My review of the Nexus 5.
The things I didn't like:
1. The speaker is probably the worst part of the phone. Even when you use headphones, it's too quiet. I actually use my Moto G when I want to listen music so that's a real turn off.
2. The battery life - I have watched reviews that suggests the battery life will get better with time. I've only had this phone for about a week but it has never gotten me through a full day. It maxes out at about 7 hours so I always have to take my charger. I won't consider myself a heavy user. I use my phone to do mainly chatting, your typical social media stuff, news, internet browsing etc. I don't do gaming or movie watching - so considering that I really expected a full day. I'm still waiting to see if it gets better with time.
3. The camera - is a weak point on this phone. It carries a 1.3MP front camera - which is really as bad as it gets on a high end smart phone. This camera is really ok for skype etc... won't give you any good photos at all. The back camera is a 8MP, I will say this camera exceeded my expectations because I've heard so many bad things about it I guess I bought it expecting the worst. I'm yet to take any photos with HDR+ enabled and the quality of the photos are satisfactory. With phones around with 13, 26, 20 and even higher MP, if you're really into photo and video taking, I won't recommend this phone. You're never going to impress anybody with any photo that comes from this phone - never mind it was marketed for these purposes.
I will add that there is a new google camera app that was launched last week that makes the experience a better one and includes the lens blur feature of the HTC one (M8) but it reduces the quality of the photo in this mode. As google continues to update the camera app I imagine the experience in this department will only get better.
4. Design - I don't mind the simplicity of it but I will admit the iphone 5s and the HTC one (M8) are incredibly sexier and more pleasing to the eyes. So too but less so is the Sony Z2. Phones like the Moto X and the HTC one (M8) are invariably gonna feel better in your hand as well.
5. The display. I wasn't sure what people meant by the display being 'washed out'. I found out when I bought this phone. Holding it up beside the Moto G, the display on the Moto G (which is quite incredible I must say) looked better. Something is off with the colours but I find when the brightness is turned all the way up it looks better. Why does the colours change with dimming the display - I'm not sure. Apart from that though, the display is boss.
I have not experienced any connectivity problems with this phone.
What I love:
1. The price. I can't afford an iphone 5s (won't buy one even if I could), the s5, the Z2 or the M8. This phone is always compared to these phones despite the huge price difference. The fact of comparison alone says a lot regardless of the verdict.
2. Software - 4.4.2 - I love having the latest and greatest OS and being first in line for every update. Google Now is deeply integrated and there is zero bloatware. These are three things that are highly important to me. At the end of the day, software is what you're going to be interacting with each time you turn on or unblock your phone so I can't think of anything that could be more important.
3. Performance. The OS makes specs less important than they use to be because it requires less. For that reason, the Nexus 5 performs just as good and even better than other flagship devices. It can handle any app you throw at it and after one week the phone has not stopped to take a breather. There are other phones that have better specs and it doesn't make them better - they require more to handle the bloatware that bugs down the device. Don't be fooled in this regard - the Nexus 5 has everything under the hood you could ever need.
Keep in mind this phone does not allow storage extension.
I still give this phone 5 stars because it is obviously intended to target a specific set of people - people like me who place software at the top of the list of priorities alongside price. There really isn't a better phone you'd get at this price.
There is no such thing as 'the best phone' - phones are different just as people are different and they are made to meet different needs. You have to know what you want out of your device and I found what I needed out of the Nexus 5. If the strengths of the phone are not important to you and the weaknesses are I could easily recommend a different phone.
I'd surely recommend this phone to those whose attention its trying to get - it is a deal you should not miss.
Reviews with images
Total Rip-Off
Originally I thought: "Excellent phone. Stylish and very useful even after being spoiled by the big screen on my Galaxy note II.The only problem I'm having is with Lollipop that it shipped with. But that will fade in the next update I'm sure."Follow up - this phone is junk. I was ripped off. It ships with a "pre release" version of lollipop that will NOT update, not the production version of lollipop that ships on the ones that were bought from Google. I've waited too long to try and find a solution but there is evidently nothing that can be done with this phone. So I'm just out the money.DO NOT BUY FROM THESE FOLKS. THEY ARE SELLING GOOGLE NEXUS 5'S WITH PRE RELEASE VERSION OF LOLLIPOP. THEY MAY BE NEW IN THE BOX BUT THEY ARE NOT THE SAME NEXUS 5 YOU'D BUY DIRECTLY FROM LG OR GOOGLE!!!!! NOWHERE IN THE LISTING DOES IT TELL YOU ARE NOT BUYING A PHONE WITH A PRE-RELEASE VERSION OF ANDROID 5 OS!!!IF YOU BUY ONE OF THESE AND IT COMES UP WITH THE PRE-RELEASE VERSION OF ANDROID 5, SEND IT BACK IMMEDIATELY!!!
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