Review: Google Nexus 4 Android Smartphone by LG
wired.com
wired.com
This and the accompanying video are a much more informative and entertaining read. http://www.theverge.com/2012/10/29/3570034/inside-android-bu...
Regardless I will be picking one up! Cracked my Galaxy Nexus's screen this morning.
(NB: In New Zealand things might be different elsewhere).
I've gotta tell you, it's very nice, and pulling up pages feels like you're on WiFi. But the first time I really noticed it was when I was sitting in a parking lot and asked my phone to pull down a 1/2 hour podcast. I pressed the little download button and watched in amazement as it downloaded in a couple of seconds. I pulled down the Speedtest.net app (also quick) and was stunned to see that I was getting 20 Mb/s down, nearly double the speed of my home connection.
It's a bit like the retina display. No one actually needs one, but it's just so much nicer than what you had before that you can't help but love it. Given that the power draw on the newer chipsets means battery life isn't gone, it's turned out to be a surprise great feature.
I can't really say the same for the Verge video, though. It felt to me like Google's PR video, made by a third party. The only even vaguely critical question was "so it's like Swype?" IIRC the interviewer doesn't even get to hold the phone. Surely tech journalism can do better.
At least the article describes the author's experience of holding the phone, if not actually using it.
But I didn't feel my two questions were answered. The only part that came close as the Google person saying that LTE increases battery usage. I want to know more than just what the manufacturer says about it, ideally based on some hands-on experience. Which is what I at least appreciated about the Wired review.
I do agree the article is better than the video, but it's still mostly just repeating what Google said on launch day.
I was awaiting this new phone but severely disappointed at such a blunder on Google's part. Phone is basically dead and obsolete on arrival. Shame.
Are you sure the Nexus 4 is the best phone for you? From almost every review I've read, it's described as a glass sandwich - gorilla glass breaks when you drop it too.
My phone is due for replacement as well (also cracked screen), but I've put off picking one up until I can find one that I'm convinced is reasonably durable - I have a two year old son.
I've been an iPhone user since the 3G came out. I don't really worry about this kind of thing because I know that iTunes makes backups when I sync. Now that iCloud is integrated, it's supposed to keep backups too (although I don't trust it as much as iTunes). Those backups have meant that upgrading to a newer model has been basically seamless.
I know that Android doesn't have a centralized piece of software like iTunes (which is arguably a good thing), but how are backups handled? Are they left to the end user, or is the fact that your account is syncing with Google supposed to take care of your important data (Gmail, Google Calendar, etc)?
For things such as SMS and full system backup - you have to take things in your own hand. SMS is easy with a 3rd party app, full system backup can be done using Titanium if your phone is rooted or by using command line scripts using adb. (adb supports encrypted backup to the desktop.) Also various OEMs provide their own Desktop sync program - like Samsung Kies - that make it easy to backup/restore using a PC. But it is fairly unnecessary to go to that length - default backup + SMS backup app works quite well for most.
I haven't looked at the S3, but past Samsung models have had a bunch of variants marketed under the one model name.
(How much this really factors into the pricing, I doubt if we or Wired can really know.)
And that's it. That is literally the only complaint I've had and, for $30 a month, I'm willing to live with that.
I hear that Simple Mobile and Straight Talk are valid options.
I'll probably end up waiting until some consumer reviews are out, but I can't see why this isn't a perfect albeit perhaps niche device for me.
I don't want a contract phone, I could care less about LTE and pure Android seems like a solid OS. I'll probably give this guy a go on either Straight Talk or Solavei. Worst case scenario is that I end up not liking it and using an upgrade on an iPhone.
Anyone have a 4.7"+ (S3, One X, Optimus G, etc) who can share their assessment of Size vs Usability?
With all that said, I will say that I have to imagine the size would make things less than optimal for some folks, but I don't think it's a matter of device size so much as the way most software behaves.
I'd like to see more apps consider a bit more than simply extending their basic portrait / landscape layouts.
I'm disappointed I haven't seen more things along the lines of the old Xoom radial menu [1] or the split and / or off-center controls you can find in some third-party keyboards.
1: http://cdn3.jeftek.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Xoom-Brows... (Couldn't find a more recent picture, the more recent version has several layers of buttons.)
Check this out about background noise: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4737550
HN's front page is like a curated page of interesting stuff about anything. The important word here is _curated_.
Paragraph #4(paraphrased): Nobody outside the USA has plans to roll out LTE any time soon and even in the USA there's very limited coverage by only two carriers.
And that's where I stopped reading. I give this article 1½/10, it's the best I can do.
And contract subsidies are slowly falling out of fashion as phone tech stabilizes, more people are interested in prepaid, and operators realize that the subsidy game is making them all collectively lose money to manufacturers.
It doesn't have a poor camera, it has a very good camera, only not as good as the GS3 or iphone
The GS3 is the only other high end smartphone that has expandable memory, and you don't see that selling at $350.
LTE - well i'm not even going to go into this one
That says, I think the build looks better than S3 and software potentially better than both. Completely unqualified though, just my impressions from reviews.