That thing was an iconic design in a world where Apple’s iPhones are the only other standard. For the next several years, you could find the Nexus 5 in every piece of media that needed a standard “phone” in it.
This generation of nexus basically made google camera what it is today. At launch photos from an 8 MP camera with a basic app were pretty bad even at the time, but a few months after, Google released the first Google Camera app with enchanced photo processing and HDR. Overnight it became one of the best phones for photos. Pixels photography lineage stems from Nexus 5. Nexus 5 was in all the app screenshot mockups for so many years, and even now it's used from time to time. The front with the bowing top and bottom edges, really thin bezels, coloured round speaker, and an RGB notification light at the bottom is so iconic. And don't forget that it was one of the first phones with a 1080p display, and had a magnetic alignment for Qi charging in 2014. FLAC support made it a great music player, and this was the time android went from Dalvik to ART! Oh, and there also was Cardboard, which was a cheap way to experience 360 videos and some basic VR with your phone. Google Now (RIP, best google newsfeed) and Assistant debuted on it. This phone was a testbed for so many improvements to android as we know today, that it can't be anywhere but S tier. Imagine if a Pixel 5 would have given us a major (2-4x) photo improvement, optimised a core software component or even went away from virtualization entirely, and unlocked a new information medium like AR on it's own. You can't underestimate the legend that is the Nexus 5.
it's true, also saying it had google cast was a BIG misunderstanding it could like play some audio content from a cloud hosted queue which is not the same at all
5 was THE phone. Stayed at the top for YEARS until the 5X and 6P came out. Definitely the defining phone of the modern nexus and even pixel series. That getting a B is an absolute joke. Ridiculous!
I had the 5 and loved it The 5x was better then it The 6p was better then THAT So I guess B is technically correct if you HAD TO sit down and make a list
How did the Nexus 5 not get more love? It's one of the best looking phones of all time. KitKat was a massive leap forward for Android. At $350 its performance was on par with iPhone and Galaxy for half the price. This phone is legendary and comes up in conversation more than any other Nexus
@@rup-n7y I held the 6 for longer than any other phone I've ever had. Until the Nexus 2. The first 1440p phone with front facing speakers and fantastic UI. Unless you have baby hands, Shamu is still one of the greatest phones of all time n
Having the Zenfone 10 is the closest I've gotten to the feeling of having the Nexus 5 I loved so much. Double the big camera housing, sure, but a nice smaller size with soft-edged plastic back and flat sides. It's also just as infuriatingly quirky in negative ways but I still love the form factor like I loved the Nexus 5.
Right there with you. I’m really confused by this list. The oldest devices went to the top purely out of nostalgia, and meanwhile the Nexus 5-sitting right in the peak era of the Nexus line, sporting one of the rare iconic non-Apple smartphone designs, and becoming one of the default phone models used in advertising, manuals, and anything else that needed a stand in “phone”-gets a lousy B tier. That thing was absolutely beautiful. They did it so dirty.
The Nexus 5 was the only phone they nailed. Very fast, 32gb aviable, wireless charging, timeless design, rubber exterior you could use without case no problem. Peak rom and mod support. Still lacked in battery life, camera and speaker but thats to expect from a phone in that price range. Used it from 2014 to 2017. Older Nexus devices always had the problem of being limited in storage, because the biggest versions where 16gb. Also the phones after the Nexus 5 where just incredible expensive and quality wasn't really that great. Nexus 6 of a friend had massive burn in issues on the display, Nexus 5x had the bootloop issue and Nexus 6p was the first foldable phone by google.
Where the hell was the Nexus 7 (2013)?? That was the most S tier Nexus product of all time. Most development ever for a Nexus product. You could overclock the hell out of it and almost double the performance.. it was sick as hell..
I thought David not giving the 2012 S-tier was because of the 2013 version. Then they didn't have an S-tier tablet. Also the picture they used in the list is the 2013 version smh
I bricked my original nexus 7, flashing a rom, I took it back to the shop claiming it just died. They sent it back for repair long story short they couldn’t repair it and replaced it with the new 2013 model. Best result ever.
