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Leaked Manual Reveals Details On Google's Nexus 5
Features of Google's next Nexus phone have finally been outed, along with confirmation that the phone will be built by LG, as a result of a leaked service manual draft; here are some of the details as described at TechCrunch: "The new Nexus will likely be available in 16 or 32GB variants, and will feature an LTE radio and an 8-megapixel rear camera with optical image stabilization (there’s no mention of that crazy Nikon tech, though). NFC, wireless charging, and that lovely little notification light are back, too, but don’t expect a huge boost in longevity — it’s going to pack a sealed 2,300mAh battery, up slightly from the 2100mAh cell that powered last year’s Nexus 4. That spec sheet should sound familiar to people who took notice of what happened with the Nexus 4. Just as that device was built from the foundation laid by the LG Optimus G, the Nexus 5 (or whatever it’s going to be called) seems like a mildly revamped version of LG’s G2."
the Nexus 5 (or whatever it’s going to be called) seems like a mildly revamped version of LG’s G2.
No, it really doesn't. The two most-often mentioned features of the G2 are:
a) The gorgeous 5.2" screen; and
b) A 3000 mAh battery; and
c) The rear-panel placement of the only buttons (power/volume), as opposed to the traditional volume rocker on the side that most smartphones have.
This has none of those--it has a 4.95" screen and a 2300 mAh battery. And the buttons are laid out like a standard smartphone. Those things alone are significant alterations that make these phones different in the most visible and usable ways.
The G2 also has a 13 megapixel rear camera; this has an 8 mp camera.
The G2 also has a customized version of Android with knock-on and other features; the Nexus 5, presuming it follows the Nexus pattern, will run a standard Android OS and UI (and get faster OS updates).
Without digging into it for more than 30 seconds, I see a phone with a different screen, different camera, different battery, different physical button layout, and different UI, and with significantly different physical properties (e.g. wireless charging on the Nexus)--these might be distant cousins, but they are most decidedly not "mildly revamped" versions of the same thing.
rage, rage against the dying of the light
The most of Android users captures high-res photos and high-res videos, downloads movies etc. That things waste memory very easily.
Here is no 64 GB version, and N5 lacks MicroSD card slot, like the most of new phones.
The best camera is the one you have with you.
Good-bye
One of the radio chips in these phones does FM because it was a throwaway feature, "Hey, since we've done all this already we could build an FM radio, it'd add like 1% to the transistor budget" "Sure, we'll add it to the feature list". So CyanogenMod enables that, because why not. In some jurisdictions being able to receive FM radio is a legal problem (no, that doesn't make any sense, why would it need to?), so since FM radio is rarely a deal breaker for people buying phones the stock Android leaves it disabled.
This happened in the late MP3 days as well, cheap Far Eastern suppliers would build a generic chipset that played say six audio formats, supported five different common models of LCD panel, and so on, and they'd throw in FM radio because it was easy. But then brand name companies would ask for a firmware version that removed the FM radio and added their branding because in one country they ship to FM radios are a legal problem and they'd rather not have two variants of "their" MP3 player.
So you'd be able to buy like a Hitachi MP3 player for $20 that claimed to play MP3, WAV and WMA and nothing else, but if you flashed it with firmware from the supposedly unrelated $15 MP3 player from some Taiwanese novelty electronics firm you've never heard of you'd get all the same plus Ogg Vorbis, AU and AAC, an FM radio, a three level backlight instead of two levels, but now your volume buttons work upside down...
The Galaxy Nexus was pretty much in a league of it's own at the time. Seems like Samsung was really pushing for it.
The Nexus One was basically an HTC Desire.
The Nexus S was pretty much a Galaxy S.
The Nexus 4 is very close (internally) to the LG Optimus G.
This new Nexus 5 looks like will be based on an LG G2
Arguably, the photos most people take with a smartphone are actually better than they would take with a "real" camera. As sensor size increases, sensitivity to focus also increases. If you don't know how to properly use the autofocus of your "real" camera, you'll get a lot of out of focus images. On a camera phone, it's a lot easier and there isn't a whole lot of advantage for a point and shoot over a smartphone.
If you know what you are doing, the difference between a smartphone and a DSLR is night and day, but most people don't. Note, I say this as a professional photographer that shoots weddings with a Canon 5D Mark iii. I do it as a part time gig specifically because the impact on the market is quite real since the images are good enough for most people and even then, people flood in to the market thinking they can shoot weddings because they had some "good" facebook photos and bought an entry level DSLR with a kit lens.
The fact is, the main thing that differentiates professional photographers from the amateur has very little to do with the photography. Even if you know how to use the gear perfectly, doing a good, professional job is far more about making the client comfortable, having the experience to avoid being overly noticeable while capturing the key moments, having the ability to interact with people in such a way to get both good posed and candid shots and the ability to run a business and sell yourself. The actual ability to take photos is the easiest 10% of what it takes to do the job.
AJ Henderson