 5 you no longer need to swipe up from the home button to access Google Now. Google Now has a permanent place on your home screen,...

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Google Nexus 5 review: Great value for money

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6Uk0_U-ahtW3aAMR535onhOpRL8tyPxgL-t8IaCvheBhx1uaqb12FFTuBoyIf0V0-dkpaIyeHVef3h63wrxTGSbs7VlFHBbI8HIHU1-quuuIpxQFNP1nv37kKFAJW-f_S5zjJPkcOC3Y/s1600/nexus-5-right-465x265.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="182" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6Uk0_U-ahtW3aAMR535onhOpRL8tyPxgL-t8IaCvheBhx1uaqb12FFTuBoyIf0V0-dkpaIyeHVef3h63wrxTGSbs7VlFHBbI8HIHU1-quuuIpxQFNP1nv37kKFAJW-f_S5zjJPkcOC3Y/s320/nexus-5-right-465x265.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #252525; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Google's Nexus handsets and tablets consistently do well in reviews, and one major reason is the fact that they run the very latest version of the Android operating system. As we write, the new<a href="http://www.google.com/nexus/5/" style="border: 0px; color: #005399; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Nexus 5</a> is the only Android 4.4 handset available, and updates are rolling out to other Nexus devices — but not to those from other manufacturers.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #252525; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Google has strong hardware partners, including, most recently, Asus for its tablets and LG for its smartphones. The Nexus 5 has some high-end specifications that ensure it will be praised for being good value for money. However, there are also one or two disappointments.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-Ny0qWpIKeN2x_BE1RDd0wStd0WUR5oyQC0oRVi0og5VeKpU-MRX8gl609FugG2bic1_YZCJ6vCXGebMcT5LX4yXzl0Zer9vX3g_WlwydJEX8L5EWsitwrSov_Rq2p9swXoIpEDJNd_Y/s1600/nexus-5-main-v1-620x375.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="193" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-Ny0qWpIKeN2x_BE1RDd0wStd0WUR5oyQC0oRVi0og5VeKpU-MRX8gl609FugG2bic1_YZCJ6vCXGebMcT5LX4yXzl0Zer9vX3g_WlwydJEX8L5EWsitwrSov_Rq2p9swXoIpEDJNd_Y/s320/nexus-5-main-v1-620x375.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div>T<span style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">he Micro-SIM sits in a pop-out caddy on the right edge of the chassis. Button and connector placement is ergonomic, with the Micro-USB slot on the bottom, headset jack on top, volume rocker on the left and power on the right. Those volume and power buttons sit proud of the chassis, making them easy to find by touch.</span></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #252525; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Good button placement is important on a handset of the size of the Nexus 5. Its 69.17mm by 137.84mm by 8.59mm measurements will make it difficult for some people to reach across the screen one-handed, although it's easy to hit the power and volume buttons with the phone cradled in one hand.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #252525; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Oddly, the 130g Nexus 5 feels and looks bulkier than it is. That's got to be an illusion, perhaps because of the somewhat bland chassis design and the fact that the (non-removable) backplate is made from a separate section that's attached to the handset's edges. A curved edge with no break for the backplate would have appeared slimmer.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #252525; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Nexus 5's name might lead you to think it has a 5-inch screen, but it actually measures 4.95 inches across the diagonal — not that 0.05 of an inch makes much difference. Its resolution of 1,920 by 1,080 pixels (445ppi) gives today's top-end handsets such as the 5in. Samsung Galaxy S4 (441ppi), 5.7in. Samsung Galaxy Note 3 (386ppi) and 5in. Sony Xperia Z1 (441ppi) a run for their money. Only the 4.7in. HTC One exceeds its pixel density (469ppi).</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #252525; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The screen itself is an IPS panel, so it lacks what some call the overdone vibrancy and tone richness of AMOLED panels. It's sharp and bright, with clear and easy-to-read text. The screen is protected by Gorilla Glass 3.</div><h3 style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #252525; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.2; margin: 0px 0px 5px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Features</h3><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #252525; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Google Nexus 5's headline feature is that it runs the latest <a href="http://www.android.com/kitkat/" style="border: 0px; color: #005399; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Android 4.4 (KitKat)</a>. If you want to stay at the front of Android versions then you need to stick with Google's devices as they are the first to receive very latest operating system updates.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #252525; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">There are two versions of the Nexus 5 available, varying only in terms of the amount of internal storage available. The 16GB version costs £299 (inc. VAT, or $349), while the 32GB version costs £339 (inc. VAT, or $399). We were sent the 32GB model, which had 26.7GB free available for applications and data.