Gadgetory

hi everyone this is April from Android Authority in this episode I'm going to talk about two of today's hottest smartphones the Apple iPhone 5 and Google Nexus 4 made by LG these are powerful and very attractive phones but one may suit you much better than the other hopefully after this review you'll find out which one is best for you as far as size and weight are concerned each of these two phones speaks to different crowds on the one hand the iPhone 5 is slimmer lighter and smaller than the Nexus 4 for some people these iPhone 5 qualities are huge factors admittedly these make the iPhone more portable than the Nexus 4 this is not saying that the Nexus 4 is not portable on the contrary the Nexus 4 is in fact still portable despite being bigger and heavier which is a necessary trade offer it's larger battery and bigger screen both of which are deciding factors for many both phones manifest their minimalist designs in quite different ways on the Nexus 4 for instance the front of the phone has nothing except a touchscreen itself the front camera notification light light sensors and phone earpiece grille on top a similar observation can be said of the iPhone 5 on its front you'll see only the physical home button the camera and the phone speaker grille the left and right bezels on both phones are thinner than their top and bottom bezels presumably to give better grip when using the phones in landscape mode on the Nexus 4 the bezels are surrounded by a silver frame while on the iPhone 5 the bezels are framed by bluish-gray aluminum which also may accept the phone sides these are very beautiful and elegantly designed smartphones both Apple and LG deserve a pat on the back for these if you ask me hardware buttons are conveniently positioned too on the Nexus 4 the volume rocker sits on the left side reachable by the index and middle fingers and right-handed use though unlike the Galaxy Nexus the SIM tray on the Nexus 4 pops out from the left side in contrast on the left side of the iPhone 5 are its mute or lock switch and the round volume keys on the iPhones right side is it symmetry no button here for your thumb to press I find this design helpful to convenience because the thumb can focus primarily on supporting the phone in contrast the nexus force right side has only the power button but just within easy reach of the pump at the top side of the nexus 4 is a lonely headphone jack I personally find this location very convenient since I usually keep my phone in an upright position inside my pocket on the top side of the iPhone 5 is its power button near the corner and with an easy reach of the index finger of either hand at the bottom of the nexus 4 is the microUSB port and two Torx screws which in my opinion greatly disturb the nearly seamless frame of this beautiful phone meanwhile at the bottom of the iPhone 5 of its headphone jack loudspeakers and non standards compliant and proprietary lightning port the Nexus forced non removable back is a truly shining piece of artwork I describe it as having subtle flamboyance its speckled with crystals that twinkle when viewed from certain angles this Nexus logo and this LG logo appeared to float on a sea of glittering crystals if you view them from a slight angle the back panel is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 2 which provides protection against scratches but not against drops or strong bumps much as I want the entire bag to be completely smooth there's a break in the glass here for the camera flash housing and down here for the speaker grille the 8 megapixel camera is underneath the protective glass cover the back of the iPhone 5 of course is also a delight to look at it's a very simple design and I find its simplicity elegant the back has black strips of glass here and here majority of the back is dark grey and it appears to shine a bit when light hits it from a certain angle revealing both the Apple logo and the iPhone wordmark this backplate is a tough one it's made of aluminium and as we've demonstrated in our drop test not too long ago it's hard to crack this thing just like the Nexus 4 this Apple phone has an 8 megapixel camera and flash if you think that the exterior of these 2 phones are already eye-popping wait until you've seen the gorgeous displays on each of these the Nexus 4 of course has a larger 4.7 inch screen that uses true HD IPS plus technology it displays images in high-definition and it's very easy to see that the display is sharp and crisp the iPhone 5 and contrasts uses Apple's Retina display on its 4 inch IPS TFT screen with a resolution of 11 36 by 640 pixels I particularly admire the vibrant and bright colors on the iPhone 5 photos and videos appear rich and bursting with colors on this phone on the Nexus 4 colors are slightly subdued though still colorful I personally prefer the brightness of the display on the Nexus 4 because it doesn't sting or strain my eyes with prolong viewing as for performance these are powerful and smooth phones with quad-core power on the Nexus 4 and dual core power on the iPhone 5 the Google phone runs the latest Android 4.2.1 jellybean and the Apple phone has the latest iOS 6.0 point 1 navigation is smooth and fluid on both phones their respective touch screens are very responsive and app launching is generally quick playing games is likewise smooth though for games I prefer the Nexus 4's bigger screen to the iPhone 5s cramped screen web browsing is also generally snappy although I noticed that photos on webpages flicker or take a moment to re-render and zooming in on them on the Nexus 4 I didn't notice this behavior on the iPhone 5 although I prefer the Nexus 4's bigger display because it allows the screen full of text without having to squint these two phones can play 1080p full HD video without any problem each phone comes with its default movie and music player with simple and straightforward playback controls sound level and quality on loudspeakers are quite wonderful but the Nexus 4's audio tends to be muffled when placing the phone on a flat surface because its loudspeakers are at the back whereas the iPhone 5s loudspeakers are along the bottom side although both phones have equalizer presets the Nexus 4 leaves more room for manual audio adjustment through a five band equalizer with bass booster and 3d effect for storage the Nexus 4 has only two storage models one for 8 gigabytes and another for 16 the iPhone 5 has 3 16 32 and 64 gigabyte models as far as storage is concerned the iPhone 5 gives you more options the two phones won't allow you to add more storage via microSD card for connectivity the Nexus 4 requires a micro sim while the iPhone 5 requires a smaller nano SIM both phones are capable of both 3G and Wi-Fi connections but the iPhone 5 can also connect 4G both are equipped with Bluetooth but in our experience Bluetooth on the iPhone 5 sucks somehow and is somewhat very picky when pairing with other devices the Nexus 4 also supports NFC and uses a standards-compliant Margaux USB port the iPhone 5 doesn't have NFC and uses a proprietary non standards compliant USB port that Apple calls the Lightning port both phones have primary cameras with the same eight megapixel resolution each one is capable of producing crisp and clear photos given adequate lighting both photo cameras are very snappy too hardly any shutter lag on the iPhone 5 though you're stuck with only 8 megapixel photos on the Nexus 4 you can set the camera to capture at lower sizes even up to QVGA size both can capture up to 1080p full HD videos with the Nexus 4 allowing you to choose lower resolutions such as 720p and 480p generally and based on our experience with these two phones the iPhone 5 seems to produce better looking photos and videos it also has image stabilization to reduce shaking as for battery life the Nexus 4 has a 2100 mAh lithium polymer battery with published talktime of 15 hours on 3G that's enough power to last you through a workday the iPhone 5 has a 1440 mAh lithium polymer battery with published talktime of eight hours on 3G all things being equal of course the Nexus 4 appears to provide longer battery life but then again your mileage will vary according to use it's difficult to say whether the Nexus 4 is better than the iPhone 5 or vice versa both phones have elegant designs and great performance potential but cater to different crowds the iPhone 5 is known for its durability design and stable ecosystem on the other hand the Nexus 4 comes from a lineage of customizable software that is competitive both in performance and price which phone offers you the features that you need i phone 5 nexus 4 leave a comment and let us know get more android news and reviews from android authority comm and from our youtube channel thanks again for watching this is April from Android authority until next time may the light side of the Android force be with you