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

Happy with your Nexus 4?

Shocker_33

Member
Jul 13, 2011
59
3
Hi,

I've moved in to my upgrade period of my mobile phone contract which means that i don't have long until it's completely ended. So i'm looking at new mobile phones to upgrade to.

The LG/Google Nexus 4 is one of the phones i'm considering.

So i'm wondering, are you happy with your Nexus 4?

If you could roll back time, would you still buy the phone? Or would you buy something different instead?


Much appreciated to any advice given.
 
Hi,

I've moved in to my upgrade period of my mobile phone contract which means that i don't have long until it's completely ended. So i'm looking at new mobile phones to upgrade to.

The LG/Google Nexus 4 is one of the phones i'm considering.

So i'm wondering, are you happy with your Nexus 4?

If you could roll back time, would you still buy the phone? Or would you buy something different instead?


Much appreciated to any advice given.

If I could go back in time I would buy two, not just one. Mine and one for my gf.

It depends a lot of what you like, on what you normally use your phone for. I would say everything is covered.
 
Upvote 0
Happy with it yes. I'd even buy it again. But I wouldn't use it as my everyday phone. I came from an s3 on sprint and decided to order a nexus 4. I'm kinda a phone whore lol I've been thru eveeything from a 50 dollar android 2.1 phone to the iphone 5 so the n4 was on the list. Put it on a tmobile plan and used it as my main phone for a week. Its a nice phone. It does everything it says it does and more. Speed is amazing. But in the end I missed my s3. Vanilla android doesn't do much for me. And I knew what it was coming into it. I've previously owned the nexus s4g and the galaxy nexus but like I said it bored me after a week. The s3 just does more and to me is a better user experience. Another thing that bothered me is the screen size. They say its 4.7 but with the onscreen buttons the s3 screen is a lot bigger than the nexus 4. The onscreen buttons take up some considerable screen real estate and make the actual screen size smaller tham 4.7 inches. But again its not a bad device. Nice build quality and if the nexus line is your cup of tea its by far the best one ever made.
 
  • Like
Reactions: mpanju
Upvote 0
What is vanilla (Pure) android like compared to a system with the manufacturers stuff on? I've only owned one smart phone since the Nokia N70 age and that is the HTC Wildfire S. Which i can't really do anything on anymore.
Have you ever seen samsung or htc phones with the clock and weather widgets?
Those are generally running touchwiz for samsung phones, and Sense for Htc.

quick video on skin vs pure android.
Though this one seems biased against pure android.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1gcox7Vi0c
 
Upvote 0
Skins add more to android. Your wildfire ran an older version of sense on top of android 2.3.4. The htc clock and weather widget. The contact list customization the facebook intregration. The 7 homescreens. The countless htc widgets. Those were not part of vanilla android 2.3 those were all by sense. The new versions of samsungs touchwiz allow you to set it to where the front facing camera detects if your looking at the screen and wont dim it. To dectect what angle your looking at your phone at instead of holding it at to determine when to rotate the screen. It pauses your video when you look away from your screen and restarts it when you look back. Then theres the customizable lockscreen with news feeds weather and just all sorts of little things. Different camera options that stock android just doesnt offer. Some people hate skins some love them it really is personal preference. For me touchwiz just does it right. Now sense 5.0 to me is garbage. Blinkfeed or whatever there calling it looks annoying. That said I wouldn't mind playing around with an htc one though lol. Can't lie. Build quality on it looks amazing. Sorry got a lil off topic lol
 
Upvote 0
I hadn't seen a pure android phone before. Thanks for the link new optimus.

Are there any buzz words i can Google to see what i would expect from a pure android system?

So buzz words for non-pure androids are skin, Touchwiz, Sense, Motoblur. Anymore?
I don't think i've seen anything more than pure android for the bare naked android version.

Say i bought this phone and i decided that there are certain features from one of the skins i like, is it easy to track a replica app/software that i could install?

Secondly, say i got bored of pure android, is there a way to load one of the skins on to the phone?
 
Upvote 0
I hadn't seen a pure android phone before. Thanks for the link new optimus.

Are there any buzz words i can Google to see what i would expect from a pure android system?

So buzz words for non-pure androids are skin, Touchwiz, Sense, Motoblur. Anymore?
I don't think i've seen anything more than pure android for the bare naked android version.

