Google unveils Nexus 5 priced $349

Google yesterday unveiled its new Nexus 5 smartphone in a bid to gain a competitive edge over Apple's iPhone, especially in emerging markets.

The device comes with a 5-inch display and features tight integraton with new Google search capabilities and Google Now, the company's personal-assistant technology, through the home screen. The device opened for sale yesterday.

Nexus 5, a product of Google-LG cooperation, gets a new camera that corrects for small hand movements to reduce blur. It also allows users to click better photos in difficult situations, including low light with fast-moving subjects.

The device which is on offer in black and white and costs $349 for a 16GB unlocked version or $399 for 32GB - cheaper than Apple's new iPhones. The iPhone 5c, the cheaper of the two new iPhones, carries a price tag of $549 for a 16GB version that comes without a wireless contract.

According to Sundar Pichai, head of Google's Android business, this was a cutting-edge device at an incredible price.

According to commentators, price was  particularly important in faster-growing developing markets, where there were fewer wireless contracts to subsidise expensive phones and where people had less money to spend on a costly unlocked device.

The Nexus 5 phone is also the first device to run on Kit Kat, the latest version of Google's Android operating system.

The Nexus 5, like all earlier Nexus phones, would be sold only at full retail price, without subsidies that come with two-year contract agreements.

The Nexus 5 and Kit Kat software underscore the internet search giant's push to integrate its virtual assistant, Google Now, into people's lives say commentators.

They add the move would see Google Inc gather additional insights that would enable it to sell more advertising, which generated most of its revenue.

It would be easier for Google to learn about a person's habits and needs so it could display interesting, helpful information, such as an online post to help users get about their daily lives.

For instance, a user at Niagara Falls might be served information such as the height of the falls and nearby places of interest from the web.

According to Pichai, Google wanted to get to the point where users glanced at the phone and it always delighted them with what they needed.

In a move not quite in line with the trend, Google built Kit Kat so it would work on cheaper smartphones that featured less computing memory than top-of-the-line devices.