Repair or replace cell phone? (Nexus 5)

Richy

Hi all,

I have an LG Nexus 5 phone. I've had it for a few months over 2 years now. Fully paid off. I like it. It does everything I need right now, and I'm comfortable with it.

It has the following issues:
1. A long thin crack in the screen. That doesn't affect the touchscreen and sometimes I don't even see it, so I don't really care about that.
2. Battery doesn't hold its charge well. It's an annoyance.
3. Back camera shaky, can only take blurry pictures now. That one is an issue for me.

So I checked around. Replacing the camera would cost me $60, and throwing in a new battery at the same time would run it up to $100, plus tax.

On the other hand, I could get a new phone. My provider offers me my choice of an Alcatel Idol 4, a Samsung Galaxy S5 Neo, or a LG G4. All are at no downpayment but with a $13 hike in my monthly bill for two years, which gets above $300, plus tax. I went to Best Buy to check on these phones without plans, and they retail at well above $300.

Obviously, fixing my phone is the less expensive option, and since I like that phone it's also the one I'm leaning for. BUT I'd still have a two-year-old phone, so I have no idea how much longer it'll last. If another critical issue pops up next month, I'll just be out $100 for nothing.

Question: What do you recommend I do?

Bonus question: for those of you who had Nexus 5 phones, how long did they survive, and what killed them in the end?

BouwsT

Just looking at the iFixIt tear down guide, it looks like that's going to be one of the easier phones on the market to repair.

If the phone still accomplishes what you need it to do, and you're handy with tools, I say absolutely fix it. I owned an iPhone 4S before moving to a Samsung S6, so I can't comment on the Nexus 5's longevity.

dispatch.o

I had an original Nexus5 and it lasted about 3 years. I suspect that the issue was moisture or a short as it started powering off randomly.

Edit: was my favorite phone. Perfect size. I'm a little irritated by how large phones are becoming.

BlazeFire

I replaced my Nexus 5 batter last month for $15 (Moosebucks, even).

Djeet

I had an N5 for about 20 months, didn't break or anything but got a good deal on the 5X and changed over to google fi. By the end if I didn't use the phone I'd get 2 days charge, if I used it I'd need to charge daily. I don't do video or social media. My wife's phone (bought same time) she'd have to charge twice a day or more, she's a heavy twitter user though.

I would recommend a 5X or a 6 along with Google fi (you get a discount on the device and you can cancel after a month), but I'm a different user than you. I opt for the $40 2gb plan and usually get a credit each month since i rarely use more than .5 GB off of wifi.

Basar

N5 is extremely cheap to fix. Looking at ifixit, if you were to replace the screen, the battery and rear camera it would come to a total of 68+15+13=$96. If you like the phone, just fix it as it already can do 90% of the stuff you will most likely do on a new phone.

https://www.ifixit.com/Store/Parts/LG-Nexus-5

Armoroc

I had an N5 as my first smartphone and yes it was perfect for me. I had it for a few months... less than a year now that I think about it. By the end of it the phone just gave up on me out of the blue. Phone overheating, not holding a charge, the phone just booting over and over, and finally it just died. I really liked the LG phone so I jumped over to the G4 and now to the G5. The G5 is really awesome in my opinion and you can easily make it a Google phone if you want.

Richy

So I decided to take the thread's advice. I bought a new camera and battery off of Amazon for $50, watched a couple of YouTube videos on Nexus 5 repairs, and I had it all fixed up in an hour. Now my camera works great and my battery holds its charge like a champ... I might be able to do another three years with this phone!

So thanks for the great advice everyone!

Smrtnik

Hmm my Nexus battery is crap after having it a couple of years but i was scared off when i first read this thread by reading on the link that the replacement battery you get is still just a used one.

You bought it new in Amazon? Still have the link?

What about cracking the glue they mention, any trouble with that?

Richy

Smrtnik wrote: »

Hmm my Nexus battery is crap after having it a couple of years but i was scared off when i first read this thread by reading on the link that the replacement battery you get is still just a used one.

You bought it new in Amazon? Still have the link?

What about cracking the glue they mention, any trouble with that?

You have to read the comments from buyers. The first seller I looked at had the least expensive battery, but his page was full of comments from people complaining that the battery failed shortly after they got it or that it was worse than their first one, that they threw it out and went back to their original one. The second one I looked at was more expensive, but full of comments from satisfied customers saying it worked great. It made that decision pretty simple :P Here's the link.

And if anyone's interested, here's the link for the camera.

And no, I got no trouble at all from the glue. It was quite easy to open up the phone.

Basar

Ifixit's batteries are brand new and I think manufacturer spec. I never had any trouble with them shipping a used battery.