Additional cameras are usually mounted above the screen of the device and are used mainly for video calls, gesture recognition, etc.

It's no secret that Google does not produce smartphones on its own, but does it in conjunction with partner companies. Initially, the Google Nexus line meant the creation of affordable devices with top-end characteristics for software developers, but later they found popularity among ordinary users, as they made it possible to quickly get updates to the current version of the Android OS. But with the advent of Motorola Nexus 6, the situation has changed somewhat, and the pricing policy has become on a par with flagship smartphones from other manufacturers. The same concept was continued by last year's Huawei Nexus 6P. True, in parallel with it, an update of this bestseller appeared. The smartphone even got a similar name, LgNexus 5 X, and kept the price tag close.

Let's figure out together what has changed over the past few years and how interesting the device has turned out to be for a wide audience.

Specification

Manufacturer and model	H791)
Type, form factor	Smartphone, candy bar
Communication standards		850/900/1800/1900 MHz
		900/2100 MHz
		800/1800/2600 MHz (ranges 3, 7, 20)
High speed data transfer	GPRS (32-48 Kbps), EDGE (236 Kbps), HSDPA (up to 42.2 Mbps), HSUPA (up to 5.76 Mbps), LTE cat.4 (up to 150 Mbps )
CPU	Qualcomm Snapdragon 808: 2 x Cortex-A57 @ 1.44 GHz + 4 x ARM Cortex-A53 @ 1.82 GHz
Graphics adapter	Qualcomm Adreno 418
	5.2 ", IPS, 1920 x 1080 (423 ppi), touchscreen, multi-touch up to 10 touches, Corning Gorilla Glass 3
RAM
Persistent memory
Interfaces	1 x USB 2.0 Type-C (OTG) 1 x 3.5mm audio mini-jack
Multimedia	Acoustics
	Microphone
	The main	12.3 MP, Sony IMX377 module, f / 2.0 aperture, laser autofocus, dual-LED flash, 4K Ulta HD video recording
	Frontal	5 MP, f / 2.0, fixed focus, 1080p video recording
Networking capabilities	Wi-Fi 802.11a / b / g / n / ac (2.4 / 5 GHz), Bluetooth 4.2, NFC, GPS (A-GPS), GLONASS
	Fingerprint scanner, accelerometer, gyroscope, proximity, light, pressure, digital compass, Hall sensor, LED notification light
Battery	Lithium-ion, non-replaceable (2700 mAh)
Charger	Input: 100 ~ 240 VAC ex. at 50/60 Hz Output: DC 5V e.g. 2 A
	147 x 72.6 x 7.9mm
	Black / White / Mint
Operating system
Official guarantee	12 months
Products webpage

Appearance, arrangement of elements

If we compare LG Nexus 5X with its progenitor in person, then the design has become much simpler and more neutral. The rounded top and bottom ends have become flat, but with noticeably rounded corners, like most modern smartphones. Ceramic control keys were replaced with plastic ones, and the original round earpiece got an oblong shape. But, as before, it is a non-separable monoblock made of polycarbonate and glass. The usual black and white color scheme was diluted with a pleasant mint shade. Despite the simplified appearance, the device looks pretty nice, but it lacks a certain individuality.

The dimensions of the device have grown noticeably (147 x 72.6 x 7.9 mm versus 137.84 x 69.17 x 8.59 mm), especially in height: by increasing the diagonal by 0.2 inches and transferring the multimedia speaker to the front panel ... The bezels around the screen are not the smallest: 15 mm on the top, 16.5 mm on the bottom and 3.5 mm on the sides. However, the width remained almost unchanged, and the thickness did slightly decrease. In any case, the smartphone is lightweight, fits perfectly in the hand and can be operated comfortably even with one hand.

The front side of the LG Nexus 5X is covered with a protective glass with small bumpers, but without any logos. The main innovation is the symmetrically placed speaker cuts, as in some Motorola or HTC models. Unfortunately, this is not a stereo pair, but only conversational and multimedia speakers. In addition, there are a number of familiar elements: proximity and light sensors, a camera peephole and an interesting solution with an integrated alert sensor under the lower speaker grill. On-screen keys.

On the bottom, there is a symmetrical USB 2.0 Type-C port, microphone and 3.5 mm audio port, while the top is reserved only for an additional microphone. Mechanical hardware keys are located on the right side edge, and the slot for a Nano-SIM card is on the opposite side. But if in most smartphones the volume rocker is located above the power / lock key, then the opposite is true, and you need to get used to it.

The back of the LG Nexus 5X has a pleasant, albeit easily soiled soft-touch coating in the black version. Above is the protruding main camera module with laser autofocus and dual flash, and below it is the Nexus Imprint fingerprint sensor. Even lower is the Nexus inscription, which is now simply printed, and not made with an insert, like in the previous five, and, of course, the LG logo.

The location of the fingerprint scanner is convenient for most situations. Taking the smartphone out of the pocket, the index finger lies exactly on it, but lying on the table with the screen facing up - this trick will not work. It works very quickly and accurately - everything is in order here.

The build quality of the tested model is simply remarkable: the parts fit well, without any hint of backlash or extraneous sounds during operation.

Display

The LG Nexus 5X has a proprietary 5.2-inch IPS-matrix screen with a resolution of 1920 x 1080 and a pixel density of 423 PPI. The diagonal has grown slightly compared to, but the resolution remains the same. Yes, this is not a 2K display, already familiar to many Android flagships, but it is more than enough for any task. In addition, there is less load on the system. To protect the matrix, Corning Gorilla Glass 3 is used with an effective oleophobic layer and a high-quality anti-reflective filter.

The overall impression of the screen is the most positive: natural colors, excellent contrast, uniform backlighting and maximum viewing angles. The brightness adjustment range is sufficient for comfortable work on a sunny day or in complete darkness, although the minimum value could be lower. Automation works quite adequately - without jerks and hesitation.

Ambient display activates the device display when you pick it up. Multi-touch technology handles up to 10 simultaneous touches. They both function properly.

Audio subsystem

Like its predecessor, the LG Nexus 5X is equipped with a single multimedia speaker, which has moved from the bottom to the bezel. It is loud enough not to miss a call in a crowded place. The frequency range is pretty nice across the entire volume range, but without any frills. To perform basic functions (games, video and speakerphone), its capabilities should be enough.

The scope of delivery of the tested model does not include a headset, so the sound test in headphones was carried out using gaming (impedance 60 ohms) and in-ear Vivanco HS 200 WT (impedance 16 ohms). In both cases, the sound is pleasant to the ear, but nothing special stands out against the background of most Android devices. The volume level is sufficient (there is a minimum headroom). Sound settings are limited only by the equalizer built into the Google Play Music audio player. There is no FM radio in the smartphone.

Camera

The main camera received a 12.3-megapixel Sony IMX377 (1 / 2.3 ") module, which can be found in compact cameras, laser autofocus (rangefinder), CRI-90 dual LED flash and the ability to record videos in 4K Ultra HD (30 FPS) If you compare with, then the increased resolution is striking, therefore, the detail has improved. The pixel size on the matrix has grown from 1.4 to 1.55 microns. The lens aperture has also increased to f / 2.0, which allows the camera to capture much more light. The only disappointment is the lack of optical stabilization, which would have come in handy to help remove micro-shaking hands when shooting.

In any case, the camera turned out to be great, it is almost in no way inferior to modern flagship smartphones. She shoots beautifully both during the day and at twilight. The resulting frames delight with excellent sharpness and a bright palette with the correct white balance. The dynamic range is quite wide, including due to the proprietary HDR + mode, which now works noticeably faster (but depends on the situation). In addition, it became possible to shoot a good slow motion video in 720p at 120 FPS and decent 1080p, but only at 30 FPS. To quickly launch the camera, you can use a double press on the power key.

The front camera has a 5-megapixel module, fixed focus, an f / 2.0 lens with a wide viewing angle. The quality of the photo and video materials is very good. Notably, it now also supports "HDR +" mode.

The camera app has an updated look. As before, it is visually pleasing and easy to use, but it has a meager set of modes and manual settings. There is no possibility to fully control the shooting process, as well as to shoot in RAW. Fortunately, advanced users can always use third-party software.

Examples of photo and video shooting

An example of slow-motion daytime shooting from a smartphoneLg Nexus 5 X in 720 resolutionpat 120 FPS

An example of daytime shooting from a smartphoneLg Nexus 5 X 1080p @ 30 FPS

User interface

Perhaps the main advantage of all devices in the Google Nexus line is the use of the latest version of Android OS in its original form, without any launchers or add-ons.

Our LG Nexus 5X is running Android 6.0 Marshmallow with the possibility of upgrading to a future version of Android N. Despite the minimal visual differences from Android 5.х.х Lollipop, there are enough internal functional changes. Let's take a quick look at the main innovations.

Outwardly, we have a nice Material Design style with some slightly modified fonts and animations. You can now uninstall applications directly from the desktop, and not just shortcuts, as it once was.

In the notification shade, the order of icons has changed, and the add-on "System UI Tuner" has been added, which is called by holding the gear image. It can be used to change the contents of the quick settings panel, manage notifications from applications in the status bar and activate the battery percentage indication.

