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  • 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!
  • vFunct - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    How can anyone take any smartphone with 8 cores seriously?

    It really does represent the worst in marketing - a big number that's completely useless because of software doesn't use more than one core at a time.

    Apple really is raping Android in this area, and it affects usability directly. People are complaining about the state of Javascript on Android devices being stuck in 2011, because of the slow CPUs in Android phones.
  • Drumsticks - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    You should really check out Anandtech's article analyzing multi-core usage on Android:http://www.anandtech.com/show/9518/the-mobile-cpu-...
  • neo_1221 - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    While it's true that not a lot of software (currently) uses more than 4 cores, saying it doesn't use more than one core at a time is completely false.

    http://www.anandtech.com/show/9518/the-mobile-cpu-...
  • vFunct - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    Javascript web apps rarely use multi cores. The bigger issue is the weakness of these Android cores. Single cores are important for responsiveness, as single threads usually control the UI event handlers. This is why so many developers are complaining about Javascript performance in their web apps. This is why you see massive performance gains on the Javascript benchmarks here.
  • vFunct - Tuesday, November 10, 2015 - link

    > This is why you see massive performance gains on the Javascript benchmarks here.

    by Apple devices
  • LoneWolf15 - Friday, November 13, 2015 - link

    Only the Snapdragon 808 has six cores, not eight. The 810 has 8 cores.

    And due to the big.LITTLE design, not all cores are simultaneous. There's a set of heavy duty cores, and a set of lighter-duty battery saving cores. I would suggest reading up on Qualcomm's architecture.
  • Sonic12040 - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    Great review! I hope a review of the BlackBerry Priv is coming, because the reviews are so mixed that one at the anandtech level of depth would be a great deciding factor for the phone!
  • Esko747 - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    The part on sustained performance is quite insane really. 2 minutes unthrottled?
  • Tom Womack - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    What on Earth are you doing on a phone that runs it flat-out for two whole minutes?

    Enable ad-blocking so your browsing experience does not include running arbitrary Javascript from anywhere on the planet, and if your phone still throttles, complain to your software provider.
  • NeoteriX - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    Well, there are games for one thing...
  • Stuka87 - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    You must not game on your phone much...
  • Drumsticks - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    I have a 6P and I actually don't have any complaints with it so far - it doesn't get as hot as you'd expect, although there's probably throttling going on.

    But Qualcomm really f-ed up royally with the Snapdragon 810 and 808. The 6P and 5X are awesome devices, but they could be so much more with SoCs that weren't sucky.

    I wish Intel had managed to somehow capitalize on Qualcomm's horrible year. We need a market with two real SoC competitors, in more than just China/Asia (not sure how big mediatek is in Europe). The 820 better be worth the wait.

    @Anandtech this review was awesome, thanks. Did I read right somewhere that they didn't send you a 6P? :(
  • Ryan Smith - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    "Did I read right somewhere that they didn't send you a 6P?"

    We have a 6P now, though the date for that review has not yet been scheduled.
  • Drumsticks - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    Awesome! Always good to hear.
  • zeeBomb - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    That's awesome! We got the 6P In the house!
  • amdwilliam1985 - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    that sounds great, patiently waiting for the 6P review.
  • twizzlebizzle22 - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    I have a 6P and while I don't game. I've never noticed it get slow or too hot which isn't what I expected.

    When I run geekbench from cold I manage around 1400/4300.

    When I browse chrome, reddit, YouTube and multitask for 20 mins then do a run it dropped to 1100/3800.

    Once I ran geekbench 5-6 times it seemed to settle about 800/3100.

    So normal use doesn't seem to make it throttle too much for me and even when it does massively it still matches my Nexus 5s top scores.
  • tipoo - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    This is why I'm enticed by rumors that Google wants to make SoCs.
  • CoreyWat - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    Wow, still no Moto X review
  • DanNeely - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    Wow. There're more phones (or tablets, or laptops, or etc) than any one site can review if it wants to do in depth reviews instead of 1 or 2 day quick looks.
  • kspirit - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    Really impatiently waiting for an AT review of Moto X. It's either this or Moto X for me and I will *not* buy until I've got two AT reviews to compare.
  • hans_ober - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    I'd go with the 5X :)

    Main 'Nexus' concerns I've always had were camera and battery - which google has sorted out this time with the 5X.
  • 3DoubleD - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    Thankfully, I did not wait for Anandtech to review the Moto X Play, I just bought it.

    While I can't offer nearly the review dept of Anandtech, it is plenty fast for everything I've used it for (3D games, multitasking, browsing, ect.). It is a great phone. Similar price the the Nexus (although anecdote-ally, mine was cheaper at $399 - $50 Visa card - value of a 2nd Quick Charge charger - plus I didn't have to pay up front). The battery life is just unparalleled. Display looks great in all conditions. Good hand feel, but I got a case because I'm reckless sometimes. Call quality is excellent. Front speaker is plenty loud. Camera is OK, good in light, passable in low light. Motorola updates Android slightly slower than the Nexus phones, but barely. Android is stock. Has an microSD slot. Wifi reception is great in my experience. Does NOT have a notification LED, but has the low power on screen notification system that works fine (although deep down I slightly miss the LED).

    Mainly, compared to the Nexus 5X you are sacrificing the slightest amount of real world SoC performance for more battery life and an SD card slot. The screen on the Moto X Play is also slightly bigger. Either way, you'd probably be happy.
  • 3DoubleD - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    I should add that you also forgo the fingerprint scanner with the Moto X Play versus the Nexus 5X. The importance of this feature depends whether you think mobile phone payment will catch on where you live. I would be incredibly surprised if it was widely adopted where I live (Canada) over the next 2 years.
  • Bob Todd - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    The fingerprint scanner becomes a sanity saving mechanism when you have unlocked your gadget for the billionth time and realize you are totally sick of doing so. Why would you think it is only important to payments? Integration with password software is also huge. I logged into this site with my fingerprint...
  • erple2 - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    This! I think that the fingerprint sensor is going to become a defacto replacement for entering your password in to your phone (for better or worse), but I'm all for it. Entering a 15 digit password with upper/lower case, numbers and special characters is a pain on a smartphone. If that can be circumvented with the (admittedly great) fingerprint sensor (I have a 5X), then I'm all for it.
  • Bob Todd - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    Most people that think they aren't a big deal usually haven't gotten to use a good one for any extended amount of time. I had one of the first Android devices with a fingerprint sensor (Motorola Atrix). That sensor was garbage compared to what's available today and I wouldn't pay an extra penny to have one like that included on a phone. Sensors like what Apple has been putting out or what's in these Nexus devices? They are absolutely one of the biggest changes to the entire user experience for anyone who is on their phone for whatever reason throughout the day. I'd easily pay over $100 just for a good fingerprint sensor. I contemplated a Moto X Pure but just couldn't do it because of that omission alone. My work phones were iPhones, and when I got my iPhone 6 it made me loathe anything on my personal phone that required a PIN or password. I could never go back to a phone without some kind of streamlined biometric login.
  • twizzlebizzle22 - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    Not sure on the test but my Nexus 6P NAND seems pretty quick when running androbench. Even for an encrypted device.
  • Glock24 - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    It does not seem like a good value, especially considering the limited storage options and no SD slot. 2GB RAM seem limited too.
  • Bob Todd - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    I think the biggest problem with this phone is that it doesn't seem like a good value compared to the 6P. Google made it really hard to choose the 5X.

