Sign in with
Sign up | Sign in
Google Nexus 5 Review: A Fast, Affordable Phone With LTE For All
By ,
1. Redefining The Android Experience With Google's Nexus 5

Last year was an important one for Android. We saw the platform shift from around 50 percent market share to over 80. Meanwhile, the leading Android-based devices enjoyed big improvements to performance and functionality. Google's Nexus 5 seems to be the very embodiment of Android's progress.

Indeed, this is a very progressive device. Priced at just $350 off-contract for the 16 GB model, the Nexus 5 (made by LG) really does seem unbeatable. A lot of that is attributable to the phone's formidable specs, including a Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 at 2.3 GHz with Adreno 330 graphics (450 MHz) and 2 GB of LPDDR3-1600. As far as performance goes, that's a very modern platform on which to build a phone, and we've already seen it used in much more expensive devices like Samsung's Galaxy Note 3 and LG's G2 (on which the Nexus 5 is mostly based). Oh, and take note that both of those phones sell for approximately $650 off-contract.

The Nexus 5 differs from its more premium brethren in two key areas: it lacks SD card support and it comes equipped with a smaller battery. Google's offering has a 2200 mAh power source, while the G2 and Galaxy Note 3 have larger 3000 mAh batteries. The other two handsets also support SD cards. However, the lack of expandable local storage is a constant across the Nexus devices; Google tends to favor cost savings over expandability, and likely prefers its customers to use the company's cloud-based services to alleviate the need for local data. 

What we have, then, is a Nexus device that should equal its premium competition in terms of performance at almost half of the cost. We're putting our Nexus 5 through its paces to see if that turns out to be true. But first, let's absorb a little history.

The Predecessor: Google Nexus 4

Google's previous flagship smartphone, the Nexus 4, represented Android's shift in dominance. It was less of a mid-range device like previous Nexus phones, and instead offered almost bleeding-edge capabilities. It also showed the direction Google wanted to see Android developers going, using a quad-core SoC from Qualcomm to facilitate great performance in the heavily hardware-accelerated Android 4.2 Jelly Bean.

Oh, that's right. Jelly Bean was a big draw in and of itself. Android 4.2 crystallized many of the promises Google made since the launch of Ice Cream Sandwich, particularly on the performance and smoothness fronts. Core to this was Project Butter, which addressed the fluidity of on-screen animations and improved the responsiveness of touch input. Suddenly, Android-based devices were offering a user experience that felt a lot more like the polished iOS.

Although it was based on LG's Optimus G, the Nexus 4 lacked one significant feature compared to the LG-branded handset: full-band LTE support. Sure, LTE could be enabled with some finagling for some customers, but it was eventually patched out by Google (likely to appease carriers that wanted to reserve LTE for premium devices), making it pretty clear that LTE was never meant to be used on the handset in the first place. It was one major compromise Google had to make in order to keep the Nexus 4 affordable. After all, LTE broadcast licenses aren't cheap.

Buyer's were left to consider leading-edge hardware and software in an off-contract handset at a fair price, but no LTE...

Vigorous debate sprung up about the merits of LTE, and many customers showed favor to the Nexus 4's incredible value and other leading edge features. The sold-out Nexus 4 may have even put a dent in LTE adoption over the shorter term. Indeed, in 2013, LTE meant choosing between an expensive off-contract phone or a cheaper on-contract device. But the Nexus 5 changes that situation, and we cannot overstate the significance of this moving forward.

LTE

The Nexus 5 includes LTE support for everyone, and it's sold in two variations to offer LTE in every market supporting the standard. This is likely made possible by Android's substantial market lead. You see, there's less of a risk for Google in paying the LTE license fees upfront because the company will reap the rewards in Play store commerce.

Offering LTE in such a premium device at such an affordable price means that the Nexus 5 will raise expectations of what is and isn’t acceptable in a sub-$400 off-contract handset. And that's a big deal. In the same way the iPhone changed the nature of touch interfaces from curiosity to necessity, the Nexus 5's presence means that future customers won't have to debate price versus performance when it comes to LTE. They will just expect it, and be disappointed when it's not included.

But there's a lot more to the Nexus 5 than just LTE for everyone...

Snapdragon 800

Beyond its cellular connectivity, the Nexus 5 is meaningful for sporting the fastest Android-compatible SoC in 2013, Qualcomm's Snapdragon 800. At almost 2.3 GHz, its Krait 400 cores represent a significant speed-up compared to the APQ8064's 1.5 GHz Krait 200 architecture.

The fact that Google's sub-$400 Nexus 5 has this SoC comes as somewhat of a surprise considering that quite a few premium Snapdragon 600-based phones were released only a few months prior. When the Nexus 5 launched in late October, it became one of the first widely available Snapdragon 800-based devices in the U.S. market. Putting such a premium SoC in this phone means no performance compromises were made. Apparently, Google wants its customers to experience the very best that Android has to offer on the company’s own branded line of devices.

On paper, the Snapdragon 800 SoC offers a lot potential performance. Some of this is related to hardware accelerators, but the Adreno 330 graphics core is largely responsible for its alacrity in games. Nvidia's Tegra K1 has us talking about a future with console-quality games on smartphones, but at least today, titles written for Android run very smoothly at maxed out quality settings on the Adreno engine. Recent releases like Asphalt 8: Airborne, Riptide GP 2, and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas run exceedingly well at maxed out settings, while slightly older games like Real Racing 3, Shadowgun, and Riptide GP appear smoother than ever. I was frankly quite surprised at the improvement, having previously come from a Xiaomi MI-2 with its Snapdragon S4 Pro/Adreno 320 SoC.

