Complete analysis and review of the bq Aquaris X5 Plus, the new and renewed mobile of the Spanish bq with features and features of high-end models: Qualcomm Snapdragon 652 processor, 2 GB of RAM, Full HD screen, fingerprint reader and battery of 3,200 mAh capacity Is it worth it?
Assault on the mid-range «Made in Spain»
Just a few months ago the Spanish manufacturer bq marked a turning point in its policy of releases with the Aquaris X5 (in its cyanogen Edition and Android Stock versions already analyzed in ComputerHoy), a terminal with metal chassis and reasonable specifications with which the Spanish brand was seen for the first time in what we might call as «medium range with pretensions».
Without leaving its roadmap trying to give the maximum for the lowest possible price, bq takes a step forward with the new bq Aquaris X5 Plus that today we take to analysis, a new version that practically improves in all aspects to its predecessor, and solves some of its main deficiencies of it, such as the absence of fingerprint reader or NFC connectivity.
The price of the new bq range cap is 279.50 euros, a more than interesting amount if you consider your attractive specification sheet. But is it worth it? Don’t miss our review of the bq Aquaris X5 Plus.
A design that works and likes
As already announced during the past MWC of Barcelona, bq has not changed a single bit with respect to the Aquaris X5: metal unibody body topped with a polycarbonate cap in which we find the only differentiating element, as far as design is concerned, with its predecessor: the fingerprint sensor.
Rounded in shape, the Aquaris X5 Plus’s fingerprint sensor is located at the rear, centered, just above the brand’s logo. An «index finger pull» position, and operating mode that we have already been able to see models like the LG G5 or the Huawei P9 Plus and P9 Lite, for example.
Although I personally like Apple or Samsung’s solution better to place it on the front inside the home button – I find it more expensive and technically complex to implement -, the important thing is how to solve it, and in this case the response of the fingerprint sensor of the Aquaris X5 Plus is fast and accurate, with a fairly low error rate that does not demede a apex to models that exceed it widely in price.
Available in two colours: grey and black or pink gold and white, it has a size of 7 x 14.5 x 0.7 centimeters and a weight of 145 grams. The X5 Plus has a pleasant feel and conveys a feeling of solidity and well-finished product, with a good balance between dimensions and weight.
Comfortable to handle with one hand, its rear polycarbonate lid is somewhat elusive for our taste, although its matte finish results in being a real fingerprint repellent, a 10 for bq in this look.
On the right side, from the bottom up, we find the tray for microSD cards up to 256 GB that complement its 16 GB of internal storage (10.6 GB real, as clearly indicated bq), the volume control (up to 25 steps when listening to music), and the on and off button.
On the opposite side, next to the upper left corner, the tray for Nano-SIM cards, since as usual in the Spanish brand we are faced with a Dual SIM mobile that allows to operate with two lines simultaneously.
In the lower area, between the two small notches that repeat symmetrically at the top and that act as antennas -in the purest iPhone style-, we find the Micro USB 2.0 connector and the speaker, quite easy to lock even with the most common grips, by the way. The headphone output, as usual, passes to the top, slightly oriented to the center.
The front is the 5-inch screen protected by NEG Dinorex glass – the third in mismatch behind Gorilla Glass and DragonTrail – with chemical anti-fingerprint protection that proves to be much less effective than that of the back cover.
After a couple of weeks with the Aquaris X5 Plus in the pocket I have not appreciated defects in the screen, so at least in principle the Dinorex protection seems to fulfill its task against the small scratches that usually occur with daily use.
Indicate that the screen is slightly sunk in the chassis, clearly a slight jump as you pass your finger through the edges. A design detail that is far from annoying allows the screen to be more protected when we place the mobile face down on a table or flat surface.
The upper part is the space reserved for the headset, proximity sensor and 8 MPX front camera that in this Aquaris X5 Plus dispenses, of course, the incomprehensible and useless front flash.
A bright screen
The screen is without a doubt one of the elements that has convinced me the most in this review of the bq Aquaris X5 Plus. It incorporates a 5-inch LTPS IPS LCD panel with Full HD resolution (1920×1080 pixels), which results in a density of 440 dpi versus 294 of the first X5, a quality jump that is perceived significantly compared to its predecessor.
As in previous models the Spanish brand again bets on Quantum Color+ technology, a filter system that stains the light of the white LEDs of the screen backlight system in order to increase the visible color spectrum.
The result is a screen with slightly saturated colors and a clearly low color temperature (warm colors). Personally I find it a very pleasant screen for daily use, a matter of tastes, although I recognize that such a pronounced alteration of the representation of the color can be somewhat annoying, especially when reviewing the final result of the images of the camera, since it can induce us to deceive.
But if there is one aspect in which the screen of this X5 Plus stands out is its brightness level (620 nits according to the manufacturer) that reaches enough values to ensure a correct vision in any ambient light situation, with lossless viewing angles more than correct.
Too bad that these good sensations are sometimes glossy by a crystal with a high tendency to reflections, and a level of contrast highlighted by a representation of the black color somewhat bleached by the light leaks of the screen.
Performance with nuances
At the heart of this bq Aquaris X5 Plus beats a Qualcomm Snapdragon 652 processor with eight cores at a maximum clock speed of 1.8 GHz (only half of them, the rest has its stop at 1.4 Ghz), accompanied by 2 GB of RAM (there is a version with 3 GB and 32 GB of storage that is not yet available) , and Adreno 510 graphics processor up to 600 Mhz.
With these credentials, performance benchmarks position the Bq X5 Plus away from what the user experience demonstrates. Located within the midrange with values similar to the Xiaomi Redmi Note 3, and below top models two years old like Google’s Nexus 6, it is in the day-to-day where the last mobile bq gives the face.
The experience of use has been very satisfactory, with optimal operation in all everyday tasks: email, WhatsApp, navigation, music and video etc. , without blocking or response lags, even with several applications running, and maintaining a stable operating temperature.
Nor have the most demanding Android games like Asphalt 8, Modern Combat Blackout, SBK16 or Real Racing 3 resisted, which move smoothly at fairly acceptable frame rates. It is true that loading times and transitions resent what is seen in higher models, something that can sometimes be a bit tedious but without becoming annoying.