Official Avail. Nov 13th - Android 4.2 - LG Nexus 4 - Asus Nexus 7 - Samsung Nexus 10

[Ravynmagi]

Originally Posted by Eug

Haha. P.S. This does bring up again the previous poster's question of y no pre-orders?

Seems weird. I'm guessing after how badly they handled the Nexus 7 pre-orders, they decided to just not do them this time.

Will be lots of fun trying to actually order one on the 13th I bet.

[lothar]

Originally Posted by Ravynmagi

I got nothing better to do until November 13th.

This.

[lothar]

Originally Posted by Eug

Again, it seems you haven't been interpreting my posts correctly. I never complained about the pricing. In fact I said I liked the pricing, several times, because it's a cheap flagship phone. Indeed, it is likely the phone that I as a consumer will buy, specifically because of the pricing vs. the features/specs. So you're wrong again there.

What I did say though was I found this strategy odd, because it pisses off Google's partners.

Who are Google's partners?
List them. I can assure you it's not Staples, BestBuy, or any retail outlets in USA or Europe.

[Eug]

Originally Posted by lothar

Who are Google's partners?
List them. I can assure you it's not Staples, BestBuy, or any retail outlets in USA or Europe.

As I've said a number of times before, this is a co-branded LG Google product. The Optimus G is an LG product, but the Nexus 4 isn't an Optimus G. Google's partners include the carriers, and furthermore, companies such as Staples and Best Buy and other stores have sold many Google co-branded Nexus products before.

It would be pretty naive to think that the retailers are pissed only at LG and not Google, for leaving them out in the cold, esp. when they're used to having good sales with the Nexus 7 at equivalent pricing to Google Play.

Furthermore, it seems that consumers in places like Austria aren't happy with the overall state of things either, since LG-sourced Nexus 4s are the only ones that will be available. There is no Google Play Nexus 4 availability there.

[Eug]

Originally Posted by Ravynmagi

Seems weird. I'm guessing after how badly they handled the Nexus 7 pre-orders, they decided to just not do them this time.

Will be lots of fun trying to actually order one on the 13th I bet.

I'm thinking I should just wait, but it's gonna be hard to do, esp. since my wife is itchin' to take over my old iPhone.

The reason I'm thinking I should wait a while is because it seems it took Google/Asus several weeks before they really started to work out the production kinks. I got two Nexus 7s with the screen lift issue. My 3rd one was thankfully free of the issue, but it had a later serial number.

I suspect it may be the same with LG. But then again, maybe I'll just succumb and fight for my order next week.

[lothar]

Originally Posted by Eug

As I've said a number of times before, this is a co-branded LG Google product. Google's partners include the carriers, and furthermore, companies such as Staples and Best Buy and other stores have sold many Google co-branded Nexus products before.

It would be pretty naive to think that the retailers are pissed only at LG and not Google, for leaving them out in the cold, esp. when they're used to having good sales with the Nexus 7 at equivalent pricing to Google Play.

Furthermore, it seems that consumers in places like Austria aren't happy with the overall state of things either, since LG-sourced Nexus 4s are the only ones that will be available. There is no Google Play Nexus 4 availability there.

http://translate.google.com/translat...tbb=1&ie=UTF-8

Saying "Staples and BestBuy are Google's retail partners" and "Staples and BestBuy have sold Google's Nexus products are two different things."
You don't have to be a retail partner for anyone to sell a particular product.

Does Google allocate how many Nexus inventory units to ship to BestBuy, Staples, and other retailers, and at what price?
Absolutely not. Asus or who ever the Nexus partner is(in this particular case, LG) is the one responsible for doing that.

[Eug]

Hmmm... I notice you have conveniently left out the carrier partners in your response.

[Eug]

T3: http://www.t3.com/reviews/google-nexus-4-review

Google Nexus 4: Battery

With the same size battery found in the Samsung Galaxy S3, the Nexus 4 should be able to manage a days usage without too much hassle.

