The official Nexus 5 thread.

[MrSquished]

That doesn't mean the glass would have cracked without the protector.

I've dropped my phone many, many times and have never so much as scratched the screen. TPU case with lip does wonders.

i had a TPU case on the phone at the time of the drop

 

[MrSquished]

you can also add the argument that saving the screen from scratching will keep resale value up. nobody wants to buy a scratched screen phone.

 

[tsupersonic]

the iLoome i have on my s4 was like $25 on Amazon. It depends on what you value more - having to replace your screen on a drop or it getting scratched up, or protect it with good stuff. plastic screen covers suck. these glass ones resist finger prints and do not distort or block screen quality.

of course there is no guarantee that it will prevent your screen from cracking but it definitely reduces the chances. i dropped my phone with the first iLoome i got. that cracked but the phones screen did not.

I've had 5 smartphones, and none have had their glass cracked (fingers crossed it stays that way). I'm using the Nexus 5 without a case now, and I tend to take good care of my smartphones. I also don't care about resale values - I don't sell my phones - I give them to family/friends if possible, otherwise I keep it.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

Do you have a case on the phone too? If so which one? I would think the glass screen protector would add a little thickness. I'd like to get one but not sure how it will work with my Neo Hybrid case. I want to make sure my case will fit and will still be easy to get on and off. Getting it off is a little difficult already.

I have a Neo hybrid for my iPhone and Nexus 5. If you've noticed the lip on the Nexus 5 it's huge. The Spigen cases are designed to be used with the glass protectors. Just name sure you don't get the rounded one. I'm using the nano.t currently.

 

[MrSquished]

I've had 5 smartphones, and none have had their glass cracked (fingers crossed it stays that way). I'm using the Nexus 5 without a case now, and I tend to take good care of my smartphones. I also don't care about resale values - I don't sell my phones - I give them to family/friends if possible, otherwise I keep it.

that's great for you. so you don't need one of these. but guess what, others might.

 

[kevinsbane]

That doesn't mean the glass would have cracked without the protector.

I've dropped my phone many, many times and have never so much as scratched the screen. TPU case with lip does wonders.

My old N4 had a TPU case as well, but somehow developed a major scratch during my last month of ownership. And I was careful with it! To this day, I still do not understand how I got the scratch.

I've had 5 smartphones, and none have had their glass cracked (fingers crossed it stays that way). I'm using the Nexus 5 without a case now, and I tend to take good care of my smartphones. I also don't care about resale values - I don't sell my phones - I give them to family/friends if possible, otherwise I keep it.

I wouldn't get a glass screen protector for cracking resistance to be honest; I got it for a surface that I don't really care if I scratch, and feels awesome. If it cracks, well, then it cracks; if the screen protector manages to prevent that, bonus! It's a peace of mind thing for me, considering how my N4 went.

I have a Neo hybrid for my iPhone and Nexus 5. If you've noticed the lip on the Nexus 5 it's huge. The Spigen cases are designed to be used with the glass protectors. Just name sure you don't get the rounded one. I'm using the nano.t currently.

I have the same case, I think; oh wait, I have the "ultra hybrid", the one with the clear back. Not too big of a fan of it to be honest; it works, but it isn't really awesome product the way the glas.t nano is.

Do you have a case on the phone too? If so which one? I would think the glass screen protector would add a little thickness. I'd like to get one but not sure how it will work with my Neo Hybrid case. I want to make sure my case will fit and will still be easy to get on and off. Getting it off is a little difficult already.

I use a Spigen Ultra Hybrid Black Clear Back with the Glas.t nano slim protector, so yours should work just fine. It hasn't affected how easy it is to get my case on and off at all.

 

[holden j caufield]

so how does everyone like the nexus 5 anyone upgrading from the nexus 4?

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

so how does everyone like the nexus 5 anyone upgrading from the nexus 4?

To me it's a huge upgrade.

