Google Nexus 4 First Impressions/Reviews

[pedxing]

Sorry for the cross post...I wanted to give my realtime first impressions.

Mine just got here. Nice. Very nice. Looks and feels great. Booted in 20 seconds. Downloaded my apps (75 or so) from the Play store in about 3-4 minutes. Every time I looked it would have finished with 20 more, it was nuts.

Screen is great, no matter how hard I squint, I can't see pixels. (I could kinda see some jagged lines on my Galaxy Nexus). Side by side, and on auto brightness, the GN looks SO dim.

Tried gps and it locked in in seconds and got 20 sats! Indoors! The best I ever get on the GN was 8 sats and a fix after about 3-4 minutes of trying.

On wifi, I'm picking up 2 more access points of neighbors down the street than I did on the GN. My APs are about the same dbm between the two phones.

NFC beam works great and a little more seamlessly to my nexus 7.

I also loved going into the app called System Monitor and seeing "1098M available". Hell yeah.

 

[astalavista_thes]

I will just compare it with my previous phone which was the Galaxy Nexus. After 24h I can definitely say that it worth upgrading. 100%. For the following reasons:
1) Faster. Actually it is amazingly fast. Fluid and super responsive. I am amazed of how fast this little monster is.
2) Better screen. I am not talking about the graphical representation that the screen provides because many people prefer AMOLED that LCD IPS. I am talking about the feeling on the finger. It's totally different than GN. Probably because GN's was plastic and this is glass.
3) Better battery. OK this phone doesn't have the best battery out there. When I go to bed my GN used to have about 20% battery left (for my personal average daily usage). N4 today (with a bit more usage than my daily average) has 50%. Practically there's no difference as I have to charge during night but in any case there's an improvement.
4) Keyboard. The fast-typing keyboard (swype like) is awesome. But I suppose that it will be awesome in GN too when it will receive the update.
5) Some minor things that I liked:
- the notification led is professional. In GN it was bad, faded colours, like a cheap led diode. This one is better, with some fading patterns installed.
- the vibration when typing, it may sounds ridiculous but it is more smooth than GN's. Little buzzing bee on your finger tips.
6) The quality of the design/external materials: you have the sense that you're holding a ?600 phone and not a ?280 phone. In contrast with GN which sense was the opposite. A plastic phone that costed (to me) ?530 and looked like a cheap ?250 phone.

 

[AussieAndroid]

I don't have 2 sims either, just go into settings put them side by side and then open settings and set the volume for ringtone etc to max. It will play a short bit of it as an example. can do the same by going into default notification entry and setting it to the same sound on both devices and comparing the two directly.

Umm...my N4 is louder than my GN across all those settings.

 

[knotjeff]

Only had it out of the box about 20 mins, but the build quality is amazing. And I'm coming from a HTC one s which is no slouch in its build. 4 feels great in the hand and the screen is remarkable. Gorgeous colors. Getting back to stock android is easily the biggest selling pint for me. Sense was "cool" at first but then was slightly overbearing after a bit. 4 is by far the best phone I've owned so far.

 

[Elborja1]

3) Better battery. OK this phone doesn't have the best battery out there. When I go to bed my GN used to have about 20% battery left (for my personal average daily usage). N4 today (with a bit more usage than my daily average) has 50%. Practically there's no difference as I have to charge during night but in any case there's an improvement.
.

How do you have 50% after average daily usage? Do you keep your data off? How many hours or screen do you normally at the end of the day?....I cant seem to make it past 3 pm without having to recharge.

 

[mike37918]

I've moved from an iPhone 4 to the Nexus 4, and here's the problem I'm having: Where with the iphone I reliably had 2 bars of service in my apartment, the Nexus shows me as having none.Wierder still the Nexus will show 2 bars if I lay it down, but when I pick it up the signal disappears. However, even though the phone is showing no bars, I can still talk and test as normal. So a couple of thoughts:

Does the Nexus have an antenna issue similar to the iphone 4 so that it requires a case for better reception?

Is its signal strength bar miscalibrated so that it's showing me with ni signal strength when I actually have some?

Also, one more wierd problem that I think is not related to my phone but maybe you guys have seen it. I have several friends with iphones, and they can txt me normally, but I have one friend who's txts to be ALWAYS try to go by way of imessage, and so I'm not getting her txts. When I txt her she receives just fine, shows on her phone as a txt message, but when she txts back it shows to her with the blue imessage bubble, and I don't get what she sends. Any idea why this might be happpening? We cleared out our txts, rebooted and all and it still keeps happening.

 

[astalavista_thes]

How do you have 50% after average daily usage? Do you keep your data off? How many hours or screen do you normally at the end of the day?....I cant seem to make it past 3 pm without having to recharge.

I keep data on but I am using wifi for the whole day except the time that I commute (~30 minutes per day). I am in front of a computer screen the whole day so I don't need to use the phone a lot (screen in on for about 2h30m every day). Just for messaging, twitter and facebook while I commute. I am not a heavy user of the phone at all. Just posted to let you compare it with my previous GN battery experience.

