Google's Nexus team answers burning questions about the 6P and 5X

Following Google's announcement of its latest Nexus smartphones, the Nexus 5X and Nexus 6P, the Nexus team has taken to Reddit to engage with the community in an AMA. Google's Hiroshi Lockheimer, David Burke, Krishna Kumar and Sandeep Waraich are all on hand answer questions from the Nexus faithful, and here are some of the highlights so far:

Q: What does the "X" and the "P" stand for?

X for the core of the Nexus brand (plus it sounds cool!), P for premium.

Q: Was it a conscious decision to leave out Qi wireless charging?

We added Qi wireless charging starting with N4 because plugging in USB micro B was such a hassle! (Which way is up!?) With this year's Nexii, we support USB Type-C which has a reversible connector so there's no more guessing. AND it charges incredibly swiftly: 1% to 100% in 97 mins on the 6P for example (the first ~45 mins of charging is especially fast). Meanwhile, wireless charging adds z (thickness). So, ease of plugging in + fast charging + optimizing for thinness made us double down on Type-C instead of wireless!

Q: What made the team decide to partner with Huawei and LG this year for the Nexus devices?

5X: We wanted to bring the LG-Google band back together. So many N5 fans, we couldn't possibly disappoint! 6P: Always nice to work with new players — we have a history of working with a bunch of folks: HTC, Motorola, Samsung, Asus and now Huawei!

Q: Why is 16gb still the base model for the Nexus 5x in 2015?

The idea here was to strike a balance between premium features/experiences and affordability.

Q: Is the rear facing camera on the 6P and 5X identical?

Yes. Both devices have the same camera - a 12.3MP camera, with a large 1.55um pixels, which works great in all conditions - especially low light. And both have LDAF for fast auto-focus.Yea, same sensor (IMX377) and F/2.0 optics. But 6P has more CPU/GPU horsepower so has a few additional features like 240fps slomo (vs 120fps on 5X), Smartburst, and EIS.

Q: About no OIS. Or is there some substitute in the 5X/6P for it?

We've done a bunch of things to provide image stabilization: 1. The Nexus 6P/5X has a large 1.55um pixel camera and the amount of motion blur due to hand-shake is lower when you have large pixels. 2. We have a feature we call "lucky shot" internally. When you take a picture, behind the scenes, we select the best of 3 bursts of images. 3. When you use video, we have optic-flow-based image stabilization. 4. When you use SmartBurst, we select the best image from the burst (for example a shot with eyes open).

Q: Does the Nexus 5X have USB 3.1?

Nope! Nexus 5X and Nexus 6P supports USB 2.0

Q: Where is the NFC antenna located in the 5X and 6P?

On 6P the NFC coil sits just above the Nexus Imprint fps [and] is exposed behind the camera coverglass (which is GG4 BTW). On Nexus 5X, the coil is wrapped around the back camera. And we have tested it rigorously for payments experience and it works great! And for peer-to-peer and reader mode too BTW.

If you'd like to check out every question and answer in full, you can do so from the link below.

Source: Reddit

Dan Thorp-Lancaster