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

[ponyo]

Agreed. I thought using a GNex was a great Android experience, but the N4 just completely blows it out of the water.

Really? Most are saying it's not much of an upgrade as far as general speed.

 

[Raduque]

Battery life has been great for me. If you run the battery hard and you have to go into survival mode for the rest of the day, let it idle to "stop" the battery drain, it spent the night unplugged, woke up to this:

Please clarify this statement. Are you saying the phone is showing 1% used after running the battery hard and leaving it unplugged overnight?

 

[Skurge]

Wow really?

We are getting our Nexus 4s this week.

 

[basslover1]

Really? Most are saying it's not much of an upgrade as far as general speed.

I think it's a huge update, while the Gnex was no slouch, IMO everything feels smother and looks much much sharper.

The screen alone with worth the upgrade to me, no more screen door patchiness like on the Gnex, which I could never get over if the brightness was way down it was terrible.

 

[ponyo]

I think it's a huge update, while the Gnex was no slouch, IMO everything feels smother and looks much much sharper.

The screen alone with worth the upgrade to me, no more screen door patchiness like on the Gnex, which I could never get over if the brightness was way down it was terrible.

So you're talking about phone hardware differences rather than Android OS experience. OK. I thought you were talking about general OS functions.

 

[bearxor]

Wish a TMobile store in Charlotte had one I could look at. None of the seem to have it.

 

[basslover1]

So you're talking about phone hardware differences rather than Android OS experience. OK. I thought you were talking about general OS functions.

4.2 is 4.2, it's identical on my N4 as it was on my Gnex (save for a few trivial things), but the current gen hardware in the N4 runs Android so much better.

 

[Eug]

Agreed. I thought using a GNex was a great Android experience, but the N4 just completely blows it out of the water.

Yeah, a couple of the reviews I've come across have specifically said they felt Galaxy Nexus was getting close, but just wasn't quite there yet, while the N4 was a big step up. ie. The N4 with 4.2 is what Android should be.

So I do think part of the original hesitancy about the GNex was Android 4.0. I personally thought everything before 4.0 was way too immature, but even 4.0 felt kinda betaish to me.

And the ability to use LTE is a nice bonus. For us in Canada that is.

Google, please let us buy the damn thing already!!!!1

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

Your Nexus 4 order is scheduled to ship this week. We’ll send you a notification, including tracking information, when it’s on the way.

Please note that your order will be charged in full when it ships. As a courtesy and to thank you for your patience, you’ll then receive a credit for the shipping charge within 7 business days.

Thanks again,

The Google Play Team

© 2012 Google Inc. 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043

You've received this mandatory service announcement email to provide you with important information related to your purchase from Google Play.

interesting...

Edit: This is probably a "ok we expect incoming delivery tomorrow, but given our incompetence in retail, we will probably take til Friday to ship your order out. we can't tell you which day, so we'll use this week."

 

[sjwaste]

I got the same email. I'd like to actually receive it this week, but I'm not holding my breath.

 

[ponyo]

As a courtesy and to thank you for your patience, you’ll then receive a credit for the shipping charge within 7 business days.

lol. They make it sound like they're doing you a favor. I don't even understand why Google charges for shipping. They want Google Play to be retailer yet they charge both tax and 2 day shipping. I can sort of understand the tax thing but shipping? Pretty much all the major retailers offer free shipping over $50. If Google wants people to order from the Play Store, they need to offer free shipping. That's not special service. It's expected. Today, I ordered 3G Chromebook from Staples. Free one day shipping. I also ordered WiFi Chromebook from Newegg. Free 2 day shipping. Google Play store is the worst retailer in the world. Even Apple offers free shipping.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

lol. They make it sound like they're doing you a favor. I don't even understand why Google charges for shipping. They want Google Play to be retailer yet they charge both tax and 2 day shipping. I can sort of understand the tax thing but shipping? Pretty much all the major retailers offer free shipping over $50. If Google wants people to order from the Play Store, they need to offer free shipping. That's not special service. It's expected. Today, I ordered 3G Chromebook from Staples. Free one day shipping. I also ordered WiFi Chromebook from Newegg. Free 2 day shipping. Google Play store is the worst retailer in the world. Even Apple offers free shipping.

lol they clearly don't have the economies of scale yet of any of these retailers so like a small store they need to charge for all these things. i hope they really learned their lesson this time and the next launch goes smoother....

 

[Eug]

For a CAD$359, I don't mind the shipping charge. Would you rather they charge US$399 and give you "free" shipping? Like I said before, I wouldn't be surprised if Google were mildly subsidizing this phone, and the $20 shipping would be a further subsidy. Or, if they are breaking even on the phone, then providing free shipping would mean a subsidy.

What I do mind though is the complete fail of the ordering process.

 

[sygyzy]

Anyone using the Nexus 4 on the Walmart/T-Mobile $30 a month unlimited plan? 100 minutes, unlimited text and data IIRC.

