Nexus 5 Makes A Brief Appearance In Play Store; 16GB Model Pricing Revealed [IMAGE]

Google’s as-yet unannounced Nexus 5 has seen its fair share of leaks of late, with videos, photos and general ramblings filling the Internet over the last week or two. There was little doubt that the handset was indeed real already, but the latest happenings make things about as official as they’re going to get. At least until Google makes the Nexus 5 officially… official.

First noticed last night, it seems that some people have been seeing the new Nexus 5 pop up in Google’s own Play Store, replacing last year’s Nexus 4 model. The handset, which isn’t actually available to buy and features no product description does have perhaps the most important information that we’ve all been guessing at since the Nexus 5 first started leaking out, and that’s the price.

Nexus logo

Labeled at $349 for the 16GB model, the Nexus 5’s entry-level model is actually more expensive than the outgoing Nexus 4, though 16GB is now the base model rather than the 8GB variant that was available to budget conscious Nexus 4 buyers. But we have our hopes up that Google will also offer the device in a 8GB variant.

Also shown on the product’s Play Store entry is a photo that shows the new Android 4.4 KitKat mobile operating system, complete with its transparent status bar and redesigned icons that we have been seeing in recent screenshot leaks over the last few days. This is definitely real folks, and we’d expect Google to be announcing the Nexus 5 sooner rather than later. Obviously this appearance on the Play Store was unintentional, but the fact that the page is at least partially built suggests an announcement cannot be too far away now.

Nexus 5 play store

With so little known about when the Nexus 5 will be announced, we’re also currently unsure whether it will be the only hardware announcement to come out of the Mountain View HQ. Android 4.4 KitKat will obviously get some stage time though, so there’s at least that to look forward to even if you’re not on the lookout for a new smartphone.

What do you guys think? Do you think the leaked Nexus 5 image we see above is the final representation of the device itself, or will we see more changes in the hours and minutes to come? Share your thoughts with us in the comments section below.

Thanks, Umair for the hat tip!

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