Put some respect on Nexus 5! Up to this point every Android had an aura of desperation surrounding it. Manufacturers were doing whatever they could to beat the big bad iPhone. HTC made a 3d display, Samsung put in a heartbeat sensor, Motorola had 26 colors, Nokia a 48megapixel camera. Everyone was trying something and it was even worse on the software side. Bloatware up to the eyeballs, tacky fonts and endless other options to ruin your phone being added daily. It was awful. The Nexus 5 stood apart in that it was clean and simple. It didn't have anything to proove. To me this was the first phone to proove that Apple was mortal like the rest of us. Steve was dead and Apple's grip was slipping. This phone was able to do everything the iPhone did and more, for half the price. Exterior. Browse around the Play Store and you'll still see the Nexus being used as the model to this day. The front had no logos, buttons or odd shapes. The story continues on the back. This might have been the first matte black phone ever. Every other phone from that era had some tacky plastic design like carbon fiber or fake leather. Software. The thing that really pushed this phone into legendary territory is the software. This was the first phone to get Androids material design and proudly held the title of being a phone with stock Android. This phone showed everyone that Android had grown up.
For sure it was such an amazing design and phone. Only thing that sucked was it was on hspa and not lte yet. If they made an lte ver. it would have sold like hotcakes
Oh wow! I'm genuinely offended that the Nexus 5 got a B grade :) It was so iconic that you can still see its shape in illustrations for app design, etc. Plus, the red color was amazing!
Was looking for this comment, still seeing it in screenshots for apps. The defining phone of multiple generations around it. As HTC Desire/Nexus ONE was for the first generations of Android.
That phone gave me so many memories. I was tweaking the kernel & installing custom roms. You could even enable the secret LED inside the top speaker. One of the first phones with always on display too
You're objectively wrong with the The LG Nexus 5x because of the infamous bootloop fail. Every 5x would eventually enter boot loop due to a hard wear issue. Anyone who used one for longer than a year knows exactly what I'm talking about. Great phone, until it boot looped.
Hey sorry this is wrong actually. here's the objective correct tier list. SSS tier - Super nexus Project (IYKYK) S tier - 6P, 5, Galaxy Nexus(no people didnt hate it people loved the fuck out of it) A tier - 4, One, 7 b teir - 5x c tier - 6 Hope this helps
Would be nice, but at this point I would want it to be an actual high-end enthusiast phone. Like $2000 for a 1" camera sensor, filled in camera bump, battery to get through the majority of a week, software defined radio, entire screen a fingerprint reader, etc.
There’s also not a whole lot of partners (at least in the US) to be making the nexus line. It’ll just end up being a Galaxy or OnePlus every other year with maybe Motorola or Sony chiming in from time to time
Nexus 4 got done dirty... such a jump from the previous designs, and with that price it's easy S tier. Pioneered glass backs which took other companies years to catch on, and they're still the choice today.
That was my favorite tablet ever made. I legitimately used it for 4 years straight before it became unusable, which is rare for android especially back then.
Man the 6p was absolutely top tier. I miss that phone so much compared to all my pixels since. I got my 6p from the channel as a giveaway with dbrand and it sucked me into the google ecosystem for sure.
Skipping the Nexus 7 (2013) is criminal, that thing was a beast, years ahead of its time. I'd happily buy one today with the exact same design and updated specs
the way id buy a phone so easily nowadays if it had swappable battery packs :') i wish the big phone companies would experiment like they used to again
Why is the nexus 10 at d-tier? It's a really good tablet at that time. Front firing speaker + high resolution display and clean android. As someone who had one before, the bezel is not that bothersome because almost every tablet had huge bezels anyway.
I think what makes the Nexus so special is because of the different manufacturers. Nowadays, we just have minor changes to designs and a slight bump in specs.
Android was so exciting back then. I remember when the Nexus 5 was leaked in some Google video when an employee was taking a photo with it. People lost their mind 😂
I remember liking pretty much everything about the 6P… except for the battery. It's by far the worst piece of crap battery I've ever experienced in any tech product ever!
Love this video. I had so many of these. My nexus 4 kept on sliding off the table. Nexus 5 was an all time great phone - the ergonomics were fantastic.
I have such a long story with Nexus devices! - Nexus 7 2012: my dad bought it in 2013 for 199€ (32 Gb 3G version) and it's still working after 11 years! . Nexus 7 2013: I bought it for myself in early 2014 then sold it in 2016, I used it a lot. Amazing device. Looking back, it was a mistake to sell it (but I needed money back then). - Nexus 5x: my first ever Nexus phone. I bought it 2nd hand few months after it got out, I used it for 2 and a half years. It also got bootloop, but it was repaired under warranty and I still have it at home. Fantastic device with fantastic camera at the time. - Nexus 9: terrible device. I bought it 2nd hand in 2018 but it was awful to me. It seriously overheated and the button feedback was awful. I sold it for desperation.
