Nexus 5
So I finally have a few minutes to sit down and pop down my thoughts about my new phone 🙂
I’m not going to try and do a full review as there are tons already out there, but if that’s what you’re looking for this one at Ars Technica pretty much seems to be the closet one to my own opinions that I’ve read.
I was very happy with my Nexus 4 (the previous “flagship” phone from Google), the only thing I really didn’t like was the fact that it had a glass back that was apparently very easy to break, which meant that I always felt I had to baby it.
The Nexus 5 is not what you would call a huge leap forward- it has a nice, simple plastic back that doesn’t seem quite as fragile, but it has a much faster processor and a screen that is huge improvement- brighter, clearer and bigger, all in a phone that is slimmer, lighter, the same width and only just a bit longer then than the 4. The upgrade to Android 4.4 (KitKat) is again not a huge leap, but there are some really nice touches that I’m still exploring.
The Lovely thing about a stock Android phone is that (like my beloved Gnu/Linux) it is hugely customizable. The Nexus phones don’t have any bloat added or make you use some manufacturers idea of how they should be, you can use the stock interface or make it your own. Thus in no time at all I have it all set up the way I want it with my custom wallpaper and all my apps and icons just where I want them 🙂
So far I’m very happy with the phone- it’s fast, easy and does everything I want it to do with minimum fuss and kerfuffle. The battery life (contrary to what some seem to be saying) is great- I seem to still be at between 30 and 60% when I put the phone on to charge before I go to bed after a full day of pretty heavy use, including checking email for 3 addresses all day, looking stuff up online, at least an hour of streaming music while I’m walking the dog, and more. And this is still the “honeymoon” period when I’m using it more than usual coz it’s new and I’m showing it to people and letting them play with it too…and I have Bluetooth and wifi on all the time! But I seemed to get better battery life out of my Nexus 4 than most people did, so either I just have it set up the right way, or what seems lots of use to me is less than for others.
The upgrade to LTE (slightly faster cell phone internet) doesn’t make much of a difference to me- I never really missed it on the 4, but I guess it’s nice to have 🙂
The only thing I’m not crazy about is the design decision to have the camera protrude slightly from the back of the case, this means that if you put the phone down you are at risk of scratching the plastic “lens” in front of the camera. But as I always put a case on my phones anyway, and the camera cutout in the case has the effect of recessing the camera (if you see what I mean), it’s not a huge deal.
And talking of the camera- it’s pretty good, not stellar, but good enough. I don’t need my phone to be the best camera I have- I have a DSLR for that- and this still takes pretty amazing pictures and video (not forgetting the almost-unbelievable PhotoSpheres) considering it’s on a phone!
So…for the price it’s a bargain for what you get, and I couldn’t be happier 🙂
Update: 11/12/13: Just read the Gruaniad’s review…I wonder if they read my blog, because it basically says everything I did 🙂