Unfortunately this was not the case. While with standard usage (texts, browsing and the odd call) we were able to get through until mid-evening, intensive usage quickly downed much of the juice.

It’s not an uncommon problem with modern smartphones however it was alarming to note how quickly it dropped after just a few hours heavy usage.

---

P.S. It was interesting to see this review at Ars (whose review was previously mentioned in this thread):

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2012/...great-phone/2/

While the Nexus 4 doesn't have some of the nifty user configurable power saving options that the Optimus G offers (like an Eco mode that disables two of its cores), it did fine through a day of typical phone use. It fared much better than Google's last Nexus phone, the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, which had issues lasting through a whole day of typical use.

I'd like to see an Eco mode on the Nexus 4.

[Robert Munch]

Damn, and i'm without an Android and in dire need of a replacement. Was hoping the battery life would be somewhat decent.

I may have to make my purchase elsewhere until this gets resolved.

[Ravynmagi]

Originally Posted by Robert Munch

Damn, and i'm without an Android and in dire need of a replacement. Was hoping the battery life would be somewhat decent.

I may have to make my purchase elsewhere until this gets resolved.

Different reviews seem to have different extremely concerning issues. Very poor benchmark results, over heating, bad battery performance.

It also seems like reviewers all got different builds of the phone based on what someone at XDA noticed with many having different kernels and basebands.

I have no idea what Google sent these reviewers, but I'm hoping the reviews we saw two weeks before launch won't be indicative of the state of the software when it actually launches on the 13th. And hopefully none of these issues are hardware related.

PS. I'm doing more hoping than I'd care for at the moment.

[sygyzy]

Originally Posted by Robert Munch

Damn, and i'm without an Android and in dire need of a replacement. Was hoping the battery life would be somewhat decent.

I may have to make my purchase elsewhere until this gets resolved.

I agree. It's very troubling to me. I currently have the Galaxy Nexus LTE and with any sort of standard usage, I can't get through a full day. I am lucky if it lasts 8-10 hours. That means if I start a day at 9AM and decide to go to dinner, bar, or party after work, my phone is dead. This is especially an issue if I am alone in a new city I am unfamiliar with (ie vacation). How can a phone not even last 12 hours? By the way, unlike most people I don't use my phone to talk (average 2 minutes a day), stream music (at all), watch movies on Netflix, etc. I am just checking email, social media and using Google Maps.

I really really dislike Apple but I am really jealous of the battery life on iPhones.

P.S. If they really wanted to disable cores for better battery life, they can just flash a new Kernel. For example, Franco Kernel has this option.

[Crow550]

Pretty sure they would have Google employees test these devices out and approve the hardware specs before going with it.

Maybe this is just a result of an Android update and it needing some optimizing.

Most likely as if you have ever tested beta versions of custom Android builds. Some updates can cause severe battery drain then an update comes and fixes it.

So I'd assume these are things that will be fixed with updates.

[ponyo]

Originally Posted by sygyzy

I agree. It's very troubling to me. I currently have the Galaxy Nexus LTE and with any sort of standard usage, I can't get through a full day. I am lucky if it lasts 8-10 hours. That means if I start a day at 9AM and decide to go to dinner, bar, or party after work, my phone is dead. This is especially an issue if I am alone in a new city I am unfamiliar with (ie vacation). How can a phone not even last 12 hours? By the way, unlike most people I don't use my phone to talk (average 2 minutes a day), stream music (at all), watch movies on Netflix, etc. I am just checking email, social media and using Google Maps.

I really really dislike Apple but I am really jealous of the battery life on iPhones.

P.S. If they really wanted to disable cores for better battery life, they can just flash a new Kernel. For example, Franco Kernel has this option.

See, that's the difference between LTE Galaxy Nexus and GSM Galaxy Nexus. I have no problem making through normal workday with GSM Galaxy Nexus and 2000 mAh extended battery. Here's recent screenshot of my use.



