Bear in mind when Google’s Nexus 5 turned the Android world on its head?

Today, Google instructions a excessive diploma of mindshare within the US cell {hardware} house. Its in-house Pixel phones aren’t large when it comes to unit gross sales or income technology, however the firm stays on the forefront by advantage of proudly owning the Android platform, and by providing Apple-esque vertical integration.

Previous to the discharge of the first Pixel phone in 2016, Google was nonetheless concerned within the cellphone {hardware} enterprise by means of its Nexus line, albeit in a much less hands-on method. Over the course of a number of years, the corporate teamed up with varied Android {hardware} makers to provide a complete of 8 distinct Nexus handsets.

Whereas the Nexus program gave delivery to a variety of glorious telephones, none fairly stand out to the identical diploma as 2013’s Nexus 5. Made in collaboration with LG, and loosely based mostly on the then-popular flagship LG G2, the Nexus 5 is a downright iconic piece of tech historical past.

The cellphone launched within the US for a value of $350 (about $477 adjusted for inflation) for the 16GB mannequin, or $400 (about $542 adjusted for inflation) for the 32GB variant. Not like its Android contemporaries, the cellphone wasn’t offered by means of carriers or main retail chains. Fairly, Google offered the cellphone by means of its personal on-line {hardware} storefront.

The Nexus 5’s comparatively inexpensive price ticket was a giant deal within the tech house on the time, because it undercut equally speced high-end Android telephones, together with the Samsung Galaxy S4 and the HTC One (M7).

Whereas initially concentrating on builders and tech lovers versus the broader shopper market, Google inadvertently beat OnePlus to the punch within the so-called flagship killer trend of the mid 2010s.

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The Nexus 5 was one thing of a ‘flagship killer’

The Nexus 5 turned heads with its inexpensive price ticket, its clear software program expertise, and its high-end specs

For $350 in 2013, the Nexus 5 was an especially interesting smartphone on the time. It provided a full HD show, a clear and bloat-free Android software program expertise, the promise of well timed updates, and the premium Snapdragon 800 chipset. It additionally rectified the most important fault of its predecessor — the Nexus 4 — by together with 4G LTE connectivity.

Many, together with myself, have been fast to grab up a Nexus 5 unit on the time — it provided a stable serving to of the flagship smartphone expertise, with out a flagship-worthy price ticket. Quickly after, the OnePlus One would launch, which might mark the true begin of the flagship killer period.

Wanting again on the Nexus 5 looking back, it is clear that a variety of corners have been reduce to realize an aggressive price ticket. The bodily unit does not maintain up too effectively: the soft-touch plastic is a fingerprint and mud magnet, and it lacks the supple grippability seen within the firm’s Nexus 7 tablet.

The show’s decision would possibly’ve been top-of-the-line by 2013 requirements, however the LCD itself is dim and washed out, all whereas coming with a hearty dose of sunshine bleed alongside the bezel edges. As for the one, 8-megapixel f/2.4 digicam sensor — the much less that is stated about it, the higher.

On the flip facet, there are many smaller particulars and inclusions that make the Nexus 5 a pleasure to come back again to all these years later. The ceramic energy button and quantity rocker combo are an surprising inclusion, including a contact of premium tactility to the combination.

The addition of built-in wi-fi Qi charging was forward-thinking by Google, and it got here with a singular shock: magnetic coil alignment when paired with official Nexus Qi charging equipment. You learn that proper — the Nexus 5 had MagSafe a full seven years earlier than the iPhone 12 launched.

Regardless of its unassuming design language, its questionable construct high quality, and its middling digicam and display {hardware}, the Nexus 5 stays one of the iconic smartphones of all time. The system offered a ton of {hardware} at a value that was exhausting to refuse, and it made one factor abundantly clear: Google should be taken severely within the Android cellphone house.

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