When looking for an affordable high-end smartphone the other day Google's Nexus 5 was an obvious option. Even one and a half years after its launch, its hardware is still more than capable of running all the latest apps and games, while the camera can still be considered a decent shooter. The downside of going with Nexus 5 -- as with previous Nexus smartphones -- is battery life, which falls short of the competition. So I ended up getting something else.
It turned out to be a smart move, as Google just pulled Nexus 5 from its online store, after five months of coexisting with its latest flagship smartphone, Nexus 6. If you still want to get one then you will have to look at retailers and some carriers, which are likely to carry Nexus 5 for at least a few more months (until LG stops production and/or existing stock is depleted.)
In December of last year, Google revealed that it -- and "select retailers" -- would continue to sell Nexus 5 this quarter. At the time it seemed to make sense, as Nexus 6 is not exactly a natural successor. Nexus 5's 5-inch screen is dwarfed by Nexus 6's 6-inch display, after all, making the latter feel as if it is addressed to a totally different market.
But it also seemed like a strange thing to do, as Google never kept two generations of a product line on sale at the same time (although that cannot be said about some retailers; I recall seeing Nexus 4 alongside Nexus 5 on sale for quite a long period of time.)
Google admits that, while there still is Nexus 5 inventory with its retail and carrier partners, it wants to focus on Nexus 6 going forward, a move which is clearer more than ever now. Its all new online store, called Google Store, places the focus on its most-recent products, like the new Chromebook Pixel, Nexus 9 and, of course, Nexus 6. Nexus 5 is just a memory originating from 2013.
We all knew that this would happen at some point, but it's hard not to feel as if Nexus 5 could have had a longer shelf life. It's still a perfectly good -- dare I say high-end -- smartphone that costs as much or less than today's mid-rangers, which I'm sure will handle everything you could throw at it for at least a year to come. Hopefully Google will keep it up-to-date past Android 5.1 Lollipop.
Photo Credit: Brian Fagioli