Google Nexus 5

That's like.. a big factor. Also the smoothness of iOS has gone down on the iPad3 since iOS7.

Indeed. Android has always lacked in the UI smoothness factor, but with KitKat, this is no longer an issue (at least with the Stock ROM). It also looks a lot neater.
 
I would estimate about R1k difference, given that shipping would have to be via the same method.

The Nexus 5 32Gb cost me R5,324.00 from Amazon (cost $489.99, as I wanted the white one). I expect shipping to cost another R700 or so, as I have bundled this with a wireless charger and case. Unfortunately, Google refused to accept my credit card, and a virtual credit card added a similar cost to the purchase in any event.

Did you still forward the device to courier or Postbox in the US or did Amazon send it to you directly?
 
I didn't when I received my Nexus 7 (it just arrived), but I have factored that cost in, just in case.

Hi
I have a few questions, if you dont mind.
1.How much did the Nexus 7 & cost you in total. I want to buy one for myself
2.Is it worth getting both the N5 and N7 in you opinion. There is an overlap in functionality which makes it hard for me to justify a N7 since i already own a N5
3. Are you shipping via Postbox or is Amazon shipping it directly to you.
Thanks
 
Cool. From my experience, 4.4 is outstanding and if you're used to the smoothness of the iOS UI, you will love it.

I've never had an issue with the smoothness of Android from 4.2 upwards. 4.3 is buttery smooth on both my Nexus 4 and 7, so I am actually excited to see how much, if any, smoother it now is with KitKat.

Perhaps this is due to them both being Nexus devices, because I can't really say the same about my experiences on Samsung devices.
 
I've never had an issue with the smoothness of Android from 4.2 upwards. 4.3 is buttery smooth on both my Nexus 4 and 7, so I am actually excited to see how much, if any, smoother it now is with KitKat.

Perhaps this is due to them both being Nexus devices, because I can't really say the same about my experiences on Samsung devices.

I would say the UI has been smooth enough, that's not the issue. It's the scrolling in things like webpages and ebooks and general reading in apps that lacks in smoothness. I've got one particular app that I use constantly (Isilo) and on iOS it's always been pretty smooth, like ever since the original iPhone - whereas even now on a friend's S4 it chugs.
 
Did you still forward the device to courier or Postbox in the US or did Amazon send it to you directly?

Yip, still being forwarded to Postbox Courier. Amazon were not able to ship it directly.

1.How much did the Nexus 7 & cost you in total. I want to buy one for myself

See the post that I made in the Nexus 7 thread. The WiFi only model is even cheaper, at the moment ($239).

2.Is it worth getting both the N5 and N7 in you opinion. There is an overlap in functionality which makes it hard for me to justify a N7 since i already own a N5

To be honest, I did consider this. There is a large overlap in function and the screen sizes (on paper) are closely matched.

For my usage, however, the N7 is perfectly complimentary to the N5- reading, video watching, game playing and general browsing are considerably better on the N7 than on my N4, simply because of the additional 2.3 inches of real estate. It really makes a great enough difference that the specs on paper cannot express.

It does also help that the N7 screen is absolutely gorgeous :)

3. Are you shipping via Postbox or is Amazon shipping it directly to you.

See my response at the beginning of the post.
 
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I would say the UI has been smooth enough, that's not the issue. It's the scrolling in things like webpages and ebooks and general reading in apps that lacks in smoothness. I've got one particular app that I use constantly (Isilo) and on iOS it's always been pretty smooth, like ever since the original iPhone - whereas even now on a friend's S4 it chugs.

Agreed. More the fault of the developers, especially when I look at the reviews of the iSilo app on Android. There aren't many apps that I have had issues with, though.
 
Yip, still being forwarded to Postbox Courier. Amazon were not able to ship it directly.



See the post that I made in the Nexus 7 thread. The WiFi only model is even cheaper, at the moment ($239).



To be honest, I did consider this. There is a large overlap in function and the screen sizes (on paper) are closely matched.