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #252525; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">As with its predecessor, there's no MicroSD card slot on the Nexus 5, so you'll need to be certain that your internal storage selection is sufficient. With 64GB MicroSD cards now very affordable, it's a real shame that Google, like Apple, doesn't offer this option on its flagship smartphone. Google's online Drive storage is available, of course, but as far as we're aware you only get the standard 15GB allocation for free. On Motorola's Moto X and recently launched <a href="http://www.zdnet.com/motorola-unveils-the-affordable-moto-g-7000023155/" style="border: 0px; color: #005399; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Moto G</a> handsets, you get an additional 50GB of free storage for two years.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #252525; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The good news is that the Nexus 5's internal storage is readily accessible: simply connecting the device to your notebook via USB makes all the internal folders available for file copy.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #252525; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Google uses the 2.26GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 800/450MHz Adreno 330 SoC to power the Nexus 5, with 2GB of RAM in support. This is the most capable CPU/GPU combo you'll find on a 32-bit ARM handset at present, and it's used in flagship devices like Samsung's <a href="http://www.zdnet.com/samsung-galaxy-note-3-review-big-fast-and-feature-packed-but-pricey-7000022556/" style="border: 0px; color: #005399; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Galaxy Note 3</a>.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #252525; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Other specs show that Google has aimed high with the Nexus 5. It supports a good range of LTE frequency bands — nine in the US, six in the rest of the world. Wireless charging and NFC (Near Field Communications) are catered for. Wi-Fi support includes the latest and fastest <a href="http://www.zdnet.com/next-generation-802-11ac-wi-fi-the-state-of-play-7000017889/" style="border: 0px; color: #005399; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">802.11ac</a>standard, which is far from ubiquitous in smartphones (it's absent from the new iPhone 5s, for example). The MicroUSB connector is <a href="http://www.analogix.com/products/slimport.html" style="border: 0px; color: #005399; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">SlimPort</a> compatible, which means that, with the appropriate dongle, you can share the phone's screen to other devices such as a TV or monitor — HDMI and VGA adapters are available.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #252525; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Two features disappoint, however. First, the rear camera shoots stills at up to 8 megapixels, which is no advance on the Nexus 4. The Nexus 5 does add optical image stabilisation, though, which helps to improve low-light performance. We found our test shots perfectly good enough for sharing online, and unless you need great camera performance, what's on offer here should be fine.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #252525; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Battery life is rather more of a let-down. Google has only managed to fit a (non-removable) 2,300mAh battery into the Nexus 5, which is disappointing. Flagship handsets generally have more capacious batteries — 3,000mAh in the Sony Xperia Z1, for example. We could get through a day of fairly light usage on a single charge, but heavy usage involving GPS, music playing and gaming required a recharge during the day.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #252525; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Android 4.4 has a familiar look and feel, but includes some handy software enhancements. We particularly like the full-screen option for some apps, which we found most useful when reading e-books. Removing all menu clutter from the screen makes reading a lot more pleasant.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #252525; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">We're less happy about the integration of SMS and Hangouts. You can use a separate app for SMS if you want, but there's nothing natively installed so you'll need to download one. Sadly the advertised ability to start Google Now just by saying 'OK Google' on the home screen didn't work for us; we hope this is only a software tweak away.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #252525; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">There's a nice note-taking app called Keep — which has actually been around before — that saves to Google Drive and is handy for taking down quick ideas or observations. For more complex tasks, <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.quickoffice.android" style="border: 0px; color: #005399; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">QuickOffice</a> is now included. Google clearly sees this as maintaining competitiveness with Windows Phone's document-creation features. All in all, though, there's nothing mind-blowingly new about either Android 4.4 or the preinstalled apps.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #252525; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><i>Via:<a href="http://www.zdnet.com/google-nexus-5-review-great-value-for-money-7000023262/"> ZDNet</a></i></div>

Google Nexus 5 review: Great value for money

Google's Nexus handsets and tablets consistently do well in reviews, and one major reason is the fact that they run the very latest vers...