 

[mzanette]

Does anyone have any impressions on the bumper case? I haven't seen any reviews/pics of the phone with the case on.

 

[legec117]

Coming from iPhone, iPhone 3g, and iPhone 4, iPad 1 and iPad3, I must say that I am thoroughly impressed with both android and the Nexus 4. It took a little while to get the phone set up, but most of my issues were due to not turning off iCloud and iMessage. Once this was done, the nexus synced through google perfectly.

As for the hardware, it is sexy. Coming from the iphone 4, the screen is ridiculous! Huge, smooth, bright, vibrant, and the rounded off edges are very vice. The phone is much lighter than I expected. This is neither a positive or negative for me. To be honest, I would prefer if it had a bit more heft to it. Build quality is nice, but the iphone 4 was likely one of the most well built, solid devices I have ever held. Compared to other android devices I have held, nexus 4 gives me a premium feel that phones like gs3 could not deliver.

Speaker is loud, but I find the ringer and text message notifier not loud enough (yes they are on max volume). Youtube/Music plays loud, very good.

I will not comment on 4.2 due to a couple of factors. First, I am new to android and feel I cannot properly evaluate it without knowing all of which it can and cannot do. I will say that the phone is fast, in all respects. Browsing, scrolling, rendering webpages, etc..., this phone makes the performance of my iphone 4 laughable.

Overall, I am blown away. I will keep my iPhone 4, just in case i change my mind, but as of now I believe I will stick with android. One reason it took me forever to switch was investment into iOS and accessories. Apple eliminated a good portion of my switching costs by introducing the lightning connector. The need to purchase 5 $30 adapters for all of my accessories did not appeal to me, and honestly it pissed me off that a company with such a loyal customer base would extort money from them in such a way. The other reason I had not switched to android is that I had never come across a device that was the equivalent under the hood without being made of plastic.

In conclusion, the nexus 4 is a great device. Is it the end all be all of cell phones? No. Is it the perfect device for me? Yes. LTE, expandable storage, and removable battery are all non-issues for me. This effectively removes the only cons about the phone and makes it perfect for my needs. Should you get the phone? Sure, why not! Unless you have a GS3 or plan on getting a OneX+ or droid DNA, this phone is great. Great enough to convert and Apple die hard to Android.

P.s. I don't see myself buying an android tablet as I love my iPad. However, you never know.

 

[rclifton]

Also, one more wierd problem that I think is not related to my phone but maybe you guys have seen it. I have several friends with iphones, and they can txt me normally, but I have one friend who's txts to be ALWAYS try to go by way of imessage, and so I'm not getting her txts. When I txt her she receives just fine, shows on her phone as a txt message, but when she txts back it shows to her with the blue imessage bubble, and I don't get what she sends. Any idea why this might be happpening? We cleared out our txts, rebooted and all and it still keeps happening.

My wife had this problem once on her iPhone, what fixed it for her was to go into contacts and take their number out of the iPhone entry and put it in the cell phone or home phone entry (can't remember which she used). I imagine either one would fix the problem so long as it isn't set as an iPhone number.

 

[legec117]

Also, one more wierd problem that I think is not related to my phone but maybe you guys have seen it. I have several friends with iphones, and they can txt me normally, but I have one friend who's txts to be ALWAYS try to go by way of imessage, and so I'm not getting her txts. When I txt her she receives just fine, shows on her phone as a txt message, but when she txts back it shows to her with the blue imessage bubble, and I don't get what she sends. Any idea why this might be happpening? We cleared out our txts, rebooted and all and it still keeps happening.

Make sure you turn iMessage off on your old iPhone. I turned it off on both my iPhone and iPad. Once that was done, messaging worked fine.

 

[HTCTundaBow]

I just played with a display at the Tmobile store, and man was I impressed! The WiFi was so quick to transition, and the photosphere was pretty cool too. Phone was very responsive, and I was getting 5Mbps download on the "H" not "H+". My only complaint was both the screen and the back were already scratched in the store. . . I though Gorilla glass was supposed to be pretty resistant to scratches.

 

[serpico]

It's great to hear from someone like legeic117 because I am in the same boat. After two years of using only iOS products I got bored with the minor updates and the entire connector switch. I still have my Nexus One which was my first try with Android and that was version 2.3.6 Gingerbread. I never found another device like the iPhone4 and just stayed put. I tried to order a Nexus4 last week and had only problems with the ordering process. This is a great thread to read everyones opinions especially those converting from the iPhone4.

 

[AussieAndroid]

you know what? I've been trying to take a decent photo to post up with this phone but I can't....I'm not happy with any of them so far. This is under broad daylight conditions as well.

More noise/blurriness than I would have expected. Looking at them on my computer, not even zoomed in, just got the window maximised and I can see the fuzziness around edges and lack of detail.

 

[mike37918]

My phone definitely has an antenna issue. My apartment doesn't get great reception. I never had more than two bars with my iphone. But now with my Nexus I'm getting no bars - IF I hold it on the sides as one normally would. If I hold it on the top and bottow - two bars. If I put it in a sandwich bag and hold it normally, I get a signal. It acts exactly like the iphone 4 did, and like the iphone 4 Im hoping a case will solve the problem (and since I can get a signal if I put the phone in a bag, I'm fairly confident it will.