Android 4.4 KitKat: Project Svelte

Speaking of performance, the other really significant feather in the Nexus 5’s cap has to be Android 4.4 KitKat’s Project Svelte.

What Project Butter did for UI performance in Android 4.2, Project Svelte does for memory efficiency in KitKat; it essentially halves the memory footprint compared to previous versions of Android. In day-to-day use, that manifests as smoother app switching and more apps open at the same time with less impact on performance than before.

2. Product 360: Look And Feel

Body And Soul

The Nexus 5 is an attractive handset in either black or white. Its slim and sleek design is reminiscent of a sports car or speedboat: fast lines and smooth curves. It drops the the glassy feel and bulk of its predecessor, the Nexus 4, and instead adopts something more akin to a luxury gloss and suede aesthetic. It really does seem to be hinting towards a modern premium vehicle: glossy window with a nice soft touch.

While its nearest cousin is the LG G2, Google's Nexus 5 is quite a different device, stylistically speaking. For one, it's a little over one-fifth of an inch smaller. And where the G2 has straighter lines, the Nexus 5 has curves.

Viewed side-by-side, the Nexus 5 is definitely shorter by a small amount, but it also appears thinner. There are a few factors governing that. Externally, the Nexus 5 has a slightly smaller screen and longer, more arched head and chin pieces. The Nexus 5 also carries a substantially smaller battery (2300 mAh versus the LG G2's 3000 mAh power source). Hence, it's both thinner and lighter.

We love the Nexus 5's balance. There's a definite sense of purpose to its weight in-hand. While the soft-touch back feels grippy, it is a bit of dirt magnet, especially around that lovely Nexus etched text. This can become mildly unsightly and grubby in the white model, so a case is recommended.

Staying at the back of the phone, the camera does protrude enough to leave the handset slightly off-center when lying face-up on a flat surface. Sure, it’s a minor complaint, but it'll probably annoy the perfectionist in you to some degree. Again, we recommend a case to deal with this issue as well. That's going to make the Nexus 5 larger, sacrificing some of its speedline design, but this is true of all phones, and the protection is well worth it.  

Pushing Buttons

A volume rocker is located on the left side of the phone, with the power button and micro-SIM card slot on the right, almost perfectly equidistant of one another.

This makes the phone easy to palm in either hand. Holding onto it with your left, the thumb controls volume, while power is manipulated by the forefinger. In the right hand, fore and middle fingers manage volume, and the thumb handles power. It’s a nice design that works well no matter which hand is favored.  

Early reports suggested that some devices had buttons that wobbled under normal use. While this issue manifested for some early adopters (to the point that a redesigned Nexus 5 has already been spotted in the wild), our device held up to some rather strenuous usage.

Future's So Bright

The 4.95” 1080p IPS+ LCD display is fantastic in almost any lighting condition, and the Gorilla Glass 3 pane shines up easily with an anti-scratch cloth. With the slider at 75 percent, it's bright enough to view outdoors in daylight. Even at its lowest setting, the screen is bright enough to read at night. At that minimal output, monochrome content looks better than colors due to some loss in color variance.

Happy Talky

If there's any one aspect of the design that disappointed us, it was the solitary speaker located at the bottom of the phone. It's not unclear or overly quiet; it’s just a little tepid and squeaky. This is absolutely fine for talk radio or classical music, but not so great for listening to modern tunes.

The earpiece is fantastic, as is the mic array. In fact, we’re not afraid to say that they’re both nearly faultless, and a pleasure to use for both general phone communication and VoIP apps like Skype. Kudos to LG and Google for getting this right when so many other “premium” devices don't.

Overall, the Nexus 5 provides a pleasurable audio experience that is only slightly marred by a single lackluster speaker.

What’s In The Box?

Spartan is the word that comes to mind when looking at what’s included. A microUSB cable and five-volt, two-amp LG-branded wall adapter come bundled. There’s not much else, aside from a simple user guide and some folded cardboard. The box itself is small and themed to suit the stock Android 4.4 KitKat wallpaper. This is where costs were cut, and frankly, we’re totally fine with that. Headphones might’ve been a nice addition, but really, they are readily available at reasonable prices elsewhere.

Accessories

Google only offers three accessories for the Nexus 5: two cases and the company’s own branded Qi wireless charger.

The $30 rubber bumper case is pretty simple and comes in four colors: black, gray, red, and yellow.

The other choice is a more traditional QuickCover case at $50. It’s also made by LG, and is only available in black or white.

As with the Nexus 4 and 7, the Nexus 5 supports the same Qi-style wireless charger. Just rest the phone on the charger pad and power is delivered via the magic of inductive power transfer. The wireless charger is a nice option as Qi-style chargers go, but it is currently only available in the U.S.

So, we know how it looks and feels, but how does the Nexus 5’s software experience differ from other KitKat devices?

3. GEL: A Better Experience

Google Now + Launcher = GEL

The Nexus 5 really improves the user experience (UX), and that is largely due to the new and vastly improved Google Experience Launcher, or GEL for short. GEL revamps the launcher in three fundamental ways, and each improves integration.

