Considering the Nexus 5...


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I've been an iOS user since the start, but am seriously considering buying an Android smartphone now, rather than wait for the iPhone 6. I've never touched an Android device, and from what I've read, the Nexus 5 is a very good smartphone. Relatively cheap and no-frills, but, most important to me, runs stock Android. Thus, I have a few questions...

 

  1. I'm on AT&T. Once I buy the Nexus 5, can I take the SIM card out of my iPhone 5, put it into the Nexus and be good to go? I'm already paying a smartphone plan, but I'm sure as soon as I let AT&T know I've changed phones they'll try to upsell me on some more expensive plan, so I'd prefer to avoid contacting them for a new SIM if at all possible.
  2. The Nexus smartphones get Android upgrades as soon as they're ready, right? Similar to iOS smartphones? I know the Nexus 5 is running 4.4 already, and might want to give "L" a try.
  3. I've heard rumors about Samsung offering a variant of the Galaxy that will be running stock Android? Would that be worth waiting for? One of the things I like about the Nexus is it's relatively cheap, unlocked and thus I could get it as soon as within a few days.

Thanks for any help.

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I like the Nexus 5 but I have a feeling something new will come out pretty soon.

 

If you need a new SIM just go into an AT&T store and tell them you need a micro SIM.  They shouldn't try to sell you anything else and it's free to get a different SIM card.  It's none of their business if you buy a phone on your own.

 

As for Play edition phones you can see them all here: https://play.google.com/store/devices/collection/promotion_50000c5_partner_us

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Hmm... What's the deal on those Google Play phones? Are they running stock Android? Would I be better off getting one of those instead of the Nexus 5?

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Hmm... What's the deal on those Google Play phones? Are they running stock Android? Would I be better off getting one of those instead of the Nexus 5?

Google play phones promise updates in 90 days but I don't know if ghats true. Nexus is the truest stock android phone that gets updates right away. I wouldn't pickup a nexus 5 cause it released in November and we have 4 months till its November. So I wouldn't bother right now.

I have a nexus 5 and love it besides battery life. But with the right ROM and kernel you'll make it 15 hours.

You will have to go to an art store for a micro Sim and to change your plan. I didn't realize this when I went from my iphone to nexus 5, my voicemail didn't work. I went back I'm and they said I phones have different data plans that add visual voicemail to it for every phone. For att's regular plan you need a LTE device for visual voicemail and even then only a hand few are approved. I had to download the att voicemail apk. Once installed worked fine and now I have visual voicemail.

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Every Google Play phone I've seen a friend get gets their update as about the same time as other Nexus devices.

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You'll want to be careful with the SIM. I believe iPhone 5/5S use nano-SIM. Nexus 5 uses micro-SIM. You'll either need an adapter or a new SIM card. 

 

Google Play phones are great, you get the fantastic hardware of popular phones with the stock Android experience. Some phones have additional features that enable features specific to the hardware. Ex: HTC One M7 has a Beats setting. HTC One M8 has the HTC photo app to take advantage of the cameras in the back. You also get really fast updates (compared to stock versions of the device).

 

Nexus 5 is a great device for the money. I would just suggest waiting till the iPhone 6 comes out, and if you can wait till later this year, the new Nexus phone should be announced. I suggest unlocking your iPhone 5 through AT&T and selling it for a fair chunk of change. It will help pay for most of your next phone if not all of it (Nexus 5). Android is great to tinker with - you can also try startign with a Nexus tablet to get the feel for it. 

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I was in the same boat

 

after researching the Nexus 5, I went and bought a 32gb lg g2 (look around, they are discounted heavily as the g3 is out)

 

pros over the nexus

 

Bigger screen

Bigger battery

Better Camera

IR Blaster

Headphone at the bottom (ideal for me due to my car mount)

 

it uses gorilla glass 2 whereas the nexus 5 uses gorilla glass 3.  However!!!!!  my friend has a nexus 5 and his screen is covered in scratches!!!  Just get a good screen protector.  All in all, I felt the g2 was quite a bit better than the nexus, and some retailers are selling it a bit cheaper.

 

so, the only main concern is the software.  Yeah, nexus 5 is stock android over the lgs messy rom.  I'm thinking about putting on cyangenmod 11 on it as it looks like stock android.  I assume that cyangenmod will integrate android 5.0 when released anyway

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My N5 actually came with a few scratches on the screen (Which I didn't notice for ages, very fine and only show on a specific angle), but I haven't been able to scratch the screen myself.

As for updates, you do generally get them as soon as they're available, but for whatever reason Google stagger them, so some devices get them before others.

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You'll want to be careful with the SIM. I believe iPhone 5/5S use nano-SIM. Nexus 5 uses micro-SIM. You'll either need an adapter or a new SIM card. 

 

Google Play phones are great, you get the fantastic hardware of popular phones with the stock Android experience. Some phones have additional features that enable features specific to the hardware. Ex: HTC One M7 has a Beats setting. HTC One M8 has the HTC photo app to take advantage of the cameras in the back. You also get really fast updates (compared to stock versions of the device).