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Testing out Android RunTime on the Nexus 5

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9nMpMbXmr5UOPYD9QYoP_VzKfbcvGkXJ0oKcFwtBqwE944a3ezkoYpyTNt1x3zgkCwYzImtn2q8-O3Na-xyCfIDZJUro4DO3qDSk81Hh5V8oB1arZoqnnKRi_PRD_qQ9DkGNj_976FIMC/s1600/ART1-590x330.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="222" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9nMpMbXmr5UOPYD9QYoP_VzKfbcvGkXJ0oKcFwtBqwE944a3ezkoYpyTNt1x3zgkCwYzImtn2q8-O3Na-xyCfIDZJUro4DO3qDSk81Hh5V8oB1arZoqnnKRi_PRD_qQ9DkGNj_976FIMC/s400/ART1-590x330.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #464542; line-height: 1.3em; padding: 0px 20px 20px 0px; word-spacing: 2px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Google’s new Android RunTime (ART) is available to use on the Nexus 5 as a part of Android 4.4, but is it really worth turning on and using? After spending the last couple of days with the heir apparent to Dalvik for Android, it’s safe to say that while there are no earth shattering changes to the overall experience, it certainly doesn’t hurt to make the switch.</span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #464542; line-height: 1.3em; padding: 0px 20px 20px 0px; word-spacing: 2px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">ART is very simple to enable, as long as you’ve got a few minutes and about 8% of your total battery to spare if you’re not connected to an outlet). You’ll need to enable the developer settings first. Head to About Phone in your Settings and violently bash the Build Number with your finger until the OS tells you that you’re a developer. When you press the back button, there will be a new section for Developer options. Inside that menu you’ll find runtime options, where you can select ART and reboot your phone.</span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #464542; line-height: 1.3em; padding: 0px 20px 20px 0px; word-spacing: 2px;"><i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Source : <a href="http://www.geek.com/android/work-of-art-testing-out-android-runtime-on-the-nexus-5-1577351/">Geek.com</a></span></i></div>

Testing out Android RunTime on the Nexus 5

Google’s new Android RunTime (ART) is available to use on the Nexus 5 as a part of Android 4.4, but is it really worth turning on and using?...

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Why the US is poised for off-contract shift (Smartphones Unlocked)

