9 ms·

Google Nexus 4: Nearly flawless

108 points by srathi 14y ago

bdfh42 14y ago
Not sure there is enough there to get me to upgrade my Nexus S but then again mobile phones have reached a plateau of maturity for the moment and I can't see any "must have" features around the corner.
- lucian1900 14y ago
  But is it an excellent opportunity for people with older phones to buy a nice new one. Only downside is the gigantic screen.
  - tadfisher 14y ago
    Some (like me) consider that an upside.
    - lucian1900 14y ago
      The problem is that there is no alternative. All high-end phones are gigantic. Same for all Nexus phones.
      - tadfisher 14y ago
        The Droid RAZR i/M disagrees with you.
        lucian1900 14y ago
        Locked bootloader, so it's not an option. Also, only Nexus series phones are really worth it these days.
        tadfisher 14y ago
        The "Developer Edition" is unlocked, and I agree on the second point. Unfortunately, you're at the whim of Google and the consumer market, which apparently demands large phones.
  - rhizome 14y ago
    Yeah, I'm in the market for a new Android phone right now and phones seem to be going through a late-50s auto industry "new larger size!" phase.
  - CrazedGeek 14y ago
    And the pitiful internal storage coupled with the lack of expandable storage. It's still much more convenient for me to sync music to a card than to wrangle with the various cloud services.
    - lucian1900 14y ago
      It's not something I particularly care about. I'm not even using all of the 8GB on my current phone.
    - jff 14y ago
      Wifi + sftp client have helped me manage my ebooks on my phone, copying them from my Linux box. You ought to be able to do something similar, just get on your home wifi network and pull over your music.
- corin_ 14y ago
  I'm not sure about "must have" - while I have a personal list of necessary features (that leaves me happy on my Blackberry) I'm of the opinion that the only real "must have features" are the ones that the Nokia 3310 had a long time ago. However there's a few potentially big features. LTE is one - it's not massively interesting right now but I think if/when network coverage improves it could be. NFC is another - right now it's software that needs to catch up, but after that more phones need to have NFC in them. And I'm sure there will be others that pop up in the near future.
- WrkInProgress 14y ago
  I think if I was still using a Galaxy Nexus, I wouldn't feel a pressing need to upgrade but I'm not so sure about the Nexus S. What version of Android do you have running on your device and if it is the latest (Jelly Bean), how is the performance ?
  - bdfh42 14y ago
    Currently running Android 4.2 - my UK network supplier is pretty good about piping updates to the phone. The early 4.1 kept eating the battery but 4.2 is OK as long as I switch of wifi when out and about.
    - lmm 14y ago
      Which network is that? I'm stuck on 2.2 on my (cheap) year-old phone.
      - bdfh42 14y ago
        Vodafone
    - barrkel 14y ago
      Are you sure you're not on 4.1.2? The Galaxy Nexus, never mind the Nexus S, doesn't have 4.2 yet.
      - estel 14y ago
        Indeed, 4.2 hasn't yet been released. And I don't think UK carriers have any meaningful control about when Android OTA updates are pushed out?
  - bmelton 14y ago
    The Nexus S is quite sluggish with Jelly Bean.
sidcool 14y ago
It doesn't mention anything about it's lack of 4G support. It's a great phone, agreed, but absence of 4G is a spoil spot.
- fr0sty 14y ago
  Umm... "But the Nexus 4 falls just short of perfection due to one major omission: It’s not compatible with any LTE networks."
- mdwrigh2 14y ago
  Second paragraph into the article: "It’s as close to perfect as I’ve seen any Android smartphone get. But the Nexus 4 falls just short of perfection due to one major omission: It’s not compatible with any LTE networks."
- srathi 14y ago
  It has 4G, just not LTE.
  - rhizome 14y ago
    HSDPA+ is not 4G.
    - srathi 14y ago
      My mistake! It is probably 3.5G.
      - rhizome 14y ago
        Yeah, that's what articles say but I don't know enough of the science behind it, but eh, whatever. As I mention elsewhere I don't get high-speed anything where I live so I don't actually have to care. ;)
      - mikeash 14y ago
        Not sure it's even your mistake. AT&T and probably others have been pushing the idea that HSDPA+ is "4G" for a while. My iPhone 4S, which doesn't do LTE, shows a little "4G" indicator.
marquis 14y ago
Yes, I want this phone but it's huge. Please google, someone - make a decent phone that's not the size of a giant's thumb. I guess they've done their focus groups and their whatevers and decided that people want more screensize but please for the love of god make a small awesome Android phone for a girl's hands and purse and european small-sized car with a tiny dashboard (because I use mine for GPS every-single-day) and I don't even care if you shove pinterest and facebook on the frontscreen (I'll root it and make it go away, I promise).
- CrazedGeek 14y ago
  The Galaxy S3 Mini looks pretty nice to me: http://reviews.cnet.com/smartphones/samsung-galaxy-s3-mini/4505-6452_7-35484855.html http://reviews.cnet.com/smartphones/samsung-galaxy-s3-mini/4...
  - rhizome 14y ago
    The perfect phone for me would probably have a 480x800 screen using the regular S3's 306ppi glass.
  - polshaw 14y ago
    The S3 mini is more S1/S2 than S3 though. May as well get one of those.
  - ajross 14y ago
    Amusingly the GS3 Mini has exactly the same screen specs as the original Galaxy S did. I'm wondering if they still had a warehouse full of these they needed to ship...
  - marquis 14y ago
    If this can run my GPS app NDrive nicely (you can't use Google Navigation when you're in the middle of the Brazilian jungle or wherever) I think you've found the current winner. Though CNet review sounded gloomy, as if it were "here's what would have been a really nice phone in 2008" but if that's what I have to give up for a small phone that can run a few important apps I'm happy. Looks like it's already available but maybe it's just not worth the price for what you get and I should get a bigger purse, and get really good at holding a phone with one hand while pointing with the other. http://www.mobilekiwi.co.nz/android/item/1694-samsung-galaxy-s3-mini-disappointed http://www.mobilekiwi.co.nz/android/item/1694-samsung-galaxy... He quotes from another source: ""Apple has proven quite conclusively that tens of millions of people are happy to have a device they can wrap their hands around. It doesn't mean they don't want powerful processors or high megapixel cameras."