Application menu got vertical scrolling; program icons are sorted alphabetically, but not grouped by folders. But at the top there is always a search bar for applications, and below it are the four most frequently used programs.

A really useful feature in everyday life is the separate volume control in different applications. It is also worth recalling the appearance of the "Do not disturb" functional mode, which allows you to flexibly configure the received notifications or turn them off completely while maintaining the ability to call.

One of the most interesting innovations is the Google Now on Tap function, which analyzes the content of the active area on the screen (web pages, messages and other applications) and generates various proposals based on context. This is quite convenient, for example, we listen to a song or watch a video, hold down the "Home" button and get links to the author, interesting pages on social networks and a lot of other useful information.

New items and opportunities have also appeared in the settings. Each application can be allowed or denied access to certain data on your device (contacts, calls, messages, internet, and so on) and opening links. The item "Storage and USB-storage" shows detailed information about the use of internal and external memory, and also contains a built-in file manager with basic functionality. The item "Battery" shows not only the graph of the use of the battery charge, but also the approximate consumption in mA ∙ h. In the "Battery Saver" section, you can customize the operation of applications to extend the battery life. Doze technology automatically activates to optimize power consumption when your device is idle. It blocks notifications from applications, except for priority ones.

The OS works quickly and very smoothly, without any hints of hitching or slowing down. It could not be otherwise - the optimization is just excellent.

Performance and communication capabilities

LG Nexus 5X is based on a 6-core SoC-processor Qualcomm Snapdragon 808. It is created on a 20-nm process technology and includes two powerful ARM Cortex-A57 cores with a frequency of up to 1.44 GHz and four energy-efficient ARM Cortex-A53 cores with a frequency of up to 1.8 GHz. Responsible for the graphics Qualcomm Adreno 418 with an operating clock frequency of 600 MHz and API support for OpenGL ES 3.1, OpenCL 1.2 and DirectX 11.2. The amount of LPDDR3 RAM is 2 GB, and the permanent memory is 16 GB, of which about 10.67 GB is available to the user. Traditionally, the Google Nexus line does not have the ability to use memory cards, but you can connect external USB devices thanks to the support for OTG (USB On-The-Go) mode.

According to the results of synthetic tests and real operating experience, the performance of the smartphone is very high. It is on the level of competing solutions with HiSilicon Kirin 935 and MediaTek MT6795 on board. Yes, this is not a top-end Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 or Samsung Exynos 7420, but in everyday life you hardly feel the difference: the OS, any applications and demanding games work perfectly, including at high graphics settings, but this depends on the optimization of a particular game. For example, Asphalt 8: Airborne works great at maximum settings, but in WoT Blitz it is better to play at medium settings to avoid short-term FPS drops when the scene is saturated with explosions and smoke. The only disappointing thing is the presence of 2 GB of RAM: so far this is enough, but there is no reserve for the future. The rest is in complete order. Even with prolonged use, the body of the smartphone gets a little warm in the area of ​​the camera.

The built-in video player has good support for modern audio and video formats, as evidenced by the results of the Antutu Video Tester benchmark.

LG Nexus 5X supports the robot with modern 2G GSM, 3G UMTS and 4G LTE Cat.4 mobile networks. There is only one radio module, just like the number of SIM cards. Everything is functioning properly. The earpiece and microphone perform well. The vibrating alert is average in strength, but its timbre is a bit like a mosquito's buzzing.

Communication capabilities are presented with everything you need: NFC, Bluetooth 4.2 and Wi-Fi 802.11a / b / g / n / ac. The latter has support for Wi-Fi Direct and Wi-Fi Hotspot functions and is capable of operating in dual bands (2.4 and 5 GHz).

During testing, no problems were noticed in the operation of wireless modules.

The navigation module is characterized by support for GPS (A-GPS) and GLONASS systems. A cold start takes about 5 seconds.

Autonomous work

The capacity of the non-replaceable lithium-ion battery is 2700 mAh, which is 400 mAh more than the usual five. A full battery charge is quiet enough for 1.5 days of battery life under average load conditions with several hours of display operation (calls, SMS, music, some internet). With economical use, this figure can be extended to two days. In general, the autonomy of the LG Nexus 5X is on par with most modern Android smartphones.

As a result of watching HD video (MPEG-4 / AVC, MKV container, 4 Mbps stream) the device was discharged in 8 hours and 24 minutes. In-game simulation using Asphalt 8: Airborne ran out of battery in 3 hours 39 minutes.

The estimated battery life according to the PCMark benchmark showed 6.5 hours, according to the results of the Geekbench 3 test - about 5.5 hours, while the GFXBench benchmark gave a result of 259 minutes. In all cases (except for the gaming one), the display brightness was 50%, and the Wi-Fi and GPS modules were also activated.

The battery charging time from an incomplete power supply unit (5 V, 1 A) reaches 3.5 hours.

Outcomes

Undoubtedly, LgNexus 5 X Is a very interesting and balanced smartphone. If we compare it with its progenitor, then the novelty is better in everything, except that the design has lost its individuality and recognition. Otherwise, it is a lightweight, pretty, albeit plastic, candy bar with a fingerprint scanner, a high-quality screen, an excellent camera, high performance and good autonomy. Perhaps the main advantage of the device can be considered a pure version of Android 6.0 Marshmallow OS and further support from the manufacturer and developers for several more years.

Now about the sad things. As stated at the beginning of this article, users have come to love the Google Nexus line for the good combination of price and features. Despite the recommended cost of $ 379 (9,536 UAH) for the United States, excluding taxes, in the domestic market for the LG Nexus 5X they ask for around $ 476 (11,999 UAH). And this just falls on a par with last year's flagships, and against their background it does not look so interesting. The same one can offer a more interesting design, a better screen and a better audio subsystem, an advanced camera, 3 GB of RAM, support for two SIM cards and a memory card, as well as a replaceable battery.

In any case, the final choice is always yours. If you are not chasing megapixels or parrots in benchmarks, but want a high-quality smartphone with an uncluttered and perfectly optimized OS version and everything you need for work and play, then the LG Nexus 5X is a worthy candidate.

Advantages:

• nice appearance;
• high-quality body assembly;
• the presence of a fingerprint scanner and a symmetrical USB 2.0 Type-C port;
• good IPS-display with Full HD-resolution and high-quality anti-glare and oleophobic coatings;
• excellent digital camera modules;
• high performance and good energy efficiency of the hardware platform;

LG is no stranger to Nexus-branded smartphones, and the 5X is the third time the company has collaborated with Google. But unlike in 2013, when LG released the only smartphone in the Nexus line, this year its brainchild Nexus 5X is assigned a supporting role, because the tone should be set by the flagship Huawei Nexus 6P. Let's see if the LG model is lost against the background of the older version.

Design and materials

The Nexus 5X leaves the impression of a smartphone that is cobbled together from two different models. The back of the case has a simple but nice design, with rounded edges, a smooth camera protrusion and a fingerprint scanner marked with a metal ring.

The back cover can be of three colors: black, white and mint. The latter looks the most interesting.

In contrast to all this, the front panel stands out, which contrasts strongly with the back. It is made in black, regardless of the lid, and in general does not stand out.

Dozens of smartphones from unknown Chinese brands look exactly the same on the front side. In the Nexus 5, the designers also did not pretend to be great originality, but there, at least, the earpiece was implemented in an interesting way, and in general the smartphone looked holistic. The Nexus 5X does not have this, so the smartphone is easily recognizable from the back, but it is easy to confuse it with other models on the front.

The main body material in Nexus 5X is rough plastic, which covers the sides and back of the case. At the same time, the entire front panel is covered with Gorilla Glass 3 with a good oleophobic coating. Plastic in a smartphone won't hold together or collect fingerprints. The build of the Nexus 5X is excellent, which is what you would expect from a non-collapsible case.

Display

In the Nexus 5X, traditionally for LG, a display with an IPS matrix is ​​installed, and its resolution has not increased compared to the Nexus 5, it is 1920 × 1080 pixels.

But the diagonal itself has increased slightly, now it reaches 5.2 inches. The display quality is at a good level, which is also confirmed by measurements that demonstrate more than 100% coverage of the sRGB color space, 6500K color temperature, gamma at 2.3, colors without obvious distortion and uniform backlighting.

The clarity of the screen on the Nexus 5X is excellent, even considering the non-flagship resolution. The 5.2 '' diagonal with Full HD delivers a pixel density of 423 ppi, which is more than enough to display even small elements clearly.

Platform and performance

At the heart of the Nexus 5X is not a top-end, but, nevertheless, a productive platform. It consists of a Qualcomm Snapdragon 808 processor with four 1.44 GHz Cortex-A53 and two 1.82 GHz Cortex A57, Adreno 418 graphics, 2 GB of RAM and 16/32 GB of non-expandable internal memory.

According to the AnTuTu benchmark, the Nexus 5X lags just a little behind the Galaxy Note 4 in terms of speed, which is a good result. And in terms of the smoothness of the interface, thanks to optimizations in Android 6.0, it is completely comparable to the flagships of this year.

