 | « Back to article | Print this article |
With both the Nexus phones touted to be the first to carry Android's Marshmallow edition, the latest offerings from Google seem tempting, but surely, gone are the days of cheap Nexus phones.
Google Nexus 5X
The search engine giant doesn't seems interested any longer in subsidising its flagship products, and this can seriously hamper the chances of Nexus phones in a hard fought Android smartphone market, says Himanshu Juneja.
Google Nexus 6P
A much-awaited conference in the city of San Francisco saw Google officially announcing the latest of its Nexus mobile phones. Google surprised many by releasing not just one, but two flagship Nexus phones this time round: The Nexus 5X and the Nexus 6P.
With Google incorporating features like finger print scanning, laser-guided focus system, quick charging, and of course the latest version of Android OS Marshmallow, Google seems to be in the mood to unleash some very delicious offerings.
Let us take a close look at the latest of the Google twin mobile phones.
Google Nexus 5X
Google decided to rope in LG again for the Nexus 5X. The smaller of the two siblings carries a more easy to grip dimensions of 5.79 x 2.86 x 0.31 inches. The phone looks pretty decent in moulded polycarbonate material.
Nexus 5X comes with a screen measuring 5.2-inch, with a full HD resolution of 1080x1920p. The LCD is geared to render a crisp display, thanks to the ~423 ppi pixel density.
The comparatively smaller sibling is equipped with a 64 Bit Snapdragon 808 chipset. The hexacore set up includes a Quadcore Cortex-A53 clocked at 1.44 GHz and dualcore Cortex-A57 clocked at 1.82 GHz.
Adreno 418 GPU provides assistance in the graphics department. However, only 2 GB of RAM was somewhat of a disappointment, as the trend has increasingly favoured 3 GB for a flagship at the least.
The camera department seems decently equipped as the rear camera is a 12.3 megapixel affair and has been equipped with laser-guided autofocus system.
The snapper is capable of shooting 4K videos at 30 fps, and slow motion videos at 120 fps respectively. The front camera is 5 megapixel unit. Rear camera comes with a dual LED (dual tone) flash system.
As expected, the 2700 mAh battery is non-removable and thanks to quick charging technology, Nexus 5X claims to provide 3.8 hours of back-up with just 10 minutes of charging.
There were no surprises at the non-inclusion of the microSD card slot. The phone comes in models with onboard stoage capacity of 16 GB, 32 GB and 64 GB. The 16 GB model has been priced at Rs 31,900.
Nexus 6P
Google sprung up a surprise when it was revealed that it had partnered with the Chinese handset maker Huawei for the second of its Nexus phone. Most likely, Google aimed at tapping the Chinese expertise of delivering high end products, while keeping the cost relatively lower.
The Nexus 6P is the first Nexus phone to be an all-metal affair with its built. Using Anodised aluminium for the construction, it seems like Huawei did come good on expectations.
The Nexus 6P measures 6.27 x 3.06 x 0.29 inches in dimension, and rightfully claims a spot in the 'phablet' category. The 5.7-inch AMOLED screen seems to be leaving no stones unturned in creating a grand impression, as the QHD resolution (1440x2560p) churns out a whopping ~518 pixel density score.
Coming again with a 64 bit platform, the Octacore set up comprises of Quadcore Cortex-A53 clocked at 1.55 GHz, and Quadcore Cortex-A57 at 2.0 GHz respectively. The GPU onboard is Adreno 430, while the RAM supplied is an impressive 3GB.
The camera was expected to be slightly different, but that isn't the case. The rear camera is again 12.3 MP unit, while the front-facing counterpart sees the best unit on a Nexus phone yet with an 8 MP camera. The rear camera again carries a laser-guided auto focus system and ability to shoot 4k videos at 30 fps and slow motion videos at 240 fps. There is again a dual LED (dual tone) flash sytem at the rear.
Coming without a microSD card slot, the phone comes in variants of 32 GB, 64 GB, and 128 GB worth of onboard storage memory. The non-removable battery of 3450 mAh betters the Nexus 5X not only in capacity, but also provides 7 hours of usage time with 10 minutes of charging.
The 32 GB unit has been priced at Rs 39,999.
Despite the differences, both the mobile phones carry some similarities as well. Both the Nexus phones come with the Type C charger and with fast charging technology.
The 'sensor hub' seems to take inspiration with the growing trend of keeping dedicated set of low power processors for non-taxing operations to enhance the battery performance.
This is pretty similar to the co-processor system as seen on the Apple mobile phones now, and assist during operations like gestures, tracking activity, and other low intensity tasks.
An interesting feature utilising this 'sensor hub' system 'will be how the ambient display will come up when the user picks up the phone.
One of the biggest feature which the users have been pining for is the native support for a fingerprint scanner. Both the phones incorporate Google's 'Nexus Imprint', the circular fingerprint scanner unit located on the back panels. Google claims that the finger print scanning is achieved within 600 milliseconds and apart from unlocking the device, will assist in downloading apps and authenticating payments via Android Pay.
With both the Nexus phones touted to be the first to carry Android's Marshmallow edition, the latest offerings from Google seem tempting, but surely, gone are the days of cheap Nexus phones. The search engine giant doesn't seems interested any longer in subsidising its flagship products, and this can seriously hamper the chances of Nexus phones in a hard fought Android smartphone market.