Your first full day w/n5 - impressions throughout

I've had my white 32gb nearly 2 days now, something I've noticed is that it seems to charge faster than my n4, it's overall faster and smoother (I now understand what they mean by buttery), no rattles of any kind, battery life is better, feels lighter and hardly any bigger, overall I'm impressed.

swerveb said:

I am about 7 hours into my day ... battery still a little bit above 3/4.. medium to full signal area. No wifi... moderate use. Really impressed with out well tap to pay works.

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Where have you used tap to pay? I haven't really been looking, but I feel like I haven't seen anyone doing it. Is there a certain device that you tap your phone against that I should look for?

It's really fun when it works, but you look like an idiot when the machine doesn't work.

My first impressions (as compared to the N4 on T-Mobile):

1. Screen is beautiful.

2. Icons are bigger, that took a little getting used to. Also, Google Now is statically placed immediately to the left of the homescreen, which was typically where I held my calendar and power widgets. You can, however, make several (I have read possibly up to 15) new screens to the right of the homescreen.

3. Battery life is not as good compared to N4. And I have my screen turned down quite a bit. That's not saying that battery life is bad - it's certainly better than any smartphone I have had not named Blackberry - but I was easily able to wake up and go to bed without charging my N4 at all most days.

4. This thing is f a s t. Addition of LTE to hardware specs makes this thing respond instantaneously.

5. Always listening "Ok Google" when past lock screen is slick. I can say "Ok Google...launch Pandora" and it does it quickly.

6. I don't like the tiny circular earhole. When I hold the phone up to my ear while rest on my shoulder, it is easy to muffle the sound. This causes me to almost always hold the phone up with my hand.

7. My N4 suffered from an incredibly annoying email lag, which I have read probably had something to do with the build of Jelly Bean. Either way, it really bothered me and I have experienced none of those issues with the N5.

8. Camera - I don't have much to say about this yet as I haven't had time to test it.

My first impressions (coming from Gnex on Vzw):

1. Obviously fast as hell. The android experience is so.freaking.good on this device. Love it.

2. Really happy that they took away the black bars of the notification and home bar, and replaced with transparent areas to the wallpaper. Really improves the overall look of the homescreens.

3. Do NOT like the swipe left for Google Now. Honestly I didn't use Google Now much on my Gnex and I don't like that it feels like I am being forced into it more so. Plus, I've had a solid 5 screen setup for some time (with my main screen in the middle at #3), and I feel like this is messing me up. Kind of a big deal IMO. Would like to have the option to opt out and then continue the upward swipe from my home button.

4. Still deciding if I like the overall feel of the device. Compared to my Gnex, it feels a bit bigger and harder to operate with one hand. I think it comes down to the squared off edges vs the rounded edges of the Gnex. When holding in my hand, it just feels kind of blocky. Some people might dig that. I know most of the reviews have stated the N5 to have a very minimal approach to design. Not too gaudy like Samsung devices. I wish it was just ever so slightly smaller...

5. I'm pretty happy with Tmobile. No, let me repeat, I'm actually super satisfied and happy with Tmo. I get great LTE service at home. I drove for work today, and I was on HSPA for a bit, and it was still super fast. No complaints so far coming from Vzw. Happy to be done with them at the moment. Big change up for me after more than a decade of service.

6. I miss my removable battery. This is a big one for me. I went completely cordless on my Gnex. 1. because my charge port stopped working and 2. because I bought a spare battery/charger and preferred to just change batteries vs. plugging in my device and leaving it attached to a wall. This last point could prove to be the big kicker for me. I know some people don't mind this, but for me this is huge. I like having the option of throwing in a fresh battery whenever I want, and right now I'm missing that option. With that said, my battery life has been awesome today. Currently sitting at 43% with 11h on the battery and 1h 10m of onscreen time. Not too bad at all... Might be able to actually make this work without the removable battery.

7. Camera. I'm happy with it so far. Way nicer than the Gnex. HDR+ is a cool feature and I plan to use it frequently. And this is coming from a camera geek.

Those are all my first day impressions. It's a sweet device. Way way better than what I'm coming from. Still wondering at the moment if an S4 GPE wouldn't be better, but I have a little time to decide.

My first impressions thus far.

1) Screen is very nice, though it seems to be a little darker than the Nexus 4 screen was. Beautiful otherwise.

