Photo taken with the Nexus 5

I received my Nexus 5 today, only six days from when it was announced. The specs are pretty impressive:

• Snapdragon 800 - MSM8974 (Quad-core Krait @ 2.26GHz)
• 2GB RAM and 32GB storage
• 8MP Rear Camera / 1.3MP Front Camera
• 5” IPS Display at 1080x1920 (445ppi)

Compare that to my measly Lumia 710:

• MSM 8255 (Single-core Scorpion @ 1.4 GHz)
• 512MB RAM and 8GB storage
• 5MP Rear Camera / No front camera
• 3.7” TFT Display at 480x800 (252ppi)

The hardware differences haven’t made that much of an impression on me yet (give it some time) but Android is just foreign to me. This is actually my first Android phone; both my smartphones before this were Windows Phone 7.

A few things that stood out for me:

• The notifications pull-down is awesome and totally necessary
• No built-in support for Facebook + Message; had to download app (easy enough)
• The camera doesn’t suck! ** The camera on the 710 is so bad, it puts out grainy pictures in perfectly lit areas ** Auto-focus on the Nexus 5 wasn’t very impressive (apparently Google knows and is working on a fix)
• The 5” display is awesome but it feels a bit big in my hand ** Also, the Lumia 710’s silicone-like back is a lot less slippery than the Nexus 5
• Android seems very app-centric (especially google apps), while Windows felt People-centric ** On Windows Phone, once you find the contact, you can look through all their info after a few screen swipes (Facebook & Twitter posts, Photos, etc) ** Adding to groups and putting those groups on the home screen is also dead simple on WP ** Haven’t found an equivalent mechanism in Android yet (it’s probably possible, just not as easy)

It’s going to take me a few days to really decide how much I like it. I might have to download a few apps and configure a few settings to match my usage patterns.

So far, the Nexus 5 doesn’t feel amazingly better, just different.