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Honestly if you haven't tried Android yet this is the device to do it with. Really shows off what the system is capable of.
by LandoCalrissian 13y ago
Honestly if you haven't tried Android yet this is the device to do it with. Really shows off what the system is capable of.
- tracker1 13y agoIt isn't the most powerful Android phone out there, but it does run stock, has regular updates, will run third party ROMs, and is absolutely the best value for an out of contract smart phone, even more so with the $100 price drop. If you're in a T-Mobile coverage area, look at Simple Mobile ($50/month unlimited everything)
- gvb 13y agoOr, if you don't talk a lot, the $30/month 100 minutes / unlimited / unlimited plan: http://prepaid-phones.t-mobile.com/prepaid-plans http://prepaid-phones.t-mobile.com/prepaid-plans "$30 per month - 100 minutes talk | Unlimited text | First 5 GB at up to 4G speeds" Fine print: "New activations only." A new SIM card ($10) counts as a new activation. ;-) For more detailed discussion: http://news.cnet.com/8301-33620_3-57587175-278/is-this-the-best-smartphone-plan-ever/ http://news.cnet.com/8301-33620_3-57587175-278/is-this-the-b...
- untog 13y agoI'm on this plan, and can definitely recommend it. Also, enabling LTE on the Nexus 4 is very, very easy if you're in a T-Mobile LTE area.
- ghshephard 13y ago"don't talk a lot" - and "First 5 GB at up to 4G Speeds" - on a smart phone this is somewhat confusing. I talk a lot - 2-3 hours/day, typically conference calls, but also with family, friends - and I'm trying to recall the last time I used any of my "Minutes" with my telco. Skype and Whatsapp get used a lot on my phone @ 8kilobytes/second (=30 megabytes/hour, 1.8 Gigabytes/month @ 2Hours/day talking)
- troebr 13y ago100 minutes talk is outgoing and ingoing. Learned it the hard way. Luckily the interview was over.
- ccarter84 13y agoI'm on this plan, and it's adequate but the service is pretty shoddy during parts of my commute (...no reliable 4G within a 5 min drive either side of Golden Gate Bridge?!) VZW definitely didn't have that problem. I'm not sure if it's T-Mobile hardware or towers, but given I just use the phone to f around and am not reliant on it for work, I don't really feel it's worth trying to RMA or anything
- dm2 13y ago"First 500 MB of data at up to 4G speed" Basically don't watch tons of videos or stream and excessive amount of music over the mobile network and it'll be no problem. Anyways, for $10 more you can get 2.5 GB of 4G data, which should suffice for anyone.
- ojbyrne 13y agoYeah, I'm not a heavy data user, but I almost always run out the first week of every month.
- dm2 13y agoWhat app consumes the most data for you? I've used 40 MB of mobile data in the past month and 1.6 GB of WiFi data.
- hackmiester 13y agoTo clarify, after that, you can use data, just not over 4G. You won't lose connectivity.
- bitskits 13y agoBuyer beware, it looks like Simple Mobile doesn't allow tethering. For 70/mo T-Mobile will give you unlimited everything and 500mb of tethering.
- varmais 13y agoI never stop wondering how those prices are possible. I had a 2e/month plan on my mobile, unlimited everything. Adding to that 0,07 e per sms/minute. Lucky me company now pays my bills so I save whopping 5e/month.
- nollidge 13y agoOr Ptel (PlatinumTel) - $40/month unlimited everything, except first 250MB data at 4G, 3G thereafter. Or $50/month for truly unlimited. Also a T-mobile reseller, I believe. EDIT: http://www.ptel.com/plans http://www.ptel.com/plans EDIT2: ALSO forgot to mention that unlike most month-to-month providers, they actually allow conditional call-forwarding, which is necessary for using Google Voice as your voicemail.
- randlet 13y agoYup. I upgraded to a Nexus 4 from a Nexus S recently and the Nexus 4 is a much nicer device and the Android experience is great: fast, smooth & pretty. It has to be hands down the best value smartphone on the market at this price (it was already great value at $100 more).
- virtualwhys 13y agoAgreed, Nexus 4 was already a great deal, IMO, at $350, $250 is a ridiculous price. Thing is unlocked to boot, great for working abroad. Unlocked iPhone, what, $650-750, no? Having ditched OSX for Linux a few years ago, Android just makes cents, literally, lots of them ;-)
- dobbsbob 13y agoDamn I just bought one at regular price lol. Nexus 4, if you build your own o/s is amazing fast. Runs SEAndroid like a charm too, you can lockout audio, camera and mic whenever not in use
- fein 13y agoThere's a buyer protection plan if you purchased after august 12th. $100 refund by the looks of it. You'll have to wade through the support prompts, but start at: https://support.google.com/nexus/4/ https://support.google.com/nexus/4/ and click 'Contact Us' to get to the form. Edit: you'll need the order number and the device IMEI
- fourstar 13y agoMeh; it's alright. I've had the Nexus One (pre-ordered) when it first came out up until this phone. This phone is larger, but doesn't feel as good. Feels very plasticky. Biggest annoyances are when I'm talking on it and my ear selects something and I end up opening an application without knowing it (or worse, hanging up on the other party). Also, when I'm tapping in a string of numbers (taking someone's phone #), it sometimes doesn't respond fast enough (or it'll lag). Otherwise I guess it's a good deal. Nothing to go crazy over though.