Thus, the Nexus 5X has performance problems, the smartphone copes well with demanding applications as well as games. Fears can be caused only by the lack of a performance reserve, after all, 2 GB of RAM today can be found even in budget solutions. Nevertheless, from year to year, Google optimizes the operation of the Android operating system, so you can count on the Nexus 5X to cope with its tasks for a couple of years.

Camera

The main 12.3-megapixel camera in the Nexus 5X is one of the main features of the smartphone, because it is the same as in the flagship Nexus 6P.

This photomodule has an aperture of f / 2.0 and a pixel size of 1.55 µm, in other words, the camera's matrix, thanks to larger pixels, captures more light. Together with a larger aperture, this allows for better quality shots in low light. Other features of the camera include laser autofocus and dual flash with a color rendering index of 90 (CRI-90).

In theory, all this looks impressive, but how in practice? Looking ahead, I'll immediately write that the Nexus 5X takes pictures really well, and even impressively in low light.

Photos in good lighting in automatic mode:

Photos in good lighting in HDR:

Photo in very low light in automatic mode:

Photo in very low light in HDR:

Flash photo:

Macro:

Other pictures:

As you can see, with a sufficient amount of light, the camera demonstrates good detail and color reproduction. But even in almost complete darkness, she manages to make, albeit noisy, but surprisingly detailed shots. In fact, the Nexus 5X camera has only one small drawback - the launch speed, it could be faster. And here the quick launch of the camera by double-clicking the power button does not help, the software simply does not work so quickly. It is possible that in the near future it will be possible to fix this with a regular software update.

Interface

Works Nexus 5X running Android 6.0 operating system without any interface add-ons. As befits a Nexus - everything is pure Google here, and I really like it. Compared to the previous version of the OS, there are not so many innovations in 6.0 Marshmallow, and most of them lie in internal optimization, so you don't see them at all. Nevertheless, this update is really worthwhile, so for a more detailed introduction to Android 6.0, check out our video review:

The fingerprint scanner

On the back of the Nexus 5X is a fingerprint scanner. This is not exactly the usual location, considering that Apple and Samsung usually install it in a mechanical button below the display. At first glance, it may seem that the location of the scanner is not very logical and convenient, but in practice, when you take the Nexus 5X, the index fingers of the right and left hands just fall on it.

Thus, the smartphone can be taken out of the pocket with the screen unlocked. The only slight inconvenience is when the device is lying on the table without lifting its fingerprint scanner to unlock it will not work.

The fingerprint sensor works very quickly, it is constantly active, so you just need to touch it to unlock it.

Autonomy

The built-in battery in the Nexus 5X has a capacity of 2700 mAh, which will be enough for one day of work with active use. This equates to approximately 3.5 hours of display use. During the Geekbench 3 battery test at 50% brightness with the screen on, the smartphone worked for 5 hours and 35 minutes. Thus, the Nexus 5X provides a typical level of autonomy for its class, you will have to charge it every day, but at the same time you can not worry about charging during the day.

The device is charged via the USB Type-C connector, and it takes 1.5 hours from a complete charge. With the use of this connector, a problem typical for new standards arises, when, if necessary, it is no longer possible to simply borrow the appropriate cable, for example, in the office. They are still very rare and this must be taken into account.

Eventually

LG has a decent continuation of the Nexus line, with the Nexus 5X offering a good display, performance, great camera, fingerprint scanner, pure Android 6.0 and traditionally simple materials and design. But what you won't find in the Nexus 5X yet is a really good price. Today, a smartphone on the Ukrainian market is offered not much cheaper than flagships, which can offer the user all the same functions plus better materials and design. We love the Nexus series for its good value for money, but unfortunately in the last few years it has moved more and more into the upper price segment, where it looks less attractive.

About 2 weeks ago, I bought myself as my main smartphone LG Nexus 5X, presented by Google at the end of September. However, unfortunately, Russian-speaking techno bloggers did not pay enough attention to this device. Let's figure it out, is it really that bad and the Nexus line will die soon?

Video review

Equipment

Let's start, as it should be, with unpacking. The box is made of durable white cardboard. In it we will find a short instruction explaining what's what, the device itself, a USB Type C to USB Type C charging cord, a microfiber cloth and a paper clip. Everything, unlike the older brother 6P, did not bring Type C charging to a standard USB, so if we want to connect a smartphone to a regular computer (does not apply to Macbook 12 users), then we will have to buy a wire separately. The device comes in two versions - 16 or 32 GB.

Design

Let's move on to why we actually gathered here with you - to the gadget itself. The design of the 5X can be praised, it can be scolded, but those that praise and those that scold agree that it is, like last year, insanely practical. The device is almost entirely made of soft-touch plastic, the only exceptions are the speaker mesh and the bezel around the fingerprint scanner (we'll talk about it later).


The volume and unlock keys are now located on the right side, and not on different ones, as was the case with its predecessor. I agree that the decision is very controversial, but you can get used to everything. On the left side there is a lonely slot for one Nano SIM card.

The speaker is on the front side. You might get the impression that the Nexus can reproduce sound in stereo, but unfortunately, this is not the case. Below is the main speaker, and above is the speaker. To the left of it is the front camera, and under it is the light sensor, which, I must say, works very well. By the way, in contrast to the usual "five", the frames of the 5X have noticeably increased, but it seems to me that this does not greatly affect the way the device lies in the hand - the new Nexus is still convenient for me.

On the back panel we find a fingerprint scanner, a main camera with dual flash and laser autofocus, as you may have noticed, it protrudes from the body, but it does not bother me at all, the Nexus inscription and the LG logo. The thickness of the gadget is 7.9 mm and the weight is 136 grams.

I really liked the design of the device, it has that zest, that Nexus chip, thanks to which the fans will be delighted. Well, the fact that the body is made of plastic, so in my opinion, this is even good - practical, and for those who need "richer", Google together with Huawei released the 6P, but now it's not about it. By the way, the device comes in three colors: classic black and white, or stylish, fashionable, youthful “mint”.

Display

The first thing you notice after the design is the display. It is here with a diagonal of 5.2 inches and a Full HD resolution - 1920 × 1080. The pixel density is 424ppi, and all this miracle is covered with a protective Gorilla Glass 3. The brightness of the display pleased me very much, both minimum and maximum. As I said, the automatic brightness control sensor works quite correctly. But in reality, all these numbers are not important. The important thing is that the Nexus has a really high-quality screen, not that I would praise it too much, but I literally want to lick it. Fuh, this is the end of the screen. Oh, no, we won't finish. I forgot to say that the viewing angles here are also bombic. That’s all for sure.

Camera

Here the Nexus, oddly enough, is in complete order. In my memory, there are only two Googlephones that have everything in order with the camera - Nexus 5, and then only after the update, and 5X. But here everything is fine right out of the box. Let's go over the technical specifications, and then I'll show you examples of shooting photos and videos (spoiler: they turn out a little better than amazing).

The front camera is equipped with a 5-megapixel sensor and an f / 2.0 aperture lens without autofocus and its own flash. The pictures for it are standard: for selfies on Instagram, it is quite enough.

The main camera is equipped with a Sony IMX377 sensor, with a resolution of 12.3 megapixels, a pixel size of 1.55 microns and an f / 2.0 aperture lens. The camera is equipped with laser autofocus, which does its job perfectly, and dual flash, but there is no image stabilization function here. By the way, the transfer of control to third-party applications using Camerа2 API is fully supported here, up to the possibility of saving images in RAW.

The video camera can shoot Full HD and 4K 30 frames per second, it is possible to record slo-mo video at 120 frames per second and 720p resolution. Unfortunately, in a standard Google camera, I did not go to the Full HD setting at 60 frames per second, from which I can conclude that the Nexus 5X cannot do that, which is a pity.

However, I must say that I am very, very pleased with the camera. By personal feeling, she shoots at the level of flagships, and in some parameters even leaves them behind. Well, to confirm my words, here are examples of photos (I don't think it's worth uploading photos in full resolution, but if someone really needs them, there are a lot of them on the Internet):

Autonomy

Here, the Nexus 5X is doing fine: under moderate loads (camera, social networks and browsing via 4G Internet and a little YouTube), the gadget lives exactly from morning to evening - no more, no less. The average is about 5 hours of the screen. However, the notifications function when the screen is off very much "eats up" the charge, we will talk about it later, however, I immediately recommend turning it off :) The smartphone has a 2700 mAh battery, there is the possibility of fast charging, thanks to the adapter for as much as 3A the device is charged from 0 to 20% in 10 minutes, from 0 to 80% in 1 hour and from 0 to 100% in just 1.5 hours. I will not even comment on the convenience of this technology - it is obvious.

Sound

The sound from the main speaker of the Nexus 5X is normal, you can't describe it otherwise. The volume is enough, you won't be able to miss the call, however, if you decide to listen to music through it, then be prepared for the lack of bass. It should be noted that nothing "creaks" or "squishes", and this is already pleasing.

However, the days when people listened to music through the speaker of a smartphone are long gone, and more and more often we use high-quality headphones, right? And with that, the Nexus 5X is in perfect order. The sound is of high quality, it remains clear at any volume level, the supply of which is sufficient. Bass is present in full, you can add low frequencies in the settings.

