It's Nexus Day! Despite having its New York Nexus event rained out by Hurricane Sandy, Google stuck to its delivery day and announced the full details of the Nexus 4 and Nexus 10 on Monday morning. As rumored, the Nexus 4 takes the place of the Galaxy Nexus as Google's flagship stock Android phone. The phone is made by LG, not Samsung, and it's packing some powerful hardware for the year ahead: a quad-core 1.5GHz processor, an 8MP camera, 2100mAh battery and a 1280x768 pixel IPS display.
Like the Galaxy Nexus before it, the Nexus 4 will enter the market at $300 with 8GB of internal storage. The 16GB variant will cost $350, though the phone will be available on-contract on T-Mobile for $200. We suspect it will reach other carriers, as well, but here's the kicker: the Nexus 4 does not come in an LTE variant. Even though, yes, the Galaxy Nexus supported LTE on Verizon and Sprint.
Google says it's about battery life and The Verge says it's impossible to get an open phone on Verizon's LTE network due to the restrictions placed on its accompanying CDMA spectrum. Supporting Verizon's network would require every OTA update for the Nexus 4 to go through Verizon. Since AT&T and T-Mobile allow unlocked HSPA+ devices on their networks, that's the radio Google has decided to stick with. It could have made an LTE phone just for AT&T, which does offer open access on its network.
The new Nexus 10 tablet from Google and Samsung doesn't have LTE either, but that's not such a shock. The 10-inch tablet will be sold as a Wi-Fi-only device, and it's starting at $400. And, as rumored, an exciting 2560x1600 display headlines the tablet's features.
The 300 ppi display is powered by a dual-core ARM Cortex-A15 processor and quad-core Mali T604 GPU, Samsung's latest powerhouse mobile graphics processor. It ships in 16GB and 32GB variants (the latter is $100 more), has a standard 5-megapixel camera and 1.9MP front-facing cam, and a hefty 9000 mAh battery. Connectivity options include micro HDMI, micro USB and two NFC chips that few people will ever use.
Even the popular Nexus 7, Google's $200 tablet, saw a slight update today. A $300 version of the device with 32GB of storage will be available on November 13 with a HSPA+ radio.
Android 4.2, which is sticking with the Jelly Bean name, adds a few new features on the software side. Lock screen widgets, a Gesture Typing keyboard akin to Swype, and Gmail tweaks will all be welcome. The Nexus 10 will also be a much better family device than its predecessors, as the device will support multiple user accounts. Phones won't support the feature, but they will get Photo Sphere, a 360 degree Street View-style panorama mode.
Both the Nexus 4 and Nexus 10 hit the market on November 13 with Android 4.2 on-board.