More or less a month ago, Google released an update to Android Lollipop that came along with the releases of Android One devices, named Android 5.1. Today, I just received an OTA (over-the-air) update on my Google Nexus 5, prompting me to update.
New features should include:
Support for multiple SIM cards – the new update now lets you use more than one SIM card on a device with multiple SIM slots.
Device Protection – your lost or stolen device will remain locked until you sign in with your Google account – even if someone resets your device to factory settings. According to the page it will be available on most Android devices that run Android 5.1 in addition to Nexus 6 and Nexus 9.
High-definition voice calling – as the name suggests, voice calls should be clearer when two phones running Android 5.1 call each other.
So far, I can test none of these features since I don’t know people who run Android 5.1 nor does any Nexus 5 support multiple SIM cards. However, one of the biggest changes I’ve noticed was the improved quick settings – I can now look for WiFi connections and Bluetooth devices through the notification bar without going through the settings app.
Expect the update to reach your Nexus devices very soon, but if you can’t wait, you may flash the factory images that are already available, but you’ll have to backup your data first.
For the past few months, my LG Google Nexus 5 was starting to feel boring and outdated. It was also restarting randomly for no apparent reason and Google just told me to try and uninstall apps (and if all else fails, factory reset to fix the problem). With the Android 5.0 OTA update still on the way, I lost my patience. I unlocked the Nexus 5’s bootloader, wiped all my data, flashed Lollipop, and locked it once again. Just like that, it feels like a new phone.
Design & Features
It should feel like a new phone because Google’s design language is also new. It’s called Material Design, and it makes everything lighter and more colorful. The UI is going to be full of layers that are acting like paper, going behind and on top of each other, and every interaction has to come from somewhere.
Booting up my Nexus 5 with all of my data deleted feels refreshing, but that also allows me to experience Android 5.0 from its depths – starting with setting-up which looks a lot better and more intuitive than before. The lockscreen has also changed drastically, with the dialer and the camera available from both sides and notifications are improved, giving you more data to interact with. Face Unlock can also now be configured to work in the background and it’s now called Smart Unlock; Android Wear and other Bluetooth devices can be added to trusted devices as well and will make it easy to unlock your phone. If there’s one thing I don’t like about the new lockscreen, it’s the removal of widgets, mainly because I don’t like how the clock looks like, but that’s just me.
Material Design is the big story here though, including all the small things that make up for big changes. It will take some getting used to before you finally utilize it to its full potential (I took a day to master the new notification bar), but majority of it is something that I like: the on-screen buttons are new, multitasking is now called overview which developers can take advantage of (Chrome tabs utilize this), and basically all the Google apps are updated to this new UI; the new Calendar app is worth a special mention for me.
I still wouldn’t use the Play apps, and I honestly don’t like the way Google has scattered its apps all around with no means of hiding them in the app drawer. Movies, Games, Books, Music, Newsstand – it’s all too messy for me. I’m also not so active in Google Plus and Google’s forcing us all to use the Photos app by removing the Gallery app. Hangouts is still as lost as ever, but thankfully, Google has provided a stock Messenger app for SMS in the Play Store. There’s also too much unused space in the homescreen, with all the icons being too huge for my taste, but again, thankfully, we can easily hide & ignore these problems with a launchers and third-party apps.
Two big features here for me is the availability of a guest mode and more importantly, screen pinning, which is turned off by default. What this allows you to do is pin an app to your screen and when you let someone borrow your phone, they can’t tinker with other parts of your phone without knowing the way out or your passcode. I can finally lend my Nexus more to children and my friends.
Oh, and one more small thing. When you turn the screen off, you’ll notice that the TV-monitor animation is gone and is replaced by a fade into black & white before finally turning off. It still looks cool, but I wish we were given the option to choose as a lot of people are still wowed by that amusing TV animation.
Performance
We’ve reviewed the Nexus 5 here before already, and while it’s honestly still well-spec’d today, it’s a year old and most devices start to slow down through time. Seeing Android 5.0 Lollipop’s animations, one might think that it’s going to be difficult for the hardware to run all of these – but to my surprise, my Nexus 5 feels faster and better. The Snapdragon 800 CPU and the 2GB RAM never slowed down, but to be honest, all the animations are sometimes overwhelming and it makes me wonder if lower end devices can manage it.
Battery Impact
As for the battery, I felt a very slight increase for its longevity, but it still doesn’t make the Nexus 5 a phone with great battery life. However, Lollipop adds a Power Saving Mode which you can decide to use or not to use. Yes, it does extend your battery life, but I personally don’t like using it mostly because the whole experience becomes laggy with dropped frames everywhere, again, making me worry about phones who can’t run the animations smoothly because Android 5.0 Lollipop, when it stutters, is a very bad experience. On the bright side, you can decide not to use it.
Conclusion
The verdict? Well, Android 5.0 Lollipop is a great OS update, and Material Design plus the few small features nails the experience right. Some apps still need updating, but I’m sure these things will be fixed through time. For a software update to make my Nexus 5 feel like brand new again is a huge success for Google, and I will have no problems recommending this phone for another year. My only problem here is Google’s forcing me to use their services and that some devices might not be able to handle Lollipop’s animations, but other than that, it’s as good as it gets.
Let’s just see how it does with HTC Sense, TouchWiz & the other skins.
It turns out that all the leaks are true. Google has finally released a bright red Nexus 5, the first Nexus device to have such color.
The pricing remains the same with the 16GB and 32GB variants at $349 and $399 respectively. This bright red Nexus 5 still packs a quad-core Snapdragon 800 processor with 2GB of RAM, a 5-inch full HD screen, 8MP & 1.3MP cameras, and a 2300mAh battery. It comes with the latest Android 4.4 KitKat.
It is already on sale on Google Play Store in the U.S., U.K., France, Italy, Spain, Australia, India, Japan and Korea. A wider European rollout is expected soon.
When Nexus 5 was released, it was critically acclaimed. Though the camera might be a tremendous upgrade from the Nexus 4, it is still not as great as what users want it to be. So Google has the Android “KitKat” 4.4.1 for you.
The camera of the Nexus 5 was said to be buggy in focusing and inconsistent with the results. Enter the new update and it should be fixed, that is according to Dave Burke, Google’s Director of Engineering for Android.
It is said that the update was applied to the following: autofocus, exposure, white balance, speed, and HDR+. The update for the autofocus, exposure and white balance results to a better photo altogether. It makes the shot less blurry too. As for the speed, it deals with the launch time of the camera app. Making sure you get to capture what you want when you want. And finally the HDR+ update indicates the progress of your HDR shot so you are aware of what you phone is doing and also the ability to pinch-zoom in this mode.
The final results of the photos have more contrast and vibrant color which was intentional. These changes is a welcome update but there is still more work to be done.
Here we are patiently waiting for the Nexus 5. Early adopters of the said device here in PH will probably have it from the grey market or directly from the Play Store (or wherever it is available). With that, official local warranty is out of the question but what if it breaks down too early or unexpectedly?
The famous fix-it-yourself website iFixit had the latest Nexus phone under their test. They found out that it’s just easy to repair, unlike other devices out their. What makes the Nexus 5′s repair so easy? It is due to the plastic clips it uses to bind the “non-removable” back cover and it only has few adhesives throughout the device. Screws are of standard design too.
Of course, the fun ends with the screen. Like any other great smartphone displays, the LCD panel and the glass are fused together within the frame. That means cracking, breaking or even scratching (on some rare cases) the Gorilla Glass 3 will definitely cost you.
Head over to the iFixit page for specifics and more internal photos.
