After a rather ho-hum Nexus 4 launch late last year, Google and LG seem to be back with a new Nexus 5 phone that is deserving of its flagship status.
Unveiled on Thursday, it comes a number of goodies missing from the previous Nexus 4. There’s 4G or Long Term Evolution (LTE) for starters, plus a beefy Snapdragon 800 2.3GHz processor and a large 4.95-inch screen with a Full HD resolution.
All that brings the hardware close to what you’d get from a top-end Android phone today – at an attractive price of US$349 for the basic 16GB model.
Add built-in wireless charging, an 8-meg camera with optical anti-shake mechanism and first dibs at the latest Android operating systems, and what’s there not to like about the new Nexus 5?
Well, the bad news for Singapore users is that the device is not out yet for Singapore, as has been the case for Nexus devices except the very first Nexus One.
There are conflicting reports on whether the Nexus 5 will eventually turn up here. The Today newspaper claims it could be out in the last week of November, but the Hardwarezone site says Google and LG have no plans to bring it in at the moment.
The phone is now on sale in the United States, Europe and a number of Asia-Pacific countries – Japan, Korea and Australia – but unfortunately, the tiny red dot is once again bypassed (Apple fans always have first dibs, by comparison).
Just a note if you’re thinking of buying from the US though. The North American version does not seem to support the LTE or 4G frequency bands used by telecom operators here, so you may not be able to access the fast mobile network.
The “Rest of World” version, according to Google, does work with LTE bands 3 and 7, the ones supported here. So if you’re keen to ship the Nexus 5 over, perhaps the European or Asian versions might work better. A word of caution: we have not tested the phone so cannot confirm compatibility.
Just wondering why there’s no Nexus 5 in Singapore. Not even Google play store ?
I wonder what’s the rationale behind this. Samsung ? LG themselves ? The local carriers …. ? Google ?
Supremely frustrating. 🙁
Hi Shail, I’m not sure, to be honest. Other than the first Nexus One of several years ago, Google has not been releasing Nexus devices in Singapore on launch day. Instead, it has left it to the manufacturers (e.g. Samsung, LG and Asus) to launch the devices locally.
Some users believe this is because the manufacturers would not want to cannibalise on the sales of their existing models – usually the Nexus devices are quite cheap nowadays. But for whatever reason, it’s frustrating, as you say, to people who want to pay for the devices but cannot even hand them the money for one!
Fortunately, this time, the new Asus Nexus 7 was launched much more quickly than the previous one, which took several months to reach here.
Hi Alfred, Thanks for replying.
I almost forgot where I had posted my post.
I’m still without a Nexus 5 & I refuse to pay a penny extra over Google Play Store price. 🙂 Still looking to source it from one of the Play Store enabled countries. Till then, will continue to use my beautiful Nexus S.
Nexus 7 is gorgeous !! but will keep a check on my hedonistic desires for now.
dibs*, not dips.
Good spot. Changed. Thanks.
check out shopandbox.com for shipping!
ordered 32gb since I’m only using 3G
Cool! When’s it arriving? Hope you can share your experience with it here!
I’m using mail forwarding (takes 1 more week to arrive here after leaving the warehouse)
originally the eta for the unit to leave the warehouse was 3-4 weeks but the timing changed to 2-3 weeks
means that they are shipping by batches and the first batch was out earlier than expected