Almost 20 hours unplugged and 4 hours of screen time with 70/30 cellular/wifi usage and 12% battery life left. That's more than sufficient for my normal day use and if that isn't enough, I have my 1750 mAh stock battery I can pop in for extended use. It's a shame Nexus 4 is missing the removable battery.

[s44]

Originally Posted by sygyzy

That means if I start a day at 9AM and decide to go to dinner, bar, or party after work, my phone is dead. This is especially an issue if I am alone in a new city I am unfamiliar with (ie vacation).

This is what battery swapping is for.

[zerocool84]

Originally Posted by s44

This is what battery swapping is for.

Not on the Nexus 4

[DLeRium]

Originally Posted by Crow550

Pretty sure they would have Google employees test these devices out and approve the hardware specs before going with it.

Maybe this is just a result of an Android update and it needing some optimizing.

Most likely as if you have ever tested beta versions of custom Android builds. Some updates can cause severe battery drain then an update comes and fixes it.

So I'd assume these are things that will be fixed with updates.

I swear like 98% of those complaints are user error and not ROM error. I don't buy it when people say omg the nightly tonight has WAY better battery life!!! And then they show an Antutu score bump of 20 and claim its WAYYYY faster. Uh ok. Normal variation?

[sygyzy]

Originally Posted by zerocool84

Not on the Nexus 4

Well you can actually but you just need a torx screwdriver with you at all times.

[sygyzy]

Originally Posted by s44

This is what battery swapping is for.

Sure but that's a terrible solution. I don't want to walk around carrying batteries.

[Red Storm]

Originally Posted by sygyzy

Sure but that's a terrible solution. I don't want to walk around carrying batteries.

Do you drive to work? Car charger?

[DLeRium]

Originally Posted by sygyzy

Sure but that's a terrible solution. I don't want to walk around carrying batteries.

im pretty sure you'll be fine on the Nexus 4, as will most people unless you are FBB who goes through 3 batteries a day. the issue is if you get drunk at night and forget to charge as that's a problem sometimes for me currently.

[Ravynmagi]

I agree the Nexus 4 battery life is manageable. I usually have opportunities to charge my phone intermittently through out the day. But it shouldn't be this way. I shouldn't need to think about my phone's battery life through the day. 5 hours of battery life is a joke.

I have a hard time believing Google and LG could really screw up this badly though. I guess it's possible, but I'm kinda expecting the phone we get will be much better in performance and battery life.

[Rick James Astley]

Originally Posted by Eug

Yup. The "Google didn't want xxx carrier to tamper with the phone" argument doesn't really fly anymore, considering that Apple has been able to keep the iPhone experience pretty pure for several years now.

In which universe does Google have the same leverage with Verizon as Apple does? AT&T? They blocked 3rd party Android apps until recently.

In the Android market for USA, carrier meddling with devices is proportionate to the carrier market share/financial strength. I'll single out Verizon since they are arguably the strongest. On Verizon subsidized devices, their spam cannot be uninstalled, unlocking is difficult/impossible and all phones are branded with Verizon's tramp stamp and they have been getting even bolder lately, see Note 2. If they are pushing Samsung around, why wouldn't it work with Google or any company not named Apple?Verizon sells devices with Google's (modified) OS but that's far from a partnership. Back in 2008, Google bid in a spectrum auction vs carriers, primarily against Verizon to ensure open access requirements.

Despite getting it done, to this day, with the exception of Apple, it is still impossible to simply make a device for Verizon to use their network, not without Verizon dictating terms. That means they demand to subsidize so they maintain their grip on the blind majority of the population, they have authority over radios, appearance, updates and pre-installed apps. So Verizon is out of picture.

