[Q] Is your Nexus 5 still fresh?

By fresh, I mean would you still buy it today or would you look for something more current?

My Verizon contract is up in about a month and I'm hankering to replace my Droid RAZR MAXX ASP. It no longer feels fresh. It's running an older Jelly Bean (4.1.2) and is quite the dog. Web pages load so slowly that the screen frequently turns off before the page displays. Moto/Verizon have decided not to upgrade it further though I suspect it might benefit from performance improvements in more recent versions. :-/

My usage is low, consisting of a less than 200MB data, about 100 minutes of voice and a handful of texts typical per month. (Data will go up the month we're on vacation when I'm away from normal WiFi hot spots.) Verizon has nothing for me (New contract would involve more money for less service. However the service levels are moot if I'm not even coming close to my limits.)

For reasons of performance and availability of upgrades I want to go with a Google Experience phone. Because of my usage patterns, I'm leaning toward a month by month provider such as Ting. (They resell Sprint voice/data and voice roams to Verizon at no additional charge.) The choice today is the Nexus 5. It' been out since November of last year and the next (and perhaps last) Nexus seems likely to be released November of this year. The Nexus 5 seems like it has decent specs with 2GB RAM and a quad core processor. (But I thought the same of the Droid RAZR with 1GB RAM and dual core processor.) I'm curious what folks who own and use the Nexus 5 think about its future longevity.

Another option I have is to buy a used phone to bridge the time between Verizon cutoff and availability of the Nexus 6. I could also sell the Nexus 5 when the Nexus 6 becomes available, I suppose.

jt3 said:

The Nexus 5 is still a perfect good phone. The GPE Galaxy S5 might arguably be "fresher," but for the money, the Nexus 5 is hard to beat.

Of course, you could stick with Verizon on month-to-month until the Nexus 6 (or whatever they call it) comes out, but if you're looking to jump today, the Nexus 5 is still a great device.

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Thanks for the tip on the GPe S5. It seems to be rumored but not yet announced. The GPe S4 is $650 =8-O I'm not convinced it is that much better than the Nexus 5. Ting does list the regular S5 for $597 but that includes Samsung's bloatware (some of which I'm sure I'd find useful) and updates at their discretion.

I might ask Verizon one more time about month by month options at contract expiration. I could also use my Droid X on BYO for the time being. Maybe I could find a Verizon MVNO who could use my RAZR MAXX.

9878 said:

I would go with LG G3

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That looks like a great phone, but it's not available to me. Sprint does not allow Ting to use new phones so it might be available about a year following release. Second, I really wanted to try a Google Experience phone this time (vs. one with carrier additions and lock in.) There is the possibility that this will be the basis for the next Nexus and if so, I might regret not having waited.

I've had my Nexus 5 for about a week now, so the question is moot. I suppose I could sell it and get the next Nexus when it comes out but I'm sure the N5 will drop in value at that point.

At the moment I'm half way between phones. My Droid RAZR MAXX is days away from being off contract. Battery life is still good but it is still dog slow. The N5 is amazingly fast, highlighting the difference. And I should get the next version of Kit Kat any minute now.