Nexus 5 vs HTC One (with focus on music playback battery life) - Nexus 5 General

I've had the One for a few months, and just got the N5.
There is no question the One has better screen, speakers, and front-facing camera, but I find the back camera on N5 better (contrary to numerous reviews), at least in part due to the One's purple tinting issue. Both devices are nearly identical in width with case on. So +1 to N5 for managing a larger screen.
Also, the N5 rarely heats up, even while in a case. I ran browsermark on both, and the N5 not only scored ~300 points higher, but was barely warm to the touch when the One, with its bareback bumper case on, was nice and toasty. This may be of high importance in terms of battery life as heat = wasted energy.
The next thing to test was the supposed improvements in music playback battery life via audio tunneling. I listen to a lot of music, so this was one of the biggest selling points for me.
Here's the set up:
1. Upload an album in FLAC to Google Music
2. Download on each phone (high quality, probably 320k?)
3. Turn off all radio and kill all non-essential background processes
4. Adjust the volume to be roughly the same (One is a little louder) using the same headphones
5. Plug in the same 3.5mm cable on each (I had two of those, but not two of the same headphones)
6. Let them play
Here are the results:
Time elapsed: 6.5hrs
Battery diff on N5: 14%; expected total play time: 46hrs
Battery diff on One: 16%; expected total play time: 40hrs
Well, to put it lightly, I was disappointed. 6 hours of total play time differential simple wouldn't be enough to sacrifice all those things I had stated above. That's when I suspected possible battery calibration issue(s).
I fully powered down the phones and back on, and the One's battery dropped by 2% while the N5 stayed the same. Huh?
I did that a few more times until the One's number "settled," i.e. stopped dropping so dramatically.
Battery diff at this point was 16% on N5 and a whopping 24% on the One. Now that's more like it.
So I decided to repeat the test, now that things seem settled. Here are the results of phase 2:
Time elapsed: 4.5hrs
Battery diff on N5: 8%; expected total play time: 56hrs
Battery diff on One: 12%; expected total play time: 37.5hrs
Not exactly twice the run time, but 50% more from the same capacity battery is nothing to scoff at. Notice the battery between the two tests are remarkably consistent: 16% vs 24% and 8% vs 12%.
I'm gonna be carrying the N5 around to see how the signal is, but given how much time I spend listening to music on my phone, I might be set for now.

g2tl said:
I've had the One for a few months, and just got the N5.
There is no question the One has better screen, speakers, and front-facing camera, but I find the back camera on N5 better (contrary to numerous reviews), at least in part due to the One's purple tinting issue. Both devices are nearly identical in width with case on. So +1 to N5 for managing a larger screen.
Also, the N5 rarely heats up, even while in a case. I ran browsermark on both, and the N5 not only scored ~300 points higher, but was barely warm to the touch when the One, with its bareback bumper case on, was nice and toasty. This may be of high importance in terms of battery life as heat = wasted energy.
The next thing to test was the supposed improvements in music playback battery life via audio tunneling. I listen to a lot of music, so this was one of the biggest selling points for me.
Here's the set up:
1. Upload an album in FLAC to Google Music
2. Download on each phone (high quality, probably 320k?)
3. Turn off all radio and kill all non-essential background processes
4. Adjust the volume to be roughly the same (One is a little louder) using the same headphones
5. Plug in the same 3.5mm cable on each (I had two of those, but not two of the same headphones)
6. Let them play
Here are the results:
Time elapsed: 6.5hrs
Battery diff on N5: 14%; expected total play time: 46hrs
Battery diff on One: 16%; expected total play time: 40hrs
Well, to put it lightly, I was disappointed. 6 hours of total play time differential simple wouldn't be enough to sacrifice all those things I had stated above. That's when I suspected possible battery calibration issue(s).
I fully powered down the phones and back on, and the One's battery dropped by 2% while the N5 stayed the same. Huh?
I did that a few more times until the One's number "settled," i.e. stopped dropping so dramatically.
Battery diff at this point was 16% on N5 and a whopping 24% on the One. Now that's more like it.
So I decided to repeat the test, now that things seem settled. Here are the results of phase 2:
Time elapsed: 4.5hrs
Battery diff on N5: 8%; expected total play time: 56hrs
Battery diff on One: 12%; expected total play time: 37.5hrs
Not exactly twice the run time, but 50% more from the same capacity battery is nothing to scoff at. Notice the battery between the two tests are remarkably consistent: 16% vs 24% and 8% vs 12%.
I'm gonna be carrying the N5 around to see how the signal is, but given how much time I spend listening to music on my phone, I might be set for now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How can you assume 56 hours of total playback without running it that long. Battery discharge isn't linear. If you go from 100% to 92%(8%) and that gets you 4.5 hours then 8% of a lower battery won't get you nearly as long. That means that going from like 30% to 22%(also 8%) won't get you the same 4.5 hours. You might get, just for example, 3.5 hours on 8%. Batteries discharge faster the more discharged they are. Look at the battery graph sometime and you will see that it gets steeper the closer the battery gets to being dead.

jimv1983 said:
How can you assume 56 hours of total playback without running it that long. Battery discharge isn't linear. If you go from 100% to 92%(8%) and that gets you 4.5 hours then 8% of a lower battery won't get you nearly as long. That means that going from like 30% to 22%(also 8%) won't get you the same 4.5 hours. You might get, just for example, 3.5 hours on 8%. Batteries discharge faster the more discharged they are. Look at the battery graph sometime and you will see that it gets steeper the closer the battery gets to being dead.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I understand the discharge isn't linear, but the point of this test was not to get the playback time of one device, but rather to compare how the two devices perform. So I didn't see the need to meticulously take all of that into account rather than doing simple math.
On two separate occasions the N5 did 1.5x better, so I think this is a pretty good indication that I can play music longer on the N5 than I could on the One.

