Advice Google Nexus 5

[Ch3tan]

Ok, here's the lowdown on the Nexus 5 coming from an iPhone 5 owner and a diehard Apple Fag. This phone is awesome. I love it, but it's not without flaws.

The good:

- Project Butter has made Android mega slick, the Nexus 5 feels fast everywhere, all the time, no lag.
- I love the build of the phone. Simplicity without being boring or average, and dare I say "sexy".
- I had previously downloaded a load of apps for my Nexus 7, so when I logged into my Google account all those apps synced to the Nexus 5 (very Apple esque).
- stock Android is excellent, minimalistic yet classy.
- the integration of Google Now and all my Google stuff is tremendous.
- it automagically picked up my wireless HP printer and worked first time. Impressive.
- notifications are awesome, much prefer Android's way than Apple's afterthought.
- auto backup of images taken with the camera (as I'm used to with iCloud) is so much better than iCloud with the notifications of which images have been successfully synced.
- voice recognition actually works, I use it a lot and it's fast. Really fast. Makes Siri look like a lame third party add on.
- image quality from the camera is very good and the image stabilisation is a hugely underrated addition. Props to Google.
- the screen size is perfect, any bigger and it would have been too big. Also, I've seen haters saying "the screen looks washed out compared to other handsets" - listen to me here, looking at my photographs which have been processed on a £800+ 27" NEC panel, they're pretty damn accurate. In other words, the screen is colour accurate instead of a crowd-pleasing-super-saturated affair like the super amoled on Samsung models.
- the phone weighs about the same as my iPhone 5.
- "swipe from left" Google Now has everything I need in a day. My commute with an option to nav it, stocks / shares, weather, up and coming events in my Google calendar, latest ice hockey scores, upcoming hockey games. Everything on one page.
- I'M NOT FORCED TO OPEN THINGS IN SAFARI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
- I'M FREE TO CHOOSE OTHER APPS TO PERFORM FUNCTIONS!!!!!!!!
- I'VE GOT SO MANY OTHER OPTIONS OF SAVINGS ITEMS TO CLOUDS DRIVES! OR SENDING IMAGES TO PEOPLE VIA DIFFERENT METHODS!!!

The bad:

- the jury is still out on battery life. It could be "new toy syndrome" and that I've been playing with it a lot, but I was down to ~40% when I would expect ~60% on my iPhone 5. Mind you, this was with everything turned on (WiFi, Bluetooth, all the location services).
- the delay between pressing the "take a picture" button and the actual picture being taken is annoying, but I read over on The Verge that this is a known issue and there is a fix in the pipeline.
- developers need to give as much attention to Android as they do Apple, particularly when it comes to tablet optimised versions of apps (more an Android gripe than Nexus 5 gripe)
- they really need a separate volume control for notifications. My ringer is so fucking loud, yet my notifications are too quiet - they need to change this. Any thoughts of a work around?
- I'm not sure about lumping everything into Hangouts, maybe i'll get used to that.

That's it for now, I'll keep playing.

You can change volumes levels for each of notifications, media, ringtone and system in the older versions of android. Friends had a nexus 5 at work, I'll look today to see if the option is the same.

 

[Poag]

- they really need a separate volume control for notifications. My ringer is so fucking loud, yet my notifications are too quiet - they need to change this. Any thoughts of a work around?
- I'm not sure about lumping everything into Hangouts, maybe i'll get used to that.

That's it for now, I'll keep playing.

Go into settings, Sound. Open up volumes, untick the button that says something like "Set Notifications via ringer" or similar. Presto 4 volume bars instead of 3.

 

[old.user4556]

Go into settings, Sound. Open up volumes, untick the button that says something like "Set Notifications via ringer" or similar. Presto 4 volume bars instead of 3.

Doesn't seem to be there?

 

[Poag]

This is how it looks in CM4.3.

I wouldn't expect it to be too dissimilar

 

[old.user4556]

I see this:

Ah feck, will try later

 

[caLLous]

FWIW, I see the same as Poag on CM10.1 (Android 4.2.2) - maybe it's a CM addition?

Linked:


Not linked:

 

[Embattle]

Yeah the notifications sound is really low compared to ringtone, it appears to be the default standard to combine them and there is no option to untick them being linked.

 

[old.user4556]

Yeah the notifications sound is really low compared to ringtone, it appears to be the default standard to combine them and there is no option to untick them being linked.

This. I've checked and there is nothing there on 4.4 to allow you to change the volume for notifications and ringtones separately.

 

[old.user4556]

Battery life shaping up to be "decent", not brilliant, probably about the same as the iPhone 5 or maybe slightly worse.

I took it off charge around 7:20am, had a 40 minute drive with Bluetooth connected to the car, turned off WiFi and Bluetooth for the day, made three calls, sent a dozen texts, had push everything turned on including location services, checked Instagram, Twitter and Google+ a few times each through the day, picked up a couple of emails and surfed the web on occasion. Drive home was around 30 minutes with Bluetooth connected to the car.

Result at 5:20pm:



Also, here's my volume controls:

 

[Embattle]

Regarding battery, The Verge stated:

There was one other inconsistency, more troubling this time. During our time with the Nexus 5, it's been hard to get a real grip on how its battery truly operates. One day, it lasts less than eight hours of only moderate use. The next, more than 16. It lasted 3 hours, 43 minutes on the Verge Battery Test, which is among the lowest scores we've seen on a high-end phone in some time, but it would occasionally surprise with its longevity. The screen is clearly the catalyst, in most cases responsible for 60 percent or more of the battery's drain — as ever, the more you use your phone the faster it'll die. Depending on how you use it, battery life seems to fall somewhere between "bad" and "okay," and neither of those is something to get excited about.