sixothree 14y ago
So can I buy it now? I don't see any place I can pre-order one.
- DrewHintz 14y ago
  It looks like it will be available for purchase on November 13. You can sign up to be notified when it is for sale here: https://play.google.com/store/devices/details?id=nexus_4_8gb&feature=microsite https://play.google.com/store/devices/details?id=nexus_4_8gb...
tadfisher 14y ago
I don't care about LTE, but if the article's claim that the headphone jack is on the top edge is true, then I may have to forgo this phone. I just can't change my habit of putting my phone in my pocket upside-down.
- dmazin 14y ago
  For what it's worth, Apple just flipped the location of the jack and I adapted quickly after n years of habit - I'm sure you could too!
  - eco 14y ago
    I didn't even notice the headphone jack on my Galaxy Nexus was in a different position (on the bottom) than it was on my previous phone (on the top) until someone pointed it out months after I switched phones. I make plenty of use of headphones but the jack position is apparently not something I consciously think about while plugging them in.
- unavoidable 14y ago
  There seems to have been a couple posters with this complaint. I cannot for the life of me fathom why this is a deal-breaker. Can someone care to explain, or am I just missing some sarcasm?
  - tadfisher 14y ago
    Headphone jack on the bottom: Hold phone normally, rotate forearm and place in pocket. Everything's fine. Headphone jack on top: Hold phone normally, rotate forearm and place in pocket. Break expensive earbud jack or worse, the female connector on the phone. Alternatively, have your muscles relearn how to place phone in pocket by first gripping the top half of the device between two fingers (greatly increasing the chance of dropping your expensive toy), allowing gravity to rotate the phone between your pincer grip, and placing in pocket.
    - bryanlarsen 14y ago
ck2 14y ago
Isn't the second major flaw no microsd slot? Or am I confusing phones? That's a really nasty trend for android phones.
- harshreality 14y ago
  It's on purpose. http://www.androidcentral.com/why-nexus-devices-have-no-sd-card http://www.androidcentral.com/why-nexus-devices-have-no-sd-c... I would rather have an sdcard slot, but I understand google's concern, and it's not a must-have feature to me. Maybe eventually they'll design some sort of clever unified storage system, but I don't imagine that google-branded devices will see microsd slots return as long as the storage is fragmented.
  - greenmountin 14y ago
    This and the cloud explanation: they just aren't reasonable. The real reason why this is happening is because OEM's need something to differentiate within their own line so that they can practice optimal price discrimination. Given that the buyer has already decided what they want, the OEM wants to be able to charge them as much as they'll pay. The RAZR HD differentiates with the battery (MAXX), which is why they can afford to have a card slot. The Nexus 7 w/ 3G can't possibly cost an extra $100 to manufacture, but if you have $100 burning a hole in your pocket, they'll be glad to sell you an upgrade just because. The Nexus 4 (and various Apple models) do this with memory.
- deleted 14y ago
  [deleted]
- polshaw 14y ago
  It is. Galaxy nexus, nexus 7 and nexus 4... I would have bought them all if they had a microSD.
ch0x 14y ago
I'm having a terrible first world problem: I want to use both Nexus 4 and iPhone 5. It's literally making me insane. I currently own iPhone 5 but each time I read Nexus reviews, I want to get Nexus 4. I can't use both as I have just one phone number. Perhaps I'll get Nexus 4 and just switch the sim card around. That's terrible. ARGH.
- joejohnson 14y ago
  The Nexus 4 is too big, doesn't have LTE and the headphone jack is on the top (it seems like a minor nuisance, but being able to slide your phone into you pocket while listening to music is actually much easier with the headphone connected to the bottom of the device). Go with the iPhone 5.
  - bryanlarsen 14y ago
    Why is it easier to slide the phone into your pocket upside down than it is right side up? I've had phones with both styles, and I didn't notice a difference once I adjusted to the change. I actually prefer the headphone jack on the top, because it's easier to use that way when the phone is plugged in. As for size, once you get used to a larger screen everything else seems too small.
  - moheeb 14y ago
    When I flip my phone around the top becomes the bottom!? I thought this was universal?
- gizzlon 14y ago
  If that's literally making you insane, I'd say you have worse problems.. BTW, Many carriers offer 2 sim's with the same number.
  - runjake 14y ago
    BTW, Many carriers offer 2 sim's with the same number. Name a single carrier that does that. In the US, not a single carrier does that. That's not how it works.
joejohnson 14y ago
If it's only $300 unlocked, it should cost less than $200 with a two-year contract. The iPhone 5 is $699 (16GB) and is still $200 with a two-year contract. Can LG/Google not get this same subsidy for their phones?
- tjdetwiler 14y ago
  Maybe it's part of Google's master plan to get people off 2 year contracts on to prepaid accounts.
  - rhizome 14y ago
    Is that their master plan? My contract is up right now, so a signal like that could affect my near-term decisions...
    - tjdetwiler 14y ago
      Anything that takes control away from carriers would help Google.
- ConstantineXVI 14y ago
  Possible this is what gave way so Google would have complete software control. Remember that carriers get paid on preloads; and it's clear Google doesn't have the same sway Apple does.
- lftl 14y ago
  The nice thing about T-mobile is that they will actually give you a monthly discount if you don't take a subsidy. So you can just pass on the weak subsidy, and save ~$10/mo with the no contract plan.
- mtgx 14y ago
  They probably don't want to anyway. The point of making it this cheap is because they want to fully bypass the carriers.
sehrope 14y ago