g2tl said:
I understand the discharge isn't linear, but the point of this test was not to get the playback time of one device, but rather to compare how the two devices perform. So I didn't see the need to meticulously take all of that into account rather than doing simple math.
On two separate occasions the N5 did 1.5x better, so I think this is a pretty good indication that I can play music longer on the N5 than I could on the One.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It totally matters. You say that the Nexus 5 did 1.5x better but you calculated that based on a 4.5 and 6.5 hours. Because batteries discharge at a non-linear rate that claim of 1.5x longer is VERY inaccurate. It isn't an accurate and fair comparison.

jimv1983 said:
It totally matters. You say that the Nexus 5 did 1.5x better but you calculated that based on a 4.5 and 6.5 hours. Because batteries discharge at a non-linear rate that claim of 1.5x longer is VERY inaccurate. It isn't an accurate and fair comparison.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You have a point, but in reality can you ACTUALLY test music playback without using your phone AT ALL for 20-30+ hours to drain the phone from 100% to 0% ? For someone like me who only has one phone, I can't even perform this test as I need to kill all my radios and I need incoming phone calls/messages/e-mail/regular stuff
And you have to give OP credit for trying to reduce the variables.

I'm thinking of buying the One and returning my N5. Lots of reasons..
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk 4

cyburke said:
I'm thinking of buying the One and returning my N5. Lots of reasons..
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk 4
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lots of reasons? Like???
Both phones are basically the same size but the Nexus 5 has a bigger screen.
Both have a 2,300mAh battery but from the reports I've seen so far the Nexus 5 gets slightly better battery life than the One.
The Nexus 5 has a better camera. I've read lots of posts of people saying that the One camera suffers from a purplish tint on all the pictures it takes.
The Nexus 5 is infected with that Sense crap.
The only possible benefit i can see of the One is the better sounding speakers but unless you are one of those rude people that blasts everything out of their phone speakers and annoying everyone around you I don't see that to be much of a deal. No one wants to listen to your conversations, music, movies, etc. Get a pair of headphones.

jimv1983 said:
Lots of reasons? Like???
Both phones are basically the same size but the Nexus 5 has a bigger screen.
Both have a 2,300mAh battery but from the reports I've seen so far the Nexus 5 gets slightly better battery life than the One.
The Nexus 5 has a better camera. I've read lots of posts of people saying that the One camera suffers from a purplish tint on all the pictures it takes.
The Nexus 5 is infected with that Sense crap.
The only possible benefit i can see of the One is the better sounding speakers but unless you are one of those rude people that blasts everything out of their phone speakers and annoying everyone around you I don't see that to be much of a deal. No one wants to listen to your conversations, music, movies, etc. Get a pair of headphones.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have a one. Pictures in low light have issues, daylight pics came out very good. Focus and shutter speed on the one is instant. It's very slow on the N5, I hope they fix that.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

Just got a nexus 5 after a few hours of use... I'm leaning towards returning it and going back to my One. Miss the build quality and speakers. And isn't the one getting kit Kat in two months. I was able to get best buy to price match Google they weren't suppose to. For the price its an excellent phone thought.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using xda app-developers app

I think both phones are awesome. I actually sold my HTC One a month before the Nexus 5 came out. I think it just depends on user preference when it comes down to which phone is better. I think the heat issue on the HTC One was more prevalent because of the metal casing of the phone, and the Nexus 5 would have the same problem if it also had a metal body.
At the end of the day I love my Nexus 5, and I'm sure there will be future updates to fix the issues people are currently having.

Atticustrd said:
Just got a nexus 5 after a few hours of use... I'm leaning towards returning it and going back to my One. Miss the build quality and speakers. And isn't the one getting kit Kat in two months. I was able to get best buy to price match Google they weren't suppose to. For the price its an excellent phone thought.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As long as your have the Google Play edition of the One I guess it wouldn't be a bad idea.

jimv1983 said:
It totally matters. You say that the Nexus 5 did 1.5x better but you calculated that based on a 4.5 and 6.5 hours. Because batteries discharge at a non-linear rate that claim of 1.5x longer is VERY inaccurate. It isn't an accurate and fair comparison.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Inaccurate? Sure, but like (think) I made clear, I'm not about to do a full on research.
I also realized that I didn't mention this: I did not charge the battery between the two tests, which means I tested both mid-upper and low-mid echelons of battery level. And again, the difference is 1.5x for each case.
Non-linearity would have mattered more if one discharged faster at lower level than another, but the consistency of my results seem to say otherwise, i.e. N5 does better than the One when just looking at music playback.

Atticustrd said:
Just got a nexus 5 after a few hours of use... I'm leaning towards returning it and going back to my One. Miss the build quality and speakers. And isn't the one getting kit Kat in two months. I was able to get best buy to price match Google they weren't suppose to. For the price its an excellent phone thought.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm probably gonna do another test when Kitkat is realeased for the Google Play edition. Not sure if the DSP in s600 supports audio tunneling though (or rather, if Google will support).

I have a red htc one and it dosent get hot but my silver onr did? I think it comes.down to user preference. I personally listen to alot of music at work and home. The speakerd are the best ever. The headphones are the best ive ever recieved with a phone. So good i dont use my jaybird freedoms anymore. Ive had 2 lines eligible for ugrade for a while now. Passed on note 3, passed on moto x, hate iphones, passed on nexus and will pass on LG2 when sprint gets it. My fiance has the S4 and loves it. Dont want anything else. I love my htc one. Dont want anything else. Dosent mean any are bad phones (all though i dont think ive seen a phone launched with as many issues the nexus 5) just everyone has certain things they like and dont. I.dont think the nexus is a bad purchase if you get it for $400 or less but i do think it would be stupid to waste an upgrade on one
Sent from my HTCONE using xda app-developers app

battery life in terms of music playback? .. It's a phone not an ipod.
Sent from my SM-N9005 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

What about the inbuilt dac and sound quality + loudness?
Which one 'sounds' better?
Ive read the Nexus 5 is quite soft in comparison
Sent from my One using Tapatalk

It should be common sense that the n5 should get better battery life than the One. Given the same battery capacity but the n5 has a more efficient CPU for power sipping and kit Kat is also optimized for battery and to use less resources. The n5 should win every time.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app