    The "small" Nexus is still large at 5.2". They need more than half an inch separating the phones. This one should have been 4.7".

    There's only a $70 difference for equivalent capacities. Which is really about $60 when you realize the 5X doesn't come with an A-> C cable but the 6P does.

    The 6P has great front facing stereo speakers. The 6P has a more capable camera system (e.g. burst and 240fps slow motion). The 6P has a premium build. The 6P has 3GB of RAM. The 6P has a higher resolution display (I think over 1080p is overkill on a phone, but it impacts the BOM). The 6P has the (theoretically) better SOC. The list goes on.

    You are giving up a lot for a small price advantage, at least based on US prices. If the "small" Nexus was actually reasonably compact I think it would fill a more important niche. With both being big ass phones, the decision to go for the 6P was easy to make.
  • amdwilliam1985 - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    same here, I was originally opt for the 5x, but after seeing them side by side, they're both large phones. I've decided to go for 6P, pretty much for all the reasons you've listed above.
  • jabber - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    Only major problem with the Nexus 4 was the over the top compression and noise on the camera. Mine is still going strong as my Dad's new phone. Still goes over a day on a charge after three years. Doesn't lag or stutter. One of the most stylish phones too.
  • zeeBomb - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    Totally agree. I still have mine, and as I revisit it it is still good as new. N4 is IMO googles best device...

    But that's debatable.
  • erple2 - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    I still have mine, but it auto-powers off every time I power it on (gets to the home screen, then says "powering off device"). I liked that device a lot, though I have to say the feel of the black Nexus 5 is my favorite phone currently - the "perfect" size.
  • zeeBomb - Tuesday, November 10, 2015 - link

    Empty battery? xP
  • Bob Todd - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    I liked my N4 a lot, but the only way it lasts over a day is with the screen off and almost no usgae. The battery life sucked even when it came out. I too used it as a handmedown device for relatives. Just sold it recently before its value could tank when I was confident it wasn't getting Marshmallow .
  • tipoo - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    I wouldn't mind that with new guts shoved into it at all. New camera/more power frugal SoC.
  • Klug4Pres - Friday, November 13, 2015 - link

    I liked my N4, but I did have some major issues with it.

    Battery life was bad; the camera was terrible, because e.g. it missed focus every time indoors; no SD, no removable battery (won't ever tire of mentioning this); build quality felt a bit suspect - the digitizer failed for example, luckily still in warranty; glass back too fragile; software updates were too buggy.

    The big things in its favour were the price/performance ratio and the fact it at least got updates, buggy or not.
  • hans_ober - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    Great work on the review!

    The S800 vs S801 vs S808 was something I was looking forward to, as it seemed that throttling seems to shut down A57s in most cases, so it's A53 vs Krait.

    Could you also add a similar graph for the Exynos 7420?
    S810/808 throttle a lot, but having used the S6 / Note5; I can tell by how hot they get, Samsung is keeping the A57s running for longer.

    Yeah, the S6/Note5 run hotter than any S810 device I've used.
  • Maxpower2727 - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    Interesting. My Note 5 barely even gets warm no matter what I do.
  • konondrum - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    I've had my s6 for about 2 months now, and I've never noticed it getting warm at all.
  • hans_ober - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    Btw about charging:

    QC 2.0 uses higher voltages, while USB 2.0 + Power Delivery uses 5V @ higher current.
  • zeeBomb - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    So uh...which is better? Which has a lesser chance of catching on fire :p
  • Pissedoffyouth - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    voltage. That's why electric fences are like 30,000v and have thin wires. If you have high amperage you get more resistance, so need thicker wires
  • zeeBomb - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    Ah. Talk about learning something new everyday! I see. Thanks you two!
  • DanNeely - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    USB 3 power delivery offers the best of both worlds. You have 1, 3, and 5Amp options at 5, 12, or 20V. The 12V option is roughly equivalent to earlier quick charge standards and is something that should be relatively easy for desktop PCs to support (since the mobo most runs on 12V anyway); with 20V being intended for laptop chargers; but who knows what will happen over the next few years.

    Qualcom's newest generation of quick chargers support a wide variety of intermediate voltages; with the intent of best tuning the power delivered to what the battery can still take as it approaches full capacity. In the real world I'm not sure how much, if anything, this offers over a conventional high voltage/amperage charger.
  • ciderrules - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    Interesting that iPhones have had hardware encryption since way back on the 3GS yet it still hasn't seen adoption by Android device makers, some 6 years later. I'm curious, is there any Android phone with a hardware encryption module? It's not something you see talked about, outside of Anandtech.
  • zeeBomb - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    Good question actually...maybe there are a few out there that isn't high end with it.
  • DanNeely - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    Doubtful. If Qualcom and Samsung aren't including hardware crypto, I'd be shocked if anyone else is. The various Chinese arm makers are all competing at the end of the market where even a few cents for an extra IP block is a non-trivial concern because it's a significant chunk of their profit margin.
  • tipoo - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    Did they have full disk encryption back to the 3GS? For some reason I thought it came with the 64 bit move.
  • Brandon Chester - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    Introduced with 3GS. Came way before the 64 bit transition.
  • NeoteriX - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    The Snapdragons have hardware encryption, it's just not used/enabled. Perhaps for stability reasons: http://nelenkov.blogspot.com/2015/05/hardware-acce...
  • danbob999 - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    As always, Anandtech has the best reviews.
  • umrdyldo - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    What software is used for NAND performance? I have encryption turned off on 5x and what to see if it actually helped. It feels faster but that doesn't mean anything.
  • Brandon Chester - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    We use AndroBench 3.6 and test 4K and 256K accesses. The default settings and multiple IO threads in AndroBench 4 are painfully unrepresentative of what happens with eMMC storage in the real world.
  • umrdyldo - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    Androbench 4.1 show Seq Read 241 MB/s, Seq Write 60 MB/s - and double on Random Read Write. This is without encryption on the 5X. Not sure if you could run it to compare.
  • zeeBomb - Tuesday, November 10, 2015 - link