First and foremost is the fact that GEL directly incorporates Google Now. GEL marries Google Now with the Launcher as one cohesive, integrated experience. Previously, the Android Launcher accessed Google Now via the Navigation Bar, by holding the Home button until a ring appeared and swiping up to hit the Google Now shortcut, or by using the ever-present Google Search Widget from any of the Home Screens.

The former was an action that, frankly, always smacked of being incomplete. Why only one button on the ring? Why so many steps for a function that Google seemingly wanted people to use regularly? This was later rectified by both modders and ROM cookers alike through a variety of different solutions. Clearly, others felt like it needed work too.

The latter method is another two-step process, requiring a press on the Home Button to navigate to the Home Screen and then activate the Google Search Widget. The widget has been a permanent fixture on stock Android since version 1.5 Cupcake, but it’s something that popular custom launchers like Nova will allow to be removed.

While these two contexts still apply in GEL, the recommended way to access Google Now is literally with “just a jump to the left” as the song goes.

GEL no longer has panes left of the home pane, and you cannot add any because Google Now is a permanent fixture in the left-most pane. At first, this seems counter-intuitive if you expect to be able to swipe left and add a widget or icon. Some folks will continue to swipe left looking for extra panes available in previous versions of the Android Launcher. But eventually, even the most stubborn traditionalists will see the benefit of having Google Now so readily available from the home pane. All relevant info is just one swipe away. And for those who don't like it, there’s always the option of a custom launcher like Nova. With that said, we hazard a guess that GEL will earn more acceptance over time, and may eventually devalue the desire for custom launchers.

There's a lot to be said for the stock experience when using GEL. It just feels more integrated. It's more true, if you will.

Phone Dialer Integration

Continuing the theme of integration, GEL also affects the Phone Dialer. In most Android devices, the Dialer literally only handles numbers and Google-fed contacts, but practically ignores the Internet context of devices. With GEL, the Dialer now feels tightly integrated with Google Now, Google Plus, and other apps that integrate with the rest of the system (Skype, for example).

Whereas All Contacts is the default view in most Android devices, the main view in GEL is contextual, based on previous communications as well as your Google Now interactions. You can also search directly from within the Dialer by pressing the talk button and using phrases like “I want pizza” or “Where's the nearest showing of...” and so on.

The resulting information is an address and potentially a phone number, which should be clickable and pushed through the Dialer. This saves steps that you would ordinarily have to go through in terms of copy/pasting numbers.

“OK, Google”

One brand new feature for GEL and specifically the Nexus 5 (at least for now) is the ability to use the phone via “Always Listening” voice commands. This is somewhat similar to Motorola's Moto X, except the feature only works from the Home Pane when the phone is fully powered on. Simple commands like “Make an appointment for...” or “call...” and “Remind me that...is coming in at...” are preceded by a wake-up command, in this case, “OK Google”.

It's quite robust, but only seems to work with the language set to American English. I like this feature though, and would like to see it work in the same or similar fashion as Motorola's Moto X, where it’s listening even when the screen is off. As it stands now, OK Google is little more than a way to impress your friends.

Transparent Navigation Bar & Status Bar, And Full-Screen Apps

As with the last few Nexus phones, the Nexus 5 has no physical buttons. Therefore, the navigation bar takes up screen space. In GEL, the on-screen buttons are simply white outlines and the Navigation Bar itself is now transparent. This is also the case for the Status Bar. Interestingly, both can change their background transparency and color to compensate for background apps and images.

For apps that need both the visual and physical screen space, such as Google Books, both the Navigation and Status bars can fade away entirely. The bars are easily brought back to the foreground with a swipe down from the top of the screen. This makes for a more immersive and pleasurable experience when consuming media.

4. GEL Gets Personal

Personalization

And that segues nicely into where we see the greatest shift towards better integration as a result of GEL: personalization. Wallpapers, Widgets, and Google Now settings are all accessed and managed from within the same screen. Simply tap and press on any empty space on the Launcher and you'll wind up in a zoomed-out view of desktop panes with three icons along the bottom.

From left to right they are: Wallpapers, Widgets, and [Google Now] Settings. Lovely. No longer are we subject to Wallpapers being in a floating menu all its own, or Widgets crammed into the App Drawer (newly renamed the “All Apps Screen”).

Wallpapers

In GEL, when clicking on Wallpapers, we get a selection strip to choose from at the bottom of the screen. The strip starts off with an image selector for adding your own images (right before the default wallpapers provided by Google), followed by the Live Wallpapers at the far right end. Whenever a wallpaper is selected from the strip, it’s previewed in the space above the selection strip, so we can get a decent idea what the wallpaper will look like on the home screen.

Once you’re happy with a wallpaper, it's just a matter of pressing the Set Wallpaper control along the top of the screen and GEL takes you right back to the desktop. Unfortunately, the previews only work for images. Live Wallpapers still seem to load as separate apps (which is, of course, what they are) and so they can't be previewed in the same fashion. This comes off as a loose end in a release that otherwise brings more cohesion to the UX overall. Perhaps this is just an oversight that will be remedied in a future Android point update.

Widgets

Widget selection works as expected, based on previous Android versions. The main difference here is that Widgets are accessed independently of the App Drawer, which makes for a more logical overall experience.

In previous versions of Android, it was quite the hassle to access widgets: open the App Drawer, then select the Widgets tab (or navigate all the way to the right). Now, Widgets are in their own screen within the larger personalization settings screen, right were a new user would expect them to be, as opposed to inside the master app list.