The earpiece speaker is also not distinguished by outstanding performance, although how can the earpiece be different in general? It is there, the sound does not distort, the only thing is that I would like to have a larger volume margin, however, this is my own nit-picking.

The microphone in the Nexus is quite decent, with its task of adding an “epic” commentary to the video and talking to someone on the phone, it copes well.

Specifications

What's under the hood of this device? And under the hood we have 2 gigabytes of RAM, 16 or 32 built-in, 6-core Snapdragon 808, 5.2-inch IPS display with a resolution of 1920 × 1080 and a density of 424 dpi, supports Multitouch up to 10 clicks. Graphics core Adreno 418, 12.3 megapixel main camera with autofocus and the ability to write video up to 4K (3840 × 2160), front camera with a resolution of 5 megapixels, non-removable battery 2700 mAh dimensions 147 × 72.6 × 7.9 mm , weight 136 grams.

The owners of some Galaxy will say that 2 gigabytes of RAM in 2016 does not work at all, but I will remind you: there are no unnecessary "touchwiz" and other incomprehensible things, therefore, two gigabytes will definitely be enough for you, do not hesitate. The Snapdragon 808 is an excellent processor, especially for the money asked for the Nexus 5X. And it's good that we didn't install the Snapdragon 810, well, you already know why.

Thanks to such a filling and excellent optimization, the 5X does not heat up and does not slow down. There are, of course, bugs, however, the updates that come out every month make everything better and better. The device runs on Android 6.0.1, however, I could not resist and have already installed Android N, a review of which you can look at. This is the beauty of using a Nexus device. In Antutu, the device picks up 46k parrots. You can already start to say that the new flagships are gaining 120 thousand each, but I assure you, they will never work and receive new chips like the Nexus. And what is going on there at 6P I’m even scared to assume.

Sfot

If you do not mind, I propose only to quickly go over the innovations of Android N, and then talk about another, rather interesting topic.

So, Android N has a new, redesigned notification curtain, the notifications themselves have also changed, now you can interact with them without going into the application. The settings have also been redesigned, a hamburger menu and the System UI Tuner item have appeared, which is responsible for customizing Android to your taste. Also added features to save traffic and support for multiple languages, however, the main innovation is the multi-window mode. It seems to me that Google has implemented it in the most convenient way. We open the application, click on the multitasking button, hold down the application we need and a white area appears on top where it should be moved. That's all, it remains only to select the second application from the list of running ones.

Well, now let's talk about what I think is a more interesting topic for discussion. These are Google services. They are just everywhere: notes - Google Keep, messages - Messenger, cloud storage - Google Drive, photo gallery - Google Photos, music - Google Play Music. And it's insanely convenient! First, everything is always at hand. A huge advantage of Google services is its cross-platform: both on iPad or Mac, and on Windows. Well, due to the fact that everything is in the clouds, 32, and even 16 gigabytes will definitely be enough for you.
Also, I would like to note that thanks to the software, the device lives for a very long time. Let me tell you in more detail what kind of "Doze" mode it is and what it is eaten with. When a device on Android Marshmallow or N lies motionless and without charging, after an hour it switches to Doze Mode. Shutdown mode, when almost all applications stop eating up the battery. But, you should not worry that you will miss an important notification, the developer can choose the level of importance of the notification and still skip it.

Features and usability

So we got to one of the most interesting sections of our review. Here I will tell you about the chips that won me over in the Nexus 5X. Let's start with the banal USB Type C. This is both a plus and a minus. Of course, it is convenient to insert the cable either side, however, if you forget this very cable, or want to connect your smartphone to a computer with a regular USB, then there will be difficulties.

I will not go far and say about fast charging. She is present here and I must say, it is very convenient. Until you have it, it seems that you don't need it, but as soon as it appears, you immediately realize that charging your smartphone from 0 to 100 in a little more than an hour is very cool and often helps.

Next is the OK, Google function. The Nexus 5X always listens to you and is ready to respond at any moment. It would be very convenient, if not for one thing: in order for Google to answer you, you need to unlock your smartphone. That is, the device is turned off, you ask him something, he understands everything, but to answer - enter the password or put your finger on the scanner.

So we got down to the fun part. The fingerprint scanner. It is located on the back here and after 2 days of use you understand why. It is really comfortable, the finger literally falls into the dimple. I won't even talk about the speed of work. She's great here. Perhaps the fingerprint scanner is something without which I can no longer imagine any other smartphone. This trick really came to me and I do not understand people who, for some reason, do not use it, because it is really convenient.

Next - active notifications. You pick up the device in your hands and a black and white screen lights up, which shows notifications. However, this feature did not come to me at all: firstly, the screen is not Amoled here, which means that the gadget spends charging decently. And secondly, their display does not always work correctly - for example, when walking, the phone often turns on in the pocket, and this even more eats up the charge percentages, therefore, I turned off this function almost immediately.

As for the usability, I would say that the device is not very big, although many people criticize it for the large frames around the display, it seems to me that it fits perfectly in the hand.

Well, one more thing that I will note in the usability section is that the device does not get very hot, and believe me, this is really important. Everything, let's go further.

Accessories

With this in the CIS countries, the Nexus 5X is in trouble. 2 shabby third-party cases and an expensive official one are all you can buy. However, let's not forget about Aliexpress. There I ordered a decent case, which I like and it really adorns the device. If interested, then here link, (here is the second cover) on it (fear not, not a referral).

pros

Tax, well, let's highlight the advantages of the device. Of course, first of all, this is naked Android, fast work, a cool camera, an excellent fingerprint scanner, branded chips and a stable release of updates. Also, I like the design, but it can be attributed to both pluses and minuses, now I will explain.

Minuses

The disadvantages include the lack of a USB Type C adapter, 2 gigabytes of RAM, the absence of a Micro SD slot and a 64 or 128 gigabyte version. It is also worth noting the bugs that pass with the update - on Android 6.0.1, during charging, almost all Nexus 5X owners had a blunt sensor. However, Android N has already fixed this. The design of the device is also considered by many to be flawed, they say there is no metal and glass. But for me, practicality decides, therefore, I still classified the design as a plus.

Well, one more problem that has bypassed me so far is an inverted camera. The fact is that LG had to rotate the camera module in order to fit it into the body, but not all software manufacturers took this into account and sometimes the photos turn out upside down. But if you use the Orthodox Google Photos and Snapseed, then everything is fine.

Outcome

What do we end up with? And we have an excellent device on bare Android'e and branded chips. Should you upgrade from the Nexus 5? Definitely. At least because of the autonomy and the fingerprint scanner. Of course, there are a couple of downsides, but for me personally, they are all insignificant.

Well, that's all for me, comment, and of course, be smarter - use gadgets.

If you find an error, please select a piece of text and press Ctrl + Enter.

It seems that he described everything in pros and cons. Payment with a smartphone in stores through the terminal (Yandex.Money, Qiwi, etc.), support for multi-window mode (you can open two applications on one screen and work with them simultaneously, and not minimize one and expand the other .... for example, play a toy and texting in contact on one screen). There are many more you can list, but these are most likely all the advantages of the operating system, so anyone interested can read on the Internet in more detail about all the features of the latest Android versions (7. *. *).
While my phone is 8 months old, it works stably, there were no problems.

Advantages:

Great camera. It takes pictures like a machine gun (recharges quickly) and does not get warm. There is a laser auto focus. Before that, there was a Nokia 1020 (41M with a xenon flash), the photo was of course superb, but between the photos there was a recharge of 3-4 seconds, and also warmed up not weakly if I took a photo with a flash.

Dual LED, which is a bright flashlight and good lighting when shooting video in the dark.

Modern software. Android is being updated to this day, now version 7.1.1

Pure Android without surface skins and a bunch of unnecessary programs. Works without the slightest jerk.

The fingerprint sensor is fast and accurate. Honestly, I did not even expect this, I thought it would be wrong for anyone and I would have to apply my finger several times.

Voice printing and OK Google voice commands.
I thought from the beginning that the fingerprint sensor and voice printing are all antlers for those who like to show off. But as it turned out in practice, with voice dialing, everything goes much faster and more convenient. It can be activated on a standard keyboard. Thus, it is much faster than manually writing comments, reviews, sending emails, communicating in applications and SMS, entering addresses in navigators, etc. Using the scanner, you can not only unlock your phone, but also log into applications that support fingerprint login, for example, Sberbank, Qiwi, WebMoney, confirm transactions and purchases. ...

Disadvantages:

The video camera was stuck upside down. At the same time, the Rotate 180 meta tag is programmatically created in the video (flip by 180%). But old TVs do not read such tags, so on old TVs you may see your video upside down. On a PC (WMP) everything is fine, on modern TVs it also shows everything perfectly. To avoid this, just shoot a video, not picking up the phone as usual (I'm talking about horizontal orientation now), but so that the camera is closer to the right hand. But if you have already forgotten to do this, you can use some simple program and turn it over.

There is no video output. And also, when you connect a USB type C - USB cable to the TV, you can only watch the photos (I checked this on the Samsung TV). Cannot be connected to a TV for screen mirroring, precisely with a wire. But there are alternatives. Transfer files for playback via DLNA wirelessly. Or if you want to mirror the screen, you can buy a chromecast and mirror the screen wirelessly. It's even more convenient. Naturally, it is assumed that all devices are on the same network.