I'm still on the original grandfathered unlimited iPhone data plan from AT&T. I've upgraded the phone a couple of times (3G -> 4 -> 4S) with no issues but looking into an Android device next. Does anyone have any experience with switching to a non iPhone? Any issues from AT&T and do they let you keep the legacy plan?
- Nowyouknow 14y ago
  All you have to do is swap out the sim card, keep in mind the Nexus uses a micro-sim, which I think the iPhone uses anyways.
  - sehrope 14y ago
    I'm more concerned about the data plan. Pretty sure that the sim card should (that's the whole point of them right?). Just worried that AT&T would remove the unlimited data (i.e. consider it iPhone legacy only).
bitcartel 14y ago
Some people will be unhappy because it doesn't have LTE, or a removable battery or a micro-SD expansion slot. However, there are probably other phones which do have the right mix of features and form factor. That's the nice thing about Android, consumers have a lot of choice.
- phase_9 14y ago
  True, but I find the lack of Micro-SD Card Slot to be particularly galling, especially as it's becoming an increasingly popular trend with Android handset manufacturers looking to add a hefty markup between otherwise identical models. Just ends up hurting us consumers who want to carry their music collections around with them :(
- yardie 14y ago
  As long as your choice is Android :). The smartphone market in general has a lot of choice and robust competition. And the last year has taught me to worry less and just get on with it. I just bought the Nexus 7 to complement my 4S and iPad. I might just get the Nexus 4 once I get my hands on it. And the Nokia 920 looks appealing. But only one of these can be my daily driver, which is something the product reviews neglect, unfortunately.
- acedanger 14y ago
  At first, I thought the exclusion of LTE was a major downfall of the phone. After I read about HSPA+ (I'd never heard of it prior to the LG Nexus 4 announcement), I didn't really consider it to be that big of a deal. (Note that I'm a Sprint customer and have no clue what LTE speed is like). Being that inexpensive, and off-contract, is a major bonus in my mind. I have until 2014 until my Sprint contract is up. If I was able to end my contract with Sprint right now, I would. My ETF is around $175 IIRC. I don't like that there isn't a removable battery though. That's my largest issue with the phone.
  - bmelton 14y ago
    LTE speed is great, but HSPA+ is pretty damn good too. The big kicker against HSPA+ is that it's not as pervasive as LTE (or perhaps T-Mobile just isn't as pervasive as Verizon), so while I've gotten really fast speed (+- 60Mbps) on HSPA+, it's usually much more pedestrian. That said, I'm seldom downloading large files to my phone, and even 1 or 2 Mbps burst is usually fine for the way I use my phone.
kareemm 14y ago
Does anybody else find it strange that in a glowing review of this phone, the reviewer included nothing about actually, you know, making phone calls?
- Jare 14y ago
  No, not anymore.
- Timmy_C 14y ago
  This phone uses the same radio for making phone calls as any other GSM phone.
  - msh 14y ago
    eh, not really, there can be a big difference in reception between different cellphones.
  - Groxx 14y ago
    Well sure, but remember the iPhone signal strength riots of 2010? If you can't make a call at location A with new phone A when your old phone B could, it's definitely a negative mark against new phone A, and worth mentioning in a review.
  - r00fus 14y ago
    Really? What we learned from antennagate - hardware design has a huge impact on reception and call quality. It would be like testing a car and never driving it.
- barrkel 14y ago
  No. As our phones become more and more capable, phone functionality becomes less and less relevant. I use my phone as a phone about once a week (I just checked by call log - I try to avoid giving people my number). If I'm making an outgoing call, it'll be via Skype, unless I'm away from home. Even for coordinating meeting up when out and about, I'll use Glympse rather than call.
- baddox 14y ago
ansman 14y ago
Isn't anyone else bothered that it only has 16GB space? I use around 13GB for music (Spotify) and 2GB for photos. I don't see why they couldn't make a 32GB version.
- turing 14y ago
  Not particularly. I use Google Music streaming and only keep about 10 albums on the device itself. That, combined with a couple hundred photos, a bunch of apps, and a handful of ebooks puts me at about 3 gigs used on my Galaxy Nexus. I could probably purchase the 8 gig version and never fill it up.
  - ansman 14y ago
    Well I had having to decide in advance what I want to listen to. And I hate interruptions in my music just because I happened to go into a house without wifi.
moskie 14y ago
I have a Galaxy Nexus on Verizon, and live in the Bay Area, so I currently enjoy having decent LTE connectivity. I'm torn about whether I want to get the Nexus 4. I'd really like to see some side-by-side comparisons of performance on things like web browsing, audio streaming, downloading/installing stuff from the Play store, etc. Does the increased speed of the device make up for the decreased speed of the network? Also: is it worth considering getting the Nexus 4, and switching to another cell provider that would provide the best speeds for the antennas that the Nexus 4 has?
- nuclear_eclipse 14y ago
  From my experience with having T-Mobile for my personal phone, and Verizon for my work phone, and living on the peninsula, I get far better data connection speeds from my Nexus S (which doesn't even support the full 42mbps HSPA+) than I get from my Galaxy Nexus on LTE. Getting a signal indoors can be flakey for each phone in various locations, but overall they seem to be pretty comparable on coverage. I still prefer T-Mobile in end though, especially since I'm only paying $50/mo for unlimited everything...
deleted 14y ago
[deleted]
bsimpson 14y ago
Josh Topolsky cracked the glass near the camera on his review unit: http://www.theverge.com/2012/11/2/3589280/google-nexus-4-review http://www.theverge.com/2012/11/2/3589280/google-nexus-4-rev...
nell 14y ago
When we buy a phone, we expect it to work for atleast 2 years. Not having LTE for next two years is not a good deal for a user when a competing product from the market leader already has it. And Wired says "Buy it now". I though wired is a Science & Tech magazine.