    How'd you disable it? Custom ROM or something?
  • umrdyldo - Tuesday, November 10, 2015 - link

    Skipsoft Toolkit. Basically run through the rooting process and it allows you to unlock bootloader and reinstall 6.0 without encryption.
  • lmc5b - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    This may be a silly question but are hardware encryption modules that expensive? I really wonder if this is a result of the lower pricetag or if it is just the usual lack of atention to detail present in most android phones.
  • Witness95 - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    Will we see a Moto X Pure review? I want to see how it fares in performance and display compared to the 5x.
  • Gunbuster - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    Dear Microsoft, this is where your Lumia 950 pricing needs to be for you to stand a chance...
  • casteve - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    How's the display's readability on a bright day?
  • danbob999 - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    good, since the brightness is high
  • casteve - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    How about feedback from someone that has the phone? :)
  • danbob999 - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    I do
  • Maxpower2727 - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    It's notable that most mainstream reviewers have discussed the display of the 5X with an overall "meh" tone, whereas this review shows that it's amazingly well calibrated and is nothing but effusive in its praise of it. It really demonstrates how extensively people have gotten used to using AMOLED displays with their punchy colors, and even an excellently-calibrated IPS display just looks kind of dull and lifeless by comparison.
  • tipoo - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    Yeah, I think mainstream reviewers confuse accurate with boring.
  • SeannyB - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    It's accurate to a standard that's archaic in the age of extended-gamut LCD and OLED. The problem lies in Android's lack of color management features, thus forcing conformity to the defacto sRGB standard. OLED's extended gamut especially could be beautiful instead of garish if only the OS was color-aware.
  • tuxRoller - Wednesday, November 11, 2015 - link

    You realize ios doesn't (seem) to have color management either?
    It's really too bad that the android folks are so gpl averse, since there's some great cms out there.
  • yankeeDDL - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    I am debating getting a 5X vs a OnePlus X.
    I am looking forward to see ow those would compare.
  • zeeBomb - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    Same! I'm kinda in that position as well. Maybe a Z5 premium review would be cool too.
  • Bob Todd - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    As someone with 3 OnePlus Ones in his household, I'd tell you to run like hell toward the Nexus. The software situation is kind of a disaster for OnePlus. Fun bugs like this one where your phone won't really work as a phone for lots of users in VoLTE markets (no cellular when connected to WiFi) that go unfixed for months on end.

    https://jira.cyanogenmod.org/plugins/servlet/mobil...

    The issue affects all 5.x radios so OxygenOS is impacted too. Then there's crap like them not fixing the Google Play Services battery drain bug in other patches even though it was a 10 minute fix in framework-res. It wasn't hard to ignore my invite for the OnePlus Two.
  • yankeeDDL - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    I owe a Nexus4 and a Nexus5. Both in service and without an issue for 3 and 2 years respectively.
    The Nexus5 battery is starting to show signs of aging (I do still get 1 full day without charging if I limit the use, but I need to watch it).
    I decided to buy a new one, but the thought of getting a new, better phone, is appealing. I owe the N5 32GB. It baffles me how there are still phones around with 8/16GB, as 32GB feels definitely tight. I guess it depends on the use one does of it, but my photos folder easily goes to 6~8GB in few weeks. Add to this 10GB of music, and there's little space for videos, games and what not. So the OnePlus X with a nice 128GB SD card sees extremely attractive, especially at that price point, using an 801 which does not overheat and does not drain the battery, and a decent size screen.
    If it was a Nexus, I would not think twice. But it isn't, hence I looked forward to the N5X.
    Problems: only 32GB and in Europe, it is priced at 529eur. That's 570usd. Seriously? Unfortunately, yes. The OnePlus X is nearly half of it (supposedly) and it has an SD card and a larger battery and a slightly smaller screen (a plus, in my opinion). The camera will likely not be up to that of the N5X, but still, I have a real camera when I want to take "nice" photos. To "capture the moment", I'm OK with the N5 so, I suppose, I'd be OK with the One+X.

    Thanks for the feedback on One+: I do have some colleagues who have it and they did not seem t have any major problem.
  • UtilityMax - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    My OnePlus One has been working great, though I have to say I never bothered to upgrade from the original ROM it shipped with some time in March.
  • UtilityMax - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    Based on reviews I have seen, OnePlus X suffers from the same shorter (not 5X though) battery life, heat and throttle issues as any other device using the current crop of the 64-bit Snapdargon SoCs. I have heard from a bunch of people already that they'd rather hang onto their old phones than buy the ones with the current 64-bit Snapdragon SoCs. I have one OnePlus One phone in the family, and I have to agree with them. The One is still a fantastic phone, and you can buy the 64GB version for $300 in the USA, no invites necessary.

    If you do want to buy one of those two, OnePlus X seems like a nice deal on paper, in the sense that all specs look slightly better.
  • UtilityMax - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    Err.. sorry, I was talking about OnePlus 2 above. The OnePlus X is an excellent smart phone, but unfortunately it lacks the bands for optimal LTE service in the USA.
  • DukeN - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    Good job as always not giving two fucks about non-Apple devices Anandtech.

    Apple devices - reviews on the first day of release/reveal.

    Anything else - we'll get around to it (This is like five weeks after the first reveal). And uh, maybe should have reviewed the 6P which is probably the best handset around?

    No wonder this place is in the toilet relative to a few years back.
  • Brandon Chester - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    The iPhone 6s was released on Sept 25, our review went up on Nov 2. The Nexus 5X was released on Sept 29, and this review has gone up on Nov 9. Accounting for the fact that we don't publish on weekends the gap was the same. I don't see how we give preference to Apple devices at all.

