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From Nexus One to Nexus 6P: The Evolution

The latest Nexus smartphones have already been launched officially and with them come new specs, features, and form factors that now flaunt a more attractive look. With that said, let’s take a look at its humble beginnings and how the Nexus handset lineup has evolved through the years.

All the Nexus smartphones from 2010 - 2015

All the Nexus smartphones from 2010 – 2015

Here are the first three generations:

HTC's Nexus One (January 2010)Samsung's Nexus S (December 2010)Samsung's GALAXY Nexus (October 2011)
3.7-inch AMOLED display @ 800 x 480 resolution4-inch Super AMOLED display @ 800 x 480 resolution4.65-inch Super AMOLED display @ 1280 x 720 resolution
252ppi233ppi316ppi
1GHz Snapdragon S1 processor1GHz Cortex-A8 processor1.2GHz Cortex-A9 dual-core processor
Adreno 200 GPUPowerVR SGX540 GPUPowerVR SGX540
512MB RAM512MB RAM1GB RAM
4GB internal storage (expandable up to 32GB)16GB internal storage16GB internal storage
5MP rear camera with LED flash5MP rear camera with LED flash5MP rear camera with LED flash
N/AVGA front camera1.3MP front camera
Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/gWi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, DLNA, hotspotWi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, dual-band, DLNA, hotspot
Bluetooth v2.1, A2DPBluetooth v2.1, A2DPBluetooth v3.0, A2DP
GPS with A-GPSGPS with A-GPSGPS with A-GPS
N/ANFCN/A
HSDPAHSDPA, HSUPAHSDPA, LTE
119 x 59.8 x 11.5 mm123.9 x 63 x 10.9 mm135.5 x 67.9 x 8.9 mm
130 g129 g135 g
1400mAh Li-Ion battery1500mAh Li-Ion battery1750mAh Li-Ion battery
Android 2.1 Eclair OSAndroid 2.3 Gingerbread OSAndroid 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich OS

The first handset to receive the Nexus label is HTC‘s Nexus one which was announced back in January of 2010. It’s been equipped with a rather small display at 3.7 inches, but already sports an AMOLED screen that delivered bright and crisp images during our time with it. It also possessed a decent Snapdragon S1 processor with 4GB of internal storage. Before the year ended, Samsung came out with its own Nexus S that got a bigger 4-inch display and has been blessed with the company’s famous Super AMOLED screen. It got a bigger 16GB storage, a VGA front camera, and we found the entire form factor to be sexy when we had the chance to see it back in 2011.

Google seemed to like the partnership with the South Korean giant as it tapped them once again for the GALAXY Nexus — the third Nexus device. This was the time that people are getting into bigger displays so the company made the screen bigger at 4.65 inches and now with HD resolution so pixel density received sort of a huge jump. CPU has also been bumped up significantly and features a dual-core processor with a gig of RAM (a first among the Nexus devices). From VGA, the front shooter has been updated to 1.3 megapixels which produced better selfie shots.

Nexus 4, 5, and 6 specs comparison:

LG's Nexus 4 (October 2012)LG's Nexus 5 (October 2013)Motorola's Nexus 6 (October 2014)
4.7-inch True HD IPS Plus display @ 1280 x 720 resolution with Zerogap Touch technology4.95-inch Full HD display @ 1920 x 1080 resolution5.96-inch Quad HD AMOLED display @ 2560 x 1440 resolution
318ppi445ppi493ppi
Corning Gorilla Glass 2Corning Gorilla Glass 3Corning Gorilla Glass 3
1.5GHz Snapdragon S4 Pro quad-core processor2.3GHz Snapdragon 800 quad-core processor2.7Ghz Snapdragon 805 quad-core CPU
Adreno 320 GPUAdreno 330 GPUAdreno 420 GPU
2GB RAM2GB RAM3GB RAM
8GB/16GB internal storage16GB/32GB internal storage32/64GB internal storage
8MP rear camera with LED flash8MP rear camera with LED flash and OIS13MP rear camera with LED flash, OIS, f/2.0 aperture
1.3MP front camera1.3MP front camera2MP front camera
Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, dual-band, DLNA, hotspotWi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct, DLNA, hotspotWi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct, DLNA, hotspot
Bluetooth v4.0, A2DPBluetooth v4.0, A2DPBluetooth v4.1, A2DP, LE
GPS with A-GPS and GLONASSGPS with A-GPS and GLONASSGPS with A-GPS and GLONASS
NFCNFCNFC
HSDPAHSDPA, LTEHSDPA, LTE
119 x 59.8 x 11.5 mm137.9 x 69.2 x 8.6 mm159.3 x 83 x 10.1 mm
130 g130 g184 g
2100mAh Li-Po battery2300mAh Li-Po battery3220mAh Li-Po battery
Qi-enabled for wireless charging, microphone with ANCQi-enabled for wireless charging, microphone with ANCQi-enabled for wireless charging, microphone with ANC
Android 4.2 Jelly Bean OSAndroid 5.0 Lollipop OSAndroid 5.0 Lollipop OS

