Bad news, Nexus 4 owners – your shiny new smartphone may soon be eclipsed by the next generation of Nexus devices. According to rumours posted by PocketNow, the Google I/O conference starting May 15th will include announcements of two new Nexus devices; a Nexus 5 smartphone and a Nexus 7.7 tablet.
The Nexus 5, as the name suggests, will be a 5″ 1080p smartphone the likes of which we’ve seen announced by a vast swathe of manufacturers over the past few months. The new Nexus phone will be powered by Nvidia’s Tegra 4 quad-core processor, which was unveiled at CES last week. That should give it an impressive speed advantage over currently available 5″ 1080p phones, although it’s unknown how much of an advantage over the Snapdragon S4 Pro quad-core that powers the Nexus 4.
The forthcoming LG-made phone will also include the now standard 2 GB of RAM and either 8 or 16 GB of internal storage. For imaging we’ve got a 13 megapixel rear shooter that should match that in Sony’s Xperia Z, as well as an impressive 3 megapixel front-facer.
New Tablet
The Nexus 7.7 looks to be an upgrade over the Nexus 7 tablet that was the first of the new generation of Nexus devices. We’ve got less information about this tablet, but count on a rather obvious screen enlargement from 7″ to 7.7″ at a resolution of 1920 x 1200, making it HD. Other reported specifications are the same Tegra 4 processor as the Nexus 5, 2GB of RAM, and 8 or 16 GB of on-board storage as well as HD front and rear-facing cameras. That’d make for a compelling upgrade over the Nexus 7, although it may be difficult for Google to ensure that the new tablet is available at the same $200 price point as the Nexus 7.
The San Francisco conference should also reveal the next version of Android – each Nexus device has accompanied a software upgrade (the Galaxy Nexus was 4.0, the Nexus 7 had 4.1, and the Nexus 4 and 10 launched with 4.2). After two subsequent minor releases, might it finally be time for Android 5.0?
While this might be vexing for the many Nexus 4 owners that have only just taken stock of their devices, it’s definitely a powerful statement from Google that their phones and tablets will remain competitive in the marketplace. Pro tip: If you’ve just attained Google’s last smartphone, be sure to pick up a Nexus 4 case so you can sell on your phone for maximum cash money when the Nexus 5 comes out! Don’t be like me and suffer an unfortunate chip on your phone a few days after getting it!