Review of My Yet Another New Phone - Nexus 5

[Raja]

Ok guys here comes yet another review of my new phone .

The underrated flagship the NEXUS 5 .

why did I buy the NEXUS 5 all of a sudden when I am personally not a big fan of android as a operating system ? the story will follow soon .

first lets have some unboxing pictures of the phone plus the stock kit kat launcher from Google and some custom launchers I installed on the phone .

For now let me present you the current Google and android reference and flagship device the nexus 5

 

[singh890]

Re: Review of my yet another new phone -NEXUS 5

Congrats bro on the new phone and truly said it's an underrated phone but actually a very nice device.
I had my hands on it in Feb when my sister bought it before she left for UK.

 

[sandip24]

Re: Review of my yet another new phone -NEXUS 5

Nice pics. waiting for entire review

 

[Arijitb]

Re: Review of my yet another new phone -NEXUS 5

Great Pics Congrats.

What is that app from the 4th Pic from last ?

 

[dharmesh]

Re: Review of my yet another new phone -NEXUS 5

Nice pics man and nice phone. :-)

I also heard about the 360 degree view pics that you can capture using nexus. It was possible in Nexus 3. Could you please throw some light on it, if you have used it?

 

[vijay]

Re: Review of my yet another new phone -NEXUS 5

Congratulations on your pure google experience with nexus, awaiting to hear the full story behind this purchase, and how much you got it for, which version, 16 or 32?
Seems this one is for the lady.

 

[nitin_k]

Re: Review of my yet another new phone -NEXUS 5

what happened to you BB10

nexus 5 is an awesome device , powerful yet elegant. assured updates and vanilla android make it a charm to own unlike the rest who love to put bloatware and eat precious memory.
off late only moto g and moto x have come closest to stock android that too coz they were from google's stable apart from the Google edition moto G, S4's and HTC one.

how much was the damage :)

 

[simplysam.singh]

Re: Review of my yet another new phone -NEXUS 5

nice choice brother I am also having the same awesome specs in the price range of 35K like android kitkat, 8MP camera (Awesome Clarity), light weight, high res ppi, Full HD support, will get new update quickly when google will launch the new os and many more

 

[type-r]

congrats Raja for the phone. it is a very interesting decision from WP to BB to Android. all the best for this phone and someday hopefully I can check one out properly.

 

[Tenida]

Raja ban gaya androidman. Congrats bro for Nexus. Will wait for your full review.

 

[Raja]

Well guys sorry for the late , but here comes the part 2 and reason why I bought a nexus 5 a android phone , a OS which I am not a big fan of . I have multi quoted a post of our android guru and passionate supporter and my dear friend our senior member nitin_k and lets start the story with a reply to his post

who asked you to buy a nokia

even the great windows cruisader named raja has jumped to android

Iam fan of apple products , I own couple of them and I have been a supporter and early adopter of windows phone 8 , plus I am extremely happy with both the platforms very much and buying a Blackberry phone or Android phone does not by any means relate to I not liking apple and windows phone or products anymore .
In fact after using the nexus 5 for 2 days I more then ever appreciate the fluidity , smoothness of IOS and windows phone even more .

So what made me buy the android flagship all of a sudden ?

Well like always being a tech lover I follow latest trends and development of all major mobile platforms . I very well knew that nexus 5 was one very good device with stock android the way Google en visions the platform .

Every one has some basic priorities set when it comes to buying a phone for example looks , good battery , great features , for me looks and camera are very important they make the first priority for me in a set budget I have for a phone .

Early reviews of nexus 5 suggested that the camera was worst . Google did send a update and made it somewhat tolerable .

Having OIS and good sensor all expected the phone to outclass the iPhone 5 and 5s and other Nokia's windows devices like Lumia 920, 925 ( lets not bring Lumia 1020 here since that is a grand daddy and tech marvel when it comes to camera which is still untouched ) yet the nexus 5 fell below expectations in the camera department .

Until recently that is 6-7 days back I was reading macrumors.com forum of which Iam a old member , a thread in which there was a heated debate going on between which is a better phone when it comes to camera the iPhone5s or nexus 5 .
Couple of members argued that the nexus 5 which recently got a 3rd camera update is on par with the iPhone 5 and 5s camera and also posted before and after pictures from the nexus 5 and along with iPhone 5s . the nexus 5 killed the iPhone in low and no light pictures without flash completely .

Reading that thread made me research more about the nexus 5 camera module and the amazing update which Google gave to its camera software .

Plus our senior and esteemed forum member and my dear friend allhyundaicars too confirmed that the nexus 5 can rival the latest and the greatest from all platforms when it comes to camera performance . in fact his suggestion and opinion is the main reason I bought the phone in first place .

I went in croma and played with the nexus 5 , Samsung s4 and iPhone 5s and was shocked to see the amount of clarity and detail the nexus 5 can get in the pictures . specially tricky ,low light situations .