 

Nexus 5 is a great device for the money. I would just suggest waiting till the iPhone 6 comes out, and if you can wait till later this year, the new Nexus phone should be announced. I suggest unlocking your iPhone 5 through AT&T and selling it for a fair chunk of change. It will help pay for most of your next phone if not all of it (Nexus 5). Android is great to tinker with - you can also try startign with a Nexus tablet to get the feel for it. 

I promised my sister I would give her my iPhone 5 as soon as the Nexus 5 comes, though, so I can't sell it.

 

I actually went ahead and ordered it... Yes, I'm aware of the chance there might be a Nexus 6 later this year, but I've read the reviews and watched various videos and it seems like it's a really good phone for starting out with Android. Plus, if I keep waiting, I'll be stuck forever hoping for the next revision.

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I promised my sister I would give her my iPhone 5 as soon as the Nexus 5 comes, though, so I can't sell it.

 

I actually went ahead and ordered it... Yes, I'm aware of the chance there might be a Nexus 6 later this year, but I've read the reviews and watched various videos and it seems like it's a really good phone for starting out with Android. Plus, if I keep waiting, I'll be stuck forever hoping for the next revision.

That's nice of you. I also give my family my older devices. I think my iPad Air will be the next to go. I think I'll get the next gen. iPad Mini with LTE or small Nexus tablet (Nexus 8?) so I can use the device anywhere when I'm on call,

 

Anyways, just remember the SIM cards are different between devices. iPhone 5/5S = Nano SIM, and Nexus 5 = Micro SIM. It's not a huge deal, but something to keep in mind. If you like technology and like customizing things, you'll love the capabilities on Android. 

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I had it for 6 month.    Dropped it a couple of times, resulting in cracked screen.  it worked for another month, before suddenly and unexpectedly dying (while at 90%charge)       Never worked again.

Decent phone.     However:

 

1. Battery life is bad.   

 

2. Camera is terrible (after being used to iphone and htc one -   i was surprised how bad this camera was in comparison.   just terrible).

 

3. If you wear polarized sunglasses, you can only see the screen when held vertical.  Any other angle and it becomes impossible to see anything.   A problem for me in the summer!    I am back to HTC and I can see the screen perfect when rotated.

 

otherwise it is a good phone for the money....   (though I would rather get One+ One, if it is available - even higher specs for less money)

http://recode.net/2014/04/29/first-look-oneplus-one-smartphone-equals-nexus-killer/%C2'> -    it comes with CyanogenMod -  agreeably even better then having latest stock android

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I had it for 6 month.    Dropped it a couple of times, resulting in cracked screen.  it worked for another month, before suddenly and unexpectedly dying (while at 90%charge)       Never worked again.

Decent phone.     However:

 

1. Battery life is bad.   

 

2. Camera is terrible (after being used to iphone and htc one -   i was surprised how bad this camera was in comparison.   just terrible).

 

3. If you wear polarized sunglasses, you can only see the screen when held vertical.  Any other angle and it becomes impossible to see anything.   A problem for me in the summer!    I am back to HTC and I can see the screen perfect when rotated.

 

otherwise it is a good phone for the money....   (though I would rather get One+ One, if it is available - even higher specs for less money)

-    it comes with CyanogenMod -  agreeably even better then having latest stock android

The 1+ One is very nice but holy crap a 5.5" screen is big.  I wish manufacturers would offer 4.5-4.7" screens in premium phones instead of relegating smaller screen sizes to the cheaper bargain basement phones.

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The 1+ One is very nice but holy crap a 5.5" screen is big.  I wish manufacturers would offer 4.5-4.7" screens in premium phones instead of relegating smaller screen sizes to the cheaper bargain basement phones.

 

Yeah that is my issue too.    5"  is where I draw the line.    My HTC One (v1)  is the perfect size for my hand - 4.7 inches.    Nexus 5 was border line!   Anything bigger is too big for my liking.

 

 

I hope 1+   lives on to see another day and release a smaller premium phone at fantastic price point.   However the availability issues and marketing choices they made make me doubt their future.

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I've had my N5 for two months. Best phone I've ever used. Great price, nice design, stock Android. I contemplated getting one for a long time before I finally bit the bullet and bought mine. Glad I did.

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So i was like you, avid IOS user and but i got bored of IOS being the same after so long so i started looking into Android and i had always heard about the Nexus 5. Anyway after a while i decided to get one and i haven't regretted it yet. I've had my Nexus 5 for about 2 months now and i love it. There is only one thing i miss about IOS and that's the ITunes integration for syncing and sorting but i got over it quick enough. 

 

Anyway on to your questions.

 

1) Long as your sim is the correct size (micro sim) you'll be fine but if it's nano which IPhone 5 up have used you'll need a converter. You don't need to tell AT&T as far as i'm aware, being from the UK we don't have AT&T but i can say you don't have to notify your service provider if you change your phone here.

2) Yes they get the updates as they come out.

3) Yes Samsung and HTC have on the Google play store have a, Google Play Edition of they're variants which retail ?500 i think, which you would have to decide if you wanted but in my opinion if your wanting stock Android and not to expensive i would buy the Nexus 5.