Kit Kat has a new thing where 60 hours of play back is possible. It might be a software thing.

g2tl said:
Also, the N5 rarely heats up, even while in a case. I ran browsermark on both, and the N5 not only scored ~300 points higher, but was barely warm to the touch when the One, with its bareback bumper case on, was nice and toasty. This may be of high importance in terms of battery life as heat = wasted energy.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The cpu temp is what's important -- the metal casing of the HTC One is a better conductor of heat, which means that it will actually help cool the cpu more than a plastic casing would.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk

MohJee said:
battery life in terms of music playback? .. It's a phone not an ipod.
Sent from my SM-N9005 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No it isn't - it's a multi function device with cellular capabilities!
As such, devices like the N5 have replaced a whole raft of devices for me, including music, video, exercise tracking, GPS, email, web, eReader, games etc.
Yes, I use it as a phone, but I use the other functions far more frequently. That being said, I won't compare battery life with a Nokia dumb phone from 10 Years ago because I do so much more than call and text with it.
Regards,
Dave

Related

Anandtech Full Review

It doesn't look like anyone has posted the full review yet, so here you go.
Anandtech Review
Turns out the issue with performance was actually due to new drivers, which allow for the full suite of benchmarks to be run. As a result, the CPU gets throttled after all that torture testing.
The new benchmarks, done without running the full suite, are posted in the review.
OMG. The battery life IS atrocious. Lol.
Yeah the battery really is bad. Its the most concerning issue right now for me as I debate whether or not to pull the trigger on this. My biggest concern is the cellular talk time and the wifi hotspot time. Those things can't really be blamed on the cpu thermal throttling issues as neither are CPU intensive tasks. Would a software update really even have the potential to fix those particular benchmarks?
EDIT: Unless the radio drivers are just really poor? That might explain the bad benchmarks on web browsing too since data would be in use the entire time for those benchmarks as well. Maybe then there is hope for a software improvement to battery life? I really hate buying things based on what they might be able to do in the future vs what I know they can do now
TheSopranos16 said:
Yeah the battery really is bad. Its the most concerning issue right now for me as I debate whether or not to pull the trigger on this. My biggest concern is the cellular talk time and the wifi hotspot time. Those things can't really be blamed on the cpu thermal throttling issues as neither are CPU intensive tasks. Would a software update really even have the potential to fix those particular benchmarks?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not if you want to fry your internals. Lol.
I'm guessing that the heat cannot dissipate effectively because of the screen on the front which is emanating heat, and the damn wireless inductive charging pad which is, in my mind, like a blanket. And I'm not even sure how effective glass is at displacing heat when couple with plastic.
But actually, cellular talk does release heat. Have you not noticed your phone getting hot when talking for extended periods of time? I believe the radio chip gets hot, maybe not necessarily the CPU. Regardless of where the heat is coming from, however, the sensors may still pick up on it. *shrugs*.
I'd advise you to wait 3 ~ 4 weeks if you can. Don't waste your time being the early adopter and wasting time dealing with early-release issues.
PoisonWolf said:
I'd advise you to wait 3 ~ 4 weeks if you can. Don't waste your time being the early adopter and wasting time dealing with early-release issues.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, every bad for a good we say where I'm from.
Looks like a whole bunch of us are gonna wait for exactly that.
On the review, keep in mind that we're not sure what version of the software all those test units use. Probably an unfinished version..
It hasn't really come together for me...
- No 32GB or Micro SD
- Poor battery life still, the update hasn't fixed it
- Poor benchmark results
I wanted to buy cause I thought it would be a bargain powerhouse but in the end it is obvious why the thing is so cheap. I'll just wait for my upgrade in April and get the GS4 if that is any good but until then my GS2 is doing just fine.
Seems fine.. compared to the Galaxy Nexus, which I regularly get 2 days at at time out of, the battery rates about the same, so no worries for me.
well, iv been "forced" to wait now, i was trying to order earlier today in the UK, but maybe it was a good thing i didnt get it yet
Well the "battery" test involves using chrome so...chrome sucks lot of power
not realy a good battery test imho
hippieschuh said:
Well the "battery" test involves using chrome so...chrome sucks lot of power
not realy a good battery test imho
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Agreed. Chrome really isn't ready for prime time in my experience. Even on my Nexus 7, I use dolphin and its much smoother and faster than Chrome.
So even if we throw out the browser tests because of Chrome, why the low talk times compared to other phones with smaller batteries?
My take away is:
Software - Great
Design - Great
Performance - Good, could get better with kernels
Camera - Par
Battery Life - Par
More realistic than the sky high expectations set by everyone for a $350 off-contract phone.
Venekor said:
It hasn't really come together for me...
- No 32GB or Micro SD
- Poor battery life still, the update hasn't fixed it
- Poor benchmark results
