March 22, 2016, by Lawrie Swinfen-Styles
The perfect student Smartphone?
Brick after brick after brick. I loved the simplicity of it. The rest of my technological life is so complex- what with a laptop and a gaming PC and games consoles- why would I add to that with a smartphone? It was only after around the 15th missed e-mail that I decided I should probably catch up. And boy did I catch up.
Shiny Nexus 5
The Nexus 5 is not the cheapest piece on the market; around £150 – £200. If you’re looking for value for money, the very reasonable Motorola Moto G is the most competitive option. However, the Nexus 5’s performance more than makes up for the price tag.
The Nexus 5 is fast and reliable, with incredible connection and system speeds. The standard fix for tech is, of course, “try turning it off an on again,” and I’ve never had to attempt it for a bug or glitch, nor have I ever experienced serious lag; unlike most phones I’ve used, the Nexus keeps speed with me perfectly. It’s a good mobile-gamer phone with its 2.3Ghz Quad Core processor which excels at games such as Asphalt 8: Airborne. I also find the Nexus has high productivity for business and student applications; the Google Doc app is perfect for writing notes or even longer pieces. In fact the first draft of this blog was written on my Nexus 5. The keyboard is intuitive and the autocorrect system is far superior to Apple’s iPhone system.
80s brick phone
The battery life is a compromise, but apparently this is true of all phones that aren’t from the 1980’s. I tend to have to charge my phone every night, and I don’t even use it for gaming or other super high-usage capacities. Of course, for a smartphone, one charge per day is standard. Furthermore, below 15% battery, the phone moves into battery-saver mode- the background turns a funky orange and the animations and performance are kept to a minimum. I usually find this lasts long enough that I can find a charger.
It feels wonderful; a perfectly made and compact piece with a good weight. In my hand I can reach all the side buttons easily without having to readjust. The only issue I have is that for a £200 piece of tech, I get very worried about dropping it. I’d recommend to anyone buying the Nexus 5 that a case is pretty much mandatory; I use the very reasonable Ringke Fusion which you can buy here. I’d also strongly suggest a glass screen protector. I dropped my phone onto pavement a week ago and my screen protector worked perfectly, cracking in place of the phone. The PThink Tempered Glass Protector is a good choice.
The Nexus 5 is a fantastic choice for those who want a good smartphone with most of the capabilities of a tablet, but who don’t want to shell out for an £800 iPhone. Simple, beautiful and fast, the Nexus 5 is the perfect Student Smartphone.
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