Nexus 5 Depth Evaluation-marks the standard specification for a generation of Android phones

Like Apple's new iPhone every year, it's a rule that Google launches new Nexus devices every year. As last year, Google launched Nexus 5 o'clock and did not hold a grand conference, but quietly let the goods landing play store--and last year, Nexus 4 of the press conference was canceled because of the weather, but Nexus 5 is not the plan to hold a conference. After many rumors, the "biological son", which marks the standard specification of a generation of Android phones, is finally officially launched ...

Want to know whether it is a good mobile phone, Android 4.4 Kat is also a kind of system, depends on the evaluation.

As the previous year Nexus 4 reference to the design of Optimus G, this year also by the LG Foundry Nexus 5, in the design also has many of the same year flagship G2 shadow. Although not as G2, Nexus 5 also comes with a very narrow screen border, and the front and bottom borders are equally narrow and wide. Fortunately, the Nexus 5 of the machine back is not like the G2, in the four edges using more than two different radian, but the United do the appropriate bending treatment, it seems obvious pleasing to the eye much. In hand, Nexus 5 is a little narrower than the average 5-inch phone, to operate a single hand is possible, but we have a white version of the machine back using a pearl white, very slippery hand, fortunately, the black machine edge using a bright surface treatment, otherwise we even hold the phone will be afraid of slippery hands.

The Nexus on the back and LG's markings are bright and transparent, and as we said in Podcast, these transparent parts are directly bonded rather than integrally formed, and the hard digging or pressing will shift or deform. The camera in the upper left corner uses a large lens circle, and the frame is slightly raised, so the chance of scraping the lens glass is not high, and the bottom is LED light. The key of the border is quite normal design, but the position of the power key is relatively high, it may be difficult for some users to adapt. The configuration of the bottom position is basically consistent with the G2, with the microphone and speakers on both sides of the MICRO-USB. The SIM card slot is located under the power button, but it is necessary to use a relatively thin needle to open, the general needle (for example, the IPhone) is not plugged in AH.

Main interface

The selling point for each generation of Nexus devices is the latest and absolutely no added Android system, Nexus 5 of course, no exception. Since the Android 4.4 code is updated to Kat, it's not a small upgrade, it's a visible update. First look at the main interface, the first is to see the desktop space and resident shortcut columns between the separator line is missing, the page is marked with a translucent white dot; The footsteps of the great era used a flat design, and the program row table can not find the page, the entire screen is used to display the program icon, and the icon feels more than before.

There is no page sign in the program row table, so how do I add gadgets? The answer is to go back to Android 2.3 and hold the main screen in a blank position. At this point we can see the overview interface, below the background picture, gadgets and system set three options, according to the gadget will see the same gadget interface, to join the use of back-hold and drag the method. It is worth mentioning that dragging an icon or gadget to the left or right is the only way to open a new page, and the system will automatically delete the page if it doesn't have any objects. In our tests, the phone can continue after about 30 pages, so we're pretty sure the new Android main interface has no limit.

Another feature of Android 4.4 is the integration of Google's own services. In the main interface we can see that the system defaults to the leftmost page as the Google now page, but not the page, the preset home page (that is, in the main interface and then press the Home key) is the leftmost. If the user is in mainland China and cannot use Google Now, you can also press the table of contents key at the bottom of the Google Now page and turn Google Now off in the settings. Another key feature of the main interface is that you can simply say "ok google" to start a voice search. But this feature only supports English search for the time being, so saying "good Google" is not going to work.

Set

We don't have a clear view of the Android 4.4 update in the setup. Because there is no big change in the interface, it still remains in the mode of Android 4.0, but there are still a few things that can be found on the project: wireless settings, click More we'll find a default SMS app The options, this is due to the beginning of Android 4.4, the factory comprehensive SMS integration into their own hangouts, so want to use their own download back to the third party SMS app, it has to be downloaded to the side of the choice; the same can be seen in the device settings, now the third party's main interface apps More and more popular, so this side of the factory also joined the built-in home page selection function. And the same part of the bottom of the touch payment function, we do not support the list.

Personal settings, we have in the earlier outflow, see location settings have been updated, the different positioning methods to integrate into an option, but also allow users to see the recent use of location information apps. It is also worth mentioning that we mentioned in the Nexus 4 review that the Quick setting in the Notification column did not include the location service, which was finally added to Nexus 5. Speaking of positioning, of course, mention Google's own Android Device Manager, we can also use this service to find a mobile phone, and on the internet for its speed is also very fast, but to be accurate, of course, is to set the positioning service to high accuracy mode (that is, open the GPS and Wi-Fi and so on.

At the bottom of the set list, we can see Android 4.4 's new cloud printing capabilities. In this way, users can see what peripherals can be used to print the cloud, not set up here to open the Google Cloud Print settings page. The hands of the HP printer as an example, to set is also very simple, as long as the relevant web page to enter the printer's eprint e-mail address on it, built Quick Office has also supported the printing function, as long as the selection of a good printer can be, You will also be able to see the print progress in the set list of printers when you are finished.

In addition, some experimental features are added to Nexus 5, as if you were able to find the operation phase (Runtime) option on the phone when you open the Developer option, you can choose between the existing Dalvik and the beta ART (Android Runtime). The difference is that the old Dalvik use Just-in-time compilation, in apps to run the program code to compile, the advantage is high support, while ART is apps installation of the compile (that is, ahead-of-time), the advantage is apps The reaction speed will be faster when executed, and it will be more power-saving because it does not have to be compiled in real time. But relatively speaking, it will be less supportive in the pilot phase-at least for the duration of our testing, WHATSAPP will not be able to use it.

