LG Nexus 4 thoughts?

Discussion in 'Tablets and Smart Phones' started by Bentez, Mar 1, 2013.

  1. Bentez

    Bentez Guest

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    I have just ordered a Nexus 4 16GB which should turn up next week, pretty excited!

    I currently use an S3 but I am selling it due to being fed up with the proprietary software, buggy custom roms, slow updates and Samsung phones in General really. The last phone that just worked well for me was the Nexus One so I'm returning to the pure android experience!

    Are there any N4 owners here? there doesn't seem to be a thread for it..

    Im covering the cost of the phone by selling the S3, I have unlimited data so the no SD slot is fine with me, I use Netflix and spotify anyways.
     
  2. N0sferatU

    N0sferatU Ancient Guru

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    http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=365175

    Just two threads down from this one :3eyes:

    Compares your current phone to the N4. To cover your points though I will give you my lengthy two cents...

    I like Nexus (I own a Nexus 7) however I diagree with you on the Galaxy lineup. I have an S2 and will likely go with the S4 when it's unveiled.

    Proprietary software - Well it's got TouchWiz but a simple launcher can get rid of most of what you don't like. I find they do some good things with their interface (their clock application is world's better than vanilla android for one).

    Buggy Custom Roms - considering the S2 and S3 are the biggest selling phones in the market they do have a lot of rock solid stable ROMs out there. Disagree

    Slow updates and Samsung phones in general - Obviously Nexus will be 1st to get updates but Sammy's been good the last year upgrading devices. Hell even my S2 got Jelly Bean officially (even though I had it within 2 weeks of the Nexus 7 via "custom buggy ROMs").

    As for the Nexus 4, well considering how unreliable sometimes a data signal can be, most places constricting the amount of data available with caps, and if you travel in the air a lot (e.g. NO DATA signal) the lack of an SD card is a deal breaker for me. I had to get a 64GB USB stick and OTG cable for the Nexus 7 to make up the difference.
     
  3. Bentez

    Bentez Guest

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    I have now read through the other thread, not sure how I missed it.

    Theres more than Touchwiz thats a problem with Sammy phones, by proprietary software I mean all of the closed code that Samsung use and how developers on XDA are still waiting for Exynos source code (at least they were when I last checked)

    I have tried many custom roms for the S3 and I found all of them to have some amounts of slowdowns or bugs. I don't think project butter works correctly on Samsung phones either.

    I always found myself trying to get to a Nexus feeling phone anyway when using the S3 so I think at least its the right choice for me. I'll post my views when it arrives. I might as well do it in the other thread as more has been covered
     
  4. Chillin

    Chillin Ancient Guru

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    I have the 16GB version.

    ==What I like:
    -It is exactly what I wanted for the most part, and the GUI is buttery smooth. Everything is just super fast on this phone and finally matches the iPhones. Say what you will about Apple, but their GUI and apps are godamn smooth.

    -It is very light and thin. It has very good WiFi reception. The screen is top notch.

    -Wow, normal updates!

    ==What I don't like:
    -It gets very hot, uncomfortably hot in fact.

    -Camera could be better. Photo Sphere needs a few more updates.

    -It's back is made of glass, which is terrifying. There are stories of it cracking just by putting down the hot phone on a cold surface! Sure, the "Nexus" holograph effect in the back is neat, but I'm going to have to cover it up with a case anyways because if this.

    -Power button feels a bit flimsy and is not easy to push. No dedicated camera button.

    -Speaker is kind of blurry at top volume and is not very loud.

    -Battery life is merely OK.


    To sum it up, I love it for the most part; but it does have its issues. With Motorola (owned by Google) going to be releasing their new phone in a month, I would hold off and see what it will be.
     
    Last edited: Mar 2, 2013

  5. N0sferatU

    N0sferatU Ancient Guru

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    I can't speak for the S3 (I own an S2) but they got it super buttery. The S3 has superior hardware so I'd be surprised if there weren't some solid ROMs on that hardware. I won't waste your time but if you want I have a video on youtube showing how quick/smooth it is.
     
  6. Bentez

    Bentez Guest

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    Everyone has different experiences I guess mate. I've had an s3 since June and after multiple complete wipes and flashing several different types of roms I never had it running the way I wanted. But I'm not here to disagree.

    I looking forward to having a new nexus phone to play with. Only problem is its out for delivery with stupid TNT who don't do Saturdays so I'm likely to miss their first attempt due to work.. Grrr
     
  7. IPlayNaked

    IPlayNaked Banned

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    You're picking the wrong ROMs. The S3 is about as close as you can currently get to perfectly smooth. Nexus 4 maybe an exception, I've never used one. I would think it is a very fast and solid phone, as long as you get a newer one, and as long as those have worked through the overheating issue some of them have.
     
  8. deltatux

    deltatux Guest

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    Custom kernel and apply your own tweaks if you want to further tweak the heating issue. Undervolting the phone helps.

    Camera's quality is alright, photo sphere is gimmick

    Yup, buy a case, i ordered another case for myself because this one keeps sliding out (it's not those silly pointless TPU cases).

    I do also wish for a camera button but the power button is fine here, could it be a faulty power button?

    Speaker's fine here. I heard from XDA that some people have defective loud speakers (a small amount of them).

    Custom kernel fixes this issue, my battery life is amazing with Franco kernel.

