Although smartphone fans have their eyes set on premium flagship announcements like the latest iPhone or a release of a new Samsung Galaxy, some fans who more into an everyday-use mobile unit have set their eyes set on midrange, budget-friendly handsets.
How would two standouts, the newly announced Nexus 5X and China-based Xiaomi Mi 4c, compare against each other in the midrange smartphone arena?
Display
One of the features that users instantly look for in a new handset is its display. Being recently released, the new Nexus 5X has an advantage, offering a 5.2-inch display with full HD resolution and pixel density of 423 ppi. However, although the Xiaomi Mi4c has a slightly smaller 5.0-inch display, it also offers full HD resolution. Being smaller, the pixel density is also larger than the Nexus 5X, offering a brighter and crisper 441 ppi.
Design and features
Since both are midrange units, the new Nexus 5X and Mi 4c are housed in polycarbonate, unlike the premium, metal-chassis flagships. Fans who are into portability may find the Mi 4c fits their needs, as it has a smaller footprint than the new Nexus.
For features, one of the clear advantage of the Nexus 5X over the Mi 4c is having a fingerprint scanner, which adds a layer of security for the user. In addition, most recent tech is also incorporated in the main, 12.3-MP camera as opposed to Mi 4c's larger 13-MP shooter. Both units have 5-MP cameras on the front.
In addition, the Nexus 5X also comes running the latest Android 6.0 Marshmallow. Although the Mi 4c may have OTA updates in the future, the Xiaomi unit comes with 5.1.1 Lollipop overlaid with MiUI 7.0 out of the box.
Under the hood
Performance-wise, the Xiaomi Mi 4c has some advantage over the new Nexus. Although both are powered by the same Snapdragon 808 chipset, the Nexus 5X only has 2 GB of RAM for its 16- and 32-GB storage versions. The Mi 4c, on the other hand, features 2 GB of RAM for its 16-GB variant, while a larger 3-GB RAM is incorporated with the 32-GB one.
