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Look, don’t take this the wrong way as I’m not suggesting buying the Nexus 5 from your carrier of choice is a bad move, except that’s exactly what I’m saying. The thing is, it isn’t even the carriers fault as they are simply passing on their cost of the Nexus 5 purchase from LG/Google directly to you. Sprint and T-Mobile have both confirmed that their cost of the Nexus 5 is $450 indicating that Google is subsidizing their pricing of the Nexus 5 via the Play Store. Just like last year’s Nexus 4. 

Yes, there is an argument to be made that not having to fork over the entire up-front cost is something that could appeal to many potential Nexus 5 buyers. However, in the long run I’d rather see customers saving the extra $100 and putting it toward apps, accessories or paying the electric bill. It’s likely Google is taking the $100 loss in the hopes of pushing customers into the Play Store where they will grab apps, books, movies, magazines and all the other things Google will make a profit on. More Nexus users means more Google Maps and search use, more money, more money…

[Ed. note: If you want to save even more money, T-Mobile still offers a super secret Web only $30/month pre-paid plan (meaning little-no taxes) that works great with your Nexus 5.  You have to scroll to the bottom of T-Mobile’s plans page to find it—->.  It includes unlimited data (throttled at 5GB), unlimited texts and a sparse 100 minutes of talk time.  If you aren’t a talker, you are looking at $360 for a year of unlimited data + $350 for the best Android phone (under $60/month total) out there!]

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Today T-Mobile has made things official for availability and pricing on Google’s recently launched Nexus 5. Arriving for online orders Nov. 14 and in stores on Nov. 20, T-Mobile will be offering the 16GB Nexus 5 for $41.99 down with its usual monthly payments of $17. That brings the total cost of the device on T-Mobile up to $450, around $50 more than Google charges for the 32GB model and $100 more than the 16GB model on Google Play. That’s not unusual, however. Google has long subsidized the cost of its Nexus devices sold through Google Play.
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Minutes after launching on Google Play, Google’s new flagship Nexus 5 smartphone is now officially sold out for some models as shipping times continue to slip for others in at least US.

The black 16GB model is now listed as sold out on Google Play, while the white 16GB model has now slipped to Nov. 8. For the black model, Google Play says that it is “out of inventory” and to “check back soon”.

The 32GB models of the device are still listed as shipping by in 1-2 business days.  Nov. 8.

Shipping times are also slipping in other countries. All models of the device are currently listed as shipping by November 8 in Canada.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQ0XTJqFLIE

As expected, the rumors indicated Google would be making a silent Nexus 5 announcement today and now the device is officially available on Google Play in the US. Lining up with previous rumors, the device will sell for $349 for the 16GB model and $399 for a 32GB model. Google is currently quoting an estimated shipping time of 1-2 business days.

Google says the Nexus 5 will officially go up for sale unlocked and without a contract in the following countries starting today through Google Play: U.S., Canada, U.K., Australia, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Japan and Korea. It also notes that the Sprint, T-Mobile, Amazon, Best Buy and RadioShack will get carry the device soon alongside retailers in India.

Official specs for the device right from Google Play: 4.95″ 1920×1080 display (445 ppi), Full HD IPS and Corning® Gorilla® Glass 3, a 2.3GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon™ 800 processor, an 8MP rear facing camera, and a 1.3MP front facing camera. There’s also a 2,300 mAH battery, Adreno 330, 450MHz GPU, and Wireless Charging.

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Canadian carrier WIND Mobile has just posted a pre-registration form on its Facebook page for the still unannounced Nexus 5 (via MobileSyrup). The carrier touts the device as the “smart, new phone made to capture the moments that matter.” The registration page is lacking any concrete availability information, though it does list detailed specifications.

The carrier says that the Nexus 5 will feature a 4.95-inch 1080p display with Corning Gorilla Glass 3. It will pack a 1.3MP front-facing camera, as well as an 8MP rear-shooter. The device will be powered by a Snapdragon 800 processor paired with 2GB of RAM. As you would expect, it will also run the latest 4.4 KitKat version of Android and be available in 8GB and 16GB variants.

• Screen: 4.95-inch 1920×1080 display (445 ppi) Corning Gorilla Glass 3
• Cameras: 1.3MP front facing 8MP rear facing OIS
• Weight: 130 grams
• Dimensions: 69.17 x 137.84 x 8.59 mm
• Operating System: OS Android 4.4, KitKat
• Processor: 2.3GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor
• Wi-Fi (2.4G/5G) 802.11 a/b/g/n/ncNFC (Android Beam) / Bluetooth 4.0
• Storage / Memory / Ram: 16GB or 32GB internal storage 2GB RAM
• Ports & Connectors: microUSB, SlimPort enabled, 3.5mm stereo audio jack, Dual microphones, Ceramic power and volume buttons

Yesterday, an image of the Nexus 5 in white was leaked, along with a supposed launch date of November 1st. Earlier this month, the device even appeared on Google Play in a 16GB variant, priced at $349.
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After leaking a clear image of the black model yesterday, prolific leaker @evleaks has posted a render of the upcoming Nexus 5 in a white color option. As can be seen in the image above, the white model is actually a two-tone device: a black front, a white back, and black accents around the sides and rear-camera system…

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While from the outside, the most recent YouTube update looked rather minor, Android Police has done some deep digging and discovered a couple of very interesting tidbits regarding future features coming to the app. First off, the APK file makes several hints at background audio support. This means that you will be able to start a video within the YouTube app and navigate to another app and not have your content disrupted. Currently, leaving the YouTube app makes your video automatically pause. Android Police notes that the feature should work when the device’s screen is off, as well.

