Just bought a Nexus 5

[parker5011]

So...I wanted to see what all the hype from my friends was about so I bought a nexus 5 32g today. I am an apple guy but I was intrigued by the specs of the nexus. Any suggestions on getting the most out of it?

Also any android apps that would be essential? Thanks everyone!


iPad Mini Tapatalkin'

 

[frag06]

So...I wanted to see what all the hype from my friends was about so I bought a nexus 5 32g today. I am an apple guy but I was intrigued by the specs of the nexus. Any suggestions on getting the most out of it?

Also any android apps that would be essential? Thanks everyone!


iPad Mini Tapatalkin'

Get a wireless charger, immediately.

I also recommend turning off animations in Developer options. This will make the phone feel faster. To enable Developer options, go to Settings > About Phone > Build number. Tap Build number repeatedly (seven times).

You may also want to switch to ART runtime. It may makes things feel even more 'snappy', and can help extend battery life.

For more tips, check out this article.

 

[Dzyen]

Like jailbreaking, Android devices have an equivalent. It's called rooting your device and it allows for a lot more functionality and making things the way you like them. You even have entire apps that only work on rooted devices and they're really good. Go to the XDA forums and learn everything you can about rooting and see if it's right for you

For apps, I'd recommend:
- Greenify (better with root)
- Titanium Backup (requires root)
- Xposed Framework (requires root)
- GravityBox for Xposed (requires root)

- Android Central App
- Social media (FB, LinkedIn, Groupon, Etc)
- A file manager (allows you to move and edit files, just like a My Computer directory on a PC)
- Shazam

 

[JeffDenver]

So...I wanted to see what all the hype from my friends was about so I bought a nexus 5 32g today. I am an apple guy but I was intrigued by the specs of the nexus. Any suggestions on getting the most out of it?

Also any android apps that would be essential? Thanks everyone!

None of these require root. All of them can be installed immediately.

Nova Prime...Google stock launcher doesn't suck, but I prefer the many customization options Nova offers.
https://forums.androidcentral.com/e...com.teslacoilsw.launcher&hl=en&token=MwNMPLWf

Swiftkey...while Google's native keyboard doesn't suck, there is nothing better than Swiftkey. Even Apple is finally admitting this in iOS8.
https://forums.androidcentral.com/e...d=com.touchtype.swiftkey&hl=en&token=8nQZOCKK

File Manager app...I prefer Solid Explorer. But there are other good ones like Astro.
https://forums.androidcentral.com/e...ails?id=pl.solidexplorer&hl=en&token=YuO17tZd
https://forums.androidcentral.com/e...ails?id=com.metago.astro&hl=en&token=v7umSmmM

Browsers...I always have more than one installed. I use Firefox and Chrome.
https://forums.androidcentral.com/e...ls?id=com.android.chrome&hl=en&token=H4c7yd95
https://forums.androidcentral.com/e...s?id=org.mozilla.firefox&hl=en&token=tUL3heQ1

Chrome to phone...it's a plug-in for Chrome that lets you immediately open whatever page you are on in your PC on your phone's browser.
https://forums.androidcentral.com/e...droid.apps.chrometophone&hl=en&token=lxU-NvCg

MP3 app...I use Poweramp.
https://forums.androidcentral.com/e...d=com.maxmpz.audioplayer&hl=en&token=-1K4c-RK

Calendar app...I use Sunrise. I'm not a fan of Google's native calendar app.
https://forums.androidcentral.com/e...sunrise.android.calendar&hl=en&token=72MAEpAl

Cloud Storage...I use Box the most, but also have Dropbox and Google Drive installed.
https://forums.androidcentral.com/e...tails?id=com.box.android&hl=en&token=L6B0PURM
https://forums.androidcentral.com/e...s?id=com.dropbox.android&hl=en&token=-QEnguix
https://forums.androidcentral.com/e...google.android.apps.docs&hl=en&token=ZdaMgniD

SMS Backup and Restore...Free SMS backup utility
https://forums.androidcentral.com/e...eshsahu.SMSBackupRestore&hl=en&token=CBb83Qaa

Call log Backup....same as above but for call logs
https://forums.androidcentral.com/e...ahu.CallLogBackupRestore&hl=en&token=8CqzzMkJ

Brightness control...a really underrated app that puts an "invisible" widget overlay on your screen allowing you to control brightness from any screen in real-time. You can control brightness whether you are watching a video or in a web page or whatever, without having to open notifications or be on the desktop or anything. IMO, this is so useful it should be part of the OS itself.
https://forums.androidcentral.com/e...pepper.DisplayBrightness&hl=en&token=EqXC85UO

Battery Widget reborn...best looking battery widget I have seen so far
https://forums.androidcentral.com/e...alek.android.reborn.beta&hl=en&token=8--tLsIY

