When comparing Nexus 5X vs Moto X Pure Edition, the Slant community recommends Nexus 5X for most people. In the question“What are the best off-contract Android phones under $500 that work with Verizon?” Nexus 5X is ranked 1st while Moto X Pure Edition is ranked 3rd. The most important reason people chose Nexus 5X is:
One of the few devices that can fully support Google's Project Fi.
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Pros
Pro Project Fi
One of the few devices that can fully support Google's Project Fi.
Pro Acceptable battery life
The battery isn't enormous at 2700mAh, but it should last a full day on all but the longest, most heavy-use days.
A looped 90 minute video at 100% brightness drained the battery by 32% which is a poor result. If the screen is on constantly, battery will drain fairly quick. In standby, the Nexus 5X barely uses any power. While most other phones will use up 10% throughout the day in idle mode, the Nexus 5X will use significantly less power thanks the the Doze feature which puts the phone into a deeper sleep.
GSMarena rates the 5X at 60h, which is enough to last a full day with regular usage.
Pro Works well in one hand
Being that the device has a 5.2-inch display it is quite easy to reach all corners of the screen without compromising ones grip on the device.
Pro Clean software with quick updates
Stock Android offers a more streamlined experience than most other phones. While it lacks some fancy features, it doesn't come with any pre-installed bloatware, and it will receive updates almost instantly when they become available.
Pro Future-ready charger
USB Type C is a new port which is reversible - you can plug it in either way. The connector is also stronger, so you shouldn't need to replace cables as frequently. It's also a brand new standard, so it isn't going to be replaced within the life of the phone.
Pro Pretty good camera
While it won't be winning any awards, the camera takes some decent shots. Lowlight performance is acceptable, and it's pretty quick to focus and take pictures. Macro shots performed very well.
Pro Good fingerprint scanner
The fingerprint scanner is very quick and reliable. The positioning on the back of the phone means that you won't have to change your grip (it's where your index finger naturally rests).
Pro Gesture and voice control
Supports a wide range of gestures and voice controls for using various features of the phone. For example you can turn on the flashlight with just a quick shake or you can activate the camera with a gesture on the screen.
Pro Great screen
The large (5.7"), high resolution (1440p) display uses IPS technology. This means that outdoor visibility is great, colors are accurate, and you can view the screen from extreme angles without any serious color shifts.
Pro Slightly above average camera
The 21MP, f/2.0 and 1.1 µm pixel camera can take some decent pictures, although the default camera app is more of a pain than a pleasure to use. Low light photos come out grainy, and all the settings (even focus) are hidden in a side-mounted scrolling wheel. On the good side, the shutter speed is pretty quick and it captures a good amount of detail.
Pro Always listening voice activated assistant
Moto Voice is an always listening feature which uses Google Now. Even when the screen is off - in your pocket, or between the couch cushions - it will activate when you use the launch phrase (which you can set yourself). You can use Moto Voice to reply to texts, perform a web search, navigate or more. If you dig into the settings, you can also have Moto Voice read out your texts to you when it senses you are driving (it does this by using GPS).
Pro Front facing flash
The front camera has an included LED flash, which can help illuminate in dark scenarios. This works better than the screen flashing white which is what most other phones are doing.
Pro Hardware is super customizable
In the USA, you can customize the colors and materials through the Moto Maker website. You can choose one of the 28 back panel plates, white or black front color, and 10 accent colors. That's over 500 different combinations - much more than any other phone.
Cons
Con No wireless charging
A feature implemented in the Nexus 4 and now absent in the latest Nexus devices. Those that have wireless chargers will not be able to use them with this phone.
Con Performance isn't reliable
For a mid-range phone, the Nexus 5X has decent performance, but it's far from the best. The Snapdragon 808 processor is paired with only 2GB of RAM, and for unknown reasons can become unresponsive for seconds at a time.
Con Sub-par camera app
The default camera app doesn't do the camera any justice. The only settings you have access to are resolution, HDR, flash, and timer. There is no manual focus, white balance, ISO etc.
Sometimes the app hangs up for a few seconds and turns unresponsive.
Con Limited storage
There is no SD card slot, and the largest storage option available is 32GB. If you like keeping lots of music/pictures/videos stored on your phone, you may want to look elsewhere
Con Cheaply made
Compared to the more premium phones (like the Nexus 6P), the 5X components aren't as good resulting in performance issues. It's still a good phone relative to it's price though.
Con Poor multitasking performance
With only 2GB of ram the device may run into issues with mutitasking. This means screen redraws and apps that have to refresh when navigating back to them, instead of staying loaded in RAM which would be possible if there were more RAM.
Con Uses a new cable standard
Having USB-C does allow the device to be future proof but also means that all existing USB cables will not work with it. All the micro USB chargers and cables users have built up a collection of over the years are deemed useless with this device.
Con Last-gen performance
The Snapdragon 808 SoC never really provided top of the line performance, although it was never meant to. It's GPU is noticeably slower than the Snapdragon 810 - the most popular high end SoC from 2015. For most tasks the Moto X Pure edition will perform admirably, although in games it will drop a few frames here and there.
Con Very large
The Moto X Pure Edition is a very large phone. It's thick too, measuring 11.1mm. The rounded back makes it a bit more manageable to hold.
Con 12 hour battery life
The Moto X (2015) will last most of the day, however much more often then not you'll end up charging it during the day to make it through the evening.