The 6P is still my favourite phone ever, the camera took some of (to this day) my most loved photos. I regretted sanding it down and spraying it gold after watching a Casey video. 🤣
I give the Nexus 6 an 'S tier'... Why? At the time there was the Samsung Note 4 and the Nexus 6 battling it out (very similar specs). I didn't need a stylus so, I went with the media POWERHOUSE. Loud/Clear front firing stereo speakers, that 6" QuadHD display, MAN! IT WAS A BEAST! Had it 4.5 years and never once failed me. Got a Unicorn Beetle Tough Case (two part (front & rear)) for it, I miss that phone, it was a SOLID MOTHA (Plus, I ALWAYS go STOCK Android) and this phone really showed what Android could do if given the right hardware at the time... 😏👍 😎🇬🇧
I remember being a teenager and spending half my time on XDA. To many of us these Nexus devices were highly coveted and you'd be lucky if you managed to get one (thanks Google for still not figuring out worldwide availability all these years later...) . It feels so weird seeing them like this almost a decade later as ancient devices being ranked. I still can't see some of them in an "old device light" like I can with other devices.
I get that some of us are awkward nerds like myself, but why does the dap up and hug from David at 9:58 look like his second time doing it ever and he’s still practicing 😂😭
This video made me nod nostalgically with a smile so often. What an era. This video was so much fun though. Great vibe. 10/10 edit to the nexus Q retcon. More of Dave and Adam pls
The Nexus 7 tablet got WAYYYY BETTER in its 2nd generation (still have one somewhere) and was a SOLID daily driver until I replaced it with the Nvidia Shield K1 tablet (yet ANOTHER AWESOME tablet at the time)... 😎🇬🇧
The nexus 4 introduced tap to pay YEARS before anybody else, when I had it there was barely even anywhere around me who would accept tap to pay. And it was way ahead of its time on wireless charging. It's a massive S tier.
The Huawei Nexus 6P has been my favourite phone ever. Broke my heart when they didn't come out with the 7P! It was also the phone that got me into my hobby & addiction, photography. And the photos it took are still some of my favorites.
The Galaxy Nexus was my first android phone and I loved it. Best phone ever. Except for the Nexus 4 which I also had and man... that was peak. Such a beautiful phone. Great video guys!
Fully agree with Miles' reaction on the Nexus 10. It got everything right from a practical use point. 16:9 screen ratio, perfect for streaming videos, which is what I use a tablet for 99% of the time. Highest pixel density in a tablet back then if I remember right. 2x massive front facing speakers.
Oh wow this brings me back... The Galaxy Nexus was my first Android phone after using an iPhone for a few years. I absolutely loved that phone. I kept getting Nexus phones nearly every year after that. I really miss those days. I remember preordering the Nexus 4 the day it dropped, but I was down the shore that day helping clean up a town after Hurricane Sandy. I took a break at 1pm to put in my preorder, and internet was so spotty that I was worried my order wouldn't go through. I have to agree though that the Nexus 6P was absolutely the best of the bunch. I probably won't go so far as to say it's the best phone ever made, but it's definitely the best phone Google has ever designed.
Nexus 6P was my first Google-produced phone. That thing was gorgeous, and held up quite well. Been entirely Google since then. N6P > Pixel 2 XL > Pixel 4a5G > Pixel 7 > Pixel 8
The second port on Nexus 10 is not USB, it's mini HDMI. And dude, this tablet was straight out of the future back then. It was way better than any of Samsung's own tablets. Legendary screen, legendary battery life. And that rubbery back (I know it sucks now) meant you could almost not actively hold it, it just stuck to your hand. I used it for 7 years until the storage died.
Thats crazyyyyy they put 6p in S tier. There was a class action lawsuit after many peoples 6p started failing. The work around was to flash a kernel that disables half the cores. Phone was garbage. Very happy I was able to recoup a few hundred dollars.
I wanted the Nexus One so bad but was in college and thinking of spending (I think it was $600) on a phone at the time was insane. I did get the Nexus 6 and to this day one of my favorite phones
So nostalgic, thanks for making this video! Btw I absolutely hate the tier list that you guys made haha. Since I never had the Galaxy Nexus (S+ tier Nexus), my favorite Nexus that I owned was the Nexus 4 also the Nexus 5 is super underrated
The 4th Nexus phone was peak! Wireless charging, fancy glass sparkly back! I prefer the holepunch camera on the rear of the phone! Please bring that back!
I had the Galaxy Nexus, the Nexus 6, Nexus 7 (2012), and 3 Nexus Players... And as much as I loved them, an update bricked all 3 of them within a couple of years of owning. That hurt since I had used it to "cut the cord" for the family.
I believe the icon on the chart is actually the Nexus 7 2013 but the device you had on the table was the original Nexus 7. The second generation would be the one to review imo, it was fantastic.