1) The battery life of the N4 was crap. The N5 alleviates that to some extent. The screen is still a bit bright so the battery drain is worse than most expect, but the rest is on par for a 2300 mAh battery. There isn't some fatal design flaw like using a tablet SoC like on the N4 and a separate modem attached to the USB bus which would lead to excessive msm_hsic wakelocks, etc. At least the brightness issue you can deal with using 3rd party software. I'd like to see Google improve here, but at least we aren't SOL like on the past 2 Nexus devices.

2) The camera is a huge step up. While it's imaging quality is somewhat on par with 2012 devices, it's still lagging behind 2013 devices. At least now the photos aren't night and day in comparison with other modern smartphones. I can post photos now without people asking why my photos are washed out and noisy like on the N4. However, there are still a few things left.

3) The storage upgrade was huge. Titanium Backup + Nandroid + installed apps = like 4gb free on my 16gb N4. 32gb is almost necessary. This may not be true for everyone, but I finally take photos on my N5. My Nexus 4 had something like 100 photos over a year, while my iPhone 5 had hundreds if not thousands. Space is important for people who use cell phone cameras a lot.

4) Overall better construction. It feels like a sleek device. This isn't to say the N4 was bad, but the glass build led many to fear cracks and to case up. You can safely use an N5 naked and enjoy its design.

5) Who doesn't want the latest hardware?

Those are my 5 main reasons for upgrading and pretty much in that order. With that said the N5 isn't perfect, and I think this is a sign of Google finally taking handsets more seriously and becoming more competitive with the OEMs as well as Apple. I can only hope 2014 will bring an even better Nexus phone.

 

[kevinsbane]

After upgrading from N4 -> N5...

Screen differences haven't been extremely noticeable; I notice it's better calibrated, I notice that things (pictures) seem sharper in general and there's a bit more room to work with.

I notice that it's faster. Voice control on the home screen is actually really useful. LTE is wondrous when playing Ingress. Battery life is noticeably better; I can get 4h45 min easily, even without custom kernels. Camera is much better, especially with KK4.4.2. The phone isn't as pretty overall (the glass sparklyness of the N4 was gorgeous imo) but it feels better in the hand in general.

However, it's just a tad too large; with the N4, I could rest the phone corner in the fleshy part of my palm and still use the entire phone without stretching too much. The N5, doing the same, I can't actually reach the top right corner without shifting grip slightly. It also feels a little large in the pocket.

The USB plug now matches orientation with my Nexus 7, which sounds like something lame to say, but man does that make life a lot simpler.

I've been finding my GPS is slightly more inaccurate than the N4. It's fine for navigation, but it's annoying for Ingress when I need to be just five metres closer and my phone is telling me that nope, you're not where you say you are. But civilian-grade GPS like these are only accurate to within 20 metres anyways, so I can't really complain.

Lighter.

Speaker placement, oh my, it's soooo much more sensible. I kept blocking the speaker on the old one all the time.
No more air hockey with your phone.

 

[Ravynmagi]

I'm a little disappointed with the Nexus wireless charger. Not so much I'll stop using it, but it's not been that reliable either.

When I put my Nexus 5 or Nexus 7 on the tablet I feel the magnets, but it really seems to do an almost no-existent job of aligning it properly. I still have to really pay attention and make sure it looks centered. That's easier done with the smaller Nexus 5, with my Nexus 7 I have to feel under the tablet to see if it's feels centered.

There is no feedback when successfully docked on the charger. Once in a rare blue moon the Nexus 5 or 7 will turn the display on, beep and show me the charging icon. But most of the time, even with a successful dock the screen stays off and I get no beep. So I need to turn the display on to confirm that it is indeed charging.

Also a little annoying that it seems other 2.1 amp chargers don't work with it. I thought I'd transport the little square back and forth from home to work and just leave the charger it came with at home and use my 2.1 amp Samsung charger at work with the wireless charger, but I just get a red light when I plug in the Samsung charger. So I'm guessing only the charger it comes with works or at least it's more finicky.