I wanted to buy cause I thought it would be a bargain powerhouse but in the end it is obvious why the thing is so cheap. I'll just wait for my upgrade in April and get the GS4 if that is any good but until then my GS2 is doing just fine.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm sorry but benchmarks mean sweet FA. My GNex is faster in actual usage than my One X although the One X is 3 times faster in Quadrant. Battery life is completely subject to usage - I don't believe their graphs as my One X is pitiful compared to my Nexus. Whereas me Nexus would be at 80%+ at this time of day my One X is currently sitting at 62% as I type with the same minimal work day usage
Really wanted this phone, but there are a number of areas that mean quite a lot to me to be honest, it hasn't really delivered:-
1. Battery life - no getting away from it, its poor. Marginally better than the GNex but no so much you would notice, despite a bigger battery.
2. Camera quality - Yes again, its better (not difficult), but somehow, it just isn't as good as it could be. Slightly slow shutter speed, average quality.
3. Audio quality - We haven't yet seen the full score with that, but again, the consensus seems to be "average"
4. Storage capacity - even less than the GNex (8/16 vs 16/32). We don't all have access to 4G internet and no limits to store all of our files in the cloud.
Now, yes I appreciate this is really nit-picking but I'm not really unhappy with the performance of my GNex, and it will still get the update. It is not slow, or choppy, and as such, with the values of the GNex how they stand, I'm reluctant to fork out £150 to upgrade to a phone, which no doubt is an upgrade, but not one you'll notice very easily.
As it stands, I'm thinking that vanilla android alone is not enough to make it a worthwhile swap over something like an HTC One X+, despite the price difference. OK the N4 has a faster CPU and more RAM, but I'm not much of games player, but it has a better screen, camera, sound quality and more storage. Or a Galaxy Note which is just as fast, much better battery life, bigger screen, expandable, better camera etc.
I can see why this phone is cheaper than the competition TBH. I am a big fan of Vanilla Android, but there can be no denying it plays second fiddle on *most* specs (all but RAM, CPU and , possibly screen).
BUT, I'll probably still get one, LOL.
EddyOS said:
I'm sorry but benchmarks mean sweet FA. My GNex is faster in actual usage than my One X although the One X is 3 times faster in Quadrant. Battery life is completely subject to usage - I don't believe their graphs as my One X is pitiful compared to my Nexus. Whereas me Nexus would be at 80%+ at this time of day my One X is currently sitting at 62% as I type with the same minimal work day usage
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeh one thing that puzzles me is they have the LTE One X topping the charts for most of the battery tests alongside the iPhone. However, wasn't the One X knocked for only having a 1800 mAH battery and poor battery life? Or was that only for the Tegra One X?
Thoughtful said:
Yeh one thing that puzzles me is they have the LTE One X topping the charts for most of the battery tests alongside the iPhone. However, wasn't the One X knocked for only having a 1800 mAH battery and poor battery life? Or was that only for the Tegra One X?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Tegra
Thoughtful said:
Yeh one thing that puzzles me is they have the LTE One X topping the charts for most of the battery tests alongside the iPhone. However, wasn't the One X knocked for only having a 1800 mAH battery and poor battery life? Or was that only for the Tegra One X?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I should really qualify my last statement with I'm currently running the JB test build from HTC (as I'm a member of Elevate) so it's not on the final build but even on ICS it was poor compared to my Nexus. I can't see me having any issues with the N4 as I don't game/listen to music on my phone - it's purely a communication tool so email/FB/Twitter/SMSs/calls is the order of the day for me
Benchmarking wise the Nexus 4 is a joke. People were talking about this miraculous ota that will make it better but nothing happened. The camera isn't among the best and battery life sucks. Jeez, iPhone 5 with LTE is way better than the 3G Nexus 4. We can hate on Apple as much as we want but sometimes they get the job done way better than android makers/vendors.
I wanted this phone so bad but now I can wait to see what happens.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda app-developers app
The sad part is tests rarely reflect reality, people get poor battery life on the iPhone 5 despite the controlled tests suggesting it should have excellent battery life, moral of the story is YMMV, its not as cut and dry as raw data correlating to reproducible performance. The benchmarks aren't great so there is one criteria left and that is how it performs in real world usage cause I'm not going to benchmarking like a maniac as it serves no benefit, as I actually want to use my phone. I'd say it passes that criteria well from numerous reviews. Camera quality (video) is reportedly improved though have to wait for Anandtech to update the review and upload new videos. I'll be getting mine in December wanna wait for some cases and then pull the trigger on the purchase
crazyalaa said:
Benchmarking wise the Nexus 4 is a joke. People were talking about this miraculous ota that will make it better but nothing happened. The camera isn't among the best and battery life sucks. Jeez, iPhone 5 with LTE is way better than the 3G Nexus 4. We can hate on Apple as much as we want but sometimes they get the job done way better than android makers/vendors.
I wanted this phone so bad but now I can wait to see what happens.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Benchmarking wise benchmarking doesn't have to do with anything. Jesus.....
I'm assuming all these reports of poor battery life include Google Now being enabled. I know its a key feature on JB(4.1/4.2) but I use it on CM10 now and its a HUGE battery drainer. When i turn it off, my battery life is markedly better. I'm assuming if you turn it off with the N4 you'll see better battery life.

