The Nexus 5 has finally arrived and it has already got plenty of smartphones to compete with. One of the major rival for Nexus 5 is none other than the iPhone 5S. In 2012, both the phones had arrived in the fourth quarter of the year but went to be the best smartphones of the year. Again, both iPhone 5S and Nexus 5 have arrived in the fourth quarter and come plenty of new features that will make the best smartphones of 2013. Google's Nexus 5 is the perfect blend of functionality and affordability but can it take on the powerful and fast iPhone 5S?
Display and Dimensions
The Nexus 5 comes with a 5inch display screen that offers a display resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels with a pixel density of 445ppi. The handset is quite thin as its thickness is only 0.34 inches. The phone weighs only 130g. On the other side, Apple has continued to offer the same sized display that came with the older iPhone 5. It has got a 5inch display screen that offers a display resolution of 1136 x 640 pixels. It brings to you amazing clarity through the Retina Display technology. In comparison with Nexus 5, the pixel density of iPhone 5S is lower with 326ppi. However, compared to the Nexus 5, the iPhone 5S is thinner as it only 7.6mm thick and even weighs less with a weight of 112g.
Form
iPhone 5s - 123.8 x 58.6 x 7.6mm, 112g
Google Nexus 5 - 137.9 x 69.2 x 8.6mm, 130g
Neither Google nor Apple has gone for anything wildly different from their current ranges, with the iPhone 5S looking almost exactly like its predecessor, with the slight exception of it now being available in gold, as well as the standard Apple black and white. The device remains minimal and has the usual thin side-to-side bevel, with the larger bevel above and below the screen. As with previous models, the device is made of glass and metal, giving it a heavy, premium feel, if a little slippery in the hand.
Google’s Nexus 5 is possibly even more minimal than the iPhone, with no buttons on the fascia of the device and a minimal side bevel. The device is made of edge-to-edge toughened glass, giving it a high-quality feel and the updated Gorilla Glass 3 is especially thin, making the device tough without being bulky. Buttons are hewn from a ceramic material, which is a vast improvement on plastic from the previous Nexus smartphone, and they lend a real feeling of quality to the device.
Hardware
The Nexus 5 is powered with a Snapdragon 800 chipset with Krait CPU cores that delivers a clocking speed of 2.3GHz. It has got 2GB RAM board. The phone is available in two storage variants, namely 16GB and 32GB. It comes with 2300mAh capacity battery. As mentioned before, there is 64bit A7 processor that offers a clocking speed of 1.3GHz. It is coupled with PowerVR G6430 graphics and M7 coprocessor. It comes with 1GB RAM. The handset is available in storage variants of 16GB, 32GB and 64GB. It has got a battery of 1570mAh capacity.
Software
A much more important question than which hardware to go for is the ecosystem to pick – Android or iOS. Both phones run the very latest version of their respective systems – iOS 7 and Android 4.4 KitKat.
These days, both are very fast and look good – before iOS 7 the Apple mobile OS was starting to look a little musty. The main benefit of iOS is that it offers the best apps and games selection. You just can’t beat the App Store.
With Android, you get much more control. You can change keyboards, tweak the look of the system a whole lot more and can generally connect to other devices much more easily – whether a TV or just your computer.We could go on, but the debate around iOS vs Android is long enough, complicated enough and emotive enough to fill several volumes.
Camera
Both these phones have 8-megapixel cameras, a megapixel count that sounds a little low when the Samsung Galaxy S4 has a 13-megapixel camera and the Xperia Z1 a 20.7-megapixel camera. However, each has a few minor tricks up its sleeve.
The iPhone 5S has a slightly larger-than-average sensor. It is 1/3 of an inch rather than 1/3.2 inches – the standard size, and that of the Nexus 5. Larger sensors result in less noisy pictures, given the same level of processing.
The Nexus 5 also has a slower lens than the iPhone 5S – f/2.4 to the iPhone’s f/2.2. A faster lens again results in less noisy pictures, and better low-light performance.
However, the Nexus 5 has one thing the iPhone 5S does not – optical image stabilisation. This buffers the lens to compensate for any movement made while you’re taking photos, and will reduce the number of blurry photos you take.
Connectivity
The Nexus 5 and the iPhone 5S both come with support for 4G LTE connectivity. The Nexus 5 will be available through AT&T, T-Mobile and Sprint but there is no info on whether the Nexus 5 will be made available by Verizon. The iPhone 5S is being offered by all the leading carriers in US.
When it comes to Wi-Fi, the iPhone 5S only offers 802.11n speeds whereas the Nexus 5 offers much faster internet connectivity through 802.11ac. Both the handsets come with Bluetooth 4.0 and GPS. Google Nexus 5 comes with NFC connectivity but Apple is yet to offer this feature on its iPhone.
When we compare the hardware specs of both the smartphones, the Nexus 5 seems to be a superior. However, it all boils down to how the hardware interacts with the operating system on the handset.
Battery Life
Battery life is one of those things that no one is ever happy with. With that said, you might be pleased to know that the battery life on both the Nexus 5 and the iPhone 5s are pretty decent. According to Apple, you’ll be able to get 10 hours worth of LTE surfing time, while Google says that the Nexus 5 will last seven hours on LTE. Of course, your mileage will vary, and each user will have their own experiences as far battery life goes, but it’s usually a safe bet to knock a couple hours off of what companies give you as far as battery life numbers.
Price
Nexus 5’s 16 and 32 GB variants are priced at Rs.28,999 and Rs. 32,999. On the other hand 5s 16GB, 32 and 64 GB variants are priced at Rs.53,500, Rs 62,500 and 71,500.
