Whenever Google believes that the world forgot about its future products, one of their employees misplaces a yet-to-be-launched smartphone in a bar or posts images and videos on the Internet.
The current series of images bring out many of the new features of Android 4.4 KitKat, while the 7-minute long video about the Nexus 5 shows off whatever people hadn’t found from FCC.
Among the first changes people will notice in these images is the notification bar, which no longer has a solid color. Instead, this bar is now transparent and features white icons. The navigation bar is transparent as well, which is a welcome change that will undoubtedly require more resources. Yet another thing that has become transparent is the app drawer.
Speaking of the app drawer, I like the fact that the Widgets tab is gone, as it bothered me while using the default launcher. However, if you grew fond of the widgets, you can get them back by long-pressing the software button that launches the App Drawer.
Say bye-bye to the Gallery and GTalk apps, as Google Photos and Hangouts have taken their place for good and there’s no going back. The Phone app’s icon has also been replaced, but that’s not really a vital change.
The camera can now be accessed from the lockscreen by pulling a small camera icon to the left. Also, Google Now can be launched straight from the homescreen by saying “OK, Google.” The addition of more than 5 homescreens is now possible, and each and every one of them is marked with a dot.
A few new wallpapers were added, along with a new boot animation that now matches the one of Samsung Galaxy S4 and HTC One.
Below is the leaked video that shows the Nexus 5 in all of its glory. Some details may be confusing, though, such as the codename for the version of Android it comes with. In the Settings section, the version is listed as KeyLimePie, but everyone knows already that the next version of Android will be codenamed KitKat. There are also some discrepancies between the new features that I’ve listed above and what is shown in the video. I guess we all have to wait and see what Google and LG really have in store for us, as leaked images and video can be misleading, sometimes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ksOJl0PDDg
If you liked this post, please check the announcement of Android 4.4 KitKat and the Nexus 5 specs found on the FCC website.