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisi3oGCFGEz_wVsnsHP1aGZzsBUk7vQzTtsHIEJGKlR_KMYXwmuov5sOZj010EYLv8hSr4w8j5rOel8sLX_Z2DTJkj_otkl9h16HnnJWLR7BF5uMzoDhBRiRG7fdYZ8RNgA_yG36L97lQ/s1600/nexus-5-35828372-6374_610x407.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisi3oGCFGEz_wVsnsHP1aGZzsBUk7vQzTtsHIEJGKlR_KMYXwmuov5sOZj010EYLv8hSr4w8j5rOel8sLX_Z2DTJkj_otkl9h16HnnJWLR7BF5uMzoDhBRiRG7fdYZ8RNgA_yG36L97lQ/s400/nexus-5-35828372-6374_610x407.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: subpixel-antialiased; background-color: white; border: 0px; font-size: 15px; line-height: 19.9950008392334px; margin-top: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">For about as long as there have been cell phones, US carriers have had a stranglehold over the purchasing experience. The two-year contract has reigned supreme here in the States, with providers heavily subsidizing the cost of high-priced handsets. But for some buyers, times are changing.</span></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: subpixel-antialiased; background-color: white; border: 0px; font-size: 15px; line-height: 19.9950008392334px; margin-top: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">T-Mobile's brassy, vocal assault on the status quo is making the retail cost of smartphones more transparent, while Google's lower-cost Nexus is a sure to lure customers away from premium-priced phones.</span></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: subpixel-antialiased; background-color: white; border: 0px; font-size: 15px; line-height: 19.9950008392334px; margin-top: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">While the majority of phone customers are likely to stick with the contract formula, especially if they're on a family plan already, others are showing greater interest in no-contract commitments.</span></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: subpixel-antialiased; background-color: white; border: 0px; font-size: 15px; line-height: 19.9950008392334px; margin-top: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b style="border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Phone choice: A better spread</b><br />If there's one poster phone for the no-contract experience, it's <a href="http://reviews.cnet.com/google-nexus-5/" style="border: 0px; cursor: pointer; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Google's Nexus 5.</a> Made by LG, but sold off-contract in the US by Google through its Play Store and T-Mobile, the <a href="http://reviews.cnet.com/google-nexus-5/" section="luke_topic" style="border: 0px; cursor: pointer; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Nexus 5</a> loudly challenges the merits of higher-priced rivals with its high-end specs and affordable $350 cost.</span></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: subpixel-antialiased; background-color: white; border: 0px; font-size: 15px; line-height: 19.9950008392334px; margin-top: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Sprint and AT&T also sell the Nexus 5 on contract, but here in the US, the Nexus 5's sub-$400 sticker price is a steal for a handset that has a more up-to-date processor and OS than the Samsung Galaxy S4 and HTC One<a href="http://www.cnet.com/android-atlas/" section="luke_topic" style="border: 0px; cursor: pointer; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Android</a> front-runners, the latter of which has a full retail charge that costs hundreds of dollars more.</span></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: subpixel-antialiased; background-color: white; border: 0px; font-size: 15px; line-height: 19.9950008392334px; margin-top: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Google's Nexus line has been a strong alternative for a few years now, but is picking up more momentum with this model, which delivers the LTE that Americans crave alongside robust features and that lower price. While it's too early to collect sales data quite yet, the Nexus 5 is in a strong position going into the holiday surge.</span></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: subpixel-antialiased; background-color: white; border: 0px; font-size: 15px; line-height: 19.9950008392334px; margin-top: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Beyond the Nexus 5, second-tier carriers like MetroPCS (now owned by T-Mobile), Virgin and Boost Mobile, and Cricket carry a wider range of handsets, including pricey premium options like the <a href="http://reviews.cnet.com/iphone-5s/" style="border: 0px; cursor: pointer; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">iPhone 5S</a> and <a href="http://reviews.cnet.com/samsung-galaxy-s4/" style="border: 0px; cursor: pointer; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Samsung Galaxy S4</a>.</span></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: subpixel-antialiased; background-color: white; border: 0px; font-size: 15px; line-height: 19.9950008392334px; margin-top: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Customers typically pay a lower monthly data rate, but a higher up-front cost for the phone, and can leave at any time without getting smacked by an early termination penalty.</span></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: subpixel-antialiased; background-color: white; border: 0px; font-size: 15px; line-height: 19.9950008392334px; margin-top: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">On the Windows Phone side of the house, Nokia has been chipping away at smartphone costs, driving down the full retail price of midrange models such as the $350 <a href="http://reviews.cnet.com/smartphones/nokia-lumia-1320/4505-6452_7-35829229.html" style="border: 0px; cursor: pointer; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Lumia 1320 phablet</a>. While that handset isn't expected to come to the US yet, it still could find a home with these prepaid carriers.</span></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: subpixel-antialiased; background-color: white; border: 0px; font-size: 15px; line-height: 19.9950008392334px; margin-top: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">There's also the <a href="http://reviews.cnet.com/smartphones/nokia-lumia-520/4505-6452_7-35619092.html" style="border: 0px; cursor: pointer; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Lumia 520</a>, which costs $100 with a prepaid AT&T GoPhone plan, and the $120 T-Mobile variant, the <a href="http://reviews.cnet.com/smartphones/nokia-lumia-521-t/4505-6452_7-35660271.html" style="border: 0px; cursor: pointer; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Lumia 521</a>. While both are low-end models that lack LTE, they do contain some software extras to help round out the experience.