My month with Android and Nexus 4

[mike9186]

Like so many people who've moved onto the Android platform I had an iPhone 4 using it on T-mobile and was disappointed with the size of the iPhone5 when it was announced. I got lucky and was in the 2nd shipping group for the 16GB N4 and I've been using it exclusively for the past month. I am reasonably technical and have jailbroken and unlocked my prior iPhones to work on T-Mobile. In the past month of usage I do not miss iOS, however my attraction for the phone has more to do with the display size and FINALLY getting fast data speed than Android itself. I'm not disparaging Android at all, it is a very good mobile OS and a worthy competitor to iOS. As far as hardware goes, I'd say the N4 is very well made and is a joy to toss around and interact with.

My chief gripe with Android is that it has underdeveloped basic smartphone functions. I greatly prefer Email, texting and making phone calls on the iOS. I have found Chomp SMS which I am happy with. Aftermarket email programs either suck or do not support Exchange, which I require for work. Replying to a multithread email is a vision of confusion. Copying and pasting within emails and texts are poorly executed. Making phone calls is sadly not very intuitive and finding contacts to call is a complicated multi-button push process. If there is an aftermarket dialer that anyone recommends I'd love to know about it. Call quality also seems sketchy, there is a connection delay on my phone where I am saying "hello" twice because the first time the person on the other end can't hear me. The ear speaker sounds muffled but I am holding off judgement on that because it just may need to break in (the iPhone phone ear speaker was crap for the the first few months as well). Speakerphone is very tinny but that probably needs more break-in too.

I like being able to customize my phone but I'll take usability over customization any day. I've installed Nova Launcher Prime and it is fantastic. Additionally I recently figured out how to hide apps inside the app drawer and that is a wonderful thing. After using the N4 for several weeks and playing with friends iPhone5's I noticed how dull and washed my screen looked compared to the Apple stuff. After reading about Nexus 4 Display Control on this here forum I decided to give it a go and root my phone and install it. I AM SO GLAD IT DID. The display now just pops and it so much nicer to look at. I have no other use for rooting my phone at this point although I may try and setup the titanium backup.

The camera is disappointing and I am not sure how to resolve this. The wife and I went on a vacation to Italy in September I took at least 500 photos with my iPhone and for the most part they look great. All photos on the N4 are washed out and grainy. I know that with software this can be helped but I do not have the desire to fiddle with each photo after taking it or batch editing a slew of photos after the fact. FxCamera and Instagram are decent but they want you to 'share' after taking every shot. Too many button presses just to setup a second picture. Also the photo gallery quickly becomes a jumbled mess of folders that are not easily reorganized or edited.

At the end of the day this is a very good phone. Its not perfect but nothing is. I may sound like I am griping but I have no intention of going back to iOS and frankly don't miss it.

Happy New Year and thanks to everyone for all the help I have received from this board!

Mike B

 

[loosecannon6]

Like so many people who've moved onto the Android platform I had an iPhone 4 using it on T-mobile and was disappointed with the size of the iPhone5. I got lucky and was in the 2nd shipping group for the 16GB N4. I am reasonably technical and have jailbroken and unlocked my prior iPhones to work on T-Mobile. In the past month of usage I do not miss iOS however my attraction for the phone has more to do with the display size and FINALLY getting fast data speed than Android itself. I'm not disparaging Android at all, it is a very good mobile OS and a worthy competitor to iOS. As far as hardware goes, i'd say the N4 is very well and a joy to toss around and interact with.

My chief gripe with Android is that it has underdeveloped basic smartphone functions. I greatly prefer Email, texting and making phone calls on the iOS. I have found Chomp SMS which I am happy with. Aftermarket email programs either suck or do not support Exchange which I require for work. Replying to a multithread email is a vision of confusion. Copying and pasting within email and text are poorly executed. Making phone calls is sadly not very intuitive, finding contacts to call is a complicated multi-button push process. If there is an aftermarket dialer that anyone recommends I'd love to know about it. Call quality also seems sketchy, there is a connection delay on my phone where I am saying "hello" twice because the first time the person on the other end cant here me. The ear speaker sounds muffled but I am holding off judgement on that because it just may need to break in (the iPhone phone ear speaker was crap for the the first few months as well). Speakerphone is very tinny but that probably needs more break-in too.

