I have now lived with the Google Android Nexus 5 for over a week now and I have to say I'm very happy with it.

Let me give you a brief history of my Smartphone use so you know where I'm coming from: I started with an Apple iPhone 3G, next was a Windows Phone 7 Samsung S, followed by a Windows Phone 8 HTC 8X and now the Nexus 5. Meanwhile my wife inherited my iPhone 3G, moved on to a Google Android Nexus S (Samsung), and now an Android Motorola Moto X. On top of all of this many of my clients have Blackberry's, including BBOS 10, and various iPhones and Android phones. I'd like to think I have a pretty wide knowledge of different Smartphone hardware and their respective operating systems.

HARDWARE

From a hardware perspective the Nexus 5 is a great phone. It may not have the sexy (and probably more durable) aluminum case ....

.... coincidentally, as I'm writing this the Spigen Slim Armor case I ordered was just delivered ...

but as I've learned from my previous phone having it's screen smashed by an accidental drop (not by me), you always should get a case to protect from phone from these accidents.

The 1080p 4.95" screen, while bigger than I would have preferred, is extremely bright and clear. Even though it may feel bigger than the Moto X (which is 720p 4.7") it's barely any bigger and it's actually thinner and weighs the exact same (130g).

The processor (Snapdragon 800) and RAM (2GB) are more than enough for this phone - it can handle anything you throw at it in the way of apps or how fast it scrolls though folders. Scrolling through pictures is so fast it's pretty much a blur.

The ceramic buttons are very well built - there is absolutely no wobble or looseness in the power button or the volume up/down toggle button. For me this is a first. In any device (phone or tablet) I've used there is always a little looseness in the buttons. As for the buttons being ceramic I have no idea what that is supposed to do, but maybe it helps in how well they work. The one negative thing I did notice about the buttons was that the edges were a little sharp (ie. not rounded at the ends) which made it a little uncomfortable. Once I put on my new case the buttons felt perfect since the case has an excellent rubber surround that softens the button feel, but doesn't make you have to press harder than without the case (as I've experienced with gel cases).

The camera on the Nexus 5 is only an 8 megapixel. I say only because today's competition has anywhere from 10-13 megapixel cameras while Nokia Lumia 1020 has an incredible 41 megapixels. One thing people should not get caught up in is the hardware numbers of all these devices, especially when it comes to the cameras. There is so much going on with software tweaks that it's common to see a lower megapixel camera take a better picture than one with a higher megapixel count (excluding the 41-mp Lumia 1020 where you are looking at professional grade photos). As a perfect example the camera in the Moto X is 10-mp, but the Nexus 5 takes a better picture. In the non-flash photos below you can see the colours are more accurate, but were you can really see the difference is if you zoom in on the phone's keypad. The lower mp Nexus 5 can see the numbers on the keypad more clearly.

Nexus 5 Moto X

SOFTWARE/OPERATING SYSTEM
Google's newest Android operating system is now at verstion 4.4, or nickname KitKat. I've always preferred the Windows Phone operating system, but the Android OS is a close second with Apple's iOS third and BlackBerry dead last (although BB 10 has finally caught up, it's come far too late to the Smartphone wars).
Microsoft and Apple tightly control their operating systems and they alone make the decisions regarding updates to that operating system - this creates a nice stable (usually) operating system that all apps work on (again usualy). With the Android operating system any handset maker can make their own tweaks to it to take advantage of their own hardware or even custom apps. The problem is that when Google makes changes to the core parts of the Android OS the handset manufactures do not have to update their phone's customized version on their handsets. To this day you still see many phones, which are only a couple years old, on version 2.3. This leaves a lot of people with outdated software that may not run all the apps properly or at all.
The main benefit of a Nexus device (phone or tablet) is that it comes with the pure version of the Android OS and, if the hardware can handle it, Google will push out updates to it so it is always up to date.
Android OS 4.4 (or KitKat) works extremely well and is very stable.

CONCLUSION
I certainly have no regrets with in purchasing the Nexus 5 and I highly recommend it. For me the biggest positive is that I have a premier phone for $350 without a contract. If this phone is damaged or even if I just want a new phone I don't have to worry about paying off what I have left on my contract.