phone's age

[JeffDenver]

No phone out will be useless in two years.

IMO, HTC has some proving to do. They really let me down with the Rezound. It remains to be seen if they have really changed their stripes, but indications do not look good.

But I was similarly skeptical with Samsung, and they seem to have delivered. We will see if HTC can learn the same way. But out of the three companies (HTC, samsung and google) HTC is going to be the weakest link when it comes to future support. It will be less likely than the other two to get community developer support as well.

 

[alexandergrahambell]

IMO, HTC has some proving to do. They really let me down with the Rezound. It remains to be seen if they have really changed their stripes, but indications do not look good.

But I was similarly skeptical with Samsung, and they seem to have delivered. We will see if HTC can learn the same way. But out of the three companies (HTC, samsung and google) HTC is going to be the weakest link when it comes to future support. It will be less likely than the other two to get community developer support as well.

Do you think the lack of LTE support in two years will be concerning? I don't want to feel then like someone who just has 3G feels now. My area does have HSPA+ 42, but for some reason, the RootMetrics scores are very low in my part of the city.

 

[SOLGarion]

I would wait to see if Google clarifies how fast the stock version of the S4 gets updates. If you feel comfortable rooting then I am sure you will be able to make any S4 into a stock Android phone very easily, not worrying about custom ROMs here.

And also this.

http://crave.cnet.co.uk/mobiles/htc-one-could-join-googles-galaxy-s4-with-stock-android-50011277/

Stock HTC One. Looks like vanilla Android is the it thing now.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Android Central Forums

 

[JeffDenver]

Do you think the lack of LTE support in two years will be concerning? I don't want to feel then like someone who just has 3G feels now.

It will depend on how much you need fast data. For me, I don't really anticipate a need for it. What will we need fast data for? Streaming HD video? Video calls? HSPA+ can already do all that.

If wireless speeds are a big deal to you, you should definitely pass on the Nexus 4. But IMO, the "3.5G" on T-Mobile is plenty fast and I can't think of any application in the future that will need more than that. Coming from Verizon and it's "real" 4G LTE, I can't say I am missing it. The difference is just not that great.

 

[JeffDenver]

Do you think the lack of LTE support in two years will be concerning?

Technically, you do have LTE on the Nexus 4.

The lack of a usable LTE radio also garnered some criticism. While some more expensive high-end phones are shipping with usable LTE radios, the Nexus 4 only features HSPA+ with a theoretical peak speed of 42 Mbps (5.25 MB/s), compared to the 100 Mbit/s (12.5 MB/s) that can theoretically be achieved with LTE. While the Nexus 4 does include an LTE chip, it is effectively disabled in software. About this matter, Google representatives said it omitted LTE technology in order to reduce size, cost, and power consumption, as well as to see how network technology evolved in the near future. On November 23, 2012, it was confirmed that, through modifying device settings, it was possible for the device to use LTE Band 4 (AWS).

Nexus 4 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Numerous Nexus 4 owners in Canada have confirmed this does work. T-Mobile uses Band 4 (AT&T does not).