LG Nexus 5 review: Back to the future

Nexus phone releases are timed to let Google have the last word - and what a way to have it! A phone that matches any flagship on specs and premieres the latest OS version, but costs barely half as much as some of them. The Nexus 5 promises a great finale to yet another exciting smartphone season and it's not only the droids that stand to attention.

This could have been a deja-vu moment for everybody but the fifth gen Google phone will probably have to work harder than ever. There's already a bunch of Snapdragon-800-powered Android flagships, while Qualcomm's latest is ticking inside Windows Phone-powered devices by Nokia too and Apple has the new 64-bit A7 chipset.

On a second thought, Nexus phones have never been too keen on getting into the skirmish, keeping their distance, aloof and somewhat out of touch, nothing to prove to anyone. The best of Google on your homescreen - that's what it's all about - and at a price that's almost too good to be true.

    

Nexus 5 official photos

The search giant is partnering with LG for a second year in a row. Whether the Koreans are offering the best production cost or both sides were happy with the Nexus 4, it's a choice we don't mind at all. Anyway, Android 4.4 KitKat on a five-inch full-HD screen, powered by a Snapdragon 800 is a package no one would say not to.

Check out the key specs to see what we're on about.

Key features

• Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE support
• Penta-band 3G with HSPA; LTE cat3
• 4.95" 16M-color 1080p True HD IPS Plus FullHD capacitive touchscreen
• Corning Gorilla Glass 3 display protection
• Android OS v4.4 KitKat
• Quad-core 2.3 GHz Krait 400 CPU, 2 GB RAM, Adreno 330 GPU, Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 chipset
• 8MP autofocus camera with LED flash, geotagging, optical image stabilization, photo sphere, 1080p video recording @ 30fps with continuous autofocus and stereo sound; HDR mode, Dual recording, optical image stabilization
• 1.3 MP front-facing camera
• 16GB/32GB of built-in storage
• microUSB port, USB host support, USB on-the-go, SlimPort TV-out
• Bluetooth v4.0
• NFC
• Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac, Wi-Fi Direct and DLNA
• GPS with A-GPS, GLONASS
• Standard 3.5 mm audio jack
• Voice commands
• Accelerometer and proximity sensor
• Active noise cancellation with dedicated mic
• 2300mAh Li-Po battery, wireless charging

Main disadvantages

• Non-expandable storage
• Poor video and audio codec support out of the box
• Non user-replaceable battery
• Comparatively poor battery life (except for calls)
• Loudspeaker is on the quiet side
• Limited availability at launch

Although there's almost no physical resemblance to back it up, the Nexus 5 is based on the LG G2 and that's not a coincidence. The Nexus 4 last year was based on the Optimus G, so history's clearly repeating itself. At least as far as what's under the hood.

Otherwise, the Nexus 5 has one of the most understated exterior designs a flagship smartphone has ever had. It's not an attention-grabber like the iPhone 5s, the HTC One or the Xperia Z1, as if wanting to underline that what matters is inside.

  

Google Nexus 5 live photos

The latest major release of Android as usual premieres on a new Nexus phone. The Nexus 5 runs Android 4.4 KitKat, which brings even tighter OS integration with Google services. There are a number of other improvements and hints at what's to come. But before we get to that, we'll focus on the Nexus 5's build and finish. The Android 4.4. KitKat overview will follow right after, so without further ado, see you after the break.

Controls and handling

Other than the display at the front, there's a 1.3MP front-facing camera above it. As per tradition, there's also a notification LED light at the bottom. It pulsates when there's a missed call or a new message in 10-second intervals. Sadly, Android provides no out-of-the-box way to customize the duration, so you'll have to use third-party apps for that.

  

The front-facing camera at the top • LED notification light at the bottom

The left side of the LG Nexus 5 holds the volume rocker, while the right houses the Power/Lock key. All buttons are made of ceramic and feel extremely solid. A slight downside is that they can sometimes feel rough since their edges aren't perfectly smooth.

Below the Power/Lock key lies the micro-SIM card slot tray that's accessed via the provided pin tool. Using tools for accessing the SIM slot isn't ideal when you need to switch cards on the go, but luckily that's not something that happens too often.

    

The buttons on the Nexus 5 are made of ceramic

The top of the Nexus 5 is where you find the 3.5mm headphone jack and the secondary microphone. The microphone is used for active noise cancellation, but unfortunately it doesn't enable stereo sound recording out of box. You can enable that with a tweak if you are knowledgeable enough, but it's downright disappointing that you need to do that in the first place.

  

The 3.5mm headphone jack and secondary mic are on top

The bottom part is pleasantly designed with precision cut holes that sadly hold a single speaker and a microphone, rather than a stereo setup. It's located on the left to the microUSB port.

  

The bottom looks cool with the cutout grills

Finally, we come to the back, where the 8MP camera is heavily accented by the protruding and large protective glass cover. Below it sits the LED flash and a large Nexus logo joined by a smaller LG one below it.

