ledger-nano-x-review

Ledger Nano X Review: Is It Better Than Nano S?

As the cryptocurrencies had been invented more than a decade ago, several companies have attempted to build more robust and advanced cryptocurrency wallets. These crypto wallets are aimed at offering an even more secure and user friendly interface. Currently, the current gold standard for security has been known as a hardware wallet. A hardware wallet is a physical device that stores your crypto private keys in a pretty secure and offline environment. In this Ledger Nano X Review, we will talk about all the aspects of this hardware wallet and determine if it can surpass the Ledger Nano S.

Ledger is a firm that has stepped forward to create hardware wallets also known as the cold wallet or offline wallets. Ledger Nano S was developed at first and then it has been followed by the Ledger Nano X. Ideally, the Ledger Nano X is called as the successor of the Ledger Nano S. The Nano X is the flagship device of the company. Now let us talk about all the specifications of the Ledger Nano X one by one and you can also search for Ledger Nano X review reddit where you might find something extra.

Design & Build

The Ledger Nano X has surpassed the Ledger Nano S in the design and build to some extent. The dimension of the Nano X is 72mm x 18.6mm x 11.75mm and weighs 34 grams. With this dimension the Nano is twice as heavy and large as the Ledger Nano S. The sole reason why the Nano X is bulkier than the Nano S is that the former possesses a built-in battery of 100mAH. This means that an individual can use it on the go. Nano S is a lot different and lacks this feature. It needs to be plugged into a PC or a laptop using a USB cable for drawing power. Increased memory and a larger OLED screen is what makes usage of the Ledger Nano X a lot easier.

When simultaneously comparing the Ledger Nano X with the Ledger Nano S, Ledger Blue, KeepKey and Trezor Model One, it has been seen that the Ledger Nano X is much smaller than the KeepKeyand the Ledger Blue wallet. However, the device is much larger than the Trezor Model One and Ledger Nano S. Nevertheless, the Nano X is still a pretty small device and can roughly be compared to the regular USB Flash drive devices.

In total, the Ledger Nano X possesses an aesthetic and modern look and feel similar to the predecessor. It has also been seen that the buttons of the Ledger Nano X are more streamlined as they are now built into the body of the device. The buttons sit flush with the casing of the device.

What Will You Receive In The Ledger Nano X Box?

The Ledger Nano X is available in a small cellophane paper wrapped box bearing dimensions 80mm x 131mm x 31mm. The bad part is that the box does not come with any tamper evident seals meaning that they are much easier to counterfeit and can hence be misleading, which most people might think. However, this is probably the best tactic opted by the company.

On the contrary, the company has chosen to offer software tools that would verify if the hardware wallet is legit. The tools would also determine whether the wallet has been tampered. The software that enables this feature is named “Root of Trust”. This app aims to minimize the supply chain attacks.

The following are the contents of the Ledger Nano X box:

  • Ledger Nano X
  • Braided USB A to USB C cable.
  • Keychain strap
  • Documentation
  • Three Recovery Sheets
  • Ledger Stickers

How Easy Is The Ledger Nano X To Use?

The Ledger Nano X offers a sense of being heftier than the Nano S, however, it is a very small device. Owing to this, navigating through the menus in the device could be a little tricky. The fact that most of its operations are done using the button duos, the operating process is not that simple. Ledger has come up with its Nano X with a modification of the screen that is a bit larger and with larger buttons than that of the Nano S making the experience a slight better than that of its predecessor.

Considering the navigation, the devices menu seeks for scrolling left or right making use of the left and right buttons as and when required. On pressing both the buttons simultaneously, this would mean that you are selecting an option. Apart from this, most of the operations of the Ledger Nano X occur on the Ledger Live application. The Ledger device is mostly used for address verification and transaction authorizations.

The relatively larger screen of the Nano X solves at least one issue that was predominant with the Nano S as the cryptocurrency addresses can now be displayed as a whole instead of you having to scroll to view the complete address. One thing that you might not like about the Ledger Nano X is that it comes with a relatively short USB cable which is solely 50 cm in length. This might create discomfort if your system is not located in a convenient place.

