LG’s building of a Nexus smartphone for Google remained a pretty well-kept secret until yesterday. The phone leaked in a couple of pictures online and now several other lucky possessors of the phone have also posted pictures and other details.
The phone, codenamed ‘Mako’, is running on Android 4.1.2, which is expected to be the next software update Google launches to coincide with new Nexus devices. The firmware upgrade is already on the Nexus 7, and is expected to come loaded on this phone and possibly several others.
Some images of the phone show off a sparkling crystal back casing, which looks to be very similar to the ‘Crystal Reflection’ design the company used in its recently revealed Optimus G flagship phone. However, other images depict the phone being in a very bland rectangular black casing, which is expected to be a dummy case to hide the phone’s final look. Samsung did this with the Galaxy SIII, and it proved to be a very successful approach to keeping the phone’s design a secret until launch day.
A user over at XDA-Developers posted in the forums about receiving the phone from an anonymous source, claiming they knew little about it. The handset is sporting the dummy casing, but the user noted that it was running Android Jelly Bean 4.1.2 and had a “super nice” screen. From the images it looks likely that the phone will run stock Android, looking very a la Nexus 7 in the app tray and menus.
Furthermore, a phone going by the name of the LG Nexus 4 has just popped up in UK retailer Carphone Warehouse’s internal inventory system. A screenshot sent to The Verge shows the phone in both black and white versions, although there’s still no mention of storage sizes. Carphone Warehouse recently also had the 32GB Nexus 7 and a Samsung Nexus 2 in its system, so it looks as though Google’s plan for Android’s 5 year anniversary is all coming together.
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Via: The Verge