At its event in San Francisco this morning, Google has finally taken the wraps off its latest Nexus smartphones. The smaller of the two is made by LG, and marks the third time Google has partnered with the Korean tech company on a Nexus smartphone. Looking at its design alone, this is clearly the descendent of the Nexus 5. It has a similar form factor, and is built from similar materials, albeit with a few modern twists…
From a design standpoint, this is definitely the mid-range device of the two announced today. While Huawei went with an all-metal look, LG went with its customary plastic rear shell with slight curved edges and rounded corners. It’s not the most elegant looking phone ever made, but that’ll hardly put off customers from choosing it for its bang-for-buck qualities. The plastic casing will come with a choice three different finishes: Black, white and ‘icy blue’.
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On the front is a 5.2-inch, 1080 x 1920 resolution screen with a pixel density of 423.64. It’s an LCD panel, suggesting that it may not be quite as vibrant as the AMOLED QHD panel on the Nexus 6P. Saying that, it should be plenty sharp enough with accurate colors and crisp whites. Inside is the same hexa-core Snapdragon 808 processor found in the Moto X Style/Play and the LG G4, clocked at 2GHz and coupled with 2GB RAM. There’s also a 2,700mAh battery to keep the phone going for a full work day.
Like the Huawei Nexus’ camera, the LG phone is equipped with a 12.3MP f/2.0 Sony sensor capable of 4K video capture and paired with a dual LED flash and IR autofocus system. It sits inside a slightly protruding circular hump on the back, just above the fingerprint sensor. Continuing the branding trend of last year’s Nexus phones, the Nexus logo is prominently placed on the back with the manufacturer logo taking up a much smaller space near the bottom edge.
Like the flagship Nexus 6P, the Nexus 5X comes with all the hardware necessary to make use of Google’s latest products and services. That includes a fingerprint sensor which Google calls Nexus Imprint and NFC for Android Pay, as well as all the chipsets and radios required for Google Fi’s network technologies. Nexus Imprint is particularly notable as it can recognize your fingerprint in less than 600ms. With USB Type-C, the Nexus will charge super-fast too.
The LG Nexus will come in two storage capacities: 16GB and 32GB, and will be available to pre-order from today with prices starting at $379. As previously rumored, you’ll only be able to snag one direct from Google, your carrier store will not be stocking this year’s pure Android phones.
The LG Nexus 5X will ship in October and come with 90 days free subscription to Google Music, and come with $50 Play Credit. What’s more, there’s a new Nexus Protect extended warranty option which covers you for 2 years and costs $69 for the 5X.
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