
Review: Google Nexus 4 Android Smartphone by LG - riledhel
http://www.wired.com/reviews/2012/11/google-nexus-4
======
phyalow
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...](http://www.theverge.com/2012/10/29/3570034/inside-android-building-the-
nexus-4-nexus-10-android-4-2)

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

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

~~~
CrazedGeek
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.

~~~
MBCook
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.

~~~
CrazedGeek
The thing is, I get about that speed on T-Mo's HSPA+. Sitting in my apartment,
also running the Speedtest.net app, I'm getting 16 Mb/s down. The tiny extra
oomph isn't worth worrying about for me.

------
h4pless
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.

~~~
MBCook
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
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
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?

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

------
tjdetwiler
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
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.

~~~
thematt
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.

~~~
endemic
Virgin Mobile's rates are attractive, but unfortunately they're a Sprint
subsidiary, and as such use CDMA. Nexus 4 is GSM, so your best bet is
StraightTalk, T-Mobile, or other inexpensive prepaid GSM carriers. As others
have said, check out T-Mobile's web-only $30/month option. It's about as close
as you can get to what we've all been wanting: a data-only plan.

------
bmasci
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.

------
glennos
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?

~~~
ConstantineXVI
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)

~~~
phyalow
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!

------
mmanfrin
Wasn't this on here a couple days ago?

~~~
greenmountin
Yep. URL differs by the ending /

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

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

~~~
lobo_tuerto
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
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.

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

~~~
unavoidable
At half the price?

~~~
Mythbusters
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?

~~~
nsm
Urm, pretty much all of the rest of the world. The contract system is big only
in the US and EU, and it is a somewhat broken system.

It doesn't have a poor camera, it has a very good camera, only not as good as
the GS3 or iphone

The GS3 is the only other high end smartphone that has expandable memory, and
you don't see that selling at $350.

LTE - well i'm not even going to go into this one

