Nexus 4 Comments

[jacktesterson]

I sold my Nexus 4....again, but this time after using it for a few weeks

I really enjoyed all the roms available for it. It was fun. The screen was also nice (Once a custom kernel with adjustments were installed). I would say I Liked it overall, but I was very disappointed with its Camera, and also disappointed with its headphone amp, as well as the battery life compared to the One S it replaced. The HTC One S trumped it and quite easily in these 3 regards, and these 3 things are important to me.

Think I'm going to get a S3 for the Dev community support.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

yeah camera is horrible and unfortunately you have to rely on custom kernels to really get battery life. the way the phone is tuned out of the box just sucks (look at the Anandtech Nexus 4 review).

Considering Google played with gamma to boost gamma to prevent backlight from going too high, it's pretty sad that such a pathetic way of implementing battery savings still gives horrible battery life...

 

[VashHT]

Yeah I feel you on the camera, it is pretty terrible. I also went over my data limit last month because I was streaming music too much so that reminded me how much it sucks only having 16gb of storage. I really like how the HTC one is looking, I've been thinking about getting rid of my N4 and picking that up but I know I'll miss the dev scene.

 

[ponyo]

I actually like the new Sony Android offerings. I would totally rock Xperia Z phone and tablet. My reasoning wanting both devices? Because it's waterproof.

 

[kevinsbane]

My Nexus 4 gets significantly better battery life with Android 4.2.2. I dunno what they changed, but it's a lot better. I had to struggle to get to a day and a half of runtime - now I get 2 and a half days easily, (granted with only 2.5 hours of screen time). And this with stock kernel. I get ~+25-35% more screen time on one day's battery.

 

[jacktesterson]

My Nexus 4 gets significantly better battery life with Android 4.2.2. I dunno what they changed, but it's a lot better. I had to struggle to get to a day and a half of runtime - now I get 2 and a half days easily, (granted with only 2.5 hours of screen time). And this with stock kernel. I get ~+25-35% more screen time on one day's battery.

Yeah

I had a hard time cracking 2.5 hours of screen time which was a bummer for me. I tried the Trinity kernel and Franco's. My One S before it could get 5 hours or better sometimes.

 

[Capt Caveman]

Yeah, the camera and battery suck.

Dumb question since I've never done it, is it difficult to root and install custom roms on the N4?

 

[VashHT]

Yeah, the camera and battery suck.

Dumb question since I've never done it, is it difficult to root and install custom roms on the N4?

It's extremely easy, but if you're going to do it find some way to back up your data first because the rooting/unlocking process wipes the phone. I just used the nexus 4 toolkit which you can dl for free on XDA, makes the whole process really easy but there are instructions to do it yourself as well.

 

[Red Storm]

Yeah

I had a hard time cracking 2.5 hours of screen time which was a bummer for me. I tried the Trinity kernel and Franco's. My One S before it could get 5 hours or better sometimes.

Do you live in an area with poor reception? I never had any problems reaching 2.5 hours of screen time.

 

[Capt Caveman]

It's extremely easy, but if you're going to do it find some way to back up your data first because the rooting/unlocking process wipes the phone. I just used the nexus 4 toolkit which you can dl for free on XDA, makes the whole process really easy but there are instructions to do it yourself as well.

Thanks!

 

[lothar]

I actually like the new Sony Android offerings. I would totally rock Xperia Z phone and tablet. My reasoning wanting both devices? Because it's waterproof.

Once you get them, will you stop wearing your Seiko Black Monster diver's watch to keep track of time when you go to the pool or beach? :hmm:

 

[jacktesterson]

It's extremely easy, but if you're going to do it find some way to back up your data first because the rooting/unlocking process wipes the phone. I just used the nexus 4 toolkit which you can dl for free on XDA, makes the whole process really easy but there are instructions to do it yourself as well.

Yeah, the camera and battery suck.

Dumb question since I've never done it, is it difficult to root and install custom roms on the N4?

This toolkit
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1995688

It will root your phone, unlock the bootloader and install a custom recovery and busybox all in 1 step. (option 8 I believe0 Literally takes 5 minutes to do. Just install the drivers from the toolkit first (Option 1 I beleive)

I donated $5 to get the most current version.


I then used this same toolkit to completely revert back to stock to sell the phone, including downloading the stock 4.2.2 image and radios and stock Google recovery. It took less than 10 minutes to do

Worked 100%, dead simple to do.


EDIT: Once done, you can flash Roms and kernels in Recovery in minutes.

Factory reset data, wipe cache/dalvik (I do extra step), flash zip, wipe cache/dalvik again, reboot. Done.

I recommend making a backup of your stock rom as soon as the custom recovery is installed.

It then becomes almost impossible to brick your phone as long as you do everything in recovery. Just dont do any wiping in Bootloader







I bought a 32GB Galaxy S3 today. The same toolkit is available for this phone, so I will donate and use it tonight.

 

[kevinsbane]

Yeah

I had a hard time cracking 2.5 hours of screen time which was a bummer for me. I tried the Trinity kernel and Franco's. My One S before it could get 5 hours or better sometimes.