[Q] Does anyone regret buying the Xperia Z?

Hey all,
reason I ask is that I've had the phone for about 4-5 months and I'm already disenchanted by the overall experience.
Battery life is an odd one as it changes on a day to day basis (Obviously), but the general issue is that some days I can use it all the time without issue, another day like today it's been on for an hour and a half, and it's dropped to 96%
On the subject of battery I needed to use my phone for car navigation and even with it plugged into a 1.5 mah charger it kept dropping. slower but still going down this is the same amp-age as the wall charger from Sony.
so that's one thing.
other thing is the general day to day use.
I thought the waterproofing would be useful in hindsight it's a pain in the arse, as the door flaps are awkward to open when your hopping in and out of our vehicle, and I listen to a lot of music so the headphone plug sees a lot of action in my pocket, not broken but it's a poor design after extended use.
Now the next bit is probably going to get the fans of this phone up in arms, but I'll say it anyway.
I wish I had waited a few weeks longer for the S4 by Samsung, I had the Note 2 before hand and the battery life was exceptional even with constant use, and the the design while unimaginative in design and materials fitted the bill perfectly.
So do you regret getting the Xperia Z and if so why, and would you / are you going to change and if so what?
Never. For the battery issues, I rooted my phone and have better power control with CPU Tuner. So far the battery can last 2 to 3 days on my general usage.
As for the waterproof, I looooove it sooo much. The phone stays with me all the time, even when I was taking bath. Having the phone to be waterproof, I feel no worries in case I need to handle the phone with wet hands.
i wouldnt say i regret buying the z but i would say that i am disappointed with couple of things in the phone .
for example the camera : whatever users say but deep down everyone will agree its pure rubbish , they have really messed up with the camera be it with any settings.
battery life : you are right about the battery life , some times its normal and sometimes it drops 3-4 percent very quickly , betterbatterystats shows different wake up everyday even though i use the same apps and do the same stuff everyday on the phone.
wifi signal : plain HORRIBLE !
yup every phone has its shortcomings and xperia z has these shortcomings , but i am not regretting buying the phone but yes disappointed with certain things which they could have definitely done it better.
i replaced my phone 6 days after buying due to the sides "popping" up. other than that i'm pretty satisfied with the phone and the custom rom developments on it
i dont regret..its an awesome experience day after day, getting even better.
yeah the rom developments is really fast as compared to my S3 LTE. barely have much rom to play with :laugh:
No I don't regret buying it, but sad of SONY's service.
Whitefang
Sent from my C6603 using xda app-developers app
I'm only disappointed about the camera.
Sent from my C6603 using xda premium
It's not the loudest, fastest but it's having build quality and for those who want quality and the money are not a problem i think it's the only option (if they are not Apple fans of course :laugh: )
Battery life sometimes can be dissapointing. Camera is so-so.
Other than that I'm satisfied.
Seems my gripes are the same as you guys.
Well it confirms that this isn't my mind playing, the grass is greener on the other side.
I'm very disappointed at the camera as this was one of my reasons for my purchase, and well the battery is starting to piss me off as if i'm away from home for long I end up home with 3 % left.
I'll be getting a i-9505 soon.
LBTaylor1984 said:
Seems my gripes are the same as you guys.
Well it confirms that this isn't my mind playing, the grass is greener on the other side.
I'm very disappointed at the camera as this was one of my reasons for my purchase, and well the battery is starting to piss me off as if i'm away from home for long I end up home with 3 % left.
I'll be getting a i-9505 soon.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What is everybody comparing the camera to? I have had A LOT of phones (see my sig) recently and I think the camera is better than anything except the Pureview 808. Having said that, I will take the other features, most noteably Android and Google Services over the other features in the Nokia, even the 1020.
After playing with my cousin's s4, the only I thing I like about the s4 is the camera features. Never regretted buying the Z when it was launched here and not waiting for the s4. I will only regret if there's something s4 can do that my Z can't in general. Since I got my wireless Internet, my battery life has been much better than before. With 3g I get around 4 and a half hours plus of screen on. Haven't test fully with wifi but currently on wifi, I'm on 70 percent with almost 2 hours of screen on time without uc and uv.
Sent from my C6603 using xda premium
No regrets here. Great simple phone.
Sent from my C6603 using xda app-developers app
Well I'm on back s4 now so you see how that went.
Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk 2
Im dissapointed with the sound quality over the headphones. But looking at other phones, things are same or worst. Iphone is the best in that matter but It can't compete with XZ at this stage. Appart from that, battery could be better for sure. Camera is only ok in a good light conditions. I dont regreet buying ZX. Other phones have their adv. and dis.
Sent from my C6603 using Tapatalk 4 Beta
I agree the camera is sub par along with the battery.
BUT this phone has a unique feel when held naked AND the screen is fantastic. The biggest positive for me is that this is the first android device that does not have any lag when texting regardless of keyboard used.
MinedSafe said:
Im dissapointed with the sound quality over the headphones. But looking at other phones, things are same or worst. Iphone is the best in that matter but It can't compete with XZ at this stage. Appart from that, battery could be better for sure. Camera is only ok in a good light conditions. I dont regreet buying ZX. Other phones have their adv. and dis.
Sent from my C6603 using Tapatalk 4 Beta
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I consider the XZ sound quality out of the headphone jack to be very good. Well ahead of the S and almost on par of that of the Walkman Z, Sony's top Walkman player.
Speaker quality is another story. It is awful. But it might have an explanation, water resistance, you know.
i regret getting it because i preordered it for 749 AUD
the stock firmware is horrible
the camera is mediocre
and the battery life has gone terrible since 4.2.2
the phone gets hot, like, 60 degrees celsius on the cpu doing web browsing
also the wifi is a pain in the ass.
i wish i waited a bit of the gs4 as well, but i was desperate because my incredible S broke and i was using a nokia lol
i don't regret at all and im a proud owner of my xperia z