 

[VashHT]

Anyone using the Nexus 4 on the Walmart/T-Mobile $30 a month unlimited plan? 100 minutes, unlimited text and data IIRC.

You can get that straight from t mobile from what I know, I've been thinking of going on it myself if I end up with a nexus 4. My only worry is that t-mo coverage is kinda sketchy in unpopulated areas.

Anyways I got to play with a N4 tonight, my friend has one so I was checking it out. The thing is ridiculously smooth, easily the best android phone I've played with. The screen looks fantastic and the build quality feels great. I've never liked glass backs and I wish they hadn't used one but I can deal with it. It feels premium but who cares when it's more fragile than a cheap plastic back. Aside from that it feels really well put together and looks great in person.

Playing around with the phone is great though, it's just really smooth all around and feels like a top of the line android phone. For 350$ it's a steal, It's no wonder that it's so hard to pick one up.

 

[Eug]

I'll say again, I love glass backed phones. Or at least I love the look of the iPhone 4 and 4S. So, I was overjoyed when I saw that LG Nexus 4 was glass-backed. I also like the kind of subtle bling effect (even though I usually don't like shiny bling). Yeah, call me shallow.

I keep my iPhone 4 bareback (aside from a $1 clear glass protector). That said, my neighbour walks around with a taped iPhone 4S, cuz he shattered the glass back. It should be easy and cheap to replace it on the iPhone 4S AFAIK, but he hasn't bothered for some reason.

 

[Ravynmagi]

Anyone using the Nexus 4 on the Walmart/T-Mobile $30 a month unlimited plan? 100 minutes, unlimited text and data IIRC.

Yeah. Been using the $30 100 min/5GB plan with my Galaxy Nexus for a while. When I got the Nexus 4, I went to the T-Mobile store, they cut my SIM card down to micro SIM for free.

It works well. Unfortunately HSPA+ speeds in Phoenix are pretty poor compared to other areas. With my Galaxy Nexus I was only getting 3Mbps on "H" which is pretty much what my Vibrant was getting with 3G. And now that I have the Nexus 4 with HSPA+42, I'm getting 6Mbps typically (on a real good night I'll see up to 9Mbps). Seems like other T-Mobile users with the Nexus 4 are easily getting double or triple that speed. So T-Mobile is sucking in the Phoenix area.

But for $30 a month, I'm still quite happy with the service.

Be careful trying to get this at a T-Mobile store. In fact I'd recommend against it. The store employees seem to be hell bent on activating the SIM in store and unfortunately it seems they don't have access to this particular plan in store. After spending $10 on a SIM (that costs $1 on the website) I get it home and tried to activate it only to find out the store employees already activated it on a per minute plan and I couldn't use the same. So I had to buy the SIM activate kit from the website and wait for it in the end.

http://prepaid-phones.t-mobile.com/prepaid-phone/T-Mobile-Prepaid-SIM-Activation-Kit

 

[bearxor]

I'll say again, I love glass backed phones. Or at least I love the look of the iPhone 4 and 4S. So, I was overjoyed when I saw that LG Nexus 4 was glass-backed. I also like the kind of subtle bling effect (even though I usually don't like shiny bling). Yeah, call me shallow.

I keep my iPhone 4 bareback (aside from a $1 clear glass protector). That said, my neighbour walks around with a taped iPhone 4S, cuz he shattered the glass back. It should be easy and cheap to replace it on the iPhone 4S AFAIK, but he hasn't bothered for some reason.

Seriously, tell him to go to an Apple store. They'll replace it for $30. Or he can order any number of 3rd party replacements on eBay for like $5-7.

 

[VashHT]

I'll say again, I love glass backed phones. Or at least I love the look of the iPhone 4 and 4S. So, I was overjoyed when I saw that LG Nexus 4 was glass-backed. I also like the kind of subtle bling effect (even though I usually don't like shiny bling). Yeah, call me shallow.

I keep my iPhone 4 bareback (aside from a $1 clear glass protector). That said, my neighbour walks around with a taped iPhone 4S, cuz he shattered the glass back. It should be easy and cheap to replace it on the iPhone 4S AFAIK, but he hasn't bothered for some reason.

Oh yeah don't get me wrong glass backs look and feel great, I have been using a ip4 for a while before jumping on the newest crop of phones. I just know it isn't as durable as metal or palstic so it kind of bothers me. I've been pretty careful with my ip4 so I'm not too worried about using it myself, but I'd prefer another material so I wouldn't have to worry about it.

 

[Eug]

Heh. My wife has dropped my old iPhone 3G about half a dozen times now. The switch for silent mode no longer works so she must have jostled something loose.

That iPhone 4 will need a nice thick soft case when she gets it, and she ain't touching my Nexus 4, if i ever get one.

 

[SEAL62505]

Wish a TMobile store in Charlotte had one I could look at. None of the seem to have it.

