Jump to content

Nexus 5 - the best phone for the buck?

MikkoP
By MikkoP
in Member Reviews
 Share
Posted

Introduction

 

Nexus 5 is the fifth and the latest phone from Google and it is manufactured by LG. I got mine a few days ago, which is the 16 GB white version. I have been playing with it all the time since it shipped from Germany and so far I have been pleased with it.

 

You can choose between a 16 GB and a 32 GB version of the phone, both black in white. It is available through Google Play in certain countries and the rest have to purchase it from a reseller for a higher price. In Finland the 16 GB version of the Nexus 5 costs 499 € but I got mine from Germany for 349 €.

 

Specifications

 

The Nexus 5 features a 4.95 inch 1920x1080 Full HD screen that brings the screen density to 445 ppi. It has a powerful Snapdragon 800 processor running at 2.26 gigahertz with 2 GB of RAM. As for connectivity the phone has 4G LTE as well as dual band AC WiFi and Bluetooth 4.0. The phone weights only about 135 grams and is only 8.6 millimeters thick. It is running the latest Android 4.4.2.

 

The phone

 

The phone comes in a blue box that has not much to say. If you have the Nexus 7 you already know what the box will look like – though this time it will have a Nexus 5 in it. When you open to box, the first thing that you are going to see is the phone itself. Under the phone you find the manuals, the SIM card tray removal tool and the charger with the USB cable.

 

1387112179404-copyright_IMG_0564-paranne

 

1387112657721-copyright_IMG_0589-paranne

 

1387112677117-copyright_IMG_0027-paranne

 

1387112227629-copyright_IMG_0588-paranne

 

1387112240984-copyright_IMG_0622-paranne

 

After removing the phone from the box and detaching the protective plastic tapes you are ready to start the phone. It came fully charged from the factory – that’s cool. After the phone started, it prompted me immediately to upgrade it from Android 4.4 to 4.4.2. This took ten minutes and then you were ready to rock!

 

It is quite a big phone but due to its thinness and lightness it was really easy to handle and keep in the pocket. It isn’t much curved but compared to Xperia Z from Sony it just feels better.

 

Nexus 5 compared to the 2013 model of Google's Nexus 7 tablet.

 

1387112709543-copyright_IMG_0062-paranne

 

The phone is made of plastic. It has a matte white backplate with glossy black sides. The sides get a little bit greasy and dirty but a slight wipe with T-shirt will clean it up. Regarding to the back I’d say it’s great. My HTC One S has a black metal backplate and that is very bad. It picks fingerprint oil very easily and it is hard to clean. This white matte plastic doesn’t show fingerprints at all. I can play it all the day and it looks still clean after the day.

 

Battery, the camera and call quality

 

The Nexus 5 is packed with a 2300 mAh battery and an 8 MP rear camera and 1.3 MP front facing camera for video chatting. Before I decided to purchase the phone I read a lot of reviews of the phone. It seemed to be a general concept that people disliked the camera and battery life. As you all know, when you get a phone the first week is the time period you are using the phone a lot. I have been playing with it all the day all the time and I haven’t run out of battery once! I keep my screen brightness at 100 % and when playing music or videos I tend to keep the volume near the maximum level.

 

1387112489633-copyright_IMG_0059-paranne

 

When it comes to the camera I’m also a bit disappointed how everyone seemed to hate the camera. Of course it is not the best in the world, but who could expect that from a 350 € phone? It is great that Google even implemented a flash in a phone that already has been packed with all the goodies! In these sample shots I took you can see that it is decent. Unfortunately I couldn’t take any outdoor shots because it is very dark and rainy outdoors in this time of the year. Note, that none of the sample photos are edited in any way. The pictures of the phone are taken with a Canon EOS 60D and these are cleaned up and refined with Photoshop.

 

1387112359150-2013-12-15-14.16.57.jpg

 

1387112455233-2013-12-14-20.03.49.jpg

 

1387112463551-2013-12-13-16.49.29.jpg

 

Call quality has also received some hate from other reviewers. Compared to my earlier HTC One S I can’t say it’s bad. All the problems with call quality are there because of the cellular connection. If you open an Internet based voice chat software and use the speaker above the screen you can tell the difference. The quality over the web is multiple times better.

 

Google has also put a little bit detail on the speaker grill. On the white version of the phone the speaker is painted white.

 

1387112506005-copyright_IMG_0046-paranne

 

Performance

 

Performance wise the phone is excellent. For half the price of HTC One or Samsung Galaxy S4 it is pretty similar to performance and the rest of the specs. Unfortunately I can’t provide benchmarks compared to these phones because I don’t have them but you can find on the Internet.

