After months of waiting, speculation, leaked information and rumors, Google finally released this year’s breed of Nexus smartphones to delight Android fans all over the world. Just like we expected, there are two devices for different market segments – the LG-made Nexus 5X and the bigger Nexus 6P from Chinese newcomer in the Nexus’ world; Huawei. The phone brought by LG is worth it’s own show since it took the great Nexus 5 from 2013 to make it even better.
The Nexus 5 was a beloved device on which LG did a great job by putting together good enough specs, a clean and durable plastic design and an amazingly low price compared with what it had to offer. It wasn’t a fully fledged flagship, it didn’t have the best camera or the sharpest screen out there. However, it did get the job done, with its hardware being enough to run Android without problems and it wouldn’t hurt your pocket to get one. Of course, there were better and more powerful options, but not for that price. That said, the old Nexus 5 was a cheap phone that would just work very well.
As for the Nexus 5X, while we don’t have our review unit yet, here are 5 things we like the most on this device from what is possible to notice just by the specs shootout from Google. So, let’s jump to the point.
Screen
At 5.2 inches, the screen is just big but not that big. So, the size is on the edge of what you are likely to feel comfortable using with just one hand. Although it is bigger than the previous version, it is still very light, weighing only 6 grams more than its predecessor, closing at 136g – not to mention that it is also thinner. Back to the screen, it has a really high resolution of 1080 x 1920 pixels with an amazing pixel density of 424 ppi. This is not the best-looking screen, but it is good enough to make your viewing experience really nice.
Camera
If we were to choose one thing about the old Nexus 5 that could have used some improvement, it would be the camera. This new one, however, brings a huge improvement, as the sensor now has a bigger aperture, which should help a lot with low light photos. With 12.3 megapixels, the numbers look good. However, we will only be able to really tell if it has in fact gotten better when we get it in our hands.
Price
Here’s the best part of Nexus devices. Except for last year’s pricey Nexus 6, you would always get a great phone with solid hardware for a reasonable price, way below contemporary flagships. The Nexus 5X will start at $379 for the 16GB. However, since it doesn’t have expandable storage, you may want to spend a few more bucks and get the 32GB version for $429.
Fingerprint reader
Let’s admit: typing your password every time you unlock your device can be tedious and time consuming. However, giving up on your privacy is not a suitable solution, so, it’s a necessary evil – but only until fingerprint scanning arrived in our mobile lives. Being able to unlock your phone just by putting a finger on the sensor is really great and makes life a lot easier. Even better is Android Marshmallow’s native support for this type of authentication method, which will push the wave for more phones to come with such a feature. Additionally, you will be able to use your fingerprint to make payments with Android Pay and the Play Store.
USB 3.0
Type-C USB 3.0 is relatively new to smartphones and the Nexus 5X (and 6P) are saying hello to the future with a plethora of advantages when compared to current USB 2.0. The first thing you will notice is that you can stick it in both ways, so, say goodbye for 50% of the times you have to stop and turn your cable to insert it in the right way.
However, that’s not all. The new USB standard allows your phone to be charged really fast by transmitting electricity with a higher amperage – 3A, which is A LOT more than what you get today. As such, a 2500 mAh battery can be fully charged in around 50 minutes. There are more advantages but for now these are the most important ones.
With all that said, the Nexus 5X is far from being a perfect phone but it offers something really good for the price. It’s processor is not the fastest, but it should make your Android M run smooth most of the time. It only has 2GB of RAM in a time when most flagships have at least 3GB, but this amount of memory should be enough for your daily usage without any lag. You can pre-order it directly from Google’s website by clicking on this link.