The official Nexus 5 thread.

[s44]

I think I will get rid of my Nexus 7 since the Nexus 5 is better than 7" tablets.

Anyone else find themselves using tablets less since owning a 5" phone? It really reduces the need for a tablet.

Yep (S4), but with the 5 I'd still have my second reason to tablet: limited/finite battery life.

 

[lopri]

Forget what I posted yesterday about 40 Mbps down LTE. This is my new personal record. Phones and tablets combined. :whiste:

It means little for comparison but it is still nice to know that the hardware is capable.

I've heard some people say that a battery has a "break-in" period and that it actually gets a little better after a few days. I've only had the phone for about 48 hours now and I'm wondering if anyone has experienced battery life getting better after the first few days.

Mine is substantially better than day 1 and I am very impressed by standby under LTE which looks just as good as Wi-Fi. At this point, however, my Nexus 5 works very differently from stock so I really can't speak for what others are experiencing.

 

[paperwastage]

Holy shit you're right. It's still readable though, but not so much in direct sunlight. And frankly I find using most phones with sunglasses to be a chore, and don't really use them in landscape mode with sunglasses on at all. Still, good to know!

Also: this makes a good test for polarization on sunglasses! My Ray Bans, which I was certain were polarized are not. My wife's Oakleys certainly are polarized though! The N5 goes into stealth mode when I turn that one sideways!

hmm.. I tested with my polarized sunglasses. Nexus 5 screen looks readable, like my other phones (you can see the shift in polarization when you rotate the screen, but definitely still visible)

 

[lopri]

Haven't seen this in a while.

And the dude returned his Nexus 5 because of it.

http://pocketnow.com/2013/11/13/i-returned-my-nexus-5

 

[WelshBloke]

Haven't seen this in a while.

And the dude returned his Nexus 5 because of it.

That pixel density is outrageous.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

Sure but I bet you neither of the 3 phones will bug you in terms of pixel density. The Note 3s colors look so gorgeous though.

I do agree, the N5's display isn't that awesome. It still could use better calibration.

 

[tsupersonic]

Sure but I bet you neither of the 3 phones will bug you in terms of pixel density. The Note 3s colors look so gorgeous though.

I do agree, the N5's display isn't that awesome. It still could use better calibration.

Yes! I am not a fan of the N5's color calibration, especially coming from a HTC One. I also miss the speakers from the HTC One!

 

[Ravynmagi]

I have the Nexus 5 and iPhone 5S. I agree the Nexus 5 doesn't look as good as the iPhone 5S in terms of color saturation and contrast. However it's not so bad that I really notice it just looking at the phone.

Fortunately it's not bad bad like the Nexus 7 2012 or Nexus 10 that I could easily see looked like crap without comparing it another device. Those distracted me enough I had to return them.

For me the bigger annoyance is the light bleed in the corners. I won't return or exchange it for this reason, I have a feeling many are probably like this from what I'm reading on the forums. I can live with it, it's not a issue in most situations. But my iPhone 5S definitely has no visible light bleed.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

Yeah, the backlight bleed is pretty bad for the N5

 

[jimv1983]

Sure but I bet you neither of the 3 phones will bug you in terms of pixel density. The Note 3s colors look so gorgeous though.

I do agree, the N5's display isn't that awesome. It still could use better calibration.

Of course the Note 3 has great colors. It's an AMOLED.

Yeah, the backlight bleed is pretty bad for the N5

I haven't noticed hardly any back light bleed on my Nexus 5. Even the Nexus 10 back light bleed is tolerable and it's much worse than the Nexus 5. Plus, it's an LCD there is ALWAYS going to be some level of light bleed.

Personally I prefer the color saturation of AMOLED screens but the Nexus 5 screen is more than acceptable.

The only thing that would even make me consider returning mine is battery life and even that seems like it will be acceptable.

 

[jimv1983]

Any case recommendations?

I'm looking at the following but haven't decided yet.

http://www.amazon.com/SPIGEN-Google-...cmu_pg__header

 

[zerogear]

Haven't seen this in a while.

And the dude returned his Nexus 5 because of it.

http://pocketnow.com/2013/11/13/i-returned-my-nexus-5

Brian Klug in All About Android (Episode 135) states that most people that think the screen is washed out in the Nexus 5 is because they are used to overly saturated screens. He states that OEMs are pushing the saturation above 75%, like in most AMOLED screens, are pushing the saturation to the max in the screen analysis. Google tuned the Nexus 5 panel closer to 'real life' colors rather than oversaturated. He says that it is the same panel as the Droid DNA. Watch it around minute 49.

from one of the comments. self proclaimed display guy on pocketnow is an idiot

 

[MalReynolds13]

Any case recommendations?

I'm looking at the following but haven't decided yet.

http://www.amazon.com/SPIGEN-Google-...cmu_pg__header

That's the exact one I got. Fits great, no complaints other than the soft back being a fingerprint/smudge magnet, but it's easy to clean. Haven't dropped it yet so can't speak to the level of protection.