    Couldn't you have them ship it to your office? That's what I did with my Nexus 4 order.

    deltatux
     
    Last edited: Mar 2, 2013
  9. Mr.Bigtime

    Mr.Bigtime Ancient Guru

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    Today used iphone5 whole day, but i missed my nexus 4 bigtime. Nexus 4 is best phone i ever owned.

    I just learnt that there will be nexus 4 white. Awesome.
     
  10. Chillin

    Chillin Ancient Guru

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    I should not have to undervolt or tweak (and ruin my warranty) a $400 (after shipping and taxes) phone just so it doesn't burn my hand. I'm sorry, but all those points that you listed just don't fly with me. We are not talking about some $100 Chinese phone bought for tinkering, we are talking about an LG and Google flagship phone here.

    Yes, I do like the phone overall and am pleased with it, but it does have some serious flaws that shouldn't just be brushed aside.
     

  11. deltatux

    deltatux Guest

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    $400 is already heavily subsidized, phones cost about $600-700 similar spec'd device. Nexus devices are hard to brick unless you're doing something that's completely experimental. Plus, once you lock your device back, your warranty is still intact. Unlike OEM devices, there are no flash counters since these devices were meant for you to flash community code.

    Personally, I haven't had any overheating issues and so that's why I recommended those tweaks. Also, I believe that if you own a Nexus device and not flash community ROMs and stuff, then it's just a waste of a great opportunity to push the device.

    We here at Guru3D overclock our systems and make them to our liking, this also applies to phones too, tweak it to your liking. Once I started tweaking phones, I've never gone back. For me, it's a lot of fun, that's why I rarely talk about desktops because they're now boring to me lol.

    deltatux
     
    Last edited: Mar 3, 2013
  12. Mr.Bigtime

    Mr.Bigtime Ancient Guru

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    I'm in holiday since days. and the place I stay has a very bad signal reception. and phone is getting so hot. is this the reason? keep switching 2g to 3v visa versa or how u call it.
     
  13. deltatux

    deltatux Guest

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    Phones are suppose to drop to 2G when the signal's not strong enough to sustain a 3G connection. Of course, that's assuming there's 2G service, some providers like mine don't have a 2G network since the company started after 3G came out so they never built a 2G network.

    deltatux
     
  14. Bentez

    Bentez Guest

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    Deltatux what roms have you tried on your N4?

    I'm probably going to try CM 10.1 and paranoid android 3.1.

    Not sure which kernel though
     
  15. Sever

    Sever Ancient Guru

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    the main fault of touchwiz is that it consumes more ram than vanilla android, which the main reason for the slowdowns on the s3 since theres like 150-200mb free at best. on my note 2, that stopped being an issue since theres 2gb, and ram was initially the reason i didnt jump onto the s3 since my note 1 already had issues with 1gb.

    project butter is integrated into touchwiz. but project butter works by triple buffering, which can introduce input lag.

    as for the slow updates thing, i dont really see that being a problem at the moment. with the way android is being updated, there arent many significant things worth updating to android 4.2.2 for.

    lock screen widgets have been available on some apps since gingerbread or maybe even earlier.

    photosphere could probably be added to a market app, or heck, samsung can add that without even updating.

    multi users i dont really care about on a phone since i dont like others using my phone.

    wireless display streaming, we can already do that.

    keyboard with gesture typing, we've already had that for years.

    so, even if samsung were to update us to 4.2.2, i dont see many benefits to the update anyway. 4.2 is not as game changing as 4.1 was. 4.2 to me just seems like google was trying to integrate more software features from other custom UI into vanilla android so the average joe would be more comfortable with vanilla android.
     

  16. scoter man1

    scoter man1 Ancient Guru

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    I came here to throw in my $.02

    I got my N4 when they were available the second time. Yes, I sat and waited for a month. It was horrible, but the phone is amazing. I came from an Atrix 4G. The N4 (for me) has excellent battery life. I guess I'm a light user, but I get 3 days out of it pretty easily. 2 is the absolute minimum for me. With Paranoid android, you get the benefit of PIE or the low tablet nav bar so you have the same screen real estate as the Optimus G. Its a really fast phone. You won't be complaining about it at all once you get it.
     
  17. deltatux

    deltatux Guest

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    I've only stuck with XenonHD, tried JellyB-TSM and Slim ROM as I've used those three ROMs on the Nexus S. XenonHD has so far been the only one that I really like. I use Franco kernel, did try Matr1x kernel but Franco's seems to be a lot better.

    deltatux
     
    Last edited: Mar 4, 2013
  18. N0sferatU

    N0sferatU Ancient Guru

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    Dunno if it's on the N4 but for the N7 Dirty RootBox is absolutely loaded with features from AOKP, CM, and PA all in one compact blazing ROM.
     
  19. Bentez

    Bentez Guest

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    XenonHD has got a lot of glowing reviews on XDA . From the change list it seems to be a tweaked stock rom. I guess I would get more extra features with PA or CM. XenonHD sounds really fast and stable though, trinity kernel is being recommended for it. I can't pick my phone up now til Thursday :(
     
  20. miffywiffy

    miffywiffy Master Guru

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    If you're going to buy it outright, then you cannot get a better phone for £230-280.

    If you're going to get a contract then get something else, at this time wait a month for the GS4.
     

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