Google's first hardware collaboration with LG brought us the Nexus 4. Like the Nexus 7, the Nexus 4 followed a philosophy of bringing as much power and quality as possible to a reasonably affordable price point. The Nexus 4 definitely wasn't a perfect phone, but it was certainly good relative to its price, and it showed that a phone can still be good even if it doesn't cost $600. About one year later Google and LG collaborated again to bring us the Nexus 5, a device which I and many other users fondly remember as an affordable phone that actually brought many of the specifications you would expect to see in a device that was priced significantly higher.

While I'm sure many hoped that 2014 would bring the next iteration of an LG Nexus device, it wasn't meant to be. Instead we got the Nexus 6 made by Motorola, which didn't really follow the pricing philosophy of the LG Nexus devices, and wasn't very competitive with devices like the Galaxy Note 4 despite its equivalent cost. At that point the future of affordable Nexus devices was unclear, and I wasn't even sure if we'd see a true successor to the Nexus 5. Fortunately, this year is the year that LG returns to bring us the next iteration of their Nexus phones, with the new device appropriately being named the Nexus 5X. With two years of hardware advancements between releases the expectations are high for this new phone, and you can check out its specs below.

  Google Nexus 5 Google Nexus 5X
SoC Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 (MSM8974)
4 x Krait 400 @ 2.26GHz
Qualcomm Snapdragon 808 (MSM8992)
​4 x Cortex A53 @ 1.44GHz
2 x Cortex A57 @ 1.82GHz
GPU Adreno 330 @ 450MHz Adreno 418 @ 600MHz
RAM 2GB LPDDR3
NAND 16/32GB
Display 4.95" 1920x1080 IPS LCD 5.2" 1920x1080 IPS LCD
Dimensions 137.84 x 69.17 x 8.59mm, 130g 147.0 x 72.6 x 7.9 mm, 136g
Camera 8MP Rear-Facing, f/2.4, 1.4 μm
1.2MP Front-Facing, F/2.2
12.3MP Rear-Facing, f/2.0, 1.55 μm
5MP Front-Facing, F/2.0, 1.4 μm
Battery 2300 mAh 2700 mAh
Launch OS Android 4.4 KitKat Android 6.0 Marshmallow
Cellular Connectivity 2G / 3G / 4G LTE (Qualcomm MDM9x25 UE Category 4 LTE) 2G / 3G / 4G LTE (Qualcomm X10 LTE)
Other Connectivity 1x1 802.11a/b/g/n/ac + BT 4.0, Micro-USB 2.0 2x2 802.11a/b/g/n/ac + BT 4.2, USB Type-C 2.0
SIM MicroSIM NanoSIM
Launch Price $349 (16GB) $379 (16GB)

Based on the specs you see on paper the Nexus 5X appears to represent an improvement over the Nexus 5 in every respect. Of course, it would be shocking if the successor to a two year old device didn't improve on it in every way, but we've actually seen some flagship Android phones regressing this year so such a scenario wouldn't be far removed from reality. The SoC moves from Snapdragon 800 to 808, but both the RAM and the internal storage remain the same. The display is slightly bigger, and with that comes a larger chassis and battery. The cameras receive significant upgrades, and I'll be talking about that in much more depth later in the review. Finally, both LTE and WiFi speeds receive a boost, and the starting price does jump a bit to $379 from the Nexus 5's $349.

Design

One can't really discuss the design of the Nexus 5X without comparing it to the Nexus 5. Both devices are made by LG, and when looking at the two phones one can clearly see that they use similar materials and share visual characteristics. However, the body of the Nexus 5X definitely diverges from the Nexus 5 in a number of ways, and I think the changes ultimately make for a more refined and cohesive design.