thoughtsimple 14y ago
From the article, "Android has a new champion. The Nexus 4 ... is the best overall Android handset currently available, and it’s one of the best phones to be released this year." And, "It’s as close to perfect as I’ve seen any Android smartphone get. But the Nexus 4 falls just short of perfection due to one major omission: It’s not compatible with any LTE networks. The Nexus 4 will run on just about any other cellular network outside of LTE (GSM, UMTS, Edge, GPRS, 3G and HSPA+)" It doesn't work on Verizon or Sprint. So at least in the US, half of the cellular networks actually don't work with the Nexus 4. And it can't use AT&T's ever expanding LTE network. But according to the author, it is the new Android champion? The 42 Mbps HSPA+ only works on T-Mobile. The best you get is half that for AT&T with this phone. So mediocre speeds on AT&T. Nothing on Verizon or Sprint but decent on T-Mobile. Sounds like a niche to me. Only "buy it now" if you are planning on going with T-Mobile. For any other carrier, nearly any other current smartphone is better. Can you imagine the reaction if Apple introduced a new iPhone at the end of 2012 that only worked on AT&T and T-Mobile without LTE? I'm pretty sure Wired wouldn't call it "nearly flawless".
- thoradam 14y ago
  > Sounds like a niche to me. The Nexus devices have been very popular outside of the USA, also in part because they have defaulted to being unlocked.
- ojiikun 14y ago
  Honestly, the choice of HSPA+ over LTE is a no-brainer. The former is plenty fast and has better coverage domestically and all over the world; the latter is a smidgeon faster in limited cases and a battery hog. LTE offers some interesting capacity benefits for providers, but is being seriously over-marketed, as your post proves.
  - thoughtsimple 14y ago
    The iPhone 5 gets better battery life than the iPhone 4S when using LTE vs HSPA. My iPad 3 with AT&T LTE gets 27 Mbps down and 14 Mbps up on my most recent speed test. I doubt you will get anywhere near those speeds on HSPA+. The Nexus 4 is a weird mix of premium components with last years radios.
hnriot 14y ago
"Nearly flawless" - more like DOA considering it doesn't work with LTE, or have any of the other usual non-apple advantages (expandable storage and swappable batteries) LTE is the one big innovation that is giving smartphones a whole new arena for new apps, high speed data is the cornerstone of mobile.
- vladikoff 14y ago
  DOA? LTE is way overpriced and not available in most areas. I don't see how LTE is even a 'big' innovation for apps. YouTube HD works perfectly on HSPA+, I'm not sure what else you need...
  - baddox 14y ago
    What do you mean by "LTE is way overpriced"? Do any carriers charge more for the faster network, or are you just referring to the fact that you can utilize your data quota much faster?
    - kin 14y ago
      Mainly that T-Mobile HSPA+ @ 42 mbps is faster, cheaper, and more widely available than LTE on Verizon
jsight 14y ago
The engadget review (http://www.engadget.com/2012/11/02/nexus-4-review/ http://www.engadget.com/2012/11/02/nexus-4-review/) complains of very bad battery life. TheVerge (http://www.theverge.com/2012/11/2/3589280/google-nexus-4-review http://www.theverge.com/2012/11/2/3589280/google-nexus-4-rev...) indicates it is ok. I wonder which is actually true?
- greenmountin 14y ago
  It's worse than this: the state of battery life reporting is abominable. TheVerge says "Battery life was also top notch", with anecdots of 10h lifetime, while Engadget (and Anandtech[1]) say it's at the bottom of the barrel. At least I'm pretty sure Anandtech controls for screen brightness in nits ["50%" doesn't cut it, just think about how easy that is to game]. Can't anyone do it right? [1] http://www.anandtech.com/show/6425/google-nexus-4-and-nexus-10-review/2 http://www.anandtech.com/show/6425/google-nexus-4-and-nexus-...
ndepoel 14y ago
This is going to be my next phone. Period. There's no LTE here in Europe yet, so who cares about that, and 16 GB is more storage space than I'll need in the next 1.5 to 2 years. It's also good time to upgrade now, as my current Nexus S is getting noticeably older, but not so old as to be annoying.
sandGorgon 14y ago
a few weeks back i bought an used One X on XDA. I then crossed my fingers and contributed to a bounty for rooting the At&t model (the only HTC model that couldn't be unlocked, even by HTC) I'm glad I did. About a fortnight back, someone cracked the One X wide open, and and I have stock Jellybean. And I find out today that the One X holds its own against the latest and greatest nexus. It's camera and display is still unbeaten. Huzzah to the hacker who made it happen.
jedc 14y ago
$299 for an unlocked smartphone on NO contract, on lead device hardware, with the newest Android OS (and which will receive updates as soon as they're ready), and solid reviews? Yikes!!
- jff 14y ago
  And it's not just that you'll get updates--you'll also be able to grab the source directly from the Android site, make any tweaks you like, and build your very own image for your phone. You should be able to run bleeding-edge Android as it goes into the repo if you feel like living dangerously. It beats the usual "Well, we might get a Cyanogenmod ROM... maybe" for other phones.
  - topbanana 14y ago
    Are there any guides on how to do this?
    - jff 14y ago
      source.android.com has build instructions for the stock distribution; you just need to figure out what the device name for your phone is (Nexus S == "crespo", IIRC) and specify that as the target to "lunch". You'll get a zip file you can then flash to the phone.
      - topbanana 14y ago
        I'll give that a try when my Nexus 4 arrives. Thanks
golfstrom 14y ago
People who are hung up on this and that missing feature, I understand why, but that's missing the point imo. There has never been a phone this good, this high profile, sold directly to consumers from day one, for this price. This is simply the biggest shot so far in a strategic war Google is waging against US cell carriers and in the mobile device space against Apple.
- kin 14y ago
  What bothers me is why T-Mobile isn't marketing this more. That price point is HUGE. I'm wondering if Samsung and the Galaxy S3 have a deal with T-Mobile to continue to heavily market their phone.