Features of The Ledger Nano X

Being a hardware wallet, the Ledger Nano X has been primarily designed for the easy and safe storage of the cryptocurrencies and the other crypto assets. Owing to this, the Ledger Nano X is practically compatible with all of the major cryptocurrency assets. Additionally, support for the new assets are also added on a regular basis.

The successor also overcomes one of the major limitations of its predecessor in terms of the available internal memory. The available internal memory goes from 320kb till 2048kb permitting the users to store up to 10 apps simultaneously on their device. The Ledger Nano S is lagging behind as it offers a little storage and lets its users install up to six apps simultaneously based on the app size. This means that the users can now install more apps on their device at a time without having any space constraints and without the need to remove previously installed apps to install the new ones.

While a whopping majority of these applications permits the wallet to store additional cryptocurrencies and crypto tokens, just a couple of them impart additional functionality to the Ledger Nano X. For instance, the FIDO U2F application changes the device into a two-factor authentication key or a 2-FA key while the recovery check app can be utilized to ensure that an individual has correctly saved the recovery phrase.

Additionally, the Ledger Nano X is the very first cryptocurrency hardware wallet that includes a built-in 100mAH battery. This upgrade seems to be necessary as unlike the Nano S, the Nano X features a Bluetooth connectivity that is an out of the box concept that they have introduced for the first time. The Bluetooth connectivity enables the device to connect to the mobile device without any wire-hassles while the Nano S requires a Ledger OTG kit for its connectivity.

With all the improvisations that the Ledger Nano X has seen, clearly indicates that the company had been working effortlessly towards eliminating the shortcomings of the Nano S model and the earlier products. Hence, the company is trying to make the storage of the cryptocurrency assets a much less challenging task.

In the month of July 2021, the Ledger company had announced that all of its hardware wallets would now be compatible with the DEX aggregator, Paraswap. All you would need is to download the Paraswap app from the Ledger App Store.

The Ledger Nano X has integrated Coin Control as a part of Ledger Live’s advanced settings after an announcement. The company had promised that the Coin Control would be made available to Ledger Live. This makes Ledger the sole hardware wallet that supports the coin control natively.

Now you may ask what Coin Control is. It is the ability to choose which of the UTXOs an individual spends so that he can decide between a LIFO (Last In, First Out) or FIFO (First In, First Out). However, this has tax implications in addition to the security implications. If you hold a tiny amount of BTC in a UTXO, you can choose to not spend it. This prevents the others from tracking you down in a situation known as the “dust attack”.

Recently, Ledger has announced their full node support via its satstack software. With the help of this full node support, the users can now connect their full node to the Ledger Live, which is the native wallet software of the company. This eradicates the need to utilize the node of Ledger and thereby expose their XPUB and thereby all of their blockchain activities.

Ledger Nano X Review: Supported Cryptocurrencies & Languages 

The Ledger Nano X is compatible with more than 1000 digital assets. This includes 23 crypto coins and all the ERC-20 tokens. Many of these cryptocurrencies can be managed via the Ledger Live, while the others need the Ledger Nano X to be used in connection to a compatible wallet. The supported cryptocurrency assets include:

  • Bitcoin (BTC)
  • Ethereum (ETH)
  • ERC20 tokens
  • XRP
  • Bitcoin Cash (BCH)
  • Litecoin (LTC)
  • Tether (USDT)
  • Binance Coin (BNB)
  • EOS
  • Stellar (XLM)
  • Cardano (ADA)
  • Monero (XMR)
  • Cosmos (ATOM)
  • Polkadot (DOT)
  • and over 1,000 more

Practically speaking, the Ledger Nano X supports all the tokens that the Nano S supports. The Nano X is ideal for securing diverse portfolios. However, if you are looking to store the newly launched crypto assets, then you might have to wait until the company adds support for the newly added coins.

In addition to these coins, the Ledger Nano X has also been integrated into other applications and services of which some are:

  • Bitstamp
  • FIDO/U2F
  • Generator
  • Metamask
  • Mycelium
  • MyEtherWallet
  • OTP
  • Password
  • SSH Agent

The Ledger Nano X now supports most of the languages. You can choose the language while conducting the setup.

How Secure Is The Ledger Nano X?

People are mostly concerned about is Ledger Nano X safe? Well, we will take a look at this. Being a cold wallet, the Ledger Nano X focuses on the minority of the cryptocurrency users who are much concerned about their security rather than anything else. In such a scenario, the team behind the Ledger wallets has put a lot of effort on the potential ways in which the device might get compromised and incorporated a great number of the safety features into its design.

