Nexus 4 Comments

[kevinsbane]

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.

I do wish that the camera is better. But giving up Photosphere for a better camera would be hard sell. Given that I spent $400 total on it, of course I'm going to excuse its camera quality. It doesn't limit me in any other way (storage hasn't been a problem, didn't even know there was an audio problem, LTE works and battery life is good), and enables a bunch of stuff I can't get otherwise (photosphere, timely OS updates)

 

[Eug]

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.

My Motorola phone is fine for cellular reception. The call quality is slightly more muddy than my iPhone was though, and I suspect it may have to do with speaker choices, not actual reception.

It seems to have a bit worse WiFi reception than my iPhone though, but it's still decent.

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.

I surf far more on my phone than I make phone calls, but I would still much prefer a smaller phone. I just find it very awkward to use a 4.7" phone one-handed, even for surfing.

It's a non-issue for my 7" tablet, because that isn't a mobile device in the same way my phone is a mobile device. My tablet is more a sitting on the couch device, whereas my phone is a walking down the street while carrying groceries device.

 

[thecapsaicinkid]

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?

You clearly bought the wrong phone. Complaining the Nexus 4 doesn't have enough storage or LTE after you bought one is ridiculous. For the people that don't need masses of local storage and LTE isn't appropriate, there isn't a device that touches it.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

You clearly bought the wrong phone. Complaining the Nexus 4 doesn't have enough storage or LTE after you bought one is ridiculous. For the people that don't need masses of local storage and LTE isn't appropriate, there isn't a device that touches it.

And for people who don't need insane horsepower just to surf the web and chat, they can buy the Galaxy S1. Does that sound reasonable to you? Because I'm sure there's a good number of smartphone users here who don't play 3D CPU/GPU intensive games and do only a few simple tasks. Why else do you think WP7 phones ran smoothly for their purposes?

What's wrong with complaining about a device after I bought it? That's called being fair and being able to criticize things you own. If I'm going to pump sunshine about everything I buy, then that's pure fanboiism.

1) Storage is cheap
2) Why is LTE not appropriate? That's just a bunch of excuses.

If the Nexus 4 addressed those two issues would you be complaining "OMG TAKE AWAY THE 32GB MODEL PLEASE," or "I DON'T WANT LTE, I WANT SLOWER INTERNETZ."

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

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.

Ok great, so you love movie watching on your phone. Like I said before, certain features are more important than others to users. You certainly like the big screen aspect, but at a certain point the ergonomics, size, fit becomes an issue. To you, you're willing to excuse those other issues for a big screen. They're less of an issue. But I certainly feel it's harder to manipulate my Nexus 4 one handed than my iPhone 5 or previous phones. There's more stretching of my hand here, there, etc.

There's some people who want a smaller phone. Others who want big phones. Was it you who mentioned you like thin and light like Samsung? Others say they want a more solid build. It's all a matter of preference.

While thin and light vs solid build is easy to jump between HTC to Samsung, or any other non Samsung brand pretty much offers a solid body feel, you don't have that luxury with screen size. Want a flagship 4.3" phone? Practically none exist. Want a flagship 4.7" phone? Yeah. Plenty.

 

[lopri]

Happy with my 8 GB Nexus 4. I bought it with (almost) full knowledge of its shortcomings.

There are lots of options for those who have different practical needs. It seems strange to keep a device that you don't like, esp. when Google doesn't have monopoly over Android devices. Normally I would criticize a product then, 1) deal with the shortcomings because the benefit outweighs, or 2) move on to a different product. Of course when there are too many of negatives, initial purchase won't happen.

Keeping onto a product that one so incessantly dislikes is passive-aggressive in some pervert way.

 

[jacktesterson]

I do wish that the camera is better. But giving up Photosphere for a better camera would be hard sell. Given that I spent $400 total on it, of course I'm going to excuse its camera quality. It doesn't limit me in any other way (storage hasn't been a problem, didn't even know there was an audio problem, LTE works and battery life is good), and enables a bunch of stuff I can't get otherwise (photosphere, timely OS updates)

I'm not sure the audio is an issue. It's probably fine for most. I noticed it almost immediately as I used my device at work and at home often with headphones.