108 points by srathi 14y ago

Not sure there is enough there to get me to upgrade my Nexus S but then again mobile phones have reached a plateau of maturity for the moment and I can't see any "must have" features around the corner.

lucian1900 14y ago
But is it an excellent opportunity for people with older phones to buy a nice new one. Only downside is the gigantic screen.
- tadfisher 14y ago
  Some (like me) consider that an upside.
  - lucian1900 14y ago
    The problem is that there is no alternative. All high-end phones are gigantic. Same for all Nexus phones.
    - tadfisher 14y ago
      The Droid RAZR i/M disagrees with you.
      - lucian1900 14y ago
        Locked bootloader, so it's not an option. Also, only Nexus series phones are really worth it these days.
        tadfisher 14y ago
        The "Developer Edition" is unlocked, and I agree on the second point. Unfortunately, you're at the whim of Google and the consumer market, which apparently demands large phones.
- rhizome 14y ago
  Yeah, I'm in the market for a new Android phone right now and phones seem to be going through a late-50s auto industry "new larger size!" phase.
- CrazedGeek 14y ago
  And the pitiful internal storage coupled with the lack of expandable storage. It's still much more convenient for me to sync music to a card than to wrangle with the various cloud services.
  - lucian1900 14y ago
    It's not something I particularly care about. I'm not even using all of the 8GB on my current phone.
  - jff 14y ago
    Wifi + sftp client have helped me manage my ebooks on my phone, copying them from my Linux box. You ought to be able to do something similar, just get on your home wifi network and pull over your music.
corin_ 14y ago
I'm not sure about "must have" - while I have a personal list of necessary features (that leaves me happy on my Blackberry) I'm of the opinion that the only real "must have features" are the ones that the Nokia 3310 had a long time ago. However there's a few potentially big features. LTE is one - it's not massively interesting right now but I think if/when network coverage improves it could be. NFC is another - right now it's software that needs to catch up, but after that more phones need to have NFC in them. And I'm sure there will be others that pop up in the near future.
WrkInProgress 14y ago
I think if I was still using a Galaxy Nexus, I wouldn't feel a pressing need to upgrade but I'm not so sure about the Nexus S. What version of Android do you have running on your device and if it is the latest (Jelly Bean), how is the performance ?
- bdfh42 14y ago
  Currently running Android 4.2 - my UK network supplier is pretty good about piping updates to the phone. The early 4.1 kept eating the battery but 4.2 is OK as long as I switch of wifi when out and about.
  - lmm 14y ago
    Which network is that? I'm stuck on 2.2 on my (cheap) year-old phone.
    - bdfh42 14y ago
      Vodafone
  - barrkel 14y ago
    Are you sure you're not on 4.1.2? The Galaxy Nexus, never mind the Nexus S, doesn't have 4.2 yet.
    - estel 14y ago
      Indeed, 4.2 hasn't yet been released. And I don't think UK carriers have any meaningful control about when Android OTA updates are pushed out?
- bmelton 14y ago
  The Nexus S is quite sluggish with Jelly Bean.

sidcool 14y ago

It doesn't mention anything about it's lack of 4G support. It's a great phone, agreed, but absence of 4G is a spoil spot.

fr0sty 14y ago
Umm... "But the Nexus 4 falls just short of perfection due to one major omission: It’s not compatible with any LTE networks."
mdwrigh2 14y ago
Second paragraph into the article: "It’s as close to perfect as I’ve seen any Android smartphone get. But the Nexus 4 falls just short of perfection due to one major omission: It’s not compatible with any LTE networks."
srathi 14y ago
It has 4G, just not LTE.
- rhizome 14y ago
  HSDPA+ is not 4G.
  - srathi 14y ago
    My mistake! It is probably 3.5G.
    - rhizome 14y ago
      Yeah, that's what articles say but I don't know enough of the science behind it, but eh, whatever. As I mention elsewhere I don't get high-speed anything where I live so I don't actually have to care. ;)
    - mikeash 14y ago
      Not sure it's even your mistake. AT&T and probably others have been pushing the idea that HSDPA+ is "4G" for a while. My iPhone 4S, which doesn't do LTE, shows a little "4G" indicator.

marquis 14y ago

Yes, I want this phone but it's huge. Please google, someone - make a decent phone that's not the size of a giant's thumb. I guess they've done their focus groups and their whatevers and decided that people want more screensize but please for the love of god make a small awesome Android phone for a girl's hands and purse and european small-sized car with a tiny dashboard (because I use mine for GPS every-single-day) and I don't even care if you shove pinterest and facebook on the frontscreen (I'll root it and make it go away, I promise).

CrazedGeek 14y ago
The Galaxy S3 Mini looks pretty nice to me: http://reviews.cnet.com/smartphones/samsung-galaxy-s3-mini/4505-6452_7-35484855.html http://reviews.cnet.com/smartphones/samsung-galaxy-s3-mini/4...
- rhizome 14y ago
  The perfect phone for me would probably have a 480x800 screen using the regular S3's 306ppi glass.
- polshaw 14y ago
  The S3 mini is more S1/S2 than S3 though. May as well get one of those.
- ajross 14y ago
  Amusingly the GS3 Mini has exactly the same screen specs as the original Galaxy S did. I'm wondering if they still had a warehouse full of these they needed to ship...
- marquis 14y ago
  If this can run my GPS app NDrive nicely (you can't use Google Navigation when you're in the middle of the Brazilian jungle or wherever) I think you've found the current winner. Though CNet review sounded gloomy, as if it were "here's what would have been a really nice phone in 2008" but if that's what I have to give up for a small phone that can run a few important apps I'm happy. Looks like it's already available but maybe it's just not worth the price for what you get and I should get a bigger purse, and get really good at holding a phone with one hand while pointing with the other. http://www.mobilekiwi.co.nz/android/item/1694-samsung-galaxy-s3-mini-disappointed http://www.mobilekiwi.co.nz/android/item/1694-samsung-galaxy... He quotes from another source: ""Apple has proven quite conclusively that tens of millions of people are happy to have a device they can wrap their hands around. It doesn't mean they don't want powerful processors or high megapixel cameras."

sixothree 14y ago

So can I buy it now? I don't see any place I can pre-order one.