About the bad publicity argument with the different prices deal. First of all, why does it matter, even if Google were to appear as the bad guy? Is it just a clumsy and illogical knock vs Google or is there more to it? Now follow this logic: Google sells their stuff via their store, OEM's have the choice to. Google desn't make stuff, they contract OEM's to make their hardware, this latest instance, LG and Samsung. Google declared prices and declared where it will be available via their store. I also don't buy into the "poor orphans" 3rd world country not having the option to buy, go look up their buying power, see if $299 really makes a difference. Are you arguing that Google should open more stores world wide, capture more intl sales and ultimately hurt LG/Samsung even more? You know, the same OEM's that actually made the freaking phone/tablet for them.

Moving onto AT&T and Nexus 4/Optimus G. AT&T does allow for devices onto both their HSPA and LTE networks, no questions asked, only a disclaimer that it may not be fully supported. Now why the fuck would LG make a Nexus 4 for Google with AT&T's (or any other) LTE? So Google can sell it for $299 while LG & AT&T (or any other carrier) try to charge $499 for pretty much the same thing? By the way, during the T-Mobile merger attempt, AT&T argued they wouldn't be able to sustain their network without T-Mo. Take a look at what AT&T managed to do since then.

Next up, LTE in general. For the moment, I consider AT&T to be the lesser evil of the two, mostly because of network access and the standards they went with for HSPA and LTE, very much in line with the rest of the world.
Thought process of an LTE junkie: " I need more Mbps on my phone, I don't care how much it costs. Allow me to completely ignore the fact that my laptop is much faster while on "pedestrian" residential internet speeds, I must ignore that because otherwise I would conclude that the bottleneck is elsewhere. Hence I would stop swallowing the marketing hype and realize how much LTE is actually costing me. No, I need more Mbps to show off my speed tests, I need my phone to surpass my home internet speeds by 500% even though I don't know exactly why. I'm too cheap to buy a fast SD card because I spend so much on my cellphone bill. Never mind, I still need to download at 50Mbps even though my el cheapo sd card can't handle half that speed. I also have to ignore that even if I wanted to switch to another carrier or change features, I simply can't because I will get kicked of my grandfathered plan. Then I would face data overages and pay a dime for every speed test I run. I hope carriers aren't actively working to introduce new "must have" features to get me to update. Ok, now let me go back to sleep so this guy can finish his rambling"

Man or woman, child or elderly, I would beat the crap out of the management responsible for AT&T/VZW's policies. Unfortunately, subscribers are at fault too. At which point should the consumer have forced the carriers to truly compete unlike this status quo BS? My concern is that there are enough rich & dumb consumers that will gradually allow the monthly cellphone bill to creep up to car payment amounts. Hey, there is always the "I canceled my POTS line so I'm actually saving money" argument to keep paying the premium.

Back on topic, I'm buying the 10 day one, the 4 most likely as well. I have it from a reliable source that Google's latest devices will take advantage of all baseless negativity expressed about said devices. Via future updates, Nexus devices will perform tasks faster, fed by the moans, these will instantly charge whenever a profoundly stupid remark is made.

[Bateluer]

Guys, keep in mind that ALL Nexus 4s currently being reviewed are being tested under pre-release software. There is an OTA scheduled for ~11 Nov, right before they ship, which will be the final release software revision. Any reviews now are, at best, previews.

[Muyoso]

Originally Posted by Bateluer

Guys, keep in mind that ALL Nexus 4s currently being reviewed are being tested under pre-release software. There is an OTA scheduled for ~11 Nov, right before they ship, which will be the final release software revision. Any reviews now are, at best, previews.

There better be some ridiculous improvements in the final software to improve performance and battery life.

[Ravynmagi]

Originally Posted by Bateluer

Guys, keep in mind that ALL Nexus 4s currently being reviewed are being tested under pre-release software. There is an OTA scheduled for ~11 Nov, right before they ship, which will be the final release software revision. Any reviews now are, at best, previews.

Yeah. But it was really a bad idea for Google to send out the review units too early. I'd rather be in the dark than horrified. :p