Ok, so for $350 is it ok if we get a 2G only phone? Is it ok if we get a monochrome screen? At what point do you stop making excuses for $350?
Looking at the average transfer speeds for Verizon's LTE it would be a downgrade versus what I get now on HSPA+(8.5Mbps, going on the reported average speed in the article linked earlier). So I'm not quite sure what to say to you. I started a thread a while back asking what people considered 4G and a bunch of sheeple, from either camp, said LTE- but they wouldn't put a transfer speed number on it. To me, that's all I really care about. Will this phone be able to stream YouTube without hitches with the modem it has? Yep, without a problem. That is my personal litmus test for connection speed.
The LG Nexus may be priced low, but it isn't being positioned as a crap phone.
It's being positioned as a high end off contract phone for under $400. Its' competitors in that market segment number zero. If you honestly mean what you say about wanting to see the carriers stranglehold broken in the US, then you should be championing this device.
Standard unlocked flagship cell phones cost $599. Apple sells for $699.
The $940 was honestly the lowest price I could find, just checked Apple's out of stock inventory and they have them listed at $649(cheaper then you quoted even). Not even close to the $349 though. Ultimately, price is the *main* consideration on how a product is viewed. If the N7 was $349 people would have said 'meh' at best, at $199 it was fantastic. In this particular case, the N4 is the first of its' type that we have seen, I can't in good faith bash it for anything honestly. The LTE I honestly consider an absolute non factor, it truly isn't important to me at all if I can get H+, the lack of memory is a much bigger concern. That said, ~$30 per month per phone off my bill? There comes a point where it's just too much to ignore. I could deal with paying the extra when it was a choice between an outdated device that was a POS when it was new, but the N4 is a game changer on that front. Now, I can't look my wife in the eye and justify a couple hundred a month for our family extra due to device superiority.
As for the Ford Focus and Lexus V8 analogy, you know that's not the case. If we use your analogy correctly, the HOX, SGS3, iPhone 5 are represented by the V8 Lexus, while the LG Nexus is a Ford Focus? Maybe you meant the focus st or whatever the sport one is, but I'm basically thinking power vehicle versus econobox when you make this comparison.
No, I meant the econobox. Double the price(entry level Lexus obviously). Faster then at least two if not all three of the devices you listed, but with the slowest network connection and the most limited memory(why I went with half the gas tank). If the econobox Focus came with an interior comparable to the Lexus, handled all the driving tasks you asked of it without issue, came with all the luxury features of the Lexus, but cost half as much, who would buy the Lexus? That *is* what we are looking at. I don't know how old you are but I would love to compare it to the '93 Z28. When that car came out it was running close to Ferraris, for under $20K. Obviously it wasn't in the league as an overall car, but it was almost universally agreed that it just got way too much right where it counted to bother with the details. The Nexus 4 to me, in car analogies, comes closest to that.
You're comparing standard market prices for old cell phones against Google's totally different strategy of just pricing freaking low for new Nexus devices. It's not a fair comparison.
I tried giving my wallet that speech, and an extra $300 didn't appear- how did you get it to work?
LTE to me is an utter non issue. If I was a Verizon or Sprint customer it would be very different, their 3G is utter trash, but I'm not and neither is this phone so no big deal to me. Would I exchange 2 cores for more on board storage? No. While I have already mentioned the on board storage to me *is* a concern, I try and always buy devices with the most powerful SoC on the market for my 'daily driver'. I have yet to regret this when I did it, and *always* regret it when I don't. I recall when I bought the first dual core device many on this forum said it was a waste, not going to help etc, etc, obviously we all know how that turned out. If this was a dual core *true* A15 versus the quad core Krait I would consider that a worthy swap, but a straight downgrade? No, I would rather have more power at my disposal.
Sacrifice GPU power? No chance. Way too important to me. I actually have been using my phone to game quite a bit lately, the quality of newer titles like Horn is really changing perspectives around on what can be done on UP devices IMO. No chance I would swap that out.
Half the RAM? The Atrix that launched almost two years ago has 1GB, DroidX2 was an identical SoC but with 512MB of RAM. When new they performed comparably, now the DX2 gets roflstomped. Nope, I'll stick with 2GB of RAM.
Low res/tiny display like the iPhone 5? No, tiny displays belong in the past. While Apple fans are likely quite pleased with the increase in real estate, to be honest I was giving deep consideration to the Note2. Clearly the Nexus4 isn't in that realm, but I can't see buying a 4" screen in late '12/early '13.
The reason why I chose the Nexus over the SGS3, which is a decision I will be making when this device goes on sale, is because for Android devices I value ROMming. I think more than a few people can attest to my needs to install CM10 here. In that case Nexus > SGS3 for me.
I don't feel like uploading it atm, but CM10 has been on the SGS3 for a while now, I took a screenshot if you are interested. Not that big of a deal. Not trying to talk you out of getting the Nexus, just saying if CM10 availability is key, SGS3 as of this second has the edge.