2) Battery life is a tiny bit better for me on this. After about 9.5 hours off the charger and 4.25 hours of screen time I'm down to 20%. Not too shabby.

3) Signal strength is pretty much the same as my Nexus 4, even the LTE signal strength is the same

4) For some reason, my "OK Google" won't work even though it's enabled. Not sure why that is. Will have to mess around with this some more.

5) I really like the black + white look. Makes it look really snazzy.

6) Speaker is rather soft, but at least it isn't muffled or quieted even more when the phone is flat on it's back.

So how does the speaker (notifications/speakerphone) compare to the gnex? Thats pretty quiet, especially on it's back. I miss a lot of calls with it in the car if i put it on the passenger seat.

jhawkkw said:

My first impressions thus far.

1) Screen is very nice, though it seems to be a little darker than the Nexus 4 screen was. Beautiful otherwise.

2) Battery life is a tiny bit better for me on this. After about 9.5 hours off the charger and 4.25 hours of screen time I'm down to 20%. Not too shabby.

3) Signal strength is pretty much the same as my Nexus 4, even the LTE signal strength is the same

4) For some reason, my "OK Google" won't work even though it's enabled. Not sure why that is. Will have to mess around with this some more.

5) I really like the black + white look. Makes it look really snazzy.

6) Speaker is rather soft, but at least it isn't muffled or quieted even more when the phone is flat on it's back.

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How is the sound when on a call? Not the speaker phone, but the ear piece, is the quality and sound good then?

Wolfedude88 said:

How is the sound when on a call? Not the speaker phone, but the ear piece, is the quality and sound good then?

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Not sure yet, haven't made or received a call to this point, lol.

Wolfedude88 said:

How is the sound when on a call? Not the speaker phone, but the ear piece, is the quality and sound good then?

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jhawkkw said:

Not sure yet, haven't made or received a call to this point, lol.

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Spent 30 minutes on the phone today and I thought earpiece was clear and plenty loud.

Design is underwhelming
Earpiece rattles
Back collects marks
Screen is attractive but not sparkling bright
Camera seems OK
Battery recharges fast
Battery dissipates fast
Phone feels really light
Seems to get a little warm a little fast
Loudspeaker sound okish
Wifi signal seems good
Google advanced functions don't seem to be working in Spain e.g. OK Google only available right now in US English?
Haven't got that far into KitKat yet..
The phone is fast but so was my previous 5" Chinese made Spanish rebadged 1.2ghz quad core running 4.2 and I am uncertain yet - if for me - the N5 is worth the twice the price.

So first impressions kind of mixed..

1. screen is excellent
2. speakers seem quiet, but good sound quality
3. the phone feels great in the hand, light, sturdy and well built
4. my power button rattles a bit
5. the battery charges very quickly
6. I had 30% left last night when I went to bed, even after playing Dead Trigger 2 for an hour. great battery so far.
7. the camera seems really good, but I did have a 3 yr old SGS2 before this.
8. OMG is it quick! especially browsing the web.... really impressed.
9. It does get very warm when playing bleeding edge games.
10. had to set my language to US English to get "Ok Google" to work.
11. I think its awesome :0)

Lev16 said:

Would like to have the option to opt out and then continue the upward swipe from my home button

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From what I've read, you can't opt out (of Google's march toward global digital dominance ) however, the upward swipe from the home button should still work everywhere other than on the home screen.

jhawkkw said:

For some reason, my "OK Google" won't work

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Have you done this:

CarsnGadgets said:

set my language to US English to get "Ok Google" to work

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Apparently, at the moment it only works if you have the language set to US English and consequently (maybe), it's a bit hit and miss if you don't have an American accent

SiempreTuna said:

From what I've read, you can't opt out (of Google's march toward global digital dominance ) however, the upward swipe from the home button should still work everywhere other than on the home screen.



Have you done this:



Apparently, at the moment it only works if you have the language set to US English and consequently (maybe), it's a bit hit and miss if you don't have an American accent

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I guess even though I've only ever lived in the US, my accent is weird. Sometimes it comes up, other times it doesn't. Not a feature I plan on using much anyways. Still nifty though.

I want to add something for my observation that I don't see mentioned.

Be a little wary if you are on a limited data plan and you make a lot of phone calls. everytime you get a phone call, google looks up the number (if it's not in your phonebook), same goes for dialing unknown numbers, looking up number by name (restaurant number, etc). I doubt anyone on sprint or tmobile need to worry about it but people on att could run into trouble.

