The little Nexus packs a sizeable punch

The Nexus line of smartphones is now in its seventh generation. Originally intended as reference models designed to herd erring OEMs in the direction of Google’s vision for the Android smartphone, the devices went beyond their remit and became wildly popular among consumers. Behind this success was a combination of quality hardware and clean software at affordable prices.

However, the previous generation of the Google-branded smartphone, the Nexus 6, departed from this formula by straying into flagship territory. This pushed the specs and consequently the price upwards and polarised opinions among Nexus enthusiasts. Hence, the seventh generation of Nexus devices will features two smartphones instead of one. The Nexus 5X, made by LG, is the smaller, cheaper variant built entirely out of plastic. Its positioning lands it squarely in the middle of what is now recognised as ‘flagship-killer’ territory, which means it is going to have a tough slog winning hearts and minds.

A couple of years ago, a fair few flagships were made of plastic. However, the transition away from polycarbonate is well and truly complete now, with most phones above the 20k-barrier featuring some combination of glass or metal. The Nexus 5X is an all-plastic affair that sticks out among its peers. But a sore thumb it most definitely is not, with its matte-finished rear, ever so slightly rounded corners and large Nexus branding taking it about as close to premium as a plastic phone can get.

The rear also features the protruding camera module and the circular Nexus Imprint fingerprint scanner, which is being touted as one of the standout features of the 5X. It worked just as fast as other fingerprint scanners in our usage, but locating it on the rear of the device gave it an extra edge in the accuracy department by allowing for more leeway in terms of finger placement.

The front of the 5X is rather like of Motorola’s current crop of handsets with dual speaker grilles. Unfortunately, just as in the Motos, two speakers does not mean stereo sound. The 5.2-inch display between the two grilles is capable of Full HD resolution and supports a pixel density of 423 ppi. The IPS panel produces rich colour and great contrast, making it ideal for multimedia and overkill for browsing.

The 5X is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 808 paired with Adreno 418 graphics, 2 GB of RAM and either 16 or 32 GB of storage space. The 808 is the slightly slower alternative to the infamously overheating 810 for high-end devices. Having spent a year in the market, its processing capabilities are well documented and the 5X springs no surprises there.

The device is capable of handling anything the Play Store can currently throw at it and can multitask effortlessly. While the amount of RAM might be a gigabyte less than the current de facto standard, it is quite hard to tell the difference unless you are simultaneously performing complex calculations on multiple spreadsheets with millions of fields.

Having said that, the 5X is let down – quite badly – by its battery. The 2700 mAh lithium-ion unit barely made it through a day’s usage during our testing. On several occasions, it gave up the ghost by evening. Our usage does tend to be on the heavier side, involving constant IMs, a couple of hours of music playback, about an hour of calling and several more of browsing with 4G always on, but even a conservative user will find the battery lacking.

The new Doze feature in Android Marshmallow which prevents battery drain on standby and the USB-C port with rapid charging somewhat mitigate this drawback.

Google’s custom implementation of quick charge takes the battery from 0 to 80 per cent in about an hour, but the fact that very few phones offer USB-C ports at this stage means that you can’t just borrow a friend’s charger and plug your Nexus in.

The 5X features a 12.3 MP rear camera with dual-LED flash and a 5MP front camera – the exact same hardware as on the higher-end 6P. The rear shooter produces sharp and vibrant images in daylight and even managed to extract a surprising amount of detail out of low-light shots. Video recording upto a resolution of 4K is also supported.

Smartphone cameras have never been particularly focused on manual control, but the imaging software on the Nexus 5X takes the concept of point and shoot to an extreme. Apart from the flash and HDR toggles and the timer, there are no other options for adjusting a shot. Thankfully, the Play Store abounds with more feature-rich camera apps.

The Nexus 5X is one of the first phones that will come with the new Marshmallow flavour of Android preloaded.

The new release of Google’s mobile operating system is less of an overhaul and more of a nip and tuck. Perhaps it is the absence of a large number of major changes that ensures that Marshmallow is just as sweet as Lollipop was.

It finally brings fine-grain permission control over from the dark side of rooted devices to the mainstream and adds the innovative new Google Now on Tap which provides context sensitive cards based on what is on the screen when it is triggered. Apart from that, there are also a few tweaks to the app launcher and notification alert system on offer.

The 5X is Google’s attempt at protecting its Nexus line from the onslaught of the new crop of flagship-killers. It also ensures that users who prefer a smaller screen aren’t left out of the fold. The specs are solid and the design is perfectly usable if unspectacular, but the Achilles heel is the battery.

The software package is the best the Android world can offer right now and the fingerprint sensor and camera further sweeten the deal.

The ₹36,000 pricetag for the 32 GB variant currently makes it impossible to recommend but this is sure to be slashed to reflect ground realities. At that point the 5X will likely make a good purchase, in conjunction with a battery pack.

Love: Fingerprint scanner, display

Hate: Battery life

Price: ₹35,990

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