 

[paperwastage]

Any case recommendations?

I'm looking at the following but haven't decided yet.

http://www.amazon.com/SPIGEN-Google-...cmu_pg__header

I got the Spigen Nexus 5 Ultra Hybrid from amazon. $10 + FS, includes screen protector, case is basically a bumper case with fixed plastic clear backing

i like it. it's minimal and protect back as well. some people complain that the case buttons are very easy to press; I agree with that statement, but haven't found it to be annoying

 

[zerogear]

Yesterday was my first full day with the phone. I got very similar to you 12 hours off charger and 3:30 screen on time. I'm not thrilled with it but still WAY better than the Galaxy SII Skyrocket it replaced. On that phone I got about 9-10 hours of charger with about 2-2.5 hours screen on time.

EDIT: It appears that your battery life numbers also included a few short times on the charger. Mine was all off charger.

Yeah, usually when I charge is when I'm in the car and using GPS + Bluetooth + A2DP + Music Streaming -- Would absolutely kill my phone if I left it off the charger.

 

[s44]

Google tuned the Nexus 5 panel closer to 'real life' colors rather than oversaturated.

Real life isn't sRGB limited.

The words might be appropriate when looking at calibrated photos, but invented things like app icons and graphics... absolutely not.

 

[kevinsbane]

Real life isn't sRGB limited.

The words might be appropriate when looking at calibrated photos, but invented things like app icons and graphics... absolutely not.

App icons and web graphics are absolutely limited to sRGB. Guaranteed they are. What designer in their right mind would design an icon which would only look right on a wide gamut monitor/display, when the overwhelming majority of the world cannot accurately reproduce wide gamut, highly saturated colours? That'd be like designing a web page in latin. Sure, the language may be beautiful but who cares if people can't understand it?

 

[kevinsbane]

So, today I decided to push my nexus 5... Almost 15 hours off battery and 4h 45 of screen on time. The last hour of SOT was at minimum brightness, rest of the time at 25/256. About ten minutes of Ingress. Mostly on Wi-Fi, on 3g networks (the LTE at work and at home has terrible reception).

GPS on for maps, and while I'm in the car, but set to turn off at work and home via Tasker. Bluetooth on, sync on. Wrote impressed.

General surfing, some maps, ingress and YouTube video.

 

[tential]

Brian Klug in All About Android (Episode 135) states that most people that think the screen is washed out in the Nexus 5 is because they are used to overly saturated screens. He states that OEMs are pushing the saturation above 75%, like in most AMOLED screens, are pushing the saturation to the max in the screen analysis. Google tuned the Nexus 5 panel closer to 'real life' colors rather than oversaturated. He says that it is the same panel as the Droid DNA. Watch it around minute 49.

from one of the comments. self proclaimed display guy on pocketnow is an idiot

Yup. It's the same with HDTVs. People purchase the ones with high saturation/contrast ratios because the colors POP!!!!!
Not because it looks anything like real life. It looks nice sometimes, but then you see people and their skin tones are completely screwed up. When you KNOW what color something is supposed to be, and it's not that color, then things go wrong.

It's simply preference/sales. As a movie/tv whore, I like my colors to be accurate because it irks me when skin tones, and known objects (pepsi/coke cans, company logos, etc.) are completely off due to "making colors pop" syndrome that these manufacturers are prone too.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

Brian Klug in All About Android (Episode 135) states that most people that think the screen is washed out in the Nexus 5 is because they are used to overly saturated screens. He states that OEMs are pushing the saturation above 75%, like in most AMOLED screens, are pushing the saturation to the max in the screen analysis. Google tuned the Nexus 5 panel closer to 'real life' colors rather than oversaturated. He says that it is the same panel as the Droid DNA. Watch it around minute 49.

from one of the comments. self proclaimed display guy on pocketnow is an idiot

Shrug, I'd like to see more measurements later. This thing looks nothing like my iPhone 5 and nothing like my calibrated Nexus 4. Maybe my N4 is calibrated incorrectly, and my iPhone 5 is the worst calibration out there or Anand was lying when he was getting a hard on over Apple's factory calibration.

 

[thecapsaicinkid]

I think I will get rid of my Nexus 7 since the Nexus 5 is better than 7" tablets.

Anyone else find themselves using tablets less since owning a 5" phone? It really reduces the need for a tablet.

A 7" tablet is more than twice the screen area of a 5" phone isn't it? A tablet is a much nicer experience, especially when browsing the web. I wouldn't touch my n5 if I have the n7 to hand.

 

[Sable]

Of course it's only $200 cheaper than the phones it's being compared to so we shouldn't expect too much.

 

[kevinsbane]

I don't think I'm going to get my battery life better than this on stock.

 

[jimv1983]

I don't think I'm going to get my battery life better than this on stock.

You managed just a little bit better than me. I got 15 hours off charger with 4 hours screen on time. Not fantastic but very acceptable and far better than my Galaxy S II Skyrocket.

 

[zerogear]

Installed Lux, disabled built in auto-brightness. +1 hour screen-on time.