From the back it's made even clearer how the design of the Nexus 5X has matured from the Nexus 5. Google has moved the camera to the center of the back, much like its position on the Nexus 6. Beneath it is a fingerprint scanner, which Google brands as Nexus Imprint, and it's something I'll be discussing later in the review. To the left of the camera is the IR laser which handles the camera's auto-focus. The camera itself definitely has a significant hump, with it being about the same thickness as the hump on the Samsung Galaxy S6. We can talk about how this means the device isn't perfectly flat on a table and won't slide through a slot with a width of exactly 7.9mm, but if the end result is a much better camera then I'm honestly fine with the trade off, even if it might be viewed as somewhat unsightly.

The most striking difference is actually a fairly subtle one, which is the curvature of the corners and edges of the phone. On the Nexus 5 the top and bottom edges were actually curved, and they changed to the flat left and right edges at fairly sharp corners. On the Nexus 5X all the edges of the phone are flat, and there's a much more consistent curve at the corners as the edges are perpendicular rather than meeting at an angle greater than 90 degrees.

Like the Nexus 5, the 5X has a noticeable seam between the back cover and the front of the phone. This is more noticeable on the dual-tone quartz and ice colored versions, because the color abruptly changes to black. Like the corners of the phone, the back cover now curves toward the edges of the chassis, rather than changing abruptly with very little curvature like the Nexus 5 did. One could argue that all of these changes actually makes the device less-than-unique, as the more angular design of the Nexus 5 allowed it to stand out. While this is definitely true to an extent, the phone is still clearly a Nexus device, and you wouldn't confuse it with an iPhone or a Samsung Phone, or really even an LG-branded phone.

A small detail that's worth mentioning is a change in the volume and power buttons. Unlike the Nexus 5 they're now all on the right side. When I first got a device that used this arrangement it definitely took time to get used to, but now I don't really have any qualms with it. What is worth noting is that the power button doesn't have the etched texture that the one on the Nexus 6 did, but Google has spaced the buttons out an appropriate amount to ensure that you can tell whether you're touching the volume rocker or the power button. The material of the buttons has been changed though. The Nexus 5 used ceramic buttons that were much sharper and more slippery than the rest of the chassis, but on the 5X the buttons are made of the same plastic as the sides of the phone. I personally thought the ceramic buttons actually just made it harder to feel which side of the volume rocker you were on, and I have no complaints about the change on the 5X.

The front of the device can be a bit deceiving. On the top you have a speaker grille, the front-facing camera to the left of it, and an ambient light sensor. Below the display you have another speaker grille. However, the Nexus 5X does not have stereo speakers, and the top portion simply acts as the earpiece, while the bottom is the speaker used when playing general audio. The speaker itself is also pretty poor quality, with pretty obvious distortion and a generally muffled output. I was really surprised to find that it sounds worse than an iPhone 5s even when the 5s is at a higher volume, especially because I hardly hold the iPhone's downward-facing mono speaker in high regard. The fact that the speaker is front-facing definitely prevents it from being covered when you hold the phone, but my admittedly highly subjective evaluation is that the speaker quality hasn't really improved from the Nexus 5.

The last thing I wanted to comment on is the overall size of the device. Google has certainly slimmed down the body, but the larger display necessitates a wider and taller chassis. While the increases don't seem like much, they're enough to put the Nexus 5X a bit outside my comfort range. It's worth noting that I have a great amount of trouble handing large phones, while for many users the increase in size going from the Nexus 5 to the 5X may be no problem at all. For me specifically, I definitely find the Nexus 5 easier to handle. That being said, if I could transplant the Nexus 5X's internals into the Nexus 5 I wouldn't do so, because while the 5X may be a bit too big for my tastes, the ergonomics are greatly improved and that definitely contributes to a better overall feel in the hand.

For $379, the Nexus 5X gives you a solid plastic build without any flex, and that's all I really expected and wanted from a successor to the Nexus 5. For users who want a more premium-feeling device the Nexus 6P is certainly an option, but you'll obviously end up paying more for it, and I think the price has always been the most attractive aspect of the LG Nexus smartphones.

Display
Comments Locked

197 Comments

View All Comments

  • zeeBomb - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    Well well well! What do we have here? A 5x review without the 6P? I'll take it.
  • Der2 - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    Okay, read the whole review. Great work as always Brandon, and I just wanna put my thoughts out:

    That sustained performance though! Two minutes... Eek! Although that hits me right to my kokoro I think it isnt much of a big problem as someone like me who browses waaay more than gaming.