Settings

[Google Now] Settings is the last of the three available settings icons. While it's nice to have those options so readily available, it also seems a little bit like filler. We doubt many people will bother changing these settings often enough that it needs to be available from the Personalization screen. We imagine most will treat them as “set and forget.”

The settings screen allows you to turn off Google Now, enable and manage Phone Search integration, change your Voice recognition settings (including Language, which is necessary for OK Google voice command recognition, currently only US English is supported for OK Google), blocking of offensive words, and some miscellaneous settings covering things like Bluetooth headset support for Voice Recognition and whether to store voice dictionaries locally.

5. Benchmark Variance: Not Every SoC Is Created Equal

We could go into a lengthy diatribe about how not every piece of technology is created equally, or how we shouldn't complain considering the price of the phone and the features being offered. We could talk about the way in which market demands mean that things don't get to be “fully baked” or completely realized until after the fact when the dust settles.

We could. But we won't.

Frankly, our particular Nexus 5 has a slower CPU core than most, and there's no getting around it. The benchmarks will reflect this, as anything solely determined by CPU, or mixed CPU/GPU performance suffers, while workloads that exclusively tax the GPU line up with other findings.

It was disappointing to see our unit consistently rate equal to or worse than either the HTC One or Samsung Galaxy S4 in AnTuTu (both Snapdragon 600-based devices). In fact, our Nexus 5 using the stock ROM and kernel never even reached the performance levels of any of its Snapdragon 800-equipped cousins, including the LG G2 with which it shares so much in common.

The performance deficit also shows up in games where physics and decent AI are being used at the same time as intensive graphics. Asphalt 8, for example, is laggy in certain intense sections, and the slow-down is particularly noticeable during collisions. This lag doesn't affect the gameplay, and it probably became more bothersome once we knew what was causing it.

So, we investigated solutions, first by using brute force. We flashed ROMs and kernels and saw sometimes marginal increases, sometimes dramatic performance jumps. Eventually, we had this Nexus 5 beating out the consistently highly-rated (and proven to cheat) Samsung Galaxy Note 3. Unfortunately, this was always at the cost to battery life and heat dissipation.

Sometime during this process we remembered a lesson long forgotten: KISS, or Keep It Simple, Stupid. So we did just that. We flashed back to stock, rooted the device, and then checked for PVS rating, which defines how slow or fast the CPU core is in terms of binning (something that had been revealed during the first few months of the Nexus 4). The SoC scored a whopping 1. That means that the internal Qualcomm QA test that is built right into the chipset rates our Nexus 5 as the slowest on a scale of 1 (slowest) to 5 (fastest).

We sighed, and accepted our fate. After all, this could very well be your experience if you purchase a Nexus 5. At the very least it answered some of our questions.

If you're already the owner of Nexus 5 and are interested to see how your handset's SoC stacks up, do the following on a rooted device:

  1. Grab a terminal emulator from Google Play
  2. Type “su” in terminal emulator
  3. OK the Super User request
  4. Type “dmesg | grep PVS”

Here's hoping you have better luck than us with your Nexus 5.

6. Test Setup And Methodology

Test System Specs

We decided that in order to give a fair and reasonable picture of performance variance, we should test with a variety of different devices. From Qualcomm, we included last year’s Nexus 4 with the Snapdragon S4 Pro along with the currently mid-range Snapdragon 600 in the HTC One. The LG G2 was also included as it carries the same high-end Snapdragon 800 chipsets as the Nexus 5. The recently reviewed EVGA Tegra Note 7 brings Nvidia’s Tegra 4 SoC to the table, while Apple's iPhone 5s shows off the latest iPhone’s A7 SoC.

Nexus 4 was added to show that Android 4.4 optimizations can't and won't make that older device run at the same level as these newer chipsets. It's a sanity check, if you will. The reason LG's G2 was added was to illustrate the performance deficiencies of our retail-purchased Nexus 5. As we will demonstrate, when the benchmarks aren't being hampered by the slow CPU core of this specific Nexus, its Adreno 330 can compete and in some cases even beat the best of performers.

Both Nexus devices are running Android 4.4.2 KitKat, while the Tegra Note, LG G2, and HTC are all running Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean.

Device
SoC
CPU
GPU
RAM
Display
Apple iPhone 5s
Apple A7
ARM v8 (dual-core) @ 1.3 GHzPowerVR G6430 (four-cluster) @ 300 MHz1 GB DDR34" IPS @ 1136x640
EVGA Tegra Note 7
Nvidia Tegra 4T114 ARM Cortex-A15 (quad-core) @ 1.7GHzGeForce ULP1 GB DDR37" IPS @ 1280x800
LG G2
Qualcomm Snapdragon 800Krait 400 (quad-core) @ 2.3 GHzAdreno 330 (quad-core) @ 450 MHz2 GB DDR3L5.2" IPS @ 1920x1080
Google Nexus 5
Qualcomm Snapdragon 800Krait 400 (quad-core) @ 2.3 GHzAdreno 330 (quad-core) @ 450 MHz2 GB DDR3L4.95" IPS+ @ 1920x1080
HTC One
Qualcomm Snapdragon 600Krait 300 (quad-core) @ 1.7 GHzAdreno 320 (quad-core) @ 400 MHz2 GB DDR34.7" SuperLCD3 @ 1920x1080
Google Nexus 4
Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 ProKrait 200 (quad-core) @ 1.5 GHzAdreno 320 (quad-core) @ 400 MHz2 GB DDR34.7" IPS+ @ 1280x768

Benchmark Suite

Our gadget test suite consists of five major sections: CPU, GPU, Web, Display, And Battery.

