Rumor - 32GB Nexus 4 with LTE Coming in May

[jacktesterson]

Thoughts?

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/Nexus-4-LTE-32-GB-Google-IO-Rumors,22173.html

 

[AMDZen]

Plastic. Ugly.

Mostly same specs as HTC ONE but with a lower DPI and probably worse all around screen.

No reason to get that over the ONE IMO

 

[Red Storm]

Well considering typical Nexus prices, that's one very compelling reason to get it over the One.

 

[RedRooster]

Well considering typical Nexus prices, that's one very compelling reason to get it over the One.

Agreed, at maybe $50 more than the current 16GB and with LTE, I'm all over that. I thought my next phone would be 1080p for sure, but if I can have LTE for that cheap and an OS constantly updated, I'll be happy.

 

[Ravynmagi]

Plastic. Ugly.

Mostly same specs as HTC ONE but with a lower DPI and probably worse all around screen.

No reason to get that over the ONE IMO

It has a glass back, not plastic.

Probably the main reasons to get the Nexus 4 over the HTC One or Galaxy S4...

The chief of them being it's a Nexus phone. Stock Android, latest version of Android, assuredly will get much longer support from Google.

Another will be the price. The 16GB 3G model is $350. No idea what LTE and 32GB will cost, but I'm guessing around $450 to $500, so it'll probably be around $200 cheaper than other flagship phones.

Not saying it's the best choice, but the lower price and Nexus experience will be positives for some people.

 

[Ravynmagi]

I wish Google had a 32GB Nexus 4 available on day one. They did this same crap with the Nexus 7 too. I have the 16GB model, and it's full and I'm regularly having to delete stuff to make room for more. This is the main complaint I have of the phone (have very few really).

 

[lothar]

Plastic. Ugly.

Mostly same specs as HTC ONE but with a lower DPI and probably worse all around screen.

No reason to get that over the ONE IMO

Shows how much you know.

 

[bearxor]

This wouldn't be terribly surprising. The N4 already has the hardware built in to support AWS LTE and a storage bump isn't a big deal.

If it does happen, people on AT&T shouldn't be getting their hopes up. I know AT&T has a handful of AWS licenses, but I've not been able to determine that there lit up any of their markets. Even if they have, it's only like 12-15 markets and only markets where they have limited or no 700mhz/850mhz licenses. LTE would be a mostly TMobile affair. And you guys in Canada, too.

 

[s44]

I would expect the price to stay the same and the bump to just knock the lowest model off the board. This is what happened with the N7...

There's exactly one AWS AT&T LTE market, I believe, somewhere in Oklahoma.

 

[QueBert]

Will be sweet if they do something to fix the battery life. If I had no prior knowledge about the battery I'd think my Nexus 4 was defective.

 

[jacktesterson]

I've owned a Nexus 4

Was running Paranoid Android on it

I didn't have much luck with battery life, even on 4.2.2... Prob the worst battery life of any high end smartphone I've owned in the last couple years.

I would go back to the Nexus 4 in a heartbeat if they would get a decent camera on board - and the fact that I hate the 4.2 Camera App itself as well. And get the battery life better.

The Xperia ZL I'm currently running is already getting better battery life, and is using a 1080p screen on the same hardware.

 

[destrekor]

I hope they do so. My Galaxy Nexus is getting long in the tooth (the screen has become quite terrible with time) - but I don't care to leave Verizon any time soon.

What will make this all the better is that it will be affordable off-contract, thus that means I can keep my grandfathered unlimited data (for now).

Then again, even if they launch an LTE model... there's no guarantee Verizon will allow it to be on their network. Because they're rude like that.

 

[bearxor]

There's exactly one AWS AT&T LTE market, I believe, somewhere in Oklahoma.

Sweet. Is that documented somewhere? I've spent some time looking to see if AT&T had totally given up on AWS, that maybe they didn't feel it was worth it. I'd like to know what the circumstances were for lighting it up and when they may apply to other AWS holdings.

Then again, even if they launch an LTE model... there's no guarantee Verizon will allow it to be on their network. Because they're rude like that.