    NAND performance. Oh man. One day AES hardware will be noticed. Or maybe a case of f2fs storage might help...hmm.

    Its a blessing that Google is using great camera hardware for the first time. HDR+ All day every day kinda sucks as you basically have to rely on ISP and heavy processing, but as long as I get good photos out of it, I'm okay with that.

    All in all, this is a great device for it's price point. Priced competitively and has good improvements over the original 5. It really comes down to how google can maintain such good outcomings of a phone for a lot cheaper than other OEMS...

    And I will always respect them for doing so.
  • zeeBomb - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    Wow, great stuff you mentioned there man (totally something I would say!) As google has some losses in this device, the GOOD does outweigh the BAD in this type of scenario, which I applaud google for. F2FS may be still young, but the innovation to multiply your read write speed is something I can wonder a lot of phones will benefit from.

    The 808 may be a bummer for some, but a wiser choice to implement without sacrifing so much performance, as it really comes down to Qualcomm to learn from their mistakes and hopefully not make a crucial mistake like this again.

    BTW the camera...woot! Can walk around and snap pics like no tomorrow! (P.S: The 5X doesn't have EIS, but only the 6P does).
  • Billie Boyd - Friday, November 27, 2015 - link

    Between 5x and N6. I recommend going for N6 instead. Its highly rated by the consumers based on satisfaction (see http://www.consumerrunner.com/top-10-best-headphon... for instance...)
  • Kookas - Friday, December 18, 2015 - link

    It's also huge, however. It's nice to keep devices that you have to carry about all day compact.
  • coolhardware - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    Enjoyed this one! Definitely more likely to look at picking up a 5X after reading the Anandtech review.

    Interesting to see where the Nexus 5X slots in with other Nexus devices, specifically when it comes to pixel density (PPI)
    http://pixensity.com/search/?search=nexus
  • Kumar Anand - Tuesday, November 10, 2015 - link

    I am running Wi-Fi throughput test on Nexus 5X using iperf and I am getting much higher numbers than anandtech. Here is information regarding my test bed -

    a) iperf version : 2.0.5
    b) iperf command used:
    iperf -s -w 512k -i1 -u
    iperf -c <ip> -w 512k -i1 -t 300 -u -b 300M -P3
    c) AP: Netgear R8000, VHT80, CH:157, Open Security.
    d) Environment: OTA (over the air) in a clean environment (i.e. no interference from other clients)
    e) 2 runs each for UDP DL/UL, each iperf run is for 5min (300s).
    f ) 3 iperf parallel streams (iperf -P3 option)

    RESULTS:
    UDP Uplink (UL): 642 Mbps, 702 Mbps
    UDP Downlink (DL)): 678 Mbps ,708 Mbps

    anandtech - Could you please clarify regarding your tests? I am curious to understand why your numbers are not matching my peak numbers.

    1) What is SW build loaded on your Nexus 5X?
    2) What is the AP configuration and make and model?
    3) What is the tool/command being used?
  • jay401 - Tuesday, November 10, 2015 - link

    Does this phone have WiFi Calling?
  • DLimmer - Thursday, November 12, 2015 - link

    Yes and no. A quick summary of Google-Fi in this review would help answer this question.

    Yes: Google-Fi is Google's solution to phone plans/service. It replaces your current carrier at a pre-paid rate ($20 for unlimited U.S. text and voice, $10 per 1GB of data... only pay for the data you use). Google has sourced cellular service from 2 companies and many Wi-Fi hot spots, and has placed hardware in the 6, 6P and 5X to enable seamless usage and switching.

    No: Wi-Fi calling is only available on the Google-Fi network.

    As stated, only 3 phones currently possess the hardware to use Google-Fi.
  • Der2 - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    In my opinion, this is Googles finest phone yet: where the fan has schoice to decide!

Log in

Don't have an account? Sign up now