Say i bought this phone and i decided that there are certain features from one of the skins i like, is it easy to track a replica app/software that i could install?

Secondly, say i got bored of pure android, is there a way to load one of the skins on to the phone?


Your welcome.

Buzz word might be vanilla android.
the dev community usually does have apks that mimic the skin features. I think I saw a rom that looks like sense rom for the nexus 4.
And of course there are ways to theme it any way you like, vanilla android can be made to look just about any way you want it too yet still use less memory and cpu cycles then the skinned versions from manufactures.
 
Upvote 0
I agree with pretty much everything posted above.

I'm delighted with my N4. I had an original Desire before and thought I would miss the HTC skin, Sense but you know what: not at all.

On the other hand, some more expensive phones like the S3 and HTC One have some great features .. just not quite great enough for me to justify the extra cost.

But that's just me.

Say i bought this phone and i decided that there are certain features from one of the skins i like, is it easy to track a replica app/software that i could install?

There are apps that mimic lots of the features from skins - like the HTC clock / weather widget, for example - however things like Samsung's eye tracking you probably can't get, patent litigation being what it is ;)

Secondly, say i got bored of pure android, is there a way to load one of the skins on to the phone?

Probably not legally .. technically, I'm sure some wirehead on here could show you the way :)
 
Upvote 0
I love this phone I'd buy it again in a heart beat.

I went from a rooted Sprint HTC Evo to a borrowed Nexus One so I could switch to ATT straight talk while waiting for the N4 to be back in stock.

I was with the Nexus One a lot longer than I thought I would be I learned to like it and appreciate the vanilla android, its smoothness and speed.

I could only imagine what the N4 would be like based on what I had read and the specs.

The N4 is outstanding and for the price its unbelievable.

It has not even the slightest sign of delay when processing, the screen is beautiful & the speaker is nice and loud. The only thing I've done is rooted it.

This phone is a BEAST!!!!
 
Upvote 0
I just got my nexus 4 today, but so far loving it. Going to have to figure out the battery, but other than that great stuff. I had the galaxy nexus and loved it. Up until that point my favorite phone I have ever owned. I switched to the iPhone 5 and regret that decision to this day. Now I am back to stock android and could not be happier. I have the note 2 as well and will use both, but if I had to choose stock android and the nexus 4 would be it.
 
Upvote 0
As soon as it was available to order I bought one! I just love how quick and responsive is it with no lag and the bonus of not having carrier bloat ware on it. I did like the Sense overlay on my Desire HD but tbh I don't miss it now. Even now I still wouldn't change for anything else except another Nexus (maybe). Just a shame its cost me a bit to have a new front screen fitted after I dropped it, iPhone 5......who needs one!
 
Upvote 0
I loved my Nexus 4 when I got it in December, and I still do. The only issue I have with it is the below average battery life. aside from that, it can't be beat, especially on a $30 per month plan.

I can get 24 hours with 3-4 hours screen time. Obviously our usage differs, but you'd be surprised what a different kernel and some minor tweaking can do to this phone's battery life.
 
Upvote 0
I can get 24 hours with 3-4 hours screen time. Obviously our usage differs, but you'd be surprised what a different kernel and some minor tweaking can do to this phone's battery life.
I agree, settings and kernel make a big difference.

Screenshot%20battery%20time.png

Screenshot%20screen%20on%20time.png
 
  • Like
Reactions: Banished Angel
Upvote 0
I like my Nexus 4. I like it over most other phones because I can utilize NFC technology (only a couple of other phones are able to do so). to me that gives the N4 and the N7 an edge over other devices. You dont hear much about the technology, but it can be very useful IMO once it does catch on more. My only concern is realizing how fragile the phone can be. I'm very delicate with my electronics, but I *always* drop a phone at least once ::knocks on a very thick piece of wood::

Keep in mind, I'm a person that changes phones like I change shirts, I'm not looking to switch any time soon :)
 
Upvote 0
I can get 24 hours with 3-4 hours screen time. Obviously our usage differs, but you'd be surprised what a different kernel and some minor tweaking can do to this phone's battery life.

I get that screen on time stock.

I didn't use the phone much yesterday but I have the following without an overnight charge:

48% remaining - 1d 2h 28m - Screen 2h 19m
 
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