 

The phone feels very snappy and multitasking is very quick and smooth. Scrolling through heavy webpages with a lot of images is not a problem for this beast. Zooming in and out is very responsive and fast. Games run very smoothly and they look great on the high density screen with great colors.

 

Note that because of editing the following pictures will have a little color loss in the phone screen.

 

1387112575634-copyright_IMG_0010-paranne

 

1387112618732-copyright_IMG_0023-paranne

 

1387112632269-copyright_IMG_0025-paranne

 

Conclusion

 

When I first heard the specs of the phone I was thinking that it would cost a fortune. When Google revealed the price I was very surprised. 349 € for a flagship phone that is neck to neck with other manufacturer’s leading models is irresistible. Even it lacks a Micro SD card slot and might not have the best camera on the Earth it is more than easily worth the price.

 

This phone gets my recommendation.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted

Would you mind to PM me where you got it?

My PC CPU: 2600K@4.5GHz 1.3v Cooler: Noctua NH-U12P SE2 MB: ASUS Maximus IV RAM: Kingston 1600MHz 8GB & Corsair 1600MHz 16GB GPU: 780Ti Storage: Samsung 850 Evo 500GB SSD, Samsung 830 256GB SSD, Kingston 128GB SSD, WD Black 1TB,WD Green 1TB. PSU: Corsair AX850 Case: CM HAF X. Optical drive: LG Bluray burner  MacBook Pro, Hackintosh

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted

Very nice.

Please become a member of the Linus Tech Tips forum, keep writing smug remarks & let us love you. Peace out.


<| Project M13 & Silverstream. Other DIY projects |>

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted

Glad you like the phone, After 4.4.2 pretty much all my complaints about the phone went away, and I love mine!

"Her tsundere ratio is 8:2. So don't think you could see her dere side so easily."


Planing to make you debut here on the forums? Read Me First!


unofficial LTT Anime Club Heaven Society

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted

@wng_kingsley7 and @gastew15 thanks for your replies. =) 

 

And gastew, didn't even try 4.4 because everyone said 4.4.2 will fix a lot. And why would I stay with an old version? ;)

I just had mine before 4.4.2 was all.

"Her tsundere ratio is 8:2. So don't think you could see her dere side so easily."


Planing to make you debut here on the forums? Read Me First!


unofficial LTT Anime Club Heaven Society

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted
  • Author

To add a little. I have used my phone for the whole day now and I'm still at 50 %. Might not be as heavy use as some people are used to, but definitely a good battery life.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted

this review was all that i said to my friends about it, though i said the speaker was really bad cause it was like the iphone 5s's speaker where it only had one driver on the right hand side while the left hand side was just a pretty microphone which really drove me crazy

$$金Trill金$$

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted
  • Author

this review was all that i said to my friends about it, though i said the speaker was really bad cause it was like the iphone 5s's speaker where it only had one driver on the right hand side while the left hand side was just a pretty microphone which really drove me crazy

Yea, that's sad Google didn't put better speakers in it. But hey, 350 €. Though I have to say it's not that bad, I've seen worse.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted

I'm already looking at phones (my contract renews in May - so quite far away). This one caught my eye, but I bet there will be better phones out then!

Spoiler

Gaming/Engineering PC: -i7 6700K, 4-4.2GHz "Eleanor" -ASUS ROG HERO VIII MOBO -16GB DDR4 3000MHz Corsair (2x8GB) -Gigabyte Windforce 980Ti OC edition (1405MHz GPU clock) -H110i GT Corsair CPU Water cooler -980GB Sandisk Ultra II SSD -Corsair 450D ATX Case -RM850i Corsair PSU (Modular) -28” 4K Samsung -27” 1080p Samsung 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted

Yea, that's sad Google didn't put better speakers in it. But hey, 350 €. Though I have to say it's not that bad, I've seen worse.

But overall it's the typical kind of Google phone that bang for the buck with overall great specs that's in it's own league

 

I'm already looking at phones (my contract renews in May - so quite far away). This one caught my eye, but I bet there will be better phones out then!

You can wait for I new phone from a different manufacturer like HTC or Samsung but this phones is one of the best android experiences because it is pure android which everyone should like because you get the latest versions of android right away and an overall clean look

$$金Trill金$$

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted

The Nexus 5 doesn't work in Singapore due to it being of different frequencies with our mobile data... sad  :(  would have gotten one for my mom

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted
  • Author

I'm thinking of buying a wireless charger and integrating it in my desk. Wouldn't it be cool just to drop your phone on your desk to charge it? :-)

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted
  • Author

The Nexus 5 doesn't work in Singapore due to it being of different frequencies with our mobile data... sad :( would have gotten one for my mom

Yea, that's sad... Why are the frequencies different around the world?

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing Member Reviews

×