Hmm. It's not +25-35% battery life. It's more like +50% life... just trying to drain my battery today. At 5 hours screen on time now, still 26% battery life left. Mixed surfing + Youtube.

4.2.2 had some secret sauce. I have no idea what it is. But whatever it is, it works.

 

[jacktesterson]

Hmm. It's not +25-35% battery life. It's more like +50% life... just trying to drain my battery today. At 5 hours screen on time now, still 26% battery life left. Mixed surfing + Youtube.

4.2.2 had some secret sauce. I have no idea what it is. But whatever it is, it works.

That's great.

I was running Paranoid Android 3+ on my phone 90% of the time.

I did upgrade to the 4.2.2 but only had it there for 1-2 days so I didn't get a chance to see this. I reverted everything back to stock 4.2.2 before selling but never played with stock. In fact, I never used this phone ever at stock. I flashed a custom rom almost immediately.

The camera and headphone volume was really low. I use a pair of Sony Over Ear headphones and they were noticably louder on the One S. I even flashed the Mod to increase volume on the Nexus 4 and it still wasn't comparable. I'm surprised more people haven't complained of this. Maybe I'm just 1/4 deaf.

I wish I could show you some comparisons of the Camera between the One S and the Nexus 4.

I haven't had time to play around with the S3 yet. I'm sure its camera is nice. I plan on setting it up this weekend to start flashing roms.

 

[kevinsbane]

That's great.

I was running Paranoid Android 3+ on my phone 90% of the time.

I did upgrade to the 4.2.2 but only had it there for 1-2 days so I didn't get a chance to see this. I reverted everything back to stock 4.2.2 before selling but never played with stock. In fact, I never used this phone ever at stock. I flashed a custom rom almost immediately.

The camera and headphone volume was really low. I use a pair of Sony Over Ear headphones and they were noticably louder on the One S. I even flashed the Mod to increase volume on the Nexus 4 and it still wasn't comparable. I'm surprised more people haven't complained of this. Maybe I'm just 1/4 deaf.

I wish I could show you some comparisons of the Camera between the One S and the Nexus 4.

I haven't had time to play around with the S3 yet. I'm sure its camera is nice. I plan on setting it up this weekend to start flashing roms.

Not gonna defend the camera, it's pretty darned mediocre. But seeing as how my last phone camera took 720p pictures and was on a flip phone, I'm not gonna complain much about it.

I've never noticed the headphone volume issue. Then again, I don't have any comparison. What is the problem with the volume? Too low? When do you find that it comes into play?

Besides, I've been having a lot of fun with Photosphere - which is plain awesome.

 

[jacktesterson]

Not gonna defend the camera, it's pretty darned mediocre. But seeing as how my last phone camera took 720p pictures and was on a flip phone, I'm not gonna complain much about it.

I've never noticed the headphone volume issue. Then again, I don't have any comparison. What is the problem with the volume? Too low? When do you find that it comes into play?

Besides, I've been having a lot of fun with Photosphere - which is plain awesome.

It's a known issue. See here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2025486

My issue is volume. I noticed it immediately at the gym, and here I'm only using a set of ear buds. At home with larger over the ear Sony's I own its even worse. I workout everyday before work and the Goodlife Gym I attend has really bad music always playing, and general noise. With the HTC One S, I had tons of volume that would eliminate most of this. With the Nexus 4, even at Max levels, It was noticeably quieter with the same headphones. It's not bad, its just not great compared to what I was used to.

I installed the above Mod but it really didn't make much difference for me.

I'm not sure about the Technical side of this... but I will say, the One S's headphone performance > Nexus 4 by quite a bit.

I haven't had a chance to try out the S3 yet. I will tomorrow. Year end at work and I've been really busy.

 

[Robert Munch]

It's a known issue. See here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2025486

My issue is volume. I noticed it immediately at the gym, and here I'm only using a set of ear buds. At home with larger over the ear Sony's I own its even worse. I workout everyday before work and the Goodlife Gym I attend has really bad music always playing, and general noise. With the HTC One S, I had tons of volume that would eliminate most of this. With the Nexus 4, even at Max levels, It was noticeably quieter with the same headphones. It's not bad, its just not great compared to what I was used to.

I installed the above Mod but it really didn't make much difference for me.

I'm not sure about the Technical side of this... but I will say, the One S's headphone performance > Nexus 4 by quite a bit.

I haven't had a chance to try out the S3 yet. I will tomorrow. Year end at work and I've been really busy.

Do you have to root the N4 to install this mod?

 

[kevinsbane]

My issue is volume. I noticed it immediately at the gym, and here I'm only using a set of ear buds. At home with larger over the ear Sony's I own its even worse. I workout everyday before work and the Goodlife Gym I attend has really bad music always playing, and general noise. With the HTC One S, I had tons of volume that would eliminate most of this. With the Nexus 4, even at Max levels, It was noticeably quieter with the same headphones. It's not bad, its just not great compared to what I was used to.

