Let me first confess, I am an admirer of pure Android experience and for the same reason of Google Nexus devices. I already had the Nexus 7 device and in January 2016 I gift myself Quartz colour Nexus 5X 32GB bought from Google store for 27900/- INR (roughly 410 USD). I felt at this price it was a good deal considering the launch price of 35900/- (~530 USD) for the 32 GB model in India. In my view it was way too highly priced back then as the price was just a little shy of Samsung Galaxy S6 32GB model.
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| Google LG Nexus 5X |
I am using Nexus 5X for almost 3 months now and I believe its a reasonable time to understand a phone's strengths and weaknesses. This post is not a review of Nexus 5X because there are some great reviews already available on various tech websites. This is just my personal take on Nexus 5X.
Enough said, let's come to the point.
Processing power
I am quite satisfied with the performance of this device. I do not observe any lag or slowness in day to day operations which includes some surfing, time on whatsapp, some photography experiments and last but not the least considerable time spend on playing games.
Memory
I am aware that not many were quite impressed with the fact that Nexus 5X packs just 2GB of RAM whereas the current crop of phones in this price range have at least 3GB of memory. Being a software engineer myself, I have this habit of keeping tab on the hardware resources used by my device, I noticed that the memory consumption by the running apps never went beyond 1.4 GB leaving behind ~400 MB of free memory on the Nexus. I feel that's pretty ok.
Screen
Nexus 5X has a full HD LCD screen. The screen is pretty good for indoor usage and has acceptable brightness level in direct sunlight. Just keep the display setting on adaptive brightness for better results. The display is very crisp and sharp and it's pleasure to watch high resolution pictures and FHD videos on it.
Camera
A lot has been written about the camera of Nexus 5X and Nexus 6P (both share the same unit). I am very glad to say that it is one of the best camera I have seen on a smartphone. The pictures are very clear and the camera captures great details in every shot. Pictures taken in low light are also pretty good with considerably less noise.
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| Nexus 5X camera sample |
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| Nexus 5X camera sample |
Battery
This is one department where Nexus 5X could have done better. For me, the battery usually lasts for 24 hours and as I mentioned earlier my day to day operations includes some surfing, time on whatsapp, some photography and last but not the least considerable time spent on playing games. With 2700 mAh battery and the new Doze feature of Android 6.0 - Marshmallow I was expecting it to last at least 1.5 if not 2 days.
The only saving grace here is the fast type-C charger which really charges the battery pretty quickly and in ~1.5 hours the battery is charged to its full capacity.
TIP: This is something I observed, For a few days I kept the cellular data (4G) turned off and during that time the battery lasted for 2 days or even more on full charge.
Few accessories I am currently using
Screen protector: Tempered glass screen protector from FOSO. It is quite good and reasonably priced.
Back cover: Transparent TPU slim case.
Adapter: AMZER USB Type-C to Micro USB Adapter to connect Nexus 5X to battery bank or to laptop.
At the end, I can say that I am quite satisfied with Nexus 5X and can recommend it to others who are looking for a good mid-ranged Android phone with good specs and great camera. It is also pretty light weight and looks good despite its plastic build. Now, I am looking forward to the popup from Google for "Android N" upgrade :).
Related posts:
Assorted collection of top utility / productivity apps for Android - Part 3
Let me know your views on Nexus 5X via comments section.
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