DrewHintz 14y ago
It looks like it will be available for purchase on November 13. You can sign up to be notified when it is for sale here: https://play.google.com/store/devices/details?id=nexus_4_8gb&feature=microsite https://play.google.com/store/devices/details?id=nexus_4_8gb...

tadfisher 14y ago

I don't care about LTE, but if the article's claim that the headphone jack is on the top edge is true, then I may have to forgo this phone. I just can't change my habit of putting my phone in my pocket upside-down.

dmazin 14y ago
For what it's worth, Apple just flipped the location of the jack and I adapted quickly after n years of habit - I'm sure you could too!
- eco 14y ago
  I didn't even notice the headphone jack on my Galaxy Nexus was in a different position (on the bottom) than it was on my previous phone (on the top) until someone pointed it out months after I switched phones. I make plenty of use of headphones but the jack position is apparently not something I consciously think about while plugging them in.
unavoidable 14y ago
There seems to have been a couple posters with this complaint. I cannot for the life of me fathom why this is a deal-breaker. Can someone care to explain, or am I just missing some sarcasm?
- tadfisher 14y ago
  Headphone jack on the bottom: Hold phone normally, rotate forearm and place in pocket. Everything's fine. Headphone jack on top: Hold phone normally, rotate forearm and place in pocket. Break expensive earbud jack or worse, the female connector on the phone. Alternatively, have your muscles relearn how to place phone in pocket by first gripping the top half of the device between two fingers (greatly increasing the chance of dropping your expensive toy), allowing gravity to rotate the phone between your pincer grip, and placing in pocket.
  - bryanlarsen 14y ago

ck2 14y ago

Isn't the second major flaw no microsd slot? Or am I confusing phones? That's a really nasty trend for android phones.

harshreality 14y ago
It's on purpose. http://www.androidcentral.com/why-nexus-devices-have-no-sd-card http://www.androidcentral.com/why-nexus-devices-have-no-sd-c... I would rather have an sdcard slot, but I understand google's concern, and it's not a must-have feature to me. Maybe eventually they'll design some sort of clever unified storage system, but I don't imagine that google-branded devices will see microsd slots return as long as the storage is fragmented.
- greenmountin 14y ago
  This and the cloud explanation: they just aren't reasonable. The real reason why this is happening is because OEM's need something to differentiate within their own line so that they can practice optimal price discrimination. Given that the buyer has already decided what they want, the OEM wants to be able to charge them as much as they'll pay. The RAZR HD differentiates with the battery (MAXX), which is why they can afford to have a card slot. The Nexus 7 w/ 3G can't possibly cost an extra $100 to manufacture, but if you have $100 burning a hole in your pocket, they'll be glad to sell you an upgrade just because. The Nexus 4 (and various Apple models) do this with memory.
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polshaw 14y ago
It is. Galaxy nexus, nexus 7 and nexus 4... I would have bought them all if they had a microSD.

ch0x 14y ago

I'm having a terrible first world problem: I want to use both Nexus 4 and iPhone 5. It's literally making me insane. I currently own iPhone 5 but each time I read Nexus reviews, I want to get Nexus 4. I can't use both as I have just one phone number. Perhaps I'll get Nexus 4 and just switch the sim card around. That's terrible. ARGH.

joejohnson 14y ago
The Nexus 4 is too big, doesn't have LTE and the headphone jack is on the top (it seems like a minor nuisance, but being able to slide your phone into you pocket while listening to music is actually much easier with the headphone connected to the bottom of the device). Go with the iPhone 5.
- bryanlarsen 14y ago
  Why is it easier to slide the phone into your pocket upside down than it is right side up? I've had phones with both styles, and I didn't notice a difference once I adjusted to the change. I actually prefer the headphone jack on the top, because it's easier to use that way when the phone is plugged in. As for size, once you get used to a larger screen everything else seems too small.
- moheeb 14y ago
  When I flip my phone around the top becomes the bottom!? I thought this was universal?
gizzlon 14y ago
If that's literally making you insane, I'd say you have worse problems.. BTW, Many carriers offer 2 sim's with the same number.
- runjake 14y ago
  BTW, Many carriers offer 2 sim's with the same number. Name a single carrier that does that. In the US, not a single carrier does that. That's not how it works.

joejohnson 14y ago

If it's only $300 unlocked, it should cost less than $200 with a two-year contract. The iPhone 5 is $699 (16GB) and is still $200 with a two-year contract. Can LG/Google not get this same subsidy for their phones?

tjdetwiler 14y ago
Maybe it's part of Google's master plan to get people off 2 year contracts on to prepaid accounts.
- rhizome 14y ago
  Is that their master plan? My contract is up right now, so a signal like that could affect my near-term decisions...
  - tjdetwiler 14y ago
    Anything that takes control away from carriers would help Google.
ConstantineXVI 14y ago
Possible this is what gave way so Google would have complete software control. Remember that carriers get paid on preloads; and it's clear Google doesn't have the same sway Apple does.
lftl 14y ago
The nice thing about T-mobile is that they will actually give you a monthly discount if you don't take a subsidy. So you can just pass on the weak subsidy, and save ~$10/mo with the no contract plan.
mtgx 14y ago
They probably don't want to anyway. The point of making it this cheap is because they want to fully bypass the carriers.

sehrope 14y ago

I'm still on the original grandfathered unlimited iPhone data plan from AT&T. I've upgraded the phone a couple of times (3G -> 4 -> 4S) with no issues but looking into an Android device next. Does anyone have any experience with switching to a non iPhone? Any issues from AT&T and do they let you keep the legacy plan?

