Had been using a Nexus 5 since release but always had the itch to try out a Note 3 as I had a Note 2 a few phones back.
My wife got an S4 Black Friday and promptly dropped it within two weeks. She used it with a broken screen after that until I surprised her with a Nexus 5 for Christmas.
Figured since we got the S4 for free Black Friday, I would send it into Samsung for repairs to keep the warranty in place as well as avoiding the other headaches I read about when people replaced them on their own. Just got it back, so now I have (2) Nexus 5's, a Galaxy S4 and a Note 3.
Wife will probably go back to the S4 as it does have a better camera and battery life. She is indifferent on pretty much anything else as I set up her phone and she just uses it.
I love my Nexus 5 on the other hand and had not thought of replacing it until the S5 came out, but found a great deal on a Note 3 so I picked it up. It was rooted with SafeStrap, but have just been using it Stock TW and with the hardware on the Note 3 I really don't see a need to run a custom ROM as everything just works.
Really any of these phones are great devices with their strong suits.
I love the bigger screen on the Note 3 but the Nexus is quicker. Large size in the hands is not bad and the extra real estate is nice. Screen resolution is a little crisper on the Nexus due to the smaller size. I run the Note 3 in Movie Mode so the screen colors are not as cartoon looking, and the screen really looks great.
Battery life is no contest as the Note 3 really has no match. TW works just fine on the Note 3, not so much on the S4. Not bad, but Nexus 5 is much quicker than S4. Stock on the Nexus 5 is great for me and getting quick updates is a big bonus but realistically there is not that much that changed between 4.3 and 4.4.
In the end, the better battery life and camera's on the Samsung phones will probably win out.
My wife got an S4 Black Friday and promptly dropped it within two weeks. She used it with a broken screen after that until I surprised her with a Nexus 5 for Christmas.
Figured since we got the S4 for free Black Friday, I would send it into Samsung for repairs to keep the warranty in place as well as avoiding the other headaches I read about when people replaced them on their own. Just got it back, so now I have (2) Nexus 5's, a Galaxy S4 and a Note 3.
Wife will probably go back to the S4 as it does have a better camera and battery life. She is indifferent on pretty much anything else as I set up her phone and she just uses it.
I love my Nexus 5 on the other hand and had not thought of replacing it until the S5 came out, but found a great deal on a Note 3 so I picked it up. It was rooted with SafeStrap, but have just been using it Stock TW and with the hardware on the Note 3 I really don't see a need to run a custom ROM as everything just works.
Really any of these phones are great devices with their strong suits.
I love the bigger screen on the Note 3 but the Nexus is quicker. Large size in the hands is not bad and the extra real estate is nice. Screen resolution is a little crisper on the Nexus due to the smaller size. I run the Note 3 in Movie Mode so the screen colors are not as cartoon looking, and the screen really looks great.
Battery life is no contest as the Note 3 really has no match. TW works just fine on the Note 3, not so much on the S4. Not bad, but Nexus 5 is much quicker than S4. Stock on the Nexus 5 is great for me and getting quick updates is a big bonus but realistically there is not that much that changed between 4.3 and 4.4.
In the end, the better battery life and camera's on the Samsung phones will probably win out.