I don't suppose you know the noise level at your gym?

 

[Eug]

I think this is a fundamental problem with Android hardware in general. The manufacturers get caught up in geek stuff like omg-quad-core!!!1one and fail with basic stuff like audio volume and battery life.

To paraphrase Forrest Gump, it's like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're gonna get.

 

[Red Storm]

I think this is a fundamental problem with Android hardware in general. The manufacturers get caught up in geek stuff like omg-quad-core!!!1one and fail with basic stuff like audio volume and battery life.

To paraphrase Forrest Gump, it's like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're gonna get.

My completely stock, non-rooted Android phone seems to disagree with your generalization.

 

[Eug]

My completely stock, non-rooted Android phone seems to disagree with your generalization.

You got the best chocolate in the box then. Congrats.

 

[Red Storm]

You got the best chocolate in the box then. Congrats.

Seeing as how you don't buy a whole box, but rather get to pick and choose what "chocolate" you get, I'm not seeing the problem here. Better to have choice than only have one type of "chocolate" to buy.

Android is never going to be iOS. Things are never going to be completely the same across the board, that's not how options and variety works. OP could have verified the three points he mentioned were important to him within days of buying the phone, and he could have switched back if it was so bad. With choice comes responsibility.

 

[Eug]

Seeing as how you don't buy a whole box, but rather get to pick and choose what "chocolate" you get, I'm not seeing the problem here. Better to have choice than only have one type of "chocolate" to buy.

Android is never going to be iOS. Things are never going to be completely the same across the board, that's not how options and variety works. OP could have verified the three points he mentioned were important to him within days of buying the phone, and he could have switched back. With choice comes responsibility.

Which brings me back to my original point. Too many Android manufacturers spend too much time worrying about what looks good on paper, but scrimp on stuff like battery life, or else just ignore or forget about fundamental usability features.

Even Google does this with their Nexus line from time to time. However, I am optimistic for Motorola Nexus... to come in 2013 or 2014.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

Seeing as how you don't buy a whole box, but rather get to pick and choose what "chocolate" you get, I'm not seeing the problem here. Better to have choice than only have one type of "chocolate" to buy.

Android is never going to be iOS. Things are never going to be completely the same across the board, that's not how options and variety works. OP could have verified the three points he mentioned were important to him within days of buying the phone, and he could have switched back if it was so bad. With choice comes responsibility.

I don't think this is an issue with choice. Having to choose between one gimped phone and another gimped phone isn't really choice. It's like when we talk about screen size. You may like 6.3" phones, but a good chunk of the population likes 4.3" size. I remember you would tell me that it's choice and it's great people have choice to get big phones. But those who want average sized phones get screwed and have to get some crap phone (GS3 Mini anyone?).

But really I see this as another issue. Complaints about the Nexus are somewhat valid. This is the fourth Nexus phone and each one of them flat out sucked in battery life. The Nexus S is a good example when stacked up against the i9000. The i9000 SGS1 did great, but the Nexus S sucked. The Galaxy Nexus while it didn't have similar hardware with the SGS2, performed horrible in battery. Let's not even talk about the LTE version. The GSM version sucked too. I would be interested in seeing how the i9100G performed as that had an OMAP processor with GNex internals essentially.

Coming back to the Nexus 4, it lacks sufficient storage, LTE, a good camera, good audio, etc. But you all seem to excuse this because it's a $299 phone.

At the same time, Samsung is going after Apple. They're making their phone rock on all fronts. HTC is trying to do the same. They're talking about the great camera AND screen AND going for battery life too. Let's not forget sound quality. I think the general disappointment is that the Nexus is shining in any of those fields. The redeeming factor is the fact it runs AOSP. This round, it's got the bonus of being a $299 phone.

I think what the enthusiasts are saying is that they'd like the Nexus phones to really step it up. Previous excuses were about how the Nexus phone isn't meant to be a flagship, or that it's meant for developers. Now people make excuses that it's $299 so it can't have XYZ components. But honestly, why wouldn't you want a flagship Nexus phone going after the SGS4/HTC One?

 

[Red Storm]

Samsung has issues too. Every single Samsung phone I have ever used/tried has this voice call quality that's not as good as other brands. It's no deal breaker, but I notice it. Just like I notice Motorola phones have the best reception out of the bunch.

The phone size argument to me is basically this. For years and years making phone calls was the number one feature and everything had to accommodate that, including the physical design. Fast forward to today, and making phone calls is just one of the many things these devices can do. For example, I watch stuff on Netflix/NBA League Pass/YouTube every day on my phone. Two typical movies equals the entire amount of time I spend making calls in a whole month. So I believe the manufacturers asked themselves: Why are we still keeping these devices so small? Why gimp the web browsing, movie watching, game playing, and app using aspects just for phone calls? That's what I believe, and maybe it's not the real reason, but it makes perfect sense to me.

For the record, I had both the Galaxy Nexus (LTE) and the Nexus 4 and both phones lasted me through a normal day of usage like every phone (except the Droid Charge) I had before it.