Google Nexus 5 was a huge success and it sold like hot cakes in all the global markets when it was launched in 2013. It is still selling and consumers are still buying it for its sheer true Android experience and reasonably good hardware features. Google has shown tremendous confidence in LG and has now come out with mid-range LG Nexus 5X smartphone with 5.2 inch display and running on its latest Android Marshmallow 6.0 OS without any bloatwares.
Design
The new LG Nexus 5X design has been borrowed from LG Nexus 5, which is simple piece of soft plastic. There is no trace of metal anywhere, which has almost become a trend to introduce it on the phone in some way or the other. The phone still looks nice and it gives pleasant touch.
The only difference in the design fro its predecessor is inclusion of the same fingerprint sensor behind the rear camera. And the other noticeable change is that rear camera protrudes a little bit but that does not make much difference as we have seen such bulging camera even on high-end Samsung Galaxy S6 also.
On the right side of the device, the power and volume rockers have been provided and on the left side the slot for the SIM card has been given.
LG Nexus 5X has dimensions of 147 x 72.6 x 7.9mm and its weight is mere 136g, and it can be handled easily with one hand operations.
Display
LG Nexus 5X has an impresssive screen which has size of 5.2 inch and it is Full HD LCD, 424ppi screen. We have used Nexus 5 also and can say that it is definitely brighter than that of the Nexus 5. It reproduces sharp and detailed colors and you can use the phone in the sun also for easy reading of incoming calls.
Performance
The LG Nexus 5X is driven by a hexa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 808 compared to Snapdragon 800 which powered the earlier Nexus 5. It comes with an Adreno 418 GPU, 2GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage extendable to 64GB. Coincidentally, this is the same processsor, which LG has used on its flagship device, LG G4 and one can assume that the performance of new Nexus 5X will also be fast and it will run like a breaze. While fiddling with the Nexus 5X, we observed that there are no issues as far as running of apps and switching between the apps is concerned and mark our words, you won’t face any problem while running highly resourceful games also on this phone.
Software
The main highlight of any Nexus device is that it runs on stock Android OS and that is the reason people love Nexus and Motorola phones which also run on almsot stock Android OS. LG Nexus 5X runs on the latest Android Marshmallow OS and avoids unnecessary tweaks used by reputed manufacturers such as Samsung, HTC, Xiaomi, Gionee, Huawei etc. to name a few. In our opinion, Android skins make the operating system quite complicated and also make the devices quite slow. Because of these tweaks, these vendors are not able to update their phones quite easily to the latest Android updates. On the other hand, Nexus devices get the updates first hand and without any issue whatsover.
Marshmallow OS has added many features and some of them are quite useful such as upgraded Google Now for accessing the feature within applications by holding down the home button. It also has new charging speed indicator, new window animations, improved notifications, faster app search and a battery-saving mode called Doze, which is a battery saver feature and has been introduced to improve the standby time of Nexus 5X. This feature is capable of detecting when the handsets is inactive and will shut off unnecessary features to reduce power function.
Fingerprint Sensor
The new Nexus 5X incorporates fingerprint sensor, which sits behind the rear camer, and which comes with “Nexus Imprint” support. As claimed by Google, this fingerprint scanne is capable of detecting fingerprints in milliseconds. We used the fingerprint sensor for few minnutes with the help of the demonstrator and can say that it worked very fast and we did not face any failure. For its effectiveness, we shall be able to comment after our closed scrutiny when we get the device.
Camera
The Nexus 5X has the same 12.3MP rear camera with 1.55µm sensor and f/2.0 aperture , which has also been provided on the more expensive Huawei Nexus 6P. This camera does not have optical image stabilisation (OIS), which is quite useful feature for clicking images in low-light. But Google claims that it has compensated the absence of OIS with 1.55um pixels, which is capable of capturing more lights than those smartphones cameras having OIS. We clicked few images and found the results looking good on the phone. The clicked images appeared sharp, crisp and came with detailed contrast.
The other high-points of Nexus 5X camera is its IR laser-assisted autofocus and its capability to shoot 4K video at 30fps
It also houses a 5MP front shooter with f/2.2 aperture which is quite good for the selfies.
Battery
The Nexus 5X gets its juice from 2700mAh battery and comes with USB Type-C connectivity, for faster battery charging capabilty. According to Google, with 10 minutes charge, you can get four hours of battery back-up and if turns out true then it will be a great feature on this phone.
Conclusion
If you are an Android fan and do not care much about plastic body, very large screen then do not mess with your decision and consider LG Nexus 5X very seriously. It has positives of good display, powerful optics, strong hexa-core processor and running on the latest Android Marshmallow OS. On the negative front, if for the same of saying so, it has plastic body and little bit overpriced. But still bankable and solid phone.
