Nexus 5 is it for everyone !

The Nexus 5 32Gb has arrived here at long last and while its been the worst kept secret since Elvis isnt dead, it did contain a few surprises.

N5 next to its cousin, the LG G2

The handset is very light, and the design is good without feeling cheap or at least not as cheap as the £300 entrance fee. We were given the white backed version of the Kit Kat wielding device, and its just the back thats white, although we kinda like that. So nothing to complain about here, the Nexus stamp on the back is a nice touch too. 

Again the buttons on the sides return on this LG and having enjoyed the knock on feature of the G2 we will find it hard pressed to get used to a side button again, shame Google cant add this to their specs - I really like knock on.

N5 next to the Z1

Moving onto the bezels, we didnt mind the Sony Z1s large chin and we were not expecting the N5 to have an almost (bar 1mm) same sized bezel. At the widest point its hard to see the difference between the two in terms of size. Sony took a bit of a kicking from various purists and this kinda shows how hard it is to pack all the features into a bezel-less phone. Something LG did well to do with the LG G2 and its skinny frame.

The screen is almost the same and while the N5 does have a higher PPi rating than the LG, the screen is better on the G2. I loaded onto my Google account a picture I took with a Nikon D3200 of the Brooklyn Bridge. I know what the colours should be, the N5 seems to miss the colours slightly, I cant put my finger on what - it just does, I think its the blue that suffers. Screens are always a high topic of debate anyway, for us the G2 was better, Sony Z1 has a fantastic screen for natural colours but the N5 beats it for brightness.

Icons are displayed 4 x 5 on the N5 rather than the 5 x 5 you get on the G2, I much prefer the 4 x 4 config as the 5 wide sometimes seems cluttered. 

SPIGEN Slim Armor Case

Round the back the camera housing doesnt sit flush, so make sure you get a case on the N5 otherwise your pictures will look misty in no time at all. We highly recommend the SPIGEN Slim Armor case. Available for £14. It fits really well, and seems to give plenty of protection. We also used the Invisible Defender protection.

Identical Speaker / USB config

At the bottom of the screen, the inputs are identical, there isnt much wiggle room either for those moments when you struggle to fit in the cable (when you realize its the wrong way round). Something we have done for many years on Android handsets, mostly after a few beers granted. The design kinda protects the USB point from breaking from drunken heavy handed types.



Having seen the battery drain, I think it will be just about ok for the day assuming you dont use it like a maniac, if you do all the regular battery saving tips like dim your screen, use headphones not speakers, etc etc turn sync off then you will get much longer. Its just a shame that LG didnt put a larger battery into the N5 because I think I will get tired of looking for power. While the Sony Z1 was a power hog it was fantastic on standby, something stock Android hasnt addressed just yet.

Kit Kat is great, there are some nice touches and we will cover those more at a later date. Items of note are the texting SMS is now in hangouts. There is no facebook integration into the address book yet, I should imagine this will be fixed later. Google Now gets is own dedicated screen to the left of the home screen. Using it in American it still picked up voice well and still had all the bells and whistles you enjoy on your handset today. There are cloud print options and a tap and pay control in the settings menu for when Google Wallet comes to the rest of the world, something I enjoy very much on my travels. 

Bluetooth and Wireless connect quickly which is always a welcome feature, something the Samsungs we had here struggled with.

We will do a further larger test once we have had the handset a little longer. 

Summary

The N5 is a complete bargain, when it comes close to competing with the top spec phones of today - just like the G2, Z1 and S4 it has a good screen, fast CPU and great OS, additionally a superb build quality. However the issue I have with the N5 is that its only approx £100 less than the G2 when purchased off contract (Clove). Yes stock Android always wins in my book, LGs UI is trying too hard to be something else, but the extra battery, audio bit bitrate, improved (and bigger) screen with smaller bezels are worth the additional cost and will let me overlook the LGness of the OS. If you can live without those additional features then the N5 still is a fantastic all rounder to have in your pocket. Dare we say it, its as good as the Moto X. 

You might want to consider the Snapdragon Battery Guru download.

Nexus 5 Video Review from this week is here. 

Camera Samples here

Related Posts by Categories