A lot of people don't have enough memory, especially when shooting 4k UHD video. Personally, this does not bother me, you can carry a USB flash drive or HDD with you and drop everything there, or drop files into the cloud, and delete everything from the phone so that it is clean. But if ...

At the very end of September 2015, Google introduced another update to its line of smartphones called Nexus. The American corporation, which is the creator of the world's most widespread mobile operating system Android, has long made it a rule to show the market the latest versions of this OS using the example of finished products. Smartphones of the Nexus series have always been such products with a clean, untouched by the hands of third-party developers operating system on board. Naturally, the software giant does not create these smartphones on its own - it transfers their production to large developers of mobile devices, which have the appropriate production facilities for this.

For several years, such world-famous manufacturers as Taiwanese HTC, Korean Samsung, American Motorola managed to visit Google's partners in this business, and recently the choice fell on LG several times, which managed to produce three generations of Nexus smartphones for Google. At first, these were the Nexus 4 and Nexus 5 models, and now we are getting acquainted with a new product called the Nexus 5X, also produced by this Korean company.

The hero of today's review is interesting not only because it became the first serial device to go on sale and runs on the freshest, sixth version of Android OS - Marshmallow. In addition, the Nexus 5X smartphone is also a kind of return to the past, because in fact, the sixth model of the Google Nexus series has been on sale for a long time. Moreover, at the same time as the Nexus 5X model we are considering today, the continuation of the sixth series was also released, it was a device called the Nexus 6P, which was produced by the Chinese company Huawei.

Thus, Google has split a single family of smartphones in the past into two lines, which have gone in parallel courses. Representatives of the sixth series of Nexus are now samples of typical tablet phones with increased screen sizes and other attributes inherent in this subtype of smartphones. At the same time, devices of the "fifth generation" still meet the interests of those users who, for some reason, do not want to increase the size of their mobile assistants. More precisely, they try to answer, because in fact they, too, are constantly increasing in size.

Today's hero of the review is a direct descendant of the legendary Nexus 5 model, which at one time won the love of users from all over the world not only for an affordable price, but also for a successful combination of advanced hardware features, enclosed in such a miniature case as it was possible at this size. screen. Its continuation could not keep this bar, the smartphone Nexus 5X, following the modern fashion, noticeably grew in size, but even worse - it began to cost significantly more than its predecessor, which does not allow, even in today's changed market conditions, to characterize the updated model as true " folk ".

However, sales have just begun, and time will determine the success of the new model on the market. We have to figure out today whether the smartphone is technically interesting. Is he worthy to change in his post the legend called Nexus 5, loved by users so much that the manufacturer had to restart its production under pressure from the public, even after the official removal of the model from the assembly line.

Main characteristics of LG Nexus 5X (model Н791)

	LG Nexus 5X	Huawei Nexus 6P	Honor 7	Meizu MX5	OnePlus 2
Screen	5.2 ″, IPS	5.7 ″, AMOLED	5.2 ″, IPS	5.5 ″, Super AMOLED	5.5 ″, IPS
Permission	1920 × 1080, 424 ppi	2560 × 1440, 515 ppi	1920 × 1080, 424 ppi	1920 × 1080, 401 ppi	1920 × 1080, 401 ppi
SoC	Qualcomm Snapdragon 808 (2 cores Cortex-A57 @ 1.8 GHz + 4 cores [email protected], 5 GHz)		HiSilicon Kirin 935 (8 cores ARM Cortex-A53 @ 2.2 / 1.5 GHz)	Mediatek MT6795T Octa-core (8 cores Cortex-A53 @ 2.2GHz)	Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 (4x Cortex-A57 @ 1.8GHz + 4x Cortex-A53)
GPU	Adreno 418	Adreno 430	Mali-T628	PowerVR G6200	Adreno 430
RAM	2 GB	3 GB	3 GB	3 GB	3/4 GB
Flash memory	16/32 GB	32/64/128 GB	16 GB	16/32/64 GB	16/64 GB
Memory card support	—	—	microSD	—	—
Operating system	Google Android 6.0	Google Android 6.0	Google Android 5.0	Google Android 5.0	Google Android 5.1
Battery	non-removable, 2700 mAh	non-removable, 3450 mAh	non-removable, 3000 mAh	non-removable, 3150 mAh	non-removable, 3300 mAh
Cameras	main (12.3 MP; 4K video), front (5 MP)	main (12.3 MP; 4K video), front (8 MP)	main (20 Mp; video 1080p), front (8 Mp)	main (20.7 Mp; video 4K), front (5 Mp)	main (13 MP; 4K video), front (5 MP)
Dimensions and weight	147 x 73 x 7.9mm, 136g	159 x 78 x 7.3mm, 178g	143 x 72 x 8.5 mm, 162 g	150 x 75 x 7.6 mm, 149 g	152 x 75 x 9.8 mm, 178 g
average price	T-12911710	T-12911818	T-12670591	T-12675734	T-12742121
LG Nexus 5X (16GB) Retail Deals	L-12911710-5
LG Nexus 5X (32GB) Retail Deals	L-12911795-5

• SoC Qualcomm Snapdragon 808, 6 cores: 2 × 1.8 GHz (ARM Cortex-A57) + 4 × 1.5 GHz (ARM Cortex-A53)
• GPU Adreno 418 @ 600 MHz
• Operating system Android 6.0 (Marshmallow)
• 5.2 ″ IPS touchscreen display, 1920 × 1080, 424 ppi
• Random access memory (RAM) 2 GB, internal memory 16 or 32 GB
• SIM-cards: Nano-SIM (1 pc.)
• No memory card support
• Communication GSM 850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz
• Communication WCDMA 900, 2100 MHz
• Data transmission LTE Cat.4 FDD Band 3,7,20
• Wi-Fi 802.11a / b / g / n / ac (2 bands), Wi-Fi hotspot, Wi-Fi Direct
• Bluetooth 4.2
• USB 2.0 Type-C, OTG
• GPS / A-GPS, Glonass
• Sensors for direction, proximity, lighting, linear acceleration, vector rotation, accelerometer, gyroscope, barometer, magnetic compass (according to AnTuTu), fingerprint sensor
• Camera 12.3 MP, autofocus, f / 2.0, LED flash
• Camera 5 MP, front, f / 2.0
• Battery 2700 mAh, non-removable
• Dimensions 147 x 73 x 7.9 mm
• Weight 136 g

Contents of delivery

The set of accessories for the LG Nexus 5X is quite unusual: instead of the usual charger with a USB output, it uses a charger with a USB Type C output (output current 3 A). The interface cable also does not have the usual USB connector, it has the same USB Type C plugs at both ends.

Accordingly, it will be problematic to connect such equipment to a personal computer, because only a very small part of the PC already has a USB Type C. did not invest.

Appearance and usability

It is difficult to assert with complete certainty who the new LG Nexus 5X looks like from its predecessors, but something familiar in its appearance is still visible. With its matte velvety back, it brings back the familiar Nexus 5 feel, but at the same time, the front has nothing to do with the Nexus 5, but rather resembles the front of the Nexus 6 (created by Motorola).

At the very least, it is impossible to say unequivocally that the LG Nexus 5X is like two peas in a pod similar to its predecessor, the Nexus 5: the new product has more rectangular shapes, there are no rounded upper and lower ends, but the corners in terms of plan are much more rounded. If it were not for the increased size, then with full confidence it would be possible to say that the new model of the series in appearance and ergonomics turned out to be no worse than its predecessors.

As for the materials of manufacture, there is no news here: the next Nexus is exactly the same lightweight plastic "toy" as the Nexus 5 - in this the smartphones are absolutely identical.

Someone even likes this defiant simplicity, but many of the Nexus 5 did not like it precisely because of the deliberately simplified, "frivolous" appearance with an overly laconic design. Smartphones Nexus 5 and Nexus 5X really cannot be called catchy and spectacular, the main part of the body here is made up of a nondescript rough plastic casing connected to the front glass, the body is completely devoid of metal elements, bezels, frames, linings and any other decorating elements.

The monolithic body of the LG Nexus 5X does not have removable covers, the SIM card slot is traditionally located on the side, and you need to remove the sled with a key and put the card on them. Here, as before, there is only one SIM card slot - in this case, the Nano-SIM format. Google traditionally does not provide for the possibility of installing memory cards, trying in every possible way to direct the user to their own cloud storage Google Drive at any opportunity - all work with Nexus products is "sharpened" for this.

The front panel is completely covered with a flat tinted protective glass without rims. A noticeable design element in this part is two identical symmetrically located grilles, cut above and below the screen and covering the speaker outputs. Behind them, however, are not two identical speakers that form a stereo pair, but separate spoken and main speakers.

In addition, the eyes of the sensors and the front camera without its own flash are habitually located at the top of the front panel, as well as such a useful element as an LED event indicator. It softly shines with a large, but dim dot, notifying about the battery charging status and any incoming messages.

The camera module was placed on the back side, and unlike the previous model, it noticeably protrudes beyond the body, which is why the device sways when touched when it lies on a hard surface. A dual LED flash and an infrared rangefinder for autofocus are installed next to the camera.

