Nexus 5 or Moto X?

[cos]

I'm going to replace my Galaxy Nexus, and keep the T-Mobile service I currently have. Given that, do you have an opinion on whether the Moto X or Nexus 5 is better, and why?

Reviews mostly seem to have a hard time choosing one over the other. What I care about:
* Battery life. Reviews are also confused about that, some say the Moto X has longer battery life and some say the Nexus 5.
* Being able to use the unlocked phone internationally (I won't get a locked phone).

* Good, non-jittery GPS that's good enough for navigation/Waze (this is one place the Galaxy Nexus fails very badly)
* Non-laggy app performance
* Easy to read display mainly for maps - but as long as it's not worse than the Galaxy Nexus, I'll like the display.

What I don't care about:
* Rooting. I don't plan to do that.
* Streaming music. I mainly use my iPad to carry music & podcasts around, for the car or for flights. No phone battery is good enough for this use, IMO; iPads last forever.

Edit: Thanks ckd, pir, lizkayl, sariel_t, for bits of helpful info. I ended up choosing Moto X. My main reasons were longer battery life and a smaller more comfortable to hold phone, though I've heard that I'll also really like the "active notifications", and that the camera is much faster.

Comments

[ckd]

Based on the reviews I've read:

Nexus 5:
- better screen
- better CPU
- definitely unlocked
- has wireless charging (Qi)

Moto X:
- better camera
- better battery life (among other reasons, because it can turn on only part of the screen for clock/notifications/etc)
- smaller (a feature for some people)
- spiffier notifications/lockscreen stuff (like voice commands without having to wake the screen)
- maybe not always unlocked? I think I've seen complaints that at least the AT&T models are locked until you get the carrier to unlock them.

For myself I'd probably go with the N5; I have a Nexus 4 (so I already have things like Qi wireless chargers) and the faster CPU seems likely to future-proof the phone a bit more.

[pir.livejournal.com]

Battery life varies between different people's usage. My N5 is lasting me the day.

The N5 is always unlocked, as mentioned. If you care about international use of LTE more than in the US you might want the EU version since they do different frequency sets. The N5 does slightly more LTE frequencies I believe.

My N5 GPS seems fine, but then the GPS on my GN was also fine to me.

Both would be non-laggy I believe (as much as something subjective like that can be stated) either would be fine, as long as you have 2Gb of memory they react fine to me (the difference between the 2012 N7 and 2013 N7 is clearly there).

I chose the N5 and I'm quite happy with it, partly based on availability (the Moto X is only available in the US), things you don't care about (rooting, etc) and clean OS that will be updated very promptly.

[cos]

> but then the GPS on my GN was also fine to me.

Huh, did you use it for Navigation or Waze much?

[pir.livejournal.com]

I don't use Waze. Used it for Google maps plenty including navigation.

[cos]

Maps is really good at correcting for jumpy GPS.

Navigation would've been affected by it though, I've heard.

[pir.livejournal.com]

I played ingress for quite a while, I know about gps jitter. Never had any problems with that on my GN.

[lizkayl.livejournal.com]

Best review I've seen. http://www.droid-life.com/2013/12/01/moto-x-or-nexus-5/

I just got the moto X. But I'm on verizon, loved the feel of it in my hand/size, am happy with the fact it comes with kitkat, and was happy with the temp price (in contract) of $99. Nexus requires me to get a new service plan which was not on my to-do list. My husband just picked up a Note, but if you already have an IPad, it's a bit overkill.

[cos]

Your choice was easier because you can't use the Nexus 5 with Verizon, right?

I think I'd prefer the smaller size of the Moto X, but it's not a big enough difference to make the decision based on it. And I like having an iOS device and an Android device, and getting to use apps from both sides :)

[lizkayl.livejournal.com]

I've got an Ipad mini for the apps-both-sides reason (and to feed my webcomic addiction, in bed). but yeah, the Moto X was an easy choice with me having Verizon. I was looking at Galaxy 4, but it was too big for me to be comfortable with.

[sariel-t.livejournal.com]

I just got the Moto X, and am in so much love with it. Battery life is ridiculous, in the best of ways.
That being said, I got it because I switched to Republic Wireless, and that's their shiny new thing. I never looked at the Nexus.

[cos]

Have you used your Moto X with Android Navigation or Waze much yet?

How often (if at all) does it falsely think you've gone past the intersection you're waiting at a red light at, or that you're on the parallel street one block away, or that you've changed direction, or that you've rounded the corner? Or has it consistently and smoothly tracked your actual location?

[sariel-t.livejournal.com]

I have not used the Navigation at all because I don't travel to places I don't know frequently (college life).
I don't know what Waze even is...

[cos]

Yeah, I rarely use Navigation because even if I'm going somewhere I don't know how to get to, I like to use Maps and learn the route and do it from memory. Waze, on the other hand, is great even when I'm going places I know well. It's like a combo of navigation + social game, but its biggest strength is crowdsourced traffic and hazard info and quick rerouting. Waze will pick the best route to go based on the current state of the roads, and dynamically reroute you when anything changes - which it knows from other Waze users, since it sends data constantly to the servers. When there's traffic around, or construction, or accidents, Waze is awesome at saving you time.

However, since it's a navigation app that tries to be very real time and precise, it suffers especially badly from GPS jitter. It's great on my iPad, but sometimes nearly useless on my Galaxy Nexus.

[sariel-t.livejournal.com]

Huh! That sounds really interesting! Maybe I'll check it out. Thanks!

[dougo.livejournal.com]

I can't answer your question, but I love my Galaxy Note 3 (I have T-Mobile too). It's ginormous and somewhat difficult to operate one handed, but otherwise great. Big beautiful screen. Battery usually lasts 2 days, though I still charge it every day because why not. GPS and wifi work well, and no laggy apps that I've noticed. Still no KitKat but I'm not sure what I'm missing by not having that yet.

[cos]

> It's ginormous and somewhat difficult to operate one handed

I have an iPad for that :)

[dougo.livejournal.com]

Does your iPad fit in your pocket?

[rhysara.livejournal.com]

Hey Doug, how have you found T-mobile service to be? I don't suppose you've been to NH with that phone have you? (I am considering switching)

[dougo.livejournal.com]

I haven't had any other provider so I don't know how it compares, but I don't have any complaints (especially since they added 4G in the T). I haven't tried it in New Hampshire though.

[rhysara.livejournal.com]

I'm looking at getting a new phone too. I have decided on the Nexus 5, I'm completely smitten with it, that was the easy part, the harder one is that I'm considering switching to T-mobile. So I want to know about T-mobile, I don't suppose you have any experience with t-mobile's network in NH do you? Have you run into the they cut you off if you use too much roaming data, problem?

[cos]

My rule of thumb is that T-Mobile works in cities and along Interstates. I would expect it to have a lot of holes in New Hampshire. My main phone for texts and calls is still my old Sprint Treo 650; I use the smartphone as a data device for running maps and other apps. I've got a monthly prepaid T-Mobile SIM (automatic withdrawal each month, no contract) with 5M high speed data / month, which I've never come close to using up. I've only ever turned roaming on when it was necessary in foreign countries, where I wasn't using the T-Mobile SIM anyway.

[rhysara.livejournal.com]

Well that's not inspiring.