CPU Benchmarks
AnTuTu v4
CF-Bench Pro
Primate Labs Geekbench 3
Principled Technologies MobileXPRT 2013
GPU Benchmarks
Futuremark 3DMark
Rightware Basemark GUI Free
Rightware Basemark X
Epic Citadel
Kishonti GFXBench v2.7.2
Silicon Studios Mobile GPUMark v2.0
Web Benchmarks
Rightware Browermark v2.0
JSBench
Futuremark Peacekeeper v2.0
Impact HTML5 Benchmark
Principled Technologies WebXPRT 2013
Display Measurements
Brightness (Minimum and Maximum)
Calibrated Black Level
Calibrated Contrast Ratio
Calibrated Gamma
Calibrated Color Temperature
Color Gamut Volume (sRGB and AdobeRGB)
Battery Tests
Gaming (Mobile GPUMark - Loop)

Let's begin with CPU testing and see how our Nexus 5 (with its slow-rated CPU core) stacks up in computational performance.

7. Results: CPU Benchmarks

AnTuTu

AnTuTu is a benchmark designed to test the performance capabilities of four major aspects of mobile devices: Graphics (encompassing 2D, UI, and basic 3D), CPU (fixed, floating-point, and threaded), RAM (read and write), and I/O (read and write).

We can already see limits of this particular Nexus 5 in terms of CPU speed. It should be ahead of the HTC One, and at least somewhat level with its nearest equivalent, the LG G2 (another Snapdragon 800-equipped handset). However, it tests notably slower in pretty much every metric, and that's due to the nature of how AnTuTu's whole testing process is indelibly tied to the CPU core performance. Once that suffers, everything else does too. What's interesting is that this Nexus 5's Adreno 330 is measurably faster than the HTC One's, but not nearly as fast as it should be. Nvidia's previous-gen Tegra easily leads over the LG G2 and HTC One, but remember that it's also in a tablet form factor more forgiving of thermals.

CF-Bench Pro

Chainfire’s (developer of SuperSU, among other recognized Android tools) CF-Bench Pro is designed to characterize the performance of multi-core systems by simulating loads in Java, both in terms of natively-compiled and managed code. It tends to be a decent indicator of the tweaks vendors make to Android to try and eke out extra performance by optimizing for specific hardware features.

At first glance, this looks the same sort of result as the previous benchmark, with this Nexus 5 sitting below the HTC One, and it predominantly is, except that our Nexus 5 turns in an almost abysmal Java score that only marginally faster than the Nexus 4's. Yet, the this unit also manages to beat the HTC One in terms of Native code execution, and also comes within 20% of the LG G2.

Geekbench

Primate Labs’ Geekbench is somewhat of an industry standard due to its comprehensive database and wide cross-platform compatibility, supporting x86 Windows, PPC and x86 OS X, Linux, iOS, and Android. While Geekbench is more of CPU performance benchmark, it also covers some general memory performance. Geekbench’s approach is based on real-world applications and simulations of common tasks like file/data manipulation, compression, encryption, and image processing.

Seemingly out of nowhere, the Nexus 5 gives us its peak performance. We had to wonder if the phone was experiencing some sort of thermal issue in the previous benchmarks, so we tested with an IR thermometer and found nothing out of the ordinary; the Nexus 5 hit the same nominal temperature of 41-43 degrees Celsius observed in our other tests. The readings were taken across the back, where this unit consistently gets the hottest.

And here we go again. It's been proven elsewhere that Qualcomm's quad-core Snapdragon 800 beats Apple's dual-core A7 in threaded floating-point tests, and that outcome is reflected here. Except, what happened to LG's G2?

Let's have a look at a similar test and see if we can't find a parallel.

MobileXPRT

Principled Technologies’ MobileXPRT is not dissimilar to certain aspects of Geekbench in that it simulates real world applications and use cases. Where it differs is twofold: first, it’s Android-only, and second, it simulates some more modern aspects that Geekbench doesn’t, namely Biometrics (Facial Recognition), UX (List Scroll, Grid Scroll, Gallery Scroll, Browser Scroll, Zoom, and Pinch to Zoom), and Photo Management (Apply Photo Effects, Create Photo Collages, Create Slideshow, and Organize Photos).

This turns out pretty similarly. Sure, some of the ordering changes slightly, and iPhone 5s isn't tested, but our supposedly-slower Nexus 5 takes the lead again. These tests were run sequentially right after the previous set, so whatever caused this Nexus to operate at full capacity was also in effect here.

8. Results: GPU Benchmarks

3DMark

Futuremark is a name synonymous with benchmarking GPUs, and 3DMark for mobile has quickly become a very popular tool for doing just that. 3DMark offers three main graphical benchmarks which simulate the demands of OpenGL ES 2.0 games using shaders, particles, and physics via the company’s in-house engine. The first test, Ice Storm, runs at a fixed 1280x720 resolution, while the second, Ice Storm Extreme, increases the resolution to 1920x1080. Finally, Ice Storm Unlimited renders the scene off-screen at 720p.

