Google launched Nexus 5 in the October of 2013. For its time, the Nexus 5 came packed with the top of the line hardware. It was powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 800, a processor with four cores that had the top speed of 2.26 GHz. The phone also had 2GB RAM, 16GB internal storage, 8-megapixel rear camera and a very good 5-inch screen with FullHD screen.



When the phone reached hands of the consumers, one thing everyone noticed instantly. It was the fastest Android phone ever. And when we say fastest we don't mean the benchmarks. The Nexus 5 did okay in benchmarks relative to its hardware. Instead, it showed its speed in other places. It was fastest feeling Android phone in use, with no lag whatsoever.



In the world of Android phones, which suffered from some sort of mysterious lag even when they came loaded with top notch hardware, the Nexus 5 was different. In fact, due to the crazy animations that Apple introduced with the iOS 7, the Nexus 5 felt faster than the iPhone that year.



The surprising thing about the Nexus 5 is that it still continues to be the fastest Android phone. Yes, two years later, overall it still feels smoother than the newer phones, even when compared to the Nexus 5X and the Nexus 6P.



So what's the secret of the speed that Nexus 5 packs in? Why it is still the fastest, or definitely among the fastest, Android phones in early 2016? The answer, we believe has less to do with what other phones are doing wrong and more to do with the fact that hardware that we get in the phones nowadays, hasn't really improved compared to what was put inside the devices in 2013.



Yes, it is true that Qualcomm Snpadragon 810, which powers the Nexus 6P, and the Qualcomm Snapdragon 808, which powers the phones like the Nexus 5X, are newer processors. But they are not necessarily better than the Snapdragon 800 in real-world use.



There is no doubt that in benchmarks the octa-core Snapdragon 810 and the hexa-core Snapdragon 808 do well. But in actual use, the Snapdragon 800 remains a very fast processor, probably faster than the newer processors. And here is why we say that:



-- The Snapdragon 800 has a top speed of 2.26 GHz. In comparison, the speed of the high-performance cores inside the Snapdragon 810 is 2 GHz. Similarly, in the Snapdragon the 2 high-performance cores run at a speed of up to 2 GHz. But the interesting bit is that these processor also have the slower cores. The four A53 cores in the Snapdragon 810 and the Snapdragon 808 runs at a speed of up to 1.6 GHz. And during day to day use, most of the time, the slower cores do the duty in phones that have Snapdragon 810 and the Snapdragon 808. In comparison, the Nexus 5 has access to four high-performance cores running at a speed of up to 2.26 GHz all the time.



-- In multi-core processing, the newer snapdragons are better. However, software and apps that can use all cores effectively do not yet exist. Instead, the single-threated performance still matters and in that it is possible that the Snapdragon 800, due to its slightly high speed and a custom chip architecture, is better.



-- The Snapdragon 810 -- and up to an extent the Snapdragon 808 - have a tendency to run hot. As the heat rises the processors quickly cuts the speed of processors. It is a fail-safe mechanism. The Snapdragon 800 too gets hot but it takes longer and hence provides more sustained performance.



-- Performance of a mobile also depends on the quality of internal storage and how bandwidth is managed by the processor. It is possible that Nexus 5 is better in these aspects.



While there could be many factors, the most likely reasons behind the longevity of the Nexus 5 is how well its software and hardware complimented each other. It is one of those rare phones where Google just managed to get the performance part right, and it was most likely because of the Snapdragon 800. The Snapdragon 810 and the Snapdragon 808 - although fast - aren't just as balanced and power-efficient as the Snapdragon 800.



The good bit however - and now we digress from the Nexus 5 - is that this year's Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 may turn out to be the true successor to the Snapdragon 800. Just like the older processor, the Snapdragon 820 has custom cores. It doesn't use off-the-shelf ARM cores the way Snapdragon 810 and the Snapdragon 808 do. It will have a slightly faster speed of 2.2GHz and there are just four cores in the Snapdragon 820 - four more improved cores. It is possible that with the Snapdragon 820 we may finally put the lost year of 2015 behind and we may finally get a phone that may feel faster than the glorious Nexus 5.