Nexus 5 review

So I have been with the device for two weeks and I think I have enough experience with it to write a review. The android phones i have owned are in order: og droid, droid inc 2, droid 3, RAZR HD, lg optimus l9 and now Nexus 5. I will sort the sections by importance. So let's begin
First things first: Performance
This is the best performing phone I have ever had. After two weeks of my game playing, music listening, browsing, school research, amazon orders, I give my smartphones little to no rest. And this baby still performs like it did out of the box. I have not seen any lag whatsoever. I am a rapid typer on my phones and this is the only phone that I have ever had that doesn't stutter at all while typing. Games play without a hitch. Best performing phone out there. Period.
Next up camera
The camera is superb. I know already that many of you won't agree with me on this but if you put yourself in my shoes coming from an optimus l9 the camera is extremely refreshing. Crisp pictures even in sub par lighting. HDR + is amazing and I can't wait until Google releases their new camera software.
Next up: screen
Screen is good and real to life but not bright enough. I feel that KitKat is trying to be a bright os but the screen on the nexus doesn't do it justice. Don't get me wrong, its super clear and crisp, just coming from the RAZR HD I know what a great vivid screen to be.
Sound:
its meh, best way I could describe it. Speakers are poor and vibrate the phone rather than exerting clear sound. Call quality is good but if you put the speaker against your ear too much you muffle the sound easily. Recording with the mic pics up sound accurately
Build quality
Its good but it could be better, I don't have to worry about it snapping in two or separating from casing like the nexus 7 2012 fiasco. Without a case it could be a little hard edged in your hand.
Battery life: so I go to school about 30 hours per week. The battery dies just about one hour after I get home at 5 pm. Giving me 11 hours of solid use. Whether its playing games and listening to music between bus rides, researching in the library, I'd like to think that the battery life is good but not as good as the RAZR HD
The verdict is an overall solid phone that is meant to be all around good, but not the best, kinda like Mario in Mario kart, or Ryu in street fighter.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using xda app-developers app
Well, I will just put my short review in this post.
I received my Nexus 5 yesterday (I was surprised to hear from my local phonestore that they had received a shipment, altough they were only expecting it after 9 December).
I'm not using the phone yet, as I have to wait on my new SIM card, but these are my first impressions. Most of it will compare it to my Galaxy S2.
Battery
Although I don't have SIM in it yet, I can already see the difference in battery life.
My Galaxy S2 has a 2000mah battery (new from this summer, real Samsung brand), but it just burns through electricity. Technically, it can stay 5 days on standby (wifi + push sync), but if anything else is going on in the background, it is less than 1 day. Screen time is max 2 hrs on a full charge and if 3G reception is bad, the percentages also go down while watching.
The Nexus 5 came charged in the box (at 70%). After 1h30 of screen time (quite heavy usage, 1st sync, installing apps,...), it has reached the 40% mark. So, quite good in usage. During the night, it lost 1% charge on wifi+sync (but no mobile setup)
Product
The Nexus 5 looks good. I was surprised that the phone is not that much larger as an S2.
The black backpanel feels great (and less slippery than the white S2), but can hold some grease.
Screen
The screen of the Nexus 5 is just mind blowing. As being accustomed to use an AMOLED the past 2 years, it is quite different. I miss the pure blacks. But.. if I look at the S2, I miss the brightness
Pro: High resolution, quite big, high brightness (outdoor viewing)
Contra: The pure black still give the advantage to AMOLED when viewing in a dark room.
Camera
I don't understand the reviews telling that this is not a good camera. I really liked the S2 camera, but this is just so much better.
The daylight pictures don't differ that much (different color balance, and details at 100%crop), as they are both good camera's at 8Mpix. The difference is for pictures inside (or even darkness). In this case, the Nexus just shatters the S2 camera.
Outside, in darkness, the Nexus 5 shows the picture as real as possible (and not overexposing like the Lumias, or showing everything black like the S2).
Edit: included 2 pictures where you clearly see the difference between the S2 and Nexus 5.
Good review mate.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using xda app-developers app
This is my favorite phone...ever.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
I'll throw in my bit if you don't mind:
Coming from the HTC One Google Edition
-Performance: Great (might be just because of KitKat)
-Speakers: Meh
-Screen: One is better calibrated, my N5 seems to have a yellow tint on whites
-Camera: Slow to focus and take pictures. Picture quality overall is comparable
-Build Quality: I'm a fan of the lighter and soft touch body of the N5. The One has a more premium feel though.
Coming from the Nexus 4
-Performance: Great
-Speakers: Same
-Screen: Great
-Camera: Better
-Build Quality: I didn't like the glass back of the N4
Performance of the nexus 5 is unmatched by any other android phone. The note 3 is a multitasking powerhouse and is fast and fluid but to me this is just something else.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
barondebxl said:
Performance of the nexus 5 is unmatched by any other android phone. The note 3 is a multitasking powerhouse and is fast and fluid but to me this is just something else.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
We talking Madara or Pervy Sage?
Amaterasu or Tatsumaki Rasengan?
Or just straight up BanKai.
ghettopops said:
We talking Madara or Pervy Sage?
Amaterasu or Tatsumaki Rasengan?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
We're talking about the sage of 6 paths mixed with sharingan mixed with biyakugan.
I love Itachi Uchiha, best ninja.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
Lol funny how my thread turned into a convo about my favorite manga
Sent from my Nexus 5 using xda app-developers app
Just to add to my review about battery life:
Gaming
Slightly better than the Galaxy S2 in heavy 3D games (e.g. Asphalt 8). +- 10% for 20 minutes.
The Galaxy S2 with a 2000mah battery matches this, but the battery decreases an extra 5-6% during 10 minutes after gaming, while the Nexus stays rock steady
general usage
When the screen is not too bright, the Nexus 5 has quite a long battery life (even on automatic setting, it isn't bad). Without any energy saving measures (screen on automatic, chrome browser), it has no problem to get +3hrs of screen time) including a full day standby and calls. The Galaxy S2 only will exceed 2hours of screen time of you keep the screen brightness at lowest (and unreadable) level (without standby)
Standby (includes push for gmail and a push Exchange account)
The Nexus 5 is king in the power sipping department. Standby on wifi is less than 0.5%/hour (3-4% on 9 hours => would be 8 days), and 3G standby closely matches this score, even in areas with bad reception.
I once had S2 do 4 days on standby by putting it next to the wireless router and not touching it (on 4.0.4). Since Jelly Bean, 48hrs is more a realistic number. Standby on 3G is way worse (15hrs max.). When in bad reception areas, the battery percentages just count down while you look at it....
I came from Galaxy note n7000
and nex 5 is just superb, awesome phone
everybody says touch is superb, so smooth etc sleek, light weight and super fast