For my usage, however, the N7 is perfectly complimentary to the N5- reading, video watching, game playing and general browsing are considerably better on the N7 than on my N4, simply because of the additional 2.3 inches of real estate. It really makes a great enough difference that the specs on paper cannot express.

It does also help that the N7 screen is absolutely gorgeous :)



See my response at the beginning of the post.

Thanks a lot. I want to get the N7 for reading mainly academic papers when I am doing research. So i guess I will be placing a order soon.
 
Agreed. More the fault of the developers, especially when I look at the reviews of the iSilo app on Android. There aren't many apps that I have had issues with, though.

But... is it?

What scares me about getting an Android phone is that I'll read posts like yours, and I'll go onto review sites where phone after phone people say "ok, NOW stutter/lag is fixed". Even with the Nexus 5 I was reading some comparison between using ART and Dalvik, and the one benefit of ART that they were praising and that I could see in the video captures was that browsing in Chrome was clearly smoother. But wasn't it supposed to be fixed already just by KitKat and not need me to switch into some experimental VM? Are we at a consistent 30 or 60fps scrolling or not?

I think I worry because sometimes it seems that on the Android side people just physically cannot see the stutter... and I get a crazy look when I'm pointing out this lack of smoothness... or with previous phones as you scroll it doesn't properly "stick" to your finger, and it annoys me as I'm using it. Kind of feel like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5u4vSxqbLs

I currently have an iPhone 4S and am changing to a Nexus 5 in a few weeks (I don't want to upgrade to a new iPhone while it's still on the same screen resolution for web browsing), but I do worry that when I get it I'll see all of these flaws that Android enthusiasts happily ignore but really detract from the experience.
 
I currently have an iPhone 4S and am changing to a Nexus 5 in a few weeks (I don't want to upgrade to a new iPhone while it's still on the same screen resolution for web browsing), but I do worry that when I get it I'll see all of these flaws that Android enthusiasts happily ignore but really detract from the experience.

Also came from a iPhone 4s and I can honestly say the Nexus 5 is smoother in almost every way. Yet to get one of the dodgy apps you mentioned. The only issue I had was Radio that doesn't support ART yet.

It would probably be less of an upgrade coming from an iPhone 5 or 5s.
 
Just got the update now, officially OTA....
 

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The speaker is so much louder...its maxed out and a bit distorted sometimes you can hear that but wow what a change.....if you guys follow XDA on YouTube they have a video up on the camera and speaker test from 4.4 to 4.4.2
 
But... is it?

What scares me about getting an Android phone is that I'll read posts like yours, and I'll go onto review sites where phone after phone people say "ok, NOW stutter/lag is fixed". Even with the Nexus 5 I was reading some comparison between using ART and Dalvik, and the one benefit of ART that they were praising and that I could see in the video captures was that browsing in Chrome was clearly smoother. But wasn't it supposed to be fixed already just by KitKat and not need me to switch into some experimental VM? Are we at a consistent 30 or 60fps scrolling or not?

I think I worry because sometimes it seems that on the Android side people just physically cannot see the stutter... and I get a crazy look when I'm pointing out this lack of smoothness... or with previous phones as you scroll it doesn't properly "stick" to your finger, and it annoys me as I'm using it. Kind of feel like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5u4vSxqbLs

I currently have an iPhone 4S and am changing to a Nexus 5 in a few weeks (I don't want to upgrade to a new iPhone while it's still on the same screen resolution for web browsing), but I do worry that when I get it I'll see all of these flaws that Android enthusiasts happily ignore but really detract from the experience.

You're conflating the stuttering in apps with UI responsiveness. No amount of work that Google does can correct the way an app responds to input. They can merely ensure that the OS manages the resources allocated to it more efficiently.

As much as you worry about "lag" (something I have not seen in an Android device review for over a year now), do not forget that IOS 7 lags quite frequently. I have seen this across a number of iDevices as well (iPhone 5, iPad 2-4, iPad Mini).

