Nexus 5X Review And Specs

Nexus 5X Review And Specs

The Nexus 5X is one of two Nexus devices coming this year. It's the smaller of the two, and will be built by LG; the second is a larger, more powerful Huawei Nexus. With the launch date confirmed for September 29, both phones are right at the top of our most-anticipated list. Here's everything we know about the LG Nexus 5X release date, price, specs and rumors.

We've received yet another leaked image of the 2015 LG Nexus, this time in the form of a press render showcasing the initial three color options for the Nexus 5X. Other press renders have been sent to Android Police and confirm what we see here. We've also got a render showing the front of the Nexus 5X, revealing the dual front-facing stereo speakers we've all been waiting for.

Meanwhile, the Nexus 5X name has also been confirmed by a leaked image of its packaging that was obtained by Android Police (and can be seen below). The square, cardboard box features a cutout of the letter X, with what is believed to be one of the stock Android Marshmallow wallpapers behind it.

The device silhouette at the top-left of the box reflects the design of the 5X, an angular device with the camera sensor at the top-center. The leaked Nexus 6P packaging features a similar silhouette. 

Nexus 5X design

What you see below could be the first photos of the front of the Nexus 5X itself, published by Korean website underKG.co.kr. The design is the same as seen in earlier renders, but also gives us a look at what underKGrefers to as the 'mint tennis court' color variant (though we aren't sure if the photo has captured this hue accurately).

The front and back of the 'mint' Nexus 5X variant. / © underKG

The front camera appears to be located at the bottom-right of the top speaker. As for the LG logo, we aren't sure if this will appear on all versions of the final device (including those sold in the Play Store) or just on handsets sold by LG itself. 

Meanwhile, Twitter user @OnLeaks recently provided a case render leak for the upcoming Nexus 5X (seen above), reaffirming the previous design speculation. The camera configuration and side buttons are where we would expect, but it's worth noting that the display of the device is a placeholder image – the final model should arrive with Android Marshmallow, not Android Lollipop. 

We also believe we'll see front-facing stereo speakers on the final design but whether it will have that metal frame, and those large bezels, we don't know.

After the response to our first leaked Nexus 5X image we put out the feelers for another angle of the phone and got the image you see below. We've cropped out the background again to protect our source, but the photo reveals the power button and volume buttons are now on the same side, further down than on the original Nexus 5. It's also a much thinner phone than the original Nexus 5.

The photo closely matches the CAD renders we've reproduced further below, but as @OnLeaks pointed out on Twitter, our photo has slightly differently placed buttons than the CAD renders in his possession. We can't explain the difference but we'll see all revealed on September 29 if not before.

 It shows what the new 2015 LG Nexus looks like in its final form. It confirms previous Nexus 5X leaks, showing a circular finger scanner positioned below a raised camera lens. On the left-hand side is a dual-LED flash and laser auto-focus module. 

Nexus 5X release date

The Nexus 5X release date will be Tuesday, September 29 according to a report from CNET. CNET does not provide a source for this information but recent, unrelated speculation also suggested this date. Both the Nexus 5X and 6P are said to be available for pre-order from October 13.

This news might have inadvertently revealed the release date for Android Marshmallow too. Google usually drops its latest Nexus devices at the same time as the latest version of Android, as it did last year with the Nexus 6 and Android 5.0 Lollipop. Will we see this trend continue in 2015? 

The 'date first available' is listed as September 21, which eight days before Google's launch event, so we're presuming the devices won't be available until sometime later.

One perceptive Reddit user highlighted that the device dimensions (154 x 76 x 10 mm) are almost the same as the Moto X Pure Edition, which has a 5.7-inch display. As the Nexus 5X will probably have a 5.2-inch display, this seems like an awfully large body for such a screen. Check out a cached version of the listings for the devices in Charcoal Black, Quartz White, and Ice Blue at the links and see what you think. 

Prior to that, we'd been hearing reasonably consistent rumors about the Nexus 5X specs for a while: Snapdragon 808, 3 GB of RAM, 16 GB/32 GB versions, 5.2-inch Full HD display and USB Type-C. Android Police added some new details to that list: a 2,700 mAh battery, black, white and blue color options, and a 12.3 MP main camera and 5 MP front-facing camera.The specs posted by Android Police certainly match up with most of those leaked in a recent screenshot posted on Chinese website Weibo, which seems to show the specs that we can expect from the Nexus 5X.

 it will come with a hexa-core Snapdragon 808 processor (the same chipset that powers the LG G4), 3 GB of RAM, a 5.2-inch 2K display and Sony's 13 MP IMX278 camera sensor on the back. The main discrepancy here is screen resolution.