</span></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: subpixel-antialiased; background-color: white; border: 0px; font-size: 15px; line-height: 19.9950008392334px; margin-top: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b style="border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Fiercer competition</b><br />T-Mobile deserves most of the credit for making the off-contract business model more appealing, after <a href="http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-57576233-94/t-mobiles-new-contractless-data-plan-explained-faq/" style="border: 0px; cursor: pointer; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">killing off contracts last March</a>.</span></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: subpixel-antialiased; background-color: white; border: 0px; font-size: 15px; line-height: 19.9950008392334px; margin-top: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Backed by CEO John Legere's war of words, with Verizon and AT&T especially, T-Mobile is taking on the role of innovator, while others react.</span></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: subpixel-antialiased; background-color: white; border: 0px; font-size: 15px; line-height: 19.9950008392334px; margin-top: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b style="border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Midrange good enough?</b><br />In mature markets like the US, contracts level the playing field of cost, making high-end smartphones seem more affordable and attainable. That often makes the choice to buy a premium handset simpler, since the off-contract difference is closer to $50 or $100, rather than a $200 or even $300 spread.</span></div><div class="cnet-image-div image-LARGE2 float-none" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; clear: both; float: none; font-size: 15px; line-height: 19.9950008392334px; margin: 10px auto; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 610px;"><div class="image-caption" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: subpixel-antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: 0.8em; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.133em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: subpixel-antialiased; background-color: white; border: 0px; font-size: 15px; line-height: 19.9950008392334px; margin-top: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">As in countries dominated by unlocked, off-contract phones, even a small step toward no-contract payments could see customers happy with midrange or upper-middle phones like the Nexus 5, <a href="http://reviews.cnet.com/iphone-5c/" style="border: 0px; cursor: pointer; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">iPhone 5C</a>, and <a href="http://reviews.cnet.com/smartphones/htc-one-mini/4505-6452_7-35822951.html" style="border: 0px; cursor: pointer; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">HTC One Mini</a> (if the latter weren't a carrier exclusive here) -- models that come with features that are capable, but not cutting edge.</span></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: subpixel-antialiased; background-color: white; border: 0px; font-size: 15px; line-height: 19.9950008392334px; margin-top: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b style="border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Contract carriers retain the upper hand</b><br />Despite T-Mobile's bold appeal, there are logical reasons to stay put with contract carriers.</span></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: subpixel-antialiased; background-color: white; border: 0px; font-size: 15px; line-height: 19.9950008392334px; margin-top: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">For instance, it takes no effort to stick around, but it does to calculate expenditures and cost savings with a new carrier home -- especially if you're thinking of moving the entire family over.</span></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: subpixel-antialiased; background-color: white; border: 0px; font-size: 15px; line-height: 19.9950008392334px; margin-top: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Then there's the argument that the contract does little harm if you're the type of person who will probably stick with the same provider for far longer than the two-year minimum.</span></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: subpixel-antialiased; background-color: white; border: 0px; font-size: 15px; line-height: 19.9950008392334px; margin-top: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">There's also the handy subsidy, which gets you the phone at close to its manufacturing cost. For instance, <a href="http://www.isuppli.com/Teardowns/News/Pages/Groundbreaking-iPhone5s-Carries-199-BOM-and-Manufacturing-Cost-IHS-Teardown-Reveals.aspx" style="border: 0px; cursor: pointer; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">IHS iSuppli's iPhone 5S teardown</a> estimates the bill of materials at about $200, the same price you can buy the phone on contract. The counter-argument here, is that over the life span of two years, you'll likely spend more paying for pricier data with a contract carrier than you might with a no-contract competitor.</span></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: subpixel-antialiased; background-color: white; border: 0px; font-size: 15px; line-height: 19.9950008392334px; margin-top: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b style="border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">What say you?</b><br />T-Mobile's aspirations and agitations are clearly changing the way some US phone owners think about how they buy their phones, a position that's backed by a growing roster of robust phones that pack in a lot of robust features for a significantly lower cost. If we see a sustained step toward the no-contract option, these are two major reasons why.</span></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: subpixel-antialiased; background-color: white; border: 0px; font-size: 15px; line-height: 19.9950008392334px; margin-top: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Why do you stick with your particular carrier, and are you thinking of making the switch? If you've recently moved from contract to off-contract, what prompted the change? I'd love to hear your stance in the comments below.</span></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: subpixel-antialiased; background-color: white; border: 0px; font-size: 15px; line-height: 19.9950008392334px; margin-top: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Via: <a href="http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-6452_7-57612191/why-the-us-is-poised-for-off-contract-shift-smartphones-unlocked/">CNET News</a></span></i></div>