I ran KitKat on my Nexus 4 not too long ago. It is buttery smooth, I can assure you, and I'm sure that most of the Nexus 5 owners can attest to that. Hell, Jelly Bean is that way on my devices as well. This will differ for the likes of Samsung and the other OEMs who add their skins atop the native Android experience. Don't let it bother you too much.
 
You're conflating the stuttering in apps with UI responsiveness. No amount of work that Google does can correct the way an app responds to input. They can merely ensure that the OS manages the resources allocated to it more efficiently.

The API and framework makes a massive difference. This is what made using an iPhone back in 2007 feel so much different from using a Windows Mobile or equivalent device. The iPhone hardware was nothing special, just that the software stack made it MUCH easier to write apps that have a responsive UI. The benefit of Dalvik to ANT is one of those "UI responsiveness" things that is due to an underlying platform change, in that you no longer need to stall the app at random moments to do JIT compilation. Same thing with when the GC runs vs Objective C's manual release/retain. I do appreciate the feedback based on hands on devices though. The last Android device I spent any decent amount of time with was the S2 and I did not like the responsiveness of that.

I did buy a Nokia 520 to try out Windows Phone and it feels very good in terms of responsiveness, and if Android these days is as smooth as that I'll be happy, just a pity I hate the whole "back back back" method of navigation, IE not working properly on some sites I frequently visit, and the music player as a whole.
 
The API and framework makes a massive difference. This is what made using an iPhone back in 2007 feel so much different from using a Windows Mobile or equivalent device. The iPhone hardware was nothing special, just that the software stack made it MUCH easier to write apps that have a responsive UI. The benefit of Dalvik to ANT is one of those "UI responsiveness" things that is due to an underlying platform change, in that you no longer need to stall the app at random moments to do JIT compilation. Same thing with when the GC runs vs Objective C's manual release/retain.

Not disagreeing with this, but perhaps I didn't get my point across correctly- nothing that Google can reverse engineer, will make up for poorly coded applications, unfortunately. They are making strides towards higher quality from the developers, though.

The last Android device I spent any decent amount of time with was the S2 and I did not like the responsiveness of that.

S2 is a bad example of the improvements that Android have made- it never received the project butter optimisations, and custom ROMs couldn't get it working either (lack of sources from Samsung). I would know, I owned one too.

The difference between the Nexus and Samsung devices is night and day. You will be fine :)
 
Received my Nexus 5 32GB White yesterday (via family in Oz). This is my first Android phone. My first impressions were:
  • This screen is awesome (compared to my Nokia 808 this isn't difficult)
  • It's so light (compared to my Nokia 808)
  • How the hell do I transfer my contacts? (eventually transferred vcf files via bluetooth because: lazy)
  • Need Apps Now! Proceeded to raid the Play Store

This N5 will become my primary mobile device due to it's power, availability of apps, and screen size. My opinion about Android is: I am glad I didn't bother with any Android device before Kitkat and I am very happy to have a pure Google experience.

I wish the Nexus devices would become officially available in SA.
 
[*]How the hell do I transfer my contacts? (eventually transferred vcf files via bluetooth because: lazy)
[/LIST]

Start syncing those contacts to Google NOW and you'll never have this problem again (well, as long as you keep using smartphones and Google stays around).
 
LG and Google tweak Nexus 5 production to fix speaker and loose buttons

Owners of brand new Nexus 5 handsets are starting to notice a few subtle differences compared to the version that sold at launch. The mono speaker grille holes are slightly larger, for a start, which could potentially offer a decibel or so of extra volume and prevent buyers from having to go all crazy with a hot needle. The volume and power buttons seem to have been made stiffer too, suggesting that complaints about excessive rattling noises reached receptive ears at LG and Google. None of this will help those of us who bought launch day models, of course, unless there's the option of seeking a replacement, but we reckon the Nexus 5 remains the best $350 option on the market even with all its original foibles.

http://www.engadget.com/2013/12/13/google-nexus-5-improved-speaker-and-buttons/

Interesting
 
Yeah - obviously my device isn't one of the new ones. But since I use a case the buttons don't bother me and I didn't really realize the sound is soft.
 
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