Review: Google Nexus 4 Android Smartphone by LG

http://www.wired.com/reviews/2012/11/google-nexus-4

by riledhel • 14 years ago

62 59 14 years ago

wired.com

mmanfrin• 14 years ago

Wasn't this on here a couple days ago?

greenmountin• 14 years ago

Yep. URL differs by the ending /

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4733264

tjdetwiler2• 14 years ago

After being on a $75/month Sprint plan that delivers overwhelmingly mediocre service, this is the device that will get me to jump from contract to prepaid devices.

donniezazen• 14 years ago

I am also thinking about going over to Prepaid T Mobile Monthly4G plan which costs $50 bucks. I am not just sure what's the catch.

jkap• 14 years ago

I'm currently on a $30 T-Mobile Mothly4G plan on a Galaxy Nexus. The catch is that, in my area, T-Mobile's service isn't quite as good as Verizon's, who I was previously with.

And that's it. That is literally the only complaint I've had and, for $30 a month, I'm willing to live with that.

thematt• 14 years ago

I've heard it repeated that the Nexus 4 can be used with T-Mobile prepaid, but can it be used with Virgin Mobile USA? VM looks to be $35/month rather than the $50/month that T-Mobile costs.

notJim4• 14 years ago

FYI, there's a T-Mobile plan for $30/mo with 5GB of data if you don't talk on the phone that much--it only offers 100 minutes of talk time.

jvm• 14 years ago

I'm on the TMo $30 prepaid. It is awesome. HSPA+ is very fast and responsive. I'm in NYC though where I know they are particularly good.

glennos3• 14 years ago

Only thing which holds me back from grabbing one of these is the 4.7" screen. It strikes me that it would be a sacrifice of comfort for screen real estate (and space for high-end components). That said, I've never held one for more than a minute.

Anyone have a 4.7"+ (S3, One X, Optimus G, etc) who can share their assessment of Size vs Usability?

ConstantineXVI2• 14 years ago

I had the 4.65" Galaxy Nexus; it was still usable but just barely. I'd have a hard time being convinced to go any bigger (I'm now on a 4.3" Razr M; no fault of the SGN, I switched networks and can't stand TouchWiz)

phyalow4• 14 years ago

Totally, I went from the Droid OG to the Galaxy Nexus and swore I would never go any larger, although it feel's kind of small now after using a Galaxy Note on and off!

glennos3• 14 years ago

The Razr M has a nice form factor, hopefully we can look forward to a Motorola Nexus in the future.

benmccann• 14 years ago

I didn't think I would like the big screen on my Galaxy Nexus, but now I don't think I could go back to a smaller screen.

incision• 14 years ago

I have the 4.65" GN and have no problems one-handing it. Of course, I'm tall with big mitts - I wear XXL or XXXL in gloves, but my 5'4" wife has one as well and has no complaints.

With all that said, I will say that I have to imagine the size would make things less than optimal for some folks, but I don't think it's a matter of device size so much as the way most software behaves.

I'd like to see more apps consider a bit more than simply extending their basic portrait / landscape layouts.

I'm disappointed I haven't seen more things along the lines of the old Xoom radial menu [1] or the split and / or off-center controls you can find in some third-party keyboards.

1: http://cdn3.jeftek.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Xoom-Brows... (Couldn't find a more recent picture, the more recent version has several layers of buttons.)

turing• 14 years ago

Over the summer I moved from a 4" device (G2x) to the 4.65" Galaxy Nexus. Had no real trouble adjusting, and I can't imagine going back.

Mythbusters2• 14 years ago

9/10 really? Is this phone really better than GS III or Nokia 920? Doesn't look like.

unavoidable2• 14 years ago

At half the price?

Mythbusters2• 14 years ago

Who cares? With most of the phones being sold with contract, this is just a gimmick. What does it have going for it other than a cheap price anyways? Poor camera? no expandable memory? No LTE? Poor speakers? Manufacturer with questionable quality record?

glennos3• 14 years ago

With price as a consideration, I think the reviewer thinks it is. At half the price, I think it need only be close product-wise to be a net "better".

