The Nexus 5 has only been available for a short while, but it looks like that has still been enough time for a quick refresh. A trio of images recently surfaced on the xda-developers forums coming by way of shinral. Anyway, the story goes as follows — the existing Nexus 5 was having issues and in turn, it was sent in for repair and a new model was received in return.
The interesting aspect, upon receipt of the new model, there appears to be some minor changes on the exterior. This isn’t anything revolutionary in terms of a new design, but some small, and seemingly welcomed changes. One in particular, seen above, deals with the speaker. As you will see, the holes for the speaker and microphone are just a bit larger on the new model.
Of course, the first image with the speakers is the bigger deal we think. There had been quite a few complaints about the speaker, and in fact, it was something we mentioned in our review. Basically, the existing speaker setup had us avoiding the speaker and looking more towards headphones. While the slightly larger holes for the speaker should make for a bit of an improved sound — we do have to remember that we have yet to hear the difference with the two models sitting side by side.
Aside from the speaker, there were also some changes to the buttons. These may not be quite as noticeable in the pics, however shinral describes the newer model as having “fixed buttons.” Basically, the buttons appear to have a bit tighter of a fit.
Otherwise, those looking for a bit more about the Nexus 5 should hit up our initial hands-on and full review posts. There is also some additional coverage sitting in the Story Timeline just below.
I never has an issue with the buttons on my N5. They fit tight from day 1 and never rattled. I am quite pleased by the overall build quality.