Nexus 5 battery does NOT suck

Ok, maybe it does suck for all users, so the title may be a little misleading, but for those worried about purchasing because of battery life, depending on your usage, the Nexus 5 isn't that bad.
I previously owned an iPhone 5, and after having made the jump to Android finally, I was worried about battery life. Specifically because its my understanding that Android does background tasking differently than iPhone. Well, after having my Nexus 5 for almost 2 weeks now, I must say that I'm impressed with the results. The short version: after getting my Nexus 5 set up to do all that I basically would do on my iPhone on a regular day, the Nexus 5 stomps all over my iPhone 5's battery life.
Not sure exactly how to go into details, but my basic usage is that I work typically 5 hours a day. by the end of my 5 hour shift, and after having barely used my phone during that time, it was a good day if my battery was left with anything over 35%. Keep in mind that I would always have my phone charged at 100% before work, and since im on sprint, my area doesn't even have LTE yet, so I can't use that as an excuse for drain. Though to be fair, my iPhone 5's have both had issues (I've swapped it out once already hoping it was just my phone)
anyways, lately ive been getting full time hours for the holidays, and since I have my nexus 5, I leave my phone fully charged before work. during a 12 hour day, my nexus 5 still had 51% battery life, versus my iPhone only having 25-45% during a 5 hour shift. Granted, this is through light use (a typical day of not accessing my phone much, only checking one mail gets pushed through, texts, and the occasional quick google search lookup here and there)
I am very well aware that the battery drains a lot faster during screen on time, but you have to consider how much bigger the screen is in comparison, and the resolution. But, with that said, screen on time, even game usage, I see the Nexus 5 battery life last longer than my iPhone 5 ever did.
So, for those coming from an iPhone specifically, and scared by all the "this is my battery life" posts everywhere, keep in mind what exactly it is a user is doing on their phone, and a simple screenshot isn't enough to detail what the battery life entails. I'd like to also point out that I haven't really done any of the basic power saving tweaks yet either, so I am excited to mess around with my phone some more as well. Ive also noticed that in the battery settings you can go into each app and see exactly what some apps are doing that are draining your battery. This is dependent on the app, and it mostly just gives you how much data an app used, how long it was accessing something (for instance, cpu, GPS, etc)
These are two different phones, and in particular, two different worlds basically. You can't really compare battery life between the two because they function differently in their own ways. But you can't judge the Nexus 5 battery life on what others say they get either. It all depends on what you are doing exactly. So when you see those screenshots, make sure to get all the info on usage first, before assuming the Nexus 5 battery is poor. I'm not saying its going to last you all day, because again, depending on your usage, the battery just might suck. But I personally know when I am going to game or do something heavy, no matter what phone, it's going to need to be recharged eventually anyway.
Huh ?
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
I find the battery life to be very good on my Nexus 5 too. More often I'm getting 2 days easy. That's with little use through day time, and heavy web, facebook, email and quick game or 2 in the evenings. Sometimes all that and even have 20% left!
My last phone was the HTC One-X with the 1800mah battery and it would struggle with a full day.
Are you kidding me? iPhone's battery life is atrocious! No real iPhone user would actually be worried about battery life because they always keep their phone plugged in so that they won't have to worry about their stupid little battery. To be fair, it's quite a feat for the iPhone to handle all that technology on such a small battery but realistically, everybody I know who owns an iPhone regardless of generation always complain that their phone's battery is weak and they either have to keep it charged all the time or carry around external chargers.
I think iPhone users should consider other things such as moving to a different OS and how maybe some of their favourite apps won't be available to them anymore. They shouldn't have to worry about battery life at all.
I've received my N5 last week and yea I find battery life crap...
I have a Note 3 where I get 6 hours on screen daily while my Nexus I have hard time getting 3...
Sent from my Nexus 5 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
it kinda sucks if u ask me..i have to constantly charge it every now and then
The battery life is good in comparison to my former Samsung Galaxy S3 Well, it´s not as good as a Samsung Galaxy Note III or similar huge device with a huge built in battery but to be honest, as a customer you knew before the purchase what you had to expect
If you use a good custom kernel, disable processes you don´t need and don´t play games all the time, the battery life of the Nexus 5 is good enough.
im getting great battery life with my N5.. better then my htc one and gs4... yea im rocking franco kernel which is a kick a$$ kernel but even b4 i rooted it i was getting great battery life.. i never use GPS.. i NEVER have ishh syncing in the backround.. i dont go on facebook from my phone..
I would say the Nexus 5 battery is average or slightly above average. It does not suck but it is not great either. Its on par with other phones with the same size screen and battery.
It seems to me that the ones complaining about the battery life are coming from other android devices which, depending on the device, might have had a bigger battery to begin with, other optimizations, etc.
Then some of the ones praising the battery (like myself) have probably come from smaller devices, like the iPhone (such as myself lol).
I just wanted to post this to point out for those that were like me and worried about it. There are still things I don't like about android, but I'm trying to give it a chance and keep the switch. I just got sick of the iOS environment.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using xda app-developers app
IIIPowerIII said:
I've received my N5 last week and yea I find battery life crap...
I have a Note 3 where I get 6 hours on screen daily while my Nexus I have hard time getting 3...
Sent from my Nexus 5 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Look at the Note 3 battery
I feel like I am the only person on earth who actually doesn't the iphone has bad battery life. (maybe that's because I had galaxy phones up until my iphone 5 and 5s and was blown away at how long it lasted) i could easily go 2 days on a charge, not that I ever did unless I had to. but anyway I digress.
I would say my Nexus battery is more than adequate for what I need. I am a heavy user, especially yesterday it was constant twitter/instagram/texting etc... And I got over 13 hours with 3+ hours of screen time.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using xda app-developers app
yyz71 said:
Look at the Note 3 battery
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know the difference in the battery.
But coming from a Note 3 to N5 is a major downgrade for me.
My N4 and N5 has no difference at all in battery life.
I love my N5 for the OS with Google experience, give me a rom like that for my note 3 and I wouldn't even keep my N5. That why I bought the n5, I'm bored of all the crap Samsung put in my note 3.
1.2gb vs 300mb, that's the roms size difference between both... But yea at the moment I'm keeping both device for daily use.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
I think the phone's OS itself is quite optimized and I was expecting far worse battery life since I am coming from a Note 2. To my surprise, it's not bad at all. I've not experienced many wakelocks, and my cell reception is, on a scale of 1-10 avg about 7. I've disabled the recommended location stuff and wifi scanning, and I'd say it's doing quite well. I've also installed Lux to minimize screen brightness and it helps a bit.
Overall, I will say the battery life is adequate, considering how thin and light this phone is. If you really need the battery life, get a Note 3 or a battery pack.
I don't have any battery issues personally but I see a few people do but I do know a few things that cause it.
The new GPS menu is misleading, you want to have it on Battery Saver, not High Accuracy, that there will drain your battery alone.
Turn off NFC when not in use.
Just a few things.
IIIPowerIII said:
I've received my N5 last week and yea I find battery life crap...
I have a Note 3 where I get 6 hours on screen daily while my Nexus I have hard time getting 3...
Sent from my Nexus 5 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you are seriously spending 6hrs a day on your phone you have issues man. No offense but that's just unhealthy!
Go outside a bit and go for a walk or something. Try leave your phone at home.
vseslija said:
If you are seriously spending 6hrs a day on your phone you have issues man. No offense but that's just unhealthy!
Go outside a bit and go for a walk or something. Try leave your phone at home.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh yea because it last 6 hours per charge, I need to use it 6 hours per day...
My note is charged once per 2 days and I never run out of battery while my Nexus is dying at the end of 1 days so yea it make a big difference.
I'll have to start some heavy undervolting like I did on my N4 to get something normal.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Wow I would have never thought the iPhone 5 had such bad battery life
Sent from my Xperia Z1 using Tapatalk
battery life is a big improvement for me over my old galaxy s3. I can actually make phone calls send text, surf and watch youtube and have about 3.5-4h hours of time on screen with about 16 hours of being unplugged.
Funny - it's the second best phone I've had. I had no problem getting 3 days out of my HTC One GPE, and I have no problem getting 2 days out of my Nexus 5.
My absolute worst battery day was 15 hours, 20 minutes to 5% battery. That consisted of 4 hours, 31 minutes screen-on time, with literally 100% of that time consisting of running benchmarks (mostly 3dmark and geekbench). Since then, I haven't had a single day - even relatively heavy phone-use days, with 2+ hours of screen-on time - where I've gone below 50% before bed. Other than the HTC One GPE, this is the first phone I can say that about.
According to BetterBatteryStats, my battery drain RARELY reaches 2%/hr.
Anyone complaining about battery life on this phone likely has either a battery issue, a rogue process, or they use it a LOT more heavily than they think... Just my 2 cents.
One last thing, for absolute transparency - The first thing I do with ANY new Nexus device is turn it on to make sure it works, unlock the bootloader, and immediately flash the factory image. Between a Nexus One, 2 Nexus S's, 2 Galaxy Nexuses, 3 Nexus 4's, 2 2012 Nexus 7's, a Nexus 10, and now my Nexus 5, the only device to ever have a problem is my wife's Nexus S, which suddenly stopped turning on one day. Worked perfectly, battery died, then... nothing, ever again.