The fourth, fifth, and sixth generation Nexus phones were all announced in October. Starting with LG‘s Nexus 4, it boasted a True HD IPS Plus display that had more width than height which proved to be advantageous when used for browsing sites and checking emails. Not only that, but it also flaunted LG’s Zerogap Touch technology which was the same approach that Apple did with its iPhone 5. This means that there were no gaps between its screen layers, making the images appear closer to the glass. On the downside, we found that colors weren’t as punchy as its peers.

Speaking of display, we were quite blown away with the vibrance and pixel density of the Nexus 5 at Full HD. Also made by LG, this phone had support for Qi wireless charging just like its previous model. What was new with this handset was that it had LTE capabilities from the get-go so this made it appealing to consumers on-the-go. Battery capacity has also been upgraded with Android Lollipop OS to boot. Its next iteration, the Motorola-made Nexus 6 got bigger with almost 6 inches of screen real estate. It was powered by a very capable Snapdragon 805 CPU clocked at 2.7GHz partnered with 3GB of RAM which made processing casual tasks effortless.

New Nexus 5X and 6P specs:

LG's Nexus 5X (September 2015)Huawei's Nexus 6P (September 2015)
5.2-inch Full HD LCD display @ 1920 x 1080 resolution5.7-inch WQHD AMOLED display @ 2560 x 1440 resolution
424ppi515ppi
Corning Gorilla Glass 3Corning Gorilla Glass 4
All-metal buildAll-metal build
2GHz Snapdragon 808 hexa-core processor2.0GHz 64-bit Snapdragon 810 v2.1 octa-core processor
Adreno 418 GPUAdreno 430 GPU
2GB RAM3GB RAM
16GB/32GB internal storage32GB/64GB/128GB internal storage
12.3-megapixel rear camera with LED flash,12.3-megapixel rear camera with LED flash
4K video recording4K video recording
5MP front camera8MP front camera
Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct, DLNA, hotspotWi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct, DLNA, hotspot
Bluetooth v4.2Bluetooth v4.2
GPS with A-GPS and GLONASSGPS with A-GPS and GLONASS
NFCNFC
4G LTE4G LTE
Nexus Imprint, MicroUSB Type-C portNexus Imprint, MicroUSB Type-C port
147 x 72.6 x 7.9 mm159.4 x 77.8 x 7.3 mm
136 g178 g
2700mAh Li-Po battery3450mAh Li-Po battery
Android 6.0 Marshmallow OSAndroid 6.0 Marshmallow OS

And now the two latest Nexus handsets — the 5X from LG and 6P from Huawei. The Nexus 5X is considered as a smaller and toned down version of the 6P at 5.2 inches with Full HD resolution. Its bigger brother, on the other hand, has the 5.7-inch WQHD display that amounts to 515ppi and is reinforced with Corning’s fourth iteration of Gorilla Glass. It also sports an all-metal build which scream premium quality, and not to mention sexy. Both snap photos using a 12.3-megapixel camera and records 4K videos right off the bat. They both  have the latest features like NFC and LTE connectivities, a fingerprint scanner, and the a USB Type-C port which is reversible and transfers larger data by the second.

There you have it, folks! From Google’s first foray into the smartphone market with its Nexus One all the way to the Nexus 5X and 6P, we can see that the company always wanted to offer its users competitive devices with their capable and reasonably priced handsets which have been among the firsts to receive software updates since 2010.

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Avatar for Kevin Bruce Francisco

Kevin Bruce Francisco is the Senior Editor and Video Producer for YugaTech. He's a Digital Filmmaking graduate who's always either daydreaming of traveling or actually going places on his bike. Follow him on Twitter for more tech updates @kevincofrancis.

3 Responses

  1. Avatar for Ace Ace says:

    Sir, hindi po ba Android 4.4 KitKat ang introduced OS sa Nexus 5?

  2. Avatar for Waley again Waley again says:

    The Nexus 5P (REALLY?! AGAIN?! No editor here?) is considered as a smaller and toned down version of the 6P at 5.2 inches with Full HD resolution. – See more at: https://www.yugatech.com/mobile/from-nexus-one-to-nexus-6p-the-evolution/#sthash.v4fkFuGs.dpuf

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