News - Google Nexus 5 smartphone launched at £299 (16GB)

[LeetyMcLeet]

Is anyone else considering the bumper cases? I added the bright yellow one to my wishlist. They're supposed to be ~ £25.00.

[malculator]

Was hoping for a lower UK price really, seeing as the US have it for only $349. £265 seems fair to me.

In the US VAT (sales tax is 6%) we have 20% VAT which accounts for some of the price difference.

I've included UK VAT into my fair price though.

[kalniel]

The UK is a different and much smaller market than the US, you can't compare value across both.

[Infinite]

Yellow =_=

£25+del seems horribly overpriced for what is essentially a piece of molded plastic.

The only benefit I can see of getting the official one is that it is guaranteed to work with wireless charging.

Just ordered this from Amazon http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Probably take a month to get here from China lol I let you know how it fits.

[mcmiller]

I've included UK VAT into my fair price though.

I think most states in the USA have different VAT so the price Google are selling it at wont be the final price you pay in the US whereas the price listed in the UK will be the price you pay.

[Hicks12]

Thats exactly what I ordered (black though ), was tempted by the fusion one as it looks lovely showing the back but its so bulky , its already very slightly bigger than the N4 and I use a bumper without issue so using that slim one would make it smaller than the N4 for me haha, said 7 - 14 days for me so lets see! I shall let you know if I get mine

[malculator]

I've included UK VAT into my fair price though.

I think most states in the USA have different VAT so the price Google are selling it at wont be the final price you pay in the US whereas the price listed in the UK will be the price you pay.

Fair enough, figuring in US sales tax (~10%), brings the figure to a more acceptable level of disparity.

Don't get me wrong though, even at £299, I can see the bargain that this phone represents. I'm just a tight ar#e.

[ik9000]

Hmm... does look like a nice improvement. I was worried about the size but apparently they've reduced the bezel so it's only 4mm taller iirc.

However I only just purchased my nexus 4 two months ago and while the latest tech and higher res would be nice I have no need for 4G in my area and they'll likely release a Nexus 6 in late 2014. Think I'll hold on to my 4 and upgrade to the next model google release.

On a side note, anyone have any estimates on kitkat release for Nexus 4?

anandtech states very soon -

Google will update Nexus 4, 7, 10, the Samsung Galaxy S4 and HTC One Google Play edition devices to KitKat with an OTA update in the coming weeks

See article here: http://www.anandtech.com/show/7471/g...es-the-nexus-5

[Hicks12]

So if anyone’s interested I have had the device since 1pm today (had a nice swift delivery!) and here’s my initial view (apologies for the poor English, quick write up and is just ramblings of my experience).

Build quality is amazing, loving the soft touch plastic (black version only I think), it’s really easy to grip and is probably easier than the Nexus 4 in terms of grip levels and it actually seems better to use one handed, if you can use the Nexus 4 with one hand I can’t see you encountering issues with N5 as its even better. The screen is larger than the N4 and you can definitely see the difference side by side (I lack a camera at my current place so can’t show them together sorry) but the actual frame is similar in size its taller for sure but width is pretty much the same and as the N5 is thinner it does make it easier to reach across etc., I know that the N5 is only 9g lighter but it makes the world of difference when you compare them and all these touches add up to make the N5 extremely close to my opinion of feeling 'perfect' in the hand.

The N4 had a plastic chrome bezel along the frame and in my opinion looks horrible and tacky, its great at first glance but you realise how bad plastic chrome gets scratched and just ends up cheapening the look, thankfully it seems LG have learnt from this and have gone for a solid plastic soft touch finish which is so much better in looks, feel and durability. The corners on the N5 are slightly sharper than the N4 and I am unsure if that’s a good or bad thing at the moment I am siding with its as tight as I would like it so it may well be the perfect compromise between a wider phone and a curvier one. The only other thing to note is that the ‘back’ panel is noticeable this time as it seems to be two separate pieces, the main side frame and then the back attached to that which is very different to the N4 which I loved the stepped slope on the sides, I do prefer it this way so it would have been nicer if LG had simply made it one piece and curved the back panel into the frame. The next part is the buttons, they are ceramic which feel very nice however the edges are slightly sharp (seems to annoy a few people, it’s okay for me) it’s an improvement over the N4 however one thing seems unchanged and that’s the actual hardware behind the button which is slightly disappointing as I was expecting LG to make a better effort here since they change the material of the button but it’s merely superficial, the buttons are okay but I wouldn’t say they are great simply put they do the job of buttons nothing more, I prefer firmer buttons with a nice activation but maybe that will come in the N6? Also just to note that all the logos are filled with ceramic and look really nice, don’t worry that IMEI sticker does peel off.

So the body overall is brilliant with only one minor niggle being the buttons, next the screen! Simply put I am rather impressed, very bright and smacks the N4 hard, I have my N4 calibrated but the N5 does produce better images however I must note that it seems to have a hint of yellow, not quite sure if it’s simply my N4 having too much blue but it does seem off by a bit as whites aren’t brilliant white, will have to look into this but it can easily be sorted with calibration later down the line(it may sort itself though), its brighter than the N4 at max which was already one of the best for outdoor readability so the N5 should be excellent as it has some fancy stuff that reduces reflections and stuff in light so happy its improved here.