While it was just released in late May of this year, and is updated quite regularly, 3DMark is already being outpaced by more recent chipsets, with Nvidia’s Tegra 4 and Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 800/Adreno 330 both easily maxing out the Extreme (1080p) benchmark.

One more thing: although we have scores for HTC's One in this test, Futuremark delisted the device for deliberate application detection. In short, this is one test where cheating is confirmed. We are deliberately running an extensive suite of tests to help mitigate some of the complex mechanisms by which device vendors are optimizing, but in this case, the infraction is called out beforehand. The other devices check out in Futuremark's results list.

Now this is more like it. It's a test that Adreno 330 and the GeForce ULP inside the Tegra 4 consistently max out. Apple's PowerVR-based graphics engine should be doing better, but surprisingly, it seems to be held back by the A7's CPU core, and only specifically in this test.

With that said, why is the LG G2 not maxing out this test as well? It uses the same Snapdragon 800 as the Nexus 5, so what's holding it back? Android 4.2.2? A slower GPU core than it should have? Perhaps we need to think of hitting this test's ceiling relatively. If maxed out means anything over 11,000 points, the LG G2 and Apple iPhone 5s really only fall slightly below that line.

Again, our Nexus 5 takes the lead, beating the Tegra 4 on everything but Physics. The G2 is up with the big dogs as well.

Interestingly, Apple's iPhone 5s is slow here too. Futuremark went to some lengths to explain why, but essentially the A7 CPU Core in the iPhone 5s doesn’t seem to handle the Bullet Physics Library and its use of  “complex data structures” well.

Basemark GUI

Rightware is another benchmarking stalwart with a well known toolset, and Basemark GUI is the company’s Android UI performance test. It’s designed to simulate the demands of intensive UI use in 3D (think applications like Google Maps). As with 3DMark, though, it is starting to be overshadowed by more modern SoCs and implementations of Android (since version 4.1, more and more of Android’s UI is rendered in hardware).

At native resolution, each device seems to perform as it should, though it does seem a little strange that the Nexus 4 can't seem to beat the others given its lower screen size, with far fewer pixels for its GPU to push.

Okay, now we're seeing a shake-up. Nvidia's Tegra Note flattens the competition (as it should given its form factor) and our Nexus 5 finishes in second place, only marginally ahead of the LG G2. HTC One should not be that slow in terms of hardware, so clearly it's just the native Android 4.4 (and in particular Project Svelte) of the Nexus 4 which is making the HTC look poor.

Basemark X

Basemark X is a multi-platform benchmark based on a real game engine, Unity 4.0. It uses many of Unity’s modern features via the OpenGL ES 2.0 render path, just as a modern game would. Features like high poly count models, shaders with normal maps, complex LoD algorithms, extensive per-pixel lighting (including directional and point light), along with a comprehensive set of post process, particle systems, and physics effects test how a modern game might look and run. It’s an aggressive test that still hasn’t been maxed out by the latest mobile SoCs.

Yes folks, this is a tough test indeed. The A7's Rogue-based GPU comfortably leads, but it’s still below 30 FPS, even with its substantially lower target resolution.

The Nexus 4's advantage comes from its smaller screen size in this native resolution benchmark. LG's G2 should be right up there with it, so this is no doubt due to the difference between the Nexus 5's Android 4.4.2 working in its favor.

Now we're getting somewhere. When the playing field (resolution) is level, Apple's Rogue-based GPU can't just walk away with the crown. Our Nexus 5 puts in a strong showing with the equivalent LG G2 not that far behind.

It's disappointing that the two 720p-level devices perform so poorly, but HTC's One gets the worst of it. We’re pretty sure that the Sense UI isn’t doing it any favors here.

9. Results: GPU Benchmarks, Continued

Epic Citadel

Epic’s Unreal Engine is put to decent use in this benchmark, which simulates a reasonably simple first-person game environment. It’s a little old as benchmarks go, easily maxed out in Performance and High Quality modes by even older SoCs like Tegra 3. Yet, it does use a real game engine and can be a strain in Ultra High Quality mode.

EVGA's Tegra Note steals the show and our Nexus 5 places a pretty close second, only dipping at Ultra High quality. LG's G2 is probably missing out on the Project Svelte optimizations, while the Nexus 4 is definitely beginning to show its age. The HTC One seems to do fine, but then shows a very poor result when resources are stretched thin. Perhaps Sense is hogging the limelight?

GFXBench

Kishonti GFXBench 2.7 (previously known as GLBenchmark) is a cross-platform OpenGL GPU benchmark. It not only simulates scenes that a game might render, but also runs a series of additional tests that cover considerations like fill-rate, render accuracy, and so on. This is a demanding metric, especially the T-Rex scene because it uses many modern effects including motion blur, parallax mapping, and complex particle systems. We will only be concentrating on four main benchmarks in the suite: T-Rex HD Offscreen, Egypt HD Offscreen, T-Rex HD Onscreen, and Egypt HD Onscreen.

Performance is scaling almost perfectly linearly from Apple's Rogue-equipped A7 to Google's Adreno 320-equipped Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro. Our Nexus 5 and the LG G2 are practically scoring the same. EVGA's Tegra Note seems to struggle more than it should, judging from previous tests.

This is pretty much the same story, though we know the Tegra Note and Nexus 4 get the benefit of lower resolution displays. Meanwhile, the HTC One suffers the most for its high pixel count.