 

In all it's a great phone which i would recommend to anyone. Just be weary about the sorting on the music player if you copy from ITunes, i had some problems. Also my hole post has been done off memory so please don't have ago at me if i was incorrect about some of the things i said. 

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So i was like you, avid IOS user and but i got bored of IOS being the same after so long so i started looking into Android and i had always heard about the Nexus 5. Anyway after a while i decided to get one and i haven't regretted it yet. I've had my Nexus 5 for about 2 months now and i love it. There is only one thing i miss about IOS and that's the ITunes integration for syncing and sorting but i got over it quick enough. 

 

Anyway on to your questions.

 

1) Long as your sim is the correct size (micro sim) you'll be fine but if it's nano which IPhone 5 up have used you'll need a converter. You don't need to tell AT&T as far as i'm aware, being from the UK we don't have AT&T but i can say you don't have to notify your service provider if you change your phone here.

2) Yes they get the updates as they come out.

3) Yes Samsung and HTC have on the Google play store have a, Google Play Edition of they're variants which retail ?500 i think, which you would have to decide if you wanted but in my opinion if your wanting stock Android and not to expensive i would buy the Nexus 5.

 

In all it's a great phone which i would recommend to anyone. Just be weary about the sorting on the music player if you copy from ITunes, i had some problems. Also my hole post has been done off memory so please don't have ago at me if i was incorrect about some of the things i said. 

What specifically will be difficult about moving from iTunes onto the Android? Most of my music is DRM free, so I figured it was just a matter of moving the music out from the iTunes-managed folders onto the SD card. Will that not work?

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I got one myself recently and it's an outstanding phone, seriously slick and elegant. All you'll need is a micro sim.

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I went from iOS to a nexus 4, then sold ipad for Nexus 7, now i have a nexus 5 and nexus 7(2013). I'll never use IOS again.

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What specifically will be difficult about moving from iTunes onto the Android? Most of my music is DRM free, so I figured it was just a matter of moving the music out from the iTunes-managed folders onto the SD card. Will that not work?

Putting the music on is easy, you just take the usb to micro usb cable and plug it in to your computer and move your ITunes music folder into the Nexus's Music folder. The annoying part is it doesn't sort the music well, sometimes it will say unknown album or something and there is nothing you can do about it. The music still plays fine it just might not be sorted correctly. I.E not saying it's album name or something. Also there isn't any external storage so you can't have SD cards. If you buy the 16GB you can't get anymore storage. 

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Putting the music on is easy, you just take the usb to micro usb cable and plug it in to your computer and move your ITunes music folder into the Nexus's Music folder. The annoying part is it doesn't sort the music well, sometimes it will say unknown album or something and there is nothing you can do about it. The music still plays fine it just might not be sorted correctly. I.E not saying it's album name or something. Also there isn't any external storage so you can't have SD cards. If you buy the 16GB you can't get anymore storage. 

I can't say I've ever had this problem with my Nexus 5, I'd imagine you media files must not be tagged correctly.

 

If space is an issue, I'd recommend spending the time uploading your library (won't take long as long as it recognizes the files) to Google Music - this way you can stream or swap/choose as required when connected to WIFI.

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Look at the D-Sub app with a subsonic server if you want more music than you can fit on the device you can set it to sync stuff for offline playback and unless they've changed it recently it will display the music using the directory layout the files on the server use, so if you've purposely organised your directories in a specific way that should be maintianed.

 

Only reason I've not been using it much of late is I have a spotify subscription and unlimited 3G so it tend to just select an artist and hit "Radio" when driving (which is when I tend to play music on my mobile the most)

 

Edit:

 

Also re the Nexus 5, I think it's one of the best android phones you can buy off contract when you consider it's features and the price it's much better value than most of the high end phones.

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Here to add my pennies worth.

Long term iOS user. Still think the iPhone is a great phone but with a premium price tag.  I got bored and tried Android twice before, HTC Desire and Galaxy S4.  The Desire was awful but then Android was ugly as sin and nothing like it is now. I eventually tried the Galaxy.  Decent phone ruined by the UI.  I then moved to a Lumia 935.  Nice phone but lack of apps was too much for me.  I got a Nexus 7 tablet and loved it.  Sold the Lumia and got a Nexus 5.  Loved it got a 2nd hand Nexus 4 for my work phone.  Moved my wife from a cheap Lumia to a Moto G.  

Since then I've become a big Android fan.  The stock experience is the only way I can go though. There are still issues that annoy me but Google is slowly getting better and each update they send out for their apps it gets better.  iPhones cost twice as much as the Nexus 5 yet are no way near being twice as good.  Sorry Apple, you lost me as a customer!

 

For iTunes you can just install Play Music Manager which will upload your entire iTunes library or select playlists (which I do).  

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I wouldn't recommend a Nexus 5 at this point.

 

Not that the phone is bad, it seems a fairly decent decent.  I am a very happy user of a Nexus 4 and have been since I got it (very close to launch), but if you were to buy a new phone wait until the next Nexus (6?) comes out.  Reason for this is because these devices have a limited lifespan for updates (18 months or so?) - with the Nexus 5 already being 6 months old, you are only looking to a year of updates.

 

Just my 2 pence. 

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