12 Days with the Nexus 5

[thisISjoel]

Hey hey hey!

Re-formed iPhone user here checking in after 12 days of using (and loving) my Nexus 5!

I decided to make the switch pretty much on a whim; my wife and I had iPhone 5Ses and were pretty happy with them (we'd been on iPhones since the 3GS) but a friend of mine at work had the N5 and I thought it looked really cool and I always thought that if I ever did decide to make to jump over the dark side it would have to be with a Nexus device so I could avoid all the bloat wear that comes with the other brand Android phones.

So I'm already thinking I like the look of this Nexus 5 and I do a little bit of research and one day my wife comes home and says "I'm sick of my iPhone! Everyone has big phones and I want a big phone!" so I'm like "Well, check out this Nexus 5 and it's so affordable!".

Fast forward a week or so and we're ordering two black Nexus 5s off the Google play store. About a week later they arrive. Hell. Yes.

Initial impressions? Loved it straight out of the box. Rooted right away (hey, if I'm cutting the Apple umbilical cord I'm going all in, right?) stayed on the stock rom (until today) just using xposed and gravity box for some cool tweaks. Love the screen, I don't get reviewers who say it's not a fantastic screen. To my eyes it's better than the over saturated Samsung screens, comparable to the HTC screens that I always thought looked better than the Samsungs.

Performance? Awesome. I had always believed the old line "Android isn't stable" but here I am, rooted, tweaking stuff and it's solid as a rock! I have had a couple of issues since flashing Dirty Unicorns but they have been the result of settings I have changed (like having the dark UI come on automatically based on light in a weirdly lit room causing it to swap back and fourth and pretty much freeze up any other app I tried to use, oops).

Criticisms? It can't all be perfect, right? Well, it's close, but there are a few things I didn't love right away. Chrome not being immersive stock. It's an easy fix (part of what I now love about Android) but given that the phone is 100% software buttons, it's a bit annoying to have the navigation bar taking up valuable screen space when browsing.

Ideally, I'd like to have hardware buttons that don't eat into the screen space, but I can live with it.

Battery life isn't fantastic but then I don't exactly like to set my phones up for maximum efficiency. I prefer to keep chargers at work, in the car etc. so I can top up whenever I need to rather than have to compromise the performance and experience of the phone. I do like the fact that there are kernels out there that might help extend the battery life.

Today I flashed Dirty Unicorns rom and I like it so far The custimisation options are really cool without getting too far away from the original feel of the stock rom.

On adjusting to the Android OS? It's actually been way easier than I could have imagined! I miss a couple of things (iOS notifications both lock and home screen and the superior auto correct) but the list of things I've gained (screen size, custimisation, freedom, customisation and more!).

So, do I regret it? Not at all!

Do I love my Nexus 5? Hell. Yes.

Thanks for reading :smokingsomb:

 

[lennydude]

So glad you guys love the phone. One issue I can be of help I think. I have the N5 and am runni9ng Dirty Unicorns. The 3 buttons on the bottom of the screen taking up room drove me nuts until I was turned on to an app.
You already have Xposed installed so this will be very easy indeed. Look into "Ultimate Dynamic Navbar". It is a module for Xposed and you can hide those soft keys at the bottom of your screen. Again, be careful. You have so many ways to do things and they might interact.
I am kinda new to DU and so far am loving it
My phone is back to 100% what I consider normal for my likes and I have all the ability to try out "Dirty Tweaks" and "Gravity Box". Phone life is good!

Hope this helps. BTW............have a good buddy that hates rooting and such but owns a LG G2 and those soft keys automatically hide themselves the way the N5 should.

 

[thisISjoel]

So glad you guys love the phone. One issue I can be of help I think. I have the N5 and am runni9ng Dirty Unicorns. The 3 buttons on the bottom of the screen taking up room drove me nuts until I was turned on to an app.
You already have Xposed installed so this will be very easy indeed. Look into "Ultimate Dynamic Navbar". It is a module for Xposed and you can hide those soft keys at the bottom of your screen. Again, be careful. You have so many ways to do things and they might interact.
I am kinda new to DU and so far am loving it
My phone is back to 100% what I consider normal for my likes and I have all the ability to try out "Dirty Tweaks" and "Gravity Box". Phone life is good!

Hope this helps. BTW............have a good buddy that hates rooting and such but owns a LG G2 and those soft keys automatically hide themselves the way the N5 should.

Thanks I'll give that a go.

 

[Brian706]

Actually, it's already an option built into the rom.

Go to settings>dirty tweaks>quick settings>tiles and layout

Then hit add, and choose expanded desktop.

Pull down your quick settings and tap that new tile. Nav bar and status bar will be hidden. Swipe up from bottom or down from top to show them.


