Is the nexus 5X any good?

Mobile Tech Phones & Tablets
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I'm looking at getting a new phone and want something which is easy to root and easy to load customs roms on without it being buggy or breaking features of the phone.

So I'm looking at the nexus 5X. I'm getting it on contract so my options are limited, the other decent choice is a galaxy s7 which I know I will have problems with (currently have s5) but I like that it has expandable storage unlike the nexus.

If anyone has any experience with the nexus and can tell me what they think of it and any problems they've had or if it's worth getting at all that would be really helpful.

Thanks

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You couldn't pick two more completly different phones...

Why not the Nexus 6p? 128gb one is cheaper than a s7.

Nexus 5x will be cheaper to get off contract if you can.

Your given complete control pretty much over the Nexus phones. Samsung not so much, you can root them but custom ROMs are usually buggy in my opinion. They also have tamper protection to void them.

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Yeah there's not a lot of choice if I want to get it on contract, those are the only two decent options. But I'll have a look at how much the 6p is to just buy.

I'm having a lot of trouble with cyanogenmod on my s5 and after rooting I couldn't update the stock rom anymore. Which is why I'm looking at the nexus.

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If you're objective is to fiddle with ROMs or just Android in General, your best bet is definitely sticking with a Nexus.

AS for which one you can get. honestly get which one you can afford. they are all good phones. the feature set for the most part is the same, both have finger print scanners, both have USB-Type C and both have good camera. ever since the release of the 6P the original 6 has gone down in price that might be a good pick if you want a beast phone. the issue is the lack of a Finger Print Scanner really.

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5

Well, the 5x and 6p have USB-C, but the Galaxy and Nexus 6 do not.

Honestly, the biggest thing that made me not want to get the Nexus 5x when it came out was the fact that it is limited to 32GB of storage. In a time where I am moving away from cloud storage, and liking local storage on the phone more, this is simply unacceptable, which made me cross it off my list. That, and lack of wireless charging, though that COULD be forgivable; however, it also doesn't support QuickCharge, and instead utilizes a proprietary charger for fast charging, of which NONE were previously sold. This means that all my quick chargers are now charging at normal charging speeds, and my Qi chargers are worthless.

I then seriously considered the 6p, however while it has the storage space to satisfy my needs, it still would charge slow as hell with that big battery charging at regular USB speeds. Oh, and the 'Fast Charging' USB-C chargers the 5x and 6p use have been sold out for a LONG time. The only thing that would make me consider ditching wireless charging would be QuickCharge or some sort of really fast charging, which when reality hits due to a supply shortage, it means I would have neither; also, even if I was able to buy them, that would be another huge expense added on for me with 1 car charger and 2-3 home chargers.

Then the Galaxy S7/Edge came out. I was also really tempted to get this phone as it seemed to tick all the right boxes. Expandable storage, durable, huge battery, and great specs. While it has micro-USB, it supports QuickCharge and wireless charging, and if I ever wanted to buy the faster wireless charging, I could get faster charging with wireless. The downside to this phone to me, was that it is a non-nexus device, which means slow updates, and I would eventually have to deal with rooting/ROM it. Then, I saw the repair guide for the phone and how difficult it is to even replace the screen, much less the back glass and screen, and I basically noped right out of the S7/Edge.

That leaves me where I am now, with a Nexus 5 I just can't seem to get rid of, waiting for a phone to take its place. Here I am with Marshmallow on my phone since last year, already looking forward to the next update, Android N, while non-nexus users are JUST now getting Marshmallow, with N probably not getting to them for another year. Even then, when Samsung/LG tend to push those updates as late as they are, they tend to be buggy as hell and destroy the experience. Hell, I know people with S5's that downgraded to KitKat 4.4 simply because of the issues they experienced with newer updates AND ROMS! KitKat is 3 years old!!! I've been offered by several people to buy my 32gb Nexus 5 off me because of all these reasons!

Maybe the next line of Nexus devices will do the job, but time will only tell. If I were to buy any phone right now though, it would probably be the 128GB Nexus 6p, or S7 if I had to finance through a carrier.

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Yeah, I can live without expandable storage but it is kind of a pain to not have it.

Right now I'm thinking of switching providers and getting the 6p

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Coworker who is one of the more capable of the IT team loves his 5x. X2 what Eden said, I see those two choices as the two extreme sides of the Android ecosystem.

The only selling point for me to look at Samsung is Samsung Pay, they bought out Paypass' MST technology making the wireless payment system work almost everywhere.

But the Samsung S2 I had, the Samsung notebook I have... they are a certain type of company IMO- they will polish a turd and sell it to you at a premium. I bought into the marketing and surface flash and now that I've run the product, not again.

