Gadgetory

so the same thing always happens when a new device launches the media gets review units ahead of the official launch and we get to use them while we write our review then the press embargo lifts every outlet posts their reviews and videos at the same time writers and commenters go back and forth and it's a huge frenzy of opinion and buzz for about a day and then it all goes away sure there's some follow-up coverage but after that initial blast almost no one revisits the device to see how well it's aged because we're all on to the next big thing already so let's do something about it let's take a look at a phone months after its release when it's not shiny and new anymore I'm Taylor Martin with pocket now this is the google nexus 5 and this is episode 32 of after the buzz obsolescence is mostly what we look at with the after the buzz series has a phone fared well against the test of time do its specs still compared with the latest and greatest but this particular episode is different due to one key differentiator a single brand name Nexus the Nexus 5 from the very start was built with legs mainly because it's one of the very few smartphones on the market that appeals to the nerdiest of nerds and the Android purists who want the unadulterated google experience on the phone but software and name aren't the only thing playing to the Nexus 5's advantage price is a very firm bullet point that solidifies the Nexus 5 spot near the top of the charts do these things still uphold the Nexus 5's viability let's find out the design of the Nexus 5 was never a problem with most sure it's understated and doesn't try to be anything more than it actually is a powerful yet affordable smartphone to adhere to the latter aspect costs had to be cut somewhere and design and hardware was ultimately the only place to do that the phone is still very attractive in its own right the all black model two-toned glossy black and matte white stormtrooper addition as marques brownlee calls it and the bright red model are all very distinguished thanks to the large camera cut out around back colored earpiece speaker and of course the Nexus branding but there isn't anything particularly amazing or impressive about the design we're okay with that for a number of reasons mainly its internals have managed to stay relatively current in the five months it's been around the chipset inside is a Snapdragon 800 with a quad-core krait 400 CPU clocked at two point three gigahertz and it also has the standard Adreno 330 GPU it has two gigabytes of RAM either 16 or 32 gigabytes of fixed storage and an eight megapixel camera with optical image stabilization the 2300 milliamp hour battery is as mediocre as it sounds and the rest is pretty standard Wi-Fi AC NFC LTE Qi wireless charging and Bluetooth 4.0 the 4.95 inch to HD IPS plus display is also a bit sterile the 1080p resolution is great making an overall density of 445 pixels per inch but where it suffers is muted color reproduction and black levels truthfully it's actually more accurate than a lot of other displays but we've been trained as consumers to lust over excessively saturated tones the contrast levels are a tad low and viewing angles could be better but if you consider the price it's really difficult to complain about the display in short the specs are still on point and it's certainly not the worst looking phone around display or design of course it doesn't feel all that great in the hand either but this isn't a seven hundred dollar smartphone it's half that price All Things Considered it's still a great value from the hardware perspective the software side of things that has actually improved and as per usual it's a high point for an excess in Google Play edition devices the phone originally launched with the core version of KitKat android for net for 20 which came with a bevy of newer tiny features like printing support emergent mode native emoji support SMS integration with hangouts and a yellow pages like dialer some of those things took some time to get used to like the business search function within the dialer and some we still haven't used today like wireless printing but they're all nice features to have at your disposal anyway also at the time of its launched the Nexus 5 had a unique launcher and Google Play experience entirely to itself the Google now launcher which replaced the leftmost home screen with google now this too took some getting used to especially the large icons but it didn't take us long to fall in love with the launcher built around one of our favorite Google services unfortunately it's no longer specific to the Nexus 5 but available on most Nexus and Google Play edition hardware the Nexus 5 has since been updated twice and now sits at 44 tattoo while the next version is rumored to be in testing the first update was primarily a camera fix which we'll get to in a bit the most recent update brought some bug fixes some better stability and some more camera improvements the software is still one of the biggest draws for the Nexus 5 especially for hardcore enthusiasts if you're after a bare-bones no-nonsense software experience the Nexus 5 should still be near the top of your list alongside the many Google Play edition devices part of that pure Android experience is the full effect of project butter the phone still runs incredibly smoothly everything from opening apps entering or exiting the app drawer and scrolling is snappy and fluid pair that with the raw horsepower of the Snapdragon 800 and this phone will reform with the best of the best and gaming media playback multitasking and pretty much anything else you can throw at it this phone was built with enthusiasts and power users in mind it's designed to handle a heavy workload unless you're talking stamina battery life has never been the Nexus 5 strong suit it still isn't in Michaels initial review he was able to typically last an entire day on a single charge but that also meant crawling in on fumes towards the end of the day little has changed since our first experience with the Nexus 5 a 2,300 milliamp hour battery just doesn't do this home justice call quality like before is still rather impressive and we've been running on t-mobile's LTE network here in the Charlotte metro area for the last few days as expected we aren't complaining about the double-digit speeds we've peaked around 14 and a half megabits per second down and four megabits per second up with all the camera software updates it's hard to say the camera hasn't improved much it has color reproduction seems to be more accurate and vibrant and pictures overall more lively the biggest improvements were brought to actual image capture snuffing out the shutter lag capture now happens in an instant but while the best picture is taken with the Nexus 5 are likely to be better than when it first launched its still pretty hit or miss especially in low light despite the optical image stabilization images are more vibrant than before even if they sometimes err on the cool side point being it's far from the worst camera ever but it still isn't the absolute best it's about par for the course in Android land so what's the verdict the Nexus 5 is just as great as it was when it launched in November if not marginally better that's due in part to the nature of the name of the device rapid software updates and fixes for the camera software throw in the fact that the price starts at just three hundred and forty nine dollars sans contract it's hard not to recommend this phone to someone looking for a bargain it's not exactly the best deal anymore thanks to devices like the Moto G but in terms of value what you get for 350 or 400 dollars you honestly can't ask for more than what the Nexus 5 offers and that's why we're still just as enamored with the Nexus 5 today as we were five months ago or maybe it's just because it speaks to our inner nerd either way it's a killer smartphone for the price and if you're looking for raw horsepower for not a lot of money this is the phone you should buy the visceral google experience is just icing on the cake folks that's going to do it if you enjoyed this episode of after the buzz be sure to click the thumbs up button below and of course subscribe to the channel to see more videos like this one in the future be sure to follow us in all the usual places twitter facebook and google+ at pocket now i'm taylor martin you can find me on twitter at casper tech and i will see you next time