Below the camera is a fingerprint scanner. The touch pad is indistinguishable from the rest of the body to the touch, and a circular bezel is used to mark the edges. It is not very convenient to blindly feel the scanner with your index finger. Of course, you can get used to everything, but in general, the location of the sensor on the rear side is much less convenient than on the front panel, as many users note. There are no complaints about the performance of the scanner, the finger is recognized from any angle, authorization occurs clearly, quickly and always the first time, we have not recorded any false positives.

Mechanical side buttons are made of ordinary plastic, they look completely unattractive, have the simplest shape without rounding. Again, such deliberate simplicity, bordering on rudeness, does not seem attractive to everyone - the design, frankly, is not for everybody. The keys have a firm, but distinct movement, in this respect there are no complaints.

Both interface connectors are located on one bottom end. At the top there is nothing but the hole for the second, auxiliary microphone. The communication interface is not the usual Micro-USB, but USB Type-C. Accordingly, the USB-Micro-USB cables that have accumulated over the years will not be useful here, you will have to stock up on new additional accessories. The connector itself supports connecting external devices in USB OTG mode, but for this you will also need to purchase a new type of OTG adapter separately.

The creators of the novelty have added variety to the set of body colors due to the rather unusual "mint" color, which can be chosen along with the more familiar black and white. There are no practical differences in the cases, depending on the color, they all have a rough matte surface, the front panels in all variants remain black.

Screen

The LG Nexus 5X smartphone is equipped with an IPS touch screen with In-Cell Touch technology, combined with a protective Gorilla Glass 3. The physical dimensions of the display are 65 × 116 mm, the diagonal is 5.2 inches. The screen resolution is 1920 × 1080, the dot density is 424 ppi. The bezels around the screen are not that narrow: about 4 mm on the sides, 15 mm on the top and 16 mm on the bottom.

The display brightness is automatically adjusted based on a light sensor. There is also a proximity sensor that locks the screen when you bring the smartphone to your ear. Multi-touch technology allows you to handle 10 simultaneous touches.

Alexey Kudryavtsev, editor of the “Monitors” and “Projectors and TV” sections, carried out a detailed examination using measuring devices. Here is his expert opinion on the screen of the test sample.

The front surface of the screen is made in the form of a glass plate with a mirror-smooth surface, resistant to scratches. Judging by the reflection of objects, the anti-glare properties of the screen are slightly better than that of the Google Nexus 7 (2013) (hereinafter simply Nexus 7). For clarity, here's a photo in which a white surface is reflected in the turned off screens (on the left - Nexus 7, on the right - Nexus 5X, then they can be distinguished by their size):

The screen on the Nexus 5X is even slightly darker (brightness in the photos is 100 versus 107 for the Nexus 7). There is practically no doubling of reflected objects in the Nexus 5X screen, this indicates that there is no air gap between the layers of the screen (more specifically, between the outer glass and the surface of the LCD matrix) (OGS-type screen - One Glass Solution). Due to the smaller number of boundaries (such as glass / air) with very different refractive indices, such screens look better in conditions of strong external illumination, but their repair in case of cracked outer glass is much more expensive, since the entire screen has to be changed. On the outer surface of the screen there is a special oleophobic (grease-repellent) coating (in terms of efficiency it is noticeably better than that of the Nexus 7), so fingerprints are removed much easier, and appear at a slower speed than in the case of ordinary glass.

With manual brightness control and with the display of the white field on the whole screen, the maximum brightness value was about 440 cd / m², the minimum was 2 cd / m². The maximum brightness is quite high, which means, given the excellent anti-glare properties, readability even on a sunny day outdoors should be at a good level. In complete darkness, the brightness can be lowered to a comfortable value. In the presence of automatic brightness control according to the light sensor (it is located under the right edge of the slot of the upper front speaker). In automatic mode, when the ambient light conditions change, the screen brightness both increases and decreases. This function depends on the position of the brightness adjustment slider. If it is 100%, then in complete darkness, the automatic brightness adjustment function reduces the brightness to 170 cd / m2 (very much), in an office illuminated with artificial light (about 400 lux), the brightness rises to 350 cd / m2 (also a lot), in in a very bright environment (equivalent to bright outdoor daylight, but no direct sunlight - 20,000 lux or slightly more) is set to 440 cd / m² (maximum, whatever is needed). The brightness slider is 50% - the values ​​are as follows: 19, 210 and 440 cd / m² (suitable values), at 0% - 2, 55 and 440 cd / m² (the first value is too low). It turns out that the automatic brightness control function works adequately, and it is possible to adjust the nature of the brightness change to the user's requirements. At any brightness level, there is no significant backlight modulation, so there is no screen flickering either.

This smartphone uses an IPS-type matrix. The micrographs show the typical IPS subpixel structure:

For comparison, you can see the gallery of photomicrographs of screens used in mobile technology.

The screen has good viewing angles without significant color shift, even with large gaze deviations from the perpendicular to the screen and without tint inversion. For comparison, we present photographs in which identical images are displayed on the screens of Nexus 5X and Nexus 7, while the brightness of the screens was initially set to about 200 cd / m2, and the color balance on the camera was forcibly switched to 6500 K. The white field is perpendicular to the screens:

Note some unevenness of brightness and color tone of the white field - the right edge of the screen in the photo is somewhat darkened. And the test picture:

The color reproduction is good, the color balance is slightly different, the color saturation is natural, but in the case of the Nexus 5X, the image is a little darkened. Now at an angle of approximately 45 degrees to the plane and to the side of the screen:

It can be seen that the colors did not change much on both screens, but on the Nexus 5X the contrast decreased to a large extent due to the strong black highlighting. And a white box:

The brightness at an angle has decreased, but the Nexus 5X has a slightly lighter screen at this angle (brightness in photos is 242 versus 235 for the Nexus 7). When deviated diagonally, the black field is lightened strongly and acquires a slight greenish tint. The photos below demonstrate this (the brightness of the white areas in the direction perpendicular to the plane of the screens is the same!):

And from a different angle:

When viewed from a perpendicular view, the uniformity of the black field is excellent:

The contrast (approximately in the center of the screen) is high - about 1300: 1. The response time for the transition black-white-black is 23 ms (11 ms on + 12 ms off). The transition between gray tones of 25% and 75% (based on the numerical value of the color) and back takes 41 ms in total. The gamma curve, plotted using 32 points at equal intervals in terms of the numerical value of the shade of gray, did not reveal a blockage in either the highlights or the shadows. The exponent of the approximating power function is 2.38, which is higher than the standard value of 2.2, so the image is slightly darkened:

In this case, we did not find a dynamic adjustment of the backlight brightness in accordance with the nature of the displayed image, which is very good.

The color gamut is sRGB:

The spectra show that the matrix filters moderately mix the components together:

As a result, colors have a natural saturation. The gray scale balance is very good, as the color temperature is not significantly higher than the standard 6500 K, and the deviation from the spectrum of the absolute black body (ΔE) is less than 10, which is considered an acceptable indicator for a consumer device. At the same time, the color temperature and ΔE vary little from shade to shade - this has a positive effect on the visual assessment of the color balance. (The darkest areas of the gray scale can be ignored, since the color balance there is not very important, and the error in measuring color characteristics at low brightness is large.)

To summarize: the screen has a fairly high maximum brightness and has excellent anti-reflective properties, so the device can be used outdoors without any problems even on a sunny summer day. In complete darkness, the brightness can be lowered to a comfortable level. The mode with automatic brightness adjustment works adequately. The advantages of the screen include an effective oleophobic coating, no air gap in the layers of the screen and no flicker, high contrast, excellent uniformity of the black field, good color balance, equal to sRGB color gamut. To significant disadvantages, we attribute the low stability of black to the deviation of the gaze from the perpendicular to the plane of the screen. Nevertheless, taking into account the importance of characteristics for this particular class of devices, the screen quality can be considered very high.

Sound

There is a very big difference between the sound of the main speaker and the sound in the headphones on the LG Nexus X5. The speaker, like the previous model Nexus 5, emits a very modest sound, rather dull, uninteresting, without a noticeable presence of low frequencies. The volume reserve, perhaps, also may not be enough for a noisy environment. It's good at least that the sound does not wheeze or gurgle - in the first deliveries of the previous Nexus 5, extraneous noise and the cluttered sound of the main speaker were simply depressing.

At the same time, in the connected headphones, the smartphone produces a very pleasant, high-quality, thick and rich, bright sound, which remains clear at the entire volume level, the margin of which is quite sufficient, although not excessive. Bass is present in full, you can add low frequencies in the settings. You can use additional settings to improve the sound in the proprietary program for playing music Google Play Music, but when you use the equalizer with preset values, the overall volume level drops slightly.

During a telephone conversation, users do not notice any special distortions. In the auditory dynamics, the voice and intonation of a familiar interlocutor remain recognizable, the noise reduction system copes with its duties adequately. There is no FM radio in the smartphone.