- shuzchen 13y agoThe Nexus 4 (as well as pretty much all smartphones on the market) disables the screen if you're in call and it detects that your face is near the screen. You can test this by going into a call and putting the palm of your hand (or any other surface) close to the phone. If your phone doesn't do this you should either get it fixed or go join a league of super heroes.
- harrytuttle 13y agoSome people appear to be invisible to proximity sensors. We have one guy who isn't seen by two Lumias and an iPhone. He's resigned to using a blackberry now. Very odd phenomenon but it does exist!
- jbrooksuk 13y agoMy iPhone 5 (running iOS7 beta) doesn't detect me, but does everyone else. I'm forever muting myself.
- pbz 13y agoI've had that happen a number of times. I'd start a regular call, Skype, or Hangouts call, and when done I sometimes realize some random app was launched or something was selected, etc. Doesn't happen often, but it did happen.
- JacobSkyler 13y ago"Plasticky" is a weird way to describe a phone that's 95% Gorilla Glass. Personally I wish the Nexus 4 was more plasticky. My phone always ends up on the floor because the glass on the back slides off everything.
- Legion 13y agoIs it really preferable, hardware-wise, to something like the HTC One? That is, assuming the user is capable of flashing the HTC One with a third-party firmware to get a vanilla Android experience. Is there a draw to the Nexus in comparison to the likes of the One other than being vanilla out of the box?
- nathos 13y agoAn unlocked HTC One costs $599
- fpgeek 13y agoThe HTC One isn't the greatest comparison because it comes in a Google Play Edition, which is a near-Nexus experience (though outside the US you are still stuck with ROM flashing, albeit from a source with solid base and guaranteed up-to-date drivers). Compared to the One, I'd say the major draw is price (and maybe the NFC secure element if you care about that).
- untog 13y agoThe One is a better phone. But it's also now more than twice as expensive, and (IMO) the benefits are not worth that amount of cash.
- fourstar 13y agoI'd go with a one because I like HTC better than LG. Plus I've had both manufacturers (had a Nexus One up until about a year ago) when I got the Nexus 4, and I thought the HTC hardware was better.
- RoryH 13y agoThe One still has the bs hardware buttons. Nothing is ever vanilla Android these days with hardware buttons IMO.
- jordanthoms 13y agoAt least it doesn't have a menu key... (looking at you, samsung!)
- jrabone 13y agoYeah, you too can watch as "Android OS" drains the battery in 6 hours. Honestly, if you get a Nexus 4 be prepared to be a beta tester, or scratch monkey every time there's an OTA update. Perhaps it's just "international" users, but I totally regret buying into the Nexus hype. And then there's the hardware issues (bluetooth kills WiFi if you try to use both at once), firmware issues (WiFi doesn't roam properly, ARP offload broken), straight-up bugs (wireless charging power management holds permanent wakelock preventing deep sleep)... http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2072930 http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2072930 really shows what Android is capable of.
- planckscnst 13y agoI use a Nexus 4. I listen to podcasts via bluetooth headset while doing chores; that's several hours on the weekends, and about one hour during weekdays. When I drive, I'm playing podcasts and using Waze (which uses GPS and Wireless networking and the screen is constantly on); that's about 1 hour/day. WiFi is constantly on and I use it to read e-mails and other social messages. I also use it for reading books (Safari To Go) throughout the day. It always lasts through the day with this behavior. I typically only plug it in on my bedstand when I go to bed, and unplug it in the morning when I get up. The only time I find I need to plug it in separately is when I watch some Netflix videos. I recently destroyed the screen on my phone making it not possible to interact with it, so I've removed the sim and put it in a cheap feature phone. It still connects to WiFi (can't turn it off if I wanted to) and it beeps to let me know I have an e-mail. I can still listen to podcasts because my podcatcher automatically downloads and queues episodes and my headset has playback controls, and I have been using it for that purpose as much as I always have. Now when I go to bed, the battery icon has only the tiniest sliver empty; I expect it would last at least 4 days without plugging it in. I think that it's safe to say Android OS is not draining my battery.
- jrabone 13y agoI'm happy that you haven't had this problem (although without a screen I'm not surprised you get multiple days use from a single charge.) Unfortunately, lots of people are not so fortunate, and I'm one of them. There are a number of known, reported, acknowledged bugs that might or might not be fixed in the latest patch update to 4.3 that cause "Android OS" (actually a partial wakelock held in the kernel) to stop the phone from going into deep sleep and draining the battery. For example, https://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=52034 https://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=52034 is one such bug. There are others (I don't use a wireless charger). Until whatever byzantine download scheduler deigns to push the patch to 4.3 to my phone, it's basically unusable.