For those wondering there is a notification light still (google seem to have failed to show this) and it’s even brighter than the N4s so again another nice improvement here.

The camera, one of the features I was looking forward to and I must say I am not really disappointed I am no photographer and have a DSLR for ‘real’ photo taking so I am in the group that believes cameras in phones don’t need to be excellent but should be good enough for that special and unexpected moment and I can safely say the N5 seems to do the job, I haven’t had a proper chance to make full use of it but just comparing it to the N4 it seems to do quite well and I would hope it brings it up to the competition however I have no idea what other phones are like but it’s at least improved on the N4 and is now a solid aspect of the nexus range.

Keep an eye on this thread http://forum.xda-developers.com/show....php?t=2477920 for photos and videos, the video on page 15 seems very good especially the audio, exceeds my expectations of video recording on phones (I really don’t use video recording so low standards here ).

Unfortunately one disappointment with the N5 hardware is the lack of stereo speakers, I honestly thought it was going to have it as the manual did state it at some point but alas we have a mono speaker again, hopefully LG and Google realise that this makes a massive difference to a phone for the next Nexus. The actual speaker performance is similar but better than the N4 but I think the main reason is just the speaker placement as the grill is no longer on the back (silly oversight on the N4) but in fact back at the bottom just like LGs old Optimus 2x that I loved .
What’s next? Not sure phone is incredibly snappy (tangible improvement over N4 which was already stellar), Android 4.4 brings a lot of improvements here there and everywhere so I am still appreciating the changes but most notable is the launcher experience and the fact Google now is even better! If you have used the Moto X then you will have experienced the similar implementation of this, simply say Ok Google and google now will begin listening to voice commands and they really do work better than before. I am told that the N5 does have the hardware and it is planned so that you can use it exactly like the Moto X and simply say Ok Google when the phones off to turn it on, thanks the Snapdragon 800 which has this low power chip its able to do this without using much power  just needs enabling!
There also seems to be an interesting development behind the scenes, it appears that Dalvik (the java VM) will no longer be used sometime in the future as google has an option in the developer menu to use ART instead of Dalvik runtime, should bring in a nice speed boost when implemented!

Touch screen, I know people who owned the Nexus 4 complained a bit about the sensitivity of the screen, this was in part due to drivers that were changed before launch however in android 4.3 a new set were launched, it was good but wasn’t perfect (fine for me I didn’t moan) however I can say that the N5 has an amazing touch screen its extremely sensitive (the highest I have seen) so you will certainly enjoy your soft interactions.

Not really sure what else I can write so if you guys have any questions/requests just let me know .

Oh cannot comment on battery life yet as I have only started charging it 30 mins ago and was simply running it down what was given from the factory however it does seem to go down at a much slower rate than the N4 so I have a very good feeling it will last awhile, not quite as long as the G2 or Note 3 but will certainly last a lot longer than the N4 and longer than the HTC ONE (hopefully!). Final part for anyone who owns a nexus 4 and noticed the hot back, I haven’t encountered that with the N5 so I think were fine this time .


TL DR : A truely brilliant phone, very quick well made and improves on all the aspects of the Nexus 4 especially in the poorer areas and is great value for money

[RAJA666]

Xiaomi...just watch this space.....

PS: I thought someone big from Western world just joined the company. So after 2 years coming from nothing, Xiaomi will start their journey to dominate the mobile world.

[Singh400]

Although I want to upgrade, I don't need to. My N4 is perfectly fine!

[Hicks12]

Just to quickly add an update on my overview, the N5 display isnt really a yellow tinge just warmer than the N4 4.3 calibrated screen. Comparing it to my Desktop monitors (dell u2311h and lg ips) which are calibrated closely to as good as possible\ the N5 compared to them is very close and I would say its just a tad too warm but very nearly 'perfect' , basically screen looks better than I thought earlier and enjoying it more now.

Battery life will take awhile to work out but atm got 20 hours on MOBILE network with :
2 Gmail accounts syncing (about 40 emails a day)
BBC news updating every 4 hours and reading some stores
Pulse news updating every 6 hours (about 20 feeds) and reading some stores
Using hangouts for a few messages along with about 20 SMS
Couple photos
Installing 10 apps (about 200mb download)
runing quadrant two times, antutu twice, luxmark both tests, 3d mark test and a few others
Messing around with Google now talking setting alarms and shiz, probably 30 minutes
20 minute web browsing

Think thats it, oh and all Google location services enabled! (seems to have WiFi enabled but not connected... think thats for location )

Currently at 50% left so pretty happy, 2 days i think on stock lol.

[Biscuit]

Sounding promising on the battery front overall!

[Hicks12]

Okay I'm very impressed with the idle battery drain on mobile network. Went to bed at 13% it was on 12% 8 hours later... Madness!
Did play some YouTube videos and Google music for 30 mins, read more news and finally some more web browsing, got 1 day 9 hours 20 minutes so far at 10% so for the first drain it's pretty solid and much better than the nexus 4, I can't see it beating the optimus g2 but it's doing well and id certainly more than enough for a day as I always have a charger at work all.

[loyal986]

Good phone, must take good look at my account couse I am a student and I need this phone :S

[HSK]

Im hoping my one gets delivered tomorow, i got a mail on yday saying it had shipped.

But then I still have to wait for a replacement micro sim!!