Nexus 5X review - Google tells it how it is

The Nexus 5X has been a bit of a rollercoaster ride for me. I absolutely loved my now very battered Nexus 5, and was really looking forward to the new handset, which is also to be made by LG. Then I saw it and was somewhat disappointed. You shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, but the new Nexus 5X has neither the workhorse-like simplicity of its predecessor or the glitz of any of its big rivals. It’s not ugly - just a bit messy and uninspired. Thankfully, beneath that casing is a rather good phone indeed.

The Nexus project

Once again, the latest Nexus hardware is accompanied by a new version of Android - in this case Android 6.0 (Marshmallow). For my full take on Android’s latest, read my Android 6.0 (Marshmallow) review. In short, there’s lots of nice tweaks and some important changes to app permissions. It’s great to have it on the 5X today, but others will catch up quickly.

This year, however, Google has broken with five years of Nexus tradition and launched two handsets rather than just one. For those who want the biggest and fastest thing around there’s a top-end Phablet, the £449 Nexus 6P; that allows the Nexus 5X to be a mid-range handset, though with a still sizeable 5.2in display, starting at £339.

Nexus handsets rarely sell in huge numbers. The most popular to date was the incredible Nexus 5, and even sales of that bargain handset were curtailed by a mysterious lack of stock. Traditionally, you bought a Nexus phone in cash, upfront, and though contracts are now available this handset is still better value bought that way.

So if they’re not created to shift huge numbers to consumers, what’s the point of a Nexus handset? For Google it’s a way to get its vision for Android out into the hands of enthusiasts and developers, unmodified, with the handset running a vanilla version of Google’s latest operating system. Nexus also lets the company add hardware to a handset that it thinks is key for the next generation of handsets. In this case, its USB Type-C and a fingerprint sensor.

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Powering up

The new MacBook and the OnePlus Two may have got there first, but Google’s inclusion of USB Type-C here is a far greater statement of intent for the future of most smartphones. The reversible connector is simply great; it’s a little chunkier and feels sturdier than micro USB, and not having to faff about plugging it in the right way up is a revelation (one that iPhone users have enjoyed for years). It’s a little longer, and so slides home more convincingly, and has a distinct click when properly inserted.  Yes, it’s only a connector, but it really improves the feel of the device using it day-to-day and that’s important.

We may all be using it tomorrow, but what’s it like to live with today? One problem is that USB Type-C cables aren’t exactly common. Leave yours at home and you’re unlikely to be able to grab a charge at a friend’s house or the office without it. Google hasn’t helped things by only including a Type-C to Type-C cable, along with a Type-C adaptor, in the box. You’ll want to pick up a Type-A to Type-C cable for carrying about with you.

Power isn’t the most exciting element of any handset, but it’s certainly essential, and Type-C allows for fast charging by default. The Nexus 5X charges to 20% in just 10mins, reaches 48% after 30mins and hits a day’s worth of battery (84%) in an 1 hour. It then slows down considerably, reaching 100% after 1hr 40mins, but that’s still quick. It’s a slightly quicker than a Samsung Galaxy S6 using a fast charger, except for that final 16% where the S6 catches up. Useful then, but not groundbreaking.

The battery itself has a 2,700mAh capacity, which is about par for the course given this is a pretty slim 7.9mm handset. In our continuous video playback test it lasted for a respectable ten hours and 14 minutes. The Moto X Play lasted for over thirteen hours in the same test, but that phone is over 10mm at its widest point. Quibbles on size apart, the Nexus 5X reliably got me through a full day of use, but if you hammer your smartphone’s battery then there are longer-lasting alternatives.

I was a little sad to discover that wireless charging has been dropped, rendering my small collection of Qi chargers useless. Google has said that the faster charging times of Type-C and the extra space required for the charging coil made it a bad choice. That said, Samsung manages to squeeze wireless charging into the S6 and that’s still slim and beautiful - but of course almost twice the price. 

It’s worth noting that Google is only taking full advantage of USB Type-C for power and convenience. There’s no video output from the port, as is supported by the standard, and data transfer rates are only at usual USB 2.0 speeds as well.