Every byte adds up, nothing to be afraid of. just a thought

sharkizzle said:

My first impressions (as compared to the N4 on T-Mobile):

1. Screen is beautiful.

2. Icons are bigger, that took a little getting used to. Also, Google Now is statically placed immediately to the left of the homescreen, which was typically where I held my calendar and power widgets. You can, however, make several (I have read possibly up to 15) new screens to the right of the homescreen.

3. Battery life is not as good compared to N4. And I have my screen turned down quite a bit. That's not saying that battery life is bad - it's certainly better than any smartphone I have had not named Blackberry - but I was easily able to wake up and go to bed without charging my N4 at all most days.

4. This thing is f a s t. Addition of LTE to hardware specs makes this thing respond instantaneously.

5. Always listening "Ok Google" when past lock screen is slick. I can say "Ok Google...launch Pandora" and it does it quickly.

6. I don't like the tiny circular earhole. When I hold the phone up to my ear while rest on my shoulder, it is easy to muffle the sound. This causes me to almost always hold the phone up with my hand.

7. My N4 suffered from an incredibly annoying email lag, which I have read probably had something to do with the build of Jelly Bean. Either way, it really bothered me and I have experienced none of those issues with the N5.

8. Camera - I don't have much to say about this yet as I haven't had time to test it.

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I would like to amend my statement about the battery.

For whatever reason, battery life has gotten significantly better. It seemed better yesterday but to be sure, I really paid attention to it today. I have been off-charge for about 11 hours, used the phone, browsed, ran Pandora at full blast for 1.5 hours and I'm at about 52% remaining now.

That would put me at or slightly better than my N4.

sharkizzle said:

I would like to amend my statement about the battery.

For whatever reason, battery life has gotten significantly better. It seemed better yesterday but to be sure, I really paid attention to it today. I have been off-charge for about 11 hours, used the phone, browsed, ran Pandora at full blast for 1.5 hours and I'm at about 52% remaining now.

That would put me at or slightly better than my N4.

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and a load better than my gnex. so thats great news! tx

I would not say that the screen is excellent, the color are a bit washed and the black are gray when comparing to the HTC One. I guess there will be an app to tune the colors up.

After a few days with my Nexus 5, I thought I'd post some comments about my experience so far and maybe help someone decide whether to get one. I'll just say in advance that this is a favorable review, as I really am going to like this phone!

To set the background, I am 67yo and a retired software engineer, so one of the

I was using the N4 with a slimline case before (to protect the glass back)


I don't plan on using any case for my N5.


48 hrs with the phone.

Screen looks great
The White version looks even better with the glossy black edges.
It feels a LOT thinner then my N4+case, feels really nice. I like the back of the phone as well.
A little lighter, just enough to notice.
The on screen Icons are too large for my taste, How hard would of been to give us a few resize options similar to the text/font options we have?
I don't like the hangout integration/change with txt msging. Since I never plan to use hangouts. It was a change that I didn't want or need just makes txting look different.
It is really quick and speedy.



If you are coming from a phone that is less spec'd than the N4, than it will probably feel like a huge leap.
It IS a great phone, But since the N4 was/is also a great phone it does not feel like a huge upgrade.

Luckily the N4 holds its value well and you can sell it to offset some of the cost of the N5.

I just sold my 16GB N4 on CL for 250 so upgrading to the 16GB N5 was only 133 dollars for me. And that is a steal.

Ok, I've been using nexus 4 since it first came out. I powered on the screen and saw there was a 130 mb. Cool.

Let's do this! I knew the screen size was bigger and thought the icons would be sized accordingly. Wrong! Icons are huge. And there's no way to resize them... Doh. Ok, guess I'll have to get another launcher.

The google now screen is swiped from the left... What the heck?! I liked swiping up before. The ok now google thing is dope.

As for build quality, the screen seems to be flimsier than the glass screen. Feels more plasticy. The glass back is gone now too. I never had an issue with the glass. I felt like it gave the nexus 4 a nice look.

Google Hangouts is now my stock messaging app? Like I really want Google to house even more of my personal information.

For now, I'm going to return the nexus 5 or sell on ebay and go back to the nexus 4. At least until cyanogenmod is released.