A week with the Nexus 5
or How to be a Disappointed Early Adopter
I’ll be honest. I’m neither an Apple or Google fan-boy. I see problems with both of them and if you don’t like being locked into an ecosystem you have a lot of hurdles to jump in using either mobile OS.
Apple has iMessages, Google has now answered by co-opting your SMS and turning it into “hangouts” (guys, I liked it better when it was just Google Talk).
Apple has contacts, Google has contacts, calendars and calendars.
Each one groping and scraping at your data trying to prevail as smartphone Kings and Queens, not because they are your friends, but because they want your money. Apple wants your money directly. Google wants your money over time, you’re more of an advertising asset to them, not unlike Fakebook[sic] or Twitter.
So, on to the device. It’s a great phone, a little big for me, but still smaller than many of the phones coming out lately.
The camera is “OK”, but it may get better with a software update. For now, only plan on taking pictures when it’s well lit. Not like the girl jumping up and down at the wedding getting great shots. I have so many Mr. BlurryCam shots of my daughters this week that it’s a little depressing.
KitKat is a massive step forward in ecosystem lock — something Apple has already done, and now Google is not really any better in this regard. You still control your data, but they control how you interact with others by default, and make it a royal pain in the ass when you try to step back from it.
Google Now is now a swipe from the left, which actually I find annoying, I liked being able to have other screens in that direction. (Yes, you can still swipe up from the bottom, but it slides in from the left)
For the sticker price, you can’t beat it. But if you look at the bigger price, it starts to get a little more concerning. Google is probably no more evil than the NSA, but I’d really prefer both stay the hell out of my data and content.
I’m left with a few options. One is going back to my iPhone 4s which I’ve prepped to ship. I consider this my “dumb phone” option as there aren’t really any dumb phones with good cameras out there, and I already own it so it “costs” nothing out of pocket. Another option is flashing a custom ROM, but that’s going to take longer than I care to wait to flesh out how well the camera works there, etc.
For now, I think I’m rolling back to my 4s. My ōlloclip still works, I’m used to the things that irritate the hell out of me with Apple, and I can still think that somehow Android is better, by not using it.
I laugh at myself for thinking this, but somehow I’m still waiting for a Firefox OS phone with a great camera.
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