By now, there’s a good chance that you’re painfully aware that the Nexus 5 is on the way. The specs, design, color options, and even a good chunk of carriers it will be available on have already been leaked out and we’re still waiting on the official announcement. You also likely know that like the Nexus 4, the Nexus 5 will share a majority of its hardware with LG’s latest flagship handset, the G2. The LG G2 is a sleek, sexy, and powerful device and we’re going to give you some of the top reasons to grab it over the Nexus 5.
Of course, it wouldn’t be a proper head to head battle if we didn’t mention why you should grab the Nexus 5 over the LG G2, so we’re going to do that too. Read on!
Top Reasons To Buy The G2 Over The Nexus 5
Larger Display
The LG G2 ships with a beautiful 5.2 inch 1080p HD IPS+ display, where the Nexus 5 will be rocking a 5 inch display. The difference between the two screen sizes may seem a bit negligible, but why not get a little extra screen if you can? While the Nexus 5’s smaller display will offer up a higher pixel density, the G2’s 5.2 inch display is stunning to watch movies on and we have our doubts that you’d be complaining about pixel density with it.
Camera Experience
We already know that the Nexus 5 will ship with an 8 megapixel camera instead of the G2’s 13 megapixel camera, but we’re not going to take points off for that. The photo quality has more to do with the sensor than the megapixel count. With that out of the way, the G2’s camera software offers a TON of options that make the experience very easy to use, but you can also dig deeper if you want to tweak settings. The camera experience on the Nexus 5 will definitely be able to get you where you need to go, but we don’t see Google offering up the large assortment of features you’ll find on the G2 out of the box.
Software
I’m not talking homescreen user interface when I say software. I’m talking genuinely unique features that ship with the LG G2 that you just won’t find on the Nexus 5. The camera experience above also falls into this. While the experience on the G2 isn’t stock Android, there are many tweaks and features that we likely won’t see inside the core OS for a long time. Take your pick.
Many people want a Nexus phone because it’s a Nexus phone and that it will get updates faster than any other Android handset, but there are still many Android handsets out there that do certain things better than stock Android does.
This reminds me of the Google Play Edition HTC One and Galaxy S 4. Many have wanted to have the stock Android experience on these devices (myself included), and after reviewing the HTC One GPE, I was a bit disappointed. Having one of the best handsets running stock Android was great until I wanted to make a Zoe, or wanted to use the IR Blaster to change the channel using the great app HTC made for it. You think you’ll get eye-scrolling on the Galaxy S 4 Google Play Edition? Exactly. The Google Play editions of the HTC One and Galaxy S 4 have completely unused or underutilized hardware inside of them. It would be easier to just throw on a custom home replacement application to get the look and feel of the stock Android homescreen and keep all of the features from the handset.
All that said, the Nexus 5 isn’t a Google Play Edition handset. It’s a Nexus. But if the terribly intriguing rumor that Android 4.4 Kit Kat will introduce a “Google Experience” launcher comes to fruition, will it matter what phone you’re using?
IR Blaster
As you might have noticed, there’s absolutely no mention of the Nexus 5 having an IR blaster. While not the most sought after feature in a smartphone, the LG G2, HTC One, and Samsung Galaxy S 4 all ship with IR blasters, allowing you to control your television and cable box. The G2 goes a bit further, allowing you to control just about any appliance that uses an IR remote. All of the three aforementioned devices ship with their own custom applications to make the experience even better.
Top Reasons To Buy The Nexus 5 Over The LG G2
Updates Updates Updates
This probably the best reason to grab a Nexus device over any other Android phone on the market. The Nexus 5 will ship with Android 4.4 KitKat out of the box, and the Nexus 4 and Nexus 7 will be tapped to receive the update just days after the announcement (hopefully). It’ll take some time before any other handset gets the official Android 4.4 KitKat update and that alone may be enough to stick with Nexus devices.
Software
While other Android handsets may indeed have features that stock Android lacks, Nexus devices will be first to take advantage of the new features found on the latest OS update. This much we know, but if you want to do a little tweaking to your Nexus device, you can expect to see a wealth of options from the custom ROM community. A majority of smartphone owners won’t apply custom ROMs to their phones, but if you’re geek enough to want a Nexus, we’d imagine the chances of installing a custom ROM are greater. This isn’t to say that the G2 doesn’t have custom ROMs available. Quite the opposite, but with the Nexus 5, you’ll eventually find many more options available to you.
Another thing you won’t find on a Nexus device? Bloatware. While it’s true that you can disable a majority of these applications in the settings so that they won’t appear in your application drawer on a non-Nexus handset, it’s something you won’t have to go through with the Nexus 5.
Wireless Charging
This one is simple and to the point. The Nexus 5 will ship with wireless charging support out of the box like the Nexus 4, where wireless charging is an exclusive feature to the Verizon Wireless LG G2, which is a bit lame if you ask us. Wireless charging is still a novelty feature but it’s an option you want to have and you definitely won’t be running into carrier exclusive features with a Nexus device.
Pricing
When comparing the prices of the LG G2 and Nexus 5, it may be a game over for the G2. Off contract, the LG G2 runs from $549.00 to $600 across the four major US carriers, where the Nexus 5 is expected to debut at $349 with no carrier agreement. This mean you can essentially purchase two Nexus 5 handsets by spending $100 more than one off-contract G2.
The one catch? We’re expecting the $349 Nexus 5 to have only 16GB internal storage, where all US versions of the LG G2 ship with 32GB. Just something to think about.
Overall, both the LG G2 and Nexus 5 have a lot going for them. All you really need to know is that LG has made two of the best smartphones this year and you’ll likely enjoy the experience on either device. It all comes down to personal preference.
So what do you think? If you’re already sold on the Nexus 5, what would it take for you to consider the LG G2 as your next smartphone?