I like being able to customize my phone but I'll take usability over customization any day. I've installed Nova Launcher Prime and it is fantastic. Additionally I recently figured out how to hide apps inside the app drawer and that is a wonderful thing. After using the iphone for several weeks and playing with friends iPhone5's I noticed how dull and washed my screen looked compared to the Apple stuff. After reading about Nexus 4 Display Control on this here forum I decided to give it a go and root my phone and install it. I AM SO GLAD IT DID. The display now just pops and it so much nicer to look at. I have no other use for rooting my phone at this point although I may try and setup the titanium backup.

The camera is disappointing and I am not sure how to resolve this. The wife and I went on a vacation to Italy in September I took at least 500 photos with my iPhone and for the most part they look great. All photos on the N4 are washed out and grainy. I know that with software this can be helped but I do not have the desire to fiddle with each photo after taking it or batch editing a slew of photos after the fact. FxCamera and Instagram are decent but they want you to 'share' after taking every shot. Too many button presses just to setup a second picture. Also the photo gallery quickly becomes a jumbled mess of folders that are not easily reorganized or edited.

At the end of the day this is a very good phone. Its not perfect but nothing is. I may sound like I am griping but I have no intention of going back to iOS and frankly don't miss it.

Happy New Year and thanks to everyone for all the help I have received from this board!

Mike B

As far as the screen go's being washed out I've noticed that also I was about to root and use the display controls but when I got my new n4 I noticed the screen was washed out like my other nexus that I had to send back

sent from nexus 4 or 7

 

[josegb2011]

by washed out you mean the colors are not as vivid? because from what i know the ips screen on the nexus 4 gives you accurate and realistic colors compares to samsungs amoled displays which are over saturated. depends on your preference.

 

[palitsyn]

What settings are you using on Nexus 4 Display Control?

 

[mike9186]

I am using 238, 228, 240

 

[hydrolic11]

i too, will be coming from the iOS world in a couple of days. UPS tracking shows my Nexus4, my first Android, phone is on its way. this will be my first android experience... i'll let you all know if my experience is the same.

 

[Leslie Towns]

Call quality also seems sketchy, there is a connection delay on my phone where I am saying "hello" twice because the first time the person on the other end cant here me.
Mike B

I was interested to see that other people have noticed this also. I don't have a Nexus 4 yet, I still have my Nexus One. I've been getting this odd delay for about a year now. It wasn't always there. I also use TMobile. I wonder if it's a TMobile issue?

 

[chestvrg]

Hello mike9186, I wanted to know if you are using a picture sync app to your PC or MAC to sync your pictures to your nexus4 and back? Just like iTunes allows to sync pics to iPhone?

I'm still on the iPhone 4S and if I'm going to spend the minke on a new phone, I want to make sure all features work. Before I have used a Galaxy S2 and was able to sync pictures using the Samsung Kies software.

 

[spacecasespiff]

The screen does looked washed out but its accurate. What I see with my own eye is what I see on the screen. I think the camera is as good as the iPhone if not a tad bit less. Look at the thread that show pictures that people took. You will see some great pics that were not edited. I've taken many fantastic pics with this phone. Much better then the gs3 that I had. I do agree with the email stuff but for me I don't need it to do more then it does. Android is still growing and getting better with each update unlike iOS which never changes and because android is always changing it will never feel finished. I hope that it never does feel finished.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

 

[mike9186]

I just installed and started using Picasa on my PC and Mac Laptop. It is actually quite good though not a seamless as iCloud Photo sharing. When you take pics they will upload to the Picasa cloud automatically. Also it is tied to your Google+ Account, which you should sign up for because it links a bunch of Google functionality together...as a social network it is a wasteland IMO.