Mobile GPUMark

Silicon Studios’ Mobile GPUMark is a benchmark that employs the company’s own in-house engine called YEBIS 2. It focuses on post-processing effects like color grading, bloom, and lenticular lighting to create film-like scenes.

It's telling that the two modern devices with high-end GPUs and low-resolution displays fare the best. Google's Nexus 5 puts in a good performance considering its Full HD resolution, and the LG G2 isn't far behind. The Nexus 4 does pretty well in context to its resolution and slower CPU core clock rate. But again, the poor HTC One suffers extensively for its Full HD display.

Each colored line corresponds to a different resolution, so the playing field evens out. Google's Nexus 5 takes the lead, at least in this particular game engine. Tegra Note does best at the lowest resolution because it's hardly being strained to render a postage stamp, but the device suffers when resources run, thin having only 1GB of RAM to work with. The Nexus 4 surprises with a comfortable lead in two sub-720p resolutions, and yet the device struggles at its near-native resolution. We seriously don't understand what happened to the LG G2 here. It should have fared a lot better, and the same is true for HTC One, but we think that Sense is once again hogging resources on the latter.

10. Results: Web Browsing Benchmarks

The tests on the this page are JavaScript- and HTML5-heavy selections from our Web Browser Grand Prix series. Such tests are extra meaningful on mobile platforms, where much of the in-app content is served via the platform's browser on the back-end. They should not only offer a view of the Web browsing performance of each device, but since these tasks are traditionally so CPU-dependent, browser benchmarks (especially JavaScript-heavy tests) are a great way to measure SoC performance on devices using the same browser and platform.

All web tests are conducted using the optimal Web browser for each platform. Due to platform restrictions, Safari is the one and only choice for iOS-based devices, while Internet Explorer is the only game in town on the Windows RT platform. Although Chrome is the obvious choice for Android, in order to keep our browser versions even across devices for the foreseeable future, we're employing Opera 16, which is also based on Chromium.

JavaScript

First up, we have Rightware’s BrowserMark, a synthetic browsing benchmark that tests several aspects of performance including: load time, CSS, DOM, HTML5 Canvas, JavaScript, and WebGL.

Google's Nexus 5 fares well. Sure, it's in third place, but behind one tablet and Apple's A7-equipped iPhone 5s. The Nexus even manages to beat out LG's G2, and we have to assume that Android 4.4.2 is helping the Google-branded device.

Next up, we have JSBench, the newest JS performance test on the block, and the spiritual successor to WebKit’s ubiquitous SunSpider test that just won’t seem to go away. Unlike most off-the-shelf Web browser benchmarks, JSBench could almost be considered real-world. This test utilizes snippets of JavaScript that actually appear on several of today's most-visited Web sites.

Javascript performance continues to be a strength for the Nexus 5. Yes, it's beaten by a large margin by EVGA's Tegra Note tablet and really flattened by the iPhone 5S (no shock there), but out of the Android smartphones, it's the fastest by over a minute and a half! That's impressive, particularly as the device has issues with other benchmarking tools.

Brought to us by Futuremark (developers of well known 3DMark and PCMark), Peacekeeper is a synthetic benchmarking tool for testing Javascript performance.

And we see a repeat of the previous benchmark, with the Nexus 5 being not only the best value, but also the best-performing Android handset of the lot.

HTML5

Now we're moving away from JavaScript and into HTML5. First up is the Impact HTML5 Benchmark. Essentially a timedemo of the Impact HTML5 game engine in action, the relative performance here should be pretty indicative of other HTML5-based platformers.

This reads much like the Javascript benchmarking tools. Nexus 5, again, is the best performer in the handset group.

Finally, we have Principled Technologies' WebXPRT, an HTML5-based Web app benchmark. This test simulates common productivity tasks that are traditionally handled by locally-installed applications, including: photo editing, financial charting, and offline note-taking.

And the pattern repeats. Even though this test works in a very different manner as Impact, the results are almost exactly the same. This Nexus 5 proves to be quite capable.

11. Results: Display Measurements

Brightness

The first screen measurements we take are brightness because it’s important to know what your screen is capable of. The rest of our display measurements, along with our battery testing, is done with the screen set to a standardized light output of 200 nits in order to make device comparisons possible. We record the luminance output of each device using a full white pattern, with the device’s brightness slider set to both minimum and maximum values.

Nexus 5 achieves middle-of-the-road brightness at around 400 nits. While it is marginally brighter than the LG G2 and only 5% brighter than the HTC One, it nonetheless seems to sit at the darker end of the scale. Still, it's perfectly readable in daylight.

As an anecdotal aside, the Nexus 5 is often reported as being too bright, and modders have even released kernel add-ons that knock down the brightness of the backlight by about 20%. We tend to concur with the anecdotal feel rather than our measurement, but that may have more to do with the glossy glass and warmth of the panel’s colors.

Because the Nexus 5 has quite a low minimum reading, it should actually provide quite a lot of contrast, though not as much as devices like Tegra Note whose display reaches 420 nits easily.

Black Level

To be sure of the contrast ratio, we had to calibrate the brightness slider to within one percent of our target 200 nits (which by the by was not much fun with sausage fingers; I’ll by opting for a stylus next time). We also checked the calibrated black level, or the luminance output of a full black pattern when full white has been standardized.

Contrast Ratio

Now onto contrast ratio, or white pattern versus black.