Where I am it seems that all of the stores are very knowledgable as to which local stores do have them in stock. It seems to be only high volume stores that are getting them. Frustrating as both that I have been by due to convenience don't carry them. :|

 

[Zink]

I've had my Nexus 4 for a while and I don't like the glass back. Glass makes the phone look nice and gives it a premium feel but that's it. There are a bunch of downsides for me compared to my GS II X or aluminum unibody phones. The glass back is heavy without making the phone any stronger and shatters easily. I find the glass slippery and it makes it hard to tell the back from the front when I have it in my pocket. I think the glass design has a squarer profile than many phones which can be nice in a small phone like an iPhone but it makes the Nexus feel even bigger and harder to hold. The glass also conducts heat well and makes the top area of the phone feel even hotter than it is. The glass is "nicer" than the creaky plastic back on the GS II but I think it makes the phone harder to use.

They should have just wrapped the soft touch all the way around and made the back edges a bit more curved. Make the back out of fairly thick plastic so it feels sturdy and I think it would be just as nice as glass while being thinner, lighter and easier to use.

 

[pm]

I've been using my Nexus 4 as my main phone since last Tuesday afternoon.

Generally, I really like it. There's a huge list of things that I like about it and really only one thing that I don't like - which is the battery life. It's not awful, but it's not good... although now that I'm a couple of days in, it does seem be getting slightly better.

The first day I took it off the charger at 7am, packed the family in the car to drive to the airport, checked emails, flight times, had it in airplane mode for a 3 hour flight and read the Economist on it (so screen used but not much else) and then used it for about 90 minutes as a GPS navigation system and it was dead by about 4pm. So it was an atypical day for me, but it was still a bit disappointing.

The days since have been better - but not by much. Today, I made the trek back home (7am start, all day usage but no games or movies) and it died about an hour ago. So it was about 13 hours today. Strangely, it's the "Android System" which uses most of the battery... I'm not sure what to make of that. My typical usage of an iPhone 5 would have it lasting about a day and a half between charges, so the Nexus 4 which isn't quite making it through a full day has been a bit of a change.

About the only good news on the battery front is that it seems better. Maybe that first day it was downloading a lot, or maybe the battery needed a few cycles to improve the capacity (I've heard of that with lithium-based cells), or maybe I'm not using it quite as much now that it's not quite as new, but it's edging closer to what I call "good enough" which is a full day of it off the charger and then making it until I go to bed around 11pm.

Beyond the battery though, I have no complaints about the phone, Android or anything else. It works extremely well, is smooth to use and always feels fast, it's great to read on, the speech recognition (which I've used extensively) is really really accurate for me. It's a wonderful phone and it would be perfect if the battery life was about 30% better (or more).

 

[sygyzy]

Yeah. Been using the $30 100 min/5GB plan with my Galaxy Nexus for a while. When I got the Nexus 4, I went to the T-Mobile store, they cut my SIM card down to micro SIM for free.

It works well. Unfortunately HSPA+ speeds in Phoenix are pretty poor compared to other areas. With my Galaxy Nexus I was only getting 3Mbps on "H" which is pretty much what my Vibrant was getting with 3G. And now that I have the Nexus 4 with HSPA+42, I'm getting 6Mbps typically (on a real good night I'll see up to 9Mbps). Seems like other T-Mobile users with the Nexus 4 are easily getting double or triple that speed. So T-Mobile is sucking in the Phoenix area.

But for $30 a month, I'm still quite happy with the service.

Be careful trying to get this at a T-Mobile store. In fact I'd recommend against it. The store employees seem to be hell bent on activating the SIM in store and unfortunately it seems they don't have access to this particular plan in store. After spending $10 on a SIM (that costs $1 on the website) I get it home and tried to activate it only to find out the store employees already activated it on a per minute plan and I couldn't use the same. So I had to buy the SIM activate kit from the website and wait for it in the end.

http://prepaid-phones.t-mobile.com/prepaid-phone/T-Mobile-Prepaid-SIM-Activation-Kit

This is awesome advice, thanks for sharing. I am sure I'll be picking your brain about this later one. One question for now - how does pre-paid differ from post? You still have to login and "top up" your account each month right, but instead of doing it (paying your bill) on 11/30 you do it on 12/1?

I've been using my Nexus 4 as my main phone since last Tuesday afternoon.

Generally, I really like it. There's a huge list of things that I like about it and really only one thing that I don't like - which is the battery life.

This is very surprising and disappointing. My Galaxy Nexus gets about 12-13 hours and that's with LTE which is supposed to be a big battery suck. I thought that without LTE, the Nexus 4 would do much better. I don't get it, how do my iPhone friends have 20+ hours of battery life?

 

[thetechfreak]

how do my iPhone friends have 20+ hours of battery life?

the Android devices run at the top clockspeed the proccy is capable of(which is bad for battery life)
iPhone 5 has it's processor underclocked for the interest of battery life. Apple has done a better job with HW and SW integration.