No surprises on price or color selection. The camera has a big f/2.5 lens for better low-light conditions and is optically image stabilized (with gyroscopes and micro-motors to take the jiggle out in the x and y plane). The camera also has an HDR (high dynamic range) option for taking pictures in widely-varing brightness. There will be some competition in this arena in the next year, but this camera will be in the ball park with the top-tier ones costing, literally, twice as much.

It’s interesting that there will only be two variations that will work in Asia or Europe/Americas. The only carrier left out in the US is Verizon. 

KitKat will be released for many older phones shortly. It will work with phones having 0.5 GB RAM, which will include many phones running Gingerbread. This is a deliberate attempt to make cheap Android phones work with a modern OS in Russia and Africa and places that only sell unsubsidized (cheap) phones. BTW, these are HUGE markets.

Nexus 5 is fast as hell, competing with the iPhone 5S which has a 64 bit processor (Samsung S5 will also have one when it’s released early next year).

Part of the reason for speed and decent battery life is that KitKat is a less-bulky and faster operating system. When you match that with the astounding Google Now performance (voice) and Nexus 5’s always-listening feature, things look awfully good.

The voice and messaging have been integrated into a new version of Hangouts, dropping the need for a separate Messaging app. Also, the integration with Google Now is enhanced.

My opinion (as stated several times) is that a whole new era of flexibility with watches, and glasses, and voice is about to begin…..