If they make no hardware changes, and simply enable the LTE functionality on the handset, then it won't work with Verions current LTE setup anyways. The good news is that Verizon looks is heavily invested in AWS, and will begin deploying sites this year. So the N4 could conceivably work for data on big red. Voice on the other hand...

Of course, Google could surprise us with a tricked out N4 that supports all the 700mhz range for LTE and all bets would be off. I wouldn't expect to see a CDMA Nexus 4 though. Verizon's nasty taste is probably still all in Google's mouth.

 

[dlock13]

If they make no hardware changes, and simply enable the LTE functionality on the handset, then it won't work with Verions current LTE setup anyways. The good news is that Verizon looks is heavily invested in AWS, and will begin deploying sites this year. So the N4 could conceivably work for data on big red. Voice on the other hand...

Of course, Google could surprise us with a tricked out N4 that supports all the 700mhz range for LTE and all bets would be off. I wouldn't expect to see a CDMA Nexus 4 though. Verizon's nasty taste is probably still all in Google's mouth.

I commented on this on an article earlier today on PocketNow.

If Google and LG do release a version that has the 700 mhz block added, it will work only with data on Verizon. They would have to physically add a CDMA radio to it for it to work on voice. Since Verizon's back end is CDMA, whatever phone that's built for VZW needs to have CDMA built into it for it to make voice calls. In 1-2 years, Verizon will have refarmed some of their CDMA spectrum to use for Voice Over LTE.

Verizon is in this open handset alliance. They say they'll allow any phone on their network as long as it's built to specifications. Well, they need to include CDMA to work. Most OEMs will not build a special version of their device just to work on Verizon which is why VZW only has a handful of phones when you compare it to ATT and all the GSM devices out there.


I'm holding out the slightest bit of hope that Verizon and Google will work out some deal to offer the Nexus 4 with LTE.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

Screw Verizon. If they want the phone to work with Verizon it means they practically need a carrier-phone. We know how that works.

An unlocked HSPA+LTE phone is what they should keep it. The question is what LTE bands do they add? Probably official LTE for T-Mobile. Hooray for AT&T users and everyone around the world. A tiny fraction of people benefit.

Of course I could be wrong and maybe they add some global LTE bands including some in the 700mhz region. That would be a killer.

But as QueBert mentioned, there's still a lot of battery work to be done on the Nexus 4. While Google may be serious about improving their OS, they're not really squashing any major bugs on the Nexus 4 yet.

 

[lothar]

I commented on this on an article earlier today on PocketNow.

If Google and LG do release a version that has the 700 mhz block added, it will work only with data on Verizon. They would have to physically add a CDMA radio to it for it to work on voice. Since Verizon's back end is CDMA, whatever phone that's built for VZW needs to have CDMA built into it for it to make voice calls. In 1-2 years, Verizon will have refarmed some of their CDMA spectrum to use for Voice Over LTE.

Verizon is in this open handset alliance. They say they'll allow any phone on their network as long as it's built to specifications. Well, they need to include CDMA to work. Most OEMs will not build a special version of their device just to work on Verizon which is why VZW only has a handful of phones when you compare it to ATT and all the GSM devices out there.


I'm holding out the slightest bit of hope that Verizon and Google will work out some deal to offer the Nexus 4 with LTE.

What alliance?
They're certainly not listed here.
http://www.openhandsetalliance.com/oha_members.html

 

[lothar]

Screw Verizon. If they want the phone to work with Verizon it means they practically need a carrier-phone. We know how that works.

An unlocked HSPA+LTE phone is what they should keep it. The question is what LTE bands do they add? Probably official LTE for T-Mobile. Hooray for AT&T users and everyone around the world. A tiny fraction of people benefit.

Of course I could be wrong and maybe they add some global LTE bands including some in the 700mhz region. That would be a killer.

But as QueBert mentioned, there's still a lot of battery work to be done on the Nexus 4. While Google may be serious about improving their OS, they're not really squashing any major bugs on the Nexus 4 yet.