Similar to all other Ledger devices, the Nano X possesses state-of-the-art security and indulges in a physically isolated security element termed the CC EAL5+. These secure elements are quite similar to those that are used to secure the debit and credit cards. This security element is the standard that the banks use for the protection of their financial information.

Additionally, the device also features a dual core MCU that runs a proprietary operating system going by the name BOLOS and controls the communication between the connected device and the ledger secure element.

Despite the fact that theoretically the addition of Bluetooth maximizes the number of the potential entry points that the hackers could exploit to compromise the device, the Ledger Nano X successfully encrypts the Bluetooth traffic between the cellphones and requires manual verification for all of the important device actions.

Apart from this, the Nano X and Nano S from the house of Ledger are the only cold wallets that receive CSPN certification or the First Level Security Certificate. This means that the security of these offline wallets has been independently certified by ANSSI, which is the National Cybersecurity Agency of France. All of these hardware-based security measures have also been supplemented with various software-based security. This includes a 4-8 digital security PIN, optional Ledger Live password lock and automatic inactivity lockouts.

Although the Ledger devices offer a high level of security, the company has also experienced some security lapses. Back in June 2020, the company’s e-commerce database was leaked that resulted in more than a million customer records getting posted to the various hacker forums. Of these, some quarter of a million records had included specific details such as the physical addresses and the phone numbers. The hack had exposed the Ledger customers to the threat of phishing attacks.

It is evident from the security efforts implemented in the Ledger products these days that the company has committed itself to changing how it usually handled the customer data as well as identifying and prosecuting those that are responsible, the lapse had been an embarrassing one for a company whose business is solely based on the security of your cryptocurrencies.

Ledger Nano X Review: Price & Availability

The Ledger Nano X is priced at $142.21 at the time of writing which is INR 10,619 (GST and duty not included). Alternatively, a pack of three is also available at a much affordable price. The pack of three is usually priced at INR 31,857 or $426.57 (GST and duty not included) at the time of writing. However, the company sometimes offers a discount of flat 16% on the pack of three. Free shipping is also available at times. At other times, the shipping charges vary between $15 and $19 or more depending on the location of the recipient.

The prices that have been disclosed in this Ledger crypto wallet review are strictly limited to the official website of Ledger. The benefits that you will receive on purchasing hardware wallets from the official website of Ledger includes 14 day easy return, free shipping, over 15 secured payment method options, multilingual customer support with the cryptocurrency experts and an assurity of receiving an original and untampered product.

Various third-parties also sell the Ledger Nano X and bundles at a much affordable price. That being said, if you are willing to get your hands on the Ledger Nano X from any third party dealer, then you need to be careful and choose only the authorized third party dealers to stay away from getting defrauded. You must never use any hardware wallet that has already been configured. The Ledger Nano X price might seem a bit high on the website but you can be rest assured that you receive an original product.

Final Verdict

The Ledger Nano X features excellent technology. CES is the world’s largest annual technology fair that honours the out of the box products. The CES Innovation Honoree Awards are offered to the technologies and products that go beyond a certain standard in this category. Ledger has received the honourable hardware wallet CES Innovation Honoree Award in the Cybersecurity and Personal Privacy product category in 2019 for the hardware wallets it has manufactured till date.

The company manufactured cold wallets which are very powerful and make a striking presence in the hardware wallet market. The wallets combine the security of the secure elements and the customized operating system with the ease of use and the flexibility offered by the Bluetooth and the extended storage. The wallet also offers a huge range of the supported cryptocurrencies. This means that an investor who wants to invest in multiple cryptocurrencies can secure their entire portfolio.

The Ledger Nano X review gives a glimpse that the successor is an outstanding product from the house of Ledger. However, it comes with a high price tag unlike the Ledger Nano S. Comparing the features and the ease of use of Ledger Nano X vs S, the former is much more advanced than the latter. If security and advanced features are something that you want, the Ledger Nano X will be the perfect option to go for. But, if you want to opt for a less expensive one, then the Ledger Nano S is sure to fit in your budget. You might also want to check out the Ledger Nano S review.

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