Google has taken the wraps off its much-anticipated Nexus 5 NFC smartphone. As the first Android 4.4 device, it will also be the first to offer support for Host Card Emulation.

The Nexus 5 is a 5-inch full HD smartphone powered by a 2.3GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 and offers a 5-inch 1080p display along with NFC, Qi wireless charging, LTE, Bluetooth 4.0 and dual band WiFi 802.11a/b/g/n/ac.

The Google Nexus 5 is available from today on Google Play in the US, Canada, the UK, Australia, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Japan and Korea, and is promised soon for India. The 16GB model starts at US$349, with a 32GB version available from $399.