I bought the Google Nexus 5 mainly because of the rave reviews about it from Amazon and online tech reviewers. When I got it I was somewhat underwhelmed. It is a good phone and of course the crucial aspect about all these reviews is in relation to the price. When its 55% - 60% price of a Samsung S5 or Xperia T2 it really puts any negative issues about this phone in context. Although, if I compare it to my 2 year old phone (Sony Xperia T) which is now only £150 for any unsold unused ones, the choice is not so clear cut. Of course, this is highly dependent on whether you are happy with an old phone.
A list of the pros and cons for the sake of brevity
Pros
Screen is decidedly sharp and looking at the battery usage it is nowhere near as draining as other phones. That was surprising.
The phone looks very understated, and a bit monolithic in shape. I quite like it but others may not.
The price is good. It's about 75% as good as a top end phone but only 60% of the price.
Being a google creation, all bloat and in-built software that other manufactures include on their phone, is absent. This is very satisfying.
Everything just works and syncs well, especially if you resist pulling away from being indoctrinated into the google way if life. This is key aspect that makes this phone `suitable'. Other manufacturers like to default you to their music player, their movies, calendar, emails etc. Ok you can use other Android systems to solely use Google but there always seems to be a lot of getting fiddling about. Many times I was convinced that I had backed up contacts, mails, bookmarks etc only to find when I changed phone or phone broke, I had lost something. This phone only has google apps installed so choice is restricted initially, which prevents confusion as to "what's doing what" The whole google location, cloud storage, syncing, works well on this phone hence every shot you take, contact you add, bookmark you make is automatically stored to the cloud
Cons
The OS is simple and works well but lacking in some features. For example, I can't seem to find anywhere that allows you to search for an app .
There is a very poor selection of themes and wall papers although these can be downloaded.
Ring tones are just silly, sound like variations of a merry go round or a bit new-age or `campy'. It doesn't have the standard `ring ring'.
Google can be a bit too intrusive for my taste. For text messages they decided to use `Google hangouts' instead of a standard messaging system. I just wanted a standard messaging system not all this nonsense about the ability to online chat to them, find out what this random stranger is doing etc. I also find that the phone seems to have this idea that every time you do something they feel the need to tell the world about it. I don't really need to share with the whole world that I browsed a webpage bored while sitting on the throne in hotel XYZ on my holidays in Asia.
That battery is decidedly average which surprises me given the screen is not particularly draining. The phone is light too so you would have thought that they could pack in a better battery. The battery is no better than my old phone. Probably worse in fact
The camera is just average for a new phone. It is a good deal off a Samsung or an Apple. Often reviews of phones cameras can be a bit unwarranted . Any phone will take a great picture of a landscape on a bright day. I am bit of a camera enthusiast and it's the nonstandard photos that are the problem on this phone and others. For example I have taken the same shot from the exact same angle with my old xperia T, xperia z2, Apple i4, and Samsung S5. Shot is of a building in lowish light and partially dark section with a subject in front. A difficult shot for any camera. The nexus and a reasonable job of it but when zooming in on the photo (after it was taken) Samsung and apple were a good deal ahead. The nexus used a very high iso and looked grainy. Zooming in shows that the eyes of the subject were dull. A key giveaway with an average camera.
The camera has no real filters which are disappointing, My Sony had an ability to apply a filter `before' the shot which is some instances is the only way to get the effect you want. An example being, using a partial colour on a photo. Sony has this great in-built app that allows you to isolate a single colour and take the photo just showing that colour (the rest being shades of grey).
A key note
You should bear in mind Google phone so if you are a google fan (as I am increasing becoming) it's ideal. If you resist Google bells and whistle and also intrusion into your life it might be worth to looking for something else. Actually I am giving it to them.
Bottom line
5* purely because price is the key factor in the review. Recommended if
(1) value for money is important
(2) you are a google fan, if not look else where
Personally I would have like to see Google make two versions. A mid range one like this and a higher end one for say £400 with a better camera and better battery.
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This item  LG Nexus 5 UK Smartphone - White (16GB) | Recommendations  |  |  | |
| Price | Currently unavailable. | £95.00 | £70.00 | £69.99 |
| Delivery | — | Get it 23 – 27 May | Get it 23 – 27 May | Get it as soon as Friday, May 23 |
| Customer Ratings | ||||
| Sold by | — | LO Gagets online | RO Gadget Trade | Exceptional Tech |
| display size | 4.95 inches | 3.1 inches | 5.5 inches | 5.3 inches |
| memory capacity | 32 GB | 8 GB | 16 GB | 32 GB |
| model name | Nexus 5 | — | G3 | G5 H850 |
| operating system | Android | Blackberry | Android 9.0 | Android |
| connectivity tech | USB, Wi-Fi | USB, Wi-Fi | Bluetooth | USB, Wi-Fi |
| display type | LCD | LCD | LCD | AMOLED |
| service provider | T Mobile | T Mobile | T Mobile | T Mobile |
| headphones jack | — | 3.5 mm | 0.14 inches (3.5 | 3.5 mm |
| average talk time | 17 hours | — | 21 hours | — |
| CPU manufacturer | — | Qualcomm | Qualcomm | Qualcomm |
| input interface | touch screen | keyboard | touch screen | touch screen, microphone |
Great for home surfing - Antenna problems makes it more of a small tablet than a mobile phone.
I used this phone for 2 years and had nothing but problems with it. OK it wasnt all bad... The good: - Screen size - Build Quality - Android flag ship = always latest android updates - Clean android experience - Snappy processor The Bad: - I almost never had 4G - Struggled to get mobile signal I will have to say that aside from the singal problems the phone was fantastic, i really enjoyed using it and found it to be a wonderful tool for both work and play, however I could not look past the problems with locating a mobile signal where everyone else around me on the same network had 4G and full signal bars. Yes its great to have fast wifi and speedy processor and a slick phone but it is a phone after all and taking and receiving phone calls was almost impossible towards the end and the frustration of not being able to get onto 4G was very upsetting and ultimately lead me to make my final decision on this product. After 2 years of struggling I could not take it any more and I sadly had to sell it onto a gadget recycler, but there was a silver lining amazon being such a wonderful company even after 2 years were able to offer me a partial refund for the device so i was able to put this money into a new device. I would not recommend this product to anyone who needs to use this phone for regular phone calls and mobile data usage as it has an apparent problem with the antenna on the device. I did also do some research online and I am not the only person to have this issue with the Nexus 5.
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- Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 19 May 2014
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Cliente AmazonReviewed in Italy on 28 July 2016
ottime condizioni per un usato, consegna in tempi brevi usando la standard
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EndymionReviewed in Spain on 30 November 2014
Teléfono excelente pero cargador británico