 

[badbrad17]

I am using 238, 228, 240

This is what I am using too and think it's amazing.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Android Central Forums

 

[badbrad17]

Hello mike9186, I wanted to know if you are using a picture sync app to your PC or MAC to sync your pictures to your nexus4 and back? Just like iTunes allows to sync pics to iPhone?

I'm still on the iPhone 4S and if I'm going to spend the minke on a new phone, I want to make sure all features work. Before I have used a Galaxy S2 and was able to sync pictures using the Samsung Kies software.

Just use your Google Drive or get a Dropbox account and set it to sync your photos via wifi. Super handy. You can just drag them over from your Dropbox folder to your computer when you need to.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Android Central Forums

 

[badbrad17]

As for the dialer and SMS issue. I would highly recommend using Go SMS, dialer and contacts apps. You can use these without installing Go Launcher. There is a iphone theme in the SMS settings I think you will like and the dialer is awesome. Much better. I like the stock email program but did use Aqua Mail on my Samsung GS2. It's not quite as pretty but does have good features.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Android Central Forums

 

[LesMiserables]

...
Also the photo gallery quickly becomes a jumbled mess of folders that are not easily reorganized or edited.
...

Mike B

First off, nice write up.

Try using 'QuickPic'. It's a fantastic gallery application; simple to use and organize and looks great.

Now Faster & Smoother!

 

[pitchersduel]

As for the dialer and SMS issue. I would highly recommend using Go SMS, dialer and contacts apps. You can use these without installing Go Launcher. There is a iphone theme in the SMS settings I think you will like and the dialer is awesome. Much better. I like the stock email program but did use Aqua Mail on my Samsung GS2. It's not quite as pretty but does have good features.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Android Central Forums

a little off topic....but i plan on making the switch to android once the nexus 4 is avail again. i keep reading about these alternative SMS apps, why is it these are all recommended over the stock messaging app on android? is the stock messenger that bad?

 

[Alexg314]

a little off topic....but i plan on making the switch to android once the nexus 4 is avail again. i keep reading about these alternative SMS apps, why is it these are all recommended over the stock messaging app on android? is the stock messenger that bad?

I wouldn't say so. People just like different preferences and other SMS apps allow for that and a whole lot more customization.

 

[badbrad17]

a little off topic....but i plan on making the switch to android once the nexus 4 is avail again. i keep reading about these alternative SMS apps, why is it these are all recommended over the stock messaging app on android? is the stock messenger that bad?

It's not that they are bad, in fact some people prefer the stock apps. But Android is all about choice. With an iPhone you have to learn to love it because you don't have a choice. With Android you can seek out apps that make your phone just right for you.

I even spent a fair bit of time looking for a calculator widget. It's something simple but I didn't really like the stock one, so I found one that I liked better.

It's really like using a computer. Some people use MS Office while others use Google docs and then someone else chooses Open Office. It's all about choice. This garden is wide open.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Android Central Forums

 

[Sir Alex]

I think after using Android, if you don't feel like you are the master of your phone, then you haven't done enough.

 

[Avenger]

I think after using Android, if you don't feel like you are the master of your phone, then you haven't done enough.

I would agree with this. I find that it can do so much, it is just a matter of finding the app that DOES what you want. I'm always checking out recommended apps and changing what I have. There is so much out there, just a matter of finding it, and then a matter of learning how to actually use it. I have a few apps which are rather complicated due to the deep levels of customization (namely widget appearances).

 

[sr2012]

It's interesting I have switched from HTC One X but have not encountered a lot of the OP's issues even on stock. Might have something to do with Nexus4 instead of Android? Mail and copy paste was somewhat clunky but Android 4.1 and latest Sense seems to be okay. I use Aqua Mail but I don't email much on the phone.

I find Android rewards the effort you put into it, with 4.1 the effort is now quite worthwhile.

Not having Swype on iOS... Sad, really.

Sent from my HTC One X using Android Central Forums