Google recently slashed the price of its Nexus 4 handset by $100, causing the 8GB version to sell out completely and fueling rumors that the Internet search giant was clearing out inventory to make room for a new model. After Tuesday’s announcement that Android 4.4 would be named KitKat, Google shared a video of staffers photographing a new Android statue at the company headquarters in California—several of whom were using a Nexus-branded smartphone assumed to be the Nexus 5. The video was quickly taken down from YouTube and Google has refused to comment.
Newly discovered U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approval documents have increased the likelihood that Google will release a Nexus 5 in the near future. The documents, which were first noticed by S4GRU, detailed an as-yet unknown handset called the LG D820. S4GRU first saw the authorization last month, but they were swiftly removed by the FCC, “citing confidentiality reasons.”
The FCC release included photos of the device’s back cover, which will support Qi wireless charging. When compared with stills from the Android KitKat statue video, the shape and camera cut-out match up perfectly with the Google employees’ mystery phone.
The so-called D820 will feature 7-band LTE, CDMA/EDVO rev A, pentaband DC-HSPA+, quadband GSM/EDGE, Bluetooth 4.0, NFC, and dual-band 802.11 b/g/n/ac Wi-Fi. It will also be equipped with a 5-inch screen (with 1080p full-HD) and likely include the increasingly popular Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 CPU (2.3GHz, according to speculation).
Other rumored specs include a 13MP rear-facing camera, 2 or 3GB of RAM, and a 2,700 mAh battery. It may be modeled after LG’s new flagship handset, the G2, but will probably be running Android 4.4 KitKat out of the box.
Drawing inspiration from the Google HQ faux pas, Philippine tech blog Yugatech has produced an impressive render of what the upcoming Nexus 5 might look like, which can be viewed here.