The Drum Awards for Marketing - Extended Deadline

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By The Drum Team, Editorial

November 1, 2013 | 2 min read

Google has launched the latest incarnation of its flagship Nexus smartphone, the first device to run the new Android 4.4 KitKat operating system.

The tech giant unveiled the Nexus 5, which is made by LG, on its official blog last night.

The new 4G-ready handset is lighter than the Nexus 4 but comes with a bigger 4.95-inch screen, an 8MP camera on the back and a 1.3MP camera on the front.

Google described it as the "slimmest and fastest Nexus phone ever made", but this will come as little surprise to tech-savvy consumers as the phone's specifications had been leaked online before the official unveiling.

The handset will go on sale today in the US, UK, Canada, Australia, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Japan and Korea.

According to Google, the 16GB version of the device will cost $349 in the US (£299 in the UK), unlocked and without a contract. The 32GB version should cost £339 in the UK.

The KitKat operating system, a notable brand tie-in between Google and Nestle, has been designed to work on lower-end phones as well as the latest models.

Google said that by stripping back the amount of memory it uses, the new operating system will be able to "reach the next billion smartphone users" and those who have previously missed out on the latest updates to Android because of the limitations of their handsets.