I'm partial to LG so the 5x gets a vote from me, and the 6P if you want to future proof the phone a bit. My next phone will be a Nexus as I won't go Samsung, nor bland brand X subject to layers of bureaucracy to get security updates, and a little tired of being 'bleeding edge' with CM nighties like I am now. I think Nexus will be a nice middle ground.

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On the type-c charging you make it sound like there's no way to use it,its worth saying the quallcom quick charge is the proprietary tech not type-c, quick charge , will only ever work on specific devices, type-c is the new USB standard and will work on any device that uses it.

Charging is also comparable to quick charge 2.0. Chargers are also easily available right now and as its not limited to just quallcom devices will work on any device asthey start to adopt type-c

It's a new tech one of the downsides is your adopting it as its just starting, the upside is its the new standard, not somthing that's limited to a specific manufacturer like quick charge is.

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All true and valid points. I was mostly referring to when i was looking at them when they first launched, and there was literally nothing. Now, options have opened up, but even so, it has to be seen as an added cost to the device even today for those like me who already have their charging infrastructure set in place.

It's simply the early adopters fee as you said. I think the point i failed to get across, looking back at my post, was that i felt there was no worthy upgrade with the s7 bring just released with marshmallow, and N being right around the corner with a new nexus to follow. I realize that is still 6-8 months away, but it is something to consider when most people hold onto their phones for years.

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10

I pre-ordered the Nexus 5X (32GB, Carbon Black), so I've had it for a few months now. I upgraded from the Nexus 5, and also had the Galaxy Nexus and Nexus S 4G before that, so I've become very accustomed to the advantages and drawbacks of a Nexus.

I'm really happy with the 5X because it's exactly what I wanted, a redesign of the 2013 Nexus 5 to 2015 specs. The finger print sensor is a welcome addition, and USB Type-C charging has been worth the trade-off from the N5's Qi wireless charging. I ended up 3D printing a desk stand for the phone and fixing a Type C to A cable into it, and I get full rapid-charge off the USB pass-through on my MG279Q monitor, which is more convenient than the wireless charging IMO.

Having vanilla Android makes for a fluid user experience because of how closely the phone is tied to the OS development. The N5X doesn't have flagship-killer internals, but I find the use experience to be smoother than the more popular phones with heavily modded Android. Being first in line for new builds, bug fixes, and security patches is always nice. The custom development is awesome, the community support is both widespread and high quality. Even the lowly-NS4G still received OS updates through community devs long after official support from Google ended.

The camera probably isn't as stout as what's on most flagship phones, but it's by no means a slouch. Low light photos come out nicely with the nice wide lens and large sensor size. I miss the OIS from the N5 for videos though.

Speaking of video, the biggest issue with the phone is the limited storage. I personally am not bothered by it because I don't have a ton of things on the phone, and regularly move photos, videos, and other downloads to my PC, but if you're recording in 4K you'll eat 32GB of storage right up. But then again, if taking lots photos and video on your phone is your game then a Nexus might not be the phone for you anyway.

Other than that, I can't think of any areas where you can take too much away from the 5X. Battery life has been solid, call quality and data reception have been non-issues. Yes it's finished in plastic, but it doesn't feel cheap at all. Fit is tight, and the soft-touch rubberized finish feels good and provides a pretty confident grip. It's also quite robust; I never use a case, but the occasional drop onto the hardwood hasn't effected it. 1920x1080 is a fine resolution for the screen size, and after calibration (using ElementalX kernel) the colors and contrast look great. The IPS panel on the N5 had better color out of the box, but was a bigger hit on battery life. And the discounts that have been on it lately have made the 5X a hard value to ignore.

If you want a more premium, flagship-fighter with a ton of storage, you'd probably want to look at the 6P. But the 5X is as Google describes it, a solid, well priced, well performing all-rounder.

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I've got the 5x coming in the mail in a couple days.....

Since this is my first phone with a finger-print scanner. I'm wondering.

  1. Can my fingerprint be easily spoofed?
  2. Can anyone steal my fingerprint signature from the phone?

I don't know much about this method from a security standpoint. Is it just a gimmick?

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The unwashed masses? No. Pros? Yeah, but its not likely.

Ehhhhh..... Well, no you have to have a physical fingerprint to access the phone.

Depends, if there is a fingerprint+PIN then definitely not. If it's fingerprint only, i would rather not.
https://forum.teksyndicate.com/t/what-do-you-use-instead-of-a-password/88928

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It's usually pretty easy to fool a fingerprint scanner, and it's especially likely on a device which is covered in your fingerprints. Not to mention that if your fingerprints are compromised you can't exactly change them.

I wouldn't use the fingerprint scanner for anything important, as a quick and reasonably secure way to open your phone, sure. But for important passwords or keys, not unless you were using it as part of a multifactor authentication.

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