Upgraded from the Samsung Galaxy Nexus by Google to this beast.
Hardware:
Screen - 1080p screen. Beautiful, sometimes feels a little washed out, but is quite sharp while playing videos.
Battery - 2300 mAh, only lasts me 6-7 hours of screen-on time. Lasts the entire day if I stay off the phone and pay attention in class standby time lasts me all day.
Camera - Wish the shutter speed was faster, but I’m not a heavy camera user unless I’m sight-seeing or at a concert. Optical Image Stabilizing makes a huge difference. GREAT video recording! The mic picks up all the audio perfectly at a concert.
Speakers - Probably the worst part of the phone if you’re watching a YouTube video with a friend. Located at the very bottom of the phone, the real speaker is located behind the left holes, and the right holes are fake speakers. If you cover the left holes, the sound will be muted. However, 95% of the time I’m using my earbuds to listen to my own music, so it’s not a big deal.
Design - Feels great in the hands, and the soft-touch back just feels sturdy and easy to grip. Goes to show you don’t need an aluminum metal casing around the phone for it to feel like a quality phone. The ceramic power and volume buttons are nice and add to the solid experience. However, I prefer to have the volume jack on the bottom of the phone, but it is easy to get used to.
Processor - Snapdragon 800 is extremely buttery. Everything runs fine with all my apps and data imported( Galaxy Nexus got laggy) . Google Now is quick to use.
Software:
Android Kit Kat 4.4 - Best experience of the phone. It’s the real reason anybody would purchase an Android phone, especially from Google. Google Now and the Google Experience makes everything so efficient and is very user friendly. It syncs everything within your Google account, taking your contacts, locations, sports teams, bookmarks, Chrome searches, etc. and keeps everything up to date. A pure Google experience that anyone would love.
The always-on Google search feature delivers fast & accurate searches that beat our household iPhone Siri every time.
Overall:
Easily the best Android phone on the market, and you really cannot contend with a$350/$400 Google phone. The very small shortcomings of the speaker, and itty bitty detail of the camera is almost negligible. This pure Android experience is for everyone.