Spec Shootout Helps Nexus 5 Owners Decide If the Upgrade to Nexus 6 Is Worth It

There are many Android fans who still own the Nexus 4 or the newer Nexus 5 who are still wondering whether or not they should upgrade to the upcoming Motorola Nexus 6.

Well, considering the Nexus 6 is not the same cheap high-end smartphone that Google usually launched in Q4 each year, those who consider upgrading from a previous Nexus smartphone may want to think hard before making a decision. We’re here to help those in need make up their minds quicker and not regret afterwards if they find that their decision wasn’t the right one. Although we didn’t have the chance to take the Nexus 6 for a spin yet, at a first glance Motorola’s smartphone is a worthy upgrade for the Nexus 5. We believe that those still owning the Nexus 5 and who can afford Nexus 6’ high price tag should upgrade when the latter goes on sale. There are too many improvements over the previous Nexus models not to step up to Nexus 6.

However, there might be an issue for those resenting phablets, as Google’s new flagship smartphone boasts a huge 6-inch QHD (1440 x 2560 pixels) capacitive touchscreen display. If you’re not into phablets, then you might want to wait a while until Motorola comes forward with a smaller version of the Nexus 6, like the DROID Turbo for example, which will be launched in the US exclusively through Verizon on October 28.

Nexus 6 ships with Lollipop out of the box, but Nexus 5 will get it as well

Moving on to spec shootout, it’s worth mentioning that while Nexus 6 will be the first device to ship with Android 5.0 Lollipop operating system out of the box, other Nexus smartphones (including Nexus 5) will receive it as an update next month. Now if we are to put both Nexus smartphones against each other, it’s obvious that the Nexus 6 is the clear winner. It comes with a larger QHD AMOLED display and it’s water resistant. It also features dual stereo speakers in the front, just like the Motorola Moto X and HTC One M8. As for the rest of the hardware, the Nexus 6 has been stuffed with only the latest technologies that Google and Motorola could put together.

For example, Motorola Nexus 6 is armed with a powerful 2.7GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 805 chipset inside, which accommodates an Adreno 420 graphics processing unit and 3GB of RAM. The previous model, Nexus 5 packs a 2.3GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 chipset with an Adreno 330 GPU and just 2GB of RAM.

Sadly, Motorola Nexus 6 lacks microSD card slot as well

There’s another important aspect that Nexus family fans will probably be pleased with if they decide to pick the latest model made by Motorola. As many of you probably know by now, Nexus smartphones lack microSD card slot, which is a major downside for consumers. Previous models came in different variants, so depending on storage size (8GB, 16GB or 32GB) you could get it more or less expensive. Sadly, Nexus 6 still doesn’t pack a microSD card slot, but the good news is the cheapest model comes with no less than 32GB of storage. The more expensive version will pack 64GB, which should be more than enough for heavy users, and the price difference is just $50 (€35).

Nexus 6 packs much better camera and battery than the previous model

It’s also worth mentioning that the Nexus 6 comes with an improved 13-megapixel rear-facing camera, which features dual LED ring flash, autofocus, OIS (optical image stabilization) and 4K video recording. There’s also a secondary 2-megapixel camera in the front, which is only a slight upgrade over the Nexus 5’s 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera. Speaking of which, Nexus 5 has an 8-megapixel main camera on the back with OIS, autofocus, LED flash and full HD (1080p) video recording. Another big improvement is the battery. Nexus 5 is powered by a 2300 mAh non-removable battery, while Nexus 6 drains energy from a much better 3220 mAh battery, which should provide up to 24 hours of continuous usage.

Connectivity-wise, the Nexus 6 is superior in all aspects. It comes with LTE Cat.6 (300Mbps download), as opposed to Nexus 5’s LTE Cat.4 (150Mbps), and Bluetooth 4.1 with A2DP and LE (Low Energy) support instead of Bluetooth 4.0. Overall, Motorola Nexus 6 is clearly a better product than Nexus 5, hence the higher price. Based on the spec shootout, we would recommend those who can afford and don’t resent phablets to upgrade to the Nexus 6 from the previous model. Nexus 6 has been confirmed to arrive in Google Play Store on October 29, so customers will be able to pre-order the smartphone for $649 (€505) outright.

Motorola Nexus 6 vs. LG Nexus 5
Image credits to Google

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