Google unveiled its new smartphone Nexus 5, which will run the latest Android 4.4 KitKat operating system, on Thursday in San Francisco. Following the previous Nexus 4, the U.S. search engine has again teamed up with LG Electronics.

Google chairman Eric Schmidt, visiting Korea this week, met with LG Electronics’ mobile chief Park Jong-seok at the company’s R&D center in Incheon to discuss sales expansion of their latest smartphones.

Key changes from its predecessor include a bigger 4.95-inch screen, a faster Snapdragon 800 processor and LTE support. Measuring 8.59 millimeters thick, it is the thinnest smartphone in the world.

The KitKat OS is equipped with a new dialer that allows users to search for any number, even if it’s not in their phone books. The search results pull data from mobile apps as well as the Web.

“Our vision for computing is to design Android as something that can run across all devices, not just the phone,” said Sundar Pichai, head of Google’s Chrome and Android business.

“But it’s important to get Android on the same version that can scale across all form factors. KitKat represents the first big step in that direction.”

Park of LG also expressed satisfaction with the new handset, saying, “The faster and more powerful Nexus 5 is a reflection of the innovation that LG and Google are heading for.”

Nexus 5 went on sale on Oct. 31 through play.google.com in 10 countries including Korea, the United States, France, Germany, Italy, Span, the United Kingdom, Australia and Japan. From mid-November, the handset will also be available in Europe, Central and South America, the Commonwealth of Independent States and the Middle East. 


By Shin Ji-hye
(shinjh@heraldcorp.com)