Nowyouknow 14y ago
All you have to do is swap out the sim card, keep in mind the Nexus uses a micro-sim, which I think the iPhone uses anyways.
- sehrope 14y ago
  I'm more concerned about the data plan. Pretty sure that the sim card should (that's the whole point of them right?). Just worried that AT&T would remove the unlimited data (i.e. consider it iPhone legacy only).

bitcartel 14y ago

Some people will be unhappy because it doesn't have LTE, or a removable battery or a micro-SD expansion slot. However, there are probably other phones which do have the right mix of features and form factor. That's the nice thing about Android, consumers have a lot of choice.

phase_9 14y ago
True, but I find the lack of Micro-SD Card Slot to be particularly galling, especially as it's becoming an increasingly popular trend with Android handset manufacturers looking to add a hefty markup between otherwise identical models. Just ends up hurting us consumers who want to carry their music collections around with them :(
yardie 14y ago
As long as your choice is Android :). The smartphone market in general has a lot of choice and robust competition. And the last year has taught me to worry less and just get on with it. I just bought the Nexus 7 to complement my 4S and iPad. I might just get the Nexus 4 once I get my hands on it. And the Nokia 920 looks appealing. But only one of these can be my daily driver, which is something the product reviews neglect, unfortunately.
acedanger 14y ago
At first, I thought the exclusion of LTE was a major downfall of the phone. After I read about HSPA+ (I'd never heard of it prior to the LG Nexus 4 announcement), I didn't really consider it to be that big of a deal. (Note that I'm a Sprint customer and have no clue what LTE speed is like). Being that inexpensive, and off-contract, is a major bonus in my mind. I have until 2014 until my Sprint contract is up. If I was able to end my contract with Sprint right now, I would. My ETF is around $175 IIRC. I don't like that there isn't a removable battery though. That's my largest issue with the phone.
- bmelton 14y ago
  LTE speed is great, but HSPA+ is pretty damn good too. The big kicker against HSPA+ is that it's not as pervasive as LTE (or perhaps T-Mobile just isn't as pervasive as Verizon), so while I've gotten really fast speed (+- 60Mbps) on HSPA+, it's usually much more pedestrian. That said, I'm seldom downloading large files to my phone, and even 1 or 2 Mbps burst is usually fine for the way I use my phone.

kareemm 14y ago

Does anybody else find it strange that in a glowing review of this phone, the reviewer included nothing about actually, you know, making phone calls?

Jare 14y ago
No, not anymore.
Timmy_C 14y ago
This phone uses the same radio for making phone calls as any other GSM phone.
- msh 14y ago
  eh, not really, there can be a big difference in reception between different cellphones.
- Groxx 14y ago
  Well sure, but remember the iPhone signal strength riots of 2010? If you can't make a call at location A with new phone A when your old phone B could, it's definitely a negative mark against new phone A, and worth mentioning in a review.
- r00fus 14y ago
  Really? What we learned from antennagate - hardware design has a huge impact on reception and call quality. It would be like testing a car and never driving it.
barrkel 14y ago
No. As our phones become more and more capable, phone functionality becomes less and less relevant. I use my phone as a phone about once a week (I just checked by call log - I try to avoid giving people my number). If I'm making an outgoing call, it'll be via Skype, unless I'm away from home. Even for coordinating meeting up when out and about, I'll use Glympse rather than call.
baddox 14y ago

ansman 14y ago

Isn't anyone else bothered that it only has 16GB space? I use around 13GB for music (Spotify) and 2GB for photos. I don't see why they couldn't make a 32GB version.

turing 14y ago
Not particularly. I use Google Music streaming and only keep about 10 albums on the device itself. That, combined with a couple hundred photos, a bunch of apps, and a handful of ebooks puts me at about 3 gigs used on my Galaxy Nexus. I could probably purchase the 8 gig version and never fill it up.
- ansman 14y ago
  Well I had having to decide in advance what I want to listen to. And I hate interruptions in my music just because I happened to go into a house without wifi.

moskie 14y ago

I have a Galaxy Nexus on Verizon, and live in the Bay Area, so I currently enjoy having decent LTE connectivity. I'm torn about whether I want to get the Nexus 4. I'd really like to see some side-by-side comparisons of performance on things like web browsing, audio streaming, downloading/installing stuff from the Play store, etc. Does the increased speed of the device make up for the decreased speed of the network? Also: is it worth considering getting the Nexus 4, and switching to another cell provider that would provide the best speeds for the antennas that the Nexus 4 has?

nuclear_eclipse 14y ago
From my experience with having T-Mobile for my personal phone, and Verizon for my work phone, and living on the peninsula, I get far better data connection speeds from my Nexus S (which doesn't even support the full 42mbps HSPA+) than I get from my Galaxy Nexus on LTE. Getting a signal indoors can be flakey for each phone in various locations, but overall they seem to be pretty comparable on coverage. I still prefer T-Mobile in end though, especially since I'm only paying $50/mo for unlimited everything...