how do you like it?

in general. has G4 been what you expected for general use?
screen, speed, camera batt life, heat, connectivity (too a Mac in my case), blah, blah, blah.
Thanks,
metropical said:
in general. has G4 been what you expected for general use?
screen, speed, camera batt life, heat, connectivity (too a Mac in my case), blah, blah, blah.
Thanks,
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The screen is great quality not as good as the galaxy s6 but it is close second. The speed is great on this phone i don't experience any lag. The camera to me isbetter than any phone out including the iPhone and galaxy s6. Battery life gets me thru a day...i take out off charger at 7 am and when i get home around 6:30 it's no less than 40% and thats with emails coming in all day, few calss, surfing the web and some game play. I dont have any heat problems unless im charging it and playing a game.
Sent from my Porn Infected G4
creglenn said:
.i take out off charger at 7 am and when i get home around 6:30 it's no less than 40% and thats with emails coming in all day, few calss, surfing the web and some game play. I dont have any heat problems unless im charging it and playing a game.
4
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
have you tried GPS nav with it Waze or other and if so, has that driven up the temp alot?
metropical said:
have you tried GPS nav with it Waze or other and if so, has that driven up the temp alot?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried Google maps and it'll warm up a bit but nothing abnormal
Sent from my Porn Infected G4
Thanks again. Good useful info. Pick 'em up Thurs.
Great phone minus touch screen issues. Phantom touches are a nuisance. Especially while lying flat.
Below Average for High End Phone
My last phone was a Note 3 so this is what I'm comparing the G4 to. Had the G4 for 4 weeks now.
1. Heats up compared to the note.
--When using Waze for 80 mile trips the phone heats up like a frying pan.
--Never noticed any heat issues with the Note but always have a hot phone if using internet for longer than 5 min. with the G4 (to be fair I had a silicone case on the Note and never noticed any heat issues. Could have been the case not letting me feel heat?)
2. Battery inconsistant.
--With a 65% charge I used Waze for 1 3/4 hours yesterday and the battery was at 0% charge (turned itself off). Today had 70% charge for return trip using Waze and had 45% battery life left at end of trip. Note 3 was also unpredictable with battery life. Could go 2 days on lite usage and then other times with same usage would have 30% left at end of 1st day. I find that a re-boot usually solves the battery issue on both phones.
3. Screen
--G4 is nice for most tasks. Sucks when watching HBO-Go, Netflix.
--Note 3 had better blacks and much more enjoyable to watch movies on. (to sum it up, G4 is like watching a LCD TV & Note 3 was like a Plasma TV. I have both tv's at home and the plasma picture blows away the LCD tv's. Maybe just my preferance.)
4. Love the 2 tap to wake the phone and the rear toggle just feels right for one handed operation. Big improvement vs non LG phones.
5. Camera
--Not enough usage to do a complete comparison yet. So far the pictures and video look good on the phone but havent downloaded to the computer to compare with my Note 3 pictures yet. I have noticed that the 8x zoom on the G4 makes the pictures look washed out. The Note only had 4x zoom which looked great in day light. The G4 night/low light pictures do look better than the Note 3.
6. Sound.
Volume goes much louder on the G4(a plus). Speaker phone is better on the G4. Music is kind of tinny sounding if the volume is to high vs the Note 3.
7.Build quality.
The Note 3 feels like a better built phone. Note is heavier than G4 and feels more substantial. I do like the fact that the G4 is lighter and smaller than the Note. Easier to hold one handed and not as heavy in the belt holster as the Note.
That's it for now.
I've had no battery issues thus far, Waze or otherwise. Goes a longtime on a charge. But I'm not a heavy user. A glance here and there, 20 emails, 20 texts a day. No video watching.
You'd feel the heat in a silicon case. But mine was ugly on delivery. All kind of issues. I did a reset and that has cleared up most issue.
There are still some intermittencies with WiFi Calling (T-Mob). But usually a toggle of WiFi will fix that.
I like the build Q of my HTC M7 better as well as the stability. But this was a better deal, and unfortunately better featured, otherwise I would have taken a M9.
Perhaps next year there will be a M10 (or MX) and I'll jump.
But I think as phones become more sophisticated, the carriers get more boxed in by the manufacturers.
OBTW, fave feature is the Paste Bin of the G4. Very smart.

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