Why the US is poised for off-contract shift (Smartphones Unlocked)

For about as long as there have been cell phones, US carriers have had a stranglehold over the purchasing experience. The two-year contract ...

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Now available at Android 4.4 images for the Nexus 7s, Nexus 4, and Nexus 10

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiz_VAhLq-PXlnr9bE5bzK3Gk2emKkk3mOzzv8bP_nkBfaYTchGBJyCcQb1TZIS-1Jimvy4_-x5_hmkIcVni-utRNHovgf-rRu353yXHDsTnoFdxUOhVLa4CAzDKi5Z0bRMYgGB23-_-iFj/s1600/header-640x3471.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiz_VAhLq-PXlnr9bE5bzK3Gk2emKkk3mOzzv8bP_nkBfaYTchGBJyCcQb1TZIS-1Jimvy4_-x5_hmkIcVni-utRNHovgf-rRu353yXHDsTnoFdxUOhVLa4CAzDKi5Z0bRMYgGB23-_-iFj/s1600/header-640x3471.jpg" /></span></a></div><div style="background-color: white; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 15px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Google has just posted factory images for most of the Nexus devices that will be updated to the newest OS. If you don't want to wait for an over-the-air update, which can take weeks to arrive, you can download KitKat directly from Google. The only downside is that everything on your device will be erased. You've been warned.</span></div><div style="background-color: white; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 15px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">There are currently downloads for:</span></div><ul style="background-color: white; line-height: 20px; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; margin: 0px 0px 25px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 20px;"><li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="https://developers.google.com/android/nexus/images#razor" style="text-decoration: none;">Nexus 7 [2013] (Wi-Fi)</a> (codename "razor")</span></li><li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="https://developers.google.com/android/nexus/images#razorg" style="text-decoration: none;">Nexus 7 [2013] (Mobile)</a> (codename "razorg")</span></li><li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="https://developers.google.com/android/nexus/images#occam" style="text-decoration: none;">Nexus 4</a> (codename "occam")</span></li><li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="https://developers.google.com/android/nexus/images#nakasi" style="text-decoration: none;">Nexus 7 [2012] (Wi-Fi)</a> (codename "nakasi")</span></li><li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="https://developers.google.com/android/nexus/images#nakasig" style="text-decoration: none;">Nexus 7 [2012] (Mobile)</a> (codename "nakasig")</span></li><li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="https://developers.google.com/android/nexus/images#mantaray" style="text-decoration: none;">Nexus 10</a> (codename "mantaray")</span></li></ul><div style="background-color: white; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 15px;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 15px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The one device that <em>won't</em> be joining the KitKat party is the Galaxy Nexus. The official excuse is that the Galaxy Nexus is over 18 months old, but the real reason is that Texas Instruments, the company that made the SoC in the Galaxy Nexus, <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/09/25/texasinstruments-wireless-idUSL1E8KP5FN20120925?irpc=932" style="text-decoration: none;">quit the smartphone business</a> about a year ago. Official support for the chip has dried up, so there won't be a KitKat port for anything with a TI OMAP processor. A lack of official support has never stopped the modding community before, though, so if you have a Galaxy Nexus and really want KitKat, some Googling should be able to turn something up.</span></div><div style="background-color: white; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 15px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If you're not quite sure what to do with these images, Google has a set of instructions <a href="https://developers.google.com/android/nexus/images#instructions" style="text-decoration: none;">right here</a>. Remember: all your apps, pictures, and data will be deleted.</span></div><div style="background-color: white; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 15px;"><i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Source : <a href="http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2013/11/android-4-4-images-for-the-nexus-7s-and-nexus-4-now-available/">Ars Technica</a></span></i></div>

Now available at Android 4.4 images for the Nexus 7s, Nexus 4, and Nexus 10

Google has just posted factory images for most of the Nexus devices that will be updated to the newest OS. If you don't want to wait for...

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Google's Nexus 5 Smartphone Comes to T-Mobile

