Google Nexus 4 Smartphone to Sell Contract-free for $299

Google may have been forced to cancel its New York City launch event for the Nexus 7, Nexus 10, and Nexus 4, but that didn't stop the company from launching all three on time. The search giant announced two new tablets and a brand new Nexus 4 smartphone this afternoon.

 

Developed in collaboration with LG (a first for the South Korean company), the Nexus 4 packs a 4.7-inch 1280x768 IPS display (320 ppi), Qualcomm's Snapdragon S4 CPU, 2GB of RAM, 8GB or 16GB of storage, an 8-megapixel camera (1.3-megapixel camera up front), a 2,100mAh Li-Polymer battery, NFC, and Android 4.2. Unfortunately, the phone doesn't have support for 4G LTE, nor does it allow for external storage via MicroSD, which means you're stuck with the capacity you choose at check out.

"This is the first time we collaborated with LG to build a Nexus device," said Andy Rubin, Senior Vice President of Mobile and Digital Content at Google. "They brought an extraordinary amount of talent to the project, and the result is a feature-packed device that feels great in your hand, and blazingly fast under the hood."

The Nexus 4 isn't going to be available just yet. Google says it will launch in the US, UK, Canada, Germany, France, Spain and Australia through Google Play on November 13. If you prefer to buy in store, you can expect offline availability in Europe, Central/South Americas, Asia, CIS and the Middle East from the end of November. Pricewise, in the U.S., the phone will sell for $299 or $349 (8GB and 16GB, respectively) contract-free. If you're willing to sign a 2-year agreement with T-Mobile, you can take that price down to $199.

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  • tramit
    "the phone will sell for $299 or $349 (8GB and 16GB, respectively) contract-free"

    This sounds awesome! I was totally about to give up on the Nexus line. They used to be innovative in both hardware and software but it seems the last couple generations have only had the benefit of software while OEM's are pumping out killer devices. The nexus should be the one to set the bar high in the Android world.
    Reply
  • jhansonxi
    Canonical is planning Nexus 7 support for Ubuntu 13.04 (Raring Ringtail):
    http://www.jonobacon.org/2012/10/26/ubuntu-core-on-the-nexus-7/
    Reply
  • bustapr
    Android 4.2 on this while most of the other high end phones are waiting for 4.1...
    Reply
  • alexmx
    Sounds like I'll have a new cellphone by christmas, I'm getting sick of my motorola defy
    Reply
  • myromance123
    jhansonxiCanonical is planning Nexus 7 support for Ubuntu 13.04 (Raring Ringtail):http://www.jonobacon.org/2012/10/2 e-nexus-7/ I'm looking forward to that. It will hopefully mean that Ubuntu in general will become more optimized, so a better experience across platforms should be expected.
    Reply
  • robochump
    Wow! How can Google possibly sell them for so little?!? Amazing.
    Reply
  • boiler1990
    robochumpWow! How can Google possibly sell them for so little?!? Amazing.
    In reality, smartphones don't cost all that much to build (somewhere between $200-$350 depending on the manufacturers, etc.). Google is probably forcing (read: paying) LG to sell the Nexus slightly above or at cost to get these phones out there. The reason unsubsidized cell phones cost so much more is because of the margins that these devices earn.
    Reply
  • southernshark
    Was gonna buy a Win 8 phone contract free, but honestly at this price it looks like I will go Android.

    I don't do contracts so this is great news for me.
    Reply
  • shmung
    Haha yeah i was planning on getting a Samsung ativ if it came to t mobile but its gonna be a Verizon exclusive and t mobile doesn't have LTE yet anyway so unless t mobile gets some spectacular windows phone that hasn't leaked yet nexus 4 is my next phone now if only it could come in white.
    Reply
  • whiteodian
    Yes. Excellent price. I think I will be upgrading finally. This phone and $45/month on Straight Talk beats my $100/month AT&T any day! F U big carriers and your high prices.
    Reply