The Chocolate factory went all-in on one of their more interesting annual events. The speakers were tight, and the announcements flew by. We were expecting two Nexuses and boy did Google deliver.
First up, there was the Nexus 5X.
This was the second 5 inch phone made by LG (but the third Nexus they’ve manufactured, lest we forget the Nexus 4). The rumours were very much on point. We’re all specs-heavy enthusiasts here, so let’s get into it.
Nexus 5X (European model)
2G: 850/900/1800/1900 (the 850 and 1900 means you should be able to roam in the US and grab a voice connection at the absolute least
3G: 800/850/1700/1900/2100 (you’re covered on all networks in the UK)
LTE: Cat 6 300 dl/50 up bands 1(2100), 2(1900), 3(1800), 4(1700/2100), 5(850), 7(2600), 8(900), 9(1800), 17(700), 18(800), 19(800), 20(800), 26(850), 28(700), 38(2600), 40(2300), 41(2500)
Size & weight: 147.0 x 72.6 x 7.9 mm, 136g
Screen: 5.2 inches, 1920 x 1080 display at 423 ppi
Corning Gorilla Glass 3
Oleophobic coated display
Camera:
Rear camera: 12.3 MP
1.55 µm pixels
f/2.0 aperture
IR laser-assisted autofocus
4K (30 fps) video capture
Broad-spectrum CRI-90 dual flash
Front camera: 5 MP
1.4 µm pixels
f/2.0 aperture
Fast charging
2700 mAh battery
Wi-Fi: 802.11a/b/g/n/ac 2×2 MIMO, dual-band (2.4 GHz, 5.0 GHz)
Bluetooth 4.2
NFC
GPS / GLONASS
Digital compass
Sensors:
Fingerprint sensor
Accelerometer
Gyroscope
Barometer
Proximity sensor
Ambient light sensor
Hall sensor
Android Sensor Hub
Snapdragon 808 (hexacore) 1.8 GHz, 64 bit. Adreno 418 GPU
RAM: 2GB LPDDR3
16 GB or 32 GB
Colours: Carbon, Quartz, Ice
What the specs don’t reveal is that it’s actually a nice looking device, and arguably the better looking one of the pair. It’s definitely the easier one to handle compared to it’s big brother, the 6P. And no, we don’t yet know what the P stands for.
Here is the promo vid for the 5X.
https://youtu.be/QLqHZLdt_jE
Next, the Nexus 6P.
The Nexus 6P, made by Huawei, is a different beast entirely. It appears that Google took all the learnings from its previous 6 inch device and refined all of the rough edges. It’s still a bit of a beast, specs-wise, but the 6P isn’t about turning the internals up to 11. For a start, although the moniker is 6P, it’s actually a 5.7″ device. This puts it in the same sort of screen size as handsets like the Motorola X Play and Style, the Samsung Note 5 and GSSEP (Galaxy S S6 edge +…. because that isn’t an awkward name at all), the OnePlus Two and the iPhone 6S Plus, to name a few of this year’s headline devices.
Does it stack up well to them? Honestly speaking, from an objective point of view, it should. Mostly. It’s a Nexus. We love the Nexus range, but we know what they are and more importantly, what they aren’t.
Having said that, the phone looks a lot better in the flesh than it does in the renders that have been floating around.
Let’s hit up the hardware first. The first thing to bear in mind is that aircraft-grade aluminium unibody design. I’ll be honest. I’ve heard other people talk about aircraft grade, but it still doesn’t tell me exactly what that’s supposed to mean. Will it stop my phone from tearing up in mid-flight when it hits mach 3?
It looks nice, and there’s definitely a design language shift from the previous Nexus 6. Somehow this manages to look simpler and more refined. Even the Huawei logo on the back is smaller and understated. This is how Nexus branding should be done.
As for the hardware inside, Google and Huawei impressed. Barring a couple of things that haven’t made it onto either phone, namely wireless charging and Optical Image Stabilisation, both phones are packed (they’re Nexuses, they’re built to a price point, and they aren’t meant to overshadow original manufacturer devices. They are supposed to show off the OS in the best possible way).
Nexus 6P (European Model)
2G: 850/900/1800/1900
3G: 800/850/900/1700/1800/1900/2100
LTE: band 1(2100), 2(1900), 3(1800), 4(1700/2100), 5(850), 7(2600), 8(900), 9(1800), 17(700), 19(800), 20(800), 28(700), 38(2600), 39(1900), 40(2300), 41(2500)
Display: 5.7 inches, WQHD (2560 x 1440) AMOLED display at 518 ppi
16:9 aspect ratio
Gorilla Glass 4
Fingerprint and smudge-resistant oleophobic coating
3450 mAh battery with fast charge
Rear Camera: 12.3 MP
1.55 µm pixels
f/2.0 aperture
IR Laser assisted autofocus
4K (30 fps) video capture
Broad-spectrum CRI-90 dual flash
Front Camera: 8MP camera
1.4 µm pixels
f/2.4 aperture
HD video capture (30 fps)
Processors: Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 810 v2.1, 2.0 GHz Octa-core 64-bit. Adreno 430 GPU
RAM: 3 GB LPDDR4
Internal storage: 32 GB, 64 GB, or 128 GB
Size & weight: 159.3 X 77.8 X 7.3 mm, 178 g
Wi-Fi: 802.11a/b/g/n/ac 2×2 MIMO, dual-band (2.4 GHz, 5.0 GHz)
Bluetooth 4.2
NFC
GPS/GLONASS
Digital compass
Sensors:
Fingerprint sensor
Accelerometer
Gyroscope
Barometer
Proximity sensor
Ambient light sensor
Hall sensor
Android Sensor Hub
Colours: Aluminium, Graphite, Frost
Both phones use USB C and have nano SIM’s, which should be par for the course for any (yes yes, Android phones) coming out this year. I like that they’ve future-proofed the phone to allow you to transition to USB C.
Here is the promo vid for the 6P.
https://youtu.be/4cAHL4LMNlY
So what’s hot? Gosh, where to start? Maybe that Google seems to have gone mostly all-in (I say mostly – there isn’t any OIS, ‘member?) in taking imaging seriously, with building camera’s with bigger sensors. The proof will obviously be in the viewing, but it’s something we’ve seen other manufacturers such as Nokia and HTC do in the past. The cam app is quicker, with an OS level quick action now, and both phones have the fingerprint reader baked in. It’s fast to start with, but those chaps tell us it will become even faster as it recognises your fingerprint.
There’s a lot more to unpack, but we’ll get to it over the next couple of days.
Oh, one more thing. There are some free goodies that have been bundled in for both phones, namely 90 fays of Google Play Music (formerly known as All Access), and Google also finally came good with their family offering, pricing it at the same price as Apple Music for £15.
Sorry, did I forget to mention? You can order one now. Prices start at £339 for the 16GB Nexus 5X, and £379 for the 32 GB version. The Nexus 6P starts at 32 GB for its minimum spec at £449, with the 64 GB version coming in at £499 and 128 GB will set you back £579. I can’t remember the last phone that came in at £579 for 128 GB of storage on-device.
If you’re this far down then you might want to watch the whole launch event…