I just felt inspired to share my feelings after yet another day coming to work and finding the phone I just pulled off the charger sitting at 30% battery life. Ugh.

 

[sweenish]

I've good overall experiences with my wireless Nexus charger. I've watched the magnets drag my N7 into position.

I have had the N7 not acknowledge the wireless charger once. So, hopefully just the one time. It doesn't quite fully charge my wife's HTC Windows Phone 8X, but I think that was more due to positioning than the charger itself.

 

[kevinsbane]

I have 3 different wireless chargers; a Tylt Vu, which works great but still trying to figure out the best way to use it; a crappy Anker that doesn't always stay powered on (if I move it the wrong way the entire thing loses power, piece of junk); and a Panasonic QE-TM101, which is ridiculously awesome hahaha. It doesn't quite work as well as a Tylt Vu, but it's way more awesome to use. It's a larger pad, about the size of a CD case, and the entire surface can be used as a charger; there's a little charging thingie that will actually track your phone as it's on the pad and charges it. It lights up and follows your phone around, with about a ~1s lag. It's futuristic and doesn't heat up much. I just play with it sometimes just moving around my phone to watch it track it.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

There is no feedback when successfully docked on the charger. Once in a rare blue moon the Nexus 5 or 7 will turn the display on, beep and show me the charging icon. But most of the time, even with a successful dock the screen stays off and I get no beep. So I need to turn the display on to confirm that it is indeed charging.

I feel like this is just Android, but with CM there is the option of a notification when charging begins, and what not, so I do enable that. My phone vibrates upon hitting the wireless charger.

BTW, doesn't Android make some noise on wireless charging? I thought this was introduced in 4.2.2 or so?

 

[MrSquished]

I feel like this is just Android, but with CM there is the option of a notification when charging begins, and what not, so I do enable that. My phone vibrates upon hitting the wireless charger.

BTW, doesn't Android make some noise on wireless charging? I thought this was introduced in 4.2.2 or so?

my nexus 7 2013 on kit kat makes no noise when i plug it in to charge. (not wireless i know but still)

samsng s4 makes a noise when it gets plugged in to charge. which i like.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

my nexus 7 2013 on kit kat makes no noise when i plug it in to charge. (not wireless i know but still)

samsng s4 makes a noise when it gets plugged in to charge. which i like.

Stock Android does not make a noise upon charging. This is why I like CM which offers that option, along with an option to turn the screen on upon plugging in I believe. Combine that with the battery LED, and it's very clear on my Nexus 5 when it is charging and when it is not charging.

 

[Ravynmagi]

It's weird. My stock Nexus 5 and 7 do sometimes make a sound when charging. Problem is I think this only happens about 10 to 20% of the time. Most of the time there is nothing. So I'm puzzled why the beep doesn't happen everytime it is charging.

So when I don't hear a beep I don't assume it's not charging, because it rarely beeps like it should anyway. And I sometimes forget to turn the display on and double check that it's charging.

I think it's neat. But I really wish the magnetic alignment worked better, on mine at least. I'm wondering if mine is defective, it's just a poor product, or am I a spastic monkey that can't even remotely set a phone down properly on a charger?

 

[tsupersonic]

I hate the Nexus wireless charger. It doesn't work half the time, and it's especially hard to line up the N7 2013 properly. The N5 makes a noise when you start charging (whether the screen is on or off). The N7 is hit or miss when it comes to making a noise. Not worth the money.

 

[sweenish]

The wireless charger is treated as a dock, and there is a setting in stock Android to make a sound when docked.

 

[Ravynmagi]

The wireless charger is treated as a dock, and there is a setting in stock Android to make a sound when docked.

I looked and found "Dock insert sound" under my Sound settings on the Nexus 7, which was turned off. So I turned that on and will see if it helps with the wireless charger.

