Nexus 5X vs Moto X Style (Pure Edition)

On the other hand, we have the Moto X, which is obviously the larger of the two, mostly thanks to its bigger display. Its metal frame gives it a rigid feeling you simply can’t achieve with plastic, while the curved body lets it rest comfortably in the hand. It’s not the best to operate one-handed, but its thin side bezels, small top and bottom chin make it surprisingly manageable. It’s nice to have a phone that doesn’t feel like a slippery soap bar, that’s for sure.

Nexus phones typically stick with traditional colors (black and white), but this time around Google threw in a new blue hue to spice things up a bit for Nexus 5X fans. That still pales in comparison to the endless options Moto Maker offers for the Moto X, though. Aside from all the usual colors, people can also opt for wood, leather, different colored accents, engravings and even special greetings. You can truly make the Moto X your own.

Display

The Nexus 5X and Moto X both use LCD technology, but the main difference here is the size of the panel. The Moto X screen is half an inch larger at 5.7 inches. Meanwhile, the Nexus 5X display is only 5.2 inches. Another important difference is the resolution in these screens. While the Nexus 5X conforms with a 1080p definition, the Moto X sports a nice QHD 2560x1440p panel.

But resolution is only part of the equation. It is true that some 1080p screens can be better than certain QHD ones, but this is not really the case here. While the Nexus 5X has good viewing angles and an overall enjoyable experience, it just doesn’t compare to what we see in Motorola’s contender. The Moto X screen is brighter, crisper and offers more vibrant colors. Not to mention the fact that it’s significantly larger, which makes it ideal for media consumption.

Neither have bad screens, but putting them side to side makes it pretty obvious who the winner is when it comes to display quality.

Performance

Taking a look at the internals, we see that the 5X and Moto X are actually quite similar. The 5X is running on a Snapdragon 808 processor with 2 GB of RAM. The Moto X has the same chipset, but you also get an extra gigabyte of RAM for a total of 3 GB. Regardless, the difference is small enough to not really notice a difference in performance. Both run stock Android (near stock in the case of the Moto X), which helps significantly in terms of fluidity and overall stability. It also helps that these phones are sold unlocked and not through traditional carriers, which gets rid of bloatware woes.

Just in case you are curious about benchmarks, Geekbench showed no real differences in how these two score, which pretty much falls in line with our experience. It’s no huge surprise, as they use the same processor, clocked at the same speed.

Hardware

A couple pieces of hardware make this year’s Nexus phone slightly superior. One of them is the addition of a USB Type-C port. This technology is reversible and makes life a whole lot easier. In a way, it’s one of those things you can’t let go of once you get a taste of what it brings. The downside is that the practical side of USB-C won’t be noticeable until more products adopt the new technology. To be honest, USB-C can be more of an inconvenience at this point, due to the lack of support.

The second key addition is the fingerprint reader in the Nexus 5X. The Moto X doesn’t sport one, and with these sensors becoming the norm, it’s a bit shocking Motorola opted for dismissing biometric authentication. The fingerprint sensor in the Nexus 5X is extremely fast and accurate. In fact, I would say it’s one of the best I have ever used. It’s a shame Motorola’s device won’t be able to take advantage of this new trend.

Alternatively, the Moto X does have the leg up in internal storage. You get 3 memory options: 16, 32 and 64 GB. On the other hand, the Nexus 5X only has 16 and 32 GB iterations. Furthermore, the Moto X also has support for microSD, a feature Google ditched long ago.

On the battery department, you are looking at a 2700 mAh battery on the 5X, which isn’t too bad, but it’s also not outstanding. Meanwhile, there’s a slightly bigger 3000 mAh battery in the Moto X. On paper, you’d expect a bigger difference, but that’s not really the case, at least right now.

Keep in mind the Nexus 5X takes advantage of Android 6.0’s Doze, which does offer much better standby time by putting your device in a deeper slumber when sleeping for longer periods of time. Once the Moto X gets its own taste of Doze technology, the Moto X might offer an advantage here — though the QHD display may still keep things pretty even.

source:androidauthority.com