I'm a cell junkie. I got an Xperia T 2 days ago and flipped it already. Actually made a decent amount off it, but I won't get into details on that. It was a lucky deal I got it from a relative. I loved the phone overall, except It has no development community or else I'd kept it. Timescape on it has a lot of cool features. I love being able to flash roms and customize my phones. I flip phones quite often. This is the 2nd Nexus 4 I've bought. (I flipped the first one to make some $$, yeah I'm one of those guys)

I've owned pretty much every major Android phone out over the last couple years. It's a hobby to play with hardware.

My point now - I've always been open to giving the Nexus line a try because of the huge Development communities that follow them...but more and more as the competition is improving, I'm starting to think the Nexus is no longer for me.

Samsung, HTC and Sony are really stepping up there games. As long as the phone is popular (like the HTC One X, One S, Note N7000, S3, which I've owned them all), you have so much more in options with usually better hardware it seems. I've owned the Nexus S, the Galaxy Nexus, and now the Nexus 4, and ended up flipping them all for other phones for various reasons.


I liked the Nexus 4. It's a great value for pure horsepower, but it lacks a lot of things other phones can give me with similar performance. I still think the HTC One X (S4/225) is the best phone I've ever owned. Other than being limited to 16GB (Which is a non issue for me, 16GB is fine for me so this isn't an issue for all), it was pretty much the perfect Android experience. It has the audio hardware, it has the top tier level camera, Sense 4+ is super smooth and fast with a lot of nice options... and when I want to go back to AOSP, I can flash a rom in 5 minutes to accomplish this. This phone can be bought for less than a Nexus 4 now in excellent condition, with a big XDA community.

I'm hoping the S3 will give me an experience similar to the One X did. If it does, I will keep it for a while as I'm ready to settle on one phone for a year or 2. I almost bought the One X+ until I found a deal on the S3 for less money. I own the i9300 International version, so I've got the Quad core S3, but to be honest, the S4/225 gives the same experience 95% of the time currently. By the time it doesn't, I'll probably have a different phone anyways, so the Dual core vs Quad is mute to me. I live in a small city that only has 21 MBPS 4G, no LTE, no plans to this date announced for LTE, so LTE doesn't matter to me.

I know this post is all over the place, but I've owned a lot of phones, and I can say I've generally enjoyed other phones over the Nexus line.

 

[lothar]

I'm not sure the audio is an issue. It's probably fine for most. I noticed it almost immediately as I used my device at work and at home often with headphones.

I'm a cell junkie. I got an Xperia T 2 days ago and flipped it already. Actually made a decent amount off it, but I won't get into details on that. It was a lucky deal I got it from a relative. I loved the phone overall, except It has no development community or else I'd kept it. Timescape on it has a lot of cool features. I love being able to flash roms and customize my phones. I flip phones quite often. This is the 2nd Nexus 4 I've bought. (I flipped the first one to make some $$, yeah I'm one of those guys)

I've owned pretty much every major Android phone out over the last couple years. It's a hobby to play with hardware.

My point now - I've always been open to giving the Nexus line a try because of the huge Development communities that follow them...but more and more as the competition is improving, I'm starting to think the Nexus is no longer for me.

Samsung, HTC and Sony are really stepping up there games. As long as the phone is popular (like the HTC One X, One S, Note N7000, S3, which I've owned them all), you have so much more in options with usually better hardware it seems. I've owned the Nexus S, the Galaxy Nexus, and now the Nexus 4, and ended up flipping them all for other phones for various reasons.