    Furthermore, I received the 5X well after other publications did, and Google didn't send a 6P along with it. We just sourced one from Huawei and so that review will take some time to do properly. Google's lack of organization in getting press hardware and software in a timely manner is why, for example, I can have an iOS review done for launch day but not an Android Marshmallow one.

    Also, if you're going talk about things a few years back I suggest you look at how long the HTC One M7 review took. Doing things right takes time, and there are lots of other places to get a 24 hour review.
  • trekinator - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    Thanks Brandon. Most of us appreciate the time it takes to do things right.
  • bw13121 - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    I'll second that. Fantastic quality and in depth review. There are those of us who do appreciate the quality and technical depth of your reviews, as most reviews are that light on detail they are useless!
  • tipoo - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    "I reject your reality and substitute my own!"
    -Duke
  • NeoteriX - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    Your thoughtful reply is appreciated, but don't let the idiots get under your skin; his rant isn't even factually accurate and doesn't deserve anyone's wasted time.
  • UtilityMax - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    You're doing a good job.
  • doggface - Tuesday, November 10, 2015 - link

    Take as long as you need for the great reviews you produce.

    This is a great review. What an awesome calibration on that screen. Definitely above standard for a mid-range device.

    If my N5 wasn't still brilliant I might even buy one.
  • timbo24 - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    Do you know how to read or use a computer? The 6s and 6s+ review JUST came out, what the hell are you talking about?
  • melgross - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    You're just another Android nerd. Most of us here, whatever OS we use, understand that Anandtech takes its time. We got a short preliminary look at the iPhone 6s, and then waited some time for the full review. What's the problem? I'd bet that if the iPhone review wasn't out yet, you would have said nothing.
  • zeeBomb - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    Bro. Let me get this straight with you. Longer time with a device >>> 1 week usage time and review, cause you CAN actually experience the device a lot better than rushing one out and make a review seem totally biased.
  • garbagedisposal - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    Duke N had made it clear that he is indeed a simple minded, rabid individual asking to be banned.
  • pogostick - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    I guess nobody cares if the sensors work worth a damn. I have yet to see a review that mentions them, although I returned two 5X's because both of them had wildly inaccurate compasses. You could get them to calibrate better by waving them around a bit, but they would lose that calibration after a reboot. Service rep indirectly indicated that this issue was widespread.
  • zeeBomb - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    Chester did a little QnA on his twitter regarding on the phone. I mean, you coulda asked him there.
  • pogostick - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    Yes, it's my fault.
  • phoenix_rizzen - Monday, December 21, 2015 - link

    Yes, because everybody knows you should automatically check someone's Twitter feed after reading a multi-page review of a phone, to check for anything that was skipped in the review. :roll-eyes:
  • thesloth - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    A nice device (and review!). Just a shame that Google have shafted us on price in the UK. £339 inc VAT! I can get a 32GB Galaxy S6 for that price on Amazon!
  • lilietto23 - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    Here in Italy is 479€ on the official Google store... for that price I can't even consider it.
  • Shadowmaster625 - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    I applaud google for releasing something in this price segemnt. But come on! What reason is there to buy this over a used nexus 5 for a fraction of the price?
  • zeeBomb - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    175...whew!
  • tipoo - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    Battery life, camera, screen, future support...
  • danbob999 - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    I don't think anyone would switch from a Nexus 5 to 5x because of the screen. The old one gets the job done. But I agree with your 3 other points.
  • Bob Todd - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    Comparing used to new anything is obviously going to make the new 'thing' look bad from a price perspective. I'd honestly pay that difference for the fingerprint sensor alone. The N5 camera was only 'good' compared to the N4, and battery life was barely adequate. I'd spend the extra money for a 32GB 5X over a 32GB (new) 6. There have been mentions in these threads about the "best" Nexus phone ever made. I'd say the 6 makes a strong case for the worst Nexus phone ever made. I'm not really against premium priced Nexus devices, but it better be as good as other premium priced flagships. Terrible battery life and crap displays need not apply.
  • LiviuTM - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    I think it lack of OIS is also due to physical limitations. A 2.3" sensor is pretty big for a phone, adding OIS would have probably made camera module bulkier.
    even without OIS, the lens is more protruded than Nexus 5's, if you look closely,.
  • syxbit - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    I'm really glad this review took a serious look at many low level design decisions.
    Many other reviews simply praised the 5X. The screen, fingerprint reader and camera are fantastic. Battery life seems good, as is the form factor and price. However, Qualcomm completely screwed the pooch in 2015. I'm glad that's duly noted.
    No hardware encryption is a real shame, as is the lack of UFS 2.0, USB 3.0 and OIS. At this pricepoint, it's possibly acceptable. But if Google is really supposed to be raising the bar, and teach other OEMs how to build a phone, they've missing a few things.

    And that's why the Nexus 5 was Google's best ever nexus. Qualcomm was on top of the world with the SD800, and lack of encryption meant the storage performance and battery problems associated with it didn't exist. Two years have not brought the advancement they should have.

    Many of these problems are acceptable at this price point, but I'm less forgiving at the N6P price point. The sad state of Android right now is that despite the hundreds of hardware options, if you want pure Android, you have about as many options as an iPhone buyer.....

    I bought the N6P because there are no other compelling Android devices. Don't get me wrong, I'm very happy with it. But I'd much rather have an Android phone with Apple's SoC and hardware encryption, Samsung's UFS storage and Sony's battery life.
  • zeeBomb - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    UFS 2.0 is totally new NAND though. While its still a relatively new addition to flash storage devices, I can see more devices other than Samsung using it in the future.
  • sci2 - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    I agree with your last points - It's why I imported a Sony Z5 (to the US). Nearly stock Android, waterproof, expandable storage, excellent battery life and camera. Basically, what in my mind, the 5x should have been. Three weeks in and I'm loving it. My (absolutely terrible) S6 is waiting for a new home on craigslist.
  • konondrum - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    Why do you not like your s6? It's certainly the best phone I've ever owned. My biggest complaint is the fingerprint scanner isn't as reliable as it should be. I'm somewhat hopeful that an update to the Marshmallow API will help, but I'm not counting on it. Otherwise, once I installed the Google Now launcher (TouchWiz is still gaudier than even iOS) it's been very smooth sailing for me.
  • MykeM - Wednesday, November 11, 2015 - link

    What would you want the slower UFS 2.0 instead of the iPhone 6s' NVMe/PCIe storage solution.
  • melgross - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    One thing I disagree with in the camera testing is that if HDR+ is going to be shown for a model, then it's required that HDR be tested for every other phone that's being compared to it. And where is the Galaxy S6 in most of these tests? That much closer to this than the Note 5.
  • Brandon Chester - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    The SoC in the Note 5 behaves the same as the S6, and I specifically added the S6 into the battery charts.
  • blahsaysblah - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    I noticed that they moved the power and charging port both to the bottom.

