Google Nexus 5 Review
by Brian Klug on December 5, 2013 8:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- LG
- Android
- Mobile
- Snapdragon 800
- Android 4.4
- Nexus 5
As is often the case, the conclusion to this Nexus review is one part software, and one part hardware. I'll start with a discussion of Android 4.4.
Google adds a subtle but appreciated level of polish to the Android UI with its latest iteration of the OS. This has been true for a while now, but the Android we're talking about today is really a far departure from what existed back in the early 2.x days. Anyone who hesitated to move from iOS back then will find themselves with an OS today that is clearly a substitute good. What once was an OS that only appealed to a crowd that appreciated its flexibility is now just as approachable as anything else on the market, and just as powerful as it always has been.
Likewise, Android is now smoother than before thanks to further improvements brought forth by project butter and refinements to the GPU-accelerated 2D rendering pipeline that was introduced in Android 3.x Honeycomb. Like any platform, it's still possible to craft apps that jank, but you have to look hard for examples that truly drag the experience down, and on the whole almost all the system apps are polished and performant. Project svelte also reduces memory footprint for midrange (emerging market) devices with 512 MB of RAM, where most of the remaining growth is for the smartphone market abroad and at home. I can't wait to see how that bears itself out even on devices like the Moto G with 1 GB of RAM or less, since it's hard to immediately find the difference on flagships with 2 GB or more that aren't always under high memory pressure.
I'm glad to see the antiquated SMS/Messaging app gone, but I'm puzzled by the poor integration into Google's new Hangouts app. The Hangouts experience in Android remains incredible, but the SMS component is far from the sort of seamless integration I had hoped for.
The most disappointing part about Android 4.4 is the miserable camera UI, but I'll get to its impact on the Nexus 5 in a moment.
For the price, the Nexus 5 is easily one of the best buys on the market today. At $349 you not only get the absolute latest hardware, but the most accurate 1080p display available on an Android device. I really can't give Google enough credit here for doing what literally no other Android OEM seems to care enough about and actually shipping a display with proper sRGB coverage. It's not quite as good as what you'll get from a 2013 Nexus 7, but it's easily the best I've ever encountered in all of my experience with Android devices.
It's good to see the default storage capacity move from 8GB to 16GB, but I would really like to see Google embrace even larger options. There's no reason Google couldn't offer a 64GB Nexus 5, and/or be a little aggressive on NAND sourcing and push for a 128GB model as well.
The fact that the Nexus 5 ships unlocked at its price point is another huge selling point. It seems to me that what you can get for $179, $349 and $599 is improving substantially across the market. I would love to see Google extend the Nexus family both up and down the pricing spectrum to really provide excellent solutions for all segments of the market.
The camera story on the Nexus 5 is among the most frustrating aspects of this phone. From a hardware perspective, Google has settled on a combination of sensor and optics that's quite close to the most optimal configuration available today, and a dramatic improvement from the Nexus 4. The problem with the Nexus 5's camera is entirely limited to the horrible mess that is the default Android camera app. We're nearly into 2014 yet substantial shutter lag, focusing issues and a preview that doesn't reflect reality are still problems with the AOSP camera. The fact that many other Android OEMs have already worked around some if not all of these issues is hugely disappointing. Depending on how important the camera experience is to you will really determine whether or not the Nexus 5 is a good fit. Google has apparently told other publications that software fixes are on the way, but it's currently impossible to gauge the magnitude of improvement coming down the pipe.
Thankfully, we find ourselves in a time where there are a number of excellent options in the Android space.
Quite possibly the closest alternative to the Nexus 5, while still retaining the mostly-stock Android experience, is Motorola's Moto X. You lose out on core count and display resolution, but in return you get a smaller/more comfortable body, potential for color customization, and a far more usable camera today. The Moto X is just a much more polished device overall, and something you can also find on Verizon (not an option for Nexus 5). If having access to virtually-stock Android is of value to you and you want a cleaner experience today, the Moto X is a great alternative to the Nexus 5.
On the other end of the spectrum there's LG's G2 - the Nexus 5's closest hardware relative. Here you also get a much more functional camera offering and even better battery life. The tradeoff is of course that you lose the stock Android UI and the display isn't as accurate (it is however slightly larger), but it's absolutely a liveable option if you value things like a usable camera.
Google is really so close to perfecting the Nexus as a smartphone. Nexus 5 is a huge improvement over Nexus 4, and the obvious upgrade for Nexus 4 users, it just still needs a few refinements before I can comfortably recommend it to normal smartphone shoppers. For enthusiasts seeking the device that will get Android updates first, or shoppers looking for optimal value, the Nexus 5 is a definite buy.
