#MyTake: Google Nexus 5

Announced in mid-October, the LG Google Nexus 5 is a piece of art. If you liked the Samsung Galaxy Note 3, you will love this flagship gadget. It's the best value-for-money smartphone out there right now. The 16GB & 32GB variants are trending on Indian e-tail stores for many weeks now. Many still want to buy this and are waiting for Mobile World Congress which usually brings a price drop.

Here, Features talk for them self. Wireless Charging, NFC, a clean and pure Android 4.4 KitKat 'out of the box', a 4.95" full HD IPS screen covered in Gorilla Glass 3, a 1,920 x 1,080 (445 PPI) resolution, 2.23GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor, 2GB RAM & GPS. Connectivity includes micro-USB, 3G, 4G LTE, NFC. This also supports OTG drives, which allow you to connect the regular USB drives directly to your phone.

Looks good doesn't it? Even I thought the same, until I used it for a week. Here's my experience snapshot of the factors that really matter...

Feel in Hand:
Its just 130gms. Black, smooth, rubberised fibre, sturdy and light in the hand. It looks premium with niche features. The stereo speakers are placed on the bottom rim of the phone. This is important as the sound will not get blocked when kept on a surface.

Display:

4.95 inches full of Crisp n Clear screen. Comparing it with Grand 2, Note 2 and a few other, Nexus 5 outperformed in terms of clarity. The 441ppi pixel density was easy on the eye, bringing out a true colour combination. Videos (FHD & QHD), Games (Asphalt 7, NFS Carbon) and even the regular apps (FB, Twitter, photo editors) seemed more natural. I could easily use the phone continuously for 3 hours without any strain.

Processor:

I used 4 apps simultaneously and played Asphalt 7 for an hour without without any lag. Wait! that's not a true benchmark. Time Lags will be felt once the apps start storing more and more data over a month or more. Having used a 1.5GHz and a 1.7GHz background, I find this phone smooth and more responsive. The 2.23GHz quad-core processor will do justice to all your computing requirements. But thinking rationally, this is the speed you had sometime back in your desktop. And comparatively, mobile apps aren't that heavy.

Memory (RAM):

Something that really excites me is this. A 2GB RAM in a mobile is just awesome. This means you don't have to keep shutting apps to boost speed. There is plenty of space for multiple apps to run however they want. Games, Apps, Editing, Camera and everything else can run better in every sense.

Courtesy: Google Store

Camera:

The 8MP rear camera is feature rich and shoots Stills and Video in Full HD (3264 x 2448 pixels). It comes with autofocus and LED flash, but is not very satisfactory. It fails perfection in low light and I would term it decent. The front facing 1.3MP camera is a regular point n shoot. Another 'not so important' thing is that the Nexus 5 does not support native video call. But this feature is supported by only  a couple of Samsung phones. not even iPhones.

Battery Backup:

With all the power-extensive features that the Nexus 5 has, a battery backup of 2300mAh seems under-powering. On analysing the usage, the Camera had the maximum power usage. On paper, the HD screen is also supposed to use more power to give the rich display. This battery should have lasted barely for 3-4 hours of intensive use. BUT... I got a notification for low battery only after 6.5 hours of continuous use. This means another 1.5 hrs with the remaining 15%. I believe this is because of the improvements that Google has done in its Android KitKat 4.4.1. 

Storage:

Nexus 5 comes with 16GB (~ Rs.28,500/-) and 32GB (~Rs.32,500) variants. Google gives the Nexus users additional space on its cloud. Over n Above that, I registered for a dropbox account for 1.5GB ;)

For those who use memory cards, this can be a negative aspect.

Cool Uncool:

• Very Affordable
• Wireless Charging
• Only phone with Android 4.4.1
• 2.23GHz Quad core QC processor
• Inbuilt GPU
• Feature rich 8MP camera
• Fixed Battery
• No Radio

If you are no Radio fan, I recommend to buy this. Such features at sub-30,000/- is a rare commodity. For now there is a give away scheme run by Tech Quark for the Nexus 5. Check it out.

-Vaimasters