Gadgetory

Google's Nexus phones and Motorola's Moto X line have long been OS ease of Tranquility for those who love Android but don't necessarily love the bloat occasionally forced upon it this year the new Moto X and the smaller of the two new necks I are separated in priced by just 20 bucks making the choice between them a tough one i'm michael fisher with pocket now and we're here to make that choice a little easier join us for Nexus 5x versus Moto X pure edition we're going to run this comparison a little differently folks and tallying up the Moto X as advantages first followed by the Nexus 5 X's and if you're about to suggest that maybe the Moto X would be better compared with the Nexus 6p despite their large price golf at that point is well-taken and we'll get around to it after the full review if there's enough interest first let's talk about screen quality each of these uses LCD as the basis for its display but the motos is a half inch larger and it brings a 22 percent higher pixel density this is overkill if you ask me but there's no denying that it's a fair bit sharper when you get really close up and that combined with its added saturation gives the Moto X an edge here the pure Edition also uses its display more intelligently with moto display which is quickly and reliably triggered by pulling the phone from a pocket or just waving a hand over Google's ambient display even after a year's worth of development is still much slower to appear and usually requires physical motion to activate it which is pretty disappointing if you're used to Motorola's superior offering Motorola's best-in-class customizability has only gotten more elaborate with the pure addition while the Nexus 5x only comes in three paint jobs you can make your Moto X look however you want by juggling back colors front colors accent colors even putting your name right on the thing and if you want to spend a little extra you can swap the stock backplate for leather or wood the stock trim and textured silicon with metal accents feels very grippy and substantial compared with the smooth super lightweight polycarbonate of the Nexus 5x and that added quality carries over into other Hardware areas as well Motorola's ribbed metal volume and power controls versa the Nexus is mushy indistinct keys and the two big loud AC speakers on the Moto X compared with LG's single unimpressive driver while each of these phones is built on a Snapdragon 808 processor motorola gives it more breathing room with half again as much RAM and a larger internal storage option as well as microSD expansion for those who prefer the do-it-yourself upgrade path and Motorola still has the edge in contextual features here the after mentioned moto display is faster and more reliable the hands-free voice control is more customizable the Moto X can read your text messages to you while you're driving and take dictation if you want to reply and it uses some very simple gestures to quickly launch apps like the flashlight or the camera speaking of the camera we basically have a draw why can't cameras ever be easy okay so when it comes to stills generally speaking the 5x is my preferred shooter first of all the new Google camera app is almost as easy to launch as the Motorola's just double-click the power key it doesn't always work but it usually does the viewfinder is also more straightforward and much easier to use with one hand than the pure additions and getting focus is often easier as a result while each of these phones packs a Sony sensor the Nexus 5x brings the newer one boy does it show sometimes the Nexus is capable of delivering much cleaner crisper shots than the Moto X and in extreme low-light the Nexus is oversized pixels serve it well in ample lighting predictably the differences diminish and here the Moto gets a chance to pull ahead with its added resolution more pixels might not always mean higher quality but for making sense out of faraway objects with digital zoom you'll appreciate the pure additions 21 megapixel sensor but I still like the nexuses shots better in natural light while its HDR mode isn't quite as good at bringing light to the shadows it's less prone to artificially warm color reproduction in the sunlight and it handles backlighting better as well interestingly this behavior reverses itself indoors under incandescent lights at least here I tend to prefer the Motorola output which is more balanced and less likely to come across as being filtered through a sunset gel this holds true for selfies too I prefer the Nexus 5 for outdoor shots and the Moto X for indoor see what I mean about things getting complicated and as if that weren't complicated enough in 1080p video everything gets completely flipped around here the Moto X is the star Motorola seems able to deal with rapid changes in focus better and it does a much better job at color reproduction and dimmer outdoor scenes note how the Nexus gives everything in this shot an unattractive blue pallor the Moto X is also intensely insanely better at stabilizing video these videos were taken with the phones in the same hand held firmly together so they were experiencing the same jostle from footsteps but you wouldn't know it by how much of the Nexus footage is jumping around while the Motorola's is Rocksteady and indoors under those incandescent it's the same story as we saw with the stills the Nexus paints everything a little warmer than it actually is so to boil it down well you really can't really the only two runaway wins here are in video stabilization and low-light photos those go to the Moto X and the Nexus 5x respectively everything else is kind of a crapshoot and which one you favor will vary depending on your own particular needs the Nexus 5x does have a few clear advantages over the Moto X and maybe it's no surprise that the biggest one is in software the 5x is a Nexus device so it's already running Android marshmallow while our Moto X pure edition is still waiting for the upgrade from lollipop now normally this wouldn't be a big deal Moto X units have always followed quite shortly after Nexus devices in the upgrade hierarchy but recent developments at the now Lenovo owned Motorola have given customers good reason to question the company's devotion to updates if unrestricted unqualified access to the latest Android build is important to you a Nexus will always be your best option another win the Nexus enjoys is a fingerprint scanner something we were quite surprised Motorola didn't include on its newest flagship like the Moto X is distinctive dimple it serves as a helpful anchor point for a fingertip but on the Nexus it actually does something it unlocks the phone very quickly it might add and it also provides faster and more convenient authentication than a pin also while the Nexus is the smaller device it makes better use of the space it has by allowing a denser icon distribution on its display this is something we're hoping comes to the Moto X with marshmallow because it's ridiculous to have such a high res display and yet be unable to make the most of it and while we're talking about size the more petite dimensions of the Nexus aren't a disadvantage when it comes to portability from pocket to palm the 5x is a much easier device to wield if you've got something else going on and you only have one hand to spare the Moto X almost always requires you to go to hands-on and that with the Nexus it's a bit easier to tell whether you even need to bother reaching for your phone unlike the Motorola it actually makes use of its embedded notification light just a couple straggling bits before we wrap up there are aspects here we weren't able to test like battery life and call quality both because we were using these phones on separate networks and because both may change when the Moto X does get marshmallow which should be soon and while the Nexus uses a newer charging standard in USB type-c the availability of turbo charging for the Moto X and the fact that USB type-c support is still pretty rare it means we're not going to give the point to either of these phones so what does it all boil down to which phone is the right one for you oh this is hugely difficult I mean it's tougher than usual so I'm going to resort to a subjective take and then a balanced one so for me I'd prefer the Moto X I'll tell you why I like substantial phones that feel very well made and I like being able to customize my device to make it uniquely mine also as much as I generally dismiss the big super high-resolution displays and expandable memory the fact remains that these features are really nice to have especially since you're not paying much more at all to get them now maybe you're different maybe you really value one-handed usability lightweight and blazing fast Android updates or maybe you're just really into Android paid really need that fingerprint scanner or you like USB type-c because you like to future-proof in that case the Nexus 5x will be the better fit for you but just remember that it's less a $379 phone than a $429 one because it's 2015 and Nexus or not no one should settle for 16 gigs for much more on the new NEX I and the Moto X pure edition check out our channel page here in the tube and our home on the web at pocketnow.com stay tuned for our full reviews of the Nexus 5x and 6p coming soon and follow us on social media at pocket now till next time this has been michael fisher captain two phones on twitter thanks for watching we'll see you next time