Experts review LG Nexus 4. See what they have to say

[Aquila]

The SD was part of the reason it was not a 10/10.

I agree with Wired btw. The Nexus 4's assets far outweigh it's liabilities. But lack of SD is definitely a liability. It is no accident that the best selling Android phones all have SD. Or that the next Vanilla Android device will once again have SD.

The latter is an accident from the SD standpoint. The S4 was chosen because of it's popularity and because of Samsung's prominence and tendency for other OEM's to follow their patterns to an extent. Do you think someone at Google was like, "Quick! find a phone with an SD card so we can put AOSP on it!" or more like, "hey, that phone is going to sell well and has some great hardware, lets show off our software on it!"

 

[.46caliber]

What do the experts say about the handset?

Walt Mossberg from the Wall St Journal: ?Overall, the Nexus 4 is a good phone, with especially good prices for unlocked versions. But I?d advise Android buyers to consider other models with LTE, better speakers, and the ability to add more memory and work on all carriers.?

Source: Sidhtech

I've been out of the loop so I may be showing my ignorance, but does such a phone exist?

A device with CDMA, GSM, and LTE radios that are compatible with all the bands of all the US carriers?

Expert? Really?!?

Sent from my PG86100 using Tapatalk 2

 

[.46caliber]

Is that coincidence or causation? Who has run the numbers on that with worldwide average consumers?

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk HD

Nail on the head. Correlation does not equal causation. The Nexus marketing pales in comparison to the marketing of the Galaxy S brand. And if marketing has no impact on sales, then Samsung should go bankrupt any second.

Sent from my PG86100 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Aquila]

I've been out of the loop so I may be showing my ignorance, but does such a phone exist?

A device with CDMA, GSM, and LTE radios that are compatible with all the bands of all the US carriers?

Expert? Really?!?

Sent from my PG86100 using Tapatalk 2

Nothing currently exists with all of those things. The One comes the closest, but it's a no go on the expandable memory if they mean only SD cards. And it only meets the better speakers criteria. There is no device that's a better dollar for dollar value than the N4, but every one of the top 5 devices has benefits and drawbacks versus the others.

 

[anon(5719825)]

I wish I had the minute back it took me to read this. I love my Nexus 4.

 

[fernandezhjr]

The latter is an accident from the SD standpoint. The S4 was chosen because of it's popularity and because of Samsung's prominence and tendency for other OEM's to follow their patterns to an extent. Do you think someone at Google was like, "Quick! find a phone with an SD card so we can put AOSP on it!" or more like, "hey, that phone is going to sell well and has some great hardware, lets show off our software on it!"

Not to mention most of the worst rated and worst selling phones have sd also, so guess it can be a negative liability also. Child psychology 101. Lol.

 

[JeffDenver]

The latter is an accident from the SD standpoint. The S4 was chosen because of it's popularity

SD is part of the reason for it's popularity IMO.

Do you think someone at Google was like, "Quick! find a phone with an SD card so we can put AOSP on it!"

I think it was just the opposite. The fact that they chose to put Vanilla Android on a phone with SD despite how much they hate it is telling. They could just as easily have gone with the HTC One.

 

[Aquila]

SD is part of the reason for it's popularity IMO.


I think it was just the opposite. The fact that they chose to put Vanilla Android on a phone with SD despite how much they hate it is telling. They could just as easily have gone with the HTC One.

I agree with the first statement, but I suspect we differ on the degree. My estimate is that at most 5% of Samsung sales are due to any single feature, and on this one I'd guess it's less than 1% of buyers picked it for that as their primary reason. The rate is probably higher for people that considered it, but for that being a deciding factor, I think 1% is generous. My guess is that you think it's a majority of customers, but I think a majority of customers wouldn't know the difference or even what the SD card was without asking someone or looking it up.

I think the reason it wasn't (this still could happen) the One, is because the One, despite being an awesome phone, will not have anywhere near the visibility or sales of the S4. Again, I'd put the inclusion or exclusion of an SD card at approximately 1% of the decision making process; the rest being on features, flexibility, speed and politics.

Honestly, if you put your top 10 things to compare two phones side by side: screen, processor, ram, camera, battery life, lag, features, price, etc... is this actually in the top 10? If the S4 didn't have it, would you buy a dollar phone that did instead of the One or Nexus 4? As a total package the S4 is a great phone. That coupled with Samsung's success with the S3 and Note 2, + insane marketing budget, makes this a front and center device for mainstream consumers. Of course Google sees this as a win-win, and the SD card thing probably didn't enter into the politics much at all.

 

[.46caliber]

They could just as easily have gone with the HTC One.