Also, you can customize the size of the nav bar. You can make it tiny if you want it present but to take up less room.
Go to dirty tweaks and then dimensions.

You can set the height to 24 dp which looks to be about the same height as the status bar.

 

[thisISjoel]

Actually, it's already an option built into the rom.

Go to settings>dirty tweaks>quick settings>tiles and layout

Then hit add, and choose expanded desktop.

Pull down your quick settings and tap that new tile. Nav bar and status bar will be hidden. Swipe up from bottom or down from top to show them.


Also, you can customize the size of the nav bar. You can make it tiny if you want it present but to take up less room.
Go to dirty tweaks and then dimensions.

You can set the height to 24 dp which looks to be about the same height as the status bar.

Cheers, I've got that up and running. I used to just leave expanded on all the time before I flashed DU but now I just switch between extended when on chrome or something and normal when on home screen etc.

 

[charliecc]

Glad you got back to us with a review and you're enjoying it so much.

So I have a question for you.

Why do you think people still buy iPhones? Don't get me wrong, it's an OK phone, but the N5 is half the price and does everything and more an iPhone does. I struggle to understand what's making them go out and buy the new iPhone each time, and by new, I mean the same just slightly faster.

Are they tied in to the ecosystem? Are they more concerned about image? Are they blind fanboys? Are they just plain ignorant of alternatives? Better/more polished apps in some cases?

It must be something like this, because functionality wise the N5 wins everyday.

This isn't an iPhone bashing thread, I'm genuinely interested in why people still buy iPhones given their high price.

Why did you buy the iPhone 5S before going N5?

I owned the iPhone 3G, 3GS and 4 before switching to the GNex. Why, because I believed, and still do, that the iPhone was the best phone on the market at the time. When I didn't think it was anymore, I changed.

 

[thisISjoel]

Glad you got back to us with a review and you're enjoying it so much.

So I have a question for you.

Why do you think people still buy iPhones? Don't get me wrong, it's an OK phone, but the N5 is half the price and does everything and more an iPhone does. I struggle to understand what's making them go out and buy the new iPhone each time, and by new, I mean the same just slightly faster.

Are they tied in to the ecosystem? Are they more concerned about image? Are they blind fanboys? Are they just plain ignorant of alternatives?

It must be something like this, because functionality wise I'd take the N5 everyday.

This isn't an iPhone bashing thread, I'm genuinely interested in why people still buy iPhones given their high price.

For me I was just so invested in the apple ecosystem; I still use a macbook air and can't see myself going back to a windows machine (I love osx), I have an iPad, apple TV and a time capsule. I bought into the hype. I believed that iOS was a better, more stable, more secure system and maybe some of that is true. I had apps I'd bought, it was easy to get a new phone and with just a few touches have it set up as if if were my old phone.

To be honest, if the iPhone 5S had been a 5" screen I probably never would've changed. Apple can sell their stuff, even if their hardware is inarguably inferior, they find ways to create hype, to build a yearning for their products.

When the 5S was announced I was like "meh", but then as the release got closer and closer I somehow managed to convince myself that I NEEDED it. Apple has some kind of magic.

 

[Wrend]

Good to hear your Nexus 5s are working out well for you guys!

I'm a big fan of the software buttons, and auto-hiding them is an option stock Android leaves open to the app developers, but many don't use it or don't customize their apps to include that functionality.

The screen is nice and big (without being too big for a phone, in my opinion) and this way the buttons aren't taking up physical area on the phone either.

Anyway, just my take on it.

iPones are pretty sleek and functionally sound, and as you pointed out, they have a different ecosystem, but that's pretty much all they have going for them. Depending how you have your Nexus 5 set up, reliability and security isn't and issue. I've come across a couple apps that have had some bugs in them, but the newest stock Android OS has been rock solid for me. Bloatware that comes on other Android devices might cause issues for some, but strictly speaking, that isn't an issue with Android.

You made a sound and/or fortuitous decision (screen size only being one of many factors). With the Nexus 5, it's never been a better time to jump the Jolly Apple ship and take a swim with Android.

The Nexus 5 is lean (no or very little bloat - depending how you define it) and mean (high-end hardware specs), so of course it runs like a champ. (I like dropping into developer options and turning all the transition settings to 0.5 instead of 1, just to grease the lightening a little.)

 

[thisISjoel]

Good to hear your Nexus 5s are working out well for you guys!

I'm a big fan of the software buttons, and auto-hiding them is an option stock Android leaves open to the app developers, but many don't use it or don't customize their apps to include that functionality.

The screen is nice and big (without being too big for a phone, in my opinion) and this way the buttons aren't taking up physical area on the phone either.