Anyone else notice this problem?

Also, is the home screen supposed to autorotate when you hold the phone in landscape? I thought they added that with 4.1.2, or was that just for tablets?

 

[astalavista_thes]

My phone definitely has an antenna issue. My apartment doesn't get great reception. I never had more than two bars with my iphone. But now with my Nexus I'm getting no bars - IF I hold it on the sides as one normally would. If I hold it on the top and bottow - two bars. If I put it in a sandwich bag and hold it normally, I get a signal. It acts exactly like the iphone 4 did, and like the iphone 4 Im hoping a case will solve the problem (and since I can get a signal if I put the phone in a bag, I'm fairly confident it will.

That's very interesting!

Anyone else notice this problem?

No, not at all. I have the same signal strength whichever grip I use.

Also, is the home screen supposed to autorotate when you hold the phone in landscape? I thought they added that with 4.1.2, or was that just for tablets?

It's just for tablets.

 

[MazoMark]

I was lucky enough to get a 16 gb Nexus 4 in Tuesday's free for all. I have used it for a little more than 24 hours now, so consider this a very preliminary review.

My previous Android experience is with Samsung phones including the GS3.

Build quality on the Nexus 4 is excellent. The front glass smoothly transitions to the edges. The glass back provides a great solid feel and the design on the back is subtle and not distracting at all. The power and volume buttons feel solid. Overall, I like the way the phone looks and feels better than the GS3.

The screen is definitely the best I've ever seen on an Android phone. I have not used the HTC 1X, but this screen has extremely sharp text with no visible pixels. The colors are natural to my eyes, not oversaturated like Samsung phones tend to have.

Speaker volume is decent. I have not yet used the phone for any voice calls, but music volume is more than adequate. Headphone volume and quality is excellent. Headphones connect solidly to the jack.

The phone performance is great with no hint of any lag. I have been very impressed and believe the Nexus 4 may be slightly faster and smoother than the GS3. Bluetooth works fine - found an paired with my wireless speaker quickly and without any issues. I've only used camera for a few quick snapshots. It works fine for my purposes - I'm not a big phone camera guy - I tend to use a DSLR for most of my photography and only use phone for quick snapshots. GPS locked quickly and accurately without any problems.

I bought the Nexus 4 to use primarily as my travel phone when I am overseas on business. My GS3, is CDMA on Verizon. I planned to keep my GS3 for daily use when in USA, but I have been impressed enough by Nexus 4 that if I can find a MVNO plan that works for me, I may pay the ETF on my CDMA contract and sell my GS3. I have already checked and I can pay for the ETF with monthly savings in less than 6 months. Only thing that might hold me back is data - I'm on unlimited plan on Verizon and its nice not to have to worry about data usage. On other hand - I'm paying $60/month more for Verizon service than I would to StraightTalk. That difference would buy a lot of data!

 

[mike37918]

.P.s. I don't see myself buying an android tablet as I love my iPad. However, you never know.

I have an Ipad 3 that's been gathering dust since I got my N7. The Nexus pad does everything the Ipad does in a MUCH more portable form factor. The Nexus 7 slips inside my jacket pocket - I have the carry the Ipad in my hand. And no, and Ipad mini won't do - it's too wide.

 

[badbrad17]

I've moved from an iPhone 4 to the Nexus 4, and here's the problem I'm having: Where with the iphone I reliably had 2 bars of service in my apartment, the Nexus shows me as having none.Wierder still the Nexus will show 2 bars if I lay it down, but when I pick it up the signal disappears. However, even though the phone is showing no bars, I can still talk and test as normal. So a couple of thoughts:

Does the Nexus have an antenna issue similar to the iphone 4 so that it requires a case for better reception?

Is its signal strength bar miscalibrated so that it's showing me with ni signal strength when I actually have some?

Also, one more wierd problem that I think is not related to my phone but maybe you guys have seen it. I have several friends with iphones, and they can txt me normally, but I have one friend who's txts to be ALWAYS try to go by way of imessage, and so I'm not getting her txts. When I txt her she receives just fine, shows on her phone as a txt message, but when she txts back it shows to her with the blue imessage bubble, and I don't get what she sends. Any idea why this might be happpening? We cleared out our txts, rebooted and all and it still keeps happening.

This is a problem with your imessage account still being active. You need to log in to your account and turn it off. Your friends phone thinks you are still using your iphone so it gets confused.

There are a bunch of threads on the topic you can search for.

Sent from my SGH-T989D using Android Central Forums

 

[sonicresidue]

Coming from iPhone, iPhone 3g, and iPhone 4, iPad 1 and iPad3, I must say that I am thoroughly impressed with both android and the Nexus 4. It took a little while to get the phone set up, but most of my issues were due to not turning off iCloud and iMessage. Once this was done, the nexus synced through google perfectly.

Were you able to transfer all the info/data from your iPhone to the Nexus easily? I have a Gmail account with my contacts synced to it, but am unsure about the rest of it.