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rwei - Thursday, December 5, 2013 - link
>nobody has still been able to merge the two together the same way WebOS did with the Palm PreWP does a good enough job interleaving and integrating the two that I'm almost completely agnostic over whether I use SMS, Facebook or MSN/Skype, and switch between them seamlessly based on my iOS/Android recipients' preferences.
PsychoPif - Thursday, December 5, 2013 - link
I really love AnandTech, but I find the fact that they act like Windows Phones does'nt exist quite disturbing.I see 18 device on the battery chart, but not one runs WP8.
kyuu - Thursday, December 5, 2013 - link
Brian Klug seems to have a personal beef with Windows Phone and, apparently, refuses to review them.hrrmph - Thursday, December 5, 2013 - link
I have one sitting here in front of me (a Samsung ATIV-S that I bought on the cheap to play with).So let me point out that out of the 4 devices (3 operating systems and as many manufacturers) that I use, it is the only one that cannot handle my complete collection of music files (it chokes on FLAC files).
So after 20 years of making about 40 billion dollars a year, Microsoft cannot bring themselves to support the leading open standard for high quality 24-bit loss-less audio files?
munim - Friday, December 6, 2013 - link
Probably because it's useless to have such high fidelity support on a mobile device that you'll be using outside of a studio.Impulses - Friday, December 6, 2013 - link
Yeah, I'm surprised there's so many mentions of FLAC thru the comments... It's almost ironic, I really hope none of the people pinning for FLAC support are the same ones complaining about removable storage!My entire CD collection is ripped to FLAC, it just makes the most sense got archival purposes, I wish more mainstream music was available in lossless formats just out of principle... However it's pretty pointless to be dragging FLAC files around on a phone.
You're not gonna be able to tell the difference vs properly encoded MP3s, even if you're traveling with $300+ worth of DAC/amp equipment and $500+ reference grade headphones or IEM (much less the kinda headphones most people use, never mind the line out or Bluetooth which would pose the weakest link in the chain).
Do a proper blind test, then try to rationalize why FLAC support is so important... Considering it takes no time at all to convert a big library and it's gonna take up a fraction of the space your FLAC library already does (I keep a discrete MP3 library on the PC just to mak esyncs quicker, the extra space is a drop in the bucket compared to the FLAC originals anyway).
hrrmph - Saturday, December 7, 2013 - link
I'd rather spend my time searching for new music than re-encoding and maintaining more sync lists of the music that I already have. Manufacturers that bake the support into the device make life easier. Syncs of playlists "just work."64GB of NAND was $35 the other day at Amazon. 128GB is just around the corner. Is storage really all that precious so as to justify wasting time compressing it down into such a tiny space?
With storage becoming so reasonably cheap, then lossy compression becomes perhaps still useful for video, but is an utter waste of time on audio.
In fact, if tags worked properly on redbook audio CDs, I wouldn't bother compressing them at all and would just save them as .wav files.
Same thing with FLAC. If I buy it in a high-quality format, then why waste time and resources squeezing it down?
Impulses - Saturday, December 7, 2013 - link
I don't spend any time re encoding or managing separate FLAC/MP3 playlists either... Media Monkey does it all for me seamlessly and it's far easier to configure it to your particular needs than something like iTunes. Should look into it, if you're really that much of a music lover it's just foolish to use 10x more space than necessary for storing music on a phone.I bring a new CD home, open EAC to rip (simple one click process), and when I open Media Monkey later it's already set to find the new album and convert it on it's own (which doesn't even take a minute on a modern PC). When I sync it knows to only look at the MP3 library, there's truly smart playlists if for instance you wanna have a list of recently added music, etc.
My CD collection (+ online purchases) would never fit on a 64GB micro SD card encoded to FLAC, quite manageable as MP3 though. Easier to share too, or use as ringtones/alarms...
FLAC/lossless makes sense from an archival point of view, exactly because of scenarios like this. You can re-encode or edit files without taking a hit in quality... It's not a "high quality format" in the sense that you're hearing anything that you wouldn't from an MP3 though. The original mastering/editing usually has far more to do with that than the distribution format.
edi_opteron - Thursday, December 5, 2013 - link
Umm, Where is the review of Lumia 1020? Or Lumia 1520? Oh wait, the greatest tablet in the market ( forget the app count for a moment) The Lumia 2520?Nokia hasn't sent you the devices? Simple, ask one, and they'll send you with a rush! I can't believe that you guys reviewed HTC One Max or Surface 2 and didn't do the same for Nokia devices which are probably the best in their category.
Review the tablet please!!
BoneAT - Thursday, December 5, 2013 - link
Although our good friends at TheVerge suggests there's a major SW update coming in just few days improving that camera inconsistency, although not yet a new stock camera application. I look forward to you guys testing it and updating this article!