Team Battery bar...Like the brightness widget, this will display a line on your screen representing battery life, and it works no matter what screen you are in. This is another app I have found incredibly useful. I can see battery remaining at a glance easily from any screen.
https://forums.androidcentral.com/e...ls?id=com.pvy.batterybar&hl=en&token=SN1ruH-c

Beautiful Widgets... Possibly the single most popular app on the entire platform. And for good reason.
https://forums.androidcentral.com/e...levelup.beautifulwidgets&hl=en&token=BTpaaJL-

Nexus torch....a simple flashlight app.
https://forums.androidcentral.com/e...d=com.farproc.nexustorch&hl=en&token=lL1gNRtu

Remember that you can install apps remotely from your computer. You do not need to go through the Play Store app.

 

[parker5011]

Thanks! Man you all are super helpful!


iPad Mini Tapatalkin'

 

[JeffDenver]

I would not turn off any animations in developer options. There is no need to. Nova launcher allows you to speed up animations in their settings. You can make them as fast as you want.

The thing I have done to speed up the UI is to force GPU rendering in developer options:

1) Enable developer options on your phone by going to "About Phone" and tapping on the model number 7 or 8 times. You only need to do this process once.

2) After you do that, you will see "Developer Options" in the Settings menu list. Click on that.

3) Scroll a little over halfway down...you will see an option for "Force GPU rendering". Check that box. It will force your phone to use the GPU when doing animations and stuff, making it faster and smoother. This works on any Android phone, not just the nexus.

4) Just below that a ways down is another option called "disable hardware overlays"...this forces the GPU to handle those instead of the CPU, which you want.

The idea is that even when your CPU is under heavy load (like, if you are multi-tasking a lot of stuff) the UI will still look smooth, because the GPU (not the CPU) will be rendering it. I have done this on all my Android devices and it works awesome. It is especially noticeable on Samsung devices, because the Touchwiz skin on them is such a CPU resource hog.

So far I have seen no downsides to this at all. Has not affected battery life or getting updates or anything.

I would hold off on switching your runtime to ART until you are comfortable with Android. ART is better IMO, and I use it myself, but it is technically still beta and there might be a few apps that will still choke on it.

 

[JeffDenver]

I would not even think about rooting until you are very comfortable with Android. Frankly, there is no real reason to anymore for most people. All the stuff you jailbreak for on the iPhone you can already do in stock Android.

Also, Rooting in Android is WAY more involved than jailbreaking on iOS. People on here will tell you it is easy...I disagree. Even for me it is kind of a chore, and I have been doing this a long time. Do not root unless you have a specific reason for wanting to root. For the vast majority of Android users (especially nexus users), rooting is superfluous now.

 

[crxssi]

So...I wanted to see what all the hype from my friends was about so I bought a nexus 5 32g today. I am an apple guy but I was intrigued by the specs of the nexus. Any suggestions on getting the most out of it?

Also any android apps that would be essential? Thanks everyone!

Best app ever is "Airdroid"- makes transferring files and remote control a breeze; plus it is just cool beyond all reason. Then get a wireless QI charger- you will never know how you lived without it. And install "Quickpic" for the best viewing of photos.

I will note that I think I am totally hooked on NovaLauncher now and can't live without it....

Other great apps I will immediately install: TED, Firefox, Raindar, Wikipedia, Barcode Scanner, WiFi Analyzer, Repeating Notifier, 8SMS

 

[Irpack]

Thanks everyone for the great info. I too, like the OP, just got my Nexus 5. I'm a little more more seasoned Android user with some rooting experience, but this is still great information. Thanks again! Loving my 5 so far!

Posted via Android Central App

 

[LeoRex]

Also any android apps that would be essential? Thanks everyone!

I'll preface this by saying... Enjoy your phone at first and DON'T unlock and root your device.

OK, now that I got that out of the way, you really should unlock and root your device.

You are going to get 100 different apps recommendations from 100 different people. I'd give a bunch, but most of the ones I would suggest all require a rooted and unlocked phone. That's where all the COOL stuff happens. You can load a custom recovery and do full, local backups of your phone (the stock recovery pretty much just factory resets). You can use apps like Titanium Backup in it's full strength, get the most out of automation apps like Tasker.... and tools like the Xposed Framework (which allows for some really cool features) require root.

That's where you 'get the most' out of your Nexus, but you can get your feet wet with Android first. As far as user apps are concerned, other than the widget stuff (which Apple doesn't do), all those apps you probably also get on an an iPhone. I mean, my go-to task and calender apps are Any.do and Cal... iOS peeps don't need to be told about those.