That says, I think the build looks better than S3 and software potentially better than both. Completely unqualified though, just my impressions from reviews.

notJim4• 14 years ago

It's better than the GSIII in nearly every way: much cheaper, the latest stock version of Android instead of the janky Samsung skin, IPS display instead of Pentile OLED, better battery life and performance. The downsides are that apparently the GSIII has a slightly better camera and of course it offers LTE. Not sure about the N920.

bmasci• 14 years ago

I think this device is solid.

I'll probably end up waiting until some consumer reviews are out, but I can't see why this isn't a perfect albeit perhaps niche device for me.

I don't want a contract phone, I could care less about LTE and pure Android seems like a solid OS. I'll probably give this guy a go on either Straight Talk or Solavei. Worst case scenario is that I end up not liking it and using an upgrade on an iPhone.

phyalow4• 14 years ago

What a poor review, I personally dont get the hype surrounding LTE (sure it's a great protocol but hardly widely adopted), or understand the need to spend the 1st 2 paragraphs bleeting on about it. HSPA+ does everything I need (and probably more).

This and the accompanying video are a much more informative and entertaining read. http://www.theverge.com/2012/10/29/3570034/inside-android-bu...

Regardless I will be picking one up! Cracked my Galaxy Nexus's screen this morning.

(NB: In New Zealand things might be different elsewhere).

CrazedGeek3• 14 years ago

I'm in the US and I share your thoughts. Having seen LTE (on an AT&T phone), it's quite nice, but not noticeably faster than HSPA+ (T-Mo US) for general usage. I have no issue waiting until the various LTE networks are more fleshed out and the LTE chips are a bit better battery-wise.

MBCook2• 14 years ago

I was perfectly happy with the 3G service on my iPhone 4, and the HSPA+ service on family members' 4Ses was nice, but I didn't expect to care much about the LTE service on my iPhone 5.

I've gotta tell you, it's very nice, and pulling up pages feels like you're on WiFi. But the first time I really noticed it was when I was sitting in a parking lot and asked my phone to pull down a 1/2 hour podcast. I pressed the little download button and watched in amazement as it downloaded in a couple of seconds. I pulled down the Speedtest.net app (also quick) and was stunned to see that I was getting 20 Mb/s down, nearly double the speed of my home connection.

It's a bit like the retina display. No one actually needs one, but it's just so much nicer than what you had before that you can't help but love it. Given that the power draw on the newer chipsets means battery life isn't gone, it's turned out to be a surprise great feature.

angusgr4• 14 years ago

I totally agree that the Wired review wasn't all that it could have been. It did answer some of my basic questions though (like 'how does the battery life hold up?' and 'is it a lemon or not?')

I can't really say the same for the Verge video, though. It felt to me like Google's PR video, made by a third party. The only even vaguely critical question was "so it's like Swype?" IIRC the interviewer doesn't even get to hold the phone. Surely tech journalism can do better.

notJim4• 14 years ago

Read the article, it answers your questions, and better than the Wired article did.

nilsbunger• 14 years ago

When I used an LTE device, it was the first time browsing over cellular felt like a WiFi connection. It was definitely really nice, though I think you can blow your data budget pretty quickly.

macspoofing• 14 years ago

I get the hype surrounding LTE, I'm just not that excited about it when (here in Canada) I have a monthly 5GB cap.

phyalow4• 14 years ago

I pay $40 a month for 500MB Yay!

joonix• 14 years ago

HSPA+ runs about 8mbit from what I understand. LTE is in most major cities now and people regularly pull down 35mbit (I have witnessed this myself on Telstra in Melbourne). Pretty big difference.

I was awaiting this new phone but severely disappointed at such a blunder on Google's part. Phone is basically dead and obsolete on arrival. Shame.

CrazedGeek3• 14 years ago

HSPA+ can theoretically go to 168 Mb/s but most networks run it at around 42 Mb/s.

Alterlife• 14 years ago

> Cracked my Galaxy Nexus's screen this morning.

Are you sure the Nexus 4 is the best phone for you? From almost every review I've read, it's described as a glass sandwich - gorilla glass breaks when you drop it too.

