GOOGLE NEXUS 5 REVIEW

The Nexus 5 is the best that Google has to offer right now. It is a lean,
mean Android machine, beyond the reach of OEM embellishment and
carrier bloatware. It delivers a streamlined experience that's stylish,
refined, and lightning fast, and it does all this at a jaw-droppingly low
price.
You can snag the 16GB version of the Nexus 5 for £299 or you can lay
down an extra £40 and get the 32GB version for £339.
In terms of hardware the Nexus 5 is a
premium smartphone, it just doesn't have a
premium price tag. The Nexus 5 can just about
hold its own with the top devices on the
market, including the iPhone 5S (starting at
£550), the Samsung Galaxy S4 (now reduced
to £420), the HTC One (which you can find for
£430), and the Sony Xperia Z1 (now reduced
to £430).
A 2.3GHz quad-core Snapdragon 800 chipset
and 2GB RAM place this on the cutting edge.
The 5-inch 1080p display is no slouch either,
and the Nexus 5 sports the very latest
platform update in Android 4.4 KitKat , with
the elegant Google Experience Launcher on
top.
If you're wondering how Google can offer the
Nexus 5 for that much less than its
competitors, then you might point an
accusatory finger at the camera and the battery life, but make no
mistake - this phone is a real bargain.
The Nexus line of smartphones may have started out as reference
devices to show off the platform, but Google has improved Android
immeasurably since the Nexus One and it has refined its strategy in
the marketplace.
The price tag makes it conceivable that you might buy the Nexus 5 off-
contract and then seek out the best deal for service. If you have the
cash ready, you'll almost certainly get a better deal that way. Just in
case you don't, O2 and Vodafone are offering it for no money down
on two-year contracts.
I never expected to fall in love with the Nexus 5, but it seduced me. It
certainly has its flaws, and we'll get into them in due course, but it's
also a beautiful phone that sets a new benchmark for Android.
The Nexus 5 is a vessel. Google's flagship is supposed to compete at
the premium end of the market, but it would prefer the software, not
the hardware to be the star of the show. To that end, it is almost
completely devoid of superfluous detail.
As I rest it vertically on the arm of my couch it conjures visions of the
monolith from 2001: A Space Odyssey. To soften it off and make it
more comfortable to hold, the corners are rounded.
This black slab (which also comes in white) is all about the screen and
the entire front of the Nexus 5 is glass. The only details that break it
up are the round earpiece centre top and the front-facing camera to
the left of it. There is actually an LED notification light down below the
screen, but you'll only see that when it blinks into life.
Despite having a five-inch display, the Nexus 5 measures just 137.9 x
69.2 x 8.6mm and the bezels are nice and thin.
With a Full HD resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels, which translates to
445ppi, the Nexus 5 display looks crisp and accurate. It's an IPS
display, and while critics will point to AMOLED's superior brightness
and black levels, you'd be hard pressed to notice.
The back and sides are soft-touch, matte plastic and it only weighs
130g, just like the Galaxy S4 .
Flip it over and you'll see a couple of design flourishes. The word
"Nexus" is embossed in lowercase gloss, with a tiny LG logo below it.
Up top on the left you'll find the glaring round eye of the 8MP
camera, which is surprisingly big. A tiny LED flash is just below.
The bottom edge has a standard microUSB port and there are two
grilles either side of it - the Nexus 5 only has one speaker in there; the
other hides a microphone. Up top you'll see the standard 3.5mm
headphone port and a tiny hole for an extra microphone.
On the left spine there's a ceramic volume rocker, with no markings.
On the right spine there's a ceramic power button and the SIM tray,
which you'll need a SIM tool or a pin to pop out. The Nexus 5 does
not open, so there's no microSD card support or battery switching.
The Nexus 5 is one of the most comfortable phones I've ever used. It
is comparably slow to heat up, so there are no issues holding it while
watching movies or during extended gaming sessions. The soft-touch
finish contrasts perfectly with the ceramic buttons, which makes them
very easy to find and use without looking.
There are negatives. The camera lens protrudes enough to make you
worry about it taking the brunt of any impact when the Nexus 5 is put
down on a flat surface. That glass expanse, without any protective lip
or border, suggests that a drop could easily result in disaster and
scratches might be easy to come by.
There's also the inevitable smudging from fingerprints, which turns up
on the back and the front, but that's a common problem.
It's not a flashy design, but the Nexus 5 does feel solid and well made.
It may be a little big for easy one-handed operation if you don't have
big hands, but the extra screen size will justify that trade-off for most
people.
At this price, the design of the Nexus 5 is impressive. It's understated,
almost making the iPhone 5S look gaudy, and it feels more expensive
than the Galaxy S4.
Key features
The price
The big USP that differentiates this phone from the crowd is the value
for money it represents. £299 for a premium Android smartphone
that's this good is a steal. Even at £339 for the 32GB version, the
Nexus 5 is seriously undercutting the competition.
Apple devices are expensive. The iPhone 5S starts at £549 for the
16GB version and you'll have to lay out an extra £80 to get a 32GB
model for £629, or pay a whopping £709 if you want the 64GB
version.
While Apple is comfortable with its premium pricing strategy, you get
the sense that the Nexus 5 has really put pressure on the competing
Android flagships.
When the Samsung Galaxy S4 was first launched, it was around £600
for a SIM-free handset. It's possible to get your hands on the SIM-free
16GB Galaxy S4 for £420 now.
It's a similar story with the HTC One, which cost around £500 on
release, but can now be snapped up for as low as £430 for a SIM-free
32GB handset.
The LG G2 is significantly cheaper at £350 for the SIM-free 16GB
version and around £400 for the 32GB model. The Nexus 5 was also
manufactured by LG and is partly based on the G2, with very similar
specs, although the G2 trumps the Nexus 5's 8MP shooter with a
13MP camera, and has a much bigger 3,000mAh rated battery
compared to the 2,300mAh battery in the Nexus 5.
And now we've got the likes of the Samsung Galaxy S5 and HTC One
M8 - both costing close to £550 or even more depending on your
capacity.
Whatever way you cut it, the Nexus 5 is a lot of phone for your
money, and it looks like a real attempt to drive prices down, which can
only be a good thing for consumers.