Google doesn't have the business relationship with HTC that it does with Sammy. Additionally, a joint venture or pet project with HTC at this point in time is kind of a waste.

No Android device has the brand clout that the Galaxy S series has. It made the most sense SD slot aside.


Sent from my PG86100 using Tapatalk 2

 

[JeffDenver]

Honestly, if you put your top 10 things to compare two phones side by side: screen, processor, ram, camera, battery life, lag, features, price, etc... is this actually in the top 10?

Definitely. In fact, I think more people care about that than the CPU even.

I'm obviously not alone. Lots of reviewers are saying it is important as well.

If the S4 didn't have it, would you buy a dollar phone that did instead of the One or Nexus 4?

I already bought the Nexus 4. But people are voting with their wallets...and most Android phones have SD. Lack of SD is not seen by anyone except google as an asset.

 

[Aquila]

Definitely. In fact, I think more people care about that than the CPU even.

I'm obviously not alone. Lots of reviewers are saying it is important as well.


I already bought the Nexus 4. But people are voting with their wallets...and most Android phones have SD. Lack of SD is not seen by anyone except google as an asset.

Okay, we'll just have to agree to have very different top 10 stat lists

 

[return_0]

Samsung sales beg to differ. The best selling Android phone in the universe has SD.

Which doesn't say that people need SD card slots. The S3's sales didn't come from the SD card slot, it came from marketing.

On the other hand, Apple's sales do say something. They don't say that people don't want SD cards, but they do say that most people are willing to put up with a lack of SD card slot and removable battery.

 

[omniusovermind]

Samsung sales beg to differ. The best selling Android phone in the universe has SD.

Do you have access to the reasons for buying a Samsung for every single one of those customers that enables you to determine how many of them listed the SD card as a purchase point?

What both you AND those in disagreement with you are failing to do is differentiate between why phones are being bought by the general public and tech enthusiasts

 

[TheLegoman]

Do you really think that everyone who bought the S3 bought it because they wanted that specific feature? Because if you do, you are just misguided. I'm betting that the majority of the people who bought the S3 bought it because of marketing and name recognition. Most of the people who own the S3 are non techy people who have no idea what an SD card is and don't know how to use it in their phone. I believe it is merely correlation that the best selling single android phone has a SD card slot, seeing that the majority of the owners don't even use that feature and don't know how to use it.

Posted via Android Central App

 

[return_0]

Correlation does not imply causation.



Sent from my pure Google Nexus 4 using Android Central Forums

 

[Aquila]

Correlation does not imply causation.

View attachment 69088

Sent from my pure Google Nexus 4 using Android Central Forums

On this specific issue, it's not even correlated. The best selling Android phone has an SD card, so do the worst. The iPhone is better selling than any single phone, and it doesn't. The best phone in terms of overall package/value, the Nexus 4, does not. The correlation is approximately between -.1 and .1 (pure random) and even if it were <= -.9 or >= .9 it STILL wouldn't imply causation

What WOULD give us causation, is if we surveyed all of the people (or at least a 15-30% random representative sample) that purchased all phones to mark the top 10 things out of 100 options that caused them to pick their specific device, in a randomly appearing order and then to rank those top 10 choices with explanations of their usage case. That give us volume of stats, context and an accurate impression of how the order of variables influenced choice. We'd also of course want to include their income level, profession, family size, education level, the details of their mobile data plans and a list of their previous 10 devices.

 

[JeffDenver]

Do you have access to the reasons for buying a Samsung for every single one of those customers that enables you to determine how many of them listed the SD card as a purchase point?

I do. It comes from the exact same source other people on here are using to prove that SD is not something most buyers want.

Correlation does not imply causation.

So we are in agreement that iPhone sales are not an indication that people do not want SD.

 

[JeffDenver]

Do you really think that everyone who bought the S3 bought it because they wanted that specific feature? Because if you do, you are just misguided. I'm betting that the majority of the people who bought the S3 bought it because of marketing and name recognition.

Ok. Then explain how the galaxy series became popular in the first place. What was it providing that the other phones were not?

Most of the people who own the S3 are non techy people who have no idea what an SD card is

You have polled every person in the world?

 

[JeffDenver]

On the other hand, Apple's sales do say something. They don't say that people don't want SD cards, but they do say that most people are willing to put up with a lack of SD card slot and removable battery.

I have been saying this all along. Even I did this by buying a Nexus 4.

But to say no one cares about SD is completely false. Even if they do not know what SD is, people DO understand that expansion is better than no expansion. And that options are better than no options.

 

[return_0]

So we are in agreement that iPhone sales are not an indication that people do not want SD.

No. Did you read my post? I said iPhone sales are an indication that people can put up with not having an SD card.