Nexus 6 Vs Nexus 5: What's The Difference?

If you thought the difference between the iPhone 6 and the iPhone 5S was big, then Google has a surprise for you. The changes made between last year’s Nexus 5 and the new Nexus 6 are vast. In fact there has even been a change of device category: from smartphone to phablet.

Furthermore there’s a new manufacturer, entirely new hardware inside and out, a change of design and even a change in approach to pricing. So let’s dive straight in.

Display: Nexus 6 – 5.96-inch 2560 x 1440 Vs Nexus 5 – 4.95-inch 1920 x 1080

Regardless of everything else I write in this post, everything is going to come back to the display.

Quite frankly the screen in the Nexus 6 is monstrous. More than an inch has been added to the diagonal length since the Nexus 5 and the resolution has increased from Full HD to a mouthwatering 2560 x 1440 pixels (‘QHD’ or 2k). This is the same resolution as the 5.5-inch LG G3 and 5.7-inch Galaxy Note 4 and substantially higher than the Full HD resolution in the iPhone 6 Plus.

There is also a change in screen type. The Nexus 5 uses an IPS+ capacitive touchscreen, while the Nexus 6 copies the AMOLED used in its inspiration, the Moto X (my favourite smartphone of the year). AMOLED can divide users as it is extremely bright and colours risk being garish, but the Moto X has a phenomenal AMOLED display and there is no reason to think the step up in size and resolution shouldn’t bring even better results.

As for construction, like the Nexus 5 (and virtually all premium smartphones), the Nexus 6 uses Corning Gorilla Glass 3 (sapphire suddenly seems a long way off) making its screen no tougher or weaker than the handsets you already use.

Design – Nexus 6: 159.2 x 82.3 x 10mm, 184g Vs Nexus 5 137.9 x 69.2 x 8.6mm, 130g

Of course the downside in fitting such a big (and potentially brilliant) display, is the Nexus 6 is big… like massive.

Compared to the Nexus 5, the Nexus 6 has a form factor which is nearly 40% larger and 30% heavier. In fact, it is even larger and heavier than its most significant phablet rivals:

• iPhone 6 Plus:  6.22 x 3.06 x 0.28 inches (158.1 x 77.8 x 7.1mm), 6.07 ounces (172g)
• Samsung Galaxy Note 4: 6.04 x 3.09 x 0.33-inches (153.5 x 78.6 x 8.5 mm) and 6.21oz (176g)

The flip side is, from an engineering perspective, Motorola has pulled off miracles. Proportional to its screen size, the Nexus 6 is lighter and more compact (in footprint, if not depth) than anything else on the market and it has some incredibly thin bezels.

The problem is, marvel or not, the Nexus 6 remains a huge device. Much like Apple asked significant questions of its loyal iPhone users in ditching the 4-inch form factor, Google arguably pushes its fans even further. The fact the Nexus 6 has a textured back and sides should mean it isn’t slippy in the hand, but that won’t be enough for many.

For those determined to stay within smartphone sizes, it is unknown how long Google will continue to sell the Nexus 5, but interestingly this means its more natural heir is the 5.2-inch Moto X which runs near stock Android and Motorola promises Android updates within 30 days.

Read more: Motorola Moto X (2014) Review: The Year’s Best Smartphone

Performance – Nexus 6: Snapdragon 805, 3GB RAM Vs Nexus 5: Snapdragon 800, 2GB RAM

Every generational change brings greater performance and the Nexus 6 does this emphatically. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 805 at its heart is two generations on from the 800 chip in the Nexus 5 and it brings not only greater horsepower, but vastly better battery efficiency.

On the horsepower side, the 805’s big benefits are in memory where it has double the throughput of the 800 and has 70% more than the 801 chip used in the Galaxy S5, HTC One M8, LG G3 and Sony Xperia Z3. Furthermore the Nexus 6 has 50% more RAM and a quad core 2.7GHz Krait 450 CPU versus the quad core 2.3GHz Krait 400 in the Nexus 5. Moving to graphics’ the 805’s Adreno 420 GPU is 40% faster than the Adreno 330 in the Nexus 5 yet also 20% more power efficient while it decodes video using 75% less power. (test results source: Tom’s Hardware)

On the downside the 805 can get hot so it is generally tipped for larger phablet form factors which have better thermal properties than smartphones (barring one big exception).

Yes, the Nexus 6 is a huge phablet but it is also – along with the identically specified Samsung Galaxy Note 4 – one of the most powerful you will find.