More Nexus 5 Details Emerge!
We just shared some pictures posted by TuttoAndroid of the settings page on the Nexus 5/Android 4.4 and now we have more pictures and more details to share. The same “source” of the previous story has been playing around with the phone and divulged his thoughts to TuttoAndroid. With the help of Google Translate we again sifted through the story and here’s what they have to say:
Lock Screen
The lockscreen is more or less the same as it was on Jelly Bean. He once again points out the white icons on the top and notes that there is now a camera icon on the bottom right of the lock screen. It doesn’t seem like the icon serves a purpose as you still access the camera by swiping to the left while on the lock screen.
Launcher & App Drawer
The launcher appears to have undergone some minor changes, but again, things look very similar. The first minor change is the app drawer icon. The white border around the icon is gone; instead, the icon as a whole is slightly shaded. The icons overall have also gone flat and the horizontal line that divides your quick launch apps on the bottom and apps/widgets above is gone.
The source also states that you can now add additional home pages to the main page. While this feature may seem like its been around forever, stock Android has never actually had this functionality. You always had 5 pages – no more, no less. Overdue addition in my books but nice to see they’re adding it.
The app drawer also undergoes very minor changes. The apps are still laid out on cards that can be swiped horizontally but the icons are larger and the grid size has changed to 5×4. The black background of the app drawer is gone, in is a transparent background.
Google Now
Apparently Google now has been very much improved but I will admit that this was the most confusing section to read so I may not be reading things properly. Here’s the quote from the site first:
Now Google is much more responsive. Just simply say “Ok Google” within Google Now to make a new search. Now Google is accessible in two ways: the first is the classic swype upward from the navigation bar, the second is through one swype to left starting with the last homescreen left.
Google Search, instead, you can start by saying “Ok Google” directly from the homescreen.
I really don’t understand what they mean by “swype to left strating with last homescreen left” but apparently it’s another way to access Google Now. It also sounds like they have integrated at least some of the Touchless Control features found of the Moto X and Droid devices into the Android OS. To what extent this was integrated I do not know but TutuAndroid’s comment on this section says “As we see, then, Android 4.4 KitKat should always be in mode “always listening” , just like the Moto X.” To me that definitely sounds like Touchless Controls is coming to all Android 4.4 devices but I’m a little skeptical…
Google Hangouts
The source says that Google Hangouts will include SMS support but it apparently wasn’t working for him when he was testing it out.
Display
The display is said to be very bright and very beautiful. Of course that’s not much of a description but if the G2 screen is anything to go by, the screen should be pretty decent. A new boot animation is also confirmed by the source.
Audio
The Nexus 5 will indeed feature dual speakers. The source says that sound is better than what you get with the Nexus 4 but not near the level of the HTC One (but really, not many phones are). The dual speakers will be located at the bottom of the device.
Camera
Here’s what the source has to say about the camera:
There seems to be an image stabilization system, which helps a lot when we hand shaking during shooting. I do not know if it is an optical image stabilization (OIS in this case) or digital. The fact is that it works very well. The quality should not differ from that of the Nexus 4 so blatantly.
Based on the rumours, the device will feature optical image stabilization, not digital. The Nexus 4 took decent pictures but lets hope that the Nexus 5 steps things up in that department.
Well there you have it. Again, I was reading the post Google Translated from Italian to English so there may be some things that I misunderstood or missed altogether. Overall though everything lines up with the rumours we’ve been hearing so the story seems legit enough.