Within the YouTube app now, the settings option for background audio is hidden, but Android Police managed to reveal the options for a very brief period of time. Regarding the upcoming offline feature, the APK teardown also revealed some of the dialogue messages users will be presented with, though they’re all pretty standard.

Background audio support will be huge for listening to music via YouTube, in addition to other things, such as podcasts and videos. It’s unclear when the feature will launch, but between this and offline video support, YouTube for Android is about to get a lot more useful.
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Over the past few weeks, everyone has been heavily focused on the forthcoming KitKat update and Nexus 5, but Android Police has obtained screenshots of something that should be rolling out to everyone soon. According to the site, Google is currently in the process of redesigning the Play Store, yet again. The changes will keep up with what Google has been doing to its other apps.

The biggest user-interface change comes with the new slide-out navigation panel, which is commonly referred to as “hamburger-style” navigation. In the current version of the Play Store, all of the options are put into a single menu in the upper right corner. With this Play Store update, the menu options will be reduced to just settings and help, while everything will move to the navigation panel.

• Store home
• My apps, My movies & TV, etc., (varies depending on what section of the Play Store you are in)
• Shop (only appears at certain times)
• My wishlist
• Redeem

As far as release timeframe goes, Android Police expects the update to go live with Android 4.4 at the very minimum, but notes that it may go out earlier. It will compatible with all versions of Android back to Froyo. The blog also notes that the design is a work in progress and may very well change several times before release. 
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Google has announced a change to its terms of service that will allow the company to use your name, photo and company endorsements to be included in ads from 11th November (via the NYT).

When the new ad policy goes live Nov. 11, Google will be able to show what the company calls shared endorsements on Google sites and across the Web, on the more than two million sites in Google’s display advertising network, which are viewed by an estimated one billion people.

If a user follows a bakery on Google Plus or gives an album four stars on the Google Play music service, for instance, that person’s name, photo and endorsement could show up in ads for that bakery or album … 
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The latest Android stats from Google show that Jelly Bean is now installed on 48.6 percent of Android devices, and given current growth rates is likely to break the magic 50 percent barrier within a week or two. Jelly Bean became the most-used version of Android back in July.

The rather less impressive stat is that more than a quarter of devices – 28.5 percent – are still running Gingerbread, which dates back as far as 2010. It’s also worth pointing out that there are couple of fudge-factors in Google’s stats … 
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The New York Times reports that New York regulators will today announce a new initiative that aims to crackdown on fake reviews online. They’ve already reached settlement agreements with a number of companies and issued fines of around $350,000 to companies purchasing and providing fake reviews, many of which are submitted to services such as Google, Yahoo, and Yelp. Fake reviews have always been an issue for Google Play and just about every mobile app marketplace, so perhaps regulators will soon extend their investigation to mobile app stores as well.

“What we’ve found is even worse than old-fashioned false advertising,” said Eric T. Schneiderman, the New York attorney general. “When you look at a billboard, you can tell it’s a paid advertisement — but on Yelp or Citysearch, you assume you’re reading authentic consumer opinions, making this practice even more deceiving.”

Regulators found that US Coachways, one of the companies included in the investigation, had hired freelance writers to write fake reviews on Yelp and other services:
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An update is rolling out to the Google Play Music app that bumps it to version 5.2.1204L. Notably, the update adds the ability to create new radio stations based on music genres. Previously, the radio functionality was only available for use by songs, artists, or your past listening history. It’s important to note, however, that an All Access subscription is required for unlimited radio use. Both iTunes Radio and Pandora have had the genre-based station feature for sometime now, so this is a much welcomed feature for Google Music.

Also new in the update is an improved download queue. Now, you have the ability to pause, resume, and cancel songs that are being downloaded at any given time.

• All Access Genre Radio is here! Go to Radio or Explore, pick your favorite genre and enjoy unlimited radio based on the music you love.
• New download queue that allows pausing, resuming and canceling

The update is available now on the Play Store. 
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The latest Roku for Android app allows video as well as audio and photos to be streamed to a Roku set-top box – but only for a limited number of devices.

Play your video from select Android devices to your Roku player. Supported models include: Samsung Galaxy SIII, Samsung Galaxy S4, Nexus 4, HTC One, and Nexus 7 (2012 model). Video playback requires Android 4.0 or later … 
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MyGlass, the companion app Google created to allow you to screencast your Glass view to anyone with an Android phone, has now been updated to allow it to control Glass, reports Engadget.

The move was in response to feedback from Glass Explorers that “controlling its UI via swipes, nods and voice commands can sometimes be… awkward” … 
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