I liked the Nexus 4. It's a great value for pure horsepower, but it lacks a lot of things other phones can give me with similar performance. I still think the HTC One X (S4/225) is the best phone I've ever owned. Other than being limited to 16GB (Which is a non issue for me, 16GB is fine for me so this isn't an issue for all), it was pretty much the perfect Android experience. It has the audio hardware, it has the top tier level camera, Sense 4+ is super smooth and fast with a lot of nice options... and when I want to go back to AOSP, I can flash a rom in 5 minutes to accomplish this. This phone can be bought for less than a Nexus 4 now in excellent condition, with a big XDA community.

I'm hoping the S3 will give me an experience similar to the One X did. If it does, I will keep it for a while as I'm ready to settle on one phone for a year or 2. I almost bought the One X+ until I found a deal on the S3 for less money. I own the i9300 International version, so I've got the Quad core S3, but to be honest, the S4/225 gives the same experience 95% of the time currently. By the time it doesn't, I'll probably have a different phone anyways, so the Dual core vs Quad is mute to me. I live in a small city that only has 21 MBPS 4G, no LTE, no plans to this date announced for LTE, so LTE doesn't matter to me.

I know this post is all over the place, but I've owned a lot of phones, and I can say I've generally enjoyed other phones over the Nexus line.

You sure about this? Last I heard, some of the big name Exynos modders shunned Samsung and got an Xperia T last year.
Custom scene on the Xperia T is dead already? Wow.

 

[jacktesterson]

You sure about this? Last I heard, some of the big name Exynos modders shunned Samsung and got an Xperia T last year.
Custom scene on the Xperia T is dead already? Wow.

It's not that great currently. Its far from dead, but there is a lot more activity on the S3's still.

 

[jacktesterson]

Well that didn't last long

Found a deal on a Note II this morning, so jumped on it. I wanted this phone all along but didnt have the funds, but sweet talked a trade for my S3 Quad Core as he thought the Note II was too big

Getting it in a hour. this will be my keeper for a while 🙂

 

[WelshBloke]

...

What's wrong with complaining about a device after I bought it? That's called being fair and being able to criticize things you own. If I'm going to pump sunshine about everything I buy, then that's pure fanboiism.

1) Storage is cheap
2) Why is LTE not appropriate? That's just a bunch of excuses.

If the Nexus 4 addressed those two issues would you be complaining "OMG TAKE AWAY THE 32GB MODEL PLEASE," or "I DON'T WANT LTE, I WANT SLOWER INTERNETZ."

But you bought it knowing how much storage it had and the lack of LTE, complaining that it then lacks storage and LTE is bizarre.


*chooses to buy a red car out of a choice of colours, complains he doesn't like red cars and that they should have made his car a different colour.*

 

[IHAVEAQUESTION]

My complaint is really more on the software side. It's still not as polished as iOS and the apps still crash occasionally.

 

[Red Storm]

My complaint is really more on the software side. It's still not as polished as iOS and the apps still crash occasionally.

Implying iOS apps/devices never crash. My various iPhones and iPads would like a word with you.

 

[WelshBloke]

My complaint is really more on the software side. It's still not as polished as iOS and the apps still crash occasionally.

Apps are always going to crash occasionally regardless of what OS you use (Android, iOS, Windows, Windows phone...).

The important thing, I guess, is how the OS handles that crash. As long as the app doesn't take the OS down as well I don't mind so much. I just wont use the buggy app.

 

[IHAVEAQUESTION]

That's not what I implied. But I've experienced more crashes on Android than on iOS. I also believe if the device is JB, the user has no ground to complain.

 

[zerogear]

That's not what I implied. But I've experienced more crashes on Android than on iOS. I also believe if the device is JB, the user has no ground to complain.

I've experienced the opposite, it's completely dependent on what apps you use, if the dev for the apps you use suck, then it's going to crash, app crach rate is by no means OS dependent at this point.

 

[Eug]

I too think Android is in general less stable than iOS.

It is also less consistent in its UI than iOS.

