It’s approaching the end of the year and now that Apple finished unveiling everything they had in the works, it’s now Google’s turn. A little over one week ago, the house of Android unveiled the 5th-generation Nexus smartphone to the world. LG returns to the helm on the hardware side of things as Google reveals their annual update tot heir Android OS. As the Nexus devices gain popularity, can it be considered among the many other smartphones consumers have to choose from? My objective is to answer that for you. Let’s begin this assessment, shall we?
Display
Touting a 4.95inch 1080p IPS display w/ Gorilla Glass 3 + 445 ppi – this can be described as one of the best screens to sit on a Nexus smartphone. The visuals are just stunning. I watched Prometheus + Tropic Thunder on Google Play Movies alongside many HD YouTube videos without wanting to watch it on my HDTV. No real surprise as LG is no slouch when it comes tot he display department (HDTVs or smartphones). One little thing I did notice is that the display wasn’t as sharp as the G2 but still better than most flagship phones on the market.
The Snapdragon 800 makes this a speed demon.
Performance/ Battery Life
The Nexus 5 has all of the ingredients you would want for in a smartphone. The innards consist of a lightning-fast 2.26GHz quad-core Snapdragon 800 CPU (Qualcomm’s top of the line processor) alongside a 450MHz Adreno GPU, & 2GB of RAM. Allowing you to take on heavy processing, console-like gaming, and speedy multitasking without any hesitation.
On the inside keeping it powered on is a non-removable 2300 mAh battery. With my extensive testing that compiled of heavy Twitter, streaming YouTube + Netflix in HD, emails, streaming Google Play Music, and a few 45-minute phone calls – I got about 5 hours w/ heavy usage. Moderate usage got me closer to 11 hours of juice. The lovely display is the culprit for the battery drain so don’t expect to go all-day (longer than a 8-hour shift) without a charger.
Camera
Google + LG decided not to go higher on the megapixel count on this year’s Nexus. It’s offering a f/2.4 aperture 8MP lens but still manages to offer a big differentiator with OIS (Optical Image Stabilization) providing you less blurry photos + steady video. The software update adds HDR+ to the mix which combined w/ OIS is the best way to get more consistent, quality photos.
“I would have preferred the 13MP shooter on the G2.”
Google’s camera software is definitely not one of my favorites as its a bit too bare for me. Also, the speed of the auto-focus isn’t where it needs to be. Basically, its slow and so is the time to render after your photos are taken. Hopefully a software update can fix this like they did w/ the Moto X camera software. Videos recorded on the N5 come out exceptionally well as the dual mics have great audio quality as they pick up more than your average smartphone. As good as the shooter is on the N5, I would have preferred the 13MP shooter on the G2.
Like any Nexus device, less is more.
Software
KitKat is the newest member on the Android update schedule. On the outside it resembles a slight update to Jelly Bean w/ larger icons but inside its more of Google taking more control of Android. You can do a voice search anywhere on the homescreen by simply saying the keywords: “Ok, Google.” Google Now has its own page that can be accessed by swiping to the right from your main page as well as the older method of swiping up from the bottom. New to the table is the Phone dialer getting a lot smarter. As it now your caller ID to search incoming + outgoing calls via Google Search so if it’s a local business, you won’t get caught off guard by an unrecognizable number. It’s the little things that make for a huge impact sometimes.
KitKat is Jelly Bean evolved but with more Google Search.
You get long-awaited features like lockscreen access to your music/movie controls, a built-in photo editor that offers a vast range of manipulation, and your choice of Home screen launcher as well as default texting app. Speaking of the texting app, Hangouts is now your central hub for native texting, instant messaging, & video calls. They aren’t quite in sync with each other yet as chatting w/ someone via SMS and in Hangout chatting will create 2 different message threads. Yeah, I’m scratching my head on that too.
Android 4.4 is an overall optimal upgrade as it shows on the user and developer end of things. You can really see everything it has to offer on the Nexus 5. Not sure how KitKat will look like on other Android devices sporting underneath manufacturer’s custom UI.
“Not having the G2’s camera & a bigger battery prevented the Nexus 5 from achieving perfection.”
TG 2 Cents
Google’s Nexus has come some ways from being a developer/enthusiast device it started off as to a viable consumer option that we see today. Android 4.4 is a superb yet subtle OS update that goes hand-in-hand w/ the great hardware LG has put together. While it has some imperfections, the Nexus 5 still remains to be the best Android device you can buy off-contract. The only thing more interesting than the Nexus 5 could be a Google Play Edition LG G2. But I may be getting ahead of myself…or not.
To Buy Or Not To Buy
Starting with a $349 price tag, it’s pretty hard to say not to buy this. Not because of its pricing alone, its the package deal that it offers. Getting you the newest version of Android 1st, not having to deal with unwanted UI skins, and great overall performance. The question is would you prefer some of those trade-offs to better meet your personal needs.
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