3 weeks, and €550 later my trusty LG G3 earned retirement status and I joined the family of Vanilla-Lovers via the 5X. This review is not going to cover all the points and fine details of the Nexus 5X (there are plenty of more in-depth literature floating around. link: www.gsmarena.com) but is going to highlight some of my personal experiences and impressions.

1. The Price

Clocking in at €529 in europe, it feels overpriced... The feeling gets much worse when you factor in shipping and the fact that it's available at $378 in the US. A few weeks in and this is one of the only pieces of electronics i've bought where I feel that I was slightly cheated. The soft touch plastics are pleasant but feel cheap compared to the LG G4's opulent leather, or the sleek aluminium and glass of the Samsung Galaxy S6... and the fact remains that both of these are cheaper than the 5X.

2. The Camera

The Nexus 5X has a great camera, particularly in low light. I've been consistently surprised and impressed at the photos that I was able to take with the phone... especially since there is absolutely no way to manually control the exposure. The idiot-mode camera app together with it's HDR+ mode gets a good result most of the times (it has a tendency to clip highlights in some scenarios such as this burger shot) however I find it very annoying that I have no way to tweak exposure settings. Double tapping the power key brings up the camera app in a reasonably snappy speed.... but it seems counter-intuitive that the power button will then shut off the display as per normal rather than acting as a shutter button (the volume key will however work as hardware shutter)

View from CcBill,  sunset — View from CcBill, sunset

3. Performance

"Meh. It's Ok" is the best way to sum this up. The phone will not impress you in the way a Samsung Galaxy S6 will... but it won't annoy you either. Games work fine, OS snappiness is up to usual Nexus standards but no new ground has been broken. Another wierd issue is that when the phone is being charged, touch-screen responsiveness and performance in general simply die.

4. Battery Life

The Nexus were never known to have stellar battery life. This is still the case with the 5X. The great thing is that the phone software (and Doze in particular) is very efficient - this means that the battery only goes down when you're actually using the phone. So far there hasn't been a single time where i've picked up my phone and found it warm and battery-less (meaning that it decided to do something stupid in the background, my Samsung Galaxy S3 and S4 were the worst offenders at this). For power users who are constantly using their phone, the battery will just about last through the day... i've found that the battery will last me a day and a half with normal usage

5. USB Type-C

The Nexus 5X uses the new USB standard port: Type-C. This similar in size to MicroUSB but it's symmetrical and can be inserted both ways. This is one of those things that you don't really expect to love, until you actually start using them. The new connector is much easier and less fiddly to insert in the dark, (and most of us plug in our phone to charge... at night.. when you're usually 75% asleep and operating on 1 solitary braincell). The connector also feels more sturdy. On the downside - USB Type-C accessories are harder to find and more expensive than their counterparts. Luckily MicroUSB to USB Type-C Adaptors exist that will allow you to convert any existing accessories over.

6. Charging

The phone is bundled with a 15W charger and a USB Type-C to USB Type-C cable. This means that you will not be able to use any of your existing chargers with this phone. You won't even be able to move the cable onto another charger ... so make sure that you buy an extra USB Type-A to Type-C cable or two if you buy this phone. Using the bundled charger the phone charges VERY fast. Whereas i used to leave all my previous phones charging overnight, i usually plug the Nexus in when i'm getting ready in the morning and in that 30-45mins it is usually back to 100%

7. Fingerprint Scanner

Everything about this scanner is awesome. Training is simple and straight forward, scanning is really impressively fast and very accurate (works with any orientation or fragment of my finger). Positioning at the back of the phone is very convenient too. So far living with this scanner has been great. Combine this with trusted places and trusted devices and locking/unlocking my phone is very ergonomic

The Nexus 5X mini review