The main camera is equipped with a Sony IMX377 sensor, previously not used in smartphones, with a resolution of 12.3 megapixels, a pixel size of 1.55 microns and an f / 2.0 aperture lens. The camera is equipped with a laser infrared rangefinder for focusing, equipped with a dual multi-colored flash, but there is no image stabilization function. The settings menu is so simplistic that you really want to add at least something. Fortunately, the transfer of control to third-party applications using the Camer2 API is fully supported here, up to the possibility of saving images in RAW.

The video camera can shoot with a resolution of up to 3840 × 2160 (4K UHD), there is the possibility of slow-motion slo-mo recording at a speed of 120 frames per second. In slow motion mode, the device shoots with a resolution of 720p. On the whole, the camera copes well with video shooting in all modes, there are no complaints about the image quality and smoothness, as well as the quality of sound recording. The sound is recorded quite well, the noise reduction system copes with its tasks adequately.

• Movie # 2 (113 MB, 3840 × 2160 @ 30 fps)
• Movie # 3 (47 MB, 1920 × 1080 @ 30 fps)

Everything would be fine, but here the developers made one annoying oversight: they installed the camera module in the smartphone body upside down. (The decision to install the camera in this way was made by the developers from LG, prompted by the desire to place the components more tightly inside the case.) Any user accustomed to handling smartphones will, out of habit, take video, turning the smartphone to landscape orientation so that its upper part is turned to the left. and on the right under the fingers were virtual control buttons, which is logical. And the LG Nexus 5X smartphone will obediently shoot at this video. However, when transferring such video to a computer, the user runs the risk of seeing an upside-down video image on the screen, since not every player will be able to display it adequately.

• Movie # 3 (82 MB, 1280 × 720, slo-mo)

	Excellent edge-to-edge sharpness.
	Sharpness in the distant shots is good, it drops slightly in the corners of the frame.
	Even not very contrasting details the camera fulfills well.
	The grass begins to merge only in the distant planes. The numbers of the nearest cars are clearly distinguishable.
	The color of the sky is fairly even, although some grain is present. Sharping on wires in this case is quite obvious.
	The camera has no problems with the dynamic range.
	The camera handles fine details well.
	Good sharpness across the field and across plans.
	The text is well done.
	The camera copes with macro photography.
	The camera is not good at night shooting.

The camera turned out to be quite good, one might even say - flagship: in terms of its level, it is quite consistent with the current flagships. Some shortcomings are fully compensated for by good field and plan sharpness, excellent work with fine details, minimal software processing and overall image quality. You can notice sharping, which does not always appear, but the noise reduction is practically invisible. In fact, there is practically nothing to complain about in the camera. She will do well with documentary and artistic photography.

Telephone part and communications

The smartphone works as standard in modern 2G GSM and 3G WCDMA networks, and also has support for fourth-generation LTE Cat.4 networks, while the H791 modification, officially sold in Russian stores, has full support for all three bands most common among domestic operators (B3, B7 and B20). In practice, with a Beeline SIM card in the Moscow region, the smartphone confidently registered and worked in 4G networks. The quality of signal reception raises no objections, the device confidently maintains communication in rooms and does not lose the signal in areas of poor reception.

The device also supports Bluetooth 4.2, NFC, supports two Wi-Fi bands (2.4 and 5 GHz), Wi-Fi Direct, you can organize a wireless access point via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth channels. The USB 2.0 Type C connector supports connecting external devices in USB OTG mode, however, for this, you will have to separately purchase an OTG adapter of the new format, since it uses a Type C connector.

The phone application supports Smart Dial, that is, when dialing a phone number, a search is immediately carried out by the first letters in contacts. The standard virtual keyboard supports the method of continuous input by a stroke from letter to letter (Swype). There are no possibilities to reduce the size of virtual keyboards or the entire working space of the screen here.

OS and software

As a system in devices of the Nexus family, the latest version of the Android software platform is always used in the form that its creators from Google intended - the untouched hand of third-party developers. Also, traditionally, Nexus series devices are the first to receive the latest Android OS updates. LG Nexus 5X goes on sale and runs immediately on the latest, already the sixth version of Google's OS, called Marshmallow ("marshmallow"). However, the owners of previous Nexus models already have the opportunity to update the OS of their smartphones to the sixth version. Manufacturers such as HTC, Sony, Samsung, Huawei and Asus will also start sending out six updates for their current flagship mobile devices in the very near future.

Google has, of course, introduced a number of new features in the new version of Android, but the Material Design interface in 6.0 Marshmallow hasn't undergone significant changes. The application menu of the standard launcher has changed: now, instead of horizontally scrolling individual pages, the list began to scroll vertically. This is very similar to the program menu in Cyanogen OS, the program icons are also arranged in alphabetical order. Grouping by folders is not supported here, but a separate strip has appeared at the top of the menu, which contains the most frequently used applications. Also, at the very top, there is now a search bar for finding applications, including in the Google Play Store.

There are also less noticeable changes that make life easier for the user. For example, the volume control menu, which pops up on top of any application by pressing the hardware keys, can now be expanded, displaying separately all the sliders responsible for adjusting the volume in different types of applications. It also became possible to leave text notes directly on the lock screen.

Of the much more important organizational innovations, it is important to note the appearance of a separate section in the settings menu, which is responsible for working with memory. More precisely, now there are two of them. One contains information on the amount of free RAM and allows you to track its consumption for each installed application, and you can choose how long it takes (3, 6, 12, 24 hours). The second section has received a different name, which did not exist in previous versions of the Android OS, it is called "Storage and USB-drives". In addition to the fact that it usually displays the amount of free and used flash memory of a smartphone with a breakdown by sectors, this section has also turned into a full-fledged file manager. Here you can habitually work with files and folders, copy them, move them, erase, that is, finally, a built-in file manager appeared in the "bare" Android, but earlier you had to resort to using third-party programs.

The expanded support for energy saving functions can also be noted here. If in the fifth version of Android for the first time "out of the box" appeared the energy-saving mode, then in the sixth version new possibilities were added to save battery power by tracking overly active applications, monitoring their work and isolating them if necessary. The additional section is called: "Battery saving", it is located inside the "Battery" section, next to the "Power saving mode" section.

And, of course, one cannot fail to note the support for a fingerprint scanner that appeared in Android 6.0 Marshmallow, which was previously implemented by each smartphone manufacturer with a scanner independently. The technology that supports user authentication by fingerprint, as well as allows you to set a lock on various applications and confirm payment with the touch of a finger here is called Nexus Imprint. In order to understand the intricacies of using the new technology, the smartphone has a detailed text prompt.

Performance

Hardware support for the LG Nexus 5X has been significantly increased over the previous model, the Nexus 5. The work of the novelty is based on a powerful and quite up-to-date 6-core SoC from the top-end family of Qualcomm single-chip systems - Snapdragon 808. This 64-bit SoC is made according to the 20 nm process technology, the number of ARM Cortex-A57 cores has been reduced to two, and the Cortex-A53 cores there are four left, that is, there are 6 of them in total. The Snapdragon 808 integrates GPU Adreno 418, which supports OpenGL ES 3.1 and, according to the manufacturer, is 20% more efficient than GPU Adreno 330. The memory controller supports LPDDR3 memory, while the amount of RAM is only only 2 GB, which is surprising. All the same, the smartphone is very expensive and must meet the most modern requirements for flagships. The amount of free RAM when the device is turned on for the first time is 1.1 GB, which, by the way, is now clearly displayed in the "Memory" settings section, and for information about the free amount of storage in Marshmallow, from now on you need to go to the section called "Storage and USB drives" ...

The built-in memory cannot be increased by microSD cards, but it is possible to connect external flash drives to the USB port in OTG mode. The LG Nexus 5X uses a USB 2.0 interface with a Type C connector. In practice, transferring a 3 GB file from a computer via a USB 2.0 port to a smartphone takes 2 minutes 25 seconds, that is, the speed is about 21 MB / s.

According to the test results, the LG Nexus 5X smartphone on a powerful hardware platform, as expected, demonstrated a very high level of performance. The top-tier Qualcomm Snapdragon 808 platform is quite capable of competing with other modern flagship alternatives such as HiSilicon Kirin 935 and MediaTek MT6795. Snapdragon 808 demonstrates results no less high than those of the listed SoCs, both in complex and specialized graphics tests (according to the results of the popular AnTuTu benchmark, this is almost 50K points in 64-bit and about 42K in 32-bit versions of the test). At the same time, Snapdragon 808 is quite a bit inferior to its more advanced and more modern flagship successor Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 and is quite far from the currently leading Exynos 7420 used in the most powerful modern devices Samsung Galaxy S6 / S6 edge / S6 edge +.

In any case, the LG Nexus 5X smartphone in terms of its performance is at the level of modern flagships, and its hardware capabilities are still quite enough to perform any tasks, including demanding games.

Testing with the latest AnTuTu and GeekBench 3 Benchmarks:

All the results obtained by us when testing the smartphone in the most recent versions of popular benchmarks, we have summarized in tables for convenience. Several other devices from various segments are usually added to the table, also tested on similar latest versions of benchmarks (this is done only for a visual assessment of the obtained dry numbers). Unfortunately, within the framework of one comparison, it is impossible to present the results from different versions of benchmarks, therefore, many worthy and relevant models remain "behind the scenes" - due to the fact that they once passed the "obstacle course" on previous versions of test programs.