Anyway, just my take on it.

iPones are pretty sleek and functionally sound, and as you pointed out, they have a different ecosystem, but that's pretty much all they have going for them. Depending how you have your Nexus 5 set up, reliability and security isn't and issue. I've come across a couple apps that have had some bugs in them, but the newest stock Android OS has been rock solid for me. Bloatware that comes on other Android devices might cause issues for some, but strictly speaking, that isn't an issue with Android.

The Nexus 5 is lean (no or very little bloat) and mean (high-end hardware specs), so of course it runs like a champ.

Software buttons aren't a big issue for me but I feel like there is plenty of room at the bottom of the phone for buttons that don't encroach on the actual screen space. Even if they were the Samsung style 'soft' buttons. It just seems silly to me to take away from the screen this way.

 

[sean76]

I'm a very long time iPhone user, and have to say...I really can't live without my iPhone, I'm just way to dug into the Apple Eco system and have a huge amount of family, friends, & workers who all use iphones and its just not in the cards for me to give it up.

However I'm also a die hard Android fan, been rockin since the G1 and have just excepted that 2 phones is just a way of life for me...My nexus 5 is just about my favorite android phone of all time, my favorite is still the OG Droid Incredible with the original Amoled screen, jeez I loved that phone. But anyway welcome to the party Joel...You picked a Beast of a phone to rock with!!!

 

[Wrend]

Software buttons aren't a big issue for me but I feel like there is plenty of room at the bottom of the phone for buttons that don't encroach on the actual screen space. Even if they were the Samsung style 'soft' buttons. It just seems silly to me to take away from the screen this way.

Fair enough. I'll just write it off to differences in our preferences then.

I would like it if they gave the option for the users on stock Android to auto-hide them and swipe up, or similar, to bring them up.

 

[thisISjoel]

Fair enough. I'll just write it off to differences in our preferences then.

I would like it if they gave the option for the users on stock Android to auto-hide them and swipe up, or similar, to bring them up.

Yeah, hopefully that's something that gets implemented so they at least start hiding themselves ingelligently depending on the app. This is one area iPhone is arguably superior in that at the moment, as I understand it, whether or not an app automatically switches to immersive mode is in the hands of the app devs and since they are making apps that have to work on hundreds of devices, some with software buttons, some with hardware buttons so I get that it's not as easy as implanting something on iOS.

 

[akmsr]

i am sorry it seems i have been living under the rock for the last decade and a half (at least about apple products) but what is a time capsule? i can guess from scientific or even sci-fi point of view but i highly doubt that kind of idea could be related to apple products.

 

[Brian706]

i am sorry it seems i have been living under the rock for the last decade and a half (at least about apple products) but what is a time capsule? i can guess from scientific or even sci-fi point of view but i highly doubt that kind of idea could be related to apple products.

It's for backups: http://www.apple.com/airport-time-capsule/

 

[SiempreTuna]

Re why people stick with iOS, I think it can be as simple as what you're used to: my missus is a die-hard applite and absolutely hates my N4 because it's so difficult for her to work out how to do things.

And d'you know, sometimes - reluctant as I am to admit it - she is actually dead right. Sure, we get used to it and stop noticing, but when you have to try to explain how to do what should be the simplest things in Android to an Applite, when you're driving .. it's just embarrasing.

For example, navigation is a totally unnecessary PITA: you have to hit Navigate in like 3 places before the darn thing actually navigates. If I hit navigate, f***** navigate, don't give me 3 more identical buttons in different locations to hit first.

Then there's the Play Music app. Without doubt the worst music player ever conceived. It's like they deliberately went out of their way to make it as absurdly unintuitive as they possibly could.

I mean, to simply find and play your music is like half a dozen taps, some on menus at the top right of the screen, some on icons, some on menus on icons .. And then if that's not hard enough there's the totally not obvious things like having to click 'Add to queue'. Just to play music.

And why can't it do simple, useful things like separating podcasts and music? Y'know, like phones have been doing since like 2005.

Having said that, I struggle to use the missus' iPhone. I keep ending up on the home screen whenever I want to go back .. because there's just that one button. And I struggle to find what I want among all those tiny icons.

And at least in Android, if there are things I don't like - e.g. the music player - there are plenty of alternatives

 

[Hook]

And at least in Android, if there are things I don't like - e.g. the music player - there are plenty of alternatives

And that is really the key (IMHO, of course). If you want the best out-of-box experience where you don't really have to do much and are willing to take what you get, it is hard to beat Apple. However, if you want options and are willing to put some effort into getting things that work just they way you want them to, you can get to 99% with Android (nothing ever works exactly the way *I * want them to ).