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOGVcK0MJCtoLeaqqaMd1L5aM-e5zzbBcH88G5ogtAlkUpBO16d5UEoRxcghgMWHPLDFLvK9S-tmuddsRQiqDER_SbYBaqihrjW8s_smw-5jJkmZSqSv4BgWExiIl5q7OOlTsUX-agaR0/s1600/nexus.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="344" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOGVcK0MJCtoLeaqqaMd1L5aM-e5zzbBcH88G5ogtAlkUpBO16d5UEoRxcghgMWHPLDFLvK9S-tmuddsRQiqDER_SbYBaqihrjW8s_smw-5jJkmZSqSv4BgWExiIl5q7OOlTsUX-agaR0/s400/nexus.PNG" width="400" /></span></a></div><div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #222222; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.7em; margin-bottom: 0.7em;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Google's hot-selling Nexus 5 now has a new carrier: <a href="http://www.t-mobile.com/cell-phones/google-nexus-5.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #25a7d7; text-decoration: none;">T-Mobile</a>. This brings the total number of domestic carriers officially offering the device to two, alongside Nexus 5 launch partner Sprint.</span></div><div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #222222; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.7em; margin-bottom: 0.7em;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">T-Mobile's unlocked price for the16GB version of the handset is $450. It's also available for $42 up front plus $17 per month if you opt for a two-year installment plan. In keeping with T-Mobile's recent moves away from long-term contracts, the phone is sold without the requirement of a two-year service plan.</span></div><div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #222222; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.7em; margin-bottom: 0.7em;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><a href="http://shop.sprint.com/mysprint/shop/phone_details.jsp?ensembleId=LGD82016KT&flow=AAL&isDeeplinked=true&noModal=true&ECID=SEM:Google:P:2013_Q4_OEM:OEM_LG_Nexus_5_Brand:Nexus_Core_Exact:sprintnexus5:Exact&gclid=CM-l5fXy5LoCFaxxQgodgiEAhg" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #25a7d7; text-decoration: none;">Sprint</a> charges $50 for the phone, also in the 16GB flavor, but only with a two-year service contract. (It also lists the phone's full price at $450, but actually doesn't sell it sans contract.)</span></div><div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #222222; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.7em; margin-bottom: 0.7em;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Pundits have been quick to note that both carriers are pricing the phone at a cost that is<a href="http://www.ubergizmo.com/2013/11/nexus-5-now-on-sale-officially-on-t-mobile/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #25a7d7; text-decoration: none;">notably higher</a> than the $349 <a href="http://www.google.com/nexus/5/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #25a7d7; text-decoration: none;">Google</a> charges for the Nexus 5 if you buy it directly from the manufacturer. (The 32GB version is $399.) However, those in a rush may have no choice but to head to a carrier. Google Play lists the 16GB handset as out of inventory, with no word on when stock will be replenished. The black version of the 32GB handset is noted as "leaves warehouse in 2-3 weeks." (The 32GB version of the phone is currently <a href="http://www.androidauthority.com/t-mobile-nexus-5-launches-online-449-99-16gb-317146/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #25a7d7; text-decoration: none;">not for sale</a>from either T-Mobile or Sprint, nor are the white versions of the phone available from the carriers.) The phone is also available through third-party retailers like Amazon and Best Buy, but pricing is similar to that offered by T-Mobile.</span></div><div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #222222; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.7em; margin-bottom: 0.7em;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">What about users of other networks? If you're on AT&T or a number of smaller carriers,<a href="http://www.androidcentral.com/nexus-5-faq" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #25a7d7; text-decoration: none;">Android Central notes</a> that the unlocked phone will run on those networks. Verizon users however are out of luck: The Nexus 5 is not currently supported on the network.</span></div><div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #222222; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.7em; margin-bottom: 0.7em;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The Google Nexus 5 is powered by a <a href="http://www.pcworld.com/partner/qualcomm/home/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #25a7d7; text-decoration: none;">Qualcomm Snapdragon</a> 800 processor and comes equipped with dual cameras, an 8 megapixel rear-facing shooter and a 1.3 megapixel front-facing camera. The 4.95-inch screen offers full HD resolution at 1920 x 1080 pixels and is covered by Corning Gorilla Glass 3. Android 4.4 KitKat, the latest version of the operating system, is preinstalled. The 2300 mAh battery is rated for up to 17 hours of talk time and 300 hours of standby time, and recharging can be completed via the USB connection or via a Qi-compatible wireless charging station.</span></div><div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #222222; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.7em; margin-bottom: 0.7em;"><i><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Via: <a href="http://www.pcworld.com/article/2063392/googles-nexus-5-smartphone-comes-to-t-mobile.html">PCWorld</a></span></i></div>

Google's Nexus 5 Smartphone Comes to T-Mobile

Google's hot-selling Nexus 5 now has a new carrier:  T-Mobile . This brings the total number of domestic carriers officially offering th...

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