[Rumor] Nexus 5 to Skip 1080p 5-inch Display in Favor of Compactness, Camera & More

[dgstorm]

Here's a rumor you can probably chock up to bad intel. We have supposed specs for the Nexus 5, and while some of them sound intriguing, they make no sense whatsoever. First, the anonymous source of this intel claims that Google does not plan to follow the trend of 5-inch 1080p displays and will instead stick to a 4.5-inch display for the Nexus 5. We are skeptical of this and will share why in just a moment, First, here's the full rumored specs,

• The primary focus of the Nexus 5 will be a compact and lightweight design with a large battery and a solid camera.
• 4.5-inch 720p IPS screen - Supposedly the screen will take up 88% of the front of the phone (which would be the most of any phone, and would also be a very minimal bezel)
• Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 quad-core chip downclocked to 1.5GHz
• 2800mAh battery
• No expandable storage (no surprise here if true)
• High Quality 9-megapixel CCD camera

There are a few bits of this intel that look intriguing, like the idea of a nearly bezel-free, compact phone, a largish battery, and a good camera. Unfortunately, there are some serious holes in this story. First, a 9MP CCD camera does not scream awesome by any stretch of the imagination. While it is true that large MegaPixels do not necessarily mean a high quality shooter, for sometime now smartphones have used a CMOS sensor over a CCD because it can process images faster. Unless there is some newly improved technology we are unaware, this would be a backwards step for the camera.

The second thing here that stands out as odd is the downclocked Snapdragon. This chip has already proven to be very efficient (with battery tests in the HTC One), so why bother reducing its power? Finally, here is the most obvious logical flaw in the intel: the Nexus 4 uses a 4.7-inch display, so why would they downgrade to 4.5-inches on the Nexus 5? This makes no sense. Our industry sources suggest the Nexus 5 will have a 5-inch display, which will fit nicely with the name of the device.

While we remain skeptical of this intel, some of the concepts sound intriguing, so thought we would share it in the name of "wishful thinking." Would you guys like to see any of this come true for the next Nexus?

Source: PhoneArena

 

[johnomaz]

Good. I'm not a fan of every phone going to 5 inches. 720p is more than enough for any phoen display. After a certain point, you don't visually see any difference.

 

[hotice]

+1 for 720p at that screen size! There is no reason to go to 1080p at probably 5" or less. It costs battery life and performance to add those extra pixels with no perceivable difference. I'd rather see them go with at least a 4.7" display.

-1 MicroSD ugggg, stilll?!??!

I really wish they'd move those on-screen buttons back on the device face where they belong. It's just stupid to take up room on the screen in all applications with static buttons. It was much smarter to have them on the device. They should move them and add back the option menu so we don't get a stupid black bar wasting room in some apps. It drives me nuts that I have a 4.7" display on my Maxx HD and the only thing that I can use the full screen for is video playback. No photo viewing, games, web pages, or any other content. What a waste of display room. I think it's a fine idea for tablets but on a phone where display room is really at a premium it's just a bad, poorly thought out idea. Alternatively there should at least be a way to hide the bar so you can see any content you're viewing using the full display area.

 

[Asgard]

I agree that a resolution higher than ~400PPI is not noticeable by the human eye, but people always like to brag about how their phone is "cutting edge, top of the line" even if they don't even know what the specs mean.

And I disagree with the physical buttons, I like the way they are on my GNex right now using LMT pie controls and extended desktop.
What they should do is just allow the user to hide the softkeys, there is an app for the N7/N10 that does exactly that.

 

[hotice]

And I disagree with the physical buttons, I like the way they are on my GNex right now using LMT pie controls and extended desktop. What they should do is just allow the user to hide the softkeys, there is an app for the N7/N10 that does exactly that.

If I could hide them I'd be happy with that! I'm going to look for that app and see if it works on my Maxx HD. Thank you

 

[Asgard]

https://play.google.com/store/apps/...=W251bGwsMSwxLDEsImJlLnBwYXJlaXQuaGlkZWJhciJd

That's the one that I remember but it's $1.99 so you might not like that.
I personally use a ROM that allows expanded desktop and then I installed LMT feels weird at the beginning but it's nice.

 

[wvdroidman]

will this nexus make it to Verizon?

 

[johnomaz]

+1 for 720p at that screen size! There is no reason to go to 1080p at probably 5" or less. It costs battery life and performance to add those extra pixels with no perceivable difference. I'd rather see them go with at least a 4.7" display.

-1 MicroSD ugggg, stilll?!??!

I really wish they'd move those on-screen buttons back on the device face where they belong. It's just stupid to take up room on the screen in all applications with static buttons. It was much smarter to have them on the device. They should move them and add back the option menu so we don't get a stupid black bar wasting room in some apps. It drives me nuts that I have a 4.7" display on my Maxx HD and the only thing that I can use the full screen for is video playback. No photo viewing, games, web pages, or any other content. What a waste of display room. I think it's a fine idea for tablets but on a phone where display room is really at a premium it's just a bad, poorly thought out idea. Alternatively there should at least be a way to hide the bar so you can see any content you're viewing using the full display area.

I agree, I love having my buttons on my S3 not part of the screen. They aren't actual push down buttons like on my old DroidX, but they aren't tied into the screen. But on my Nexus 7 that has enough screen real estate, the buttons on the screen aren't too bad.

 

[riko540]

will this nexus make it to Verizon?

Don't hold your breath. Google and Verizon don't get along to well due to Verizon withholding updates to hype sales of new devices. This "should" change once Verizon drops its CDMA network and releases LTE only phones.

 

[SwiftLegend]

I agree, I love having my buttons on my S3 not part of the screen. They aren't actual push down buttons like on my old DroidX, but they aren't tied into the screen. But on my Nexus 7 that has enough screen real estate, the buttons on the screen aren't too bad.

I also agree. I like physical buttons a lot more than on screen buttons. I loved onscreen buttons on my GN, but since getting a Note 2, a lot of my preferences have changed. For one, physical buttons save a nice section of the screen real estate. I've tried using the navbar on my Note 2 and hate it.

I do disagree with the screen not being 5" though. I've gotten used to this 5.5 giant and find it sort of hard to use smaller screens now. My thumb just instinctively reaches past the bezel of smaller phones now. I don't see why people don't necessarily care for 5 inch screens. I wouldn't say I have big hands (even though I'm 6') but I can easily use my thumb to do everything on my Note 2.