    Did you have any issues with that configuration?

    Android on Nexus didn't support landscape mode for longest time in non-tablet mode(i think it was re-introduced to Nexus phones in 5.0). It still doesn't support upside down mode. I can understand a little because microphone/speaker placement. It would still be better if it forced/switched to right side up when calls came in and let you use apps with phone upside down until necessary.

    Any issues with all cables on bottom?
  • Brandon Chester - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    I'm pretty used to having all the cables on the bottom of a phone at this point so it never posed an issue.
  • LoneWolf15 - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    Every review I've read so far convinced me to buy a Nexus. Only it was a slightly used Nexus 6.

    The Nexus 5X and 6P lack wireless charging (and I already have a Qi charger). They lack Quick Charge/Turbo Charging, which the 6 has. The 5X lacks 3GB of RAM, and the big battery I was hoping they would have (I honestly wanted a phone the size of the 5X, but I can't have everything). And I could save over $100 buying a slightly used 32GB 6 over a 32GB (I don't even know why they released a 16GB) Nexus 5X. The only thing I don't get is a fingerprint reader.

    I wanted a phone the size of a 5X, but with more features, and that wasn't an option. And the 6P wasn't really what I wanted either. The closest to what I wanted would be the Moto X Pure, which doesn't offer me the updating schema of the Nexus brand. I continue to wait for the ultimate Nexus in a 5.2-5.5" display I can use one-handed, but I'm not holding my breath.
  • danbob999 - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    even without official quick charge support, charge is quick, read the review.
  • zeeBomb - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    But take into account that imo Motorola is the fastest of getting new updates of android after Google. Though some points you said are true, like I'd be nice if we saw a 32GB Nexus with 3GB RAM and what not, but sadly it isn't the case.

    At least, it's finally a generation where a person can choose which route they can go to, without too many compromises of the significant other.
  • Bob Todd - Tuesday, November 10, 2015 - link

    You'd also get terrible battery life and a crap display with the 6. Those two things along with the fingerprint sensor are pretty big deals in a gadget you will probably use more than any other.
  • flashbacck - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    Thanks for the review. Timely for me because I'm considering the Nexus 5x now! It's crazy to me that we're in a world where a Samsung Galaxy S phone is "small" compared to other flagship phones.

    Btw, do you guys bother checking for benchmark cheating these days?
  • Brandon Chester - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    We use renamed benchmarks so the OEMs would have to be scanning for specific chunks of code in memory. Google never cheated in benchmarks anyway.
  • Buk Lau - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    Brandon, when you are charging with the various fast charging blocks, did you happen to measure the voltage and it's pulling? since all quick chargers don't supply above 2A, to match the same 15W from the stock charger you'd assume it's supplying a higher voltage right? It would be a very interesting test to see how much the type C port is actually pulling from each charger
  • tipoo - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    This is either an interesting flip flop or an eventual convergence depending on how you look at it. Historically there was a lot of Android going "look, specs!" with Apple not focusing on top tier performance, but rather good cameras, screens, materials, etc. Then they started getting real serious about SoCs around the 4S. Now it's Apple constantly shipping top tier SoCs, with Google now being the one with modest performance, but now selling the Nexus 5X on the good camera, screen, overall experience, etc.

    Just random thinkin's.
  • dmacfour - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    Apple not focused on top tier performance? Did you read the 6s reviews? iPhones blow everything out of the water.
  • dmacfour - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    Disregard. Where's the "delete comment" button?
  • FoRealz - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    I was able to hit 866Mbps on my girlfriend's 5X using a TP-Link Archer C8. So maybe there was just a bug?
  • Brandon Chester - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    This is a measurement of a real world data rate, not the theoretical maximum that gets reported. You will never get 866Mbps on a 2x2 802.11ac device, that's the absolute maximum theoretical possible speed.
  • tipoo - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    This review just adds to my hope that the rumors of Google getting into the SoC buisness are true. Good phone, but the Snapdragons drop the ball.
  • zeeBomb - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    Can't wait. Man, it'll be so optimized you already know!
  • bw13121 - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    Great review, and brutally honest! I have the IPhone 6S and bought the 5X because I wanted to give it a go to see if I could live with it and save a little bit of money selling my Iphone....how wrong was I...

    Felt so cheap in comparison, identical applications are not smooth and either stutter or lag and the gap in quality applications including both the range and the styling of them is astonishing..

    Apple have the perfect mix right now, wonderfully and tightly vertically integrated hardware and software, immensely powerful and efficient SoC, best developed applications and revenue streams and well built phones. What does Android have what can compete..

    A point regarding the 5X, with the fingerprint sensor not having sapphire on the surface, will normal use degrade the sensor quick than Apple's TouchID system?
  • zeeBomb - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    Damn dude...really? From iPhone to Nexus? Other than the ecosystem, a iPhone to Samsung Transition would have suited you much more nicely.
  • bw13121 - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    I've had loads of Samsung's in the past. Galaxy S5 being my last- quite a good phone. However, I found lag, badly designed and jittery applications and cartoony touch lag. A better Nexus device would include the Samsung Exynos 7420, that would be pretty good! Then again, the Apple A9 matches that 8 cores with it's two- Chip efficiency and design wins!
  • zeeBomb - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    I think OEMS should take into consideration of using and utilizing their chipsets. The only other OEM that does this is Meizu, and the Meizu Pro 5 is already being a beast in benchmarks.

