• After 15+ years, we've made a big change: Android Forums is now Early Bird Club. Learn more here.

My impressions of the Nexus 4, ask anything

We all know there are a million positives to this phone. What negatives have you found so far? What don't you like about it? Nitpick.

If I'm nitpicking then I would say:

I'm not in love with the pattern on the back - especially in bright light

The camera flash surround doesn't seem to fit in with the aesthetics somehow

This thing is really slippery - don't leave it on any inclined surface, even the weight of the charging cable had mine sliding slowly across a perfectly flat desk

I don't like the lock screen widget set up - as I said before, a scroll able lock screen just feels like too much

Other than these (really small) comments, I love it.
 
Upvote 0
First of all I came from a galaxy s2 and let me just say this phone is SO MUCH better in every way. The 2 things i noticed straight away were the build quality and the screen, amazing when compared.

I've had no force closes, random reboots or any bugs what so ever which is more than can be said for the s2 when that was first released.

If I HAD to find fault, these would the the few things:

Lock screen widgets. You can only select from 4 widgets, i was under the impression that I would be able to use any widgets but you are limited to messages, calendar, clock and gmail. Also I can only seem to get one widget per page with no re size options. It would be nice to have some sort of settings menu implemented.

LED control. There are no options to control the LED notification ie flash frequency, colour etc only an on/off tick box. I think this should be build into the software. There are apps you can download to control it eg light flow from the play store. I have been using this and it seems to work ok. There is a free version and a paid version. The free version has limited controls.

Quick settings. These should be customizable but sadly they aren't.

No t9/smart dialer. Most phones now have the smart dialer included don't they? Annoying when you are used to it, just means you have to go into the contacts app to find a name stored in your list and the dialer for if you are just dialing a number not stored.

No Youtube HD option over 3G. Not tested over wifi yet as my home internet connection is painfully slow.

These are things I have noticed so far after having the device 24 hours. Camera seems ok although I have not really played with it that much. I haven't tried video recording yet and I can't really comment on battery life as its too early to tell. If anyone had any questions please feel free to ask.
 
Upvote 0
Quick questions for those with a T-Mobile N4 - is it exactly the same as the Google N4 as in no T-Mobile added apps, emblems, etc? Carrier locked or unlocked?

Carrier locked is the only difference, period. Not even the T-Mobile name on the outside of the phone :D

T-Mobile is pretty good about giving unlock codes as long as you have been with them for a while also.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Crashdamage
Upvote 0
Regarding networks, it says HSPA 42, my iPhone 5 has HSPA 21 for example on AT&T, is the "42" only utilized on Tmobile's network?

Will the Nexus 4 have faster HSPA data speeds on AT&T vs. the iPhone 5? Or, is HSPA speed on AT&T the same no matter what phone you have.

I live near Chicago and I've been disabling LTE the last week so I'm just using ATT HSPA and I do noticed web pages load a little slower than LTE, but the difference is probably less than 2-3 seconds.
 
Upvote 0
Regarding networks, it says HSPA 42, my iPhone 5 has HSPA 21 for example on AT&T, is the "42" only utilized on Tmobile's network?

Will the Nexus 4 have faster HSPA data speeds on AT&T vs. the iPhone 5? Or, is HSPA speed on AT&T the same no matter what phone you have.

I live near Chicago and I've been disabling LTE the last week so I'm just using ATT HSPA and I do noticed web pages load a little slower than LTE, but the difference is probably less than 2-3 seconds.

T-Mobile is HSPA 42, while AT&T is HSPA 21. AT&T is focusing on LTE. T-Mobile knew it would be late to adopt LTE so it beefed up its HSPA. On AT&T you won't notice a difference between the iphone and the nexus in regards to data speeds. Even on T-Mobile you wouldn't notice a difference unless you live in an area with very good speeds (21Mbps+).
 
  • Like
Reactions: acp
Upvote 0
T-Mobile is HSPA 42, while AT&T is HSPA 21. AT&T is focusing on LTE. T-Mobile knew it would be late to adopt LTE so it beefed up its HSPA. On AT&T you won't notice a difference between the iphone and the nexus in regards to data speeds. Even on T-Mobile you wouldn't notice a difference unless you live in an area with very good speeds (21Mbps+).

I've only seen close to 20Mbps on T-mobile (still faster than my home wifi though)

Did you have the photosphere option on your camera app? Or have I missed a bit of info regarding this, since I don't have it on my nexus 4...

Open the camera, touch the camera icon on the bottom right of the screen. There should be a menu of 4 icons that opens. Photosphere is the globe looking icon
 
  • Like
Reactions: McCookie
Upvote 0
Simply amazing phone...amazing...Jelly Bean is clearly a hugh advancement as compared to my factory ICS on my GS2....this phone truly moves like butter....after 24 hours im amazed, as far as battery obviously i have adays worth of break in and use but i was able to get 7 hours of use and i am on my phone screen on or streaming via bluetooth over the air on my slacker ...it was better than my GS2 i cannot wait to root it and see how this beast performs....and btw i was very weary of the LG tag but this phone has changed my mind the design is beautiful and doesnt feel cheap at all
 
Upvote 0
Sorry for all the questions , but does anyone know why light flow doesn't control the notification light properly for me ? I tried every colour but it only shows white, and sometimes it doesn't even work at all.
Only time I got a green colour is on the light test which only shows green ?
Also just tried the "lite" version and this time the test just shows a flashing white colour
 
Upvote 0
Sorry for all the questions , but does anyone know why light flow doesn't control the notification light properly for me ? I tried every colour but it only shows white, and sometimes it doesn't even work at all.
Only time I got a green colour is on the light test which only shows green ?
Also just tried the "lite" version and this time the test just shows a flashing white colour

I'm not sure. I have the paid version and I have notifications in yellow, orange, blue, red, and green and they are all working.

In settings I have run in foreground checked and also the bottom 4 for additional LEDs that may not be supported checked. Try that maybe
 
  • Like
Reactions: McCookie
Upvote 0
I'm not sure. I have the paid version and I have notifications in yellow, orange, blue, red, and green and they are all working.

In settings I have run in foreground checked and also the bottom 4 for additional LEDs that may not be supported checked. Try that maybe

Yeah that works, thanks a lot ! I am yet to test SMS LED notifications since I have no SIM card yet.
 
Upvote 0
Again...Sorry for the 2nd time Question!

YouTube in HQ, how is it?

I don't use YouTube very much but the Videos look great. Glad the buttons disappear off the screen while watching videos also.

Personally I think videos look very good, but I don't watch a whole lot so I may not be the best judge. Eventually I will rent a movie from Google play to watch, but I haven't yet.

And don't worry about asking questions. I started this thread to answer questions because I know a lot of people are wondering about the phone while waiting.
 
Upvote 0
I've updated the thread title. I've had the phone 4 days now and welcome questions! I know many members are still waiting on theirs (or still trying to decide) and want to try to provide as much information as I can.

I may not be able to answer all questions quickly as I work a lot, but I will try to get to them all.
 
Upvote 0

BEST TECH IN 2023

We've been tracking upcoming products and ranking the best tech since 2007. Thanks for trusting our opinion: we get rewarded through affiliate links that earn us a commission and we invite you to learn more about us.

Smartphones