I own a Lumina 925( wife uses ) too and I checked the quality of pictures from both nexus 5 and Lumia 925 . both were equally good and in many cases the nexus 5 even out classing the Lumia 925 in accurate colour reproduction , sharpness and detail .

In the price range of 25-30,000 I dint find any better phone in camera department which can totally outclass the nexus 5 , yes the Samsung s4 has 13 mp camera but the low light performance was not that good plus I just don't like the way the phone looks .
The best and greatest Lumia were above 40,000 and since I keep changing phones very often I never wanted to invest too much in phones . the only option left was Nokia Lumia 925 which I already have , so no point in buying another one again .

Plus buying the nexus 5 had a added advantage pure android experience , first and latest updates of the platform will come to the phone straight from Google .

So I bought the nexus 5 purely for the camera it has rather then it being a android phone .

My early impression about the nexus 5 and android operating system .

ANDROID -to be perfectly honest for my usage pattern I dint find android any superior or vastly great then IOS OR WP . of course there are certain features which the other 2 rivals lack but most of those features are coming to both the platforms in their coming respective major updates sans the full on customization option which android offers .

The last time I used android was when ginger bread was the latest update and I simply hated it for the lag , slutter and changed my Sony phone in matter of days . since then android has come miles ahead when it comes to polish , and fluidity but imho I still feel it is not as fluid and smooth like IOS and WP , I can compare the fluidity and smoothness to blackberry 10 OS , maybe it is tiny bit more smooth then blackberry 10 OS .
Options of using many launchers and themes is fun and on the very first day itself I was using a theme on my phone .
I will be updating my views about android as a user as I use the phone more and more .

Nexus 5 the handset

look- it has a very basic black slab like look , although not a head turner when it comes to design , it has a very serious and professional look to it . it wont excite you for its design nor will it repel you . imho I prefer it more then the Samsung s4 .

Build quality - it is surprisingly light , its all plastic by the way . the soft touch back feels great while holding the phone plus makes it less slippery . overall the phone has good finishing and although being plastic has a decent build quality .

Screen - it has a fantastic 5 inches full HD super sharp screen , watching videos editing pictures is a joy so is the web browsing experience too . I am not a gamer , but I am sure it will offer a superior gaming experience . the screen is superbly calibrated and showcases true to life colours in all its glory .

Processor - the latest and the greatest snapdragon 800 with 2 gb ram makes the phone handle every task you throw at it a breeze .

Camera - imho the phone has one of the finest 8 mp camera in the price range of 25-35k in the market which can rival the latest and the greatest handsets too , specially in low ,tricky light photography . it renders colours real same as they look in real life .

Below are some samples which Iam posting , remember our forum has limit when it comes to size of pictures so Iam down sizing them and posting no retouching or post processing has been done on the pictures .

Anybody interested in full resolution images can PM me , I will email the pictures in their original size .

Our senior members zengetz, nickandre, allhyundaicars have seen the full resolution images .

In coming days I will be doing a full comparison about image quality between the iPhone 5s vs Lumia 925 vs nexus 5 under all possible lighting scenarios .

The pictures posted are mostly from malls which generally have very low or tricky lights . a good camera is the one which handles such situations aptly and deliver good results .

Special thanx to our members
superbad- who tried to help me by showing the best offers available in the market for the nexus 5 .
petrolheadprash- who emailed me full resolution pictures from his nexus 5 which helped me to evaluate the phone and the camera better with regards to other phone and their cameras .

And big special thanks to allhyundaicars for his honest and unbiased opinion about the nexus 5 , he is one main reason I bought the phone .

Time for the images from my nexus 5

 

[Raja]

Some more pics

 

[Gurrala74]

^^Raja, nexus 5 looks to be a great choice within that price range and camera seems be excellent!!.

Great,straight,sharp,crisp review

Look forward to read your android experience and also the camera comparison. This thread looks become a great information on android plus wide comparison on camera performance hence felt to rate it 5 star

 

[allhyundaicars]

Amazing pics raja your review pics looks like it comes from a professional reviewer so you have all the phones now ( bb - windows - android) all with amazing camera. Can't wait to see a conparison of low light between 925 and n5 and thanks for your kind words. Happy to help :)

 

[Indian]

Welcome to the android club Raja.
Nice professional review, basically that's what one has to check when buying the phone, not those nitty bitty things and numbers. Definitely good choice considering the Nexus line as there is not garbage from the OEM provider and dont wan to wait for courtesy of OEM for updates. Probably my next phone would be Nexus.

Regarding the smoothness you mentioned in comparison to apple products, yes you are right and you will be right for long long time, I dont think any time soon android is going to beat apple in that section. But android has lots and lots advantages for the power users.

As time goes you will understand the capabilities and shortcomings better as you are having all flavors of the OS offered now. Keep updating your view on all the 3 devices in comparison and surely that will reduce the confusion of most people while deciding a new buy.

Thanks for the wonderful review, BTW you have hired a professional model to showcase your phone