 

[NikolaeVarius]

That's not what I implied. But I've experienced more crashes on Android than on iOS. I also believe if the device is JB, the user has no ground to complain.

http://www.phonearena.com/news/Which-platform-crashes-more-Android-or-iOS_id26542

Lets see what some data says. I don't place too much stock on it, but its a bit more reliable than your anecdotal evidence.

I too think Android is in general less stable than iOS.

It is also less consistent in its UI than iOS.

And I think iOS is much more limited in functionality and customizability than Android.

 

[IHAVEAQUESTION]

Well, that article was written about a year ago. I don't doubt its validity, but my personal experience is more relevant than statistical data.

There are functionality Apple just doesn't want to put on their devices. I remember the outcry of non-removable battery and no MicroSD when iPhone came out. Well, just look at Nexus 4 now and tell me where things are heading to.

I also remember the outcry about the lack of copy & paste on iOS a few years ago. Apple worked on it and now has the best implementation. Whereas, on android platform the Copy & paste function still feels like an afterthought.

 

[WelshBloke]

Well, that article was written about a year ago. I don't doubt its validity, but my personal experience is more relevant than statistical data.

Only to you, to everyone else its just smoke.

There are functionality Apple just doesn't want to put on their devices. I remember the outcry of non-removable battery and no MicroSD when iPhone came out. Well, just look at Nexus 4 now and tell me where things are heading to.

I also remember the outcry about the lack of copy & paste on iOS a few years ago. Apple worked on it and now has the best implementation. Whereas, on android platform the Copy & paste function still feels like an afterthought.

What has any of that got to do with stability?

 

[jacktesterson]

Well

I've used the Note II for about 3 hours so far, and I'm already thinking it's the best phone I've ever used. I love it. Nexus 4 or Note II? I'd take the Note II anyday.

The S-Pen stuff is amazing

 

[Red Storm]

Well

I've used the Note II for about 3 hours so far, and I'm already thinking it's the best phone I've ever used. I love it. Nexus 4 or Note II? I'd take the Note II anyday.

The S-Pen stuff is amazing

Indeed.

 

[IHAVEAQUESTION]

Only to you, to everyone else its just smoke.

To me, the most important factor is my own personal experience. I am sure to millions of iOS users, they could easily offer a counterpoint..."Yeah, that may be true, but".

What has any of that got to do with stability?

Nothing. I was just responding to a previous poster saying iOS feels limited in terms of customization and functionality.

 

[Dominato3r]

I was syncing my contacts today and noticed that there's a feature called google photo sync. Is this the same thing as google+ instant upload or different? I've tried to Google an answer but there isn't any good answer. The Android support page doesn't say much.

 

[thecapsaicinkid]

And for people who don't need insane horsepower just to surf the web and chat, they can buy the Galaxy S1. Does that sound reasonable to you? Because I'm sure there's a good number of smartphone users here who don't play 3D CPU/GPU intensive games and do only a few simple tasks. Why else do you think WP7 phones ran smoothly for their purposes?

What's wrong with complaining about a device after I bought it? That's called being fair and being able to criticize things you own. If I'm going to pump sunshine about everything I buy, then that's pure fanboiism.

1) Storage is cheap
2) Why is LTE not appropriate? That's just a bunch of excuses.

If the Nexus 4 addressed those two issues would you be complaining "OMG TAKE AWAY THE 32GB MODEL PLEASE," or "I DON'T WANT LTE, I WANT SLOWER INTERNETZ."

Storage is not cheap, manufacturers charge a premium. What is the going rate in mobile devices for 16gb of flash memory? I've used less than half of the space on my Nexus 4 so no, I don't want to pay for 16 more gbs.

I'm sure you're aware of all the politics surrounding LTE and a completely carrier agnostic Nexus device so I won't bore you. Plus you are aware there are regions outside of your own, right? LTE here in the UK is only in major cities, super expensive with restrictive caps and no faster than HSPA+ (~10mbps) So no, I don't want it in my Nexus.

You say the Nexus 4 is a bad phone because it doesn't have the right specs for you. That's like buying a Note 2 and telling everyone it's a bad device because it's so big.