Google Nexus 5 [split from new iPad thread]

[Bozza]

No, but I did order a Nexus 5 yesterday. I feel dirty. I expect to be selling it within a week.

 

[hans kraay fan club]

No, but I did order a Nexus 5 yesterday. .

The world is ending. Run for the hills.

 

[S'hampton Seagull]

No, but I did order a Nexus 5 yesterday. I feel dirty. I expect to be selling it within a week.

Is that the new phone rather than tablet? I have an HTC one x at the moment, but might consider this if it turns out be top notch. I want to stick with Android anyway.

 

[Bozza]

Is that the new phone rather than tablet? I have an HTC one x at the moment, but might consider this if it turns out be top notch. I want to stick with Android anyway.

Yes, released last night - https://play.google.com/store/devices/details/Nexus_5_32GB_Black?id=nexus_5_black_32gb&hl=en

 

[tinx]

I was considering giving the Nexus 5 a go just until the next iPhone next year but I just don't want to have to pay for all the apps I use on my iphone again on Android.

On the ipad front I'm waiitng for the ipad mini with retina at the end of the month.

 

[S'hampton Seagull]

Yes, released last night - https://play.google.com/store/devices/details/Nexus_5_32GB_Black?id=nexus_5_black_32gb&hl=en

Have you gone for this ahead of the 5s?

 

[Box of Frogs]

No, but I did order a Nexus 5 yesterday. I feel dirty. I expect to be selling it within a week.

I am genuinely shocked by this!

The world has officially gone mad!

 

[Colossal Squid]

Sounds like a stonking device and I hope the supply issues that blighted the Nexus 4 have been sorted this time round.

Google and LG took so long to pull their collective finger out last time that I ended up waiting for the HTC One instead of getting a Nexus 4.

 

[Govinda Tim]

Bought a Nexus 4, its been an excellent phone. Ordered my Nexus 5 yesterday, had confirmation e-mail that its being delivered on Monday. Daughters going to get the Nexus 4 but she doesn't know yet.

 

[Bozza]

Have you gone for this ahead of the 5s?

I picked up a 5s on launch day having popped into a Carphone Warehouse on the off chance. Between Carphone Warehouse and Three they somehow stuffed up the activation and 4 days later I still could not use it other than when connected to WiFi. After many calls I took it back to the shop for them to sort but was faced with a ludicrous situation which played out something like this:

"We can't activate this phone now so I'll have to do a swap out."
"OK"
"So I'll return this phone and give you another one."
"OK"
"Only all the phones have sold out now so I'll have to order you one - it should only take a few days."
"What?"
"A few days. For a new phone to arrive."
"Can't you just give me a new SIM for this phone?"
"It doesn't work like that."
"Give me my money back please."

Since launch day fever has subsided I decided to stick with my trusty old iPhone 5. It's still fine in every way. The main reason I'd want to upgrade is for the camera which sounds quite an improvement on the 5, which is already excellent.

However, I noticed that the Nexus 5 was launched yesterday so thought I'd give it a go...

- Try Android for a length of time to give it a proper go.
- Proper Android from Google, not bloated with all the crap Samsung, HTC et al make users suffer with.
- 'Cheap' price to buy.
- Easy to sell on if I don't like it.

I won't be getting rid of my iPhone 5 any time soon!

 

[Normal Rob]

TBH Bozza, you can only have a true opinion on the relative strengths/weaknesses of both, when you have tried both.

So when you undoubtedly say thast Apple is better, you will have a greater air of authority.

 

[zfleas]

tempted to sell my iphone5 and get a nexus 5....
on a side note - as my iphone has a cracked screen, would i be better of paying to get it fixed and then selling it, or just selling it as it is? thoughts?

 

[Bozza]

TBH Bozza, you can only have a true opinion on the relative strengths/weaknesses of both, when you have tried both.

So when you undoubtedly say thast Apple is better, you will have a greater air of authority.

I wouldn't say my current view is that iOS is better than Android, although it was certainly the case in the past when this battle played out on these pages. We have quite an investment in the Apple ecosystem now that an iPhone just fits nicely. With the release of Mavericks Apple are clearly trying to strengthen the ties between the desktop and mobile making it far easier to have Apple across the board than to mix ecosystems.

One other thing I should have said above is my desire to try a bigger screen. I'm dreadful at mis-typing on my iPhone and tasks like NSC administration are fiddly. I'm hoping a larger screen will help with both of these.

 

[Green Cross Code Man]

One other thing I should have said above is my desire to try a bigger screen. I'm dreadful at mis-typing on my iPhone and tasks like NSC administration are fiddly. I'm hoping a larger screen will help with both of these.

Try Swype, leave the dark ages behind!

 

[sten_super]

I have a 4 and love it. Wifey needs a new phone so am thinking of buying the 5 for me, and passing her my 4 - not sure how well that would be received though! For the price, and with a cheap SIM from Three or Giffgaff thrown in, you can't go wrong.

 

[S'hampton Seagull]

Having looked at the spec I think I would still marginally favour an HTC One over the Nexus 5.

 

[Green Cross Code Man]

Having looked at the spec I think I would still marginally favour an HTC One over the Nexus 5.

I like the HTC one, however there is a big advantage in having vanilla android imo and any nexus device will be supported both quicker and for a longer period.

 

[Colossal Squid]

I always used to favour the stock version of Android HOWEVER having both an HTC One and a Nexus 7, I have to say that the skinned HTC One experience is far preferable.

I know that some manufacturers add pointless additional functionality and bloatware but in my experience all HTC have done is streamlined things that bit more, and added their BlinkFeed on one of the home screens, which I really like, but you can disable if you don't want it.

One area in which the HTC excels itself is contact management, and I find it does a much better job at organising contacts I've got in different places than stock Android manages, without 3rd party help

 

[Bozza]

I got impatient and, inspired by Nail-z picking up a Nexus 5, I also went out and bought one. I forgot to cancel the one I'd ordered and that is now en route so I've returned the one I picked up on Friday night from Carphone Warehouse.

Android takes some getting used to and my gut feel is that, unfamiliarity aside, it's not as intuitive as iOS. One very nice feature, however, and I think it's new in 4.4 KitKat is the phone dialler. When you start typing the name of someone/something to dial it not only searches your contacts but it automatically searches local organisations that match. That's a really, really neat bit of functionality that saves you having to go to a browser, say, to look up the site of a restaurant, shop or whatever before you can phone it. From my quick playing, it worked very well.

Sending an SMS seemed to somehow default to sending a Google Hangout request so, when I tried to send someone a simple message it sent them an email inviting them to a Google Hangout. That just seemed bizarre. Presumably there is a way of over-riding that.

Google Now has also moved, I believe, in 4.4 and is now always a left swipe from your home screen. I like Google Now and it's sure to only get more useful as Google mine the data they hold relating to all of us.

Regarding the device itself, the screen, which I understand to have a far greater resolution than the iPhone's retina display just didn't seem as good to my eye. Pixel count might not be everything. It also seemed that battery life was going to be pretty more, and sub-iPhone standard. Nail-z may have more of a view on that as he used his all day yesterday.

I'll have a proper play, using it as my main phone, when the one I ordered from Google turns up, which is likely to be tomorrow I think.

 

[Green Cross Code Man]

Sending an SMS seemed to somehow default to sending a Google Hangout request so, when I tried to send someone a simple message it sent them an email inviting them to a Google Hangout. That just seemed bizarre. Presumably there is a way of over-riding

I think the hangout application has replaced the text messaging one. I would imagine the must be an sms select option somewhere. Other than that there's always Handcent our some other third party app.