Display and Processor
The Nexus 5 has a universally favored 5 inch display with 1080 x 1920 pixel full HD resolution amounting to 445 pixels per inches. The Nexus 6 on the other hand has a much bigger 5.9 inch screen with trendy Quad HD 1440 X 2560 pixels amounting to slightly higher 493 ppi. Display size and resolution isn’t the only difference. The Nexus 5 features True HD IPS LCD display from LG – One of the best classes of IPS LCD panels, while Google has chosen to go back to AMOLED Panel on Nexus 6 (great blacks, not so great whites) after 3 years. Both display have Gorilla Glass 3 protection layered on top. More pixels mean more work and to handle extra pressure Nexus 6 features Snapdragon 805 SoC, the flagship 32 bit SoC from Qualcomm with 4 Krait 450 cores clocked at 2.7 GHz and assisted with more powerful Adreno 420 GPU and 3 GB RAM. The Nexus 5 on the other hand did perfectly fine with Snapdragon 800 Krait 400 quad core ticking at 2.3 GHz and assisted by 2GB RAM and Adreno 330 GPU. Both phones pack enough power to carry you through basic and high end tasks smoothly.
Camera and Internal Storage
The 8 MP OIS camera in Nexus 5 wasn’t outright impressive and needed a few software fixes to give a decent performance. Nexus 6 promises improvement with its 13 MP OIS camera with dual LED flash. Nexus 6 can also record 4K videos if you want it to. The front camera has been bumped up from 1.3 MP to 2 MP. Nexus 5 comes in 16 GB and 32 GB option while Nexus 6 will have 32 GB and 64 GB options. As expected, there is no SD card this time either. For the increased price we do expect at least 32 GB native storage.
Battery and Other Features
Nexus 5 has a 2300 mAh battery which offers 300 hours of standby time and up to 17 hours of talk time. In spite of increased number of pixels, Nexus 6 offers more back up from its bigger 3220 mAh battery. Google promises 24 hour usage with up to 330 hours of standby and 24 hours of talk time. Nexus 6 also supports turbo charging, which gives you 6 hours worth of charge in just 15 minutes of charging. Both smartphones support wireless charging. On the software front, there is no difference. The new Android 5.0 Lollipop will soon arrive on Nexus 5 as well with complete set of improvements and Material Design. Besides Material design, Android 5.0 Lollipop will bring more responsive UI, more efficient ART Runtime, 64 bit support, battery saver mode, and much more to the table.
Key Specs
Conclusion
Nexus 6 brings several improvements and enhancements over Nexus 5, but it isn’t as exciting as its predecessor. It will eliminate users who shy away from extra large display and also those who prefer IPS LCD Displaces over AMOLED technology. Besides the expensive price and redundant design (it does look like a blown up Moto X) isn’t helping much either. However, for those who don’t mind a large display, Nexus 6 will be an absolute treat.
