First off the hardware. Now as we know with Nexus devices
we're not really supposed to expect amazing build quality
or you know the very latest manufacturing techniques
and the Nexus 5 kind of holds true to that in some ways
but in other ways dispels it completely. This is by far the best built
Nexus that I've ever used. Overall the
build quality is absolutely fantastic, just a couple of rough edges,
literally, that could very well be improved in
iterations they may do during the manufacturing process
whilst this device on the market in the next say 18 months or so.
Now, one of the most important things with the hardware,
is it's in the hand feel. We'll discuss the specs of
the device in a moment. What a lot of you are really interested in is
well how does it feel in the hand? It's beautifully well
balanced, at no point does any one element
of the device feel like it's over balanced or anything like that
to the point where if I do this just right it will balance
on my finger perfectly. The centre of gravity is really good on it.
It is centerized as it were so my finger there is practically in the centre and
it's not falling off or anything like that. So it's not a device that's going to
over balance in your hand or anything like that. That's something that with the Note
devices for instance can occasionally be a problem and certainly with the HTC One
that device does feel particularly bottom heavy. Now,
the in the hand feel is a difficult one
to kind of convey but from my perspective I'm looking for a device
which sits snugly into the grooves of
my hand here and here so that I can grip it from the sides quite easily
as the vast majority of people do. Now what really
aids the in the hand feel is always how tapered these edges are going to be
or whether the edges have have been tapered at all, or
too much and in all honesty I think this is probably one of the best devices I've
ever held.
i'ts lightweight it feels lightweight
in your hand but not so light like the Galaxy S4 does, that it almost feels like it's
you know, throwaway, light, oh, I forgot it was in my hand, and I've tossed it over my shoulder!
It feels right, and it feels almost as good as holding
that Galaxy Note 2 for the first time where it feels substantial in the hand
yet firmly gripped. It doesn't feel like it's going to slip through your hand like the HTC One does
due to its aluminium frame.
Overall, it has a great in the
hand feel and interestingly, no hand ache
after an hour or so's gaming. For instance, the way that everything has been tapered off
the rounded edges means that it sits really nicely
in the candy bar fashion as it were in your hand for gaming.
But likewise, for one handed operation, again it feels great.
Now there is only one major downside to
the in the hand feel. And it's this lip that runs round
the kind of top of the display. And it basically, it's this outer band
and the display is sitting inside it. Some of these edges are just a little tiny bit
rough I think is probably the best way to describe it. Certainly
up here on this corner you can kind of feel that it's
a little bit raised up in comparison to the obviously flush of the screen.
It's a very minor thing but it may cause some people just to get a little bit of
wear and tear on their skin depending on how they're handling the device. I think this
is something that Google will fix
during the manufacturing process, just a little bit more finishing on there
would have been
absolutely grand. Now, the only other thing to note, and a few other people have picked up on this
as well
to varying degrees, the buttons volume rocker
and the power button. Whilst my volume rocker perfectly fine
I mean it feels no looser in the socket as it were
than say the Galaxy S4 but however the power button
does feel just a little bit on the wobbly side
Now a few different people have picked up on this I think it really is just a
manufacturing thing, the first edition units, it will probably get sorted out.
But you can just feel that the button is just a little bit floaty in the socket in
comparison to something like
the Galaxy S4 or the HTC One where it feels like the button is
really solid and has very little movement there.
It's a minor thing but bearing in mind that the Google Nexus devices sell
for a couple of hundred pounds nearly $300 cheaper
than some of the top flight devices I think we can excuse them having a slightly
wobbly
power button. Overall the hardware physically
is absolutely top-notch and it's incredibly well manufactured.
They've really put their thought into making a great in the hand device.
Like I say, a couple of very small rough
edges as it were but not anything that I would consider to be a deal breaker.
And just the power button that's just a little bit wobbly. But again,
it's nothing that I would sort of say to myself right I'm sending this device back for a
replacement.
Do you know what I mean? Very very minor manufacturing things that I believe
will get fixed over time.