The Nexus 5 carries a low price tag, but this shouldn't get you fooled into thinking it's a cheaply made smartphone. It's not and feels solidly built with its underrated minimalist design. The soft touch plastic at the back helps the grip quite a lot.

  

Handling the Google Nexus 5

The 5" form-factor has reasonable operability with one hand, while pocketing the smartphone is rarely a problem either.

Battery life

Under the soft touch back cover sits a 2,300mAh Li-Ion battery, which Google rates to last up to 17 hours of 3G talk time. Naturally, we run the Nexus 5 through our circle of battery endurance tests and it managed an endurance rating of 40 hours. You can find a full breakdown of how it did in our dedicatedNexus 5 battery life blog post.

Display

At the front of the Google Nexus 5 stands a 5" True HD IPS of Full HD resolution. In theory it should be a panel similar to the 5.2" one in the LG G2, although we found it to be slightly different and not just due to the different tuning.

The display is impressively sharp, thanks to the amazing pixel density of 445ppi. Here's what the screen looks like through the eye of our digital microscope:

The color balance is quite good and slightly better than even what the G2 offered. Contrast is a lower though and so is saturation, which means some of the extra punchiness is gone. Those who favor more natural reproduction will certainly be happy with the Nexus 5 screen, though.

Display test	50% brightness			100% brightness
	Black, cd/m2	White, cd/m2	Contrast ratio	Black, cd/m2	White, cd/m2	Contrast ratio
LG Nexus 5	0.31	298	948	0.54	526	967
LG G2	0.10	149	1522	0.45	667	1495
LG Optimus G	0.14	197	1445	0.33	417	1438
Sony Xperia Z1	-	-	-	0.38	580	1513
Samsung I9505 Galaxy S4	0	201	∞	0	404	∞
HTC One	0.13	205	1580	0.42	647	1541
Oppo Find 5	0.17	176	1123	0.51	565	1107

The overall screen reflectiveness is very low and the display is very bright. There is some contrast loss when you are viewing the screen at an angle, but it's minor and won't take away from the otherwise good picture quality.

Specifications

GENERAL	2G Network	GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 - all versions
		CDMA 800 / 1900 - North America version
	3G Network	HSDPA 800 / 850 / 1700 / 1900 / 2100 / 900 - North America version
		HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1700 / 1900 / 2100
	4G Network	LTE 700 / 800 / 850 / 1700 / 1900 / 2100 / 2600 - North America version
		LTE 800 / 850 / 900 / 1800 / 2100 / 2600
	SIM	Micro-SIM
	Announced	2013, October
	Status	Available. Released 2013, November

BODY	Dimensions	137.9 x 69.2 x 8.6 mm (5.43 x 2.72 x 0.34 in)
	Weight	130 g (4.59 oz)

DISPLAY	Type	True HD IPS+ capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors
	Size	1080 x 1920 pixels, 4.95 inches (~445 ppi pixel density)
	Multitouch	Yes
	Protection	Corning Gorilla Glass 3

SOUND	Alert types	Vibration; MP3, WAV ringtones
	Loudspeaker	Yes
	3.5mm jack	Yes

MEMORY	Card slot	No
	Internal	16/32 GB, 2 GB RAM

DATA	GPRS	Class 12 (4+1/3+2/2+3/1+4 slots), 32 - 48 kbps
	EDGE	Class 12
	Speed	DC-HSDPA, 42 Mbps; HSDPA, 21 Mbps; HSUPA, 5.76 Mbps; LTE, Cat3, 50 Mbps UL, 100 Mbps DL
	WLAN	Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, Wi-Fi hotspot
	Bluetooth	Yes, v4.0 with A2DP
	NFC	Yes
	USB	Yes, microUSB (SlimPort) v2.0

CAMERA	Primary	8 MP, 3264 x 2448 pixels, autofocus, optical image stabilization, LED flash, check quality
	Features	Geo-tagging, touch focus, face detection, photo sphere
	Video	Yes, 1080p@30fps, check quality
	Secondary	Yes, 1.3 MP

FEATURES	OS	Android OS, v4.4 (KitKat)
	Chipset	Qualcomm MSM8974 Snapdragon 800
	CPU	Quad-core 2.3 GHz Krait 400
	GPU	Adreno 330
	Sensors	Accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass, barometer
	Messaging	SMS(threaded view), MMS, Email, Push Mail, IM, RSS
	Browser	HTML5
	Radio	No
	GPS	Yes, with A-GPS support and GLONASS
	Java	Yes, via Java MIDP emulator
	Colors	Black, White
		- Wireless charging - SNS integration - Active noise cancellation with dedicated mic - MP4/H.264/H.263 player - MP3/WAV/eAAC+/AC3 player - Organizer - Image/video editor - Document editor - Google Search, Maps, Gmail, YouTube, Calendar, Google Talk, Picasa - Voice memo/dial/commands - Predictive text input

BATTERY		Non-removable Li-Po 2300 mAh battery
	Stand-by	(2G) / Up to 300 h (3G)
	Talk time	(2G) / Up to 17 h (3G)