Nexus 5X or Nexus 6P ?
Google has launched two new flagship smartphones, the Nexus 5X and Nexus 6P, to demonstrate what its new version of Android “Marshmallow” can do.
The two new handsets are made by Google’s long-term partner LG
and smartphone newcomer Huawei, and push the new features of
Marshmallow, including fingerprint scanners, the new Nexus camera and
Google’s improved personal assistant Now on Tap.
Andrei Popescu, an engineering director within Google’s Android team,
said: “The Nexus devices are our idea of embodiment of the perfect
Android device – a platform for application developers to show off the
new features of Marshmallow and show what Android can do.”
The 16GB Nexus 5X will cost £339 – £379 for 32GB of storage – and
replaces the now two-year-old Nexus 5. It will be available on 16
October in the UK.
The Huawei Nexus 6P is the Chinese manufacturer’s first Google Nexus device, having made Android smartphones for several years under both the Huawei and Honor brands.
The Nexus 6P features a 5.7in 2K AMOLED screen with a pixel density
of 518ppi, rivalling that of Samsung’s Note 5, which is protected by the
latest Gorilla Glass 4, as featured on Samsung’s Galaxy S6 range of
smartphones. The Huawei smartphone features the Qualcomm Snapdragon 810
octo-core processor, 3GB of RAM and a choice of 32, 64 or 128GB of
storage in an aluminium unibody shell available in silver, black and
white.
What's the same?
Well, quite a lot. Let's start with the rear-mounted fingerprint sensor that uses what Google calls Imprint and will let you quickly unlock your phone, but will additionally offer access to photos, emails and a series of third party apps that Google has yet to announce. Crucially, it'll also let you make mobile payments iPhone-style using Google's Android Pay platform, but that's currently only available in the US.You'll have to dump your old micro USB chargers as well as both phones have upgraded to the same USB Type-C charging method that we've already seen on the new MacBook and on the OnePlus 2. If you want to know about the benefits of Type-C, you should give our USB Type-C feature a read.
We shouldn't of course forget Android. This is undeniably what sets the Nexus phones apart from other Android phones. Both will run on stock Android 6.0 Marshmallow giving you access to new features like Google Now on Tap, the power-saving Doze mode among other things.
Two phones with two different design approaches
Last year, Google somewhat surprisingly decided to launch a new Nexus phone with Motorola.
With the success of great value handsets like the Moto G
and the Moto E, we fully anticipated that it would follow in its budget
footsteps, but it didn't really work out like that. The Nexus 6 was
about as far away as you could get from the LG-built Nexus 5.
As you'll know from our Nexus 6 review, we weren't the biggest fans of the hard to hold handset that also did not come cheap.
Thankfully, Google has changed its tune this year swapping Motorola for Huawei to build its Note 5 and iPhone 6S Plus rival.
Huawei
has proved that it's finally capable of wrapping powerful,
feature-packed smartphones into a desirable body and it's more of the
same with the Nexus 6P as Huawei opts for an all-metal aluminium design.
For
the Nexus 5X, LG is back on board and it's sticking to a very similar
look it adopted for the Nexus phone that launched back in 2013. There's
the same matte black body with a new soft touch plastic finnish on the
back.
Forward-facing stereo speakers have been added and it's
bigger than the Nexus 5. But it's still going to be significantly easier
to use in ne hand than the 6P will be, that's for sure.
Full HD or QHD?
So
the Nexus 5X is packing a Nexus 5-matching 5.2-inch screen. The Nexus
6P features a 5.7-inch display putting in the same realms as handsets
like the Note 5 and offering more screen estate than phones like the OnePlus 2.
Aside from the obvious size difference, it's resolution that really separates the two handsets in this display department.
It's
more of the same Full HD goodness with the 5X with Gorilla Glass 3
adding a layer of protection. The 424 ppi pixel density should ensure
it's sharper than its predecessor. The larger 6P follows the Nexus 6
with a QHD resolution display matching Samsung and LG's flagship phones.
This
time though, it's crammed into a smaller body, so should mean improved
sharpness and overall performance. It's an AMOLED panel as well with the
5X sticking with a LCD display, so the 6P should be a more fitting
place to watching films and offering superior contrast and black levels.
Bigger phone means more power
It should come as no surprise that the 6P, with its more power-hungry display should require a little more under the hood than the 5X. The Huawei-built handset is going with the 64-bit Snapdragon 810, but not the troublesome one found inside the Xperia Z3. Instead, it'll be the 2.1 version powering the OnePlus 2's performance.That's backed up a generous 3GB RAM, which should be the more than adequate to keep things running nice and slick.
The 5X will be no slouch either moving to a Snapdragon 808 processor (the same one that power the LG G4) with 2GB RAM and a new Adreno 418 GPU. This is another Qualcomm 64-bit chipset that relies on six cores as opposed to the eight cores used in the 810.
Ultimately, both appear well equipped and with the addition of stock Android, should be great to use.
Bigger Nexus means more storage options
First
of all, there's no micro SD card support for either phones, so you'll
need to pick carefully depending on how much you like to hoard on the
handset if you're not a fan of cloud storage.
The Nexus 6P offers
three storage options coming in 32, 64 and 128GB variants. The 5X will
be offered in 16GB and 32GB versions. Jumping up to those larger storage
options will inevitably cost you more and here's a breakdown of the
Nexus 6X an 5X pricing we have so far for the UK and US. We'll update when we know more.
Nexus 5X UK pricing and storage options
16GB - £339
32GB - £TBC
Nexus 6P UK pricing and storage options
32GB - £449
64GB - £499
128GB - £579
Review Video Google Nexus 5X And Nexus 6P