As predicted, Nexus 5 has pretty reasonable contrast. It is on the lower end of the scale, yet it seems fine and nothing is a struggle to read or take in proper detail, even held at arm's length.

Color Temperature

Color temperature is a measurement in Kelvin which is used to describe how warm or cool a given display is. These are colors derived from the CCT or correlated color temperature. All of the displays tested are in the cool range (basically any temperature above 4000 Kelvin), but the following chart should give some indication of how they tend toward one end or another of the CCT scale.

The iPhone 5s, LG G2, and particularly the Nexus 4 all sit at the upper end of the cool spectrum, with their whites tending toward a blue hue. Colors get warmer from the HTC One down to the Google Nexus 5, to the point where the Nexus 5 starts to remind us more lot a traditional PC monitor. This makes flesh tones pop, though blue hues and metals can look a little drab.

Gamma

A gamma curve of 2.2 (no more, no less) is what we optimally want to see.

Nexus 5 has a calibrated gamma of 2.06, which is actually quite decent. It's somewhat lower than Tegra Note's 2.095, while the iPhone 5s is closer to the ideal with 2.19.

Color Gamut

Our volume measurements are compared against both the sRGB and AdobeRGB color gamuts. A reading of 100% on sRGB and 72% on AdobeRGB is the optimal reading for viewing the vast majority of consumer digital content.

The Nexus 5 really impresses here with over 104% of the sRGB color gamut and an incredible 73.7% of AdobeRGB. These figures place it solidly ahead of most devices tested, including the far more expensive iPhone 5s and HTC One. Indeed, a fantastic showing for this phone, and one that proves a cheaper device can deliver a truly premium experience.

12. Results: Battery Testing

Our battery life metric currently consists of one test: video playback. We chose this because it's one of the most commonly cited statistics by device manufacturers, and is relatively easy to check. The video drain is simply the Sintel 3D animated trailer looped endlessly in MXPlayer with the phone's display calibrated to a brightness of 200 nits.

Pretty darned impressive. This Nexus 5 gets a little over eight hours of continuous playback, and that last 15% held on for over one-eighth of that time. It was nail-biting. Compared to its nearest relative, the LG G2, which has a larger battery (3000 mAh versus the Nexus 5's 2300 mAh), that's a solid result, and it beats out the other devices in our comparison. This is even more impressive when you consider that EVGA's Tegra Note tablet has extended power-saving in the form of Prism, a lower-resolution display, and a much much larger 4100 mAh battery. In terms of daily usage, we've managed to go a full day of normal use (sans gaming) without a recharge. Once you add gaming to that equation the battery drains a lot faster.

13. Does The Nexus 5 Raise Expectations?

The Nexus 5 represents an interesting turn of events for Google and Android. At $350 off-contract, it provides the same performance as premium devices selling for twice its price. This means that the Nexus 5 offers a whole lot of power in reach of the average consumer. Indeed, the Nexus 5 beats two of the most expensive phones on the market (the iPhone 5s and LG G2) in a few key performance benchmarks, and largely matches them in most every other comparison. Now, all of that would still be impressive if the Nexus 5 was a $600+ phone. But at $350 off-contract, it's downright amazing.

The lack of expandable storage and a slightly smaller, non-removable battery might bother some. But we think that most folks will agree that the massive cost savings far outweighing these shortcomings.

Even with the known issue of this specific retail Nexus 5, where it fails to turn heads in certain benchmarking tools, it is nonetheless a remarkable device. We pushed about everything we've ever bought on the Play store through it, and for the most part it’s been a breeze, despite the lower-binned version of the SoC.

The Nexus 5 marks a watershed moment for Google. The company is no longer content with releasing mid-range handsets, or high-end devices with glaring compromises. It’s no longer about pushing up the middle. The Nexus 5 is a high-end device with a mid-range price tag. Having that amount of gaming and media consumption power in your pocket is sometimes quite thrilling. In fact, we found ourselves often remarking at little things, like the fluidity of video conferences, or YouTube content, or at how smoothly games run, or simply how subtle and charming the notification light is.

And that's just the vanilla experience.

The Nexus 5 is backed by an active and open community of enthusiasts who are scrambling over one another to release mods, ROMs, tools, games, themes, and tutorials to help you on your way to a more personalized experience. Within a week of the device being released, there were already custom ROMs available. As of this article, we're running our Nexus 5 unlocked with MultiROM, and are happily bouncing between Cataclysm and nightly builds of Omni. Despite our tinkering, the phone rarely (if ever) crashes or randomly reboots. Sure, living on the bleeding edge isn't always 100% stable, but in the case of this device and its eager, continually-expanding community, you won't be alone if you choose to reside there.

And if you don't want to test out ROMs or mods and endlessly geek out, standard Android 4.4.x KitKat is also pretty amazing in its own right. In many ways it feels like the promises of Ice Cream Sandwich and Honeycomb are finally coming to light, and the Nexus 5 is the first device that’s really central to that experience. So, even if you stay locked, unrooted, and unmodded, your experience will be something unique to the Nexus 5, even if that's just a comforting blinking blue notification light seemingly appearing out of nowhere on the display.

To that end, the Google Nexus 5 blows right past the value-oriented focus of our Smart Buy award to take Tom’s Hardware Elite recognition. This award is typically handed to the best-of-the-best. But in this case, you get the exclusivity of high-end hardware with the value of a Smart Buy winner. Talk about a home run for Google.

Follow Dorian and Tom’s Hardware on Google+