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bsimpson 14y ago

Josh Topolsky cracked the glass near the camera on his review unit: http://www.theverge.com/2012/11/2/3589280/google-nexus-4-review http://www.theverge.com/2012/11/2/3589280/google-nexus-4-rev...

nell 14y ago

When we buy a phone, we expect it to work for atleast 2 years. Not having LTE for next two years is not a good deal for a user when a competing product from the market leader already has it. And Wired says "Buy it now". I though wired is a Science & Tech magazine.

thoughtsimple 14y ago

From the article, "Android has a new champion. The Nexus 4 ... is the best overall Android handset currently available, and it’s one of the best phones to be released this year." And, "It’s as close to perfect as I’ve seen any Android smartphone get. But the Nexus 4 falls just short of perfection due to one major omission: It’s not compatible with any LTE networks. The Nexus 4 will run on just about any other cellular network outside of LTE (GSM, UMTS, Edge, GPRS, 3G and HSPA+)" It doesn't work on Verizon or Sprint. So at least in the US, half of the cellular networks actually don't work with the Nexus 4. And it can't use AT&T's ever expanding LTE network. But according to the author, it is the new Android champion? The 42 Mbps HSPA+ only works on T-Mobile. The best you get is half that for AT&T with this phone. So mediocre speeds on AT&T. Nothing on Verizon or Sprint but decent on T-Mobile. Sounds like a niche to me. Only "buy it now" if you are planning on going with T-Mobile. For any other carrier, nearly any other current smartphone is better. Can you imagine the reaction if Apple introduced a new iPhone at the end of 2012 that only worked on AT&T and T-Mobile without LTE? I'm pretty sure Wired wouldn't call it "nearly flawless".

thoradam 14y ago
> Sounds like a niche to me. The Nexus devices have been very popular outside of the USA, also in part because they have defaulted to being unlocked.
ojiikun 14y ago
Honestly, the choice of HSPA+ over LTE is a no-brainer. The former is plenty fast and has better coverage domestically and all over the world; the latter is a smidgeon faster in limited cases and a battery hog. LTE offers some interesting capacity benefits for providers, but is being seriously over-marketed, as your post proves.
- thoughtsimple 14y ago
  The iPhone 5 gets better battery life than the iPhone 4S when using LTE vs HSPA. My iPad 3 with AT&T LTE gets 27 Mbps down and 14 Mbps up on my most recent speed test. I doubt you will get anywhere near those speeds on HSPA+. The Nexus 4 is a weird mix of premium components with last years radios.

hnriot 14y ago

"Nearly flawless" - more like DOA considering it doesn't work with LTE, or have any of the other usual non-apple advantages (expandable storage and swappable batteries) LTE is the one big innovation that is giving smartphones a whole new arena for new apps, high speed data is the cornerstone of mobile.

vladikoff 14y ago
DOA? LTE is way overpriced and not available in most areas. I don't see how LTE is even a 'big' innovation for apps. YouTube HD works perfectly on HSPA+, I'm not sure what else you need...
- baddox 14y ago
  What do you mean by "LTE is way overpriced"? Do any carriers charge more for the faster network, or are you just referring to the fact that you can utilize your data quota much faster?
  - kin 14y ago
    Mainly that T-Mobile HSPA+ @ 42 mbps is faster, cheaper, and more widely available than LTE on Verizon

jsight 14y ago

The engadget review (http://www.engadget.com/2012/11/02/nexus-4-review/ http://www.engadget.com/2012/11/02/nexus-4-review/) complains of very bad battery life. TheVerge (http://www.theverge.com/2012/11/2/3589280/google-nexus-4-review http://www.theverge.com/2012/11/2/3589280/google-nexus-4-rev...) indicates it is ok. I wonder which is actually true?

greenmountin 14y ago
It's worse than this: the state of battery life reporting is abominable. TheVerge says "Battery life was also top notch", with anecdots of 10h lifetime, while Engadget (and Anandtech[1]) say it's at the bottom of the barrel. At least I'm pretty sure Anandtech controls for screen brightness in nits ["50%" doesn't cut it, just think about how easy that is to game]. Can't anyone do it right? [1] http://www.anandtech.com/show/6425/google-nexus-4-and-nexus-10-review/2 http://www.anandtech.com/show/6425/google-nexus-4-and-nexus-...

ndepoel 14y ago

This is going to be my next phone. Period. There's no LTE here in Europe yet, so who cares about that, and 16 GB is more storage space than I'll need in the next 1.5 to 2 years. It's also good time to upgrade now, as my current Nexus S is getting noticeably older, but not so old as to be annoying.

sandGorgon 14y ago

a few weeks back i bought an used One X on XDA. I then crossed my fingers and contributed to a bounty for rooting the At&t model (the only HTC model that couldn't be unlocked, even by HTC) I'm glad I did. About a fortnight back, someone cracked the One X wide open, and and I have stock Jellybean. And I find out today that the One X holds its own against the latest and greatest nexus. It's camera and display is still unbeaten. Huzzah to the hacker who made it happen.

jedc 14y ago

$299 for an unlocked smartphone on NO contract, on lead device hardware, with the newest Android OS (and which will receive updates as soon as they're ready), and solid reviews? Yikes!!

jff 14y ago
And it's not just that you'll get updates--you'll also be able to grab the source directly from the Android site, make any tweaks you like, and build your very own image for your phone. You should be able to run bleeding-edge Android as it goes into the repo if you feel like living dangerously. It beats the usual "Well, we might get a Cyanogenmod ROM... maybe" for other phones.
- topbanana 14y ago
  Are there any guides on how to do this?
  - jff 14y ago
    source.android.com has build instructions for the stock distribution; you just need to figure out what the device name for your phone is (Nexus S == "crespo", IIRC) and specify that as the target to "lunch". You'll get a zip file you can then flash to the phone.
    - topbanana 14y ago
      I'll give that a try when my Nexus 4 arrives. Thanks

golfstrom 14y ago

People who are hung up on this and that missing feature, I understand why, but that's missing the point imo. There has never been a phone this good, this high profile, sold directly to consumers from day one, for this price. This is simply the biggest shot so far in a strategic war Google is waging against US cell carriers and in the mobile device space against Apple.

kin 14y ago
What bothers me is why T-Mobile isn't marketing this more. That price point is HUGE. I'm wondering if Samsung and the Galaxy S3 have a deal with T-Mobile to continue to heavily market their phone.