Google Smartphone Nexus 5 review

When the Nexus 4 launched in late 2012, the most enticing thing was its initial £240 price point. For an unlocked device with decent hardware, it seemed like a steal. But it wasn't without some shortcomings, which led to only those looking to get a strong handset at a low, low price buying it, rather than anyone wanting top specs.

Now we're at the Nexus 5, a solid smartphone with a 2.3GHz Snapdragon 800 chipset and 2GB RAM, which certainly sounds market leading. It has a 2,300mAh battery and a 5-inch 1080p display while also debuting with the new version of Android - 4.4 KitKat.



Design
Let's talk hardware design. The Nexus 5 features a 5-inch 1080p IPS display - that's 1920 x 1080, giving us 445 PPI. If you can pick out the pixels on this display, please donate your eyes to science.

Display
The display itself is crisp, although its colours are less saturated than what you'd find on the HTC One or iPhone 5S. The Nexus 5's display doesn't get as bright as those devices, either, but it's not a big deal.Being a 5-inch display device, the phone itself is pretty large, but not entirely unwieldy. It measures 137.9 x 69.2 x 8.6 mm but because the bezel is so narrow, the device itself isn't pushed wider by its large display.

MicroUSB
Nexus 5 has a microUSB port for charging and syncing, and two grills - one housing a speaker, and the other a microphone. The top of the device has a 3.5mm headset jack and a small hole for a microphone that may act as a noise cancellation feature.

Around the edges of the device, there are ceramic volume and power buttons. The left has a flat, almost sharp-edged volume button, and the power button is to the upper right side.