Google Nexus phones have always had one glaring weakness: Terrible cameras.
That could also be said for most Android phones, but this year, the top manufacturers really stepped up their game. The Galaxy S6, LG G4, Sony Xperia Z5 and new Moto X are armed with some of the best phone cameras, even better than the iPhone 6S in certain situations.
We just got the Nexus 5X and Nexus 6P in a few days ago, and while the devices come with fresh designs, powerful performance, and fingerprint sensors, what we really want to know is if the cameras still suck or not.
You can read our full review of the Nexus 5X here, but for now, let's take a deeper dive into the cameras and see how they stack up against the new iPhone 6S's cameras.
The Nexus 5X and Nexus 6P have the same 12.3-megapixel sensors for the back camera with the same wide angle and f/2.0 aperture, as far as I can tell. Neither camera has a optical image stabilization. The only difference between the two phones' front cameras is the resolution: 5 megapixels on the Nexus 5X and 8 megapixels on the Nexus 6P.
Outdoors (daylight)
The majority of your photos will be shot outside, where there's lots of sunshine. We visited Union Square farmer's market and Times Square to get some snapshots.
On both device's respective screens, the photos looked comparable. But if you open them up in their full resolution, you can see the Nexus 5X photos are a hair sharper and have more contrast.
Outdoor selfies look better from the Nexus 5X, too. Here's an HDR selfie taken in Times Square. Not only is the HDR processing better on the Nexus 5X, but because the camera has a wider field of view, I could capture more of the background and more of my body. The only gripe we have with HDR selfies taken with the Nexus 5X is the cooler cooler (bluer) color temperature and more saturated color.
Of course, the wider front-facing camera on the Nexus is perfect for taking "groufies" (that would be group selfies).
The iPhone 6S does have the advantage of its Retina flash, which flashes a really bright white screen for a split-second right before a selfie is taken. But in a straight-up selfie shoot-out, the Nexus 5X is more versatile. It's not like selfies are about image quality, anyway; they're about breaking records.
Winner: Nexus 5X
Close-ups
It's super fun to take close-up shots of things, like little toys or food. In this regard, the iPhone 6S crushes it the Nexus 5X. The Nexus 5X struggled to focus at three inches on this plate of candy, whereas the iPhone 6S had no problems.
That's not to say the Nexus 5X can't do close-ups. You just need to move the camera a little farther back so the camera can focus. You'll get a wider shot, but you can always crop it later. The Nexus 5X has a f/2.0 aperture versus the iPhone 6S's f/2.2, so there's slightly better "bokeh" (background blur), but we prefer the iPhone 6S's crisper close-ups. Pay attention to the dragon's tail below and you'll see what we mean. Also note the more accurate white balance (again) on the iPhone 6S shot.
Winner: iPhone 6S
Low light
Because smartphones have small camera sensors, they can't let a lot of light into their lenses, especially in low-light situations. Using your smartphone to take low-light photos (bars, restaurants, etc.) has seen some improvement over the last few years, but they're still not very good yet.
For low-light shots, the iPhone 6S beats out the Nexus 5X. There's way too much noise-reduction applied to the Nexus 5X photo. Although there's still some visible and undesirable noise-reduction on the iPhone 6S's shot, it looks cleaner and more natural.
Winner: iPhone 6S
Nighttime
Nighttime shots, like low-light photos, always seem to be unavoidable, especially when you're a tourist in a new city. You can't help but be drawn into wanting to take a photo of a beautifully lit skyline. A tripod is a must to get a crisp, non-blurry shot, but it's unlikely you'll have one handy.
Neither phone did a superb job at taking a photo of the skyline from our offices. Without optical image stabilization, nighttime photos are blurry. The iPhone 6S struggled to shoot an in-focus image unless we locked onto the Empire State Building. The Nexus 5X looked like it had the autofocus down, but upon closer inspection on a computer, the photo was noticeably blurrier. You can't even make out the red "H&M" signage on the building with the green spire.
Winner: iPhone 6S
Final verdict:
We had no expectations about which phone would come out ahead. Tallying up the winners of each category, the Nexus 5X and iPhone 6S are locked in a tie. The Nexus 5X outperformed the iPhone 6S on the outdoors, outdoors (action), and selfies test. The iPhone 6S, meanwhile, beat out the Nexus 5X on the close-ups, low-light and nighttime tests. The indoors and HDR tests were a draw.
Final score: 3 wins for the Nexus 5X, 3 wins for the iPhone 6S, and 2 draws.
A clear winner is always more exciting, but in this case, it looks like Google (and LG) have finally narrowed the camera gap with Apple's iPhones. The Nexus 5X's cameras, while not significantly better than the iPhone 6S's, are very capable shooters. That alone is a huge win for the Android camp.
BONUS: Nexus 5X and Nexus 6P: First impressions
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