I suspect an update might help provide consistency in the future.

 

[old.user4556]

The Verge, absolute Apple gayboys, pinches of salt there.

 

[Embattle]

Well the review over all was fine - http://www.theverge.com/2013/11/4/5062724/google-nexus-5-review

 

[old.user4556]

Only because of this initial video which caused a bit of an uproar and huge down-votes.


View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWD6O53F6yc

 

[Embattle]

Yeah but I always consider them previews, a lot of sites have had the tendency to inflate hands on and first plays as reviews.

 

[GReaper]

Battery life shaping up to be "decent", not brilliant, probably about the same as the iPhone 5 or maybe slightly worse.

It's usually a good thing to post the stats from Screen, it shows the number of hours/minutes the screen was active - which is used as a comparison point as it's the biggest drain on the battery.

Given the size and pixel density of the screen, it would need a huge battery to get anything better than average.

 

[old.user4556]

Deffo, clearly the screen is the biggest drain. I wonder if this is why apple haven't gone bigger / higher resolution.

Personally I'm happy to sacrifice a bit of battery for a larger screen. The iPhone 5 feels a little cramped now actually.

Ultimately, neither my iPhone 5 or nexus 5 will last more than a day. My iPhone would be about 30% by the time it goes on the charger at night, the nexus is going to be around 20%. A insignificant margin.

 

[dysfunction]

My Galaxy S4 has been on for nearly 16 hours and the battery is at 63% still.
This is after watching around 90mins of video, average amount of texting, a handful of calls, surfing internet, checking forums fairly regularly...

 

[Deebs]

My Galaxy S4 has been on for nearly 16 hours and the battery is at 63% still.
This is after watching around 90mins of video, average amount of texting, a handful of calls, surfing internet, checking forums fairly regularly...

GPS, BT, WiFi, data etc enabled or disabled? Any phone can last for more than 16 hours if you disable most of the "connectivity" options.

 

[dysfunction]

GPS, BT, WiFi, data etc enabled or disabled? Any phone can last for more than 16 hours if you disable most of the "connectivity" options.

Data is always enabled as i read emails, news, forums etc while at work. GPS is off unless I use maps. Wifi is on in the morning for a few hours and again from 6:30 pm. I have bluetooth off unless I need it.

 

[Deebs]

Data is always enabled as i read emails, news, forums etc while at work. GPS is off unless I use maps. Wifi is on in the morning for a few hours and again from 6:30 pm. I have bluetooth off unless I need it.

Works out like my HTC One, goes off charge around 5.30am, listen to music for 3 hours per day, go back on charge around 10 when I go to bed, WiFi and data is always on as is GPS. Do not do much surfing during the day to be honest.

 

[Poag]

Kill your BT if your not using it.

A- battery B- security/monitoring


Finally, take the plunge and root the device, not flash another rom, just root it. Drop BetterBatteryStats on it and see whats using up the juice.

 

[Aoami]

Battery on the S4 is outstanding IMO for such a large screen. Can withstand a day of heavy usage easily and still have a plenty left over when i get home.

 

[old.user4556]

Which? battery test certainly ties up with that, not the most scientific tests but certainly show the S4 to have a substantially longer battery than the iPhone 5S and 5C. Bigger battery though, to be expected.

 

[Bodhi]

Deffo, clearly the screen is the biggest drain. I wonder if this is why apple haven't gone bigger / higher resolution.

Personally I'm happy to sacrifice a bit of battery for a larger screen. The iPhone 5 feels a little cramped now actually.

Ultimately, neither my iPhone 5 or nexus 5 will last more than a day. My iPhone would be about 30% by the time it goes on the charger at night, the nexus is going to be around 20%. A insignificant margin.

Worth bearing in mind a lot of Droids take a few charges to calibrate the battery properly, so battery life usually improves over time. The battery on my Z was pretty piss poor for the first few ddays, soon sorted itself out though. Currently showing 48% left and 24h since the last full charge, with 4h of screen time.

I tend to keep everything on too, BT (need it for the car), GPS, 4G, WiFi always on, screen on full etc. Biggest drain after the screen seems to be Google Now, so if it's baked even deeper into kitkat wouldn't shock me if that's chewing up more than its fair share.

 

[old.user4556]

Yeah I'll check again over the weekend. This is today's effort:



Reasonable amount of usage today - dozen calls or so, 20 texts, Twitter / G+ / Instagram refreshes through the day, full location services and notifications, commute connected to car via Bluetooth (into work, out of work). I accidentally left Skype on and it's leached 6%, so I'd be about 40% battery just now.

 

[Embattle]

Wish they would get a move on and release the official cases.

 

[Embattle]

Took the plunge and ordered a Nokia DT-910 wireless charger for my N5.

 

[old.user4556]

Wish they would get a move on and release the official cases.

Indeed, I don't want a no-name thing!

I'm going to take the plunge on a wireless charger, not sure which?

 

[Embattle]

I wanted one that would still allow me to see the phone while charging so the options were more limited, a little reading on XDA shows that the DT-900 and DT910 work fine with the N5.

 

[old.user4556]

Where from / how much?