Google's Nexus 5 is coming, and it needs to be a big deal

Google's Nexus 5 is coming, and it needs to be a big deal

Samsung Galaxy S4 [AT&T] (new or ugrade)

The kinks have been worked out, the staff has been trained, and the previous model has been taken off the shelves. The Nexus 5 is so close to being announced you can practically taste it and, with any luck, this will be the most important Nexus release to date.

Let's ignore the software for a second. We know that the next Nexus is coming with Android 4.4, but really that's all we know. There's been no real information about this new version, outside of the deliciously chocolate coated codename. If we look at just the hardware, does LG and Google have what it takes to put the Nexus brand in the right position to be a big deal to consumers?

Google's Nexus 4 was important for a number of reasons, even if many of them were not properly executed. The Nexus 4 was the first phone available on the Google Play Store... right until it sold out and you couldn't get one for weeks after the announcement. It was the first Nexus phone with a sealed battery and had a unique design... which lead to complaints of overheating, poor battery life, and countless shattered backplates. This Google Experience phone - offering the pure Android experience - was unable to take advantage of Google's own NFC payment service on many carriers. Ultimately, the Nexus 4 was never considered the best phone out there, it was considered the best phone available for the price.

The upcoming Nexus 5 has been leaked a bit, and from those specs we see a smartphone with more than enough power. We see a phone capable of competing with the best Android phones out there today and winning. We see a phone that could easily be the most significant Nexus yet.

From the leaks we've seen so far, it looks like Google's influence over the design of this phone has taken them back to their roots. The soft touch coating on the rear hails back to the Nexus One, instead of the plastic and glass we've seen over the last few years. The logo on the back matches that of the Nexus 7 and Nexus 10, creating a unified look that was never in place before. On the front, we see a slightly stretched Nexus 4 with thinner bezels on the side.

The overall shape of the Nexus 5, especially on the top and bottom, seems to be the same. The sides of the phone a generic, with the volume rocker and power button on the sides and the headphone jack on the top. There's obviously no way of knowing this for sure, but the N5 looks like it would handle a drop much better than the Nexus 4 ever could.

News that the Nexus 5 will have a sealed battery that is 700mAh less than the LG G2 was troubling to hear at first, but is ultimately indicative of nothing. Qualcomm explained during the G2 launch that it had worked closely with LG to optimize the Snapdragon 800 processor to their hardware, which could be a good thing or it could indicate there were challenges that needed to be overcome. As for the the Nexus 5, for starters, we've seen in leaks that is will have a smaller screen than the LG G2. Also we know that the software LG deploys can hardly be considered efficient by any stretch. The Nexus will have no knock-to-wake or any of LG's added enhancements, so what the N5 loses on battery, it could gain on efficiency. Google's vision of Android on the Nexus 5 could very well have greater overall battery life than the G2.

The real variable so far is the camera. Nexus phones traditionally don't take terrific photos, and Google's decision to not include the 13MP OIS camera from the G2 in the Nexus 5 is cause for concern. It's entirely possible that this could be an effort to save cash, or there could have been support or supply issues. There's not a lot known about the Sony 8MP sensor included in this Nexus 5, or how improved it is over the Nexus 4′s, but hopefully Google has not sacrificed the camera for the sake of cost again.

The biggest reason Google's Nexus 5 needs to be a big deal is the competition. HTC and Samsung have figured it out, and their variants of Android are doing just fine. The HTC One is the best Android phone so far this year, even with its hand-holding Sense UI. It's not taking the company as long as it once did in order to push out software updates, either. HTC is already pushing Android 4.3 to their phones, and the other manufacturers aren't far behind them.

We've also got the HTC One and Galaxy S4 Google Play edition handsets now - phones running the pure version of Android on hardware that is significantly better than the Nexus 4. The Nexus 5 needs to be the answer to all of the people asking, "Why would I choose a Nexus over a Google Play edition phone?" just as it needs to be the answer to why you would choose a Nexus over a Motorola. It's not enough to just be the cheapest superphone on the shelf.

Ultimately, Google has the ability to deliver a top-quality experience here. The company must have learned its lesson from last year about keeping inventory in the Play Store, and there exists a support staff that includes dedicated call center support and in-store sales support through Best Buy during the first three months of the launch.

If the rumors are true, and Google plans to have their phones shipping by the end of October, their presentation can't be far off. We'll see the new features of Android 4.4 embodied in what looks to be impressive hardware, and that should come together to create a phone that Android users the world over can recognize as the Google Nexus 5.

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news by October 05, 2013 at 02:01AM