User Interface
The LG Nexus 5 is a Nexus device, a Google smartphone. This means
that it's one of those special devices to get the latest versions of Android
first. When this review was published, Android 4.4.2 – KitKat – was the latest
version. Compared to previous versions of Android, there are quite a few,
surprisingly radical changes. One that stands out, is the move away from Dalvik
to the new ART runtime. This is a fundamental change in the way that Android
handles and executes apps. For you, the User, this basically means a more
efficient use of ram, faster app startup times and a smoother experience
overall. When you start the phone for the first time you might also notice that
there are only two home screens instead of the usual five. The latest version of
Android only displays the home screens you’re actually using. If you want,
though, it’s possible to create as many home screens as you want, by simply
sliding an app or widget of the right or left border. Sliding to the left will
inevitably make you access Google Now, which shows things like weather and
provides you with status updates. Since the new KitKat surface is very colorful,
it’s surprising to see none of that made it to settings menu, which is not
necessarily a bad thing. The menu features the usual structure but the contrast
to the home screens is very well visible. One of the very first things we wanted
to do after arming the device with a SIM card was sending a text message.
When looking for the text messaging app, we were quite surprised to just find
“Hangouts”. Text messaging has basically been integrated into Hangouts and the
application has a more modern look and feel to it.
Battery life
We have read many times over that the biggest negative to the Nexus 5 lies with its smaller than average battery, which, on a side note, is also not removable. What we found, was actually a rather impressive power management system. We set the screen brightness to its maximum setting, turned wifi on and kept the screen on mainly with the web browser, and some idle time. I did this until the phone shut itself down. Total recorded 'Screen on Time' was 6 hours and 21 minutes. We were very surprised with this result! We also tested battery life in calls and found out that the phone will go for 8 hours and 47 minutes until it decides to power off (please don't ask us about our phone bills). Recharging was swift, and done with after only 2 hours and 17 minutes. Talking about recharging the Nexus 5, you can choose whether you want to do that via the supplied USB charger, or from your favorite induction (wireless charging) pad, the Nexus 5 comes equipped with all the internals for out of the box wireless charging!
Test: Samsung Galaxy Player 3.6 