    When google starts making their chipsets, and making them optimized under their interactive govenor, I think the performance of those will be really good!
  • UtilityMax - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    Apple has the smartphone and tablet market cornered. They really make great devices and android is still catching up.
  • grayson_carr - Tuesday, November 10, 2015 - link

    The 5X is half the price of the iPhone 6S! Of course the 6S is better! Buy a Nexus 6P or Note 5 if you want an Android phones that compares more favorably.
  • Lavkesh - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    Is full disk encryption enabled by default on Nexus 5 when upgraded to Marshmallow? My Nexus 5 has started seeing stutters after the upgrade especially when browsing using Chrome. The scrolling for busy/heavy web pages is a mess. That said I still love my Nexus 5 and to me it is still the best Nexus phone released by Google.
  • zeeBomb - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    If Encryption Standard (AES) crypto performance above 50MiB (which the Nexus 5 probably hits) then FDE is enabled...why not and check?
  • Brandon Chester - Tuesday, November 10, 2015 - link

    You can check in the settings app, but it will not automatically encrypt the disk when upgrading.
  • UtilityMax - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    After having already seen a bunch of underwhelming reviews of the current crop of devices with Qualcomm's new 64-bit SoCs, I really do have a feeling that if you already have a fine previous generation smartphone, it may be a good idea to skip the upgrade this year or wait until Snapdragon 820 devices hit the market.
  • zeeBomb - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    But then... There's people like me, who are rather torn to what to get in this gen lol...
  • UtilityMax - Tuesday, November 10, 2015 - link

    Well then, this review must have been really disappointing to people like you. Personally, I still really like the OnePlus One. In the US, the price has dropped to $300 for the 64GB version, an incredibly good deal for a great smartphone. If you want something fancier, than OnePlus Two is your phone, which on paper beats Nexus 5X in many areas while costing like the base 16GB Nexus, but you will have to wait for an invite.
  • geedavey - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    I'm sick and tired of "smartphones" that fail to meet their primary objective--to be a phone. My old Samsung had a weak speaker and a tinny, artificial sound, and almost all the phones I've looked at have had poor loudness. I use my phone on speaker in a noisy environment, and I expect my phone to be loud enough to hear and still have volume to spare. Now this phone has " poor quality, with pretty obvious distortion and a generally muffled output?" I'll pass.
  • Vinyl Murali - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    Try the Priv
  • Bob Todd - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    The 6P gets stupid loud (think room filling) with media and generally sounds excellent with front facing stereo speakers. I haven't cranked up the speakerphone but I'll give that a try.
  • Vinyl Murali - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    Still prefer the BlackBerry Priv over the 5X. More expensive but don't mind since I'm a photo junkie. Read and saw some amazing pictures taken from the Priv.
  • Bob Todd - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    Surprising since the only reviews I've read of the Priv have panned the camera and both of the Nexus devices have some of the best smartphone cameras on the market.
  • StormyParis - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    I'm wondering if Google shouldn't rather re-start Google Play Editions of a few handsets rather than spend all the money and effort they do on Nexus phones.
    The Nexus don't offer anything more than other phones. Actually, to me they offer rather less: SD? wriless charging, FM radio..., and they're a bit more expensive too. Only updates make them worth buying.
    I would much prefer if Google took a couple handful of the excellent (more excellenter ?) phones OEM are making already, in a wide price/spec range, and made them future proof.
    Nexus is 99% duplication, 1% updates.
  • zeeBomb - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link

    YES! Please, Google needs GPE editions of the S6 specifically the Edge as well, and a GPE M9 would be raaaad too. A great idea almost now forgotten.
  • danbob999 - Tuesday, November 10, 2015 - link

    Nexus are much better for the price. GPE phones were always expensive and didn't sell.
  • cbf - Tuesday, November 10, 2015 - link

    I do not understand why the newest generation of Nexus phones lost the wireless Qi charging feature. That's a deal breaker for me. Once you get used to it you don't want to go back. I've got chargers scattered around my house.

    More important is the use of wireless charging in the car. I don't want to fiddle with cables when I stick my phone in its windshield mount. Plus many cars are starting to come with wireless charging pads. (Option on a lot of GM cars now I believe.)
  • Bob Todd - Tuesday, November 10, 2015 - link

    I'd argue that wireless charging seems really important for phones with poor battery life. If the thing easily lasts an entire day with plenty of juice leftover then it obviously isn't that important. Wireless charging was great on the N5 with mediocre battery life. I never missed it on my OnePlus One.

    You nailed the one place I see as potentially huge for wireless charging though, which is in-car where it is a pain to deal with wires (especially for a bunch of quick stops), and you may be using GPS frequently which is hard on battery life. The thing that screws this up is that both CarPlay and Android Auto require the physical link anyway. Once those work without the cord and the charge rates go up I'd want it on every phone again.
  • Mbauden20 - Tuesday, November 10, 2015 - link

    Hey, can anyone tell me if Verizon supports Nexus devices yet? I bought a 5 last year without knowing that Verizon apparently does not support such devices, so when I took it into the store they weren't able to activate it and I had to return back to the Google Store. Anyone know if this issue has been rectified? Thanks
  • Bob Todd - Tuesday, November 10, 2015 - link

    Both of the new Nexus devices work on Verizon. But there were a lot of problems with activating _new_ SIMs with them, at least at launch time. So if you already have an activated nano sim from another phone it should be easy, just swap the SIM to the new phone. I believe activations are working okay now for new SIMs in these devices too, but I haven't been following the issue that closely.
  • stotticus - Tuesday, November 10, 2015 - link

    "Based on the specs you see on paper the Nexus 5X appears to represent an improvement over the Nexus 5 in every respect.", "...both the RAM and the internal storage remain the same.". I truly appreciate the depth of the review but please leave out the superlatives. Those drawn to that kind of language can stick with c|net but for all of us seeking Anandtech level insight please tone down the language.
  • 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?
  • zeeBomb - Tuesday, November 10, 2015 - link

    Kumar, how's Harold? Just kidding. You gotta tell me how you managed to get that set up.
  • Brandon Chester - Tuesday, November 10, 2015 - link

    We use iPerf 2 as well, with similar settings but a 60 second test period and only a single thread. 5X is on the latest firmware from Google, and the router is an Archer C7. The phones are always tested right beside the router.

    I actually tested the Nexus 6 and Galaxy S6 in the exact same configuration to make sure there wasn't some bug, and they achieved the same speeds that we've recorded previously.
  • Kumar Anand - Tuesday, November 10, 2015 - link

    Brandon - Thanks for your reply. This explains the difference. Here is my explanation.