So if you want to take the red pill and go ahead and root and unlock, a couple of things: 1) It's a very easy and painless process if done following a few simple steps 2) The process is completely reversible back to bone, unmodified stock in case you need to return the phone for whatever reason and 3) Apple thinks people who jailbreak their phones are blaspheming troglodytes, Google's pretty agnostic towards root and the Google Play store is festooned with apps that require it.

And finally... you really have put in serious effort to brick a Nexus... trust me.... With a USB cable and a computer (With the Android SDK or Wugfresh's NRT toolkit loaded) you'll almost certainly be able to fix whatever screwed things up as long as the thing will turn on.

 

[jj14x]

And finally... you really have put in serious effort to brick a Nexus... trust me.... With a USB cable and a computer (With the Android SDK or Wugfresh's NRT toolkit loaded) you'll almost certainly be able to fix whatever screwed things up as long as the thing will turn on.

I'll second that - with this addition - just remember to be careful about what image you flash onto your device. Don't try to flash a Galaxy Nexus image onto a Nexus 5 for example. Hopefully, it won't even begin the flash, but if it does attempt it, you are likely going to be in trouble. Same thing with radio images or other partitions. Just read and re-read and read some more to make sure that you are installing a compatible image.

And make sure that your phone battery is charged up (and as a precaution, plug it into the wall charger as well) - you don't want to end up in the middle of a flash with a dying battery. That too, will not end well.

Do consider whether you really need to root though. For many people, the stock ROM is sufficient. If it were not for adaway (& Gravitybox/XPrivacy), I probably would be ok with staying unrooted.

 

[JeffDenver]

I tried tasker...I wanted to like it but it seems kind of involved to me. It is not user friendly.

 

[frag06]

I tried tasker...I wanted to like it but it seems kind of involved to me. It is not user friendly.

Agreed.

Depending on what you're trying to do, it can have a pretty steep learning curve. It is a great app, but it really needs to be more user friendly.

 

[LeoRex]

I tried tasker...I wanted to like it but it seems kind of involved to me. It is not user friendly.

Agreed.

Depending on what you're trying to do, it can have a pretty steep learning curve. It is a great app, but it really needs to be more user friendly.

Yep.... steep it is. When I first started using it, took a little before I "got" it.... but it was just a matter of learning its design approach. And the interface appears pretty daunting to the new user. But it is pretty powerful though.... for automation, it really is the top dog.

Look at Llama. It does a lot of what Tasker can do, but wrapped into a MUCH more user-friendly interface. It's an awesome tool. It supports plugins like Secure Settings as well. It might not have the full power of Tasker, but it is REALLY easy to configure and it has a very resource-friendly footprint. And it's beer-ware....

It was my go-to auto-app until I started to get to some whacky tasks that I just couldn't pull off unless I went back to Tasker.

 

[NexusNick123]

I came from Apple to N7 then N5 now I will never go back. Good luck with your new phone enjoy it.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using AC Forums mobile app

 

[Smply_Rcklss]

I would not turn off any animations in developer options. There is no need to. Nova launcher allows you to speed up animations in their settings. You can make them as fast as you want.

The thing I have done to speed up the UI is to force GPU rendering in developer options:

1) Enable developer options on your phone by going to "About Phone" and tapping on the model number 7 or 8 times. You only need to do this process once.

2) After you do that, you will see "Developer Options" in the Settings menu list. Click on that.

3) Scroll a little over halfway down...you will see an option for "Force GPU rendering". Check that box. It will force your phone to use the GPU when doing animations and stuff, making it faster and smoother. This works on any Android phone, not just the nexus.

4) Just below that a ways down is another option called "disable hardware overlays"...this forces the GPU to handle those instead of the CPU, which you want.

The idea is that even when your CPU is under heavy load (like, if you are multi-tasking a lot of stuff) the UI will still look smooth, because the GPU (not the CPU) will be rendering it. I have done this on all my Android devices and it works awesome. It is especially noticeable on Samsung devices, because the Touchwiz skin on them is such a CPU resource hog.

So far I have seen no downsides to this at all. Has not affected battery life or getting updates or anything.

I would hold off on switching your runtime to ART until you are comfortable with Android. ART is better IMO, and I use it myself, but it is technically still beta and there might be a few apps that will still choke on it.

Does Disable hardware overlay always come unchecked when u reboot your device ? Mine does, kind of a nuisance to keep rechecking it.

Tapatalk'n On The M8

 

[ralpheboyo]

I won't take up too much time.... There is a lot of conflicting info here.... So first thing first... Check out the Link and information here....

http://forum.xda-developers.com/google-nexus-5

Nexus 5 has been the smoothest mobile experience for to date and thus going back almost 12 years of various smart phones.... Enjoy the experience....