Reasons I bought (and still use as my daily driver) a Nexus 4: * It was the phone most likely to get Android updates quickly. * The bootloader was unlockable.

Reasons I bought (and still use as my daily driver) a Nexus 4: * It was the phone most likely to get Android updates quickly. * The bootloader was unlockable. * It was extremely good value (compared to other phones available at the time) I agree 100% that these benefits are gone or no longer exclusive to the Nexus line. Frankly my next phone I'll just see what is both good value and well supported by Cyanogen.