Identify yourself!

After power we move onto security - it’s all the exciting stuff today! Before you skip ahead though, security really is a big deal on this handset, because of the inclusion of a fingerprint sensor. Yes, Samsung and Apple have had fingerprint sensors for a couple of years now, but Android has never supported them natively, and that’s meant support from app developers has been patchy to non-existent.

The inclusion of a sensor here is timed to coincide with the Android Pay’s launch in the US - we should see it in the UK shortly. It’s a handy added layer of security for those trusting their card details to their smartphones. However, it’s not essential for using Android Pay in the US, where any handset can authorise a transaction once the lock screen has been unlocked, say by PIN or swipe code. Whether we see stricter security in the UK is yet to be seen and will depend on Google’s negotiations with banks over here.

On the Nexus 5X the fingerprint sensor is positioned just below the rear camera. The circular sensor was a little awkwardly placed for me, as I had to adjust my grip significantly to place my index finger on the sensor. I then had to switch my grip a little to hold the phone securely and use it with my thumb. I currently prefer Sony’s implementation on the Xperia Z5 and Xperia Z5 Compact over the competition. You may find the sensor perfectly placed for your hands - I recommend trying it out in a shop before buying if it's important to you.

I can’t complain about the speed at all. Resting your finger on the sensor switches on and unlocks the phone almost instantly. It’s accurate too, learning my fingerprints quicker than the S6 and recognising them more consistently as well.

Design and dimensions

The fingerprint sensor adds more clutter to the rear panel. It sits alongside a whopping great Nexus logo, camera sensor with separate flash and focus cutouts, plus a mess of regulatory information at the bottom. Getting rid of the smaller logos would have improved things immeasurably, as would have making the logo black-on-black on the ‘Carbon’ model (as it was on the Nexus 5).

It’s great to hold though. The plastic finish provides plenty of grip and at 136g it’s among the lightest phones around too. The shape is good too, with the rear panel meeting the front bezels very neatly indeed. The 147x73x7.9mm dimensions are reasonable for a handset with a 5.2in display, especially given the inclusion of stereo forward-mounted speakers. I’m a huge fan of such speakers, and as they did on the Nexus 6, they provide superior, clearer audio than any tiny port tucked away around the bottom of so-called flagship smartphones.

It looks like the designers took the day off when it came to the side buttons, though. Black, plastic, completely rectangular and utterly featureless, they are so simple as to appear an afterthought. They aren’t terrible to use, but there’s not a lot of feedback and no distinct click. Power and volume are placed right next to each other too, which doesn’t help, and there’s no texturing to make them easy to differentiate.

Display

Amidst all that is a good LCD screen with a Full HD resolution. Even at 5.2in across it still has a whopping 424 pixels-per-inch and despite higher resolutions being available, I’m unconvinced there’s any serious advantage in terms of day-to-day use. In objective tests the screen stood up well, covering 94.8% of the sRGB colour gamut with 415cd/m2 max brightness, a contrast level of 1309:1 and a black level of 0.32cd/m2. Essentially, it scored respectably across the board.

I’ve seen brighter LCDs at this price, but consistency is the name of the game and the Nexus 5X nails that. It also has a pleasingly flat colour output, without some of the boosted and garish shades I’ve seen elsewhere. Samsung is to be applauded in finally reigning in colour vibrancy on the S6, but lacking that, a neutral take is the best option.

Chipset

The Nexus 5 wowed us with what was, at the time, a top-end chipset at a knockdown price. Sadly those days look to be long gone, though the Nexus 5X certainly isn’t a slouch. It too uses a Qualcomm Snapdragon chipset, this time the 808, which is a 6-core design consisting of two high-performance Cortex A57 cores running at 1.8GHz, supported by four more power-efficient Cortex A53 cores running at 1.44GHz.