Around the world, most people use T-Mobile's bands. 1700, 1800, and 2600 are used almost everywhere around the world. AT&T's 700mhz? Nowhere else in the world uses that.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_LTE_networks

So your statement should probably read "Probably official LTE for T-Mobile and a lot of places around the world. Hooray for AT&T users. A big fraction of people benefit."

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

Around the world, most people use T-Mobile's bands. 1700, 1800, and 2600 are used almost everywhere around the world. AT&T's 700mhz? Nowhere else in the world uses that.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_LTE_networks

So your statement should probably read "Probably official LTE for T-Mobile and a lot of places around the world. Hooray for AT&T users. A big fraction of people benefit."

T-Mobile uses AWS, which is 1700/2100. The uplink and downlink is different frequencies, but that doesn't mean it's compatible with 2100mhz. This was the case with 3G HSDPA also. The rest of the world used 2100, but T-Mobile used 1700/2100. Not compatible.

You're right. AT&T further fragmented LTE by going with a US-only 700mhz frequency. Previously for 3G, at least 850/1900 was used by the Americas as well as some Asian countries AND Australia.

The only 1700mhz AWS you will see is US and Canada as evidenced by the Wiki link you showed me. Probably a better link to use is:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-UTRA#Frequency_bands_and_channel_bandwidths

Band 1 is the 2100 you were referring to. It's not the same as Band 4. The way I think of it is if you build an AWS only phone on 3G, it works on barely any networks today. You'll see the same results with LTE also. So unless they add the 1800 and 2600mhz frequencies and 2100, the N4 isn't really of benefit having LTE to many people.

 

[OBLAMA2009]

Thoughts?

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/Nexus-4-LTE-32-GB-Google-IO-Rumors,22173.html

i would buy it just for fun if it worked on verizon, but id hope they would take the opportunity to make some design changes also, like a larger battery, a non glass backing, more memory and a newer chip. lg is really a second rate company, id rather have a nexus from a company like motorola

 

[dlock13]

What alliance?
They're certainly not listed here.
http://www.openhandsetalliance.com/oha_members.html

That's my mistake. I mistook their policy for them joining that.

As you can see here.

 

[AznAnarchy99]

CDMA and LTE bands? I'd consider it.

Hopefully this is a trend for future Nexus phone. I dont want to lose my unlimited data.

 

[jacktesterson]

i would buy it just for fun if it worked on verizon, but id hope they would take the opportunity to make some design changes also, like a larger battery, a non glass backing, more memory and a newer chip. lg is really a second rate company, id rather have a nexus from a company like motorola

There will be no design change - This isn't a Nexus 5 - It's just another SKU on the Nexus 4 from my understanding.

LG Make nice phones - Hardware wise - I've had a few LG phones that have always been built well - Its there software and developing that needs work, in my opinion.


Does this upset any current Nexus 4 owners? I had a Nexus 4 for a while and while on 4.2.1 I was able to get LTE here in Canada (But 4.2.2 disabled it). It's kind of annoying that Google has done this twice now - They also did something comparable with the Nexus 7 - Why not just release a 32GB Model to begin with? It's clear to me that Cloud Storage isn't the end all for smartphones Especially in Countries like Canada where there is no unlimited Data and Data is expensive to begin with - and I work for a Cloud software company.

It'd be nice if Google would allow current Nexus 4 users to use the already in place LTE bands on the 8/16 models - They work in a lot of countries such as Canada.

 

[A5]

It's pretty trivial to re-enable LTE on 4.2.2 if you have a reason to.

I can see why they didn't have it on initially and I'm fine with 16GB of storage, so...

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

It's pretty trivial to re-enable LTE on 4.2.2 if you have a reason to.

I can see why they didn't have it on initially and I'm fine with 16GB of storage, so...

the older radio breaks some sensors doesn't it?

 

[It's Not Lupus]

I just bought the 16gb one. I'll be OK as long as don't cut the prices like they did with the Nexus 7. I would be a bit disappointed and upset that I didn't wait.