Though oddly my Nexus 5 doesn't have this setting at all. Both are up to date on 4.4.2.

 

[sweenish]

I looked and found "Dock insert sound" under my Sound settings on the Nexus 7, which was turned off. So I turned that on and will see if it helps with the wireless charger.

Though oddly my Nexus 5 doesn't have this setting at all. Both are up to date on 4.4.2.

I should have qualified that I'm fairly sure, but not certain, that what I described is how it works.

Interesting that the N5 doesn't have the option. I only have the 2013 N7, still rocking a GNex for the phone.

 

[ponyo]

I looked and found "Dock insert sound" under my Sound settings on the Nexus 7, which was turned off. So I turned that on and will see if it helps with the wireless charger.

Though oddly my Nexus 5 doesn't have this setting at all. Both are up to date on 4.4.2.

The dock sound setting won't do anything with the wireless charger. I just tried it on my Nokia wireless charger.

The sound only comes on when your tablet battery life is pretty low. When your tablet battery is full or near full, it won't make a sound when you place it on the wireless charger. It will still charge but the screen won't turn on and you won't hear any sound. I think it's dumb design but that's how it is now.

I got the Nokia wireless charger for $12.50, and I'm very happy with it. It's well worth the money IMO. I also bought one for my mom to use with her Nexus 5 and she loves it as well. She had difficulty with the microUSB orientation and the wireless charger solved the issue.

Now if I paid $50 for the Nexus wireless charger... I would shoot myself.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

I looked and found "Dock insert sound" under my Sound settings on the Nexus 7, which was turned off. So I turned that on and will see if it helps with the wireless charger.

Though oddly my Nexus 5 doesn't have this setting at all. Both are up to date on 4.4.2.

Never knew this was an option on the N7, but on the Nexus 4, the sound feature was enabled in 4.2.2. We just still don't have an option to set it or anything.

 

[Kelvinz]

So after receiving that 4.4.2 update, the Nexus 5's camera definitely seems very upgraded and refined.

 

[Dankk]

My Nexus 5 came in the mail today. I honestly wasn't planning on getting one so soon, but then my end-of-year bonus came in from work, and I was like, ah... to hell with it. So I pulled the trigger. I also ordered a new AT&T MicroSIM from Straight Talk so I can take advantage of the LTE connectivity. This is my first LTE phone.

I am very pleased. Coming from a Galaxy Nexus, it's sublime. Everything is better. The screen is better. The camera is better. The battery is better. The software is better. The performance is, all-around, better. The few things that my Gnex choked on are now handled by my N5 like a breeze. I could go on listing everything, but it would be a waste of time because literally everything is an improvement.

Well, maybe not everything... if I had a gun to my head, I'd maybe say that the speaker placement isn't great. It makes sense to move it away from the back and toward the (bottom) side, but even then, I often find myself placing my fingers underneath the bottom edge of the phone, and wondering why I can't hear anything. Also: The vibrate feels a bit cheaper than my Gnex. Like it looks and feels a bit more "rattly". But I'm nitpicking at this point. Those are two small cons up against a huge list of pros.

I love the phone's design. Very modern, very aesthetically pleasing. I wasn't a fan of the Nexus 4; too round and sparkly. But the Nexus 5 hits all the points I like: It's more rectangular, more simple and subdued. Love the matte black backing. I think they did a great job.

Previous posts in this thread made me worry a little about the color, but it looks good to me. I compared the fully-saturated red image on my phone to the image on my computer screen, and they look pretty darn close. Computer monitor version looks a tad bit brighter, but I know my cheap LCD monitor is a little bright and not really calibrated anyway.

Anyway. For what it's worth, here's the first picture I took with the camera. Not ideal lighting conditions, and not really a formal test, but man it sure is a step above the POS Gnex camera.

 

[MrSquished]

when you guys ordered your nexus 5, what state did it ship from?