Apps

Many of the apps on Android 4.4 have varying degrees of update, first look at some commonly used, as soon as you open the phone will find that the default does not show the Dial-up interface, but a collection of an incoming call record and 11 common contacts (the first three have a big head), to see all the contact people can pull to the bottom, or through the lower right corner of the directory key, the same function column also has the middle to open the Dial-up keyboard, as well as the left to open the call record key (finally on the dial keyboard to join the smart dial!) ）。 In addition, the phone has some new settings, including Google Caller ID and nearby locations: The former will be displayed in the user's address book, but also open the set of users or business name (and vice versa), while the latter allows users to use the telephone search, in addition to contact people also search for different locations and businesses, For example, you can find the phone number of a nearby branch directly by looking for Starbucks.

The interface of the download administrator has also been updated, in the background to white, we can also choose a lattice or inventory view, easy to preview (although we have less experience to open this app); In the multimedia aspect, the function of image editing is greatly enhanced in the image Library of Android 4.4. Although the surface of the past or special effects, photo frames, cutting and brightness four, but we can after one adjustment, will like the effect/frame combination storage into a set of settings, can be directly applied to the frame, the user can also choose to set their favorite style, adjustable items include border width, thickness, Color and transparency. The most powerful or in the brightness adjustment, in addition to the same as in the past, you can adjust the curve, but also added such as light and dark position adjustment, saturation, sharpness, soft coke and even multiple fade/fade can be modified, completely do not need to rely on third-party apps.

Since it is produced by the LG Foundry, we have a certain expectation on the screen of Nexus 5, after all, it is also a 4.95-inch 1080p IPS panel. In practice we are satisfied with its performance, although the color is not very prominent, but it looks very comfortable, and the hand of another mobile phone HTC one Max compared to the color of the Nexus 5 does not appear to be biased to other aspects, but it seems to be one max a bit blue-green feeling. But to say the flaw is not no, is its screen edge inward leak problem, basically as long as the point of view offset can be seen. Test video

We all know that cameras are not always strong in the Nexus series, this came to Nexus 5, to a certain extent, is still applicable: The camera app interface has not changed significantly, or provide panoramic and Photo Sphere choice, fine-tuning aspects of this machine on the new hdr+ model, claiming to be able to take a more real HDR photos. In the video, before we knew it, the facial distortion and AR background had been removed, but relatively speaking, Nexus 5 of the time lapse function is enhanced, can be set to the fastest every 0.5 seconds to the slowest 24 hours to take a picture (until 24 hours should have no power off the machine? , and the hardware can use optical stabilization, and we can say the effect is obvious.

In the photo shoot, we have to say, really is off the glasses-except the white balance a little time will not be accurate, in general, the color of its photos, sharpness and so on are very good, even in the night shoot, thanks to optical image-stabilization to reduce ISO, so that Nexus 5 We are satisfied with the noise control. Video shooting is the same, through the image-stabilization function we can easily get excellent translation effect. What makes us dissatisfied is that its panoramic function sets the slowest shutter limit, if you want to shoot at night, you will not be able to do it, and Photo Sphere function at night, or the first photo is too dark, or only the first photo is normal, also let it temporarily become a day-limited function-will say is temporary, because Google has noticed this problem and is already making updates to solve the problem.

Since the Nexus 5 itself has ART and Dalvik two modes, the performance needs to be explained separately. In fact, in terms of performance, the difference between the two modes is not big, appear to load or the situation of cotton is not much, really want to say, is probably the beginning of Dalvik will need a little time to load, and ART is not; the difference in power is a little bit bigger, with Dalvik words we're like usual, Using Facebook, watching 20 minutes of news, listening to music for half an hour, Line/whatsapp/micro-credit, using a Gmail account to sync, and so on, you'll have to recharge it in about 7 hours; In the same way, it can take about 9 hours. , the battery of Nexus 5 increased by about Add.

Running points, Nexus 5 of the results are relatively poor, in any test, its yield is by no means a normal fraction of what can be produced by a machine that uses Snapdragon 800; what's even more bizarre is that even if we use the more extreme method of running a cell phone in the fridge, To reduce the impact of the phone overheating, its performance is far less than other mobile phones of the same period. In this case, is probably the Nexus 5 will not be in the running time and other brands like the results of targeted acceleration?

As mentioned in the previous Podcast (either Nexus 7 or Nexus 5), the equipment of the Nexus system is actually not like to launch for the general user, because its system does not add any customization, even if buy back after the user still must download a bunch of apps before can normal use, And sometimes like other brands, to the different aspects of joining their own functions. Direct point, do not hold all the parents for the Enlightenment, in the use of Nexus 5 o'clock should feel very laborious it. In our opinion, in fact, every time a Nexus device is available, it represents a statement from Google, that the generation of Android flagship devices should be the specifications, about where should be left, in addition to the developers can have a standard environment to develop different apps, To achieve the widest possible support, it can be said that a standard exists. In general, the factor of excluding electricity, Nexus 5 is a good mobile phone (especially when using ART, which is close to nonexistent), has a good balance in every way, but not very obvious in terms of updates, and feels a bit like Android 2.2 to Android 2.3. In that case, maybe we can expect a big update next time?