Last year’s Nexus 5 was a wedge of LG built polycarbonate that was remarkable for its modern specs and low price tag, and basically nothing else. This year things are different, with a huge footprint in a price point to match the Nexus 6 stands out like its predecessor never did.
But how much better is it, and which should you buy if you’re shopping for a cheap but with great spec Android phone around? Well i am here to help you find out by comparing the Nexus 6 versus Nexus 5.
The size difference might seems obvious and silhouette, but it’s not until you put the phones side by side and than the size of the Nexus 6 really becomes apparent. A one inch increase in screen size and the move to front-firing speakers makes the Nexus 6 substantially taller and wider, which also makes it much harder to use one handed. The Nexus 5 is what i may call a potent portable and the Nexus 6 is a borderline ridiculous brick. If you get past the size difference and you start to see all the ways Motorola has improved on LG’s take of the Nexus. The nondescript plank of plastic has been replaced by a curved metal rimmed chassis.
Displays
There is not much difference in pixel density between the Nexus 5 and 6, but bring up a picture with a lot of contrast and color and watch the Nexus 6 take the 5 to school. Some of this is expected when you are comparing AMOLED with IPS, but the Nexus 5 display always struck me as washed out and dull, even when it was new. Comparing the display of the Nexus 6 and the display of the Nexus 5, i have to say that the winner is the 6. Still the 5 will probably appeal more to purists, the newer Motorola panel suffers from a grey green tent to its whites and a crazy pink tone when taking to the lowest brightness setting – problems the Nexus 5 doesn’t have. Also if you spend of your time in the waking hours you’ll probably appreciate the Nexus 5’s slightly brighter output in daylight, where the Nexus 6 shines in the dark, it can get far dimmer than the 5 can manage, and that’s something i as a bedtime reader really appreciate. Accuracy aside the Nexus 6 clearly packs the more striking display.
Specs
Beneath those cranes the specs hold no surprises on the Nexus 6, a newer generation processor, 15% more RAM, bigger battery, better cameras, you name it you have seen the specs sheet. Of course the Nexus 6 seems better than the 5, but what matters is how that translates into real-world usage. Because both of these are Nexus phones they’re both running the latest version of Android 5.0 Lollipop. On a day-to-day basis i sure miss the Nexus 5 notification light. Well Motorola actually did built one into the Nexus 6 – it’s right behind the top speaker grill but it’s disabled in the software, you’ll need to rely on lollipops lockscreen notifications to keep you in the loop as to what’s going on. That’s fine and the 6 will wake up when picked up or removed from from your pocket to let you know what you’ve missed, but there is something so simple and efficient about it color coded flasher to let you know someone is trying to get a hold of you. Plus it’s been a stable of the Nexus line up since the first generation, so here’s hoping Google enables it in a future software revision, so we don’t have to root it.
Let’s come back on the size issue for a second, because it’s such a significant part in this comparison. Frankly the Nexus 6’s added pounds make it harder to use in almost every state, it can’t fit in the pocket as easily, it’s more awkward to talk on, it’s almost impossible to reach the notification shade or even the far-side of the keyboard with one hand. It doesn’t have the soft touch the Nexus 5 does, so it’s more slippery which makes it easier to drop. And much more, Google had made no effort to use the edit screen size intelligently with no multi-window and no toggles to trip the notification shade as we’ve seen on other Android phones. But if your are ok with all this, if you’ve got giant hands or you are essentially cool to use your phone two-handed, well than of course everything else is better. Better games, Netflix, Youtube, even basic web browsing is much more satisfying on the Nexus 6 just because it’s got a bigger screen.
Conclusion
The Nexus 6 is a huge improvement over most aspects of the Nexus 5 and that is to be expected, the question in part is whether you are willing to switch to a phablet lifestyle to get it. Feel free to comment.