Is the Nexus 5 the Best Phone Ever, Almost.

 

     So what do I think about the Nexus 5, well let me just start by saying that so far I've said every phone that I had owned at the time was the "best phone I have owned so far". These being the Droid X, Galaxy Nexus, and Galaxy Note II. I have owned a dramatic amount more phones than these, but these are the ones that actually lasted in my hands for more than a month. I'm going to refrain from doing this in any sort of review styling, and just stick to writing down all the reasons I love this phone, and the very few reasons I don't.
    Where to begin, there is just so much to say. First off, this phone feels amazing in hand. Even though the body is plastic, there is a very solid frame underneath. What I mean by that is that there is no flex to the body, if you don't know what I mean grab a hold of a Galaxy S3 and just press in on the back of the phone. You will feel the whole phone kind of just flex under the pressure (obviously don't press to hard or you'll break something), you won't get that kind of feeling from this phone. And to add to the excellent build quality is the soft touch back, making it feel smooth in hand, but not slippery. It is also crazy light, normal phones with 5 inch screens have some good weight to them, but this stays on the side of not noticing it when it's in your pocket. But aside from the body of the phone, let's talk hardware.
    1080p screens are by no means uncommon anymore in the cell phone world, almost all flagship phones nowadays have one. But don't let that take anything away from this beauty. Seeing as it has a ppi of 441 (110 more than the iPhone's retina display) every last line of text or edge of an picture is incredibly crisp. Without having a microscope you'll never be able to pick out a pixel on the screen. This is an IPS-LCD screen, just like the iPhone, which means great color representation, good outdoor visibility, and low power consumption. However if you put this display next an AMOLED from samsung, or even another IPS screen like the one on the G2, you'll see that it appears to be a little washed out. Personally I'm not a huge fan of the super punchy colors of the AMOLED, so this screen feels right at home for me.
    Next is that Snapdragon 800 processor and 2 gigs of ram. Man does this thing move along. I mean I don't do to many things that would be considered intensive, but whenever I have tried to trip this thing up I've failed miserably. Basic web browsing, YouTube, ifunny, and any other small time apps don't stand a chance. Super smooth and quick loading screens, I loaded up Asphalt 8 just to see how quick it would load, and it only took about 5 seconds from the time I clicked on the app for it to be ready to play. On my Note II, which was no slouch with it's own quad-core, took between 10-15 seconds. The obvious of moving between screens and accessing Google Now shows not a single stutter or jump, something android has dealt with for years. This phone offers the closest thing to an iPhone experience, in terms of fluidity of course, of any android phone out there.
    This here is something I disagree with almost all reviews out there, the camera. I love the camera on this phone here. Now keep in mind I don't take many pictures or videos at all, but I do I have a certain level of expectations. Such as how quick it focus's, no blur or background noise, and color representation after the picture is taken. This phone has knocked it out the park for those. I use the HDR+ mode that comes on the 5 pretty much exclusively and even my wife agrees that it takes better pictures sometimes than her LG G2. Also note that the G2 is hailed as one of the best android camera phones so far, but all major reviewers, so I'd say the N5 does fairly well here. But that's just me.
    Just a quick one here, connectivity seems to be great. I don't ever drop signal, WiFi hold on fairly well, and the data speeds seem to be the same as my wife's G2. Speaking of WiFi, where I work (BestBuy) there is only one WiFi network, crazy right? And this one WiFi network host every device in the store, like all the display units. Well all the employee's complain about this because they can't get their phone to hold a connection to it, but ever since the first day I started there I have had it saved to my phone and it connects as soon as I walk in the door. This is very uncommon for everyone there, and these are all great new phones, like the Galaxy Note 3, Galaxy S4, HTC One, and such. Just a little perk that I would have other wise never checked on, the WiFi holds a good connection here.
    Software. Now this goes for all android phones, as I'm just a fiend for android, but I feel this offers one of the best software experiences out there. The main reason I say that is because it is very very very simplistic, which I love. All these new phones try to differentiate themselves through all these crazy features that sound great, but you never really end up using. This phone seems to do the exact opposite. It offers everything you'd expect from the a smartphone nowadays, and that's it. If you want all those these silly things, you can find them in the Play Store, but it's not sitting on your phone taking up space with no option to fully delete them. Last thing I'll say, every phone I've had so far I have had this dying urge to root and rom it to get some sort of experience I was searching for. Add some features, take away some, make it smoother, make it faster, something. This is the first phone I have completely forgot about it, it just doesn't need anything more than what it gives you, at least not yet.
    Despite all that has been said to this point, the price is definitely what will garner the most attention. You can get the 16 gig version for only $350 in black or white. I'll let that sink in for just a second. $350 for an off contract phone of this caliber is unheard of. Some on contract phones try to claim this kind of cash with the signature on a 2 year contract. So if you don't want to be locked in, or just want to save you're upgrade for something in the future, this is the way to go. You simply won't find anything like it.
    Now this is the only thing I have to say negatively about this phone, and I'm sure you've heard it before. Battery. Yes, the battery isn't that great on this phone. I can make it get through a full day on a single charge, but that's because I go about 8 hours a day (at work) where I don't even turn the screen on. On my days off, such as today, I had the battery at less than 50% before noon. This big beautiful screen, and crazy fast processor just tear through it, especially when I get into one of my Hill Climb Racing marathons. I kind of expected this going in, so I can't say I'm disappointed. It's just for being such a power house, you would expect to be able to squeeze out at least another 2-3 hours on it, but hey, even Michael Jordan missed a shot every now and again.
    So is the Nexus 5 the best phone ever? Not quite, but it's the closest thing I've ever seen to it. The pro's definitely out way the cons in every imaginable way. If you're not on Verizon, or in a position to leave Verizon, I would recommend it in a heartbeat. Especially when you consider the starting price point of $350 for the 16 gig version unlocked, you just don't get any better.