Testing the graphics subsystem in game tests 3DMark, GFXBenchmark and Bonsai Benchmark:

When testing in 3DMark for the most productive smartphones, it is now possible to run the application in Unlimited mode, where the rendering resolution is fixed at 720p and VSync is disabled (which can cause the speed to rise above 60 fps).

	LG Nexus 5X (Qualcomm Snapdragon 808)	Honor 7 (HiSilicon Kirin 935)	Samsung Galaxy S6Edge (Exynos 7420)	Meizu MX5 (Mediatek MT6795T)	OnePlus 2 (Qualcomm Snapdragon 810)
3DMark Ice Storm Extreme (more is better)	Maxed out!	6922	Maxed out!	Maxed out!	Maxed out!
3DMark Ice Storm Unlimited (more is better)	18840	12113	21773	16390	22179
	1149	289	—	—	793
GFXBenchmark T-Rex HD (C24Z16 Onscreen)	—	13 fps	38 fps	27 fps	46 fps
GFXBenchmark T-Rex HD (C24Z16 Offscreen)	—	12 fps	50 fps	27 fps	48 fps
Bonsai benchmark	3950 (56 fps)	3310 (47 fps)	4155 (59 fps)	3966 (57 fps)	4169 (59 fps)

Browser cross-platform tests:

As for benchmarks for evaluating the speed of the javascript engine, you should always make allowances for the fact that the results in them significantly depend on the browser in which they are launched, so that the comparison can be truly correct only on the same OS and browsers, and this possibility is available when testing not always. In the case of Android OS, we always try to use Google Chrome.

Thermal imagery

Below is a thermal image of the rear surface obtained after 10 minutes of work in the Epic Citadel program (Guided Tour in Ultra High Quality mode, for some reason GFXBenchmark did not want to start):

It can be seen that the heating is clearly localized in the upper part of the device, which, apparently, corresponds to the location of the SoC microcircuit. Below you can see the contours of the battery, which heats up a little with an intense discharge. According to the heat chamber, the maximum heating was 43 degrees (at an ambient temperature of 24 degrees), which is slightly higher than the average value in this test for modern smartphones.

Video playback

To test the "omnivorous" video playback (including support for various codecs, containers and special features, such as subtitles), we used the most common formats that make up the bulk of the content available on the Web. Note that it is important for mobile devices to have support for hardware video decoding at the chip level, since it is often impossible to process modern versions using processor cores alone. Also, do not expect a mobile device to decode everything, since the leadership in flexibility belongs to the PC, and no one is going to challenge it. All results are summarized in a single table.

According to the test results, the subject was not equipped with all the necessary decoders that are needed to fully play most of the most common multimedia files on the network. Moreover, in our pre-production test sample there was no video player at all capable of playing any video formats, including our own recordings from the camera. When you try to open them through the file explorer, the smartphone offers the "photo gallery" program, but, of course, it doesn't go any further. That is, in order to successfully play video files recorded in the device's memory, in any case, you will have to resort to using a third-party player - for example, MX Player. True, it is also necessary to change the settings and manually install additional custom codecs, because now this player does not officially support the AC3 audio format.

¹ audio in MX Video Player is played only after installing an alternative custom audio codec

Testing of video output features was carried out Alexey Kudryavtsev.

Due to the lack of the necessary adapter, we could not verify the presence of the MHL interface, as well as the Mobility DisplayPort, so we had to limit ourselves to testing the output of video files on the screen of the device itself. To do this, we used a set of test files with an arrow and a rectangle moving one division per frame (see "Testing technique for video playback and display devices. Version 1 (for mobile devices)"). Screenshots with an exposure of 1 s helped to determine the nature of the frame output of video files with various parameters: the resolution varied (1280 by 720 (720p), 1920 by 1080 (1080p) and 3840 by 2160 (4K) pixels) and the frame rate (24, 25, 30, 50 and 60 fps). In our tests we used the MX Player video player in the "Hardware" mode. The test results are summarized in the table:

Red marks indicate possible problems with the playback of the respective files.

According to the criterion for outputting frames, the quality of video playback on the screen of the smartphone itself is very good, since frames (or groups of frames) can (but are not required) to be displayed with a more or less uniform alternation of intervals and without frame drops. When playing video files with a resolution of 1920 by 1080 pixels (1080p), the image of the video file itself is displayed one-to-one, exactly on the edge of the screen and in true Full HD resolution. The brightness range displayed on the screen corresponds to the standard range of 16-235 - in the shadows only one shade closest to black does not differ from it in brightness, in the highlights all gradations of shades are displayed.

Battery life

The capacity of the built-in non-removable battery installed in the LG Nexus 5X is not so large for modern flagships of 2700 mAh. Test tests showed that the smartphone as a whole is capable of demonstrating a good battery life, however, specifically when playing video, our pre-production test sample did not behave quite adequately. In just 6 hours, the test LG Nexus 5X was able to hold out in 720p video mode, and we double-checked the result several times, tried to play videos directly from YouTube and local files in the MX Player via our home Wi-Fi network. The result was exactly the same every time - no more than 6 hours. At the same time, the rear wall of the device experienced a very significant heating, which is more typical of metal cases, but not plastic ones. Obviously, the problem here lies in the insufficiently optimized software, coupled with the very demanding hardware platform Qualcomm Snapdragon 808. Anyway, in other modes the smartphone showed quite adequate results, close to those of other modern smartphones with a similar battery size.

	Battery capacity	Reading mode	Video mode	3D Game Mode
LG Nexus 5X	2700 mAh	14h 30m	6h 00m	4h 00m
Zuk Z1	4100 mAh	21h 00m	16h 40m	6h 50m
Honor 7	3000 mAh	13h 00m	10h 40m	3h 50m
OnePlus 2	3300 mAh	14h 00m	11h 20m	4h 30m
LeTV One	3000 mAh	10h 30m	8h 20m	3h 50m
HTC One M9	2840 mAh	11h 00m	8h 20m	3h 50m
Samsung Galaxy S6	2550 mAh	20 h 00 m	12h 00m	4h 00m
Google Nexus 6	3220 mAh	18h 00m	10h 30m	3h 40m
Meizu MX5	3150 mAh	15h 00m	11h 00m	4h 10m

Continuous reading in the Moon + Reader program (with a standard, light theme, with auto-scrolling) at a minimum comfortable brightness level (the brightness was set to 100 cd / m²) lasted more than 14.5 hours until the battery was completely discharged. Without the auto-scrolling function in FBReader, these figures will increase by another couple of hours. When continuously watching videos from Youtube in high quality (720p) with the same brightness level over the home Wi-Fi network, the device lasted only 6 hours. The device worked for almost 4 hours in 3D games mode. The developers themselves promise up to 20 hours of battery life in talk mode and up to 420 hours of operation in standby mode.

At the same time, the smartphone is charged very quickly. The device supports the Qualcomm Quick Charge function, and using a standard charger with an output current of 3 A, the smartphone battery is fully charged in just 1.5 hours. At the same time, in the first 10 minutes, the battery capacity was filled from zero to 20%, and in one hour - up to 80% of the total volume. Unfortunately for many users, it turned out that the new model does not support wireless charging, although previous smartphones and even tablets of the Nexus series did.

Outcome

As for the cost of the LG Nexus 5X, not everything is as rosy as we would like. The fact is that traditionally Nexus series devices were perceived by users all over the world as “people's” smartphones, offering top-end features at a very favorable price. For example, at first it was impossible to buy a Nexus 5: people ordered a smartphone in the Google Play online store, and then waited in line for their order. Now, firstly, the price has increased even there: in the US, the Nexus 5X is already asking for $ 379 for the younger version, and this does not include taxes. But even this price in terms of rubles is now about 25 thousand rubles, which in general can be called an acceptable figure for this smartphone. However, the Russian retail has appreciated this product in its own way. In Svyaznoy stores, for example, the official cost of the LG Nexus 5X is almost 35 thousand rubles, that is, almost one and a half times higher than in the United States. Exactly the same situation with the price of the certified Nexus 5X in other Russian stores. Of course, at such a cost, there can be no question of any title of a "people's" smartphone.

LG Nexus 5X in all respects is at a level, of course, above average, but this is not even a true flagship, if we compare its characteristics, capabilities and appearance with real flagships. Even in comparison with the same LG G4, which came off the same assembly lines of the Korean company, the Nexus 5X with its plastic nondescript body looks, to put it mildly, not at all advantageous. The characteristics of the smartphone are not bad, but not maximum: the screen did not receive a resolution higher than Full HD, the sound system is far from perfect, the cameras are not bad, but not the best, and in terms of autonomy, the smartphone also does not represent anything special, and the advantages of a "clean" OS are taken as such not all users. With regret, we have to admit that the aura of “affordable dream” - a cheap product with attractive characteristics - has completely disappeared from the family called Nexus. For the first time it happened with the release of Nexus 6, and then not everyone believed in the "end of the tale", but the prices of the next Nexus models that followed it finally confirmed the verdict. Now the title of "people's smartphone" is ready to pick up One Plus, Wileyfox and even Honor, but this epithet no longer has anything to do with the Nexus.