    With single iperf stream, the CPU utilization is not enough for Nexus 5X and hence due to aggressive power save on Nexus 5X, the CPU clock frequency is likely scaling down impacting the overall Wi-Fi end to end throughput. Hence it is not really the Wi-Fi but the CPU power save that is preventing us from realizing the full capacity of Wi-Fi. Think of this as the classic performance vs power trade off. Nexus 5X has very good battery life due to aggressive power save policy. Other devices might not have as aggressive CPU scaling policy as Nexus 5x and hence do not impact the Wi-Fi TPUT even with the single iperf stream.

    If the intention is to see how much (maximum) TPUT Nexus 5X Wi-Fi can handle or achieve, we should pump enough traffic to take the CPU scaling behavior out of the equation. If you run with -P3 iperf option and pump 3 iperf traffic streams, you can realize the full capacity of Wi-Fi throughput. I am able to achieve more than ~600 Mbps consistently with -P3 option.

    In summary - the following statement "Nexus 5X's WiFi performance is not very high for a dual spatial stream 802.11ac implementation" is not accurate. A dual spatial stream 11ac chip (like the one in Nexus 5x) can definitely achieve more than ~600 Mbps but you just need to pump enough traffic. I would be very curious to see your revised comparative numbers with -P3 option.

    Thank you.
  • Kumar Anand - Tuesday, November 17, 2015 - link

    Hi Brandon - Did you run comparative tests with iperf -P3 option? Are you considering including the revised numbers with -P3 option? For achieving peak performance we should pump 3 streams of iperf traffic. This will really test what is the "max" throughput each of the phones can handle.
  • FL777 - Tuesday, November 10, 2015 - link

    Great review. Your phone reviews are the best on the internet with the one exception of your iPhone 6S review where you fall in love with the Apple SoC so much that you start gushing. Yeah the iPhone 6S is the fastest phone on the planet, but it lacks a lot of the sophisticated and very useful features that the Samsung 6S Edge and the Samsung Note 5 have.

    Google has really stepped up with teh 5x. The 6p is supposed to be a super phone also. I can't wait to see what the Galaxy S7 will look like. It's SoC is supposed to be a beast and the camera is supposed to be the first smartphone camera that rivals dedicated cameras.
  • Hanknah - Tuesday, November 10, 2015 - link

    Do you know of any reason why the Nexus 5x seems to be currently priced at USD $450-550? amazon.com has it from 450-510 and the google store has it from 500-550. I live in Canada so the google store might be showing me Canadian prices but amazon.com is showing the numbers in USD I'm pretty sure
  • Ryan Smith - Tuesday, November 10, 2015 - link

    The 5X is being sold directly by Google in the US. So Amazon prices would be reseller prices I expect.
  • Goodspike - Tuesday, November 10, 2015 - link

    What would be nice is to have test comparisons of new mid-range devices to high end devices from 3-4 years ago. I tried to go back and look at some earlier reviews, but many of the tests have changed (even ones with the same names). But my point is by doing so people would know if they could save money by foregoing something faster than what they have now.
  • evolucion8 - Tuesday, November 10, 2015 - link

    I had the Nexus 5 and I wasn't that fond of it, It felt cheaper and less premium compared to the Nexus 4, the camera was horrible when taking pictures and videos, the battery life was disappointing and the SOC would throttle a lot! I returned it and got its brother, the LG G2 and its so much better on every discipline, much better battery life, better screen, much better camera and better build quality. My only grief is that its list of custom ROMs is much smaller compared with what you can get for the Nexus 5, :-(
  • jay401 - Tuesday, November 10, 2015 - link

    Does this phone have WiFi Calling?
  • Brandon Chester - Tuesday, November 10, 2015 - link

    I actually don't know. Here in Canada we're basically in the dark ages so no carriers have it.
  • zeeBomb - Tuesday, November 10, 2015 - link

    LMAO Dark Ages! As a fellow Canadian I couldn't agree more!
  • casteve - Wednesday, November 11, 2015 - link

    It's compatible with Project Fi, so it certainly supports Google's version of wifi calling.
  • casteve - Wednesday, November 11, 2015 - link

    Also supports VoLTE wifi calling on T-Mobile.
  • vision33r - Tuesday, November 10, 2015 - link

    With the price of the S6 mfg refurb at $389 I can't really voucher for the Nexus 5X with those outdated specs and weaker performance.
  • zeeBomb - Tuesday, November 10, 2015 - link

    MFG? Refurbished price for $390? Ayyyyy
  • UtilityMax - Wednesday, November 11, 2015 - link

    By the way, why does a smartphone need to sustain high load performance levels without throttling for more than a couple of minutes? The loads on most desktops, laptops, and smartphones come in short bursts such as 1. Launch an application (big burst), 2. open a web page (a burst), etc. I think being able to run for two minutes at full throttle is perfectly adequate for a smartphone.
  • NetMage - Tuesday, November 17, 2015 - link

    If you only play games two minutes at a time, it would be fine.
  • danbob999 - Tuesday, November 17, 2015 - link

    If your game requires full CPU power for more than 2 minutes, it will kill your battery anyways.
    Most people don't want these kind of games.
  • ksc6000 - Wednesday, November 11, 2015 - link

    I don't understand why a LTE browsing test was not done? This doesn't give me a good idea of the battery life on a day out of the home. I was really looking forward to it.
  • Klug4Pres - Saturday, November 14, 2015 - link

    Erratum:
    "The key points to get from the graphs above are that for some reason the Snapdragon 800 SoC in the Nexus 5 only ends up using 3 of its 4 cores most of the time, with the frequency on the other three Krait 400 cores oscillating between 1GHz and 1.6GHz."

    I think you mean:
    A key point to get from the graphs above is that for some reason the Snapdragon 800 SoC in the Nexus 5 only ends up using 3 of its 4 (Krait 400) cores most of the time. The cores that are used oscillate between 1GHz and 1.6GHz over a sustained period.
  • Brandon Chester - Sunday, November 15, 2015 - link

    There are additional sentences in that paragraph.
  • Klug4Pres - Monday, November 16, 2015 - link

    True, but the main issue is that it is using "3 of its 4 cores most of the time", so these are the exact same cores that oscillate between 1 GHz and 1.6 GHz, yet you refer to them as "the other three". You are seeking to imply that the idle fourth core is what is "other" relative to the active three, but since you have not explicitly introduced the idle fourth core in what you have written, this does not work and just confuses the reader.