A Geekbench Multi-core score of 3,489 puts it alongside the likes of the similarly-specified LG G4 and Moto X Style. Again it’s not the best out there, but in practice everything was quick and smooth. It’s well ahead of the Moto X Play here, which was sluggish in comparison with its Snapdragon 615 chipset. In terms of gaming, it’s well behind the Z5’s and S6’s of this world, but it played our usual selection of Android titles without a hitch.

Camera

In most areas the Nexus 5X may be simply competent, but its camera is truly excellent. I pitted it head-to-head against the very capable Samsung Galaxy S6, and the LG-made phone came out on top. The camera has an unremarkable 12-megapixels on a typically-sized 1/2.3in sensor, however each pixel is bigger than most, measuring 1.55um. By comparison, the S6 reportedly has 1.12um pixels on its 16-megapixel sensor.

Whatever the reasons, the results speak for themselves. Across a range of tests, the Nexus 5X’s photos were packed with detail, compared to the more smoothed off appearance of the Galaxy S6’s efforts. Outdoors, you can see great detail in brick walls and a sharper image overall. Colour balance was spot on too, with the camera matching the output of the S6 almost exactly - a good thing in our experience.

It dealt well with higher-contrast scenes, eliminating noise from large flat areas of colour without removing detail elsewhere. Indoors with our still life, you can again see that accurate colour temperature, along with great detail in complex textures and well-balanced exposures across our various lighting setups. You could argue the results have rough and ready look than that of the S6, but I certainly prefer it over that phone’s more smoothed-off results. There's no optical stabilisation here either, but I simply didn't miss it.

All my tests were done in the default auto mode with HDR enabled. The Nexus 5X was quick to shoot in this mode and you can jump straight to the camera by double-clicking the power button. The only downside of using that shortcut is that doing so while using the phone also locks you out of the handset.

Another niggle is that the phone only comes with Google’s rather basic camera app. This is fine for basic snapping, but lacks any serious manual controls or fancy, fun features. You can of course get a different app from Google Play to unlock such features, and I’d highly recommend it.

Colours, memory and UK price

The Nexus 5X comes in three colours: Ice (blue, pictured), Carbon (black) and Quartz (white). The 16GB model has around 10GB of memory to spare out of the box, which is usually enough for plenty of apps and pictures, but those who want to carry lots of music around will need to upgrade to the £379 32GB model. Google loves the cloud, so there’s no micro SD storage here.

And that’s all the options you have - three colours and two memory choices. It seems expansive compared to some previous Nexus models, but compare it to Motorola’s Moto Maker system of customisable colour schemes and it’s a bit drab.

On contract, a 16GB Nexus 5X currently costs £660 over two years with unlimited text and minutes and 1GB of 4G data, from Carphone Warehouse. You can buy the phone upfront and get a SIM-only deal for around £570 over the same period, a significant saving of £90 - although that doesn't take the cost of minutes, text and data into account.

Conclusion

The Nexus 5X isn’t the best-looking phone or the best designed. It isn’t the fastest phone, it doesn’t have the best battery life and the screen isn’t outstanding either. However, it’s far greater than the sum of its parts, and all at the very reasonable price of £339.

Its most immediate competitor is the Moto X Play, as Motorola’s take on Android is so close to Google’s for that to be a non-consideration for your average buyer. The Play costs £60 less, has much better battery life, a microSD slot for extra storage, is water-resistant, better-looking and tougher-feeling too. The Nexus 5X has a better camera, is faster with more graphics power, is slightly smaller and much lighter, and it comes with a fingerprint sensor and USB Type-C.

Personally, I’d buy the Nexus 5X over the Moto X Play. It simply feels better to hold, carry and use than the bigger Motorola, and is better future-proofed than its rival - both in terms of features and performance. Both are phones are excellent in their own right, they’re just for different people.

The Nexus 5X is a serious comeback for the Nexus brand after last year’s model that no one wanted - sorry Nexus 6. It’s a mid-range handset that will suit a lot of people, and although it’s not the ridiculous bargain its predecessor was, it’s a very good phone indeed. With its raw-looking images, neutral colour cast onscreen, clean-sounding speakers and vanilla Android OS, you could say the Nexus 5X tells it like it is, and I rather like that.