My phone is due for replacement as well (also cracked screen), but I've put off picking one up until I can find one that I'm convinced is reasonably durable - I have a two year old son.

phyalow4• 14 years ago

It had a pretty bad fall about 5 meters down concrete stairs! Digitiser and screen still (mostly work)! Coped fairly well all things considered. Wouldn't be worried about the little fella! Let him at it!

h4pless• 14 years ago

These specs seem almost unbelievable for the price but there is one glaring draw back for me which is the lack of removable storage. I understand the inherent risks of storing anything you want to remain private on a smart phone but without a microSD card, it feels like the when I inevitably brick my phone somehow, there's no easy way to get the files I want to keep private off the phone. What would be the options to ensure that either 1) the shop/company that does a warranty repair doesn't just data mine the phone once they fix it or 2) that the memory is properly destroyed if the phone cannot be fixed? It also feels like if there was an issue, like an update of Android going awry somehow, that you would lose all your data if you just needed to do a factory reset. I understand that it's all about the cloud now but even then it seems like there would be some corner cases where it would be invaluable to have a removable piece of storage in there even without considering privacy an issue.

sjs382• 14 years ago

I've thought about this recently. I have a HP Touchpad with personal data on it that's stopped turning on. I'm not interested in fixing it, but I'm also unsure of how to dispose of it and keep my data safe. Drilling a bunch of holes in a device that doesn't have a removable battery isn't something I can do. So for now, the device just sits at the bottom of a drawer.

MBCook2• 14 years ago

Is there a common way of keeping a backup of Android phones?

I've been an iPhone user since the 3G came out. I don't really worry about this kind of thing because I know that iTunes makes backups when I sync. Now that iCloud is integrated, it's supposed to keep backups too (although I don't trust it as much as iTunes). Those backups have meant that upgrading to a newer model has been basically seamless.

I know that Android doesn't have a centralized piece of software like iTunes (which is arguably a good thing), but how are backups handled? Are they left to the end user, or is the fact that your account is syncing with Google supposed to take care of your important data (Gmail, Google Calendar, etc)?

blinkingled• 14 years ago

For the most things that commonly matter - it is automatic. Your GMail, Google Music (or Amazon for that matter), Photos (If you have G+ app installed), Contacts, App list, wallpaper, WiFi and other settings are all automatically backed up to the cloud and restored when you factory reset or get a new phone and sign in to your Google account.

For things such as SMS and full system backup - you have to take things in your own hand. SMS is easy with a 3rd party app, full system backup can be done using Titanium if your phone is rooted or by using command line scripts using adb. (adb supports encrypted backup to the desktop.) Also various OEMs provide their own Desktop sync program - like Samsung Kies - that make it easy to backup/restore using a PC. But it is fairly unnecessary to go to that length - default backup + SMS backup app works quite well for most.

GR8K• 14 years ago

The article suggests because Nexus 4 doesn't have LTE, it costs so little. Is that true? Why does the unlocked Samsung SIII run $800?

angusgr4• 14 years ago

I thought the suggestion was more that by producing just one variant for all markets/regions/carriers, Google/LG can leverage economies of scale to bring the overall price down.

I haven't looked at the S3, but past Samsung models have had a bunch of variants marketed under the one model name.

(How much this really factors into the pricing, I doubt if we or Wired can really know.)

redthrowaway• 14 years ago

In addition, no LTE allows them to run a smaller battery, which also holds costs down.

jug6ernaut2• 14 years ago

Simple, Samsung has to sell there product in an attempt to make a profit on them, Google on the other hand is selling theirs at or near cost as a "Content delivery system". They don't need to make money up front for the device.

general_failure• 14 years ago

That doesn't explain the 500 USD markup per _device_

jacek• 14 years ago

What is the point of adding gadget reviews to HN? Anyone interested can find them easily.

lobo_tuerto• 14 years ago

I like to find gadget reviews on HN. I think only the really outstanding ones reach and stay on the front page. And that is a good thing for someone like me that loves gadgets but don't visit gadget review sites anymore.

Check this out about background noise: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4737550

HN's front page is like a curated page of interesting stuff about anything. The important word here is _curated_.

anonymous• 14 years ago

Paragraph #3: major omission: It’s not compatible with any LTE networks

Paragraph #4(paraphrased): Nobody outside the USA has plans to roll out LTE any time soon and even in the USA there's very limited coverage by only two carriers.

And that's where I stopped reading. I give this article 1½/10, it's the best I can do.

Review: Google Nexus 4 Android Smartphone by LG

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