Design
Like the Nexus 5 in which the 5X draws its name from, the Nexus 5X is a compact and lightweight smartphone, housed by a polycarbonate shell. It even looks similar. Which isn’t a bad plan considering how popular the Nexus 5 was amongst Nexus fans.
It’s a pretty plain looking, functional design, but it works well for a Nexus device.
Screen
The front houses a 5.2” LCD display at Full HD, which is more than enough to provide a great viewing experience. Colour looks natural, viewing angles are great, and the blacks looks deep. I didn’t have any problem using the screen even under direct sunlight as well.
There were reports of overly warm/yellowish screens, but the one on mine was pretty much spot on for my preference. Just a teeny tiny bit on the warmer side to make it more comfortable for my eyes.
Speaker
Remember how LG had to drill bigger holes for the speaker grills on the bottom of the Nexus 5 for later batches just to make it sound a bit louder? The good news is, the speaker has now been moved to the front of the device below the screen. The bad news is, that single firing mono speaker still doesn’t sound very good. It’ll do your ringtone and notification alerts just fine, but just don’t expect too much out of it.
Oh, and the notification LED is hidden inside the bottom speaker!
Nexus Imprint
There is a fingerprint sensor on the back called “Nexus Imprint”, and it works great. Google claims that it takes less than 600 milliseconds to recognise a fingerprint, and it improves with each use. I did not time it myself to verify their caims, but I can tell you it is fast. It also helps that you do not need to turn on the screen first or depress any button to activate it. Just put your finger on it, and the screen turns on and unlocks.
It takes a bit of time getting used to the position on the back, but once you do, it’s great. When pulling the phone out of your pocket, your finger is on the back of the phone anyway. The downside is that those who likes to place their phone on their desk will have to pick it up to unlock it, or make use of the fallback unlock method like a pattern, pin, or password.
(Comparing it to the Note 5)
I am looking forward to see more third-party developer make use of the sensor to make signing in, and securing app content easier. Of course the other thing would be mobile payments, but then again so far it has been pretty much close to non-existent for Singapore.
Performance
The Nexus 5X packs Qualcomm’s less powerful Snapdragon 808, with just 2GB of RAM. This might seem a bit underwhelming on paper, but keep in mind this is stock Android we’re talking about.
In general the phone runs smoothly under normal circumstances, but I have noticed very minor stutters, and pauses every once in awhile. One area where it is very noticeable is in the camera viewfinder, but we’ll leave that for when we talk about the camera later.
Software
Like every other new Nexus devices, the Nexus 5X runs the latest version of Android 6.0 Marshmallow. Unlike Lollipop which brought a visual overhaul, Marshmallow is more of an under the hood update. You have a new system tuner which gives you a bit more control over your status bar, you have new vertical scrolling app scrolling, secure start-up, etc. But the more interesting ones that I want to talk about are Google Now on Tap, and Doze.
Now on Tap allows you to get Google Now-like cards for information relevant to the information that you are currently reading. When it works, it’s amazing. Like I was arranging a meet-up with a friend, and discussing the date and time to meet. I just long pressed the home button, and was prompted to create a calendar entry for the correct date and time.
If you are discussing a movie, it will give an IMDB link, or link to its trailer. Basically it helps to make your life easier by predicting what you were going to do before you do it. It still doesn’t work perfectly though, sometimes it would be unable to get anything even though there are clearly information inside. Sometimes it would give different results for the same query. I imagine 1 year down the road when the service is more robust, this will be an absolute killer feature.
Doze
Doze is a basically a power saving feature that helps extends the battery life when the phone
is not in use, and it works great too. With a 2,700mAh battery pack and Doze, it kept the phone powered for a work day easily. In one of my days with it, it lasted from morning 8am to around 5pm with 20% left, with a total of around 3 hours 20 mins screen on time. Which is pretty decent considering I went out to play with the camera on the 5X in the morning for over an hour.
The fast charging is nice, but the use of 5V/3A charging and USB type C ports means that it's a pain to find compatible fast chargers for now. The lack of a USB type A to USB type C cable is disappointing too. If your desktop doesn't have a type C port, and you don't have your own cable, transferring files like music and movies is going to be a chore.
Camera
I first used the 12.3MP camera of the Nexus 5X in low light condition at night, and I walked away impressed. It appears that the 1.55 microns pixel size camera does work well even without OIS. Shutter speed was kept as fast as possible to ensure no blur from camera shake. Also just keep HDR+ mode on always for low light, it makes a huge difference in the quality despite the annoyingly long processing time.
(You can double-click power button to turn camera on)
(120fps video capture)
Though there are a few things that dampens the otherwise great camera experience though.
- The working distance for macro mode is longer than that of other devices I've tested recently, meaning you can't get as close to the subject.
- It also has trouble focussing on tiny objects (like a small flower) that phones like Note 5 has no issues with.
- In low light, the ability to focus on close up object takes a hit.
- Not sure if it's a software glitch, but Auto HDR+ mode doesn't always work well in my time with it. In conditions that requires HDR+ mode, it doesn't trigger HDR+ automatically.
- Viewfinder is a bit choppy with dropped frame rates and stutter from time to time.
Overall, this isn't just a smartphone camera that is great for a Nexus. This is a great smartphone, period. Most of the time the lack of OIS doesn't bother me much since the camera is so capable even in low light. I just wished that the video stabilisation was better for video captures.
Full resolution images comparison: Nexus 5X, Nexus 5, Nexus 6, iPhone 6S, Galaxy S6, LG G4, One M9, Xperia Z5
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So what we have here is basically a Nexus 5 v2.0. Google took what made the Nexus 5 great, and improved on it. Affordable pricing, relatively compact and lightweight form factor, decent specifications, and Google's Android experience. But, it’s definitely not Google’s best phone this year though.
While the Nexus 5X is affordable, it isn’t great value for money. At US$429 for the 32GB (because don’t even bother with the 16GB), it has to contend with it’s bigger counterpart the Nexus 6P at US$499, which offers A LOT more for just US$70 more. Keeping in mind that for the Singapore market now, you would have to import the Nexus 5X yourself which would bring the cost up. Not to mention the lack of local warranty too. In comparison, Huawei is bringing in the Nexus 6P, and in fact already did a pre-order for the device with expected delivery in mid November.
If you are located somewhere else in the World where the Nexus 5X is being sold officially, and looking for an Android device that doesn’t cost too much, and compact in size, it is easy to recommend the Nexus 5X. It is still one of the best budget device in the market. It gets update and fixes quicker than any other alternative in the market, which is something that is getting increasingly important. The camera is great, the battery life is decent, and the performance is speedy for the most part.
But, for those of us here in Singapore, I would say “go big, or go home.”
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