    As for "the key points", unless you manage to refer to them all in this one introductory sentence, it would be better to split the paragraph up, e.g. you can say "There are [n] key points to get from the graphs. Firstly, ... Secondly, ... etc., or you could say "There are a few key points to get from the graphs. With the Snapdragon 800 in the Nexus 5, we see that only 3 of its 4 cores are used most of the time, .... etc
  • Aritra Ghatak - Saturday, November 21, 2015 - link

    @Brandon Chester the CPU throttle plot that you explained for Nexus 5X is it what you would expect from the LG G4 too? I checked LG G4's review although there was no CPU clock frequency v/s time plot there for the G4, but from what I understood it actually manages to give pretty good sustained CPU performance. How is this possible? Could you please explain?
  • bw13121 - Sunday, November 22, 2015 - link

    Ill second that, If there is a noticeable difference in sustained CPU Performance between G4 & N5X, why is this? Cheaper heatsink/cooling assembly? It would be good for an expert to answer this, then again that's probably the reviewer..:)
  • Matsod - Monday, November 23, 2015 - link

    Its a good screen, no doubt. Expect when scrolling, text gets really blurry. Compared side by side with the Nexus 5 its a noticeable difference. Please test, especially if you own both devices, and respond.
  • Jojo99 - Monday, December 21, 2015 - link

    I have a 32GB 5X running 6.0.1. I do not notice that problem.
  • DukeOfAnandTech - Sunday, November 29, 2015 - link

    I loved the previous article showing several test of the headphone output of the phones. Will measurements of this phone be added to that article in the near future? Also, will we be seeing the reviews add a page dedicated to audio output quality at some point?
  • blzd - Monday, November 30, 2015 - link

    Wasn't there a graph showing sustained GPU performance? Was that removed?
  • Derek712 - Thursday, December 3, 2015 - link

    Hi Brandon,

    Do you actually calibrate the display before you test or do you test it right out of the box? My colors are pretty warm out of the box and many online complain about yellowish colors right from the get go. Some have gotten replacement units with cooler whites. I'm wondering if there's anything I can do to correct it other than RMA.
  • Chris2fer - Friday, December 4, 2015 - link

    The 5 was AWESOME. The 5x is awful. I am wondering if reviewers actually spend time with these devices. I will say the camera is decent and the fingerprint readers is great but the phone's performance is actually worse than the 5. My 5x is so laggy its painful to use. About every other day it locks up completely and doesn't respond for about 5min until it reboots.

    STAY AWAY FROM THIS THING!
  • Jojo99 - Monday, December 21, 2015 - link

    Do you by chance have a 16GB model? And is everything lagging?

    I have a 32GB model and don't really notice any lagging at all. Don't have any lock-up problems either.

    The camera is better than the Nexus 5 but still not great, especially in low light. Lot of noise. Highlights also often get blown out. Trying to understand why I am seeing EXIF info of ISO 60 in low light. Doesn't make sense.

    Also like the LG Nexus 5, if you take a camera shot where the sun is in the frame, you'll get a small blue or green spot in the lower part of the shot.

    The camera definitely not anywhere as good as my friend's iPhone 6 camera or my 8 year old Canon point and shoot..
  • Aloonatic - Tuesday, January 12, 2016 - link

    I have the 32 GB model and it stalls, locks up, freezes, lags and apps crash often, with most apps I use, and when navigating system menus too.

    Performance wise, with general use, it's really no improvement over my 1st gen Moto G!

    I've found that I've restarted this phone several times, 3 or 4 times a week at least. I wish I'd seen some of the comments here before buying one.
  • Aloonatic - Tuesday, January 12, 2016 - link

    Why didn't I see your comment before I got one.

    I have no idea about the Nexus5 but my 5x has been a bit of a nightmare, and I replaced it as my Moto G was too slow and laggy, which I put down to it being 2 years old and lacking RAM, this is no better.
  • flyguy29 - Thursday, December 24, 2015 - link

    I was under the belief that the Nexus devices were the flagship statement Google - collaborated smartphones... It's positioning as a "pure android" experience still does not address key touch points in overal consumer targets. But at least the mission statement is clear- a pure Android experience without any pretenses about superior screens, camera, etc- it's all about the fundamentals of a smart phone's functions and how a user engaged them
  • Aloonatic - Tuesday, January 12, 2016 - link

    I got one of these after my 1st Gen Moto G started flagging and, frankly, I don't notice a great improvement in performance.

    -Sure, screen is bigger but the Moto Gs might have been small but it looked pretty good.
    -The finger print senor is handy...

    -However, it still stalls on unlocking all the time.
    -Just trying to send a message can take 10s of seconds, and the keyboard often appears so you type, nothing happens, and then half a sentence appears in rapid fire.
    -Switching between apps is still far too slow, and seems as slow as with my Moto G to me.

    All in all, not a great deal of improvement over a cheap phone from a couple of years ago, which is pretty pathetic really, and seeing as this phone has more RAM and more horsepower under the hood you have to point the finger at Android OS itself, as others have mentioned.
  • blzd - Tuesday, January 19, 2016 - link

    No performance issues on my 5x, runs as smooth as my N5 and gaming is not only faster, but the device runs considerably cooler while doing so.

    The camera and battery life are also big improvements over the N5.

    If you have performance issues with your 5x look to your apps and services as the cause. Apps like Tasker and Snapchat have been known to be an issue. Also some users had issues restoring from a previous device and were able to resolve them by a factory reset without restoring.
  • Aloonatic - Sunday, February 7, 2016 - link

    All I can say is that the N5 must have been terrible. Honestly, I have no axe to grind here(I've gone for a straight Nexus phone as I've tried every manufacturer out there and not been too impressed) , but this phone feels like a huge mistake to me.

    I am used to the normal smart phone cycle. 1st 6 months, great, everything is gravy. Then 6 to 18 months, it get gradually worse. THen the last 6 months are a grind where all you want to do is smash your phone into a million pieces as it's so slow and useless (even with factory resets etc, I'm not a muppet)

    This phone feels like it's in the mid part of that cycle, so god knows what it'll be like at the endof my 24 month contract.

    The battery is woeful, and I'm hardly a power user. I had to buy a car charger just to make it last the day.

    I have only a handful of apps installed and they are all from major players, not a load kids making apps for fun and releasing them.

    I have to power-cycle it multiple times each week.

    It lags, it's slow, it's a mess.

    Then the finger print scanner doesn't always work ,and the day dream mode fails all the time so it can't even work as a bed side clock when on charge any more.

    It is no faster or smoother than my 2 year old Moto G.

    Not worth the money.

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